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Kids Craft: The Red Book, Beaches & Painted Stones

August 25, 2010

This week’s craft was inspired by our “Holiday @ Home” holidays… as part of this, we visited a brand new beach about 1.5hrs drive from here – we had never been and it was a FABULOUS day out with friends. Lots of running around. Jumping into dunes. Getting covered in sand.WONDERFUL. What was quite special too, is that Red Ted now “knows what a beach is” and when at the end of the day, I dragged this book out for him again, he understood it that little bit better:

The Red Book (Caldecott Honor Book)

The Red Book, Barbara Lehman. We had already seen this reviewed by Playing by the Book and LOVED the sound of it (Zoe is much better at reviewing books, so do read her review too!). This book is a book without words. So it is brilliant for our bilingual family, as I can “read it in German” and The Englishman in, well, English! Also wonderful for “getting into” story telling as the pictures serve as a great prompt! So, I digress.

The book is about a little boy who finds a Red Book on his way to school. He can’t wait to take a look. He opens the book and sees a map. The next page shows the map in close up: an island. The next page he sees a beach (aha, here comes the link to our post today). On that beach is a boy…. reading… a book. A Red Book, that he found on the beach. And as he closes in on the Red Beach Book, the city boy sees himself! Oh! The two boys connect through their respective books and then embark on an adventure… and find each other. The Red Books are left behind for new people to discover them and connect. This is a lovely story of friendship described through pictures alone. Fabulous.

Interestingly,  in Zoe’s review and she describes the city boy as a girl! Goes to show, how you make the story your very own…

The Kid’s Craft – Beach Art & Stone Painting

I have been wanting to take part in beach art ever since Nature Get Crafty where I linked to a worldwide beach project hosted by the V&A. Shortly after this Jude from Artful Adventure also submitted an article about Beach Art in Summer Get Crafty. So off we went and collected lots of stones. I (!) couldn’t wait. Red Ted loved collecting stones with The Englishman and they came back to our “patch in the sand dunes” with two buckets full.

We sorted the stones into colour piles. They looked gorgeous. At this point one of the children emptied all the remaining water that was in the bucket into the sand. Never mind, I thought. But actually, mind we did. The stones quickly got covered in “sticky” sand and there wasn’t much to do with them. *sigh*. So we collected them again (having made a face) and took them home for painting.

Much better!

And once Red Ted had painted some, we played with some googly eyes. (Note: the googly eye playing wasn’t until 1-2 days later, i.e. the paint may take a little while to dry!). I put blutack on the back and together we explored the different expression ONE stone could make, just by the placement of eyes. Quite amazing really. Here is our Ghost Stone and our Yellow Stone in different poses!! Just moving the googly eyes apart creates significant change!!

Here are the “Ghost Stones” – perfect for Halloween?

 

For more Kid’s Craft look here or here.

 

 Linking up with Visit thecsiproject.com

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Filed Under: Kids Craft, Nature 46 Comments

Comments

  1. Zoe @ Playing by the book says

    August 25, 2010 at 5:47 am

    aah very interesting! Yes, I’ve always assumed the first character was a girl, but maybe that’s because I’ve got two girls I read the story to…
    Your day at the beach looks beautiful – the photo jumping over the sand dunes is particularly lovely.

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      August 25, 2010 at 6:32 am

      Thank you Zoe! Yes, was thinking the same – you have your girls and we have our boy – and that really influenced how we read the story! Very interesting!!! And, my, you are up early and commenting 😉 I only posted this 1 hour ago on scheduled post and this it’s 7:30am!! I guess that is what happens when one has kids!!!

      Reply
  2. jfb57 says

    August 25, 2010 at 7:18 am

    Jusyt love those pebble people! When we meet up. I would like one please!

    Reply
  3. maria says

    August 25, 2010 at 7:24 am

    I like the pebble people, we are also huge fans of beach art!

    Reply
  4. Elaine says

    August 25, 2010 at 7:30 am

    Love your stone photos and the different emotions made just by moving the eyes… I wrote about stone emotions the other day – you might want to take a look and add the link to this post in the comments? http://littlesheep-learning.blogspot.com/2010/08/emotions.html

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      August 25, 2010 at 7:57 am

      Oh Elaine! I LOVE your post on emotions, what a great idea!!! Especially since our stone people have different emotions depending on where the google eyes go… will have to emphasise that bit a bit more to Red Ted! Great post! Have commented and linked 🙂

      Maggy

      Reply
  5. chaoskay says

    August 25, 2010 at 8:16 am

    Absolutely love the stones! Very cute!!! :O)

    Reply
  6. Michelle says

    August 25, 2010 at 9:13 am

    Ow Maggy, the photos are absolutely fab! I like them all:-)) xo

    Reply
  7. nimblebee2 says

    August 25, 2010 at 12:34 pm

    Looks like you all had a lot of fun. The stones look great!

    Reply
  8. Ali at Green Baby says

    August 25, 2010 at 1:44 pm

    you went to the beach!!!!

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      August 25, 2010 at 1:50 pm

      Yes and we had the BESTEST day ever! So lucky too, as only day that week that was sunny and without rain. Can’t wait to go again! x

      Reply
  9. The Nifty Nest says

    August 25, 2010 at 2:42 pm

    Oh those are CUTE! My son would love a rock collection like that!!

    I hope you’ll come participate in my link party today! It runs all week so come back and add more BOY projects! All About The Boy @ The Nifty Nest!

    Liz

    Reply
  10. Janelle says

    August 26, 2010 at 3:11 pm

    All the different poses are neat. Who knew that moving the eyes could change the appearance so much? We love wordless books and haven’t read the one you mentioned. Thanks for the recommendation.

    Reply
  11. Christianne @ Little Page Turners says

    August 26, 2010 at 4:40 pm

    Gorgeous beach shot! Looks like you both had fun with googly eyes! Fun activity. 🙂

    Reply
  12. Cathy @ NurtureStore says

    August 26, 2010 at 5:41 pm

    What fun! I love all the characters you created with the stones.

    Reply
  13. missielizzie says

    August 26, 2010 at 6:34 pm

    We used to paint stones with my Nana when we were little. That was before the days of googly eyes mind! Unless she was just being too tight to buy them!

    Love your beach photos, really gorgeous.

    Reply
  14. April says

    August 26, 2010 at 7:10 pm

    So much fun on your stay-cation. Love the googly eye stones.

    Reply
  15. Counting Coconuts says

    August 26, 2010 at 7:34 pm

    Oh those googly eyes made me smile! What a cute idea! Thanks for the book recommendation, too!

    Mari-Ann 🙂

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      August 26, 2010 at 9:51 pm

      We did have fun with them, until Red Ted wanted to stick them on his face, lost one and Pip Squeak found it and tried to eat it…oh the fun with children under 3!

      Reply
  16. Christy says

    August 26, 2010 at 7:50 pm

    Your pictures are beautiful! I love to see what my kids can make with rocks. Great book too!

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      August 26, 2010 at 9:49 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  17. c.r.a.f.t. says

    August 26, 2010 at 10:11 pm

    i featured you today 🙂

    Reply
  18. Almost Unschoolers says

    August 27, 2010 at 12:29 am

    So cute! I love all the poses 🙂

    Reply
  19. angelina says

    August 27, 2010 at 1:25 am

    love the pebble photos. skipping at the beach sounds like so long ago…..brrr here.
    never heard of red book. will look iit up.x

    Reply
  20. Miri says

    August 27, 2010 at 9:52 am

    What fun! Love the goofy eyed stones!

    Reply
  21. JDaniel4's Mom says

    August 27, 2010 at 10:21 am

    It is wonderful that they gathered the rock themselves. They came out so cute!

    Reply
  22. Ticia says

    August 27, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    Those turned out so cute and it looks like they had so much fun at the beach!

    Reply
  23. Michelle says

    August 27, 2010 at 10:07 pm

    Looks like the kids had a blast. Love the googly eyes on the rock critters.

    Reply
  24. Pati @ A Crafty Escape says

    August 28, 2010 at 10:58 am

    What a cute craft!

    Reply
  25. Charmaine says

    August 28, 2010 at 6:43 pm

    Cute idea – my daughter would love this.

    Reply
  26. Van says

    August 30, 2010 at 11:29 am

    Cute idea, a displayed collection of these is a fun (cheap) idea!

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      August 30, 2010 at 12:49 pm

      Yes! Definitely a cheap option!! And much fun!

      Reply
  27. Kaysi @ Keeping It Simple says

    August 30, 2010 at 7:27 pm

    fun!

    Reply
  28. Leah says

    August 31, 2010 at 12:06 pm

    I remember painting “pet rocks” when I was a kid!

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      August 31, 2010 at 12:14 pm

      That is what childhood memories are made of!!! 🙂

      Reply
  29. Katie says

    August 31, 2010 at 9:03 pm

    Those are absolutely gorgeous pictures from the beach, the sky is SO blue! Your stone photoshoot is hysterical, and you’re right there do seem to be different expressions and emotions depending on eye placement.

    Reply
  30. Lynn says

    September 1, 2010 at 12:53 am

    The photos of your children are beautiful – the sky is amazing!

    Reply
  31. Melissa Howard says

    September 2, 2010 at 8:05 pm

    I’ve been meaning to stick google eyes on nature stuff with the girls all summer and now summer is gone!! Like the ghosts!!

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      September 2, 2010 at 8:15 pm

      Then stick them on autumn crafts.. lots of stick people and cone people and chestnuts… 😉

      Reply
  32. Audra says

    September 8, 2010 at 6:45 pm

    What fun!

    Reply
  33. The Monko says

    October 25, 2011 at 9:41 pm

    Thats the second time I have clicked on a cool picture in a link community (this time The play academy) and its taken me to Red Tent Arts. Nice one. Love the googley eye stones.

    Reply
  34. Cambridge Painters and Decorators says

    March 24, 2012 at 8:49 pm

    I do like these stones with googlie eyes.thanks

    Reply
  35. Red Ted Art says

    August 28, 2010 at 6:52 pm

    Go check out Mediocre Mum! Her pebbles are FABULOUS 🙂

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. I’m Getting Crafty! Painted Pebbles says:
    August 28, 2010 at 6:42 pm

    […] was my first craft challenge Painted Pebbles.  However, I prefer to call them Rock […]

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  2. punk rock » tiddlyompompom says:
    September 16, 2010 at 11:13 pm

    […] seen Red Ted’s painted stones, and then seeing mediocre mum’s awesome creations, I thought that we could try making some […]

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  3. What To Have In Your Child's Art Box says:
    December 13, 2013 at 2:39 pm

    […] 1) More card stock if you can’t scavenge any, in a variety of colours and textures 2) A set of coloured paper 3) Googly eyes 4) Feathers 5) Sequins […]

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