Saturday, July 25, 2009

Watercolor Pencil Coloring Pages

I saw this watercolor pencil idea on a blog a couple of weeks ago and thought it would be a great activity for our upcoming LONG airplane ride. Today I was able to test it out and it was SO much fun (for me :). Hopefully it will entertain Lucy as well.

What you need:
watercolor pencils
watercolor paper (I bought a cheaper kids version. Watercolor paper holds the moisture better)
fine tip permanent marker (unless you use a printer ink that won't bleed. Alas, we do not have a laser printer so I improvised).

First, I cut my paper to printer page size. You could just draw your pictures directly onto the watercolor paper if you prefer. I didn't trust my freehand artistic skills, so I went for lightening the images to a light gray (to minimize the ink running when water is applied) and then printing them directly onto the watercolor paper. Next, trace with a sharpie and then outline with the watercolor pencils. Last, using water and a paintbrush, apply water and Ta Da! You have fun art project.

For our trip, I'm going to have everything done except the water part. I'll pack a paintbrush in our carry-on and make sure I fill a water bottle before we board the plane.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Travel Games

We're headed out for a lengthy drive this weekend, so yesterday I searched for some travel game ideas. I found great resources at Momsminivan.com. I specifically checked out things for toddlers and here are a few of the things I came up with. Hopefully they work.

This is a map with places marked approximately every 50 miles. As we reach each star, Lucy will give us the ticket withe the name and I'll give her a little travel surprise (cheap toy, snack, etc). When all the tickets are gone, we'll be there! I also have some "bonus" places marked that are accompanied with a story.


This one is just for my sake. I made a list of easy games to play that don't require anything special. I'll be keeping this in the glove compartment.

My First Garden

I'd like to give some gardening advice to go along with these photos, but alas, I have none. Somehow my garden is growing without much effort on my part (besides the fact that I was fairly nervous that they would die in the beginning so I watched and watered and sprayed). Enjoy the fruits of my little labors, I know I will!
Cucumber blossoms.
Basil...fresh basil is the best!
Pepper blossom.
And one of our many garden friends.