Day 12 – Snow Globes and Lava Jars

Here is a quick and satisfying craft you can do with your children. It took about 5 minutes and the kids played with them the rest of the morning. We had a hectic schedule today, so I wanted to choose a quick craft we could do after breakfast. I also wanted to make sure my niece got to take something home with her that would remind her of her week here.

Snow globes were late comers to the American scene, remaining a primarily German art through the 1920s. It was the Americanization of the Snow globe in the 1940s that lead to the plastic, cheap, tacky snow globe you can find in every road side tourist shop around the world today[1].

Lava lamps were perfected by Craven Walker who saw a lamp in a pub after WWII made from “an old cocktail shaker, old tins and things.” He spent years working it out and eventually came out with the lava lamp, just in time for the psychedelic movement. It’s a good thing too, because before that everyone else thought they were weird and gross.

I actually began this project the night before. I knew I would be in a hurry, so I picked out to McDonald’s happy meal toys that fit in the jars and hot glued them to the inside of the jar lids. The next morning after breakfast we sat down at the table and the girls made the lava globes first. They filled their jars half full with baby oil and chose a food color. I use gel in my house but the drops work great and your child can put that in themselves. Then they poured water in. Color magically appears in the water as it flows into the jar. It’s pretty cool to see. Run some rubber cement along the empty lid and screw on the top.

Then they made the Snow globes. First the girls poured the cups a third full of light corn syrup; this makes the glitter settle slowly when you shake the globe. We then added glitter, beads and waters. I added the lid with the toy and added more water as needed. Swiped the lid with glue, secured the top and finished.

These make a great activity and an inexpensive take home gift for parties! They also help you do something with all those useless happy meal toys that are so much garbage fodder. I know I shouldn’t let her eat at those places at all, but sometimes when we are really busy, it’s a better option that eating nothing.

How to Make Snow Globes and Lava Jars

Supplies:

Canning Jars (Wal-Mart Sells Smooth Sided Ones)

Baby Oil

Light Corn Syrup

Water

Glitter

Beads

Toys

Food Coloring

Hot Glue

Rubber Cement

Instructions:

Lava Jars

 - Fill Each Jar Half Full with Baby Oil

 - Add 3-4 drops of food coloring

 - Add water until jar is full. Screw on cap and lightly shake jar to mix food coloring, if too light add more coloring.

 - Unscrew lid and swipe inside screw top with rubber cement. Re-secure lid.

Snow globe

 - Hot Glue Toy onto the inside of the lid after you make sure it fits inside the jar. For some toys you may need to add a stand so it can be seen above the lip of the jar.

 - Fill the jar 1/3 full with light corn syrup. This will slow the glitter and keep it from settling to quickly when the jar is shaken.

 - Add some glitter and or beads or confetti.

 - Add water to fill the jar

 - Put the inside lid on the top of the jar and add more water if required.

 - Swipe the inside screw ridges of the lid with rubber cement and secure lid on the jar.

 - Shake up jar to mix the water and the corn syrup.

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[1] http://www.ehow.com/about_6573582_history-snow-globe.html

Day 6 - Food Blocks

Worst craft yet! Mom always said not to play with my food, but I never listened to her. I think it would work better for an older child, or possibly that today was just not a good one to try it out. She did have half a small Chick Fil A strawberry milk shake which I thick has made her hyper out of her mind. (Never again!)

Today I was supposed to do a craft using fruit from my refrigerator. I decided to take apples, oranges and carrots; cut them into blocks. She loves building all kinds of things with her wooden building blocks and she likes to help us build things with her Lincoln logs. Interestingly in 1830 the same man who gave us kindergarten introduced the world to a set of wooden building blocks for children. These same blocks inspired Frank Loyd Wright to become an architect[1].

While LeeAnn ran off her excess energy in the living room I cut the fruit and carrots into squared rectangles. We then worked on putting together a building, or tried to. She ate half the building material, which I didn’t mind, and then announced “I’m done” halfway through. Not a stunning success. She did enjoy eating it afterwards. I used the oranges as fields of fruit plants by peeling off the outer skin and laying it spread out in rows. She ate them before I could get a picture.

As I said it did not work out well to day, but I think it would work better in a different setting. You could cut out bread block and let the kids build sandwich towns, or do the same with pancakes/waffles and fruit. Slightly older kids may respond better to this project as well.

Fruit Building Blocks

Supplies:

Apples

Carrots

Peanut Butter

Lemon Juice

Peeler

Knife

Cutting Board

Small bowl

Butter Knife

Plate

Instructions:

1. Peel apples and carrots, cut them into cubes and long rectangles. Put into a small bowl and cover with a 1-2 tsp of lemon juice, mix to coat. This keeps the apples from turning brown.

1. Spread some of the Peanut Butter on the plate as a base for the structure and let the kids build. They can try using the Peanut butter as cement, but wet fruit is slippery. It’s best to smear it on the fruit, and then place the fruit onto the structure.
2. You can get creative and build a whole town, create carrot people and animals with jam’s lakes. You’re only limited by your children’s attention span.
3. Photograph you completed structure if desired, the have fun and dig in!

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[1] http://www.google.com/#q=history+of+toy+building+blocks&hl=en&sa=X&tbs=tl:1,tll:1800,tlh:1849&prmd=ivns&ei=N_-pTci6BKLp0gGt8eT5CA&ved=0CCwQyQEoBA&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=7e7d8e26231a088d