ACM’s own Emily Weerts, has posted a tutorial on how to sew a circuit into wearable art on her wonderful blog, www.atxdiy.com. She recently showed our Girls Explore Science campers how to do this cool project. Girls Explore Science is happening again August 16-20. See our website for more details!
Sew a circuit cuff!
15 07 2010Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : 5 years & up, Craft
Recycled card
8 05 2010For my second gift for Mother’s Day, I made my mom a recycled card with my flowers. Because I’m using recycled materials, I am helping the environment and saving money.
I used recycled wallpaper, wrapping paper and construction paper, glue, and scissors.
Because the wallpaper is thicker than construction paper, I used it as the structure of the card.
Then I took my recycled wrapping paper and glued it to the wallpaper card and cut around it.
Then I took the recycled construction paper and decorated the front. My recycled card is ready to be delivered with my colored flowers!
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Tags: card, Mothers Day, recycle, recycled
Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Craft
Mother’s Day
6 05 2010This weekend is Mother’s Day. For my mom, I’ve decided to make a couple of things I know she would like. Instead of buying these things, I’m actually going to make them.
Today I’ll show you how to make custom-dyed carnations. I thought it would be cool to give my mom something that shows a scientific process and that was pretty. Later this week I will show you the card I made.
Supplies:
12 carnations
3 vases
A bouquet of white carnations, ends cut off at an angle after purchasing
Food coloring
1. Divide your flowers up into thirds.
2. In each vase place a couple cups or so of water. Make each vase of water a different color with the food coloring. I’m making pink, purple, and red. Leave the flowers in the vases for about a day or until you like the colors.
The color moves to the petals as the flower drinks the water. When a flower is growing from the ground, its roots spread out to find the water. When they find the water, the flower can drink it and grow even more. When we bring flowers home from the store they no longer have roots. However, these flowers still need water, which is why we put them in a vase. If you watch your flowers throughout the day they are drinking the dyed water, you can observe how quickly or slowly they drink water.
3. Fix into a bouquet or put them all in a new vase with un-dyed water. Now they’re ready to be a gift.
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Tags: carnations, Craft, flowers, mom, Mothers Day, plants
Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Craft, Experiment, Learn
Cinco de Mayo
5 05 2010Today we celebrate Cinco de Mayo, a holiday that honors Mexican culture. Mexican culture includes music and dancing, so to be a part of the festivities, make these maracas!
Supplies:
2 Toilet paper tubes
2 sheets of any kind of paper that can bend easily
1/2 cup rice, beans, or rice cereal
Glue
Tape
Scissors
1. First we want to cover the bottom of each tube with paper so the rice inside won’t fall out. Cut out enough so the sides of the paper can be taped to the sides of the paper tubes.
I had to double up on my paper because it was tissue paper.
2. Attach a piece a paper with tape to one end of each tube. Then put half of the rice in one tube, and the other half in the other.
3. Cover the tops with the rest of the cut out paper. Then figure out how much paper you need to go around the tube and cut it out.
4. Put glue on the tube and attach the paper. You can cut off the extra, just make sure you don’t make a whole in the top or bottom paper pieces. Add more decoration if you’d like. Now your maracas are done and you can find your rhythm! Happy Cinco de Mayo.
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Tags: cinco de mayo, maraca, Mexico
Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Craft
New uses for old utensils
19 04 2010Now there are no excuses for throwing away those old or damaged kitchen utensils! You could bend old metal spoons and forks into something useful, like this key rack on the DesignSponge blog:
Or you could save up old plastic utensils to make an amazing sculpture, like Sayaka Kajita Ganz does:
What cool, recycled project could YOU make?
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Tags: kitchen, recycle, sculpture
Categories : 5 years & up, Craft
Cut it out
16 04 2010Andrea Dezsö is an artist who creates intricate, dream-world scenes from layers of paper that are individually drawn, cut out, and painted. Her works is currently being featured on a big scale at the Rice Gallery in Houston, Texas.
You could make your own cut-paper scene on a smaller scale, like this person did using a Starbucks cup (featured on the Craft website):
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Tags: art, collage, diorama, layers, paper
Categories : 5 years & up, Craft
Batik for kids!
14 04 2010This week we found this great post on how to do batik with kids.
Supplies:
Acrylic craft paint
Washable clear (or blue) school glue
Paint brushes
Fabric you want to paint
1. Draw your pattern with glue onto your fabric. I used an old pair of shoes that are made of cloth. Let your glue dry completely. I let mine sit overnight.
2. When the glue is dry, paint within your pattern with watered down acrylic craft paint. Then let the painted fabric dry. This should take about half an hour.
4. With warm water, rinse your dry shoes. To help you get the glue off you can rub the fabric with your fingers or use a nail scrubber.
5. You just made batik! Let your fabric dry overnight or use a laundry dryer. Enjoy!
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Tags: batik, Craft, fabric arts
Categories : 5 years & up, Craft, Things to do at home
Newspaper box
9 04 2010Today I was working and found a stack of newspapers about to be recycled. I decided to see if there was anything I could do with them, and here’s what I found.
Easy Eco-friendly Newspaper Box
1. Take a sheet of newspaper and fold it in half width wise, then fold it in half length wise.
2. Open the lengthwise fold and then fold in the top right and left corners. Then take on corner, spread it out and fold it down. Do this to both sides.
3. The paper should now look like this first photo. Lay it down flat again with an unfolded side on top. Then fold its edges to the middle.
4. Now fold the center part twice. Then repeat step 3 and this step on the other side.
5. Turn the object upside down and open up the middle space. You just made a box! I filled mine with everyone lying around on my desk.
To make a more personal box try using a certain section of the newspaper that you like or painting the box. Let us know how it goes!
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Tags: box, newspaper, recycled
Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Craft
Not-so-normal dyed eggs
2 04 2010A lot of people dye eggs for the spring time. You can dye hard-boiled eggs to make a fun looking snack, or empty out your eggs and dye them, and then turn them into cascarones. I made the hard-boiled version and used some cool dyeing tips from here. Check it out!
Supplies:
Eggs, hard-boiled or with the yolks blown out
Electrical tape
Scissors
Crayons
Cups or bowls that fit an egg
Spoons
Vinegar
Food coloring
Paper towels
Baking pan
1. Before you start dyeing your eggs, get all of your supplies ready. While my eggs were cooling off from boiling, I made cutouts to use on my eggs and made the dye. For each color of dye, use one cup of hot water, one teaspoon of white vinegar, and follow the instructions on the food coloring box to make the colors you want.
2. To make a spiral design, take a thin strip of electrical tape and wrap it all the way around the egg. Then dip the egg in a light color like yellow or green and leave it in the bowl or cup until it’s the color you want it to be. Remove the egg and wipe it with a paper towel. Remove the tape and make a spiral on the egg in the opposite direction. Pick a darker color like blue and dip the egg in and wait for the color you want. Then take the egg out and dry it off again. Finally, remove the tape.
I used green first and then blue.
3. To make a cool letter or shape design, place your letter or shape electrical tape cutout on the egg and place it in a light color dye, just like with the spiral. Remove the egg when it becomes the color you want and wipe off the extra dye. Then move your letter or shape a little bit to the right or left. Dye it in a darker color, remove and dry, and take off the tape cutout.
For my square cutouts, I used red first and then blue.
4. To make a design with crayons, take an egg and draw a design on it with a crayon, then dye it. Dry off the egg and have an adult place it in the oven on a baking pan at 225 degrees. Leave it in there 5-10 minutes, or until the crayon design is shiny, meaning it’s starting to melt. Have an adult remove the eggs. Once the eggs cool down enough to be touched, wipe off the crayon design.
5. Enjoy all of your different eggs!
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Tags: design, dye, eggs
Categories : Cook, Craft
New takes on kites!
8 03 2010Here are the kites I was talking about earlier. These kites are a little different from the traditional kites, but will fly just as well and are a little more interesting.
If you have a lot of time and want a challenge, try making this tetrahedral kite:
Supplies:
60 long, straight drinking straws
Scissors
Kite string or thin, strong string that will stay knotted, at least 30 feet
4 wooden dowels, 1/8 diameter
Big sheet of paper
Newspaper, cellophane, or plastic bags
Tape
A pen/marker
1. Cut your string eight times as long as one of your straws.
2. String three straws together by pushing the string through the straw with a dowel. Tie the straws into a triangle. Leave two inches of string at the end. Then use the longer piece of string and pull it through two more straws and tie a knot so it looks like this:
3. Use this frame to make a pattern. Place the frame on top of the sheet of paper and trace around it, leaving about a one inch around the edge. Cut it out and use it to make ten cutouts of the newspaper, cellophane, or plastic bags, whatever you would like your kite’s shell to be.
4. Use the leftover string in the frame and add another straw onto the triangles. This makes a 3-d triangle, which will be one cell of the kite. Take the frame and place it on one of your cutouts. Attach with tape.
The kite frame.
Covering the frame with the shell.
5. Make 9 more cells. Attach all the cells together in the shape of a triangle with the leftover bits of string. To make them more secure, you can tape the knots and excess string to the inside of the cells. Make sure all sides covered with the cutouts are facing the same direction.
The first layer should have 6 cells, the second should have 3, and the top layer should only have 1 cell.
6. Cut off excess string between the cells. Along the leading edge of the cells tape your dowels to the straws for reinforcement. Then cut two small holes on the top cell’s and lower cell’s shell, each in the middle of the cells. Tie the string around the dowels and straws and secure with tape. Then take the string you want to fly the kite by, and tie it one-third of the way down from the top of the kite. Wrap the excess around the left over dowel. It’s now ready to fly!
- A kite ready for flight!
To make a kite out of recycled materials and for almost no money, try this:
Supplies:
Plastic shopping bag
Two thin wooden sticks
Duct tape
String
1. Take the two sticks and lay one other the other perpendicularly, so it looks like a + sign. Then take one piece of the duct tape and place it over where the sticks intersect.
2. Attach the 4 ends of the sticks to the bag with the tape. Then attach the string to another piece of tape and stick that piece to the bag of the center tape piece. Now it’s ready to fly.
I love my new kites and can’t wait to fly them at the festival or during the next few months. I hope you go out and fly some too!
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Tags: fly, kite, kite festival, spring, wind
Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Build, Craft
Everyday Science at C-Day Camp!
16 02 2010On Monday at the Museum we had a C-Day Camp. We did a bunch of activities like writing secret messages, growing Lima bean plants and creating Shrinky Dink charms.
As part of the day, we made polymer slime. A polymer is made up of long chains of molecules, and in this experiment the polymer is glue. When Borax is added to the glue it turns it into slime. To find out how to make this slime yourself, click here!
After we made our slime, we discovered how the inside of a diaper works. Seems icky, but it’s scientific! The special polymer inside of a diaper can absorb eight times its weight, allowing nothing to leak. Cool, huh? Check out a C-Day video of it here.
Because we know how well this polymer works, we poured two cups of water into the diaper and trusted it enough to put it over our heads. Then we cut open the diaper and actually felt the polymer.
Before the day ended, we made Shrinky Dinks. Shrinky Dinks are also made of a polymer. When you put them in heat they shrink and harden as their long strands of molecules are forced closer together.
First we colored the Shrinky Dinks with permanent markers.
Then we heated them up in the oven until they shrank and became hard.
After the Shrinky Dinks cooled, we could put them on to string and make necklaces or bracelets with the charms.
These activities can all be done at home, so be sure and try one!
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Tags: C-day camp, polymer, shrinky dinks, slime
Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Craft, Experiment
Happy Valentine’s Day!
10 02 2010Instead of making a regular Valentine’s Day card, impress your valentine with these secret message cards.
Supplies:
1-2 sheets colored construction paper, we used pink and purple
1 sheet of white paper
Red cellophane or plastic wrap
3-5 red, orange, and pink markers
1 light blue pen
Scissors
Glue stick
Instructions:
1. Cut a large heart out of the colored construction paper. Cut a smaller heart out of the white paper to fit in the colored heart.
2. Cut a smaller heart out of a piece of colored construction paper and then cut out the middle, leaving a frame in the shape of a heart. Save the middle for decoration.
Cutting the hearts out.
3. Write your secret message or messages in the white heart using the blue pen.
The secret messages.
4. Write over the secret message with your red, orange, and pink markers. Paste the white heart on top of the larger heart. Use the middle of the heart frame to decorate the card.
My decorated valentine, almost ready for decoding!
5. Cut the red cellophane or plastic wrap to fit the smaller outline of the colored heart. The easiest way to do this is cut a square out of your cellophane or plastic wrap that is a little bigger than your heart. Glue the cellophane or plastic wrap down and cut off the extra around the border of the heart.
6. Now have your valentine decode the message!
For an edible version of this card, go here, the inspiration for these cards.
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Tags: card, Craft, secret decoder, valentine, valentine's day
Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Craft
What can wind do?
27 01 2010Did you know that wind is very important? Wind can shape landforms like mountains through erosion. It can make new plants by blowing their seeds to new places or helping to pollinate existing plants. Birds decide their course because wind can help push them in a certain direction. Sometimes wind can help airplanes and kites in the same way. Wind can also cause bad weather like hurricanes or tornados.
New wind turbine.
Nowadays, we use wind turbines to create energy. These turbines look like giant, skinny windmills, and are all over the world. When the wind blows, air moves the blades and they begin to turn. When this happens, it starts a generator in the turbine which creates energy. This new energy can power anything electricity can, but it is better for the environment because it does not cause pollution by putting bad things in the air.
To see how wind works for yourself, you can make this pinwheel at home. Like the wind turbines that create energy for us, this pinwheel also works by catching the wind under its blades to spin.
Supplies:
Construction paper
Ruler
Scissors
Pencil
Push pin
Unsharpened pencil with eraser
Dime
Markers or crayons
Glue stick
Hole punch
Instructions:
1. Measure and cut a 4 1/2″ square out of your paper. Decorate the paper with markers or crayons.
2. Place the dime in the middle of the square and trace around it.
3. Cut from each corner towards the center, stopping at the dime’s outline. You should have 4 sections.
4. With your hole punch, punch the top right corner of each section and the center of the dime’s outline.
5. Use the glue stick and put glue around the center hole. Then bring one of the corners to the center and line up the holes. Press down and make them stick together. Continue to put glue on each corner that you place down, this way they can all stick together. Also make sure the holes are always lined up.
6. Carefully take your push pin and put its needle through the holes. Push the needle end through the pencil eraser. Now you have a pinwheel! Go outside and test it out if it’s windy. If not, try blowing on it or putting it in a room that has a fan or air vent.
Other than moving our pinwheels, shaping the land, making plants, helping animals and providing new energy for us, wind can also be fun! Starting Saturday, the Museum’s new exhibit Air Fair will show us the power of wind and more exciting things it can do. To learn more about wind energy, visit Energy Kids.
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Tags: Air Fair, pinwheel, wind
Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Craft, Learn
Rainy Day Fun
15 01 2010Just because it’s raining outside doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. A rainy day is perfect for making crafts, reading or playing games.
Today at the Museum everyone made the most of the rain by playing in Tinker’s Workshop, exploring, or going to Storytime.
Everyone listened and watched as Paul read "The Mixed-Up Chameleon" by Eric Carle.
Later, someone else made a card with paper cutouts in the workshop.
What do you do on rainy day?
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Tags: crafts, explore, rainy day, Reading, Storytime
Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Cool stuff at ACM, Craft, Read
Mathematical Holiday Decorations
11 12 2009These decorations are so easy to make! They make great holiday flare for Hanukkah or Christmas. All you need is colored paper, a ruler, scissors, and a stapler.
First, cut some colored paper into 1 inch strips. You will need 7 strips of paper. Then use a ruler to measure and cut the strips. You should end up with:
- two 12 inch strips
- two 10 inch strips
- two 8 inch strips
- one 6 inch strip
Stack the strips of paper in this order: 12-inch, 10-inch, 8-inch, 6-inch, 8-inch, 10-inch, 12-inch. It’s a measurement sandwich!
Now, staple one end of the stack. Next, gather the other ends of the strips together and staple them. You can tie a string around the top if you want to hang it up.
Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: christmas, decoration, hanukkah, holiday, math
Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Craft
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