Comments (13)

By Mom Unplugged, December 30, 2007 9:51 pm

The good news (I hope you think it is): I am back. The bad news: We had an adventure-filled trip home from Mexico, came home a day later than planned, I spent all day today unpacking and doing mountains of laundry while attempting to mentally and physically recover from a week away in a foreign country with an almost two year-old. Excuses, excuses, excuses…but it all boils down to the confession that I DIDN’T DO MY OWN UNPLUGGED PROJECT!!!

Perhaps we’ll get to it later this week? Big sigh.

Loser that I am, I am still here offering a humble Mr. Linky to any who might have been more organized, diligent, and available than I. I enjoy collage tremendously and look forward to seeing what you came up with. And if you didn’t quite get to it because of holiday stuff, that is OK too.

More on the trip when I have the time and energy to write about it (tomorrow I hope, but don’t guarantee).

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Next week’s Unplugged Project:

Puzzle

Some ideas (depending on the age of your child):

- Cut up a picture on a cereal box and have your child put it back together (lots of intricate pieces for older kids, just a few simple pieces for younger ones). If you have no available cereal box, glue a magazine page onto some cardboard and then cut.

- Do a family puzzle together. Leave it out on a table all week and put in a few pieces as you all pass by it. See how much you can complete in one week.

- Have your kids (or you, for them to complete), make up crossword, word search, or sudoku puzzles.

- A scavenger hunt? List objects that each child must find in the house or outside. First one with everything wins their choice of family board game to play or book to be read aloud.

What comes to mind for you when you think of puzzle?

Hope to see you next Monday. I promise we’ll be there too!

Comments (11)

By Mom Unplugged, December 2, 2007 9:54 pm

This week I had thought we might make paper snowflakes to hang in the window, but the children got very involved in making a long paper chain. Making more ornaments to sell to raise money for Heifer International, a field trip and a huge roof leak in the playroom distracted us from further paper projects, so the paper chain will have to be our Unplugged Project for this week.

Here it is hanging along our staircase banisters as a Christmas decoration for the cats to destroy:

Other fun paper project ideas that come to mind are:

Origami
Snowflakes
Stamp your own wrapping paper
Paper mache
Card making
Water Paper Painting (Wet some paper down with a paintbrush. Have your child (or you!) draw on it with paints or magic markers and see what happens)

Plus…whatever YOU have come up with!

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Visitors: Please click on the links in Mr. Linky below to see what other participants came up with for “paper” this week. Please feel free to join us for next week’s project! You can view all the Unplugged Project links by clicking here.

Participants: Please put your link in Mr. Linky so that we can find you.

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Next Monday’s Unplugged Project:

“Nature” (anything you can think of related to nature, whatever that means for you)

-or-

Collect objects from outside and create a seasonal nature tray or nature table.

Have fun!

Comments (21)

By Mom Unplugged, November 25, 2007 8:45 pm

This week’s theme for the Unplugged Project was “Thankful.”

This project tied in nicely with my oldest daughter’s ambitions to raise money for her class. The class is trying to buy some animals from Heifer International to benefit a village in Africa and each child must figure out a way to raise some money towards this project. My daughter decided to make Christmas ornaments and intends to set up a “Christmas Ornament Stand” at the end of our driveway (more on the success - or lack thereof - in a future post). But these few days off from school were spent making Christmas ornaments.

We made a dough out of corn starch, salt and water and rolled it out (recipe from The Toddlers Busy Book). We cut out shapes with cookie cutters while the baby rolled some dough around on the table:

We let the ornaments dry overnight and the next day, we decorated them with paint pens and glitter glue.

I haven’t tried this dough before and am a bit dubious as to its strength, so I think I’ll get a clear enamel spray of some sort from the art supply store and we’ll spray the ornaments tomorrow. It was fun though. Here are the results:

I thought it would be nice to make a few ornaments to keep for ourselves that the children could decorate and I would write on them what they tell me they are thankful for. Here they are:

My 5 year-old son is thankful for “Life” and “Animals” and my 7 year-old daughter is thankful for “Family Life” and “Trees.” They had lots of other ideas and wanted me to write these long, descriptive sentences on the ornaments, but unfortunately there wasn’t room for much, so I had to get them to pare down their thoughts a bit.

I put their names and the year on the backs. We’ll string ribbons through them and hang them on the tree for as many years as they last.

What was your “Thankful Project?” If you joined in this week, please leave your link in Mr. Linky so we can find you!

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I am still trying to figure all this out. Some people like vague ideas, and those ideas do work for all ages, but others like specific ideas. Perhaps this week I shall propose two related ideas, one vague and one specific. Let’s see how that goes.

Next Monday’s theme is “Paper.”

Or if you prefer:

Water Paper Painting:

• Wet some paper down with a paintbrush. Have your child (or you!) draw on it with paints or magic markers and see what happens.

Comments (11)

By Mom Unplugged, November 18, 2007 9:15 pm

So, did you “think outside the box this week?” We nearly did not due to misbehavior on the part of my two oldest “darlings.” However, they redeemed themselves at the last minute and were allowed to do the project.

We had a few boxes so I let them each choose one and got out paint, markers, crayons, and paper and told them to do something with it all. I gave no suggestions and let them simply have at it.

I gave the baby a jewelery box and some markers hoping she wouldn’t notice the paint, but of course once she saw that big brother and sister were painting, she had to also. I whisked her off to the bath afterwards (she even had green hair).

Here are the results:

Baby - 22 months

Isn’t that lovely?? I didn’t help at all! I guess it was worth the massive mess!

Son - 5 years - A ROCKET SHIP AND DOCK

This is the way I first photographed it:

But apparently that was all wrong. This is the way it is “supposed” to go:

Daughter - 7 years - A PETROGLYPH MUSEUM

Can you tell we live in the Southwestern US?

If you participated, thank you and I hope you had fun. Please leave your name in Mr. Linky so we can find each other.

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I have had a lot of positive feedback on the “vague” ideas. Really that does make a project more adaptable for all ages from toddler through adult, so let’s try another very general idea for next Monday’s Unplugged Project:

“Thankful” (since it is the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US on Thursday).

It can be related to something you are thankful for, or simply a more traditional Thanksgiving-type craft. Remember, it doesn’t have to be a messy art project if you are not in the mood. Photography, poetry, story, or anything else you or your kids can dream up is great. The point is to have fun!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Comments (9)

By Mom Unplugged, November 11, 2007 10:50 pm

I AM SEEING RED!!

The theme for this week’s Unplugged Project was simply “Red.”

I thought it might be fun to use up some of those catalogs that fill the mailbox at this time of year, so I suggested a red collage. The kids love cutting, so they were all for it.

I had fun with it too and did my own red collage.

First we put on our current favorite kids’ music tape (Wee Sing Around the World), then I put a pile of catalogs on the table (minus the toy catalogs - I don’t need to be giving them any ideas), some scissors, construction paper, glue sticks and we joyfully began cutting away.

OUR GALLERY

5 year-old son: First Collage

5 year-old son: Robot

7 year-old daughter: First Collage

7 year-old daughter: Grapes

Me: Apple

I was going to turn the baby lose with a red crayon or paint, but we never quite got to it this week, so she is absent from the gallery. Oh well.

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I am hoping that after this week, vague ideas are still OK with you all. I think that makes it easier to adapt to all ages, toddler through adult, so we’ll try it again. Plus it’s fun to come up with your own idea (at least I thought so!).

Next week’s project:

“Box”

That’s it. Do something with a box. Paint it. Scribble on it. Decoupage it. Turn it into a dollhouse or toybox or photo storage container. Give it to your kids and turn them loose to see what they do with it. Write a poem about a box if you want! Anything at all, but the main ingredient of your creation must be something to do with a box.

So, “think outside the box” and good luck!

I can’t wait to see more red today, so please put your link in Mr. Linky so I can find you.