What You Will Need:

Brown paper bags or colored construction paper

Ivory Snow laundry detergent.

A Paintbrush or any kitchen utensil that the kids can spread the “paint” with.

Optional: Glitter

Mix a little Ivory Snow with water in a small dish or bowl. The longer it sits, the thicker this will get. Allow your child to make a snowscape on the colored paper. You can add a little glitter to the mixture to add sparkle just like real snow or sprinkle glitter onto the finished picture.

When this dries, it will be crusty and a bit three dimensional.

If you have a toddler who is still putting everything in his/her mouth substitute Vanilla Yogurt for the Ivory Snow . That way all of the kids can participate in the same project.

Enjoy!

What You will Need:

• A small plastic water bottle(s)
• Glue gun or masking tape
• Several small acorns able to fit through the top of the bottle

If you have children who are walkers, tell them that you are going to go out on a scavenger hunt to collect acorns. Bring along a basket or bag and let them carry it. We are so blessed to have many wonderful reservations around us where there will be an abundance of acorns. I was walking at Hale reservation in Westwood last year and they were literally falling on my  head! Other suggestions are Caryl Park in Dover, and Broadmoor in Natick.

Once back home, remove the labels from the water bottles and drop several acorns into each bottle. You can practice counting with your little ones.  If you are using a glue gun, screw on the cap only half way. Place the glue all away around the cap and then finish tightening it. To make sure it cannot be opened, you can cover the neck of the bottle with masking or duct tape. If you are not using the glue gun, then make sure the bottle is tightly sealed with several layers of masking tape. Little hands are experts at opening things they shouldn’t and the acorns can be a choking hazard.

If you have older children, you can let them decorate the outside of their bottles with markers, glue and colored paper or glitter paint. This will be especially helpful if you have several kids and you want to distinguish whose shaker is whose.

Put on the music and have a marching band together. Another fun way to use your shakers is to play Stop and Go. This is a listening game that will teach auditory discrimination and motor control. Play some music and then randomly turn it off. Tell the kids they can make music when the music plays but need to be quiet and freeze when the music stops.

To expand on this activity you can fill the bottles with different things to create different sounds.  Look in your kitchen for some ideas. You can use  popcorn kernels, dried beans. or rice. Let your imagination guide you and I guarantee the kids will love their home made instruments better than any expensive store bought ones you bring home.

Decorating Mini Pumpkins:

What You will Need: (some suggestions)

• Mini Pumpkins
• Markers
• Glue
• Fabric or paper scraps or collage materials
• Yarn
• Small twigs

Ahead of time purchase as many mini pumpkins as you want/need at the market. They are on sale sometimes but are usually only $1.00. Depending on the age of your child, you can give her what you want to use to decorate each one. Some suggestions are markers or paint, small pieces of fabric, construction or wrapping paper, ribbon, glitter, or pasta.

One suggestion is to make little Pumpkin People. If you are using pasta, or something with weight t it you will need to use liquid glue and a brush. Have your child paint the glue on to the pumpkin and then stick on whatever collage materials you are using. Otherwise, if you are using papers, ribbons or yarn a glue stick will work well and is a lot less messy.

For a Pumpkin Person, you can have her draw a face to look like herself and the people in your family. Then glue on yarn for the hair to resemble the same color of the family members. You can also glue on wiggle plastic eyes that you can purchase at a crafts store like Michaels or AC Moore. Into each side place a small twig to create arms.

You can try to make these as realistic as your family members, scary like monsters or just plane silly. Once they are done you can use them as Pumpkin Place Cards at Thanksgiving Dinner. They are also great gifts for neighbors and grandparents.

This activity teaches creativity, imagination self image, body part awareness for little ones, eye hand coordination and language. It’s also a great activity that kids of a variety of ages can participate in at their developmental level.

Apple Prints

What you will need:

• Apples
• Painting material
• Knob peg or clothespin
• paper

If you went apple picking lately you are probably sick of apple recipes by now. Instead, you can use your apples as a way to create beautiful prints.  Cut your apple along the horizontal middle. This will allow you to see the “star” inside. Remove the seeds. If you have a peg like the Lauri plastic type, push that into the top side of the apple. This will make it easier for little hands to hold.

Paint doesn’t have to be traditional paint. Especially if you have children who still love to eat their art! You can use ketchup, yogurt, baby food , Hershey Syrup as painting materials. In keeping with this perspective, your arts supplies are always available. If you are using real paint so you can keep your end product, put out very little.  The prints  will come out better with minimal paint. You might like to offer a couple of different colors so you can add in a lesson about color mixing into your activity. ie. Red and Yellow = Orange. Tell your kids they can do magic and watch their eyes open in wonder! Make sure you point out the “star” to your children.

When painting with children, it’s best to offer them a large area to work on. You can purchase roll paper at a crafts store or at Staples. Cover your entire table area and tape it down. If you don’t have any paper, you can use paper bags, or the back of wrapping paper which is often plain. Another suggestion is to cover the floor area with clear plastic. You can buy this at Joanne Fabrics. They sell it by the roll. If you have a play area that is consistently set up then this is a way to keep the floor clean without being noticeable. If not, it can roll up quite easily and be stored.

When doing art with young children set up the boundaries where they can use the art materials. This will make it quite clear to them where messy is acceptable. This will eliminate any stress for you from doing art projects in your home. Remember all new ides come from imagination. Allowing your child to explore their imaginations and creative side is a gift you are offering them that has unlimited potential.

Most importantly have fun together!

             Smiles,  Marcie

With the warm weather arriving sometime soon, (we hope), here is a fun, simple and inexpensive activity your child will love to do while you are busy with yard work.

PAINTING THE HOUSE, DECK OR DRIVEWAY…

What you will need:

• A large bucket
• water
• a paint brush 1 1/2  2 inches wide
• Food coloring

This is a fun activity that fosters creativity, imagination and role playing. To begin, fill the bucket with water and let your child pick what color she wants to use. Place a drop of food coloring into the water so it turns color. Don’t worry. This small amount of food coloring won’t stain what she is painting. Tell your child she can paint the house, driveway or deck if you have one. Water shows up great on concrete. She will easily see her creative efforts in stripes and swirls. Most foundations, if not completely underground, will offer a great canvas that is usually kid height. If she gets bored of painting the house, let her do her bike or outside toys. This will offer you the opportunity to get what you need to get done with her within eye sight.

With so much rain lately, here is a fun rainy day project:

When my 20 year old son was a preschooler, he loved to make his own books by stapling paper together and filling the blank pages with a variety of topics. My little entrepreneur would then go out and have a book sale in front of our house. He actually sold several books thanks to gracious neighbors who encouraged his creativity and enthusiasm.

Becoming an author inspires creativity, imagination, the concept of a beginning and end and a love for reading.

MAKE YOUR VERY OWN BOOK

What You will Need

• Several sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 white computer paper.
• Markers, crayons or colored pencils.
• other suggestions…
• craft materials
• stickers
• glue stick
• photos
• magazine pictures
• a stapler

This is a project where you can use what you have to create the type of book you want. Some title ideas might be: My Book About Me, My Favorite Things, My alphabet Book, My Book of Colors, My Book of Animals to name a few.

Ask your child what type of book she wants to make. You can offer her some of the above suggestions if she doesn’t have her own idea. Then allow her to fill the pages in any way she wants. If there is a story that goes with her artwork, she can dictate it to you and you can write it for her.

If your child is not verbal, you can still do this activity by you choosing the title or theme for the book. Then offer your child  the appropriate pictures from magazines to glue or stickers to place into the pages. I would encourage you to still let her draw using markers so you can see her interpretation of the book’s theme. This will offer her the opportunity to be creative and allow you to preserve her skill level at this particular age.

Kids will love filling the books with their ideas and creativity. Then you can read together before bed from your very own self made library!

Personalized Alphabet Book

A more elaborate book idea that will require your effort is a personalized alphabet book for your child.  You can begin by finding important things in your child’s life that begins with each letter of the alphabet. For example; take a photo of Dad for the letter D and a picture of your child’s bed for the letter B. Take a photo of her favorite stuffed monkey for the letter M and a photo of her best friend Jake for the letter J. This will take some time but with the ease of taking and printing out pictures today it won’t be too difficult. You can even have it made into a photo book professionally if you want. This will take effort on your part but will surely be a keeper and keepsake to remember what was important in your child’s life at this stage in development.

If your child is aware of the alphabet, allow her  to tell you the things she wants to go into the book to represent each letter. You can even go on an eye spy mission around the house to find things that start with each letter.

Either way, this will be a real gift for your child. She will love reading it over and over because the photos will be familiar and meaningful to her.

Most importantly, Have fun together!

Smiles ,

Marcie

Cindy Cobb Puckett

The Cindy Cobb Puckett Scholarship fund offers families financial assistance in order to enjoy the opportunity to attend the Marcie and Me Play program.

Cindy Cobb Puckett was born August 5, 1952.

Cindy recently passed on March 18, 2011 after an extraordinary attempt to survive an accidental fire that left her burned over 75% of her body.

Cindy was born with cerebral palsy. A condition described as a group of disorders that affect movement control. There is not one specific cause of cerebral palsy, however, it can be caused by injury to the brain before, during, or after birth.

Cindy was one of those rare, kind people who was able to inspire those she met through her compassion, sense of humor and relentless spirit to enjoy life. The desire to live life to the fullest, motivated her to challenge her physical limitations despite battling constant pain. It was with this relentless passion that she was able to accomplish her dreams and goals.

Cindy worked as a clerk for the Boston Police department for 30 years. She was a loving wife to husband Joe, a compassionate sister to brother Chucky and devoted daughter to her parents Gilda and Charlie. Her love of family was so important to Cindy, that she called her parents nightly at 9:00 pm, no matter where she was, or what she was doing, just to make sure they were all right.

Cindy never allowed her disability to limit her physically or spiritually. She was a woman motivated by a fighting spirit to enjoy life and share that joy with those she loved.

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”
- Thomas Edison

It is my honor to offer this scholarship in Cindy’s name to keep her spirit alive through all the children who will benefit from coming to Marcie and Me.

If you have financial need that requires assistance, or know a family who does, please contact me @ Marcieandme.com