Summer Camp Prep: Young Explorers Crafts

Since field studies and Pond Keepers have died down for the school year, the Education staff is slowly transitioning into camp mode. I am SUPER EXCITED for summer camp this year - because I get to work with little ones! And you know what that means...CRAFTS! Cathy Shiga-Gattullo, the educator who created the curriculum for the Young Explorers (ages 4-6) camp, gave me the challenge of coming up with some new crafts for the 4-weeks of camp. CHALLENGE excepted. Here is one that I just finished creating the craft sample: LED Candlelight Fireflies for Insects Week!

TheChristyBel

FIREFLIES!

Wool Felting

So a few weekends ago, a few coworkers and I went to a wool felting workshop at a local yarn barn. Felting is when you poke raw wool with serrated needles. Poking the wool with needles will constrict the fibers of the wool and cause them to tighten up and be able to mold into shapes. It was super cool to learn how to use unspooled up wool and turn them into shapes, then into creatures! Enjoy the steps we took to make a bird! I was so thrilled with my ending result of a goldfinch that I bought a kit from the White Barn Farm and made another felted friend during the holidays! I think I found a new hobby! Check it out!

TheChristyBel

Step 1 - start with some wool, felt it into a ball, then cover it with colored wool.

Step 2 - A colored body!

Step 3 - Add some colored wings, details, and a tail!

Step 4 - Add more embellishments

Final Step - Add a bright colored beak

Showing Off Our Birds (Even Everest Loved Them!)

My Moose I Made From the Kit I Bought!

Upcycling a Watering Can

After a whole bunch of upcycling furniture, I have been on a Pinterest craze. While scoping out some other projects to eventually dive into, I stumbled upon this one - A Watering Can that Pours Crystals I immediately clicked the image! I had a whole bunch of crystals I got from the Gardiner Transfer Station while helping Wendy and was totally waiting to do something with them. This was definitely the opportunity. I stopped by HomeGoods while I was in Kingston, found a cheap galvanized watering can, bought it and brought it home. It was a little tricky trying to remove the perforated part, but after a lot of patience and the handy work of some needle-nosed pliers, I was able to get wire through and the crystals drawn on! And ta-da!!!! A new hanging decoration for our backyard and another home for a plant friend! Amazing!

TheChristyBel

Watering the Garden with Crystals!

Windchime Upcycle

I went back to Delaware a few months ago and brought back the windchime centerpiece that my grandmother painted for me when I was a little girl. My grandfather helped cut the glass for her. Back in the day, he would also cut pipes he would get from work, rig them with chains, and together, would make windchimes. My grandmother would paint all sorts of things on the centerpiece glass - from plants, birds, whatever. She knew I loved cats and so for my windchime, I was getting a cat. We never did complete it into a chime. I just had the glass hanging in my room.

While I was home, I saw it hanging and after recent events of my grandfather, I decided to bring it up to New Paltz and complete the windchime. My friend, Wendy, had an old windchime lying around and gave it to me. So I spent the day painting the wood, restringing the pipes, and giving this windchime a second life.

Now I feel I have something from my grandfather (and my grandmother) up here with me. It's very comforting in this time of grieving.

TheChristyBel

The Old Chime

Time to Give it a Second Life

Removing the Strings

Our Backyard has some color now!
And memory of my Grandfather.

New Nature Art for My Walls

Finishing up an art project I've had on the backburner from my time in Laramie. As spring approaches, I need to make room in my plant press for some blooms found in the Gunks. That meant, doing something with the hundred of Quaking Aspen leaves. This is what I did.

TheChristyBel

Valentines & Clay

During Valentine's Day Eve, Marc and I decided to stay in and have an arts and crafts date night! We went to Poughkeepsie to Michaels and picked up some art supplies. When we got home, we popped in a movie and got a little creative. I decided to make clay terrariums and Marc decided to white water kayak with clay and watercolors.

We are such a craft couple!