Look What I Made

Continuing my review of some of the highlights of 2007, in June, we hosted a party at Look What I Made, an arts and crafts play space in Long Beach. It is a great space with lots for kids to explore and create, all at their own pace. There are four large craft tables, each with a different project, three easels, and a dedicated play area.

Aviss (the owner) and Eva were great at making everyone feel comfortable, assisting and encouraging the children, ensuring the materials were available when inspiration struck, and carefully packing up all of the art for the children to take home. Everyone had a great time!

One of the things I love most about Look What I Made is that there is lots of room for creative exploration and expression, without all of the set up and clean up. Look What I Made is open for parties on Saturdays, or you can drop-in any weekday that you and your child need a break from the daily routine.

Reduce, REUSE, Recycle

Having a four year old in the house, one cannot help but be creative. Ethan easily switches from being a dinosaur to a fire fighter to a hockey player. Having the right props to go along with the current "characters" can make it even more fun.

With a little imagination, and a few cardboard tubes (from wrapping paper, paper towels, and toilet paper), it is easy to come up with creative reuses for our refuse. Aside from the typical uses, a telescope, microphone and sword, we've made a Matchbox Car Launch, Hockey Stick, T-Ball Tee and Bat, and Bowling Pins. Ethan's friends, Nathan and Arianna made a doll out of cardboard tubes and duct tape.

You can even make a camera. Learn how to make a pinhole camera out of two cardboard tubes and a few other household items, or out of an empty Pringles can. For a more advanced camera with film, go here.

What creative uses have you found for cardboard tubes? Share your ideas in the comments?

More Ideas:
We were inspired by the recent cold weather to have a fire in our fireplace and created the kindling by stuffing some junk mail in a cardboard tube (just remember to take out the fake credit cards first)

Even More Ideas:
Napkin Rings
Ukele and Costumes
Families.com (including lots of other creative reuse ideas)
Make-stuff.com

Frames for your little Michelangelo

Ethan makes a lot of art these days. I have wanted to display some of it in a more formal way (than just stuck to the fridge), but also wanted to be able to easily update the display with his latest masterpiece. Here is a great solution from the latest issue of ReadyMade magazine. Tacking the art onto small cork boards makes it easy to update with the latest painting (or photograph of the painter), while maintaining the look of framed art.

If you're not familiar with ReadyMade, check it out. In their words, "ReadyMade is a magazine [and a blog] for people who like to make stuff, who see the flicker of invention in everyday objects -- the perfectly round yolk in the mundane egg." They have lots of fun, do-it-yourself ideas. Pick up a copy of the latest issue to see how to make these cool corkboard frames.