Comb Painting

What You Will Need

thick coloured construction paper (or cardboard)
2.5 tablespoons of flour
3 tablespoons of water
about 10 drops of food colouring
comb (flat, not curved, along exposed end of teeth)
mixing bowl and spoon



Instructions

1. Mix flour and water well, smoothing out bumps.



2. Add food colouring to mixture. Mix well.



3. Spread the paste on the paper.



4. Drag the comb through the paint for different effects.


Additional Details

Use combs with assorted spaced and sized teeth for different effects.

This recipe makes about 6 tablespoons of comb paint.

Chocolate Monkey

What You Need

3 cups of vanilla ice cream
1 banana
1/2 cup chocolate sundae sauce
1 cup of milk
sprinkles (optional)
blender



Instructions

1. Cut up the banana and place in the blender.



2. Mash or blend the banana, well.



3. Add the ice cream, milk, and chocolate sauce.



4. Blend. The drink will have the consistency of thick chocolate milk.



5. Pour sprinkles on top, if desired.





Additional Details

This makes 4.5+ cups of Chocolate Monkey.

If you want your Chocolate Monkey thicker, add more ice cream. Thinner, add more milk.

STAR Buckaroo

Cutie Patootie Grace, age 3, from NS, Canada, paints a "friend bowling".

Thanks for your photo, Grace! Look for your gift of appreciation in the mail!

Would your child like to see their art posted here? Any type of art. If so, please submit the photo here: kidbuckaroo@gmail.com. Please include your child's first name and your mailing address (only your province will be printed). Each submit gets your child a little craft gift!

For ideas about painting please check out these sections: Painting and Paper Projects.

Mr See and Mr Soar

Take a long breath before trying this one...

Mr. See owned a saw.
And Mr. Soar owned a seesaw.

Now See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw
Before Soar saw See,
Which made Soar sore.

Had Soar seen See's saw
Before See sawed Soar's seesaw,
See's saw would not have sawed
Soar's seesaw.

So See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw.
But it was sad to see Soar so sore
Just because See's saw sawed
Soar's seesaw!

Toilet Tag

How To Play

The oldest child is selected to be 'it'.

If you get tagged you become a toilet- squat with your hands out in front of you.

You must be 'flushed' to be untagged. To be 'flushed' your hands must be pushed down, by someone who is free, and both children must make a flushing sound together.

Kids think this is hilarious... especially boys.

Puffy Paint Recipe

What You Will Need

1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup salt
1/3 cup water
about 12 drops of food colouring
squeeze bottle
thick paper or cardboard
bowl and spoon for mixing



Instructions

1. Mix the flour, salt and water.



2. Add the food colouring.



3. Fill the squeeze bottle with the paint.



4. Repeat this entire procedure for each paint colour that you want.




(Puffy paint picture of "a shiny day" by Thomas, age 2)

Additional Details

This recipe makes 1 cup of paint.

Depending on how thickly you have painted, it may take many hours to completely dry.

The paint will be puffy with a slight sparkle when dry.

To transfer your paint easily into the bottle (step 3), choose a bottle with a wide opening. Here we have used an old mustard container.

The cardboard we used in this project was the inside of an old cereal box.

Betty Botter

Have fun with this tongue twister!

Betty Botter had some butter,
"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.
If I bake this bitter butter,
it would make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter--
that would make my batter better."

So she bought a bit of butter,
better than her bitter butter,
and she baked it in her batter,
and the batter was not bitter.
So 'twas better Betty Botter
bought a bit of better butter.

Chocolate Caterpillar

What You Will Need

20 oatmeal cookies
1 tub of chocolate frosting (or homemade)
5 pieces of black licorice (fresh and pliable)
1 large marshmallow
sharp knife
spreader
serving tray



Instructions

1. Cut each piece of licorice in half.



2. Slice each piece of licorice in half length-wise.



3. Spread one cookie with about 1 teaspoon of frosting. Place a piece of licorice across the middle of the cookie.



4. Place a cookie, with its underside frosted, on top.



5. Frost the cookie's top and place another licorice piece.



6. Repeat until the column is 5 cookies high. Make 3 additional columns, like this one, with the remaining cookies.



7. Place all 4 cookie-columns on a serving tray end to end, on their side



8. Slide the cookies at an angle, so they are slightly laying on top of one another. Cut little round eyes and a smiling mouth from the marshmallow.



Additional Details

Make sure the licorice for this project is fresh and soft. Hard and stale licorice is difficult to cut.

For variation, use candies instead of a marshmallow for the eyes and mouth.

Miss Hannah had a Teddy

How To Play the Action Song
(words in red, action in blue)

Miss Hannah had a teddy, who was sick, sick, sick.
(fold your arms and rock them as if you were holding the sick teddy)
So she called for doctor Yanic to be quick, quick, quick.
(put one hand to your ear and use the other to dial)
The doctor came with his bag and his hat,
(pat your head to show your hat)
And he knocked on the door, with a rat-a-tat-tat.
(pretend to knock on the door)

He looked at the teddy and he shook his head,
(shake your head)
And he said, " Miss Hannah put her straight to bed".
(wag your finger)
He wrote on a paper for a pill, pill, pill.
(write with a finger on the palm of your hand)
That will make it better yes it will, will, will.
(nod again to show that teddy will get better)

String Paintings

(string painting by Thomas, 2 years old)

What You Will Need

white paper sheet
string (one piece for each paint colour, about 6 inches long)
non-toxic paints, approximately 2 tablespoons per colour



Instructions

1. It works best if the paint is spread in a swallow dish or bowl. Dip a piece of string in the paint, saturated it well.



2. Drag and drop the string against the paper.



3. Repeat with the other paint colours.

Additional Details

Use strings of different textures and widths for a varied effect.

Fold your paper in half to make a pretty card.

Purple Moos

What You Need

3 cups of vanilla frozen yogurt
1/2 can of frozen grape juice (concentrate, not diluted)
1.5 teaspoons of lemon juice
1 cup of milk
blender



Instructions

1. Place yogurt, grape concentrate, lemon and milk in a blender.



2. Blend until smooth. Serve immediately.



Additional Details

This makes about 4 cups of Purple Moo.

This is so tasty that adults will enjoy it just as much as children.

Five Fat Peas

How To Play the Action Song
(words in red, action in blue)

Five fat peas in a pea pod pressed
(hold hand in a fist)

One grew, two grew, so did the rest.
(put thumb and all fingers up one by one)

They grew and grew and did not stop
(move hand up very slowly and stretch fingers apart)

Until one day when the pod went POP!
(clap hands together at the word POP)

Paper Mache Bowl

What You Will Need

1 recipe Paper Mache Paste
bowl (to mold)
newspaper
scissors (big ones for you, safety ones for the kids)
an assortment of non-toxic paints
a paint brush
scotch tape
piece of thin plastic wrap (big enough to cover your bowl)



Instructions

1. Cut strips from the newspaper - about 1 inch wide, 2 inches long.




2. Cover the bowl (to be molded) with a plastic wrap. The wrap will allow the bowl to be removed easily when the project is complete. Tape the wrap into place. Turn the bowl upside down on your work area.





3. Dip the paper strips into the paste. Put the covered strips between your thumb and index finger. Slide your fingers down over the paper, with an easy pressure, to remove excess paste.





4. Place the strips on the bowl in a crisscrossed fashion. Make sure you overlap layers. Be certain to give good coverage to the sides of the bowl as well as the bottom.



5. Let your project dry, sitting it in a dry, warm place. It will take about 48 hours for the project to be well dried.



6. Carefully remove the paper-mache form from the original bowl.



6. Peel away the plastic.



7. Any excess, or uneven edges may be trimmed with scissors.




8. Paint your masterpiece and let dry.




(painted by Nicholas, 7 yrs old)

Additional Details

Light paint colours let the newsprint show through as in the photo below.



Use dark coloured paints if you do not want the newsprint to show.

This is a messy project but very fun to do and the end result is well worth the effort.