Unplugged: Sky

The Unplugged theme this week was sky. Being that we are going to the beach, I was thinking of skipping it and doing beach activities as we have been reading beach-themed books. Then I thought we could make a kite to fly in the sky at the beach. I found an easy kite tutorial here. But honestly, I figured a kite would be too difficult for an 18month-old to maneuver so I thought a wind sock would work... and it kind of did. :)

There are two ways to make this, and I will give you the smart way--the way I didn't do it and should have for less of a mess factor. I used a paper towel roll cut in half and cut each half down the center and taped together. Then I cut a piece of paper to wrap around it. I had Anastasia decorate it with crayons and stickers (which didn't stick well to the crayon). The smart thing to do for a toddler is find some double sided tape to stick to the back of the bottom edge of the paper. You can then cut strips of tissue paper (like me) or use crepe paper. Have the child stick the tissue paper to the tape (this is where I used glue and made a really big mess and all the strips became stuck together). Then adults or older children can glue or tape (I actually did a little bit of both for durability) the paper with the strips around the paper towel roll. Let dry if you used glue and punch holes in the top and add string. We took it outside and swirled it around (there was no wind really). Anastasia enjoyed watching me swirl it around and it was quite fun to watch!Here she is with her artwork! I don't think we will be taking this to the beach due to its fragility and how tight the Jeep will likely be packed. So I made her a ribbon wand by attaching some fabric ribbon (I found some rainbow ribbon in the gift wrap section at Target) to a wooden dowel. This could be as easy as glueing a long piece of ribbon to an unsharpened pencil or as complex as putting an eyelet in the ribbon, putting a ring through it, and attaching it via a metal loop that screws on the top of the dowel (which I did for the professional look). You can even buy a ready-made one at Target for $5. So perhaps our kites don't really fly in the "sky"... but I am sure we will see a few that do at the beach. Oh, and I had to share this neat "cloud painting" activity at School For Us. I will probably do this when we come back from the beach! I had best run my errands!!! Have a great week!