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By Mom Unplugged, March 1, 2010 8:46 pm

The Unplugged Project theme for the month of March will be: Sphere

The linky is below and will remain open until April 1st. On April 1st I will post a new Unplugged Project theme.

If you are wondering what the Unplugged Project is, then please read more about it here. We’d love to have you join in!

The basics are the following:

• Please only link if you have done a project that is related to the theme. Don’t just put your website in there because you like the idea of the project. I appreciate the support, but if I don’t see a project, then I’ll have to delete your link.

• Please don’t link until you actually have a post to link to. The post should not simply describe an intention, but document an actual completed project.

• When you link, please link to your POST, not just your blog. I am trying to build a library of project ideas, so we want people to always be able to find your project in the future. If you link simply to your blog, they won’t be able to find your post later on. (Feel free to email me if you have a question about this.)

• Don’t worry about the “accuracy” of your connection to the theme. Be creative, have fun, and think “outside the box” if you wish. For example, the theme was once soft and we made moth feeders out of soft cotton balls. Another time the theme was kitchen and we made Oobleck because it was made with cornstarch which is a substance you find in the kitchen, right? If you think about it, you can find a connection with almost anything and that is what is really fun!

• If you have the time, energy, and inspiration to come up with more than one project for sphere that’s great! Feel free to link to each sphere project separately in the linky.

• If you have no blog, then please leave a comment on this post with a description of what you did. The more ideas we get, the better!

• It takes a lot of time and energy to put this project together and I would greatly appreciate a link to Unplug Your Kids in your project post. Thank you and enjoy!

Photo is from Wikipedia, by Andrzej Barabasz.

Comments (5)

By Mom Unplugged, February 28, 2010 9:40 pm

I promised another Spiral Unplugged Project post and I am finally here with it - at the eleventh hour (a new Monthly Unplugged Project theme begins tomorrow)!

All day yesterday I was looking after four girls in addition to my own two girls (my son was very happy to escape this overdose of estrogen by fleeing to a friend’s house).

The age of the girls ranged from 4 to 11 and after boredom appeared to be setting in, I tried this totally retro idea out on them: Spirograph Shrinky Dinks. Just 3 words: THEY-LOVED-IT.

I had bought some shrink plastic at a Michael’s craft store on my last trip to the big city. We pinned the Spirograph rings on to the plastic sheets with no problems. NOTE: The frosted type of paper worked out best with markers, the shiny white tended to smear.

Since my original Spirograph ball point pens were long dead after 30+ years, I had also bought some fine point Sharpies in many different colors and they worked great! The tip was small and long enough to fit through the holes in the Spirograph disks and produce beautiful results.

Before they went in the oven, we punched holes in some of the finished Shrinky Dinks. A regular one-hole paper punch works fine and, once shrunk, produces a hole large enough for a thread or fine wire. If you need to thread on something larger than that, then punch several times to make a bigger hole.

The girls strung them on thread to make necklaces. I actually have an even fancier idea in mind, so check back!

If you like this, then be sure to read my original Spirograph post. To find out how to make your own Shrinky Dink plastic from home trash, don’t miss my Homemade Shrinky Dinks post!

Comments (2)

By Mom Unplugged, February 27, 2010 9:00 pm

I promised a reminder … here it is!!!!!

REMINDER: Please link to your Spiral Unplugged Project before tomorrow night: Sunday, February 28th. Links go here. On Monday, March 1st at some point I’ll close the Spiral Linky and post a new theme for the month of March.

We did another neat Spiral Unplugged Project today based on our first Spirograph fun. I’ll be sure to get the post up before I close the linky.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, then please read more here about the Monthly Unplugged Project.

Comments (9)

By Mom Unplugged, February 14, 2010 6:54 pm

The theme for this month’s Unplugged Project is spiral. All along I had been thinking Spirograph and dug out my old Spirograph sets (yes, I am a packrat!), but we haven’t had a chance to play with those yet.

Coincidentally, my husband gave each of the kids a gift bag full of Valentine’s Day goodies, including a very cute, small, heart-shaped Spirograph-type toy! They pulled those out this afternoon and had a blast with them. It was their first time playing with such a thing (although the results reminded the kids of our very fun string art project).

It is still a bit hard for my 4 year-old to manage on her own (holding frame still and keeping the gear tracking along the teeth), but she loved it and it seems like a great exercise in fine motor skills.

When I was a child, the classic Kenner Spirograph was as ubiquitous as Crayola Crayons or Play-Doh. Everyone had one! But nowadays, as far as I can tell, this is considered a “vintage toy” that can only be found at places like Ebay. Am I vintage too?? Feeling a little old here…

Anyhow, I have lots of not-so-vintage ideas of things to do with our Spirograph creations. Hopefully we’ll get to try them and post about it before the end of the month.

LINKS:

• There are still Spirograph-like sets out there.

• Here’s a simple one that looks pretty good to me: Hypotrochoid Art Set.

• The mathematics and history of Spirograph.

• Find a real Spirograph set on Ebay!

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Do you have a spiral-themed project to share? Then please consider joining our Monthly Unplugged Project and link to your post here. Read more about the Monthly Unplugged Project here!

Comments (11)

By Mom Unplugged, February 10, 2010 11:18 am

BLAST FROM THE PAST POST (Originally published on May 23, 2007) - Having fun digging out some old stuff!

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I did a silly thing.

With child number three, we finally outgrew our small kitchen table. I ordered this great table with the green chairs from West Elm. The table arrived and I LOVE it! It looks fabulous in my green kitchen area and is nice and big for meals, homework, projects (clutter), etc.

But…I ordered the cushions too. The chair cushions are a lovely, minimalist white. WHAT WAS I THINKING??? They have washable covers, but do I really want to be removing cushion covers and washing them every day? I have enough daily laundry to do without adding more to it. Plus, what about spaghetti sauce? Will that come out or will I need to dye the covers red to match the stains? Maybe we should just eat white food from now on. Potatoes, pasta, milk, ice cream (vanilla)…

This reminds me of one of my pet peeves. Decorating magazines that feature “families” with cute little blonde curly-haired angels running around the immaculate garden in adorable white outfits. These families always have elegant minimalist living rooms in varying shades of white with sisal rugs. The room is completely decorated with “flea market finds” and boasts (and this is the kicker) a WHITE SLIPCOVERED SOFA on which the family greyhound is reclining comfortably.

The glamorous, yet natural-looking mother always offers up some savvy decorating wisdom, such as: “Seek out flea market pieces that have good bones.” Or, “I like to decorate with white slipcovers because you can just pull them off and throw them in the wash!” With a house full of toddlers and sofa-sleeping greyhounds, this mother (or her maid) must be washing her slipcovers five times a day.

My slipcovers would be living in my laundry room. My sisal rug would have cat barf on it (How does one clean cat vomit out of the fibers of a sisal rug anyhow? With a toothbrush?). Do Lazy-Boy recliners have “good bones?” Where do I find a flea market near me? We have garage sales, thrift stores and a “swap meet,” but unless your decorating style is “Early Salvation Army” or involves antlers, you might be a bit disappointed with the availability of elegant antique bargains where I live.

So, this brings me back to my dilemma. What do I do with white kitchen chair cushions? I am simply not as brave as those “magazine moms.” Mine are in a box in the attic to be brought out when my children are in college.

PS. I thought about cleaning off the table for the photo, but decided that it was more interesting to simply capture a moment in time from a “real mom’s” house. I hope you appreciate my honesty.