Category Archives: Free Tutorials

BOOK GIVEAWAY & Craft: Ice Cycle: Poems About the Life of Ice

Posted in Children's Books, Free Tutorials, Kids, Recycled materials by

The Book Giveaway is now closed. Thank you for participating!

PROJECT: Experimenting with colored ice cubes

Icebergs, floebergs, brinicles, frazil, ice flowers and frost. Maria Gianferrari’s book of poems, Ice Cycle, beautifully illustrated in pastel pinks and blues by Jiening Chen, explores the many shapes and structures of ice. Gianferrari’s rhymes and rhythms “swirl and twirl” and “plume and bloom,” bring to life the fascinating–and surprisingly varied–forms of our favorite frozen substance.

To celebrate the publication of this wonderful book, I wanted to create an activity that would enchant and beguile young scientists. Why not create some hands-on frosty fun to observe and learn?

MATERIALS

  • ice tray
  • multicolor food dye
  • water
  • a freezer!
  • large bowl or cooking sheet with rim
  • small bowls
  • salt
  • sugar
  • optional: watercolor paper

DIRECTIONS:

This project is all about tactile exploration. The food dye adds extra interest to the transformation from liquid to solid to liquid again, but it may also tint little hands and clothes–so if that sounds messy to you, by all means–skip the coloring!

  1. Add a drop or two of food dye to bowl/s of water. Small scientists can observe what happens to the dye as it dissolves into the water.
  2. Place your ice trays in the freezer and wait and wait and wait. If you want, your scientist might check in a couple of times to see what is happening to the water over time.
  3. Remove the cubes into a big bowl, cooking sheet with rim, or table with a waterproof tablecloth. (I also had plenty of smaller bowls on hand for experimentation.)
  4. Observe: What does the ice feel like? What happens if you hold it for a while?
  5. Sprinkle salt on one ice cube, sugar on another. What do you notice?
  6. Place one cube in hot water and another in cold water. What changes do you see?
  7. Leave colored ice cubes on watercolor paper. What is left behind as the cubes melt?
  8. If you live in a cold climate and it’s winter, leave some ice cubes outside. What happens to them?

To learn more about Maria Gianferrari and find more Ice Cycle activities and resources, go to mariagianferrari.com; you can find illustrator Jieting Chen at jietingchen.com.

Make: Mini Lid Flyers!

Posted in Children's Books, FLIP!, Free Tutorials, Kids, Paper, Stuff to make by

I’ve been (virtually) visiting schools with my picture book, FLIP! How the Frisbee Took Flight, and having so much fun making and experimenting with make-your-own flying objects. Together with students, I’ve made DIY discs out of all sorts of materials: paper plates, aluminum pie pans, origami paper, and, for one oversized experiment, a fabric-covered hula hoop (watching this ginormous creation fly was truly epic).

What is left? Well, now that I’ve gone big, it’s time to go tiny.

I collected a bunch of 3″ diameter, see-through lids from cylindrical chip containers, i.e., Pringles, or the slightly healthier kind we get from The Good Crisp Company. (While I wish I could blame my kids for eating most of the chips, I’m pretty sure it was mostly me.) But back to our craft–with an easy flick, the lids fly impressively well. I’m sure other plastic lids–from yogurt containers or cream cheese or whatever could work well, too–but I chose these lids because they were see-through so I could decorate them the way I wanted to. Here’s how I made my mini lid flyers:

MATERIALS:

see-through 3″ plastic lids

origami or construction paper in fun colors

clear cellophane tape plus scissors and glue stick

DIRECTIONS:

1.With a pencil, trace around the lid on a piece of your colored paper.

2. Cut out; trim to make sure it fits inside your lid and then trim a bit more so there’s some space to tape the paper inside of your lid.

3. Decorate however you like! Use marker or collage like I did and create rainbows, stripes, spirals, smiley faces–whatever pleases you. If you’re collaging, I recommend using glue stick.

4. Cut tiny pieces of your clear tape and tape your design all around the edges of your paper circle and adhere to the inside of your lid. Voila! Now you can terrorize your siblings or cats or parents with these mini Frisbees 🙂

Check out www.margaretmuirhead.com for more information about Flip! You can order your copy at Indiebound, Target, Barnes & Noble, Amazon or at your favorite neighborhood book shop.

Make: Origami Flyer

Posted in Children's Books, FLIP!, Free Tutorials, Kids, Paper, Stuff to make by 
Once kids get a hang of folding these Origami Flyers, they won't be able to stop! The good news is flinging these flyers won't damage your walls or furniture and they pair perfectly with my upcoming nonfiction picture book, FLIP! How the Frisbee Took Flight. 

Materials: 
The list couldn't be simpler! Origami paper. To make one origami flyer, you will need 8 pieces--4 in one color, 4 in another. I recommend a happy medium--about 15 cm x 15 cm. That's big enough for kids new to origami, but not so large as to be too floppy to fly. 

Instructions:
Watch these 2 short videos, and follow the folds!

Check out www.margaretmuirhead.com for more information about Flip! You can pre-order your copy at Indiebound, Target, Barnes & Noble, Amazon or at your favorite neighborhood book shop.

Be A Tree! BOOK GIVEAWAY & Craft

Posted in Children's Books, Free Tutorials, Kids, Paper, Recycled materials, Stuff to make by

The Book Giveaway is closed. Our winner is Josie Clark-Trippodo! Congratulations, Josie! Enjoy this beautiful book.

“Be a tree. Stand tall. Stretch your branches to the sun.” Maria Gianferrari’s beautiful picture book begins with a simple metaphor that extends and expands, connecting the ecology of trees to a message about interconnectedness and our human responsibility to care for, build and sustain our communities. The illustrations by Felicita Salas are delightful. On a page with text that reads: “Your skin is bark; dead on the outside, protecting what’s within,” Salas adds a detail of matching tattoos–a heart inked on a grandfather’s forearm with a twin heart carved into the trunk of a tree.

To mark the publication of BE A TREE, I wanted to create a variation of that perennial school project, the Family Tree–but one that would celebrate the circles of community that kids experience in their lives instead of ancestry. Not all children know or live with biological relatives–but all of them have important people who matter to them. So, introducing . . . the TREE RINGS PROJECT!

Block printing with organic materials (because: trees) is a perfect pair for this project, filled with texture and messiness. Who doesn’t love a puddle of glue, paint, and the surprise of lifting up a print you made to see the result? If it’s too glue-y for you, you can also create a Tree Rings Project using markers and crayons with concentric circle shapes to trace.

Tree Rings Project

MATERIALS

  • Flat piece of cardboard (you can cut out a side of a cardboard box)
  • Yarn
  • White glue
  • Tempera or acrylic paint
  • Scissors
  • Brayer (printmaking roller) or paintbrush
  • Paper (I used 50% recycled construction paper)

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Trace or draw concentric circles on cardboard. We had fun running around the house gathering cups, bowls and other round objects to trace. Your circles can be lopsided–the rings of a tree certainly are!
  2. Cut pieces of yarn that fit your circles.
  3. Now for the gluey, messy bit: squeeze a line of glue along your traced circles. Or, for smaller hands, pour a puddle of glue and use a popsicle stick to spread it on thick!
  4. Lay the yarn on your circles and let dry.
  5. Painting time! Once your block is dry, use a paintbrush or brayer to spread paint over the yarn.
  6. Turn it upside down on paper; press evenly.
  7. Lift carefully: you printed your tree rings!

Now for Step 8, the most important part . . . start at the middle of your tree ring and think about the place where you feel the most comfortable. It might be home or maybe school. In this central place, jot down the people there that help you grow strong. People you can count on and who can count on you. Move out to your next tree ring. This ring can represent another comfortable place–a grandparent’s house, a neighbor’s house, your after-school group. Who are your “people” there? Add them to your tree ring. Move your way out, considering other places and groups that help you or that you would like to help–the local animal rescue group or a community garden, for example. And voila! You’ve made your circles of community–your personal Tree Rings!

* Teens and grown-ups who don’t want to be left out of the fun but want more of a challenge: try creating a block print of wood grain. My attempt is pictured above and below. I free-handed the design, starting with interspersed spirals (knots of wood) and then adding lines of yarn (wood grain) around them.

To learn more about author Maria Gianferrari (pictured below “being a tree”), go to mariagianferrari.com. You can find illustrator Felicita Sala at felicitasala.com.

Read & Make: Terrific Tongues! Giveaway

Posted in Children's Books, Free Tutorials, Kids, Paper, Stuff to make by

*Publisher giveaway* for U.S. residents–The giveaway offer has now ended. Congratulations to Erin Ellis! 

You can clean your eyeballs with your tongue (if you happen to be a gecko). Or you can use your tongue as a lance (if you’re a woodpecker impaling a larva). And if you’re a snake, you can smell with your tongue.

Frog party blower by homemadecity.comI learned about these fun tongues in Maria Gianferrari’s playful, informative picture book, Terrific Tongues! (with spirited, bright illustrations by Jia Liu). An inviting read-aloud, the simple text keeps the audience guessing at each turn of the page: Which tongue (with which function) belongs to which animal? Sidebars and back matter offer more detailed information about the unusual abilities of tongues.

 

If you (or a young someone you know) would like to take a turn unraveling your tongue just like a North American bullfrog, here’s a project to try.

What You Need:

IMG_E0512

party blowers (in red or pink)

1 sheet of card stock green paper

color paper (construction, origami, whatever you have)

Frog Party Blower template

optional: googly eyes

Instructions:

Using the template above, trace the frog shape onto your green card stock. Cut along the outline. Use a hole punch to cut out the circle/mouth hole. Trace and cut out the cheeks, eyes and pupils onto color paper of your choice. Glue the eyes and cheeks to the frog. Insert the blower into the mouth & voila. You are a bullfrog! Perfect for a birthday party or a book celebration of Terrific Tongues!

To learn more about author Maria Gianferrari, go to http://mariagianferrari.com/ or visit her on Facebook or Instagram.