Growing up, I recall spring break having a certain aura. It wasn’t quite summer vacation and yet the trees slowly started to get a little greener and the birds’ familiar songs wooed us out of the winter slump. My little personal vacation at home a few weeks back was certainly a breath of fresh air, but generally the concept of ‘breaks’ has sort of become extinct once you hit the parenting years. Don’t get me wrong, I love having the boys around and home for a week from school, huge bonus that we are heading off to Florida. That being said, if you’re staying behind and want a few fun projects to do, I put together some ideas below. I so hope your little(s) enjoy and it helps keep them entertained!
Cookie Cutter Canvas (Source: A Girl and a Glue Gun)
It’s fair to say that my cookie cutter selection is pretty impressive, so this idea jumped off the page when I was looking for some cool ideas. Start by gathering a variety of colors of paint, and set them aside. Out of respect for the table, lay out some garbage bags or newspaper so you don’t end up with a room that looks like one big piece of modern art. You’ll also need to get some small canvases from the craft store, or find some old ones that you don’t have hung up anymore and paint over a base layer. Depending on what color you want to start with as the base for your creation, paint the whole canvas to set the backdrop.
Using a safe, flat surface such as the lid of a peanut butter or cool whip jar, add a generous amount of paint and be sure that there is enough space for the cookie cutter to get fully coated. From here, it should be pretty self-explanatory for the kids to sort of stamp over and over (and over) again on the canvas, making sure to get fresh paint on the cookie cutter each time. It’s actually really cool how abstract and eye-popping these turn out!
Tissue Paper Design (Source: Fiskars)
This is another great one involving relatively small canvas as the base material. You can always use plain old paper, but let’s be honest: it’s a bit more tedious to go out and get a frame for the paper than it is to just hang a nice canvas. You’ll also need some bleeding art tissue, which can be found at the craft store. As opposed to regular old tissue paper, I’m sure we’ve all used this stuff at some point or another for Easter time activities like dying eggs. Get a variety of colors to make for the most eye-catching finished product. If you happen to have any paper punches to cut pieces into actual shapes, get them assembled with the rest of the materials. If not, scissors will work fine. Freehand is usually more fun anyways!
Start cutting out shapes of the art tissue and set them off to the side. Lightly and evenly coat the canvas with water using a paintbrush or sponge. Then, start laying the shapes of tissue randomly but being sure to have enough to cover the whole canvas. From here, you can do one of two things: let it dry all the way as is for a more defined, rigid shape look, or paint another light layer of water over the shapes as they are set for a softer, more diluted look.
The finished product will look excellent, especially as a wall decoration for Easter! I can’t believe that I was once a little intimidated by such craftiness. Not to mention that you’re going to end up with some pretty unique (and actually pretty) works of art to display in your home.
Magazine Cutout Imagination
I’m sure we’ve all done this activity in an art class growing up, but this is definitely a great way to get the imagination flowing. Jog through some magazines for interesting and fun pictures, and cut out an individual piece from each one. From there, glue those picture pieces to a blank sheet of paper, and then have the kids sit down with a pencil and tell them to finish it! Seriously, you’d be surprised what those little minds can come up with! L went through about 6 of the pieces and was so into it that he made me cut out more! If you don’t have too many magazines laying around, feel free to just draw a little something on the paper and then have them finish from there. This is really just to get those gears turning.
Trusting the kids with paint and other art supplies can sometimes prove to be quite disastrous, but with the proper preparation and some quality laughs, these ideas are sure to be a smash hit with the little ones that may be bothering you with ‘I’m bored’ over and over again during spring break. Enjoy seeing what those little hands can come up with!
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Courtney
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