Arts Monday- 4th of July

This fourth of July we are making t-shirts (and visors because I couldn't resist them for $1 at Michaels). They boys are very excited and we will wear this when we visit Schlitterbahn on the 4th of July. They are even making a surprise present for their cousins who are visiting from California.

We will take some piper cleaner and shape them to look like fireworks. Dip them in glitter paint and stamp them on our cheap Michael's shirts. Red, White and Obviously Blue :) We have some fabric markers so they can write whatever festive sayings they want. (Don't forget to put newspaper, posterboard, plastic bags, anything that won't leak between the two layers of your shirt so it won't bleed through to the other side.

The boys friend, Miriam, will be visiting for this weeks art project. They are going to be making the above mentioned t-shirts as well as "Star Spankled Banner" books, some fun fans and some star batons. I will also be making festive cupcakes with flag toothpicks I found. I hope you are able to use one of our crafts this week. If so, please let us know how it turned out!

CRAFT MATERIALS:
Scissors
Pieces of red, white, and blue felt
Red, white, and blue ribbons (available at local craft stores)
Tacky glue
3/8-inch dowel
Time needed: 30 Minutes or Less

1. Cut a pair of 6-inch stars from red, white, or blue felt.
2. Cut a slightly smaller pair from a different color of felt (4"), and an even smaller pair from the third color(3").
3. Use tacky glue to affix the stars to each other. Glue together the 2 sets of stars, sandwiching a 3/8-inch dowel between them.
4. Allow the glue to dry, then finish the baton by tying a length of red, white, and blue ribbon around the dowel.



CRAFT MATERIALS:
Wooden paint stirrer (or cheat with craft sticks because you are too lazy to go to the local Home Depot)
2 (8-inch) squares of card stock, one white and one blue, for each fan
Glue
Red tape
Sticker stars
Time needed: 30 Minutes or Less
1. Use glue to sandwich the top of a wooden paint stirrer between two 8-inch squares of card stock (one white and one blue).
2. Apply strips of red tape to the white side and sticker stars to the blue side, and the fan is ready to wave.
For the stripes you could also glue red stripes on white paper. (if once again you want to use what you have because you are too lazy to go to the store!)

Here are some photos from last weeks paper plate crafts...


(Yes I do dress my kids but why bother when they are just going to get dirty)

Alex
Ian
Daniel

Even though I put out tons of design ideas on what to do with the paper plates, Alex stunned and thrilled me with this sculpture of stuff I had laying around. This would be a monster snow boarding (note the paper plate with the "yellow snow", which Darren proceeded to tell the boys all about)

Ian followed the instructions to the letter and made a beautiful lady bug.

What are you doing these days?