Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Eyes of Newt


Believe it or not I try to do holiday activites with the kids.  When my daughter was younger we spent hours baking and decorating cookies for Christmas and other holidays.  With the monkey man I try to branch out a little more.  I've gotten brave in my old age and have learned that paint, and glitter eventually comes off floors, counters, and little hands.  I am great for trying holiday stuff and then waiting too long to put it up on the blog... like last year when I made hot cross buns for the first time the day before Easter.  I'm sure that recipe was going to come in handy AFTER Easter.  So to get in under the wire, I am posting a second entry this week... not like the soup was all that exciting anyway.

I saw this in an old issue of Martha Stewart Living and thought it would be perfect for double duty.  On one hand it was a fun little project for the Monkey, and they are doubling as little Halloween treats for his teachers at day care.

Pre-step: find a washable location in your house, and a t-shirt you don't mind getting painty... however the paint washed out of our shirt.

Step1: Take one happy kid

Step 2: Add a little acrylic paint and thin it with water


Step 3: Use those little foam brushes to paint wooden craft boxes inside and out.


Step 5: Load on the praise about what a great artist you have



Step 6:  Let dry.  We did ours a few steps at a time to break up the fun and keep the project in 10-15 minute blocks to match a 2-year olds attention span, and a parent of a 2-year olds temper when dealing with very messy projects.

Step 7: Print the clip art from Martha's webite here.


Step 8: Make up some black tea and "age" your labels.


Step 9: Let labels dry


I moved mine after about 10 minutes so it wouldn't dry to the paper plate.

Step 10: Squirt on a little white glue and use the sponge brush to make it into a thin layer to avoid glue bubble and parts that don't stick


Step 11: Fill with "Eyes"... the website says to use green, but these boxes are a little bigger and I thought a mixture might be more enjoyable.  It's the same effect as far as I'm concerned.


Step 12: Let the little ones give their special treats to their teachers.  Happy Halloween.

1 comment:

  1. That is one ridiculously cute kid! I wouldn't be able to do this project without eating too many jellybeans...I congratulate your restraint!

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