We used an old appliance box to protect our floors.  Thanks Lowes – every time we shop we head over to the appliance section and check if they have any boxes they are willing to donate to our projects!
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It was big.  It was crazy.  It was messy.  It was creative – the kids went and got spoons after realizing the paint brushes weren’t as effective as they would prefer.  It was expansive – especially when they started painting on the box, after they were finished with the fabric – just because.  It was crazy and fun.
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After they finished spooning and spattering paint on the linen sheet, we let the “artwork” dry completely for a couple of days.  Then sent it through the dryer for good measure and to use heat to help set the paint.  We then washed the fabric on hot with vinegar.  The vinegar and heat helped “set” the color in – we’re still going to wash these with the colored or dark laundry – just to be safe.
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I think I like our tabletop valentines!

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Let the Children Play – Play Loving BLogs
The Imagination Tree – 40 Ways of Autumn Play
Hands On: As We Grow – 26 Tin Can Activities
Messy Kids – Ideas with Apples

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Wax mixes differently than watercolors.  The kids at Child Central Station had fun blow-drying crayons.

Practice mixing by “Squishing Colors” colors with Picklebum.

Preschool Projects has a great idea to send secret messages to your kids through their painting projects.

Science Sparks changes the colors of flowers in a recent science experiment.

Make your own Kaleidoscope with the JellyFish Jelly blog.

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Do you have a kids activity that you’d like to share with the world?  We’d love to hear about it!

Link up (and if you love us, link back).   Note:  All posts must be family-friendly, kid-related and we just might feature you   By linking up, know you are giving us permission to do so.
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What you need to create pillowcase skirts:

Pre-washed Pillowcases.
Elmer’s Permanent Markers
Cardboard Boxes (to protect your surfaces)
Acrylic paints
Water
Eye Droppers
Vinegar

Stuff the cardboard inside the pillowcase. This will help prevent the marker from bleeding onto your table and will help provide a sturdy surface for the girls to decorate on. We began our “party” decorating our pillowcases with the markers. Some of the girls drew flowers, others faces, others made butterflies, while the youngest scribbled on all of the masterpieces. We were blessed to have some incredibly patient and indulgent girls who tolerated my 2 year olds participation. Even the boys decided to help.

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Once your pillowcase is adequately decorated (are they ever?? I had a hard time dragging one of the girls away from her creation), mix some acrylic paint with water and use this “paint” mixture to fill-in your drawings. The paint helps seal the permanent marker and adds color to your project.  You can use an eye-dropper instead of a paintbrush, it works like a straw or paint-pen.  Fill it with paint and write with it.  This is a less messy way to paint, well, as long as they don’t “spray” the paint everywhere.  We loved mixing our colors by painting one color then, as it is wet, brushing another color over it. The colors would bleed together to create a fun effect.
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After your pillowcase has dried. It is time to “cure” it. Wash it in hot water with two cups of vinegar. The heat and the vinegar will help “set” the dyes. Be sure to wipe out your washer before re-using it. The colors did bleed a bit the first time, but it added to the “effect”. I did not notice any bleeding after the third wash, but you might want to wash it with mixed colored items for awhile to be sure.
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To create your pillowcase into a dress, string elastic through the one end and straight hem the other side. You should have a simple elastic band straight skirt. My preschoolers loved personalizing their clothes!  And my youngest preschooler especially loves wearing the skirt “she made with her friends”.  Want a more detailed tutorial on how to create a pillowcase skirt, check out Snip and Snail.

Terri, and her girls at My Creative Family, explored displacement as they filled glasses of water and then added ice cubes until the water overflowed.  What a great way to bring math alive.

Cardboard boxes make some of the best toys!  In Happy Little Messes, these boys mixed their play between cardboard boxes, tape, tubs and of course ice.

This gal tie dyed her fabric with ice cubes of paint.   I bet these would make great colorful summer napkins!

I love how neat and clean this ice cube painting project looks.  They used koolaid to create their cubes of paint.  In addition to the block painting she also made flowers.

This post was my inspiration for this post.  Artful Parent froze a big block of ice, sprinkled salt on it to speed up the melting and then added food coloring to heighten the effect.  I love this colorful ice science experiment.

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Thanks for linking up to It’s PlayTime.  Let me know by email if you are having any difficulties linking up your favorite play-based post!  We love reading and browsing all of your activities.  All of the play activities are visible from this linky on 5 blogs.  Mine and my co-hosts:

* Anna : The Imagination Tree
* Jamie : hands on : as we grow
* Rachele : Messy Kids
* Jenny : Let the Children Play
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Please link up only play related posts (no printables, product reviews or game apps please).

Note: By linking you are giving us permission to use an image and link to you.

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What you need to create your own portrait with melted crayons:

Obviously, lots of crayon bits

Candle Warmer – we liked this as while it got warm, even hot, it kept the wax cool enough that it didn’t burn us if we accidentally got a little finger in it.

Little Glass Jars

Cheap Paintbrushes

Dark Colored Acrylic Paint – we used brown, for our “garden”.

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We heated up the little jars, then painted our wax.  As we used a candle warmer to heat the wax we could only warm three small jars at a time, and it took a long time.  This meant that our painting project took most of the day.   But it was worth it to be “safe”.  After the crayon was painted we went over the work with the acrylic paint to make the crayon “pop” out more.  I loved the effect!

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Unlike Suzy, our crayon painted fabric is not sewable, the crayon/wax flakes off when the artwork bends, but I don’t care!  This is going on the wall!  My daughter painted us together picking flowers!  My son painted himself… as a firetruck??  I don’t know, but he had fun drawing his “fire”.  Even my youngest preschooler had fun contributing!

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Want to see more self-portraits?  My blogging pal, Maggy of RedTedArt has a collection of portraits over on her blog in support of the “No Child Born to Die” vaccination campaign.

Want another melting crayon activity?  Having Fun at Home, decorated garden rocks with melting crayons.  That’s next on our to-do list with the leftover crayon bits.

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Use painters tape to create an image.  We made trees, a city skyline, a house, mountains, a picture of the sun, etc.   I used one layer of painters tape to create the design, another to block off areas I didn’t want them to paint in (ex: the grass when they were painting the sky or we covered the tree as we were painting the roots.  Give the kiddos free reign over the paints  to mix to the colors to their hearts content.  Let them paint.  After the paint is dry remove the painters tape and viola!  We have purple mountains, a red sky and lots of fun!

Have you done any painting projects with your preschoolers recently? I’d love to hear about them!
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Linked up to Tip Junkie,

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How to have fun playing and decorating a  cardboard box?

We used paint, yarn, a clothespin, diaper wipes, a cardboard box and some willing kiddos to help the paint fly.

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After tying the yarn to a nail we had hanging on a beam, we squeezed the paint onto a diaper wipe, pulled back and let it fly!  When that got boring we began throwing the wipes.  Could you believe that my two year old left to go play in a different part of the yard?  We were having too much fun for her – that and it was harder for her to reach/pull/throw the paint.   Poor thing.

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Many thanks to the other participants in the Cardboard box challenge.  Have fun browsing their submissions:

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To make your own fizzing sidewalk chalk you need:

A container of baking soda

1/2 cup of cornstarch

Warm (almost hot) Water

Food coloring

Mix the dry ingredients and then add water stirring until its not too thick.  I think we used about a cup, but I am not sure.   This paint dries very quickly – but washes off with ease!

We made two colors, my kids favorites: pink and green.

Here is the “before” it began fizzing.  I love the brilliant colors.

Now for the fun!  Spray the paint with a bottle of vinegar and watch the fizz appear.

To say this activity was a hit is an understatement.  They are thrilled.  We have leftovers!  And clean up was a bucketful breeze.  Want to add more “learning to this activitiy?  Talk about the reaction between acids and base chemicals.  This is a fun way to incorporate chemistry into your preschoolers life (or just enjoy the fizz).

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If you make fizzing sidewalk paint, tell me about it!

All you need to create your own stove is a clear plastic storage tub, gray and black arcylic paint, and a lid. Use the lid to trace circles to be your “stovetop”. Paint the circles black and cover with two layers of acrylic paint. Have fun playing pretend!

Recipe for painted rainbow cookies:

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Mix the cake mix with 2/3rds cup of quick oats (or rolled oats you blended in a food processor briefly), add an egg and half a cup of cooking oil.  Mix thoroughly.  The batter will be pretty crumbly.  Form it into balls and stick in the fridge for an hour or so, the batter should stick together a bit better after it sets for a bit.  Roll the batter out into a sheet and using cookie cutters (or a cup) create your cookies.

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Edible Paint:

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We used the same edible paint recipe that we use on our Painted Pancakes.  It’s so simple!  Just mix dye with pancake syrup.  Grab some paint brushes and have fun!  These were so yummy!  We had some friends over and it was fun watching the two and three year old pals discover how mixing green and red made brown paint and that if they mixed all of the paints together they had black paint.  Several of these cookies fit right into the fall season.
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Want to see another fun painting cookies activity?  Laura from Home is where the Heart is created some lowfat sugar cookies with her daughter.
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