Make a Picture Like Eric Carle ~ Kids Can Create a Picture Collage

The illustrations in The Very Hungry Caterpillar seem to capture the attention of almost every young child.

Simple yet complex, they are colorful and eye-catching.

Recreating the look is fun and easy for any child who is old enough to use a pair of scissors.

What you'll need:

Several sheets of white paper

One sheet of thicker white paper or board

Watercolor paints or markers

Paint brushes

White glue

Scissors

First, decide what you are going to draw. Feel free to copy my bears, but if you want to draw mice, or bugs, or your family you can.

Then paint several colors of watercolor on the regular paper. The colors can overlap, they can be in patterns, white areas are fine...basically you can't make a mistake. 

To give the colors even more texture, after the first layer dries choose a different color and make lines or dots. Crinkling up another small sheet of paper or paper towel and dipping it in the paint will create nice textures when softly touched on top of another color.

Using your paintbrush for texture is fun too. When the paint is almost used up on the brush it feels a bit dry and breaks up into sections. Without wetting the brush, dip it into a color and lightly go over another color on the page for a cool lined effect.

I did one page of my first layer of paint in browns and blacks because I wanted to make some trees. To get the spots, dip the brush in black paint, then brush your finger so the paint is kind of flicked off onto the paper. If your brush is too soft, hold the brush over the paper and lightly tap the finger of your other hand so little speckles drop off onto your page. (This method can be a bit messier.)

After your pages have dried, begin cutting shapes.

For my picture, I needed three ovals, three circles, for the bears heads and bodies, three very long rectangles for tree trunks in brown, several shorty skinny rectangles for tree branches, and many leaves cut out from all the different colors I painted. I also made six little arms, six little legs, and six little ears, and one big oval in green that will be a patch of grass. I also cut out a butterfly from some of the scraps and some very long curved triangles for grass. (The butterfly is made from two B shapes.)

Please feel free to make your trees, leaves and bears ANY color you like. Don't feel limited to the edges of the paper--go out of the lines!

Now start to glue the pieces you cut any way you like. You can see within the cut out pieces how the white spaces, speckles, squiggles, and paint splashes all add to the texture and charm of the picture. You can copy mine or create your own. I hope I see some mice, cats, dogs, wolves, monkeys, or anything else you can think of.

Send me any of your completed work--I'd love to show it off here!

Have fun!!

xo

Yummy Drinks Kids Will Enjoy--Under 80 Calories!! For Mom and Dad too.

Just because the summer is almost over doesn't mean all the fun has to end. 

Here is a quick post to tell you about two awesome drinks I made that are under 100 calories each--and you can share them with the kids! (If you want...)

*Coconut Fizzy*

Ice Cubes (I fill the glass)

Coconut La Croix Seltzer

Pineapple Juice

Lime

1 tsp. coconut milk or cream per glass (you can also use whipped cream)

Fill glass 2/3 of the way with seltzer. (If you have never had La Croix Coconut Seltzer I HIGHLY recommend it. It is somehow creamy all on it's own with NO sugar, NO color, and NO calories. Delicious.) Add about 1/4 cup pineapple juice (or to taste). Add about 1 tsp. coconut milk or cream and stir well. Squeeze a bit of lime on top and add ice. This drink rivals any pina colada I've ever had. Yummmm. (You can also add a scoop of whipped cream on top but that puts it over 100 calories--might be worth it.)

*Creamsicle*

Ice Cubes

Vanilla Polar Seltzer (another somehow creamy calorie free drink)

Orange Juice

Vanilla almond milk or soy milk OR 1 tsp. coconut milk

Fill glass 1/2 with vanilla seltzer. Fill other half with orange juice. Add the vanilla almond milk, soy milk, or coconut milk and stir well. Light, refreshing, and delicious.

Both of these drinks are so much better for you than soda. Coconut cream has EFAs and juices are filled with vitamin C. 

BTW--2 TBSP of whipped cream only has 16 calories. (You can also make divine whipped "cream" by taking some of the solids off of the top of the coconut cream, adding a bit of sugar and whipping the same way as cream. Yum again. And it's vegan.)

Here are the seltzers:

BUY HERE

 

BUY HERE

ENJOY!!
xo

Introduce Your Kids to Photography

My dad was an electrical engineer when I was growing up. I probably know a bit more about capacitors, diodes, vacuum tubes and cathodes than your average bear. 

His other interest, and by default mine, was photography.

Never one to withhold information, my father brought us on endless hikes into the forests and parks that surrounded our neighborhood.

I learned about F-stops, lenses, and developed what I consider a relatively good eye for composition.

Although my dad used a Nikon and I used a Canon, times have changed a bit and many of us use our iPhones or other digital tech toys for photography these days. Thankfully the technology has advanced to the point where the pictures come out pretty good.

We used film when I was young, and one of the first things I became aware of was the number of pix on the roll. Twenty four or thirty six shots, then the film went to be developed--unless you were lucky enough to have another roll. We were very concerned about getting the perfect shot, or at least trying to. Not anymore.

Plan a little field trip then tell kids:

1. TAKE A LOT OF PICTURES. The difference between a great shot and a so-so shot could be a millisecond, so let them take as many shots as they want. 

2. PERSPECTIVE. Almost everyone, when given a camera, takes a direct shot, with the subject centered. Encourage kids to discover new angles--take the subject not only from the front, but from the side, or even above or below. They can even get in super close and only take a portion of the subject. 

3. HOLD CAMERA STRAIGHT. When we take pictures of something with a horizon line it is especially important to hold the camera straight. Although we have an opportunity to EDIT with much of today's technology, it is a good thing to practice and get used to.

The first lesson is simple, but it should be. Go out and have some fun. 

When you are done review the pictures with them. They will like to show you what they did. Ask them what they think of the pix.

Next Wednesday I will do another Photography for Kids post and go a bit more in depth. The Rule of Thirds and finding a Focal Point will be introduced.

Welcome September! A Ghostly Book and a Bit of Ghost Hunting

Click here for link to Amazon

Fall is a fun time to have kids and it's a fun time for kids.

But it's also a fun time for moms.

I love to read dark and shivery books during this time of year. I also like spooky crafts, and the occasional horror movie.

The book I am just starting with my Poison Pen Book Club is called Shutter. Although it is a YA, it is about Micheline Helsing, one of last descendants of the great vampire hunter Van Helsing. She is a tetrachromat, a girl who sees auras of the undead in a prismatic spectrum, and came with a glowing review. So we can possibly kill two birds with one stone here--find something we like and then maybe pass it on the our teens. 

Micheline exorcises ghosts by capturing their spiritual energy on film.

The book club just started reading last night. After a brief set up in the first chapter, the not so subtle ghostly actions starts. These ghosts are NOT of the Casper variety. Missing teeth, and other body parts, kick right in as soon as we know who the main characters are.

This is another book recommended by an agent, so I have high hopes.

Reading Shutter will also be fun because after we finish, the Poison Pen members will be meeting at the Hotel Somerset, a supposedly haunted hotel in Somerville, New Jersey. Although we are not experienced ghosts hunters, we will be bringing cameras in honor of the Shutter theme, and hopefully catch some orbs or other ghostly manifestations on film, like Micheline does.

Several years ago there was a horror film called Shutter, not to be confused with

Shutter Island that starred Leonardo DiCaprio. The main character had her own personal issues with cameras and evil spirits, but the story is not the same.

Although I have not finished the book yet, I just wanted to write this blog because the trilogy of the book Shutter, the movie Shutter, and the amateur camera ghost hunting might set off an idea for your own spooky autumn book/movie/ghost hunting fest.

Have fun!! And tell me what you end up doing.

xo

P.S. I'll review Shutter when I'm done. 

Artsy Back to School Stained Glass Bookmark for Teacher

Summer went by too fast!

Bring a tiny bit of artsy fun into the classroom with a back to school bookmark for the teacher.

For this craft you will need:

Elmer's (or similar) glue

Colored Sharpies

Thick paper or cardboard in color of your choice

Clear plastic sheet

First cut out a long book mark shape from the paper.

It can be any shape you like, curvy, swervy, a flower, a lightning bolt, or a rectangle. Just use your imagination and have fun.

Cut a window in the paper.

Using the paper bookmark as a guide, cut the clear plastic slightly smaller than the bookmark.

Now make any type of stained glass design with the Sharpies that you choose. Flowers, shapes, even just one or two colors looks great. 

If you are using white paper or cardboard you can color it with the Sharpies too.

Take the glue and put a thin line around the clear plastic when you have finished coloring, and glue it on the window.

Viola! You have a beautiful stained glass bookmark lovely enough to grace any book.

Have so much fun and please show me the bookmark that you and your kids create.

Email to dealenihan @gmail.com.

XO

Quicky Book Review--Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Click to purchase

In June I attended a writer's conference and met many lovely writers and rubbed elbows with some savvy agents.

I asked each agent that I had the pleasure of meeting to please tell me an excellent book to read--especially in the spooky/shivery genre. Not quite horror, but something atmospheric and delightful.

The first one I read was Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Tucholke.

This YA book not only grabbed me from the first page (not for the squeamish) but held my attention through the whole delish and eerie tale.

A charming boy named River shows up in a sleepy, seaside town and turns bored Violet's life upside-down...to say the least.

This book has a bit of it all--the supernatural, romance, evil, and redemption. 

So hang on to yer hats pardners, it is one exciting ride.

You Love 'Em But You Need a Break!

We love our kids.

We love 'em when they are tiny and helpless and rely on us for everything. Then they get a bit bigger and we think we are going to get a bit more time to ourselves because someone said that kids can "play on their own" more as they get older. Their attention spans expand and they can entertain themselves.

Well--no.

When they start to talk and that brain fires left, right and sideways with all the rapid growing they are doing, their favorite thing to say will be MOM.

Or Ma, Momma, Mommy, or Mum.

The first time you hear Mama out of those teeny bow lips will be one of the most memorable days in your life. 

Fast forward a year. 

They will use it hundreds of times a day.

And it will still be wonderful to be a mom. But there will also be times you want to pull your hair out of your head. 

You are the first person that means everything to them--but that does not mean that you should let yourself go insane.

You will feel like no one can care for your child as well as you can--and you are right. No one will have that incredible connection. And that is FINE. 

They need to get out in the world a bit, experience new things, and have some fun--just like you do. 

It does not have to be every day, but often enough that you have something to look forward to every week. Get a manicure--or get together with a friend and give each other mani/pedis. Stop at Starbucks on the way home for a treat, and have a probably much needed free girlfriend therapy session. Or simply go somewhere and read--ALONE.

It does not really matter what you do, as long as you fill your tank when the fuel gets low.

They tell you on a plane if (GOD FORBID) the oxygen masks fall that you should take care of yourself before any children.

It's the same thing--you are no good for anyone--including yourself--if you have nothing to give.

So go out and fill your tank. Have some fun. Then spread that sunshine around.

Come back on Wednesday--I will have a craft for the kids for these last few days of summer.

XO