Little Visitor

Today I was journaling outside and enjoying the summer weather before it gets too hot. I love sitting on the back deck before the children get up! 

I looked up and saw this little visitor. Thankfully he was gracious enough to wait while I darted inside to grab my binoculars for a closer look. His ears were the most beautiful shade of seashell pink--I had seen this little guy before, but had never noticed that. He was enjoying the clover in the yard and looked adorable with a piece hanging from his mouth!

Supplies: Micron pen (PN) and Prismacolor colored pencils (Scholar quality)

For Easter or Anytime: Cinna-Bunnies!

I'm an artist and art educator, and I'm a mom, too. I have a five-year-old that stays home with me and he loves art and cooking. I have been trying to make a conscious effort to introduce little fun stuff every once in awhile to make staying home more special and encourage learning. Yesterday, I had an idea for us to make something with dough (biscuit dough in this case) that would be edible and celebrate Spring/Easter. Cinna-bunnies! Or Bunny Biscuits as my big boys call them...

Cinna-Bunnies

Supplies Needed:

• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 5 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup shortening (or butter or palm oil)
• 1 cup milk

• 1 egg white, slightly beaten
• food coloring, black and pink
• paint brush (new)
• bowl, measuring cups & spoons, small bowls (3), pastry blender, rolling pin, cookie sheet, 2" circle cutter, 1" circle cutter, safety knife

Directions:

1. Combine 1 Tbsp. of sugar with 1 tsp. of cinnamon in a small bowl, set aside.

2. Combine the remaining dry ingredients for the biscuits. Cut in the shortening until it resembles fine crumbs. Stir in milk until a dough forms.

3. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 1 minute. Add a bit of flour if it is sticking.

4. Divide dough in half. Roll half the dough to 1/2"thickness and cut 2" circles of dough (we got about six). Dip each biscuit into the cinnamon/sugar mixture and place on a greased cookie sheet (I use stoneware, so I don't grease the baking stone). These are the bellies of your bunnies.

5. Roll out the remaining dough to 1/2" thickness. Cut six 1" circles. Attach these to one side of the bunny bodies (use a finger dipped in water to attach the parts). These are the bunny heads.

6. Cut six more 1" circles and use the safety knife to cut each in half. Each circle will make two bunny ears. Attach the bunny ears to each bunny head using a bit of water.

7. Pinch off 1/2" balls of dough to make feet and hands, dip in water and attach to each bunny body.

8. Lightly beat the egg white and divide into two small bowls. Use food coloring to color the egg in one bowl pink and the remaining egg white black. Use a paint brush to paint the inner part of the bunny's ears and add eyes, a nose and whiskers.

9. Bake the Cinna-bunnies for 10-12 minutes at 425 degrees until the bunnies are lightly browned. Keep a close eye on them of you are using a metal cookie sheet--you might want to turn the oven temp down to 400 degrees. Adjust time accordingly so the bunny bottoms down's burn.

10. Let sit on cookie sheet for a couple minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. We slathered our bunnies with butter before gobbling them up. ENJOY!!

Last Minute Bunny Basket & Filler Ideas

No art class for me this week--the cooperative is closed for Holy Week (Easter is this Sunday). I thought this would be a great time to write about some of my favorite artsy gifts to help out with filling those Easter baskets! Come on--one cannot live on chocolate alone!

My theory on Easter baskets and the like is to buy consumables that can be eaten (Peeps candy), used up (a suncatcher kit) or added to what we have (markers) with little impact. With four children, I have WAY too much stuff! While I'm sure you already have a list of candy for those Easter baskets, here's a list of some other stuff to make your children's Easter baskets shine!

• Basic art supplies (crayons, markers, watercolor paints, glue sticks, glitter glue)
• A new sketchbook (spiral bound)
• Mini art kits (make your own picture frame, a suncatcher kit, paint your own pottery, a scratchboard kit, etc.)
• Origami paper
• A disposable camera and scrapbook kit or supplies
• Beads and cord to make a necklace, bracelets, etc.
• Dover art books--Dover makes a series of mini-books that have mazes, paper dolls, sticker books and more--these are so fun and there is one for every interest! (Buy these online or at book stores).
• Klutz makes a line of books that foster creativity and come with the supplies needed to create the projects in the books. They have doodle books, window art, pom pom creations and so many more! These books are more pricey (about $15-$20 each), but for older children, one of these books and a couple of candies might be the Easter gift.
• Yarn and crochet hooks or knitting needles
• A bucket of air dry clay or play-doh (or you can make your own)
• Stickers
• A mini notebook, ruler, and mechanical pencils (for the future draftsperson!)
• Pipecleaners and googly eyes to make critters
• A big pack of construction paper
• New scissors--either straight edge or with decorate edging
• Sidewalk chalk for outside doodling

Have fun with the "basket" as well--it doesn't have to be traditional! You can use a pail, an art caddy or plastic tote with handle (see the post about art supplies to have on hand). A canvas totebag is also a great "basket" and the child can decorate it as a project as well. One of my girlfriends said that she saw premade baskets made from an upside down sunhat. You can often find plain colors of these and paired with a set of fabric markers, you have an easy project your child will love!

The bunny basket idea below, is a wonderful preschooler craft (or for anyone who is young at heart!). This is not original, it is just the version I improvised with my four-year-old the other day. Excuse the photos--it was difficult to take nice photos while doing the project with a four-year-old! He's very proud of it though--he shows it to everyone who walks though the door!

Spring Bunny Basket

Supplies Needed:

• A one gallon milk jug, washed and dried
• A sharpie or other marking pen
• Scissors
• 2 Googly eyes (about 3/4"-1" diameter)
• Glue dots, tacky glue or a hot glue gun and glue sticks
• 3 pom poms (about 3/4"-1" diameter), 1 pink and 2 white
• 3 pipe cleaners (any color)
• Scrap cardstock, white
• Pencil and eraser
• Crayons
• Stapler

Directions:

1. You'll want to start by making a hole at the top of the bunny basket for all of those Easter treats! We left the handle of the milk jug on so that my preschooler could carry it around for an Easter egg hunt. Use the photo below as a reference. A grown-up should use scissors to carefully cut the milk jug.

The cutting line is marked with Sharpie.

2. We then used glue dots to glue on the googly eyes. I like to let the children glue them on because I love the cute expressions that are created when the kids glue the eyes on askew! So cute!

3. I then cut a set of teeth out for the bunny and had my son glue those on using glue dots.

4. I then cut a small slit (about 1/2" long) on either side of the teeth and we threaded all three pipe cleaners through the slits to create whiskers.

The pipecleaners are just fed all at once through two slits--one on either side of the bunny teeth.

5. Using the glue gun (a parent's job), I attached the pom poms to finish the bunny's face.

Awwww....look at that cute bunny face!

6. I then cut two ears out of cardstock and drew an inner ear shape inside of them. My son got busy coloring them in, and then we attached them to the back of the bunny basket with a stapler (he helped me and thought that was the best part of the entire project!).

Not perfect, but what do you expect with a 4yo breathing down my neck!

Rainbow colored ears!

This basket could be done up much more fancy then we did it. You could add a bow tie for a boy bunny and flowers and bows for a girl bunny. Don't worry if you don't have the exact supplies that we used here--using what you have on hand is a great way to teach children how to reduce, reuse and recycle. Enjoy this simple craft with your child!

And, when it's time to help the Easter bunny fill your child's Easter basket--have fun! Helping your child to "spring" into creativity can be easy!

Have a wonderful and joyous Easter! Welcome Spring!