Artsy Fartsy Family

I’ve had this habit, over the years, of collecting curriculum. At a certain point, it was manageable. We’re radical unschoolers, so there’s no way i’d force my kids to use the textbooks, I just felt, for a while, that we “should” have them in the house in case the kids WANTED to use them.
We’re preparing [...]

I just had to share this adorable video about ow to make potato stampers.

And it wasn’t nearly this cool, but hey. We used 10×10 mounted canvas squares and painted. I bought a few paint colors (for less than $5 altogether) and just let each kid do whatever they wanted. Seriously, whatever. We have a mucky muck, some lines and circles, and a princess. Mine [...]

Marbles are so cool, we actually have a lot of uses for them around here. unfortunately, they’re all locked up right now until my baby outgrows the “sticking-everything-in-her-mouth” stage. I always shop around because I’m a cheapskate, the last time I bought them for an art class, i found them cheapest at Amazon the local [...]

1.  Use fancy beads for making Jewelry like bracelets, earrings or even decorative phone chains
2. Design T shirt graphics to sell on cafe press, like the girls at KremeCheezeShirtz
3. Sharpen chopsticks with a pencil sharpener, then paint or lacquer them for homemade hair sticks
4. Make denim purses out of old blue jeans
5. Braid strips of [...]

Making pinatas is so much fun, but most kids would never know this because they aren’t planning their ow birthday parties.  Imagine how much fun a party with friends would be if the chidren had planned the party on their own.  My artsy fartsy kids always plan their own parties, sometimes because I am busy [...]

So- are they a tropical thing or a Pacific Northwest thing?  Why would native people from so far away each use totem poles?
I don’t know but I do know that a family totem pole is a great project.  Everyone has their own personal totem, or animal, that represents them.  In native cultures, if you are [...]

paintings and thank you cards hanging up to dry

Today we made giant thank you cards with file folders. It’s easy. First, you have to cut the edge of the folder off, so that it’s smooth.

File Folder Thank You Cards

I drew swirlies on mine with a crayon while Madelyn (6) glued random things to [...]