Build your own Dragon!

3 02 2012

We love to make creations out of recyclable materials here at the Museum! Most of the items that we use you will be able to find around your house, but if you do not have one of our materials, simply look around for something you could use instead. Just get creative!

What you will need:

  • Plastic Bag
  • One Paper Plate
  • Two Cotton Balls
  • Tape
  • Tissue Paper
  • Glue
  • Paint

Stage One:

Fill the plastic bag with tissue paper. Roll the bag up to a tube shape (as shown above). Tape the bag in shape.

Stage Two

Using the paper plate, draw and cut out four dragon feet shapes (as shown above)

Stage Three:

Using any color you choose, paint all of the dragon pieces.

Stage Four:

Glue the dragon feet into place and also glue the two cotton balls (dotted with paint) to make eyes.

Stage Five: Finished!

Once the paint is dry, your creation is complete!

Why don’t you try adding decoration to the dragons back, or add a nose!

  • Now try using other materials instead of the plastic bag and tissue paper? How about bubble wrap instead? What about ping pong balls for eyes instead of the cotton balls?

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How the Grinch Made Cookies

19 12 2011

Every Who

Down in Who-ville

Liked Christmas a lot…

 But the Grinch,

Who lived just North of Who-ville,

Did NOT!

The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!

Now, please don’t ask why. No one quite knows the reason.

It could be that his head wasn’t screwed on quite right.

It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.

But I think that the most likely reason of all

May have been that his heart was two sizes too small…

“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” by Dr. Seuss

The holidays are a wonderful time to get together with your family, don’t let the never-ending holiday cheer overwhelm you and turn you into a Grinch!

Here at the museum, we like to avoid becoming Grinch-y by making our own Grinch cookies! The recipe is originally from Betty Crocker but we found it on a cool blog called Living the Domestic Life (click on these links for the recipe!)

These gooey, green, mint-flavored, chocolate-chip cookies will subdue the Grinch in all of us. And if you would like a fun coloring activity to do while you wait for your cookies to bake, print out this Mr. Grinch Coloring Page!

Happy Baking!


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Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Cook, Craft, Download

Holiday Light-bulb Ornaments!

8 12 2011

Aren’t these homemade ornaments charming? If you want your holidays to be filled with creativity, you can dazzle your family with your very own ornaments too!

They are pretty simple to make, you need an old light-bulb (we found a nice round one to mimic the shape of store-bought ornaments) paint, paintbrushes, a pipe-cleaner/string/or ribbon, liquid glue, shaving cream, and optional glitter.

First, clean off your light-bulb so that the paint sticks.

Then, plan out what you want to paint onto your ornament, we chose our name, a candy-cane, and a snowman. But if your hand isn’t as steady as ours, you can just do fun designs, like red and white stripes, snowflakes or just random!

It was kind of difficult to paint the light-bulb while holding it, since you want every part of it to have color. So we suggest you take an old egg carton, or a small cup to prop the light-bulb on while you decorate it.

We created a snow effect on the bottom and on the snowman by combining equal parts liquid glue and shaving cream. It should dry puffy and it’s a lot of fun to paint and play with!

We added glitter to the top part of the ornament, but you can go crazy and do a whole glitter ornament if you want, who’s stopping you?

Finally, we used a pipe cleaner wrapped around the top of the light-bulb. Make sure to twist it in a way that lets you hang it on your tree. If you don’t have pipe cleaners, you can try using ribbon, yarn, or string tied at the top for hanging.

So from now on, don’t throw out broken light-bulbs, make ornaments instead!


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1 Paper, 6 Snowflakes

5 12 2011

See the pretty snowflakes
Falling from the sky;
On the wall and housetops
Soft and thick they lie.

On the window ledges,
On the branches bare;
Now how fast they gather,
Filling all the air.

Look into the garden,
Where the grass was green;
Covered by the snowflakes,
Not a blade is seen.

Now the bare black bushes
All look soft and white,
Every twig is laden,
What a pretty sight!

“Falling Snow” by Anonymous

Snowflakes have a certain mystery and magical quality to them. So this winter why don’t you enjoy nature’s ice art, and make some snowflakes out of paper? You can make 6 individual snowflakes using just one sheet of printer paper. Here’s how: print out this snowflake activity: Snowflake Pattern, cut along all the lines to get your 6 snowflake templates. Then watch the slideshow below for instructions on how to create your 6 snowflakes. Happy winter!

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Make a Paper Gingerbread House

30 11 2011

Burrrr… It’s going to get really cold, really soon. Christmas is just around the corner. When the temperature drops we like to be inside where it’s nice and cozy. If you don’t want to brave the cold weather just yet, stay inside like us and make a paper gingerbread house!

This neat activity, is half the mess of a real gingerbread house, and it’s free! You can practice all your candy decorating skills so that when you get that real cookie house, you’ll be a pro.

You can check out the Museum Dec 1st-23rd during Gingerbread House Workshops, where we’ll provide enough candy and gingerbread to make a mansion! Registration just opened,  so sign up all you gingerbread architects!

Download our at-home gingerbread activity here: Paper Gingerbread House and tell us how your gingerbread homes turn out!


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Make a Banjo Box

28 11 2011

A banjo is a string instrument, it produces music by vibrating strings. Banjos are normally played by plucking the strings, but strumming (running your fingers along the strings instead of grabbing and pulling them) creates sound too. Sound is made by the vibrations that send sound waves through the air. When you pluck the strings, they vibrate and make sound waves that reach your ear.

You can make your own musical instrument, just follow the instructions below for our banjo box!

Instead of strings we used rubber bands. You’ll notice the thinner rubber bands make a higher note. Why is this? It’s because the thinner the band the faster it vibrates, making a higher pitch. The thicker band vibrates slower, producing a lower note. Our banjo box is a million times easier to make than an actual banjo, and just as much fun!

All you need is:

  • An old box (we used a left-over soap box because it was small)
  • Rubber bands of different thickness
  • 2 Pencils, pens or markers (to raise the rubber bands from the box)

Just wrap the rubber bands around the box and slide the pencils under the bands to raise them, then you’re done! Wasn’t that easy? See how ours turned out:

We had a lot of fun playing our creative instrument. You can make instruments out of all sorts of found objects. This guy made a banjo with an old cigar box!

We admit he’s a little better at playing it than we are with our banjo box…


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Thankful Turklings!

21 11 2011

The turkey is an American celebrity. It is one of the most famous birds in North America. In fact, Benjamin Franklin wanted to make the wild turkey the national bird of the United States instead of the bald eagle!The wild turkey we usually see in pictures is not the same as the domestic turkey that we eat at Thanksgiving. Domestic or tame turkeys weigh twice what a wild turkey does and are raised on farms. Most domestic turkeys are so heavy they are unable to fly.

Wild turkeys on the other hand, can fly. They sleep in the low branches of trees at night, and how else would they get to their bed but by flying. They spend their days foraging for food like acorns, seeds, small insects and wild berries. Wild turkeys are covered with dark feathers that help them blend in with their woodland homes. The bare skin on the throat and head of a turkey can change color from flat gray to striking shades of red, white, and blue when the bird becomes distressed or excited.

Each spring male turkeys try to befriend as many females as possible. Male turkeys, also called “tom turkeys” or “gobblers” puff up their bodies and spread their tail feathers, like a peacock. They grunt, make a gobble-gobble sound and strut about shaking their feathers. This fancy turkey trot helps the male attract female “hens” for mating.

After the female turkey mates, she prepares a nest under a bush in the woods and lays her tan and speckled brown eggs. She incubates as many as 18 eggs at a time. It takes about a month for the chicks to hatch. When the babies, known as “poults” or “turklings” hatch, they flock with their mother all year.

If you want to get into the Thanksgiving spirit, you can celebrate the celebrity of the turkey with us and make your own little turkling!

Follow the link below for instructions!

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Woodcrafting 101

15 11 2011

Want to sew a design on wood? Not the usual material thought of for needle and thread, however the Museum’s Woodcrafting 101 activity brought us a crafty combination. Three stations were set up for each step of the process; marking a design, drilling the holes, and putting yarn in the wood plaque. Under the supervision of Gallery Educators, kids got to use stencils, power drills, needles, and thread to make a sewn wood piece.

At the first table, kids got to choose from pre-made stencils of stars, hearts, and houses (even a rocket ship!) for their design. Using markers, the “picture” was redrawn on the wood plaque, but only looked like random dots.

Parents and kids choosing a template and wood piece to start!

Those random dots came in handy while using the power drills at the next station. Hand drills and power drills (with adult supervision) were used to make holes through wood plaques. Proper safety was explained, such as using goggles and clamping the wood plaques to the table.

Gallery Manager, Matt Brown showing a woodcrafter how to clamp to the table.

Under the hands-on guidance of Gallery Educators, kids got to use power drills and learn how to correctly hold the drill and change the direction of the drill bit to make all the holes for the final step.

Matt Brown helping kids use the ‘big’ power drill.

Gallery Educator, Jennifer Himstedt, helping kids use the electric power drill.

At the last station, a little sanding was used to smooth out the wood plaque. The original pictures were redrawn with different colors of yarn sewn through the holes. Examples were used, but kids had amazing ideas to add colors and make each wood piece an original creation!

Kids sewing the final touches to their creations!

Woodcrafting 101 will be an ongoing program to give kids a hands-on experience working with wood tools and crafts. Gallery Manager and Woodcrafting 101 creator, Matt Brown has been setting up the program and has new ideas for ACM’s new program!  New ideas are in the works and all ages are invited to join with adult supervision! The next Woodcrafting 101 will be on December 3, 2011 at ACM.

If you have adult supervision, a power drill (or hand drill), needle and thread at home: continue reading this post for step-by-step instructions on how to make a wood plaque of your own.

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Make Your Own Silent Film

31 10 2011

I bet you like to watch movies, right? But have you ever seen a silent film?

Before there were 3D and Imax movies there were silent movies. These started as short movies that only lasted 30 minutes and only cost 5 cents! The movies would have a piano to go along with the soundless images, and sometimes even a full orchestra. Movies didn’t have sound until around 1927 with the first film “The Jazz Singer” which was called a “talkie“.

Buster Keaton in "Sherlock, Jr." photo by John McNab on Flickr

Until that point, films were silent and had to tell a story without sound. The actors had to be over-dramatic (like when you play charades) in order to tell the story right, they sometimes used heavy makeup too. If something was thought too difficult for the audience to understand, they would use title cards. Title cards were shots of written words that would portray what the actor was saying, or tell of the place they were, or sometimes even tell part of the story.

One of my favorite silent film actors was Buster Keaton. Buster Keaton was a comedian who grew up acting in Vaudeville shows, which were similar to circus acts. His background Vaudeville acting came in handy with his silent film career as a comedian. Buster would perform daring and funny stunts all without the use of sound. He even directed his own silent films!

If you want to be like Buster Keaton and direct your own silent film, all you have to do is make a flipbook. A flipbook is a book which has pictures that vary from page to page, so that when you turn the pages fast it makes an animation.

This is similar to how a film reel works with movies, only they have lots more pictures which are called frames, and are much faster. An easy way to start is to use a writing pad that already has blank pages stacked together. You can start with a title like the silent movies do with their title cards. Then begin your story by drawing something like a stickman, go to the next page and redraw the stickman, but have some part of him be slightly moved, like his legs. Keep drawing, each page a little different and once you flip the pages it looks like he’s walking. Check out our flipbook below:

And tell us how your silent movies turn out!


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Odd October Observances

27 10 2011

October isn’t just for Halloween. There are all sorts of bizarre holidays you can celebrate before November gets here.  We all know Halloween is October 31st every year, but did you know there is also a Frankenstein Day?

This year Frankenstein Friday falls on the 28th. Celebrate by dressing up as a monster, or honor the writer and creator of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, and write your own monster story. Can you describe a monster scarier than Frankenstein?

October 30th, isn’t just the day before Halloween, it’s also Candy Corn Day. Did you know that candy corn is actually made with corn? These yummy confections are made with a very precise method using a corn starch molding process.

Photo by ScrambledHenfruit.blogspot.com

And don’t just celebrate Halloween by dressing up. You can also commemorate this day with caramel apples! Caramel apple day falls on Halloween each year, and you can celebrate by making your own caramel apples. Or you can follow our recipe below to make caramel apple cookies!

Have fun with all of these wacky holidays by printing out this neat coloring activity (pictured above): October Holidays Coloring Sheet

Are you still October Obsessed? To get the most out of the end of October, you can also visit the Texas Memorial Museum Oct. 30th for their Fright at the Museum event. You can explore the mysterious side of Texas’ natural history. Feel frightful fish from the ocean depths, be rattled by slithery snakes of Central Texas. Feast your eyes on bizarre bugs while they serve up creepy, crawly critters for your culinary delight.

Have an odd October!

And follow the link below for instructions on how to make your own caramel apple cookies

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The Haunting History of Jack

23 10 2011

Jack, an Irish blacksmith, had the misfortune of running into the Devil in a pub on Halloween.  The Devil thought Jack was easy prey, but the clever trickster made a bargain with the Devil.  In exchange for one last drink, Jack offered up his soul.  Jack didn’t want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to pay.  The Devil changed his form to make payment, but Jack pocketed the coin in a bag with a silver cross. Jack knew that the cross would prevent the Devil from changing back.

Once in his purse, Jack only freed the Devil after he agreed not to claim his soul for ten years. Ten years later, the Devil met Jack walking on a country road and told him that he was there to collect his soul.  Jack asked the Devil if he would first climb an apple tree and get him an apple.  The Devil, having nothing to lose, climbed the tree, but as he reached for the apple, Jack pulled out his knife and carved the sign of the cross in the tree’s trunk. The Devil was unable to come back down until he had agreed never to claim Jack’s soul. Some years later, Jack died and went to Heaven.  But he was dismissed from the gate because he was too much of a stingy trickster to allow in.

Desperate for a resting place, he went to the Devil. The Devil, true to his word, turned him away. “But where can I go?” pleaded Jack. “Back where you come from,” spoke the Devil. The night was dark and the way was long, and the Devil tossed him a glowing coal from the fire.  Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been doomed to roam the Earth in darkness ever since. The Irish began to refer to his soul and ghostly light as “Jack of the Lantern,” and then, simply “Jack O’ Lantern.”

Nowadays we carve lanterns into pumpkins in the shapes of scary faces to keep the spirits away. Stingy Jack made his lantern out of a turnip, and we made ours out of paper. Watch the slideshow below if you’d like to make your own paper Jack-O-Lantern at home…you want to be ready when all the ghouls come out on Halloween!

Print these out: Pumpkin Printout, Jack-O-Lantern Face Cutouts, More Face Cutouts

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Costume Contest!

19 10 2011

Calling all dinosaurs in training! Are you the fiercest t. rex? How ’bout the most colorful triceratops? Then come into ACM and let us hear you roar!

This month, the Museum is hosting a Dino Costume Contest. If you think you’re the best-looking dino in town, then come in with your homemade costumes and you may win a membership here at The Austin Children’s Museum. In order to win as the most creative creature, you must follow these guidelines:

  • Make your dino-suit at home (must be homemade)
  • Wear it on your visit to the Museum
  • Take a photo wearing your costume with your fiercest dino-face in the Dinosaurs: Land of Fire and Ice exhibit
  • Upload your photo to the ACM Facebook Album
  • Invite your friends and family to “like” your photo
  • The winner of the most popular photo will receive an ACM membership
  • Second and third place prizes will also be awarded

We’ve included instructions to make your very own costume, watch the slideshow below and follow the link to the costume instructions.

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Have fun creating!

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I-Spy…

13 10 2011

with my little eye… A FUN CRAFT!

Have you ever been bored on a road trip? Then you’ve probably played the I-Spy game. I-Spy is a guessing game, sometimes played in cars, where the fun is in the observation. There are many variations of the game, and right now at ACM, our newest favorite is the I-Spy Bottle. This fun craft is extremely easy to make and the possibilities of I-Spy combinations are endless!

Here’s the first one we made using random objects, an old water bottle, and plain white rice:

Some tips for making the bottle:

  • Gather items that you know will fit through the opening of the bottle
  • Use a funnel or make a paper one, so the filler (the rice) doesn’t spill
  • Try to add the filler and the objects in increments so the objects don’t all lump together
  • You can hot glue gun the top of the bottle if you want to avoid the contents spilling out in the excitement of I-Spying

You can make all sorts of themes with your I-Spy Bottles, use shells for an ocean theme, or creepy objects for a Halloween one. You can even vary the types of fillers you use: rice, pasta, beans, birdseed, lentils, beads, sand… it all works.

If you want to add another fun step in your I-Spy Bottle creation, try dyeing the filler you use, Momtastic has a great tutorial for coloring rice (it works on beans, pasta, and lentils too!) maybe you could make a rainbow themed bottle?

We even made a Dino-Spy Bottle in honor of our exhibit Dinosaurs: Land of Fire and Ice! Check it out:

We used assorted beans to represent soil. It looks like the tiny triceratops is being excavated from the rocky remains!

Tell us how your bottles turned out, what theme did you choose?


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Dino-Bite!

10 10 2011

Dinosaur Diets...

Some dinosaurs were carnivores (meat-eaters) but most were herbivores (plant-eaters).

About 65% of the dinosaurs were plant eaters and 35% percent were meat-eaters. We know this because there are way more fossils found of herbivores than carnivores. For example, over a hundred Protoceratops fossils have been discovered, but only about a dozen T. Rex fossils have been found.

Within the dinosaur food chain it may have taken hundreds of acres of plants to feed a small group of Triceratops, but these Triceratops could supply a single T. rex with enough food to survive over its lifetime!

If you want to make your own herbivorous Triceratops and carnivorous T-Rex at home, you can demonstrate the dino-diet yourself, just download these neat activities: Dino-Bite Triceratops and Dino-Bite Tyrannosaurus Rex (all you need is a clothespin, glue, and something to color with!) Check out how ours turned out:

Share your clothespin creatures with us and let us know how your Dino’s Bite!


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Origami Origins Unfolded…

30 09 2011

Have you ever made a paper plane? Well I bet as you made it you didn’t know you were practicing origami, did you? Origami which means paper folding in Japanese, is just that: folding paper. But it is much more complex than your average folded sheet. The way in which you fold your paper can create many intricate designs. The traditions of paper folding are rooted in China and go as far back as 100 A.D. That’s 1,911 years ago!

One of the most common things to create in origami is a crane. The Japanese word for crane is Tsuru, and the bird is a symbol for happiness, good luck, and peace. For the Japanese, the crane also represents long-life, as it was believed in tales that a crane could live 1,000 years! That’s why the belief is that if you fold 1,000 paper cranes you will be granted a wish by the mystical bird.

Come check out our 1,000 paper cranes here at ACM. The paper cranes here were created by the Thousand Cranes of Peace project. Their project provides resources to families seeking peace from domestic violence.

If you’d like a wish to be granted, learn how to fold the famous crane here: Origami Peace Crane.

And if you would like a simpler origami project, follow the slideshow below to make your own origami house!

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Let us know how your origami projects turned out! And tell us about a wish you have worth 1,000 paper cranes.


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Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Cool stuff at ACM, Cool stuff on the web, Craft, Download, Learn

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