Thursday, August 14, 2008

Notebook Experiments: Can I Craft Some Bath Toys?


Experiment: Can I Craft Some Bath Toys?

Experiment Taken From: Notebook Entry 06.26.08

Materials Needed: Please see plumpudding for the full instructions on this task. I hit our local dollar store and picked up a ten pack of craft foam to use for this project. The craft foam is thin enough that you can cut these with plain old scissors or you could break out your zig-zag scissors from your scrapbooking materials.


Results:
I am not very good at free-hand drawing so I went ahead and looked for a template where I could stencil some really cute shapes out of my foam. I found this handy template from the Martha Stewart website and whipped up several fishes, flowers, and hearts for the kids. These were very easy to trace and took only a few minutes to whip up. My husband also put together some that he drew for the kids.

The kids absolutely loved these and didn't want to get out of the bathtub. I also saved a few sheets of foam for the kids to do finger-painting on. I am planning to use these foam sheets with some of our homemade pudding paints (with only enough water to make a finger-paint consistency instead of a water paint consistency) and then I will just rinse the sheets off when they are done so that they can make brand new creations!

I would recommend making sure to soak the foam before you begin sticking it on walls. The pink color did bleed onto the walls and left a pink shade that is going to take some serious scrubbing to get out. None of the other colors caused this problem, but giving them a good soaking first should prevent this problem.


Conclusion: One package of foam can keep my children entertained for many baths and I can't wait to whip up some more of these for them to play with. I am thinking that these would make excellent stocking stuffers this year and you can't beat the price! Thanks plumpudding for your creative idea!
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I am so excited to open our Notebook Experiments up to everyone and I hope that you will be able to participate this week or in weeks to come! I will be posting this each Thursday so please mark your calendars if you plan to participate. You can post your entries at any time throughout the week and then leave your entry in the links below.

We have this handy banner that you are more than welcome to use, but it is not a requirement! It is just something you can add to add a little sparkle to your entry.

Rules for Participation:

1. Choose anything from any of our notebook entries (past or present) to do with your family. We have hundreds of bookmarked links of crafts, ways to save money, and organizing ideas.
2. Complete an experiment from the notebook and share about it on your blog or website. We would love to see pictures of what you accomplished or a detailed description of how your projects turned out. Please include a link to this entry, a link to the original posting of the entry (at the original crafster's blog), and (to help us relocate the project) the date or link of the notebook entry where you found it. You can use the same formatting as our entries or you can just include that information in your post in your own unique way!
3. Post a link below. Please include your name or blog name & a fast description of your project. Example- MomAdvice (WHO bread)

I can't wait to see what you create and what you find inspiring!

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11Comments:

Blogger Amy
"Sorry that the links are so tiny. I don't know why that is happening. We are still working out the kinks!"

at 9:09 AM  

Blogger Amy
"Can I say how great it is to have a husband who is a web designer? Should work and look good now!"

at 9:32 AM  

Blogger teachingtinytots
"i made some foam bath toys and a whlae scoop to eat the fish a while ago! but we still play with it every bath time! so a great no cost toy! i posted the link to the actual post!"

at 9:32 AM  

Blogger Steph at Problem Solvin' Mom
"I can't wait to try this! And I'm going to have to go home tonight and download last night's photos and write up my review of the homemade finger paints. They were a huge hit!!"

at 1:19 PM  

Blogger Pennies In My Pocket
"I so need some bath toys! I LOVE this idea!!

I'm back from being MIA since April. The long story short is posted on my blog from yesterday. It's SO good to be back!!! I missed ya! :)

Hope everything is going great for ya!

~melody~"

at 2:28 PM  

Blogger Tamara
"What a cute idea! I think it would be nice to have some sets of foam shapes - like a farm set with a barn, fence, animals, etc. or a set with characters and props for a specific story. The shapes could still be simplified, but it would be fun to act out a story."

at 2:34 PM  

Blogger Amy
"Tamara- That would be great! I am so horrible at drawing that my person looked like a "cookie" according to my daughter.

Whatever you do though, soak that hot pink foam. I had pink hearts all over my tub and it took about twenty minutes to get it all cleaned up. None of the other colors bled- only that one.

Steph- I can't wait to hear about your finger paints! You guys can post all week or wait until the next week's post- totally up to you! I love seeing these entries!

Teachingtinytots- Love the whale made of a milk jug- too cute!

Melody- Hello, stranger! You have been missed! xoxoxo"

at 3:12 PM  

Blogger ella'smom
"We did this last fall at the library. I just cut shapes free hand. My daughter still plays with them every night in the bath."

at 3:40 PM  

Blogger Indie
"I made a bunch of fish like this for VBS a while back and they ended up in my bath tub. They do make great bath toys."

at 11:24 PM  

Blogger April
"great idea. I have a ton of cookie cutters from my prechool teacher stint that would make great templates for the alphabets and numbers! I will have to try these after our vacation"

at 11:02 AM  

Blogger Steph at Problem Solvin' Mom
"I forgot I'd done a summer list post already, so I linked to it and I'm saving the finger paints until next week. Thanks for the link to all your notebook entries, what a handy thing to have!"

at 1:04 PM  

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