Gallery Wall

Making our apartment homey is an ongoing project, that has mostly consisted of planning and planning... and planning. Being on a budget makes it extremely tricky to actually purchase what I want, and it makes me more hesitant—I want to be sure that whatever I spend my money on is actually worthwhile. After months of thinking and planning and looking around, the most recent addition to our place is our mini-gallery.

Before we added the frames and the “G”s, this wall was pretty bare, and I wasn't sure what to do to make it seem warmer. I had seen a lot of different gallery walls online, and after a lot of back-and-forth I settled on the idea of our (soon-to-be) last name initial. I also wanted to avoid making the gallery seem too stiff, and I wanted to keep the possibility of vintage prints and keepsakes, so I decided to add a couple of silhouettes I had cross-stitched.

I found the Scrabble “G” and the metal “G” at Hobby Lobby on sale. The tan “G” was just a chipboard letter I found for less than a dollar and painted. I also painted the top right “G” on a canvas frame I found on sale. Hopefully in the near future I will find a few small prints to add to the open spaces (I would especially love some vintage airplane prints), but for the most part the wall is complete!

Raising the Next Generation of Pilots

We just finished up a unit called “Flying Transportation” this past week. This was a theme I obviously enjoyed very much. The kids already love anything having to do with airplanes, and it was fun to see them learn about several other ways to fly through the sky. I especially enjoyed finding ways to explain how planes fly, how the different parts of the airport function, and what the pilots do-- all on a 3-year old level. Of course, the art was fun, too. We made an airplane, a parachute, a helicopter, and a hot-air balloon.

We made the airplane with a clothespin, 2 popsicle sticks, and a few pieces of paper. Each child cut out their cloud and glued it to their paper. Then they colored the popsicle stick wings. They glued one wing to the paper, then glued the clothespin on top, then attached the other wing. The last step was to glue the tail to the back of the clothespin. 

We used marble-painting to make the hot-air balloon. I cut out the balloons ahead of time, and then each child had a turn to put their balloon into a shallow tub. I splattered the paint on the paper, then they tilted the tub back and forth, side to side, to make the marbles roll through the paint several times. After they were done painting, they glued on the paper “ropes” and basket. Of all the projects we did this week, it seemed they enjoyed this one the most.