Garden Tenders: Art

Last week we began working on our valentines. We made a bunch for family and close friends; and because we had to make 80+ valentines, decided to just buy ones for our friends.

First we made heart mobiles or "dangles" as Bear called them. We made these out of craft foam but you could also make them out of construction paper. Bear punched holes in the top and bottom of the hearts as needed. The last heart on the streamer of course didn't need holes in the top and bottom.Just punch a hole in the top.

Then Bear weaved the hearts together with craft ribbon. Some of the hearts she made close together and others she spaced them further apart. (Excuse the photos from my phone) The finished product is here.

and here:

We also made several valentines for family and close friends.

And a special one she made for her daddy.

Yes, you read that right. This week we created an art project using the laminator.

Before you gasp, and tell me what a GENIUS I am, I need to confess that I actually borrowed the project from a post over at Enchanted Homeschooling Mom (by Ashley from Life with Moore Babies).

I love doing projects that I can hang up and see the sun through. It warms my heart to see the sun dapple through diffused and all twisted into amazing little fairy shapes.... Yes, its fits our Fairy Hunter School very well. This fits that and more. Its super duper easy and you just need a few things from your supply closet. If you're a homeschool mom already, you most likely have the items in your supply box just calling your name.

You will need to have a laminator, laminating sheets, oils pastels, construction paper, scissors, and a marker or pencil.

Step 1

Have your child trace their handprint and part of their arm onto the construction paper. You may need to help a bit with this part.

Step 2

Have your child cut out the shape they just traced, if very young you may need to help here as well.

Step 3

If needed, help your child place the tree on the laminating sheet. It can be centered, or off centered.... let the creative juices flow.

Step 4

Use the oils pastels to "decorate" the lamination sheet. You can do both sides if you wish. The colors tend to blend more. You will need to use "quite a bit" of the oil pastel crayon. Now, you don't need to buy artists quality pastels for this project. I think I picked up our pastels for $3 to $4 at Hobby Lobby. You can buy them at any art and craft store or craft/art section. I haven't checked Wal-Mart, but I suspect that you can even find them there.

Step 5

When finished, fold over the cover of the laminator sheet and prepare it to go into your preheated laminator per the manufactures instructions. This should be done by a responsible older child or an adult. It will be warm when it comes out of the machine.

Step 6

Place the project in the laminator and laminate per instructions for your machine.