homemade wind chimes

Posted on May 5, 2013 by happyhooligans

Homemade rainbow wind chimes made from sticks we collected on a nature walk:

The other day we were out for a walk, enjoying the gorgeous Spring weather that’s finally arrived, and along the way, the hooligans were collecting sticks. Making homemade wind chimes is a project I’ve had in the back of my mind now, and I figured these sticks would be the perfect thing to make them with.

Other than using sticks, I hadn’t given much thought to how we would make our wind chimes, and then I came upon this fabulous, colourful key wind chime on Inner Child Giving, made by Carla over at Small & Friendly, and it all came together for me.

What you’ll need to make your rainbow wind chimes:

Sticks
acrylic paints
craft varnish
small screw-eyes
yarn (or fishing line, jute, twine etc.)

For your convenience, I’ve included affiliate links to some of the products used in this post:

How we made our wind chimes:

We started by snapping our sticks into lengths of about 8-10 inches.

Next, we peeled the bark off the sticks. This is actually quite fun, and older kids might really get into this part. The hooligans are a bit young, and found it tedious after a few minutes, so I ended up doing this part mostly by myself.

Then, everyone got a sanding block or a piece of sandpaper, and gave their sticks a quick once-over to remove any remaining bits of bark. The hooligans love sanding wood. For a fun activity, I sometimes set out a few pieces of scrap wood and some sanding blocks for the hooligans to have a go at. They think it’s great. They’re always impressed by how satiny the wood feels after giving it a good scrubbing.

Then, each stick got 2 coats of acrylic paint.

The sticks dried quickly in the sun, and then I brushed on a coat of craft varnish. This step is important for a couple of reasons. Firstly: because these sticks will be hanging in the yard, the varnish will offer some protection from the elements, and secondly: a great craft looks even better with a coat of varnish. From paper mache to painted rocks, a coat of varnish will take your craft from “ok” to “WOWZA” in a matter of seconds. It adds some shine and makes your colours really “pop”.

When the sealer was dry, we screwed tiny screw-eyes into one end of each stick. I started each one, and the hooligans finished twisting them in. Depending on how hard your wood is, your child may require very little or a lot of assistance with this part.

I then tied a long length of acrylic yarn to each hook, and took the sticks back to the oak tree beside our playhouse, and tied them to the lowest branch.

Ready?

Ooooo!

Can you hear me doing my happy dance?

Check it OUT!

Aren’t they awesome?

And when the hooligans jump up and swat at them,

or when the wind blows…

…GORGEOUS!

See? Proof once again that you don’t have to spend a lot of money or get too fancy when it comes to crafting.

If this is your first visit to Happy Hooligans, I’d love for you to pop over and LIKE us on facebook. I update my page daily with easy and affordable arts, crafts and play ideas.

You can follow me on Pinteres t too! I have over 90 boards dedicated to all kinds of kids’ crafts and activities, as well as some personal interest boards too.

See you there!

St. Patrick’s Day crafts

Posted on March 13, 2013 by happyhooligans

Paper Plate Rainbows and Lucky Green Wreaths!

Here’s a sneak peek at a couple of really cute and super-simple St. Patrick’s Day crafts that the hooligans made this year! Pop over to CBC Parents to see the finished projects and to get all the details!

Your kids will love these bright and easy projects, and you likely have most of the materials on hand!

Colourful Paper Plate Rainbows:

and Lucky Green Wreaths:

Easy, inexpensive and oh-so-pretty! Just the way we like it!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

playing with the rainbow rice

Posted on March 26, 2012 by happyhooligans

Well, the rainbow rice that I made on the weekend was a HIT with the Hooligans! To make your own, click here.

I spread it out in rainbow fashion in a plastic bin, and added colourful bowls, plastic eggs, , scoops, glass jars, craft sticks, glass beads and cotton balls.

I’ve had a couple of people ask where I get my containers for my sensory bins. You really don’t need a fancy container. I often use my large 9 x 15 pyrex (glass) baking pan, or a large foil “turkey roasting pan” that I picked up at the dollar store. When I’m making a sensory bin that’s really big, I use a shallow storage container with a lid – the kind that you get at Walmart or the Hardware store. You can even use a shallow cardboard box as a sensory bin. This one, I picked up at the dollar store for a few bucks. It’s supposed to be a kitty litter box.

Anyway, back to the rainbow bin. The Hooligans were REALLY excited to see this. Heck who wouldn’t be? Doesn’t it look yummy?

And it still looks gorgeous when it’s all mixed up!

Have you ever made rainbow rice? How did your little people play with it?

rainbow rice

Posted on March 24, 2012 by happyhooligans

This is the easiest way to make coloured rice (this recipe does not contain rubbing alcohol):

The weather is dull and dreary here today, so I thought I’d make some rainbow rice to brighten things up a bit. This is super easy to make. There are all kinds of recipes for it out there in the blog-o-sphere, but I chose to make mine a little differently than most of the recipes I’ve seen. I also used a super simple method for mixing the rice which saves time, mess and materials.

Supplies for making rainbow rice:

inexpensive, long grain white rice
vinegar
food colouring or icing gels
food storage container with lid

I used a bag of white rice that we’ve been using for ages in our sensory bins. Whenever I make a sensory bin, I always save the base material for future use, so that means I have bags of rice, lentils, popcorn kernels, pasta, oatmeal etc. tucked away that we’ll likely continue to use and re-use for years. I just want to mention that most recipes that I’ve seen call for using rubbing alcohol in this recipe as an agent for “setting” the colour so the rice doesn’t stain your hands when you’re playing with it. A few sites suggested using vinegar as an alternative, but most who mentioned it, hadn’t tried it. I decided to give the vinegar a try so we’d know for sure if it worked as a more kid-friendly alternative to the rubbing alcohol. I’m happy to say that my rice turned out to be really vibrant, and I’ve run my hands through all the colours while it’s drying, and the colour didn’t transfer to my hands. How to make coloured rainbow rice:
For each colour, I used:

1 cup of rice
1/2 tsp vinegar
a gob of Wilton icing gel (you could also use several drops of liquid food colouring)

For your convenience, I’ve included Amazon Affiliate links for some of the products in this post:

An easy, mess-free alternative to using ziplock bags:

Most recipes suggest mixing the rice/food colour in a ziplock bags. The thrifty mama in me looked for easier and less wasteful method, so I went out to the recycle bin, and grabbed a margarine container that was headed for the trash. I cleaned that out, and it worked perfectly! Just give it a quick wipe between batches in case there’s any colour left behind (there won’t be much at all – the rice absorbs most of it).

Colouring the rice:

Pour a cup of rice into your margarine container. Then, with a toothpick, a stir-stick, knife, whatever… (I used a plastic toothpick that I could just wipe off each time), swirl a generous gob of colour-gel through the rice. Drizzle your 1/2 tsp of vinegar over the rice. Pop the lid on your container, and shake the heck out of it. Remove lid, and be amazed!

Drying the rice:

Spread each batch out on a plate or a cookie tray (I used styro meat trays – I run them through the dishwasher before using them for this kind of thing) to dry. You can place them in the sun, or by the fire to dry them quickly. It’s not sunny here, but it’s too warm to have the fire going, so I’m just going to leave my trays on the dining room table over the weekend. Doesn’t it look fantastic? To see how we played with it, visit our other post: Playing with the Rainbow Rice!