Look mom, I can write "sun" in Chinese!

First stroke for "ri"

Here's the order of the strokes for writing the Chinese character for sun.

It is pronounced "ri" which is the fourth tone, the down tone, in Mandarin. It is a little like making a rrrr sound of starting a car, but the rrrs are not drawn out and sounds as if the speaker is a little angry that the car won't start. R!

The first stroke starts on the left hand side from the top down.

Second stroke in "ri"

The second stroke starts at the top of the first, but goes over and down.

Third stroke in "ri"

The third stroke crosses the middle from left to right.

Fourth stroke in "ri"

The fourth stroke closes the bottom from right to left.

Now the watercolor started yesterday can be finished with a yellow sun up in the sky and rays of light flowing from it.

Have fun!

Link:

Look mom, I know Chinese!

"Hill" and "sun" Chinese characters

Look mom, I know Chinese!

Chinese characters in watercolor

For children who don't know Chinese, this painting might be a craft that helps them remember two Chinese characters.

A hill is the background for the Chinese character "shan" (pronounced with a short "a" sound a little high pitched and drawn out much as you might sing, "The hiiiiiiiills are alive with the Sound of Music!" "Shan" is the first tone in Mandarin and means mountain or hill.

Here's the steps for drawing the character.

First stroke in "shan." 

The first stoke is the tallest in the middle. Start at the top and go down.

Second stroke.

The second stroke turns a corner, but it's all one stroke. It's shorter than the middle stroke. Lower on the hill so to say. Start at the top, go down, around the corner, and over to where it will eventually meet the last stroke.

Third stroke.

The third stroke is the other side of the hill, and is short also. Start at the top and go down to meet the end of the second stroke.

Viola! Chinese your youngster may remember and use when used to paint a hill in a watercolor painting!

I'll be back with the instructions for "sun" in Chinese this later today or tomorrow.

Link:
                              Look mom, I can write "sun" in Chinese             

Shark faces?

Shark faces on empty glitter bottles

My daughter called these shark faces. They could be any kind of faces your child's imagination would like to make them.

We used permanent markers to draw faces on the lids of open, empty glitter shakers. Empty spice shakers would probably work too.

If you have a bunch of little hole punches from a three hole paper punch, these scraps would work nicely as eyes and a mouth or teeth. Just glue them on.

The shakers could even be covered with paper and then the little hole punches glued on the body for scales of a fish. That might be a little tedious to glue on all those hole punch scraps, but think of the focus and patience it would take too.

Our bottles were clear, so my daughter filled them with crumpled newspaper to make it look like shark skin.

Here's to creating imaginative animals with shakers.

Drawing a hummingbird with kids

Children's imaginations can create colorful hummingbirds.

This simple drawing we did began with an up-side-down small "u" without the tail for the head, a long "V" for the beak, and a capital right-side-up "U" without the tail for the body.

Wings and feet can be made like the picture or however your child wants.

Looking up the colors of hummingbirds can be a learning experience, or children can color their hummingbirds as they please.

 Here's a link for step by step instructions for this hummingbird.
How to Draw a Hummingbird: Directions for Children

Sparkler on a Straw

Here's another way to use those food colors made yesterday for the marshmallows.

Cut a drip coffee filter into strips. Have children dip one end of each strip in a blue or red food color. Tape the dry end of the strips to a straw. Let dry by hanging upside-down from a clothesline.

Then the kids can run around the yard with fire free sparklers.

Welcome to July!

Here's a kind of silly little craft, but could be fun depending on the mood of the artists. It was made from leftover somemore mini-marshmallows and food coloring with water.
In case it is hard to tell, the first picture is of a Fourth of July sparkler or firecracker. The marshmallows were arranged and then dribbled with a few drops of food coloring in an ounce of water with a spoon. Cotton swabs would create less puddling, but I didn't know if the cotton would stick to the marshmallows.

See who can make the most creative design or marshmallow structure.

Paper Fairy Slippers

Here's a simple pair of slippers that are actually usable. Just cut a rectangle of paper a few inches bigger than foot all the way around the foot. Tape the paper into a slipper shape around foot snugly but not too snug. Trim to desired shape. Put duct tape on the bottom for less slipping. If you have clear duct tape, it can be wrapped around the whole slipper to make it stronger.

Decorate as desired.