Iphone Photo Phun - Mallrats

Well, I missed out on my Iphone Photo Phun post last week. Certainly it was a very busy week, but when I actually thought of it, I weighed my options of fishing out the phone cord, downloading the photos, and writing an legible post on my blog or I could go to bed. Sorry, peeps, the bed won. And the bed (or couch, or somewhat comfortable corner of the living room floor, or the kids' bed) continues to win out in many of the blogging vs. sleeping battles I've had lately.

Anyway. So there's a bunch of photos this week:

In Oregon, when you have three children screaming like banshees and racing up and down the stairs at breakneck speeds, you get a desperate need to take them to a park or playground. Only it's fall in Oregon, which means rain, rain, and more rain. So I take them to the mall for exercise. And while I'm waiting for the Spud to screech that he's done poopin' in the potty, I decide to take a preggo photo.

We like to start out our mornings with coffee and the newspaper.

We have to settle for wet leaves around here. We'll take what we can get!

Big jump for a kid with sensory integration disorder!

The Beast tests out one of many ridiculously awesome mustaches we purchased at the dollar store for Halloween fun.

The new winter hats at the Children's Place are to die for. Seriously, how cute are my three little raccoons? Like the frugal shopper I am, I am waiting for a good sale and may even pick up a tiny baby one for Little Sprout. :)

The kids are valiantly holding onto a giant Burmese python at a reptile show we went to at our local library. I am staying a respectable distance away, thank you very much.

The Beast is going to be a pirate for Halloween this year. He has no idea who Jack Sparrow is, but he sure loves this getup! Too bad he will be a short-haired pirate with an uber-fake mustache.

Hurray for the temporary Halloween store at the mall! We can go in every time and marvel at how shiny and fast-looking Lightning McQueen is. We can also hurry by the racks and racks of costumes that really ought to be reserved for the bedroom, if you know what I mean.

happy Iphone photo phun!

Art Project #3 - Pointillism Apples in a Bushel

Project Title: Pointillism Apples

Materials Needed: white paper, school glue, glue stick, craft paint, q-tips, sticks/twigs, leaves, brown crayon, scissors

Purpose: To teach students about the art form of pointillism. Also is helpful in cutting and gluing practice.

First, gather all of your materials. For the bushel basket, I printed off this image here and cut it out as shown (minus the apples). For the apples, I printed off this image here and traced it six times on a sheet of white paper. The kids helped me gather small leaves and twigs for the project.

Next, set up the painting station. I used a divided plate for our three colors - red, green, and yellow, and gave each child three q-tips. I should mention that although it is not pictured, I did end up setting everything out on newspaper to protect the table! :) (If you have older kids, you can teach them how to mix red with various amounts of white to make different shades of red for their apples, and so on.)

Demonstrate how to dip the Q-tip into the paint and then make a dot in the apple shape without dragging it around like a paint brush. Have your child fill up the apple shape with as many dots as they can without blending them together. Your child may wish to do two or even three colors on their apple to make it more realistic looking. Explain that pointillism is painting with tiny dots so that they become blended in the viewer's eye. You can even demonstrate that putting a bunch of blue and yellow dots close to each other will make it appear green from a distance.

Once your child finishes painting her apples (or gets tired of it!), set them aside to dry. Have your child glue the bushel basket to the bottom of a blank sheet of white paper and then color it brown.

Next, use the school glue to make thin lines on the bushel basket and attach the twigs. Break the twigs to a smaller size if necessary. Remind your child that this glue does not dry instantly; thus they must be careful not to bump the previously placed twigs on their basket.

When all glue and paint has dried, give your child a safe pair of scissors and instruct them to cut out their apples. This is good practice for following a curved line with scissors. Help them if they get frustrated.

Use the glue stick to glue the apples wherever the child chooses in the bushel basket.

Finally, squeeze large dots of school glue to the top of each apple and gently set the stem of each leaf in the glue dot. Set the whole project in a place where it will not be disturbed until the glue has dried.

My daughter chose to write "A is for Apple" on her project, and we hung all three projects up as pretty fall decor when they finished.

I say "A is for Adorable"! :)