Mudpies & Butterflies » Recycle

4th Halloween Trunk & Treat 8/25

Jessica — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 07:12:44 +0000

What a blast we had dressed up like Rockstars, Witches, Pirates, Cowgirls, Ninjas and more at our 4th Annual Pumpkin Holiday Fest! It was memorable with unique crafts & games and our candy-less Trunk & Treat!

With the backs of cars facing the park kids could “Trunk or Treat” for candy-less surprises. Some parents required answers to, “Where is Australia on the Globe?” or “What was one thing you made at a Mudpies & Butterflies parkday?”

It takes a village to make this crazy fun. Parents shared the supplies and activities with me. Below are the links for crafts and games we that made are event memorable. Whatever your celebrations for this season, bring joy to it and be safe. Love Jessica and Family!

Halloween Crafts – click for supplies and directions

Halloween Games (click any for directions)

Waterless Bobbing for Apples (and germ free!)
Pumpkin Roll
Broom Dance
Mummy Wrap
Monster Box Foot Relay

Ink from Nature (& a lil’ paper) 10/4

Jessica — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 06:04:02 +0000

The Pioneering Force has grown strong in me, after experiencing the wonderful crafts at LA County Fair’s Heritage Square. We witnessed blacksmithing, broom making, felting, making rag rugs and rag dolls and more. So this week I will share how people made their own ink by using the juice of berries or the powder of roots and nuts when they couldn’t afford the pricy stuff. I will provide the salt (prevents mold) and vinegar (helps color-fasting) – but I ask that a few families please bring

3 cups of berries (2 cups if they are frozen); a lidded container to store your ink; and a small-holed strainer or sieve.

If you don’t have a strainer, you can share mine.

In relation to the vivid red Raspberries, scientists recently looking to increase the yield of solar power cells as well as make them more affordable, have found that raspberries might yield far more than juice. Check out the impressive SolaRaspberry connection from this online article.

Quill pens, another pioneering craft from the days of yore, would go well with this ink project. Some of you probably remember making quills from bird feathers with me last year. If you still have yours, do bring them with you, but I”m going simple and won’t be making any quills, but I will show you how to utilize sticks from the ground and fashion bamboo into instruments for art and writing if anyone brings some. But feel free to modify your feathers before Thursday with my Quill tutorial.

This image of the tree on the right was made entirely from berries collected and converted into ink. The trick for some is to keep the ink in a opaque container to prevent the sun from lightening the color.

And if I have extra time on my hands this week, I will demonstrate how to make paper with a few simple items: blender, a piece of screen, an empty picture frame (8×10 is perfect), water and recycled papers. But with these easy directions from www.Howtoons.com, you can beat me to the punch. Gratitude to Chloe for extra Photos!!!

Sequoia-Size Board Game 9/20

Jessica — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 14:37:55 +0000

Over a dozen M&B families were just in Sequoia Nat’l Park (Sept 14-17), and will be helping me to share about it at this Thursday’s Parkday and Potluck dinner! There will be alot of parkday fun even if you weren’t there. Come help CREATE and PLAY a super-sized board game in the shade of the arbor, where YOU

you will be the playing piece. After rolling my GIANT dice, each player will move around the board and follow the cycles of the Lodgepole pine, California Redwood and Giant Sequoias. Try to complete an entire life cycle (with out getting eaten, trampled or burnt) and produce new life. Help add bears, pika, marmots, & deer to the board. Or cheer the rest on and wait for your turn to go around the board. Imagine Shoots n’ Ladders meets Junior Monopoly. Ours won’t be nearly this complex, but it might inspire your family to attempt an element of this real life Super Mousetrap heading to NYC.

One of the Nature Mobiles

A craft station will be open to making nature mobiles. With a little fishing line or twine, we will string up pine cones, sticks, rocks, leaves (and any shells, beads or stones you bring).