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By Mom Unplugged, August 29, 2008 8:42 pm

Unplugged Project Special Edition

Now that my camera cable is back, here is our project for trees. Better late than never I suppose!

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I was fairly uninspired for the Unplugged Project theme of trees. It needed to be simple since we were in Albuquerque for the weekend, away from any supplies beyond crayons and paper. No one had ideas, then I suggested making trees out of our hand outlines. The idea was met with very little enthusiasm, but my oldest daughter and I decided to give it a go.

First we traced our hands:

Then we cut some small branches off some trees that needed a bit of pruning anyhow. We took the leaves off the branches to stick them on our handprints:

What started off as a rather dull project quickly became exciting when one of the leaves I was stripping off a branch suddenly hopped onto the countertop and began walking around!

He was amazingly similar to the leaves I was using and none of us had seen him, even up close, until he jumped off.

We all ooed and aahed and squealed with delight as our surprise visitor crawled on our hands and showed us that he knew how to fly.

After we had all had a very gentle turn with him, we carefully returned him to his tree.

Here is a photo of him in the tree to show you how well camouflaged he was (if you are having a hard time spotting him, look for the brown spot. That is him pooping - much to the delight of the children):

After that bit of unexpected excitement, we finished our projects with new enthusiasm!

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This was an Unplugged Project “special edition.” Be sure to check back on Monday morning to see what everyone comes up with for this week’s theme of insect.

Comments (22)

By Mom Unplugged, April 6, 2008 10:28 pm

The theme for this week’s Unplugged Project was books.

I confess to having had a bit of a hard time with this one. The choices seemed endless. Of course the kids could make books, write books, read books, organize their books (I always like to get them organizing their stuff!), make bookmarks, make bookends… nothing seemed quite right though. So, since the weather today was so lovely (windy, but beautiful), we decided to go for a walk/bike/scooter adventure, during which we collected leaves and other natural things that we might be able to use for a project (when in doubt, nature is always a good place to start).

When we got home my 5 year-old son wanted to make a nature book for his treasures. My 7 year-old daughter wanted to make book marks. I had been vaguely thinking of the old iron-the-wax-paper trick and suggested we try that for the bookmarks. This is what we came up with:

The “nature expedition:”

Bookmarks:

Our materials:

First we cut out rectangles of wax paper:

Then we arranged our nature finds on one half of the wax paper:

Next we folded the wax paper over to make a “sandwich” and I ironed it.

There are no photos of this step since I (the photographer) was doing the ironing. I will say though, that it did not work as smoothly as I remember it as a child. The first try did not stick. Then it seemed there was a sticky side to the wax paper, then it seemed that both sides were sticky. Weird. Is it because our wax paper was “microwave-safe?” Hmm…. I never did figure it out. Next time I would probably use clear contact paper instead.

After the ironing process, we made construction paper frames to hide the edges, punched a hole and looped yarn through the hole for a tassel.

We got off to a rocky start with the wax paper dilemma, but we ended up having a lot of fun and produced four bookmarks!

Nature Book:

My son stapled three sheets of construction paper together and stuck his finds on to the pages with tape, glue, and staples. He was quite happy for at least an hour, just choosing his natural objects, and attaching them.

Here is the final product:

For another book-related idea, please read my post A Silk Purse Out of a Sow’s Ear.

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Did you join in our project this week? If so, then thank you! Please leave the link to your project in Mr. Linky as well as a comment, since sometimes Mr. Linky doesn’t work well and I have to take him off.

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Next week’s Unplugged Project theme is:

Food

(doesn’t have to be cooking…what else can you do with food?)

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Comments (12)

By Mom Unplugged, March 16, 2008 9:12 pm

This week’s Unplugged Project theme was wood. Our project began with a snowy trek through the trees on our property in search of twigs and small branches. The winter winds had knocked down many pine branches, so they were easy to find. We gathered a few pine cones too. The plan: Fairy Houses!!

We’ve done this before in the summer when more materials were available (leaves, moss, petals, etc.) which made for quite luxurious accommodations. But since there was snow today, these will have to be rather austere, winter fairy houses.

As you can see from the photos, the dogs did a wood project too…romping through the wood-s.

Here are our gathered materials:

Plus some cardboard bases, some string, and a hot glue gun.

My husband was happy to operate the glue gun and glued whatever needed to be glued. I was the string expert and helped tie string.

Here is the process and result:

My daughter then placed the fairy houses in the garden for the fairies to enjoy.

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What did you do for wood? If you joined us, please put your link in Mr. Linky (and a comment in case I have to take him off - so we can still find you to visit). If you didn’t join us but are simply lurking, why not “delurk” and put your link in, either this week or next? If you don’t have a blog, you can still join in…read about the non-blog options at my Unplugged Project page.

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Next week’s project:

Eggs (for Easter, or spring/birth if you don’t celebrate Easter)

Please join us with your ideas for eggs!

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Comments (7)

By Mom Unplugged, October 21, 2007 9:07 pm

Last Monday I proposed that any interested bloggers or readers come together for a weekly group children’s art project: The Inaugural “Unplugged Project. “

The “assignment” was to go outside with your kids and collect natural objects with interesting textures, then dip those objects in paint and use them as stamps to create art.

My kids had a great time with this. We did it when a friend was over to play, so all in all we had kids ages 7, 6, 5, and 21 months, plus two Moms (we couldn’t resist giving it a try ourselves).

The kids went out with baskets on a beautiful, sunny fall day and came back with pine needles, pine cones, leaves of various sorts, moss, twigs, rocks, and flowers. We poured paint onto plates and then they had at it! I gave them brushes also, in case they wanted to use them to spread paint on the objects instead of dipping, or for adding other “art” to their work.

Here is a photo of our session, plus the results.

Even the baby did one. Much to my horror, some of the paint ended up in her mouth…but it was labeled non-toxic and was manufactured in Canada of all places, so I felt much better! Here is my 21 month-old baby’s masterpiece:

NEXT PROJECT:

Now we need an Unplugged Project for this coming week. If this idea works out and we continue it regularly, I hope that you all might email some suggestions from time to time - I will surely run out of them soon! Next week, since it is almost Halloween here in the US, I choose this project:

Decorate a Small Pumpkin

Supplies:
- a small pumpkin (or big if you want!)
- paint and brushes

Have your child decorate a small pumpkin with paint. Leave it up to them. Younger children will want to just dab on paint. Older children might have a plan for a face, animal, design…whatever! If you don’t have a pumpkin, how about drawing one on a piece of paper and letting your child decorate that?

I will put a post up with a Mr. Linky next Monday morning - October 29th (or late Sunday night). Email me by Sunday night with photos if you don’t have a blog and want your photos online (unplugyourkids “at” gmail “dot” com).

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I hope this was enjoyable for everyone who took part and that you will join us again. Please remember that if you do not have a blog of your own and want to participate, simply send me your photos and I would love to post them here.

Also: If you want to join us but have been too busy to follow the exact plan, that’s totally OK! This is supposed to be fun. Please post whatever you and your little ones come up with this week no matter what it is!

If you took part in this week’s project, please put your name and link in Mr. Linky so we can all visit each other and see what the kids came up with. Enjoy!

Comments (8)

By Mom Unplugged, October 15, 2007 12:01 am

I truly believe that the way to raise environmentally aware children is to instill a love and appreciation of nature at an early age.

Here are some ideas and resources to help parents encourage a love of nature in their children. Just one of these ideas alone may not make much of a difference, but a combination of several should begin to have an impact on the way children perceive the world we live in. I hope so anyhow! Please give some of these a try:

1) Get your kids outside! Go for a hike, or even a walk around the neighborhood. The National Wildlife Federation has a website for parents and kids called The Green Hour which is filled with ideas for what to do outside. Also check out Backyard Nature with Jim Conrad for 101 nature-oriented activities that change seasonally.

2) Have your kids plant a small garden. If you live in the city, have them plant a pot or two on the deck or even in a sunny window. Here are some of my tips for gardening with children: The Children’s Garden.

3) Subscribe to nature magazines for children such as Zoobooks (ages 4-12), Zootles (ages 2-5), National Geographic Kids (6-14), National Geographic Little Kids (ages 3-6), Ranger Rick (ages 7 and up), Your Big Backyard (ages 3-7) or for really little ones (ages 1-4) - try the National Wildlife Federation’s Wild Animal Baby. Not only do these magazines teach kids about nature, but they encourage reading too!

Note: Ranger Rick must have been around for eons, because even I remember getting it, and loving it, as a child.

4) Subscribe to a nature club such as the Arbor Day Foundation’s Nature Explore Club.

5) Put out a bird feeder, or better yet, a variety of bird feeders (hummingbird, thistle seed, suet feeders, platform feeders, peanuts in shells, as well as the traditional sunflower and millet varieties). Even in the city it should usually be possible to hang a small feeder outside a window. If you can put out a bird bath, especially a heated one for climates with cold winters, you will notice an even greater number of bird visitors.

6) Get a kit for raising butterflies, frogs, ladybugs, or hermit crabs for example.

Or how about an ant farm?

Or my personal favorite…sea monkeys!

7) Set an example. Whether we like it or not, kids model parents’ behaviors. Show your own interest in nature, and point out interesting animals, insects, plants etc. on a daily basis. To inspire yourself, I suggest reading Rachel Carson’s book The Sense of Wonder. Read my review of it here. Also, you can check out the adult resources here, at the Hooked on Nature website.

8) Come up with some nature-themed art projects for your children, or recycled art. Good resources for ideas are: Nature’s Art Box, Recycled Crafts Box, and Earthways: Simple Environmental Activities for Young Children

If you are interested, I reviewed Earthways here.

9) Involve children in your recycling. Let them help sort. Take them with you when you drop it off. Older children might benefit from a book like Down-to-Earth Guide To Global Warming. Read my review here for more information.

10) Read nature-themed stories to your children. Here are some suggested reading lists by age from the Hooked on Nature website:

Ages 3-8
Ages 6-14

11) Set up a seasonal nature table in your home where children can display their outdoor finds. A fall table for example might have fall leaves, acorns, and pine cones, whereas a spring table might have spring flowers, feathers and grasses. Change the table seasonally and see what wonders your children come home with.

12) Start solstice celebrations in your home. Explain about the movement of the Earth, what causes the seasons, and what the solstice means. Last year we had our first annual solstice celebration on the winter solstice. We lit candles and had a special meal. The children gathered whatever they could find outside to create the centerpiece (pine branches, pine cones, rocks, and twigs). They still talk about that evening more than any other holiday celebration that we have had! I believe that being more aware of the natural rhythms of life, helps build an awareness of the importance of nature and the planet.

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I really wish I had begun this post three weeks ago instead of last night, because I know that there are many more great ideas for getting kids excited about nature and the environment. This will definitely have to be an ongoing project for me.

I hope you have enjoyed my ideas, and will find them useful. The main point is that children are the future of out planet. Get them outdoors and teach them just how wonderful our planet is…PLEASE!!!!