Five For Friday - It's Raining Again!

Instead of complaining about the rain (since it seems we're going to be stuck with it anyway), why not choose projects, crafts and activities to Celebrate the Rain ?

Links to five pages of ideas to get you inspired:

Preschool Educations Arts and Crafts for any weather

A to Z Kid's Stuff - Rain

Preschool Express with Jean Warren (my hero!)
The Magic of Rain

For Older Children (grade school) a unit on Weather and Rainbows

Step by Step Childcare has five pages of their own ideas for a rain and umbrella theme including a related books list!

Lion Brand Yarn - By Kids For Kids Newsletter - July 2007

There's a great project in the Lion Brand Yarn's Kid's Newsletter this month -
Natural Dyes from Edible Items
I've used natural dyes for Easter eggs a few time, but never for yarn. (Guess what we'll be doing soon?)
Here's a portion of the newsletter, I know you're going to want to subscribe for yourself!

By Kids, For Kids: July, 2007
Natural Dyes from Edible Items
Creating your own dyes can be a fun and exciting way to personalize projects. This month, we show you how to make all-natural dyes and use them with different cotton and wool yarns.
We used only edible items purchased at our local market, boiling water and (in some cases) salt to make beautiful, all-natural dyes.

After trying our dyes, you will probably want to experiment with other natural food dyes of your own. Start by using fruits or vegetables that stain and experiment! You can mix dye baths to make different colors. You will probably find, as we did, that the colors are all -- surprise -- "earth" tones!

Because this project requires boiling water, adult supervision is required.

If you are not already a subscriber to BK4K, click here! It's free!

Selecting Your Yarn Different fibers absorb dye differently. We found that:
1.The all-wool yarns -- Lion Wool and Fisherman's Wool -- took color much more easily than the cotton yarns;
2.The soft pastel shades of the cotton were very pretty but very subtle -- much like the colors of home-made fresh fruit ice cream;
3.In some cases, the same dye produced one color in the wool yarn and a quite different color in the cotton yarn.
4.There was very little difference between the way the different wool yarns took color, but the Fisherman's wool fluffs up a bit more after handling;
5.There was very little difference between the way the different cotton yarns took color.

Your Equipment
1.Cutting board and knife;
2.Stainless steel or enamel cooking pots;
3.A stove;
4.If you are using beets, a grater;
5.A clock or 1-hour timer;
6.Tongs or spoons for handling yarn in the dye bath. If you plan to do several colors, make sure you have a different utensil for each so you don't accidentally contaminate your dyes;
7.Some place to hang the yarn to dry;
8.If you are making more than one color, index cards or labels to put with the yarn while it is drying so you can remember what is what.
9.Recommended, not required: a notebook to document your work. Use this to take notes about the materials, the process times and the results. Samples of the yarn are helpful, as are pictures. Having this information makes it easier to repeat a particular color.

The Dyes The colors in wool are different from those in cotton, but they are both pretty! (Wool is on the left, Cotton on the right)



Turmeric We found turmeric in the spice section of the market.
Click here for the recipe.




Skins of Yellow Onions We saved and used the skins of a dozen yellow onions to make this beautiful warm brown.
Click here for the recipe.




Grape Juice We used frozen juice and got this beautiful dusty-rose color on the wool and soft lavender on the cotton.
Click here for the recipe.




Beets The pink dye is not colorfast, but it is so pretty in the cotton that we can't resist telling you about it! If you make something out of it and wash the item, you will have to re-dye it after washing.
Click here for the recipe.

They've also included some patterns to use with your newly dyed yarn -

So now you've have some beautiful naturally-dyed yarn, what next? Using just one ball of the natural vanilla and one dyed a bright yellow with the turmeric recipe above, we made this fun retro purse set -- a VERY 60's holder for dark glasses, for a cell-phone and for small change or other little necessities.

Subscribe to the Newsletter Here!

At The Park

Try to Imagine...

On a day of suffocating heat across Connecticut, perhaps it help just a little bit to imagine ourselves into February?

From Caterpillar to Butterfly

We've been walking to the duck pond often in the past few days-

we're trying to find them again-

the caterpillars we found last year.

Until we do - Check out our Monarch Butterfly Project of Summer 2006

Frogland

Baby Frog: Mama, who is smarter- a chicken or a frog?
Mama Frog: We are of course!!
Baby Frog: How do you know?
Mama Frog: Well, who ever heard of Kentucky Fried Frog?

Now that you have your toad house, find out everything there is to know about frogs and toads at Frogland - http://allaboutfrogs.org/There are frog fun and games, frogs in the news, stupid frog jokes, caring for your pet frog or toad, frog coloring pages, even animated Frog TV that you can watch in a small pop-up window.
And yes...even though it's Frogland, there is plenty to see about toads -
just type "toads" in the search engine on the site and look at all the cool stuff you'll find!

A Home for Toad

-
Toad Village is located in a mossy corner of the yard, tucked into a nook beside the steps to Grampy's workshop in the backroom of the garage.


We spent a morning painting empty coffee cans in colors toads would like - two year old girls have an instinct for this sort of thing
We waited for the next day and the paint to be dry, then went outside to pick just the right spot for toads. We dug into the damp soil for an inch or so and lay the cans down on their sides. Then we filled in around them with the dirt and added a little inside to make the toads feel at home.
There were lots of leftover materials from our fairy house gathering expedition -we glued the pieces of bark, pine needles and cones, dried moss onto the cans using weather resistant glue. All that was left to make the village complete was the toad's pool.
An aluminum pan was stolen from the cupboard and sunk into the soil beside the houses. Rocks were added to the bottom of the pan to hold it in place and we poured in the water. Welcome Home, Toads!