Calling all Calder Fans
Speaking of favorite exhibits – at LACMA we just love the big, modern sculptures from Alexander Calder – you’ve probably seen his bold designs on office mobiles across the country! So maybe we aren’t in the running to own our own Calder. But it was amazingly easy to create out own Calder-esque mobiles – just by making some of those paper plate mobiles from our youth (nothing more than a paper plate cut into a spiral, and you can decorate and hang shapes off it as you wish). A few primary colors and bold shapes later, we had our very own Calder-inspired creation to display!
Dinosaur Excavation Kit
I spent like $40 bucks on one of these kits. When you open it, you basically have a box of sand and some fake bones to dig up. Plus a little metal tool. It really didn’t seem worth the money to me! Then I read online about one mom’s idea – she saved her chicken bones (don’t do this with kids under 3 – could be a choking hazard) and made her own kit – for free! So it got me thinking … get a mound of sand or dirt – and you can bury any household treasures you like: pennies, wrapped candies, small grab bag toys, and – of course – cooked and cleaned chicken bones in the sand. Just grab an old paint brush for your kids to use as their excavating tool. They will have a blast searching for hidden treasure, even if it is just stuff you already had laying around the house!
Sand Dollars
Our beloved PR guru, Kathy, paid good money for her kids to do ‘sand art’ the other day! After spending the $10 on this craft at a local museum , she realized for just a couple bucks she could have gone to a craft store and bought the decorating tubes and containers and colored sand – which she could have reused. Again, getting inspiration from museums pays off at home!
Pricey Pottery!
Ok, so I took the boys to one of those make your own pottery stores the other day. They painted three pictures frames – and the bill came to $75! I mean, sure, the store fired them in a kiln, but for a 15 minute activity and three small frames I couldn’t believe the price! However, for just a few bucks you can buy frames at a craft store and paint them, or even buy those draw and bake plates that we all loved growing up – for about $10!
When you think about all the activities you spent money on this summer, you’ll realize you have a treasure trove of great inspiration and ideas just waiting to be recreated – for free – right in your very own home. Here’s to a fun – and frugal – end of the summer!
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