Wickedly Cute Witches

Very often I have an art project planned and at the last minute I'll think of a better way, a more fun way, or a cuter way to do it. And then I'm scrambling that morning to get it ready. That's what happened today. I used this coloring sheet as my template for a witch:

I enlarged it a bit, then traced all the pieces onto construction paper and cut them out. I changed the face of the witch because I didn't really like the one in the picture. I put together my example for the kids, using yarn for hair.

It definitely looked like a witch, but it wasn't cute enough and it was a little boring. They would all look too much alike. So this morning it dawned on me to use a hand print for the witch head! I tried it a couple times and, although not perfect, I really liked it! So I painted the kids' hands and thumbs green, and painted their fingers black. I didn't paint their index finger because it would get in the way of the cape.

To make the print, they kept their fingers together, but put their thumb out as far as possible. When dry and cut out, the kids glued a hat on it and added the other pieces to complete their witch. The broom went on last. They glued on a colored wiggle eye and drew in a mouth.

OK, so the nose might be a bit long, and the cape doesn't quite fit right because there is no neck. But I thought they were much cuter than my example!

Some hand prints seemed to work better than others.

But they are all darling! I hung them in the hall with the words "Wickedly Cute."

I would have loved to have used pictures of the kids for the faces, but I only have two girls in my class. I wasn't sure how the boys would feel about being witches!

Pop Rocks Pumpkins

Let me start off by saying this is a sticky, sticky, STICKY project!! Ever since we made art with Kool-Aid powder (sprinkling it onto paper and spraying it with water), I've wanted to try the same thing with Pop Rocks. Well, it didn't work. The color from the Pop Rocks did not bleed off onto the paper. So I tried something else. Glue. First I cut out pumpkin shapes from orange card stock and glued them to green construction paper. The kids painted glue onto the pumpkins.

Then they sprinkled Pop Rocks onto the pumpkins. (I bought a pack of 3 Pumpkin Patch Orange Pop Rocks at Target.)

Luckily, I tried this project out on my own first. I noticed the Pop Rocks got sticky and clumped together very quickly outside of the bag. If I had not made my own first, I would have dumped them all in a bowl for the kids to use. So instead I dumped a few in my hand and the kids took a pinch or two as needed.

As soon as the Pop Rocks hit the glue, they started making popping noises! That was the cool part.

The longer they sat, the more bubbly and fizzy they got.

And very, very sticky. They never actually dried. I thought they looked cool so I hung them on the wall.

Within minutes I saw they were starting to drip.

Boo. So I took them down, covered them with plastic wrap and sent them home. Between the wreaths, pumpkin stamping and the Pop Rocks, I think I'm done using candy for art. For a little while, anyway!

Candy Pumpkin Stamping

Here's a quick activity we did the other day. I put some candy pumpkins in paint,

and the kids stamped with them.

Here's the problem, though. Once in paint, the candy started to dissolve. (Remember the problem with our wreaths?) So after a few minutes, this is what the prints looked like:

I kept adding new ones to the paint so each child could have a chance with a fresh pumpkin. But they had to do it fast! And the orange from the pumpkin turned the white paint orange as well.

But this activity was more about the process than the end product. They really enjoyed it! Most kids just stamped a bunch of circles, but one boy made a bat, a pumpkin and a ghost.

We also used the candy to practice making patterns.

And then, of course, they each got to pick out one to eat. (A clean one, not one from the activity!)

Porcupine Ball Prints

I found these fun balls at Target (near the halloween stuff) and I planned on putting them in my prize bucket.

They are kind of like mini koosh balls, but thicker. But after looking at them for awhile I decided to use them for art instead of as prizes. So I put them in paint.

They made a very cool design when stamped onto the paper!

The kids had a blast using these for art. I'll definitely have to remember these come Fourth of July. They look like fireworks!

One boy used the balls to smear the paint around on his paper.

In the afternoon, when the balls were clean and dry, I made an impromptu game. As I was getting supplies for my room, I noticed the box that holds our paper towels has a piece of cardboard with holes in it. I immediately thought of the little porcupine balls. So I set it up against the wall, put down some tape for the kids to stand behind, and they threw the balls into the holes!

It would be fun to decorate the cardboard or put numbers under the holes so the kids could score points. I'll keep you posted if I decide to do something like that! We also got out different sized buckets and a cup and threw the balls in them.

It was a fun afternoon and the kids have already been asking to play it again some time!

Mini Autumn Wreaths

The project I'm sharing with you today came about because of another project, and it has become one of my favorites!

I bought some bleeding tissue paper and cut it into small squares. The kids drew tree trunks, arranged the tissue squares on top and sprayed them with water.

When it dried, we peeled off the tissue paper. The project didn't turn out as I had hoped.

Kind of blah. I heard it works better with watercolor paper (we used construction paper) so maybe that was the problem. But I happened to glance over at the pile of tissue paper we peeled off.

I loved the muted colors! And when I scrunched them up, they reminded me of fall leaves.

Beautiful, right? Some of them were very cool.

Anyway, I knew we had to use these for a project instead of just throwing them away. So I got out some small paper plates and had the kids paint the rim.

You could cut the middle out before painting, but this gave the kids a place to hold onto their plate while they painted.

When the paint was dry, I cut out the middles. Then the kids dipped the tissue paper into glue and stuck it on their wreath.

To make it even more fun, we also added some candy corn!

I added the little tag for the name, and our autumn wreaths were done.

Or so I thought. Even though I let them dry for two days, when I hung them on our door some of the candy corn fell off. And some kind of "melted" down the wreath. I was worried that I would come in the next day and all the candy would be on the floor and I'd have sticky trails of syrup all over the door. So I peeled off the ones that were starting to slide and replaced them with tissue paper. I don't know if it was the Elmer's glue that caused it, or if the kids just used too much glue. (Mine were still intact and so were a couple others.) So if you decide to make these, either skip the candy corn or use different glue. Hot glue might work better. I still like how they turned out and they add the perfect touch of Fall to my room!