Lidz!

Want a wacky, off-the-wall art project to do with your kiddos? You may want to try the one Sooby, Pooh, and I have nicknamed "LIDZ!" We made it up ourselves.

All you need is a loaded glue gun, a medium-sized cardboard box, and about a year. By that, I mean you tuck your box in an out-of-the-way corner about a year before you want to do your project--and start saving plastic lids.

Yes, lids. All kinds. After about a year you will have a most colorful and eclectic collection that looks something like this:

You know you are ready for the construction phase of your project when you find yourself, as I did this past week, in the company of a couple grandkids with vivid imaginations.

The challenge is simple: Put the various lids together and design something. Then, Googie will wield her trusty glue gun to give your creation permanence. It was in this way that a unique line of original toys was born. Allow me to illustrate:

First, Pooh, who is fascinated by all things army, used fiber container lids and the top from a Bath and Body Works fragrance bulb to create a canteen, left. At right, a Tresemme hairspray lid and a top from a squeezable tube of toddler fruit combine to form a hand grenade. In just minutes, Pooh has upgraded his stash of GI Joe paraphernalia and found a way for the two of them to remain hydrated longer in desert terrain.

Demonstrating Pooh's softer side is this delicious-looking cupcake (lids from Extra detergent and Downy fabric softener) and its accompanying decorating tube (lids from Avon Sweet Honesty cologne and a mini yellow food coloring container).

Not to be outdone, Sooby adds a layer cake (assorted lids of different sizes) and a second decorating tube to the set.

And then, as only Sooby can, she comes up with this:

Give up? What you see here is a penguin (top center--see the white belly?) teaching her three chicks (right) to ice fish on a frozen lake (foreground--the red lid is the fish). At left is the penguin's nest containing one unhatched egg. I realize that, most likely, you had already figured those things out. (But just in case, I decided to include an explanation in the interest of completeness.)

Even I was able to get in on the fun by designing and constructing this Thomas-the-Train relative, which Beenie calls a "Moco-Lotive":

The body is made of two Static Guard lids topped with a Bath and Body Works shower gel lid (engineer's cabin) and Avon Sweet Honesty cologne lid (smokestack). On the front is another Bath and Body Works fragrance bulb top, while the wheels feature a combination of lids from milk jugs and, again, squeezable toddler fruit (Those make great spokes, don't you think?).

All in all, I have to pronounce our LIDZ! project a success. In a little over an hour we made some neat new toys and got a chance to exercise our creativity.

The only problem? I am in such a habit of saving lids that I may not be able to stop cold turkey. As it is, we still have enough leftover lids to stock the Art Department of Googie Camp for several summers to come.
 

A New Way To Build a Snowman

The kids and I thought the name "Frosty" had been much overused for snowmen.  That's why our snow people, pictured below, are named Polka Dot, Checkerboard, Valentina, and Star Boy.  As you can see, their names are derived from the patterns featured on their scarves, buttons, or both.

Furthermore, it wasn't a huge snowfall that brought this handsome snow family into existence; it was the fact that Pa-pa had some old socks to throw away and the kids and I some time on our hands on a Saturday afternoon in January.

Before heading to the kids' house last weekend, I packed a bag with four old socks, a pair or scissors, a partial bag of leftover fiber-fill, my hot glue gun, some assorted scraps of ribbon, a handful of rubber bands, and some odds and ends of foam pieces and googly eyes from old arts and crafts kits.

In my mind's eye was a picture I had seen on Facebook showing how to make little sock snowmen in a simple five-step process.  With a little tweaking for the sake of practicality and a few changes to accommodate already-on-hand materials, it was possible for Sooby, Pooh, Bootsie, and me to create our snow creatures well within the nap span of their eighteen-month-old brother (which, I'm sure, streamlined our process considerably.)

In a nutshell, here are directions for making one of these snow people:

1. Cutting:  Cut the sock in two pieces just above the place where the ribbing ends.  Save the "toe" end to roll up and fashion a hat, as you see above with Checker Board and Star Boy.  (Sooby  and Bootsie wanted smaller, more feminine hats, so for Polka Dot and Valentina, we simply turned down the excess sock top after stuffing to create a retro "pillbox" look.) 
2. Stuffing:  Turn the ribbed "tube" inside out, and secure a rubber band tightly around one end.  Turn the tube right side out again, and stick in a handful of stuffing in the opening to create a ball shape for the snowman's body.  Add another, smaller ball of stuffing for the head, and secure another rubber band at the top. 
3. Making Hats:  Leave enough sock at the top to turn down if you are going for the pillbox.  For the stocking-cap style, modeled by Checker Board and Star Boy, roll a couple "cuffs" at the cut end of the "toe" portion of the sock.  Use dots of hot glue as needed to secure the hat in position on the snowman's head.
4. Decorating:  Glue on googly eyes, and have kids choose facial features and buttons from whatever assortment of foam pieces, buttons, etc. you have.  Hot glue those on.
5. Adding the Scarf:  Finish with a scarf made of ribbon or fabric.  Wrap and hot glue as needed to hide the rubber band at the snowman's neck.

When we did this project, each of the three older kids made his or her own snowman (Googie did the hot glue, of course) while I made Star Boy for Zoomba as an example for them to follow.  Then, when Zoomie woke up, he had a snowman to play with just like his brother and sisters.

Because we used fiber-fill rather than the suggested rice, our snow people don't stand up on their own and are more like dolls than decorations.  However, with the kids aged 6, 4, 3, and 1, I think this is most likely a practical substitution.  Otherwise, I am sure we might have been sweeping up rice before the day was out.

I think the kids had fun making and naming their snow dolls. They seem to be the perfect size for little hands.  They are perfect for playing with puppet-show style or snuggling with at bedtime. 

The only bad thing, as far as I can tell, is that I didn't make one for myself.  As cute as the kids' snow people turned out, I am thinking Pa-pa had better keep a close eye on his sock drawer.