Children's Jack-O-Lantern Painting

With baby #2 on the way, I have had virtually no energy to do anything once I get home from a long day of work. Poor Claire has been a trooper when I explain to her that mommy needs to lay down a little and watch her play, or must her chicken nuggets yet again for dinner because I have no energy to cook! Now that I am starting to feel a little (and I mean a little) less exhausted, I finally broke down and bought her the art supply she's been requesting for longer than I care to admit (the thought of setting up, taking down and the potential mess were all just too much for this preggo to handle in the first trimester)...paint! 2 packs of watercolors, 1 set of finger paints, brushes, a Mickey Mouse poster paint kit, paper, and one, giant, drop cloth later, and we were on our way!

Once we arrived home, it was on! I grabbed an old shirt of mine for Claire to use as a smock, covered everything within a 3-mile radius in a drop cloth and let her go to town. After finishing her Halloween-themed, Mickey Mouse posters, she used the leftover paint to decorate a white, baby pumpkin we had recently purchased. A word to the wise...teaching a toddler that she must wait for paint to dry before touching and playing with the completed 

projects WILL result in multiple meltdowns. The sooner you accept it, the easier it becomes!

Finger painting was our final endeavor of the evening. We worked on mixing colors to make other colors and used the orange we created to spread and play with the paint. I helped Claire use her fingers to trace jack-o-lantern eyes, nose, and a mouth and placed it in a safe place to dry.  The following day, I knew I wanted to use her creations as Halloween decoration and decided to tweak her finger painting a bit to be able to display it proudly year after year.

I used a green, chevron, piece of cardstock I had in my stash and traced a pumpkin shape on the back of it in pencil. Using scissors, I cut out the pumpkin shape. 

Double-sided tape allowed me to adhere the pumpkin cutout to the finger painting, so that the jack-o-lantern face was centered nicely. 

I trimmed the excess paper from the finger painting and cut down the chevron paper to make it fit an 8x10 frame. Once placed in a cute frame, the project was complete!   

I do believe this will be a household staple for every Halloween and Fall for many years to come!

Puzzle Piece Crayons

As Autism Awareness month comes to an end, I am reminded that Autism is something we should be educating people about every day of the year! The more we know, the more we understand. The more we understand, the more we can help! Here is my final Autism Awareness craft for the month.

Materials:

-broken, unwrapped crayons

-puzzle piece ice cube tray (I found one at Ikea a few years back!)

-gallon Ziploc bag

-hammer

-oven

Instructions:

1. Place all broken and un-wrapped crayons in a gallon, Ziploc bag.

2. Using a hammer, break up crayons into small pieces.

3. Place broken crayons into puzzle piece, ice cube tray

4. Place ice cube tray on a cookie sheet and put both in the oven and bake 15 minutes at 250 ° until crayons have melted.

5. Remove cookie tray from oven and let cool. Once the crayons have hardened, remove carefully from the ice cube tray.

For more information on Autism Awareness, please visit this incredible website!

Crafty, Yet Corny!

In my humble opinion, Indian corn is the most under-represented decoration for Fall. Its natural beatuy and color combinations are a reminder that Mother nature is one smart cookie! To celebrate the a-maize-ingness (har har!) of this natural wonder, here is a simple, Indian corn craft for kiddos...

Materials:

-yellow, construction paper

-glue

-tissue paper squares in fall colors

-green tissue paper squares

-scissors

-pencil

Instructions:

1. Using the yellow construction paper, cut out one large petal shape and two petals slightly smaller

2. Glue smaller petals to the sides of the large petal for the open husks of the corn.

3. Crumple fall-colored tissue papers and glue onto the large petal (aka-the corn cob) to form the "kernels."

4. Glue the green tissue paper squares onto the husks, covering them completely.

5. Cut the yellow construction paper into narrow strips and curl them by rolling them around pencil.

6. Glue 2-3 curls onto the corn cob.

The Yellow School Bus book and Traffic Light Craft

This week's book and craft was based on the book The Yellow School Bus. While it is primarily meant for young students, I liked the counting concepts and the hands-on experience the book provided for my students. Because my class is so focused this school year on functional words and safety signs in the community, I thought I would support this book and what we are learning with a traffic light craft. I found a super cute idea for a traffic light color match activity and craft at No Time for Flashcards Blog and adapted it slightly to make it POP on our classroom walls.

Here's how:

Materials:

-large, white construction paper

-circular lid (to trace circles)

-black marker

-red, yellow, and green construction paper (ripping the paper is an excellent fine motor skill for students, not to mention stress-relieving!)

-black, construction paper

-glue stick

-scissors
 

Instructions:

 

1. Trace one, large rectangle on a piece of large, white construction paper

 

2. Use the circular lid to trace three circles, one on top of the other. If your students or kiddos are good tracers, have them do it or help them in doing so.

 

3. Tear red, green, and yellow construction paper into small pieces and glue them to the corresponding circles. We put all of the ripped pieces together and had the students sort them by color before gluing, for extra learning funsies!

 

4. Cut black, construction paper into a rectangle the same size as the rectangle drawn on the white paper

 

6. Using the same, circular lids, trace three, vertical circles onto the black paper

 

7. Cut out the circles drawn, beginning in the middle of the paper and remaining inside of the drawn lines slightly

 

8. Glue the black construction paper onto the white paper, matching up circles.

 

9. Trim excess white paper

 

 

That's it!!! As always, please send me pics when you complete this project with your own children or students. Have fun!!!

 

Growing Apples and Pumpkins Book and Apple Timeline Craft

In my classroom this year, I have decided to plan my weekly craft project (and trust me, if I could do it more than once per week, I would) around the book we have read. Each week, my plan is to post our book and project weekly for you to try at home or in your classrooms! Please keep in mind that the focus of our crafting is to work on fine motor skills and following directions, not on submitting them to museums based on quality of work, haha! I will also be posting the Pinterest project that inspired our craft each week, to give you an idea of modifications that can be made. This week, we read the book Growing Apples and Pumpkins, to celebrate the awesomeness that is Fall, and created Apple Timelines to demonstrate out understanding of how apples are grown.

If you haven't read this book, its great for fall and shows children the process of growing apples and pumpkins using photos.

How cute are these apple timelines, originally posted by A Mommy's Adeventure blog. They are made of construction paper and marker. I love the poem written across the timeline, "Eat an apple. Save the core. Plant the seeds. And grow some more."

 

While our classroom versions are not nearly as spectacular as the original version, students benefitted from learning fine motor skills by cutting and pasting and following directions, in order to complete the project. 

Learning + Crafting = 1 Very Happy Teacher!!!

Da dum...Da dum...SHARK WEEK!!!!!

In honor of shark week, here are some awesome, shark-inspired projects, foods, and items for your enjoyment! As much as I am grateful for not having to go back to school yet, I really wish the Discovery Channel would bump this epic week to the school year, so that I can try a bunch of this awesomeness with my students! I'll make a few phone calls and see what I can do...

In the meantime, Enjoy

...but don't go in the water!

Shark clothespins with surprise inside, found on Flickr

Paper plate shark jaws, courtesy of Tip Junkie

Shark Mittens, courtesy of A Night Owl blog

Shark Nails, courtesy of Heather of Dollar Store Mom

Shark Tooth Snacks, from Renees Soirees

Paper Plate Shark, courtesy of MPM School Supplies

Shout Out-Grandma Dalby, Queen of Crafts

Embroidered plaque-This pic does not do it justice, but you get the idea. It reads "Claire Alexandra, July 1st, 2012)

Grandma Dalby (Grandad, too!!!)



You know the phrase "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree?" In the case of my craft-obsession, I am the proverbial apple to my almost-80-year-old grandmother's tree, indeed! My crafting ability does not, however, hold a candle to the amazing projects she has completed over the years. Here are just a few reasons why she is amazeballs:

1. She's British! Oh yeh, folks...best accent ever!

2. She and my grandfather (and my infant mom) left everything they knew behind in England to establish a better life in the states for themselves and their children.

3. She is an incredible cook (and does not limit herself to bland and boring British food, either)!

4. She once heard the "ding" from her bread machine and responded by answering the phone AND is an incredible sport when her family members still tease her about it to this day!

5. At almost 80 years old (her birthday is on March 6th!!!), she creates the most amazing sweaters, jackets, hats, gloves, blankets, and embroidery work imagineable. This woman cannot physically stop moving her hands! When she doesn't have a project in the works for one of her 4 children, 10 grandchildren, or 8 great-granchildren, she makes helmet liners for military troops and blankets for invalids. How amazing is she!

From the time grandma's daughters started having children of their own, she began a tradition in which she created an embroidered birth announcement frame for the oldest of every family. Now that her children's children are having children of their own (did 'ya get that???), she has kept the tradition going. I have included a picture of the beautiful piece she made for my daughter, Claire, which she and I will forever treasure! I can only hope to become half the woman she is!

LOVE YOU, GRANDMA!!!!!




Oh, and she crochets, too! Here is the car seat cover she made for my sister's little boy





...and the pram cover she made for my little girl



Attention crafters on a budget!!!!!

I came across this awesome site a few months ago http://tophatter.com/. This site hosts online auctions every few hours and allows you to bid against others for craft supplies and awesome items at pre-specified times. They will even send you text messages to remind you when an item you have shown interest in is about to be put up! All items have a specific price when the auction begins, and you simply click to bid as often as you want or need (or can afford). Highest bidder gets the item! Going...going...GONE (cheesy, I know, but it had to be done)! Enjoy!!!

Children's Craft: paper bowl Easter basket

Easter chick basket

This was a waaay cute project completed by my students in their Home Ec. class. Perfect for the upcoming Easter holiday and so simple!

 Here are the instructions:

Materials:
-brown and yellow construction paper (shredded)
-sturdy, paper bowl
-two pipe cleaners in colors of choice
-hole punch
-3 plastic eggs (various colors)
-google eyes (6)
-feathers (6)
-orange foam-cut into small triangles for bird beaks (3)

Instructions:
1. Using the hole punch, make one hole on each side of the paper bowl's rim
2. Twist pipe cleaners together and thread one end into each side of the rim, folding and twisting to secure.   
    The pipe cleaners should form your basket handle
3. Place paper shreds into the paper bowl
4. Glue google eyes, foam triangles and feathers onto each egg to complete your "chicks"
5. If you wish, place sweet treats or toys in the eggs for an extra special surprise (my students actually made their own chocolates, which went inside of their eggs. How cool is that?)




One of my students modeling his adorable creation

Wishing all of you and those you hold dear to have a wonderful Easter holiday! May your baskets overflow with love, family, and  friendship.

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!!!

Welcome!!!

Silver three-strand necklace with blue fabric rosettes

My name is Shannon Eyer. I am a special education teacher by profession and a huge craft NUT by hobby. I recently celebrated my 30th birthday around the same time my husband and I moved ourselves and our eight-month old golden retriever "puppy," Reese, into our first home. Needless to say, this year has been a year of change and stepping out of my comfort zone. This blog will be no different. I truly don't remember a time in my life where I haven't looked at an object without pondering all the options that the object could be used for or made into. My parents provided me with lots of opportunities to explore my creativity through   4-H, Girl Scouts, youth group, Sunday School, etc. You name it, I joined it! As a result, my love of creating and crafting expanded to the point of obsession, and I tried my hand at any craft method I could find and buy materials for (some that were massive successes and others that were epic FAILS; either way, I had a BLAST trying). Currently, my craft geekery is represented primarily in handmade jewelry, as well as hair accessories; however, I can't pass up an inspirational craft idea I come up with or find online or in books. As a result, this blog is intended to be filled with crafts completed, works in progress, inspiration gained from others, musings (or borderline ramblings, as I tend to get REALLY easily excited!), and everything in between!

 

Silver fabric rosettes on a black headband






Felt owl hair clips