Keeping the Kiddos Busy

Splatter painting is fun and easy. Just dip an old toothbrush in paint, flick the bristles towards you, and let the paint droplets fall on a sheet of paper. (This can get messy, so you would want to protect your table or other nearby areas.) You can experiment with different color combinations.  Or you can put a leaf or a paper cut-out of any shape you want on a sheet of paper and then splatter-paint over it.  When you remove the leaf or the cut-out, you will see a silhouette of the leaf or paper cut-out. Splatter painting can be used to decorate cards, bookmarks, and other paper items.  You can also display your splatter painting as stand-alone art.  Whatever you do, you can easily make something beautiful with splatter art.

This is another art project which is easy to do but which yields stunning results.  Cut pieces of string, soak them in paint make patterns with them on a sheet of paper, cover the string with another sheet of paper, then pull the string.  You can experiment with different colors, patterns, and string textures.  See how different kinds of string yield different results. Here are some other ideas. Warning: this activity can get messy -- but in a fun way!

Perhaps in your garden, backyard, or even in your garage, you might find some spare rocks.  With some imagination, as well as paint and glue and some odds and ends, you and your children can make nice sculptures out of them.   After you gather the rocks and wash them, examine them:  perhaps their shapes might remind you of some animal? See what combinations of rocks you can put together to make the shape of the animal you have in mind.  Once you have mentally composed the figures, glue the rocks together.  You may use white glue; cement glue would even be stronger but it should only be applied by an adult and in a well-ventilated area. After the glue dries, you can paint the rocks to add other features.   Here are some ideas .     

We cannot control the weather, but with weather forecasting, we can control how the weather affects our lives.  Nowadays, weather forecasting is highly sophisticated such that there are apps that give weather forecasts up to one month ahead.  But it would still be very rewarding for you and your children to actually observe weather patterns, as a way to be in touch with the natural world and know our place in it.  Besides, observing the weather is fascinating. Like I wrote before, there is no need to watch a nature show on TV when nature itself provides free, live entertainment. If you have a backyard or any other way to get outdoors without violating quarantine rules, or even just an amply-sized window, you can make and record weather observations.  Make two observations every day, one in the morning and another in the afternoon and at fixed times for both.  Record the dates and times of the observations.  Also note down the general observations:...

(Photo credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Paper_beads.jpeg) Stringing beads into a necklace or bracelet is another craft that is considered easy enough for children.  However, I originally did not think of it as a good lockdown activity because while most households have sewing kits with a stash of thread in them, obtaining beads is a different matter. But I learned that it is possible to make beads out of paper.  The procedure is simple: cut the paper into narrow triangles, add glue to one side, roll them up with the aid of a toothpick or barbecue stick, seal them with glue or clear nail polish.  By making variations on the procedure , you can make beads of different shapes and sizes. You can use any kind of paper you want.  You can even use the pages of old newspapers and magazines for a unique look.   You can also make sophisticated jewelry patterns . Making jewelry out of paper beads is fun, but wearing it is even more fun. Who ...

Mix vinegar and baking soda, and you end up with fizzy froth.  This is because combining vinegar with baking soda produces carbon dioxide. If you have spare vinegar and baking powder at home, and don't mind a little bit of getting messy, you and your children can do a lot of fun experiments -- from chemical volcanoes to home-made rockets. Some instructions are here .  Not only will your kids have fun; they can also learn about the chemical reactions involved . You can encourage your children to record in a notebook their observations of these experiments -- for example, the different results that various quantities of vinegar and baking soda produce.  After all, all this fun play is actually preparing them to become scientists in the future. 

Explorers of long ago made bestiaries, or books with drawings and descriptions of the strange new creatures they encountered in their voyages.  You and your children can pretend you are explorers and make bestiaries of your own. For your bestiary, you can use an old notebook or diary that still has blank pages, or you can make and bind your  own  book .   You can make your bestiary about real animals.  Perhaps you have done the other nature observing activities featured in this blog, like bird watching or observing indoor wildlife , and you would like to make a bestiary as a way to record your observations.  You can fill your bestiary with your observations -- in words and in drawings  of how various animals look like and behave.  Or you might want to fill your bestiary with animals of your own imagination, like what Matthew Mehan did in his book entitled Mr. Mehan's Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals .  Ask yourself what your imagin...