Happy Canada Day!

It's Canada's birthday again!  Somehow it comes on the same day every year, which seems to be a little confusing for Mr. Fantastic.  The flags above are today's craft; I really need to stop making The Thing's crafts for him (his is second from the left, which is not what it would have looked like had I not helped him).  He's a capable boy, and I need to remember that at craft time!  I think I'll have him make another.  I was super impressed by how well The Human Torch did his.  He put the glue on all by himself, and stuck the pieces on in just the right places.

The Canadian flag is obviously the best known symbol of Canada, but I think my favourites are this guy:

and this guy:

(Images courtesy of www.wikipedia.org)

Who doesn't think of Canada when they see those regal animals?

Happy 147th birthday, Canada!

Sea Week Is Over...On To the Next!

Space was replaced by Sea this week, as we decided to celebrate the Human Torch's birthday by taking the Fantastic Four to the aquarium.  I felt that all things considered, Sea Week was a little more fitting -- and besides, I didn't have all the craft items I needed for Space Week.  One more trip to the dollar store, I guess.  I'll have to be ready with a list.

Now that our sea theme is over and done with, we are on to Canada Week!  What better way to celebrate our beautiful country than with beavers, moose, Canada geese, and flags?  I even, in my insomnia-induced enthusiasm, painted an empty can white with red maple leaves, to make the top of a wind sock.  I'll hang it in the kitchen for the week, where it can blow gently in the breeze created by our (brand spanking new) fan.  Right  now I'm watching paper-plate-and-tissue-paper jelly fish blowing gently in the breeze.  It looks pretty nifty, actually.

As to the aquarium, we unfortunately weren't able to take any pictures (it was quite dark) but there are some lovely images to be found at  The Vancouver Aquarium's website.  The boys' favourite was the dolphin show -- especially the flip that one dolphin did as the finale!  It was quite incredible.  I think my favourite were the jellies.  I could have sat and watched them for far longer than I was able to.  They made me feel peacful.

This week's crafts were limited but fun.  The one that I like best were the tropical fish:

They turned out so adorable!  I love the way they reflect the light.  The Thing's fish looks a little bit like a Picasso masterpiece, but he still had a blast making it, and picking up all the little sequins from the table was great for his fine motor skills.

This is another little guy that we made:

I'm still not sure why, but the Human Torch wanted to colour his red.  Sure, whatever!  I helped him colour it, because he gets so frustrated by colouring outside the lines.  He wants really badly to be able to colour as well as Mr. Fantastic.

Hopefully Canada Week will be as much fun as Sea Week.  Do you have any plans for Canada Day?

Cheers,

Kelsey

Dino Week Crafts.

Now that Dino Week is over, so I wanted to share with you the three crafts we did.

Day one was marked with a (very time-consuming) stegosaurus craft, the Standing Steggie:


This is the first craft, I think, that I've come up with on my own.  Not bad, if I do say so myself.  The Fantastic 4 (less the Invisible Woman, who just lounged in her bouncy chair and stared while we worked) thought it was great, but wanted legs.  I'll have to work on that.

Day two was the Shapeasaurus:

I thought he was pretty cute, for a simple craft.  The theory was that we would learn about shapes, but I was the only one who did it.  Mr. Fantastic made an alien pteranodon with four eyes.  The Human Torch got as far as tracing the pieces with me, and The Thing just skipped it altogether.  The Invisible Woman, as usual, just lounged.

Days three and four were craftless; day four was a bit of a fiasco altogether, but we all made it through relatively unscathed...except for Dino Week, of course.  Dino Week got left behind completely.

Friday was day five (kind of a given) and the craft of the day was a triceratops made of craft foam:

Um.  It turns out I never took a completed picture of one, but here is one that is half-finished:

Just imagine it with three horns and a pair of googly eyes.  This one is the Human Torch's.  Technically the feet should be sideways, but art is all about creativity and originality!  If you want to do something different, go for it.  Maybe it will turn out to be a masterpiece.

Cheers,

Kelsey

We're Ninjas!

Well, sort of.  We were supposed to do some painting today, but got rained out.  Instead we spent some of our afternoon making inside crafts, and this is what resulted:

Aren't they cute?  I got the idea from No Time For Flashcards and added some teeny tiny bodies.  Mister Fantastic thought the bodies were super funny.  Human Torch had some difficulty with cutting but overcame it with some help from Mama, and Thing slept the whole time.  Invisible Woman chilled on the floor beside us and was the model for Baby Ninja, traced from a soup bowl instead of a pasta bowl.  I think it was quite a successful craft.

Cheers,

Kelsey