Tag: tea light

Plastic Egg Fireflies

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Travis is into making things glow lately, and beyond glow-in-the-dark paint, we brainstormed other ways to play with light. I pulled out an old tea light and a few plastic eggs leftover from Easter, and we were able to cobble together this little firefly. It made us nostalgic for summer nights!

To make our bug, first we selected patterned paper for the wings. Travis had fun flipping through a booklet of paper and picking the one he liked best. Alternatively, you could have your child scribble on white paper and cut out wing shapes.

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Next I snipped a pipe cleaner into small sections – 6 for the legs, and two slightly longer for the antennae.

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Grown-up step: Use a piercing tool to poke holes for the legs and antennae. The oblong part of the egg will be the back of the firefly’s body, and the more rounded part will be its head.

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Slip in the pipe cleaners, bending slightly so they stay put. Curl the tops of the antennae over.

Next we glued on the wings and eyes. Whoops, because of where I’d pierced the antennae holes, our eyes were above them instead of below them. Oh well!

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Once the glue dried, we could make our little creature glow. Travis was absolutely delighted, and had so much fun taking the tea light out and putting back in again.

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Pretty soon the bug was flying all over the house. A nice reminder of summer evenings to come, here in the middle of winter!

Glowing Snowman Luminary

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I wanted to make these adorable glowing snowmen to light up a dark blizzard afternoon recently. It turns out Travis wasn’t at all interested in putting the craft together (hey, sometimes it happens!) but he did love the end result. The snowman is another way to add a cozy glow to winter’s dark nights.

For best results, you’ll need an empty Pom juice bottle to create a nice curvy snowman. I couldn’t find Pom at the store, but did snag a kid-sized Evian bottle that worked just as well.

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Paint your curvy bottle with two coats of white paint on all sides (but not the bottom), letting dry thoroughly after each coat.

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You know that pesky tendency kids’ socks have of disappearing one from each pair? Use that to your advantage here!

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Cut up any old or mismatched socks to make hats and scarves. For a hat, cut the toe off a sock. Tie with a string near one end, and snip those ends into strips to make a “pom pom.”

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Cut a long, thin rectangle from another spare sock, and tie around the middle of the bottle as the snowman’s scarf.

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To finish the snowman, we used sticky-back felt cut into circles for eyes, a nose, and buttons (which Travis finally acquiesced to sticking on!)

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What a dapper fellow!

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When you’re ready to make your snowman glow, simply place him atop a battery operated tea light and illuminate the night.

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Fall Leaf Votive

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Leaf Votive (8)

In addition to our Felt Fruit, here’s another possible adornment for your Thanksgiving table this Thursday. It’s a lovely twist on the Halloween Luminaries we lit up in October, this time putting a leafy autumnal twist on the same idea!

First, head outdoors and collect a few (relatively small) fresh leaves. Try to find a variety of shapes and colors, for the best effect.

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Coat a glass jar with a layer of mod podge, then have your child arrange the leaves in whatever pattern they like. Set aside to dry overnight.

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Travis’s favorite part of the project was applying a second layer of mod podge the next morning, to ensure that no edges of the leaves pop up.

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He thought dabbing a gluey paintbrush over the leaves was great fun, much more so than when we just put the glue on the clear jar!

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If you like, you can add pieces of tissue paper to fill in the blank space between leaves, but we left ours clear.

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Insert a tea light, and light up your Thanksgiving celebration!

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Note: As a bonus, this votive will look lovely lit up for a long time to come. Consider it for a nightlight in your child’s room, or just a pretty decoration after dark.

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