Project: Astronaut Jetpack and Outfit

Big E needs to work on a "Hero" project for second grade social studies. The teacher gave the students a long list of hero names to choose from and he picked Neil Armstrong. 

We went to the library to find out more information for the written report. The second part is a oral presentation. Big E would dress as Neil Armstrong and prepare a short introduction of himself to the class. We decided to buy a astronaut helmet but made the costume by ourselves. It was such an easy but fun project!

Materials for the jetpack:

1. two empty plastic water bottles

2. foil

3. one empty cereal box

4. two long strips of construction paper

5. silver duck tape

We wrapped all the above items in foil and then duck-taped as shown in picture.

Materials for the costume:

1. white long sleeve shirt and light gray pants (whatever you have in the closet)

2. color print NASA logos

3. duck tape

Then we used duck tape to put all logos on the clothes make the costume. Not only the costume was a success, Big E did a fabulous job on his oral presentation, too!

Paper Dress: Mosaic Peacock

I've always love the color of  peacock blue. The other day I saw this peacock pillow cover in a home goods store. It reminded me of the tissue paper I found long ago with similar peacock feather pattern and colors. Little E and I decided to make a peacock dress this time!

We cut out long stripes and trimmed one end round. 

Then we used yellow and blue origami paper to finish the peacock feather pattern.

 While I was still brainstorming how to finish the dress in a simple style (not trying to make a performance dance wear), Little E started cutting the paper scraps for fun. 

So I decided to use them  and made a simple mosaic style dress top. 

Check out our newest paper dress made together: Mosaic Peacock.

(I made a little hair piece using pipe liners, too!)

Storybook: Odor Boy Saves the Day

We have been busy with moving to the new house and switching schools for the past three months. The kids and I didn't have time to do projects together for quite some time.

Big E recently had a writing assignment from school. The topic was to write about your favorite story character and also describe the character traits.

Big E suddenly thought of his own story character "Odor Boy" and decided to write another story about him. I thought it was a brilliant idea! This could turn into a great series of books! (P.S. The little girl looks a bit like Little E :)

 

Paper Dress: Glitter Poinsettia

Christmas is around the corner and kids are making all sorts of holiday projects at school. Big E took home a poinsettia made out of red construction paper. Little E took out origami paper right away and wanted to make some flowers too!

I drew some poinsettia foliages on the red origami paper.

Little E cut them out and glue them on the skirt.

 Then we added some green leaves and yellow core.

They look bright and festive already!

We used glitter glue to make some decorative details. 

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

Paper Dress: The Bird Cage

If you know me, you know I have a favorite brand for handbags. And this is the newest apple of my eye from their Asian influenced series. 

Some critics found it a tacky representation of 1920's Shanghai. Some found it whimsical and clever. I just thought it reminded me of my last grandpa's bird cages. He had always had 3 bird cages at his place - a bamboo cage with a yellow bird, a wooden cage with a white bird, and a golden-color metal cage with a green bird. As a little girl, I enjoyed so much watching Grandpa feeding them and cleaning the cages. I loved it when Grandpa whistled a different tune to go along with the each birdie's singing.

But just like childhood memories, this precious bag is gone in a blink of an eye. I decided to make my paper version of a bird cage with Little E's help.

I drew two little birds and cut out some black tissue paper making a cage shape.

Little E colored the birdies green and cut them out.

We glued the birds on the skirt part and started twisting/lining up the golden pipe cleaners.

Then we glued the pipe cleaners in place using white glue.

It was not easy to keep them in place!

After leaving the dress dry overnight, here is our 22nd paper dress made together - The bird cage!