Welcome to our Plum Print blog. We know it’s not always easy to come up with new and unique activities to do with your kids, but we are here to help! This is where we post artistic ideas to inspire your pint-sized Pollocks into splattering some more paint. Sign up on our home page to get our Plum Ideas newsletter sent directly to you by email.
A child's first work of art!
Jelly Bean Bracelets
Easy Paper Plate Bunny Project
Lunch-time Easter Egg Hunt!
Make Your Own Easter Basket
Easy (and FUN) Easter Morning Breakfast
Yarn Easter Egg Wreath
Mary Claire, from Louisiana, has created some wonderful artwork that just oozes SPRINGTIME! We love them and thought you might too.
Valentine’s Day is around the corner, so I sat down with my 4 year old yesterday to start making these flower cards for her classmates. Doesn’t get much easier than this – a celery stalk, some red paint, and 8.5″ x 11″ pink paper cut in half! Now we just need to find a little something (lollipop? cookie? pencil?) to go with it. Any ideas?
Some tips:
Kids love nothing better than a space just for them to get messy and create! While we want to our kids to feel inspired and free, we also want to keep our homes looking nice too… We have rounded up some great solutions to keeping your Arts & Crafts area chic and organized. Let us know how you keep your Arts & Crafts area looking just as good as the artwork that comes out of it!
Pottery Barn Kids Lazy Susan, $39:
We love the built-in paper roll on this Land of Nod Activity Table, $499:
How great is this use of Ikea Bygel Kitchen storage to create a great Arts & Crafts wall on the cheap?
Warhol inspiration through reusable soup cans?
Or repurpose a spice rack such as this one from RSVP International for all the little odds and ends, $55:
From young to old, from simple to complex, there are many ways to teach about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the legacy that he left all of us. We found this project from the Art. Paper. Scissors. Blog. Straightforward for the youngest kids, yet so deep with meaning for the older kids.
Materials:
- Tempera Paint
- White Drawing Paper
- Construction Paper (Red, Black, White, Yellow, Brown, Pink)
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Paintbrushes
- Sponges, Paint Scrapers (Optional)
- Glue
1. Paint paper any way you’d like it. You can blend, paint a design, paint a pattern, sponge, paint scrape, anything!
2. Trace your hand or a friend’s hand on all colors of construction paper except pink. It might be a nice activity to trace a different friend’s hand for each color, building on the “working together” theme.
3. Cut and glue into a collage either all holding a heart or a peace sign made from the pink paper. If kids have extra time, they can color in/ design their heart/ peace sign.
Every so often here at Plum Print we like to showcase some of the incredible creativity that graces our studio every day. Today we highlight the Lessard sisters from the Anneliese Schools in California – two young girls who clearly know their way around an art classroom! In just a small sampling of their artwork, they combine paint, chalk, paper, marker, pastels and we think the outcome is amazing!
Your little ones will love turning old CDs into a hanging aquarium of sparkling fish that will catch the light in every part of the house.
Glue one googly eye each to the iridescent side of two CDs. Add small drops of tacky glue and help your kids attach sequins to the rest of both CDs. Cut out fins and lips from cardstock and adhere to the noniridescent side of one CD. Next, determine the length of twine you’ll need to hang the fish, double it, and tie the ends together. Glue the twine to the top of one of the CD’s noniridescent sides. Then adhere the two CDs together — don’t forget to line up the eyes!
Weather getting a little chilly out there? How about gathering the kids around to make these fun marshmallow snowmen? ”One marshmallow for the snowman, one for me…”
Materials needed:
Blue card stock paper
Paint or oil pastel crayons: Black, White, Orange and any others for decorating the snowman
Glitter
Glue
Thin pretzels
Mini marshmallows
1) Start by having the children draw the three circles of the snowman’s body and trace those circles with glue. Also make sure to “draw” arms out of glue as well.
2) Place the marshmallows and pretzels (see if you can get more on your project than in your mouth!)
3) Use your paints or oil pastel crayons to draw a hat, face and buttons on your snowman as well as snow all around. Fun tip – mini-marshmallows make great “stamps” for creating snow falling.
4) Sprinkle your glitter to make the snowscape just a little more sparkly.
5) Now go enjoy a hot cup of cocoa as your snowman dries!
