SMMART Science: Resurrection Bread

We know that when you pop ready-made bisquits into the oven they will rise because of the baking soda or baking powder in the ingredients...but what helps make a bisquit rise a little more is a MARSHMALLOW!

My friend mentioned that she was making Resurrection Bread with her girls.  Place a marshmallow on a flattened bisquit and then form the bisquit up and around the marshmallow.  Pinch it shut to form a "tomb".

Bake the bisquits according to the package directions.  The marshmallow EXPANDS when heated, but when it cooled, it contracts and leaves a cavity in the bisquit tomb.  When your child opens the tomb..."He is not here; for he is risen"  Mathew 28:6

SMMART ART: Reverse Glass Painting

"Reverse painting on glass is an art form consisting of applying paint to a piece of glass and then viewing the image by turning the glass over and looking through the glass at the image. Verre Églomisé is a commonly used term to refer to the art of cold painting and gilding on the back of glass. In German it is also known as 'hinterglasmalerei.'  This art form has been around for many years. It was widely used for sacral paintings since Middle Ages. The most famous was the art of icons in the Byzantine Empire.

 The painting can be realistic or abstract. Realistic reverse paintings are more challenging to create as one must, for example, in painting a face, to put the pupil of an eye on the glass before the iris, exactly the opposite of normal painting. If this is neglected the artist will not be able to correct the error as they will not get in between the glass and the paint already applied. No such care need be taken with the abstract form, but with this form there is not a good idea how the piece will look like until it is finished. This process is not like stained or leaded glass work in that it is not intended to hang in a window with light coming through the piece. Hanging on a wall, framed or unframed, with a lot of light directed towards the piece provides best viewing." (Wikipedia Reverse Painting on Glass)

Do you have an old picture frame?  We did our own modified version of reverse glass painting.  First we used Sharpie markers and drew the picture outlines and inside details that we wanted to portray on the glass.  Then we painted over the top of the sharpie with clear paint, so you could see the details of the sharpie underneath the color of the clear paint.  Ours could actually be used as a sort of stained glass art.

Roxanne, the producer of "Good Things Utah", told me how she uses clear Elmer's glue and food coloring to create a clear paint that she uses to paint pictures on her windows.  Crafty girl, that Roxanne; and if you ever need anything "Blinged out", she is the queen of "Blinging" things!  She "Blings" everything from keys to use as pendants, to hats, to her office stapler.  But I digress...

SMMART Family Review of Disney on Ice Dare to Dream

With all the hustle and bustle you do as parents it is so nice to be able to take a step back and enjoy some real time with your kids. This week has been plagued with the flu at our house. So much so that we almost were not able to go to Disney on Ice. Tinkerbelle must have sprinkled some pixie dust on our house, because thursday the girls woke up feeling better with no fevers. Not so true for my poor husband and son. So with quick phone call my oldest daughter Kailey called a friend and we were off. There is nothing like watching my daughters eyes light up when Mickey Mouse skates onto the ice and the show begins. Pure joy and happiness in the eyes of your kids is the part that makes being a parent all worth it. Our favorite part of the show was watching Rapunzel and Flynn Rider fly on her hair flying around above the ice. And of course a little ice cream treat as well. We loved it….Thank you Smmart Ideas for this opportunity to spend time together as a family!

 

Melissa, Kailey and Alyssa Jaffa

 

So glad that these ladies had a super time at Disney on Ice Dare to Dream at the Energy Solutions Arena! 

SMMART ART: Huichol Gods Eye

Another yarn craft from the Huichol people of Mexico is called a "God's Eye".  You may remember making these at summer camps.

"A God's eye is a yarn weaving and a Huichol spiritual object.
The Ojo de Dios or God's eye is a ritual tool, magical object, and cultural symbol evoking the weaving motif and its spiritual associations. For the Huichol peoples of western Mexico, the God's Eye is symbolic of the power of seeing and understanding that which is unknown and unknowable, The Mystery. The four points represent the elemental processes earth, fire, air, and water.
The Ojo de Dios, or God's Eye, is a simple or complex weaving made across two or more sticks and is thought to have originated with the Huichol Indians of Jalisco, Mexico. The Huichol call their God's eyes Sikuli, which means "the power to see and understand things unknown." When a child is born, the central eye is woven by the father, then one eye is added for every year of the child's life until the child reaches the age of five." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God%27s_eye)

You need two sticks or popsicle sticks.  I think that using actual sticks seems more indiginous and authentic.  Wrap the sticks with yarn to secure them before you have your child start yarn wrapping...this will save a lot of frustrated little hands.

Wrap over stick 1, under stick 2, over stick 3 and under stick 4...continue wrapping in the same motion.  Make sure the yarn is wrapped beside previous row so the yarn spreads out flat.  When you run out of one color, you can tie another color and continue.  You can use a multicolored yarn for an easy way to get a variety of colors.

Another way I used to do...Wrap all the way around stick 1, then drag the yarn to stick 2 and wrap all the way around stick 2...then all the way around stick 3, then all the way around stick 4....so you have a full wrap around each stick...it doesn't bunch up as much this way.

Shimmer yarn is always fun to use or try some pastels for the Spring!

SMMART ART: Yarn Art

I saw a fun idea for yarn art on www.thatartistwoman.org and thought that we'd use this style of yarn art by the Huichol Mexican people for our spring art class...but we would do Yarn Eggs!

"Huichol art broadly groups the most traditional and most recent innovations in the folk art and handcrafts produced by the Huichol people, who live in the states of Jalisco and Nayarit in Mexico. The unifying factor of the work is the colorful decoration using symbols and designs which date back centuries. The most common and commercial successful products are “yarn paintings” and objects decorated with small commercially produced beads. Yarn paintings consist of commercial yarn pressed into boards coated with wax and resin and are derived from a ceremonial tablet called a nearika. The Huichol have a long history of beading, making the beads from clay, shells, corals, seeds and more and using them to make jewelry and to decorate bowls and other items. The “modern” beadwork usually consists of masks and wood sculptures covered in small, brightly colored commercial beads fastened with wax and resin." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huichol_art)

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:StringArt1MAPDF.JPG)

First cut out an egg shape from a cereal box.  You can paint the shape a pastel color for a nice background color.  Then use tacky glue and make a glue perimeter around the cardboard egg. 

Start to wrap pieces of egg colored yarn around and around...starting from the edge and all the way into the center.  Or you can lay down a yarn design across the egg horizontally and use a new color every so often for a striped egg.   We had precut strands of yarn for the art class.  This way, the yarn wasn't too long to handle and the students could use a variety of colors in their egg yarn art.

Now paint a backdrop for your yarn egg.  What setting would you paint?   A nest?  a grassy field?  a few chicks?

More tacky glue... and glue your yarn egg onto the backdrop. 

SMMART Time-Out: Icecream Chore Chart

Even princesses have chores!  Look at Cinderealla.  A classic example.  She swept and mopped the floors while musically expressing herself "Sing Sweet Nightengale", she mended her sisters' dresses, cleaned the tapestries...  Then there's Rapunzel...cooking, baking, moping and "shine up-ing"... Tiana worked hard for every penny she earned!  (Never did hear if they still had chores when they all moved into their castles...)

 

How do you motivate your children to do their chores and responsibilities?  I'm talking about getting homework done and reading daily without whining, practice piano...eat their meals without complaining?

Most recently I heard someone talking about an ICE CREAM CONE RESPONSIBILITY CHART!
I loved the idea, so I set out to find clip art and....this is what I came up with.  So far, really good.  I have down some main responsibilities (speech practice, homework) and then have a few "ears" on scoops that the girls can earn if they "listen the first time" when I ask them to do something.  I have a few "hearts" on scoops that they can receive when they have been loving to a sibling or been extra helpful.  They start with a cone each morning and along the day, pile on the scoops when they accomplish their tasks.

If you'd like a copy of my clip art cones and scoops, email me (SMMARTideas@hotmail.com) and I'll be happy to forward that along. Then you can find clip art that you like, that works for your family, and paste them onto my scoops.

SMMART Giveaway: Disney on Ice Dare to Dream

(CONTEST CLOSED)

NEW Winner:  Melissa J. said...  I follow your blog and love it! We have started the nickel system. Roll of $2 for each kid. The start of the week they each get $2 in nickels. They have jobs they need to do each week. They do all of their jobs they get to keep their nickels at the end of the week. If they don't and have to be reminded then we get to take a nickel. Works wonders....Teaches the value of money and hard work.

(Melissa, you have 24 hours to email me at SMMARTideas@hotmail.com to claim your tickets or I'll redraw.)

Dreams do come true! Feld Entertainment is bringing the magic of Disney to the ice with a new live show, featuring hair-raising moments from Walt Disney Studio’s hit animated film, Tangled. Audiences in Salt Lake City will experience the enchantment and splendor of new and classic Disney princesses in Disney On Ice presents Dare to Dream, as they frolic in the French quarter with Tiana from Princess and the Frog, relive the timeless story of Cinderella, and watch Rapunzel let down her hair on the ice for the first time ever.

Disney on Ice Dare to Dream will be showing in Salt Lake City, UT from March 6th - 10th.

 

 “We are ecstatic to be able to bring audiences an incredible new ice show that sets the standard for the ultimate Disney experience,” says Producer Nicole Feld. “Because Tangled marks the 50^th Disney animated feature, it was only fitting that we celebrate that achievement by including moments from Rapunzel’s story in our show.”   

Dare to Dream, a vibrant, contemporary compilation of princesses, features popular songs and unforgettable scenes from two of Disney’s newest fairytales and one of the most cherished stories of all time. Audiences will behold an alluring aerialist act with Rapunzel’s golden locks, shimmering gowns that twinkle and twirl during Cinderella’s royal ball, a lighting display that illuminates all the fireflies in Tiana’s New Orleans bayou and a grand finale with all the Disney princesses.

Hooray!!!  I am so exicted that Tangled will be on ice for this show!  Disney on Ice Dare to Dream will be showing in Salt Lake City, UT from March 6th - 10th.  Please enter to win a Family-4-Pack!  Winner will also be asked to share a review of their night to be posted on SMMARTideas!

 

TWO WAYS TO ENTER TO WIN A FAMILY-4-PACK:

1) Please leave your name (first name, last initial) and email address in a comment below this post and tell me...We all know that Mother Gothel had rules for Rapunzel (like "never leave this tower!", and from Rapunzel's song it seems that she was expected to "mop and clean and shine up" with chores to do.  There were expectations! It seems that Mother Gothel laid on a thick guilt trip to gain Rapunzel's compliance.  Tell me a method or two that you have to get your kids to act appropriately, clean up their rooms, not whine, do their chores... Tell me!

2) Please leave your name (first name, last initial) and email address in a comment below this post and tell me that you FOLLOW my blog, SMMARTideas!  If you already follow, just let me know.  To follow, click on the "Join this Site" button to the right.  I really appreciate your support!

 

Winner will be chosen by random.org on Feb.15th  and posted at the top of this post.  (I will also attempt to email you.) You will have 24 hrs to respond to me at SMMARTideas@hotmail.com to claim your tickets.  If you don't respond within that time, I will choose another winner.  Good luck!

SMMART SCIENCE: Monster Jam and Water Wheel

What ways can wheels be powered?  An engine, a motor, blowing a stream of air or a stream of water can power a wheel too!

  Water and wheels...fun combination!

   Find something round in your recycle bin that you can push a skewer through...an oatmeal top, a small plastic plate or plastic cup bottom...

  Tape little cups around the perimeter and set up your skewer onto something to prop up the wheel.   If you are lucky enough to find a long dowel, then you can prop the dowel up on the edges of the sink.

  What little cups do you have on hand? (empty creamer cups, I found little plastic clear cups at the dollar store, foam egg carton cups, or you can wrap foam paper into little triangle cups and secure them onto the "round" item you found) 

 "A water wheel converts the potential and kinetic energy of a stream of water to rotational kinetic energy. The undershot wheel on the left-hand side of the model uses only kinetic energy, while the overshot wheel (right-hand wheel and top chute) used mainly potential energy. The breast-wheel (right-hand wheel, lower chute) uses both types of energy" (www.physics.kenyon.edu)