Cookies, Crayons, Classes, & Chaos

Teaching art to children

Whether you are homeschooling or just to keep kids busy during the summer, these are some great blogs to follow for inspiration and "how to" instructions.

Concept to Object and crayon art

This Lansing, MI artist has wonderful creations to sell on etsy (check out discount codes here), but also shows you how to do some neat DIY art projects. Her crayon art was featured at the 2011 East Lansing art festival. She graciously provided crayon art instructions in case you want to try your hand at making an original art piece yourself. It would be a great outdoor summer project to do with the kids using the sun.

Fairy Dust Teaching

If you are a mother or teacher of preschoolers, this is a "must-follow" blog! She gives complete step by step instructions for drawing objects so you do not have to be an artist yourself. It's very empowering! The art projects use simple supplies that you'll likely have on hand or can easily obtain from a box store or dollar store. The near-daily blog posts show you what artwork is going on in her classroom. So you can use this site to help you plan your own curriculum and activities.

Here are some wonderful tutorials:

Glittery Galaxy Play Dough

DIY Moon Sand

Pinwheels

Practicing Patterns and Rhythm in Art

Shoe art

Walnut People

Parenting the intense, explosive, inflexible, sprited, twice gifted child.

A rose is a rose by any other name, but a challenging kid can have lots of different labels.

I'm not against labels if they help me get resources, find support, and give some validity to the challenges we face.

Emotional intensity seems to be a common factor in all these labels, along with the autism spectrum and ADHD and sensory processing disorder.

In a decade our understanding of brain science will figure out the nuances, similarities, and distinctions between these labels.

But in the meantime, what are parents to do in the face of everyday struggles and and challenges?

Here are some resources that I appreciate for strategies:

An Intense Life Blog - where intensity is embraced and celebrated as an asset for children when channeled into positive means. She offers 7 tips for working with emotionally intense kids.

Celebrate Calm - providing specific strategies for dealing with behavioral outbursts in positive, calm ways to help parents get the respect they desire while respecting the child.

Lives in the Balance: Cooperative Problem Solving Approaches to Behavior - helping parents and teachers recognize the skills that kids with behavioral challenges are lacking, like flexibility/adaptability, frustration tolerance, and problem solving and help build them. Rather than viewing them as unmotivated or manipulative, Ross Green's approach helps builds mutual respect between adults and kids by meeting needs and building skills.

Kidlutions - providing anger management tools for kids and their parents and offering special tips and guidance for understanding and helping angry/intense kids.

The importance of knowing your neighbors, lots of them.

From NPR: How Social Networking Can Help Neighbors During Disasters

Knowing your neighbors, and lots of of them is important.

Daniel Aldrich analyses indicate that neighbors and people in the immediate environment were important in surviving and recovering from natural disasters.

Japan earthquakes - 2011 - It wasn't government intervention or first responders that saved the most people. It was neighbors who did.
India tsunami 2004 - It wasn't money, or power that helped the most. The people who were doing best after the disasters were those who knew lots of people; those who were most socially connected in their community.

How socially connected are we to our neighbors?

If you use facebook as a measure of how socially connected we are to our neighbors, then the news isn't so great.

According to "Social networking sites and our lives" quoted in this NPR report, on average, people only connect with 2 neighbors on facebook. Facebook appears to be more useful for re-connecting with existing social networks (family, friends, co-workers, former classmates, voluntary organizations) but not establishing new connections with people who share a sense of nothing but place.

How do we connect?

In this report they suggest using the "Front Porch" social media application designed to connect people only from the same community.

But that application has only been rolled out in a very small sample of communities.

So what can folks do in the meantime?

Start or participate in a block group or neighborhood association.
Pass out flyers to ask folks on your block to bring a dish to pass at a summer block party outdoors.
Introduce yourself to 2 neighbors. Ask your neighbors to introduce you to their neighbors.
Organize a group ticket price for a local sporting event and ask neighbors to meet there together.
Ask neighbors to join in on a block garage sale.
Start a walking club on your block.

Whether or not you connect with these neighbors on facebook, at least you will know each other! When you are comfortable, exchange telephone numbers or email so you can connect with each other in multiple ways.

Happy neighboring!

For the CNN junkie who likes gardening: The story of Luther Burbank

It's hard to believe that many of my geeky interests co-mingled in this one book; Plants, politics, and history.

If CNN was around at the beginning of our history, the contents of this book are what we would have been watching as our nation's infrastructure, land grant universities, and ideals unfolded with an amazing cast of characters;Inventors, politicians, celebrities, scholars, business owners.

Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, President Warren G. Harding, and
businessman Harvey C. Firestone at one of a series of camping trips 1921 in Maryland.

Here's a smart kid who was a misfit by all accounts, who would fall though the cracks of today's education system, but went on to become a great inventor right alongside Edison and Ford.

Photo of Burbank with Thomas Edison taken in garden
beside ivy-covered wall of new residence
by John Ross of Santa Rosa. http://www.sonic.net/~rb45/P-I-F.htm

Seeing the photos and reading the stories of Edison, Ford, Firestone, and Burbank interacting with one another were fascinating, along with accounts of interations with the Wright brothers, Hellen Keller, Leland Stanford and other dignitaries of the day.

This book gives us insight into the running thread of history and agricultural policy decisions in the context of Darwin, Irish potato famine, poverty, American enthusiasm for inventions and ingenuity and the politics and emergence of the American academic institutions.

So many of the debates and discussions are still relevant today, some ideals having come full circle. This book made history come alive in technicolor.

Decisions regarding plant patenting that Luther Burbank fought so hard for but did not see before his death, continue to evolve and were modified as recently as 1994.

We now see plant patenting issues discussed in response to the medical marijuana laws enacted by states. The pharmaceutical industry, the designated distributor of other medicines, is blocked in distribution, not only by drug laws but by plant patent laws.

Heirloom Vegetables

We can see how the initial goals to improve plant production to address poverty and bring improvements has resulted in genetically modified foods, tasteless produce that travels well, and loss of heirloom varieties. It is an arc of probably unintended consequences from the initial quests.

How could I not know about Luther Burbank before reading this book? Arbor day was created in his honor and celebrated on his birthday. His birthplace resides "down the road" at Greenfield Village.

Certainly this book has been food for thought.

Lawns with Less Grass: Outdoor play spaces for children

We have been working to eliminate as much unnecessary grass as possible.

If the grass isn't a space in the yard that is conducive to playing ball or some other purpose, I feel there is no need for grass which needs to be watered and mowed.

Instead, my goal is to make our yard a magical place for kids to grow and explore, even in the middle of the city.

So we added a small pond, lovingly referred to as a puddle by my neighbor, and lots of plantings.

Perennial beds, vegetable gardens, fruit trees and bushes, and paths give us lots of alternatives to grass.

Butterflies, birds, rabbits, hummingbirds, bees, and even deer come to visit our little oasis in the city.

I drew much inspiration from "A Child's Garden: 60 Ideas to Make Any Garden Come Alive for Children" by Molly Dannenmaier. The photos are incredible. The ideas unique and magical. I wanted to jump into each page and live there.

The book provided ideas for creating the essential elements of an outdoor playspace including, water, dirt, sand, creatures, and places for climbing, pretending, hiding, picking, moving, learning, imagining.

Because we live on a corner lot, with lots of front yard and hardly any back yard, all our gardens are front yard gardens. So it was wonderful to find a book all about growing in the front yard instead of the traditional back yard garden.

I love the concept of The Welcoming Garden by Gordon Hayward, with gardens that call out an invitation to enter and gather instead of being seen as barriers or perimeter borders.

Here are the books which have been useful in thinking about how to create our outdoor environment for children and adults, keeping in mind low-maintenance goals while being on a small plot of land in which all our space is in the front. That's a tall order! These are some great books to help.

Easy recipes for busy families: One pot cooking

I'll admit it. I hate hate hate to cook. But I don't mind making soups. I love to eat soups and I feel like I can be at least mildly successful making them.

I guess the truth is that I feel like I can cook when it involves putting stuff in one pot to cook. Here are some of my favorite recipe books in the "one pot" theme.

5 Star Rated Soup! Hot and cold recipes for all seasons by Pippa Cuthbert and Lindsay Cameron Wilson.

Divides recipes into:

Classic
Chunky
Smooth
Chilled
Spicy
Special Occasions
Further detailed classifications include sweet, savory, aromatic, cleansing, refreshing, smoky etc.

Just One Pot: Over 320 Simple and Delicious Recipes, from Hearty Stews to Tasty Tangines

Includes recipes for:

Soup pot
Fry pot
Stew pot
Boiling pot
Oven pot
Tabletop pot (fondues, hot pots, slow cookers)

More help for picky eaters

canary-island-smoothies.com

Our family has found a great food strategy that in keeping with the tricks of "Sneaky Chef" Missy Chase Lapine to hide nutritious foods into yummy kid friendly food.

Smoothies have come to save the day!

Like many kids with sensory processing disorder, my son has very distinct preferences for tastes and textures.

Many kids with SPD have an affinity for cold or frozen foods because it gives more oral sensory input and is more pleasant to them.

It's hard enough to get the day started without fighting over what to eat for breakfast. Some of us folks who are not morning people, find it even harder to deal with the unpleasant nature of food first thing in the day.

So our strategy now is to just offer our son a smoothie for breakfast.

Our son had asked for a Ninja blender for his birthday and it has been a lifesaver. Unlike our blender, it can really crush ice and frozen fruits into smooth textures.

It was certainly a gift we are all enjoying, not only because it makes mornings more calm, but because we all get to enjoy the tasty frozen (and healthy) treats.

Some of our favorite healthy concoctions:

Orange juice, carrots, pineapples, ice, sugar to taste
Frozen blueberries, frozen bananas, strawberries, yogurt, wheat germ
Orange juice, ice, honey, powdered milk
Frozen strawberries, ice, sugar to taste
Frozen strawberries, ice, lemonade power with water (more concentrated than normal) to taste

A favorite decadent treat that is a simple version of Serendipity 3's Frrrozen Hot Chocolate loved by Oprah.

Mix in Ninja or other Blender that crushes ice:
1 tray ice
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons Ghirardelli sweet cocoa powder
1 tablespoon Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder

Help for picky eaters and moms who hate to cook.

D.W. the Picky Eater (Arthur)

Many families struggle with picky eaters. Maybe that's why our family really loves the tale of "D.W. the Picky Eater (Arthur)"

The picky eater dilemma can be overwhelming in families with children with a sensory processing disorder.

These kids are super sensitive to textures, tastes, temperatures and meal time can be very distressing to them. Trying to get sensitive kids to eat a diverse range of healthy foods can be extremely challenging.

Preparing foods can be a draining chore for the adults in the household, especially knowing that the food might not be well-received.

There are some great tips for managing food sensitivities caused by oral defensiveness associated with sensory processing disorder, though useful for a broad range of picky eaters.

Here is one more trick in the tool bag to help beleaguered parents of picky eaters: The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals

It does sound dreamy doesn't it? Kids eating healthy stuff they can't detect in food that they won't complain about eating??

Grab the book from your library or bookstore and ponder the details outlined here:

Learn 13 Strategies for Sneaking Healthy Foods into Kid Friendly Dishes

Add pureed nutritious foods
Combine refined ingredients with unrefined
Use foods that hide well (don't change color, texture, or taste)
Substitute nutritious liquid for water when boiling foods
Combine foods that are nutritionally complementary
Identify nutritious foods that kids will enjoy on their own
Alter the cooking method to avoid frying
Cut the effects of toxins or fats by diluting with something healthier
Cut calories and increase volume with low-cal, nutritious fillers
Use slower-burning foods to avoid blood sugar "spike and crash"
Add visual decoys to make food look appealing and fun
Use kid-friendly flavor decoys to distract kids from what's underneath
Use kid-friendly texture decoys

Learn 13 Recipes for "make ahead" juices, purees, breading, and blends to add to foods

Learn 12 Foods to always buy organic

It's certainly worth a try. Now granted, you might have to sneak things in slowly for the kids with super-human powers of detection.

My son could always tell if the milk came from a different store (or maybe a different cow!). One mom told me about a kid who could tell which bottling plant processed the soda just by the taste.

For the man in your life here is The Sneaky Chef: How to Cheat on Your Man (In the Kitchen!): Hiding Healthy Foods in Hearty Meals Any Guy Will Love

When kids push your buttons

http://www.magiclistbot.biz/

WHEN KIDS PUSH OUR BUTTONS

I really appreciated the "Daily Groove" words of wisdom.

There are lots of practical suggestions from at EnjoyParenting.com like these:

"When your child pushes your buttons, s/he's doing you a favor: revealing that you've given your power away to the triggering behavior or conditions."

strange-science.blogspot.com

SEEING THE GLASS HALF FULL

I like his positive asset orientation in observing children's potentially annoying behaviors.

"They need to know what's there — to map the emotional terrain and keep the map up to date."
"It's an efficient way to get their parents' heightened attention and feel more powerful."

http://www.videomaker.com/

PULL THE PLUG

I like his reminder to parents to pull the plug on our emotions in responding.

He says to "de-activate your buttons — consciously choosing to stay Connected and Present, regardless of conditions and behavior — you reclaim your Authentic Power! You cease to be someone who can be controlled like a mindless machine."

PARENTING THE INTENSE OR EXPLOSIVE CHILD

These reminders and practical tips can be very useful, especially for those of us with intense children or "explosive children" with inflexible thinking that often accompanies sensory processing disorder, ADHD, and other autism spectrum disorders

HELPING DADS FEEL IN CONTROL WITHOUT YELLING

This father-son duo from "Celebrate Calm" has some great advice especially for dads who feel like they have to yell at their kids. There are alternatives!

Our University family resource center hosted this duo for a session on "parenting intense children" and it was useful for our family.

HELPING EXPLOSIVE INFLEXIBLE CHILDREN STAY CALM

There are also great resources from Ross Green and his colleagues who are focused on positive communication strategies for "The Explosive Child."

This book is highly rated and quite popular:

Here are some free resources for using their "Collaborative Problem Solving" model which I think are very helpful for intense children:

Popsicle Stick Bracelets

What a fun and inexpensive way to make jewelry out of summer's leftover pieces.

Have fun with this tutorial for making Popsicle Stick Bracelets from Jules at Bles-Id.

Annoying prickly yard waste = Beauty and Fun

Painted Gumballs by Casa Maria's Creative Learning Zone

I'm finally glad to say I have those annoying prickly seed balls that drop from the female Sweet gum tree!!

Maria of Casa Maria's Creative Learning Zone says to ''Open your eyes to all sorts of possibilities ... Discover creative ways to reuse recycled and natural materials."

And does she ever!

She and her merry band of preschool artists in the Reggio tradition of early childhood education have tied-dyed, candied, and sculpted beautiful pieces of art with these !*&# seeds.

I can guarantee that once you visit her blog or her facebook page you will be enamored with the beauty created by her preschool kids.

You'll want to do a zillion of the same projects.

I want to enroll in her preschool.

Enjoy!

If you love water and sand tables....

My sensory seeking kids have always loved sensory tables as preschoolers and the fascination continues into their early elementary ages. Okay. True confessions. I like playing in them too! I love these play-based learning approaches.

A River of Blue child inspired activity from Let the Children Play, a play-based classroom

Relaxation Tables using simple dollar store supplies posted by Casa Maria's Creative Zone, a Reggio Emilia inspired classroom

Another Use for Trays is just one idea from an ENTIRE BLOG DEVOTED TO Sand and Water Tables

Paper Bag Flowers

Staring out the window at bare tree branches and longing for spring, these floral delights are a nice bright spot in my day.

These faux peonies are actually crafted from colorful plastic shopping bags. Check out the tutorial from Growing Up Creative.

Paper Narcissus

Thanks to Dabbled who shared a tutorial for paper narcissus from Bitter Betty Industries.

Picture from Stanley Makes Three

The Bitter Betty paper daffodils look just like some vintage paper irises I have that belonged to my grandmother. I love the vintage look of these flowers and that the instructions come from a vintage magazine.

Finally! A really really good use for loo rolls

First of all, it's really fun to say "loo rolls" instead of toilet paper tubes. Australians make everything sound fun!

Second, my daughter and I are *almost* finally able to convince our obsessive-compulsive selves we *do not* have to make crafts out of everything destined for the trash now that our city recycles practically everything. [yay!]

No more "reuse." Just "recycle." But I don't think paper towel and toilet paper rolls are recyclable at this point. I guess I better double check that fact. But not before trying this!!!

So, yes, thank you Myrtle and Eunice of Melbourne for this lovely cheerful idea on a cold dark winter day, and to Lauren at Stamp48 for sharing it.

Festive Loo Rolls by Myrtle and Eunice shared via Stamp48

And here is another variation from Growing Up Creative that looks equally interesting.

From Growing Up Creative

Now, if I could just figure out what kind of material would do this same thing but be waterproof. This seems like a fantastic design for outdoor wall out. Ideas anyone??

Friendly Chemistry: Is it possible?

True confessions, I am a social scientist. I love research and even statistics. But chemistry gave me stomach aches every day in high school. I finally dropped it.

Fast forward from those ancient times. I have a 9 year old homeschooled son whose only subject he actually doesn't hate is Chemistry.

The promise of explosions, sparks, and other visible chemical changes are very alluring to my sensory-seeking son.

He's done every science experiment he's seen on Steve Spangler's site and lots of probably unsafe experiments viewed on Youtube. My neighbors can tell you about the 6 foot flame created by two curious boys.

So I'm not exactly confident I'll be able to keep ahead of him and help him fully develop his chemistry knowledge. So I'm thrilled to see this resource highlighted on Freely Educate.

There are more materials and manipulatives available to accompany the book at the Friendly Chemistry Website.

All About Spelling giveaway

The folks over at Freely Educate are sponsoring a giveaway contest for the fabulous, IMHO, All About Spelling curriculum!!

Followers of the blog know that we seek out multisensory and multiple intelligence strategies in our homeschooling approach.

Like many folks, we've had severe cutbacks in our income these past couple of years so we've been unable to purchase pre-packaged curricula and have been using lots of other spelling resources, but this one has been on the top of my wish list for some time.

The website at All About Spelling has a huge offering of FREE ARTICLES AND RESOURCES to offer home educators as well, including tips and spelling lists. We've made great use of those free resources. It also completed changed my perspective on "invented spelling."

Like this reviewer from Treasure Seekers, I too benefited greatly from phonics instruction as an elementary student and like this same systematic phonetics-based approach to spelling from All About Spelling.

You can get more insight about how one home educator has been using All About Spelling. You'll love her cool tricks for using free paint chips to teach spelling along with the All About Spelling board!!

How to make your own pillow that folds into a pet

MARKETING TO MY KIDS

First it was Betty Crocker Bake 'n Fill. Then it was Snuggies. This year's ridiculously overly-simplistic but over-priced and over-marketed item requested on the Christmas wish list is Pillow Pets. (I'm surprised I haven't heard about the Big Top Cupcake set this year!)

ARE YOU SERIOUS?
If you are like me you're probably thinking there's gotta be a way for me to make a stupid pillow with a head.

Fortunately for us there are lots of talented folks out there who have already figured out how and are willing to share their ideas. And here they are...

BRILLIANT AND BEAUTIFUL IDEAS
Twelve Crafts Till Christmas offers a tutorial for utterly adorable entirely handmade Pillow Buddies (part 1 and part 2) including the head and tail. She makes it look easy!

All Things Shea provides instructions for a notquiteapillowpet made by sewing a pillow but using a stuffed animal (like one from the dollar store or an old one lying about) for the head and tail.

Jen Goode provides inspiration and ideas for the cutest Bed Bugs pillow friends you could ever find! These are imaginative and crafted entirely by hand, including fanciful faces, wings, and legs.

TeachNdahood at Instructables shows the steps for creating a knock off pillow pet using a specific animal form, in this case a horse.

Kids crafts for winter holidays: Stars, Cookies, Peg Dolls

A virtual trip to the Natural Kids Store has inspired me to start thinking about winter crafts with the kids. All the handcrafted felt and wool, hardcarved wood, handpainted treasures are so beautiful. The colors are so inspirational and remind me of my current favorite "grass roots" color pallete designed to invoke all things handmade.

STARS

Craft Ideas has many different FREE easy patterns for colorful folded stars here and here. Even more sophisticated versions can be purchased from Harvest Moon by Hand's etsy shop and they are gorgeous!!!!

Zencrafting has taken a twist on folded stars by providing FREE patterns of how to make savory origami stars from fabric origami stars as well as the more traditional paper origami stars. Check out her Etsy shop for more offerings. She also has a beautiful free calendar you can download and enjoy immediately.

COOKIES!

These scrumptious felt cookies are available from Harvest Moon by Hand's etsy shop. Perhaps they'll also inspire additional creative crafting with the kids.

I love felt food!!!

FREE PATTERNS and TUTORIALS

Felt sugar cookies (to go with handmade aprons!) from Confessions of a Craft Addict
Homemade felt cookie array from Petite Planet and insights from Apartment Therapy ohdeedoh
Thumbprint felt cookies from Dream a Lil' Dream
Filled heart felt cookies from recycled wool sweaters from Whip Up
Christmas cookies and donuts from Craft Ideas
Felt fortune cookies from Martha Stewart
Felt cookies from Bug Bites Play Food and their mouth-watering etsy shop where there is nothing you cannot order!!

Small sampling of felt food from Bug Bites Play Food

PEG DOLLS

I'm continuing my delight with peg dolls and hope to make some this year with my daughter and niece.

Having recently been to a teen dance troup performance I was enthralled with this "tiny dancer" from the amazing artist at Pretty Ditty.

Isn't this just serene? It's even more cool to realize it is made just special for her daughter.

She has stunning examples of peg dolls with definite personalities on her blog

KITS and SUPPLIES FOR PURCHASE

Kits and Supplies to replicate the fanciful dolls from Pretty Ditty.
Pre-printed Peg doll wraps (no painting!) from Dolls and Daydreams.
Peg doll wedding toppers, wine stoppers, necklace stampers, candle holders, finger puppets, and more from The Small Object.
Waldorf inspired peg people and accessories from The Enchanted Cupboard.

Adorable FREE pattern for peg cottage from Grace Violet