Cereal Box Office Hit!

Rigel and Izzy had fun with this a while ago: a cereal box puppet theatre. They had just as much fun being behind the scenes as they did being the audience. I have since begun setting aside all our empty cereal boxes rather than tossing them in the recycling bin, and have now accumulated--whoa!-- 10 empty boxes! I think it is time to convince the neighborhood playgroup mamas to have a cereal box puppet theatre workshop, and I'll supply the materials. It's great "recycled art."

Cereal Box Puppet Theatre:

empty cereal box
Popsicle sticks
pictures (magazine cutouts of animals, family photos from your printer, etc.)
glue or paste
construction paper
scissors

Cut back of box and sides off so all that is left is the front and the bottom. Glue a popsicle stick on the bottom flap if needed for added support. Cut a window out of front of box. Set aside all the cardboard scraps. Cut curtains out of construction paper, then glue around the window. Cut out the pictures, then glue onto cardboard scraps (trim off edges). Glue popscicle stick onto each picture for a handle. Ta-dah!

P.S. If you don't have the patience to wait for the glue / paste to dry, use a hot glue gun for the popscicle sticks and to attach the pictures to the cardboard. Just don't let the kiddos help with that part, of course!

Happy H-owl-loween!

Izzy's Owl

Rigel's Owl

We made owls together the day before yesterday. I cut out the bodies and parts ahead of time, supplied the paste, feathers, eyes and beak in a pile to the kids, and then let them create. Notice Izzy's upside down owl... pretty cute! These cut-and-paste projects are fun and simple, and there are a lot of options... jack-o-lantern faces, frankenstein faces, etc. Come Christmas time, I want to be sure to remember to sit down with the kids and make cut-and-paste snowmen, christmas trees, wreaths... We'll have fun.

Window Tree Feels Like Autumn

"Just before the death of flowers,

And before they are buried in snow,

There comes a festival season

When nature is all aglow."

- Author Unknown

“But I remember more dearly autumn afternoons in bottoms that lay intensely silent under old great trees”- C. S. Lewis

Even though autumn is here, it is difficult to describe what it means to Rigel and Izzy without any visual aides. For this reason alone, I miss the mountains. I love San Diego and its year-round mild weather, but I miss how in Mariposa County only one glance outside the window described the season... Dry, brown fields and brush in the summer, bare trees and chimney smoke in the winter, green meadows and wildflowers everywhere in the spring, and autumn leaves in the fall.

In San Diego this time of year, any large old maple, ash or oak tree is eye-catching, just as I bet we were a sight the other day when we pulled over to collect fallen red maple leaves while visiting the Navy submarine base. The kids helped search for the prettiest red leaves, then we took them home and made "stained glass" paper. After they had fallen asleep, I trimmed their stained glass paper into pieces for a "window tree" to decorate our front room. Now it feels like autumn!

Rigel loves collecting sticks whenever he is outside, though I'm not sure what has triggered his fascination with fallen twigs. I took his stick collection and made it into a simple wall hanging (complete with a store-bought owl). Now, whenever he has a handful of sticks, he says, "We have a bunch of sticks--let's make them into something pretty!"



Stained Glass Paper:
wax paper
crayons
leaves (flat, stems trimmed off)
iron
cheese grater

Use the grater to make crayon shavings. Place the leaves on waxed side of the wax paper, then sprinkle with crayon shavings. Place another sheet of wax paper (waxed side down) on top of the leaves and shavings, and then iron. The kids can help with grating the crayons and decorating the wax paper, but of course leave the ironing to the grown-ups. The crayon wax wipes off the grater easily with a scrub brush and hot water.

Rigel & Izzy's Art Gallery

We are really proud of the kids' art, and hope others enjoy our gallery as much as we love showing it off:

Izzy, 5/2008

Rigel, 5/2008

Izzy, 8/08

Rigel , 8/08

Izzy, 5/08

Rigel, 5/08

Rigel, 5/08

Rigel , 6/08

Izzy, 5/08

Rigel, 7/08

Rigel, 9/08

Rigel, May 2008

Izzy (with help from Mommy)

Rigel

Izzy (left) & Rigel (right), 9/08

Izzy, 5/08

Rigel

Rigel, 5/08