Summer Corner #8

I am sorry to be so late with my summer corner. It has not been very summery here but we were finally able to do some fun things for this last summer corner post. I so enjoyed doing Summer Corner and I want to thank all of you for the support and those who did a summer corner !!

By the way I will write later what Mary and I were dressed up for. You have to go check out Kelli at There Is No Place Like Home, she has the most beautiful summer corners. I want to sit down and have tea with you Kelli. Thank you for sharing with all of us. Also she made a desk blotter and it turned out so charming.

                                                                              

My idea this last week is outdoor activities. I got the idea from Rebecca Frog and Toad are Friends who wrote to me about her summer corner ideas. Here is what she wrote

“Hello, Clarice!
I have three kids - I have some big messy art projects planned:
- throwing tennis balls dipped in acrylic paint onto big sheets of paper taped to our fence
- putting big sheets of paper underneath the swing set, giving the kids' paintbrushes (the big round house paint kind, not the pointy paint-set kind) and letting them paint while dangling from the swings
- again, my poor swing is going to be covered in a big sheet of paper and we're going to roll paint-covered tennis balls and little cars with paint on their wheels down it.
Pretty messy! I don't know if it fits with your blog's theme!
We're also making a theatre on the clothesline theater and we've already made a fairy house in the front yard. We made honey cakes for fairies, and my daughter's buddies are coming over this weekend for a fairy party - iced herbal tea with flowers in the ice cubes, cupcakes that look like butterflies and fairytale mushrooms... I was also thinking about setting up a fairy mailbox in the hollow of the tree, where the kids would get little tiny letters from the fairies.
Other than that? We're making a papier-mache sculpture of Pippi Longstocking this summer!
I'm also saving baby wipe boxes - I dye water with food coloring, stick plastic toys or pennies or what have you in the boxes and then pour in the colored water. When it's frozen, I let the kids' excavate the toys out - or just let them put the colored blocks in the pool. Colored ice blocks are also fun to build with!”

                                                    

Rebecca post so inspired me. Even though my girls are older, it got me thinking what fun outdoors activities we could do. First I made giant pick-up sticks. I bought wooden dowels (about 45 inches long) and just sharpened the ends in a pencil sharpener. We stuck one end in the ground and painted them different colors. That is it. At 40 cents a dowel this was a pretty cheap game to make. It is fun to try figure out how to work with such long pick-up sticks.

My second idea was a marble/paint idea. I took a wooden box, but any box would work. We taped the paper down on two sides. Put a couple of dabs of paint on the paper. All we did was roll three marbles around and around and around really fast. I found the more paint you use a more marbled affect it had. It was quite fun. I will not share the irreverent titles we came up with for each picture. It was sort of like looking at those ink spots at a physicists !! Now I am not sure about the sanity of my family, but we have a very good laugh !!!

Comments

[Kelli]

Thank you for the link Clarice. :)
I love the pick-up sticks idea. So fun!
Kelli

[linda]

You are so creative! The marble and paint in a box idea is such a good idea. When my boys are a little more responsible with paint (perhaps just a few months away) we will give that a try! Thank you.

[Dianntha]

Clarice, I can't wait to see your fall corner...you will do one, won't you?

[Dawn]

another way to do the marble/painting...put a piece of paper in a pringles chip container..add the marbles that have been dipped in paint...use a plastic spoon to lift them from the paint into the container..(for those kids who cannot bear messy things)put the lid back on and shake it, baby!!! (to music perhaps?)open the container and SURPRIZE!! you have some abstract art..with no mess~
This was a fave of my kindergarten students. They loved the noise...the rhythm..and the art!

[Linda]

Sounds like fun. I think what little summer we had is over. I smell fall in the air. Are you doing a fall corner?Mom

[Selena]

These are all great ideas. My kids are probably too young to do the marble painting. Our last rock painting project ended with Keiran painted from head to toe (teach me not to try taking a phone call in the afternoon). But I love the pick up sticks idea as well as Rebecca's ice block idea. Of course I haven't had a box of wet wipes for years but I'm sure I can think of something else. Maybe a milk carton?

[Rebecca]

Hurray for messy fun! I love great big art projects - and I feel very honoured to have inspired a post! Thanks so much!