Hula Hoop rug

My three year old made this little rug on a hula hoop!  

I saw this idea HERE and HERE.  I love the idea of using finger knit yarn to make the rug but that is too complex for a three year old.  She could cut some, stretch the t-shirt around the hula hoop and weave pieces of yarn and t-shirt around the hoop.  This was a simple, fun and free project! 

  

Pool Noodle Sculpture

I saw this idea HERE. 

Skewers and cut up pool noodles.  EASY and fun for all ages.
I suggest getting your pool noodles from the Dollar Tree.

Tempera Paint

Tempera Paint doesn't come out of carpet.  Put plastic sheets down, paint outside, cover clothes you want to keep nice... or wait to move.

 

  

This is after a friend loaned me her wet vac and I cleaned it three times!  

Powdered tempera paint and a one year old do not mix.

Pony Bead Bowls on a griddle

I like Pony Bead Bowls and I think they are easier to make on a griddle.  Make sure you use the same type of beads. 

Cover your griddle in foil.  Melt beads in a circle.  Flip over a foil covered cup to cool. 
The smell is less and it is easy to see how fast they are melting.  It is easy to flip the foil over the cup instead of having to cool it and melt it over the cup like if you do it in the oven. 

Pony Bead Bowl Experiments

 Pony bead bowls look good ONLY when you use all the same type of beads.

Melting Plastic Experiment

I have tried to melt different number plastic cups to see how they look for the Melted Plastic sculptures. 

I didn't feel they melted well/evenly on the hotplate. 

Plastic Gelatin

My girls LOVED this stuff. I had never seen this recipe before. I found it in a book, Mudworks, that we checked out from the library. We had everything we needed so I made it because I didn't have to purchase anything.

Plastic jello

1 envelope unflavored gelatin
3 T water.
Food coloring

Mix ingredients and cook over medium heat (or add food coloring in later if you want swirls instead of a solid color). Stir constantly until dissolved.

Remove from heat and pour into container lids. I put mine on plastic dishes. You can use yogurt or coffee lids too. My dishes had tall enough sides I could move them after it was set a little bit. And one mixture fit all on one plate for no spills. Next time, I might but yogurt lids on a cookie sheet to contain spills and make smaller circles. (You can add food coloring at this point to and swirl with a toothpick.)

Let dry until hard. This took ours two days. It looked rubber-er at day one but at day two it was crunchy and ready to come off the plastic plate.

Then we cut them with little kid scissors and hole punched them then threaded yarn through them. They look really pretty hanging by the light. You can also color on them with permanent markers. My two year old is really into cutting yarn this week. ...like there are scraps of yarn EVERYWHERE because she is continually making bracelets and necklaces. So she loved cutting this stuff. It does rip too. She also really liked the hole punch because then she could lace the yarn through it.

Easy to mix up. Cheap ingredients. Fun to play with.

Sculpture by my two year old.