Monday, June 16, 2008

Father's Day Creations



Father's Day was fast approaching, and I had yet to decide on a present from the kids. I was looking for fun, personalized, and useful. And easy enough for 3-year olds to create. Creativity was failing me, and by Thursday I had resigned myself to handing the Dads marker-drawn cards.

But then the internet returned and I saw Mom Unplugged's masking tape decoupage creations. Tape, glue, paint and mess -- who could ask for anything more?

The goal was to cover containers with masking tape, then decoupage that with a tinted glue solution. The result would be a "useful pot for holding things" for Grampy, Papa, the Cousins' Daddy, and all four Godfathers (Uncles Jethro, Jimbo, Ichabod and Mr. R).

I should have taken note that Mom Unplugged did this project with her 7-year old daughter, not with her her younger children. The project requires hand-ripping masking tape, which was difficult for my 6-year old and nearly impossible for the 3-year olds.

Despite more adult involvement than I would have liked, the kids did an incredible job. Agent 004 in particular was very interested in the project. She enjoyed painting layer after layer of paint-tinted glue onto the containers. She experimented with drizzling glue which led to some interesting effects. She also painted subsequent layers in different colors, which was pretty neat too.

Unlike Mom Unplugged, I colored the glue with washable paint instead of food coloring. My reasoning was that it is both cheaper and easier to removed from clothing. I am not sure how different the final result is.

I apologize that there are no process pictures -- my camera was recovering from a night out in the rain. I do have some cleanup pictures however:

There is nothing more fun that cleaning a glue-covered table with shaving cream.

3 comments:

Gottfredsen said...

They turned out wonderful. Great Job. Hope you had a great father's day weekend.

morningstar said...

So cute! I am sure the "dads" loved them and will cherish them. Love the bright colors.

Anonymous said...

Those turned out great! I am interested to see that you mixed paint rather than food coloring with the glue. Good thought about the washability...plus I think your colors turned out to be much deeper and prettier. We'll try that next time. I hope the Dads liked their containers.

You're right, I did only do this with my 7 year-old who had no problem ripping the tape. My 5 year-old made his own odd creation with tape mostly ripped by me (and after the photos were already taken, so it didn't make it to the blog). Often he says he doesn't want to do the project...until he sees what we did, an then he changes his mind and does it late! I was glad he decided to try the Shrinky Dinks with us - at the same time!