What's New: PPLD Kids

Supplies:

• One small block of dry ice (about 1 lb.) broken into large pieces. (Do not touch dry ice with bare skin, it will burn!)
• Large bowl on a tray
• Table covering
• Warm water
• Dish soap
• Food Coloring
• Paper (any kind)

Directions:

1. Pour warm water into the bowl.
2. Add 2-3 squirts of dish soap (it may help to stir the solution gently at this point although I didn't).
3. Add a chunk of dry ice using tongs or garden gloves.
4. As bubbles rise up, add food coloring (2-4 colors).
5. Lay paper over the colorful bubbles and press gently into bubbles. Add a different color and repeat with another piece of paper.
6. Keep adding warm water and chunks of dry ice. Or start over with a fresh batch.
7. Enjoy your wonderful bubble art!

Watch this project at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=852TC3_bSbU&list=PLMEg2Dd0dSFctLfDQxsL5…

Supplies:

• Barn and rooster shapes
• Four pipe cleaners (two pink)
• Googly eye stickers
• Green paper
• Shoe box or other small box (optional)
• Scissors or wire cutters
• Tape

Directions:

Pig:

1. Take two pink pipe cleaners. Use caution as the ends of pipe cleaners can be sharp, especially once cut.
2. Twist one pink pipe cleaner into a coil.
3. Cut the second pipe cleaner in half. Take one half of the pipe cleaner and bend the middle into an “m” shape to make the ears. Twist the ears into one side of the pipe cleaner coil to make the ears.
4. Cut the second half of the pipe cleaner in half again. Bend both halves into legs and twist into the body of the pig.
5. Peel the tiny stickers off the back of the googly eyes and attach to the face of the pig.

Farmer:

1. Cut the two remaining pipe cleaners into three pieces – one that is 6 ½ inches, one that is 6 inches, and one that is 3 ½ inches.
2. Take the longest piece and twist the top into a circle for the head.
3. Take the second longest piece and twist around the base of the head as the arms.
4. Use the shortest piece to make the legs. Just wrap and twist it around where the other leg would be.
5. If you want, make a farmer’s hat out of paper and tape it to the figure’s head.

Assemble the Farm:

1. If using a shoe box, arrange the farmer, the pig, the barn, and the rooster inside the shoebox. Cut a strip of the green paper about 1 ½ inches wide and 9 inches long. Fold a narrow strip over and glue or tape to the inside of the box. Use
   scissors to cut the longer side of the paper into little strips to make grass.
2. If you don’t have a shoe box, use the sheet of green paper as the base for your diorama. Fold a 1-inch strip along the long end of the paper. Cut little strips into the paper to make the blades of grass. Use tape to attach the farmer, the pig, the barn, and the rooster to the green paper.

Want to show off your farm diorama? Post a photo on Facebook and tag @ppldteens or @ppldkids. Find more fun projects to try at https://ppld.org/kids/create/whats-new.

Take and Make kits for this project will be available at area PPLD libraries beginning Dec. 26, 2020

Materials Provided in Take and Make:

• Sandpaper
• Chalk
• Various papers

Materials Needed from home:

• Container of water

Directions:

Reading and writing go together! Writing begins with scribbles and other marks on paper. Encourage your child to “write” in various ways. In doing so, he’ll practice hand/eye coordination and develop hand muscles. Encourage your child to talk about what he is drawing. You can write captions for the drawings. As you do this, he’ll start building connections between written and spoken word.

See what he can create with these simple reading readiness activities:

• Draw with chalk on sandpaper
• Dip the chalk into a container of water to draw on the black construction paper
• Crumple a paper, flatten it again, and then draw on it to experiment with texture
• Draw on colored paper.
• Take the chalk outside and draw on the sidewalk. What can he create? How does the texture affect the drawing?