Eric Carle

Painting Eric Carle style... on tissue paper.  If you want to see a video of how he got started doing what he does and how he pieces his artwork together, check out this video...Eric Carle

These next three photos are actually from a whole year ago doing basically the same thing.  We painted our tissue paper then I cut them into various shapes after they dried and let Big K create whatever kind of picture she wanted with it.  

This time around, we just pieced together the different pieces of tissue paper onto their initials.  I forgot to get a picture of these but you can kind of catch a glimpse of Little K's on the last photo of this post. 

Here is a list of the rest of the arts and crafts we did to go along with Eric Carle during our week.  Some of the best books ever and such cute crafts to go along with them. I thought it was awfully sweet that Daddy decided to participate in "The Grouchy Ladybug" craft! =) 

All of Little K's Eric Carle art work.  

Shaving Cream Ice Cream

Pulled this idea from "Growing a Jeweled Rose" here.  I didn't step it up as top notch as she does but it was still great nonetheless.  This is a great summer activity that would be super fun outside but we decided to stay indoors with our activity today and just put it all on a wipe off mat.  

Just spray some shaving cream (I always keep a supply of mens shaving cream handy in our craft closet) into a tub and add any color food coloring you like then place it in the freezer for a few hours.  You can add extracts of your choice too if you would like it to have a yummy smell.  When it freezes it has a perfect texture almost like real ice cream!  It even looks tasty so if you have really little ones, make sure they are aware that it is indeed pretend! 

 We added some of our "jewel treasures" we had lying around for decorating excitement.  

My Big K loves to get super messy so we ended up having to lose the dress up dress to get all into it.  

What's ice cream without sprinkles?!

Let your kids get all into it and make a mess!  Talk about the different ways it feels...cold, squishy.  Your kids will have a blast and you will too!

Bugs!

Buggies! Such a fun thing to talk about.  Even though most of us are scared of the majority of these real things, playing with little pretend critters is oh so cute!  

Here are the cute little lightning bugs that we made (courtesy of my co-teacher at schools idea).  

We decorated Easter eggs with pipe cleaners and foil for wings, then we stuck some miniature light up fake candles in the inside to create lightning bugs!  (you can find these lights at a Dollar Tree or similar store).  We flew these little buggies EVERYWHERE inside the house just to make sure they glowed the same amount everywhere they went. =)

Then we created a little bug exploration sensory table with dirt, life cycle of a ladybug, and bug catchers with magnifying glasses and nets.  

 Our art activities included ladybugs, ants on a picnic blanket, and as always, Big K threw in her own creativity and decided she wanted to make a handprint fly.  Not really sure if I see it, but she knew where she was going with it, so there you go! 

                                     

Bug hunted outside...(we pretty much found mostly worms) 

Can't believe she touched this! 

And bug hunted inside...

Then we retold the story "There was an old lady who swallowed a Fly" with our fun interactive doll, over and over and over.  Simply couldn't get enough of this funny old lady!