Henry at the UnMuseum

Henry and I went to the UnMuseum at the Contemporary Arts Center downtown today for Playart.  We had a marvelous (and messy) morning! 

our family's summer bucket list

It seems that summer bucket lists are quite popular this summer, so we've made one of our own.  I sat down with the kids and we created a long list of things we want to do this summer.  Some of the items on this list are things we already do on a regular basis, while others are new to us, or things we don't get to do very often.  I don't know that we will be able to have all of these adventures, but having this list will help us focus on what we want to do for fun.  It's pretty lengthy (remember I had three young ones helping me dream up this list) but we've already crossed a few things off in the first few weeks of summer break.  I can't wait to see what else we end up doing this summer!  Please feel free to leave comments below if you have ideas I should add to this list!

Our summer bucket list: (Updated 8/18/11)
We were lucky enough to do many things on our bucket list this summer!  We even added a few things:  Hike at Shawnee Lookout, A ride on the Anderson Ferry, A hike at Dinsmore Homestead, and two vacations!  We were very busy!  We'll have to add some of these activities on to next summer's bucket list!
~ Hike at Big Bone
~ Storytime
~ Highfield Discovery Garden
~ Visit Ault Park
~ Explore Fort Ancient
~ Newport Aquarium
~ Cincinnati Museum Center
~ Totter's Otterville
~ Grocery shop at Jungle Jim's
~ Spend a day at Eden Park, visit the Art Museum
~ Roller Skate
~ Swim at our swim club
~ Day trip to Louisville Zoo
~ Bike ride at the farm
~ Behringer Crawford Museum
~ Walk the Purple People Bridge
~ Ride bikes at Pioneer Park
~ Hike at Withrow Nature Preserve
~ Take a walk at Spring Grove Cemetery
~ Day trip to Lexington to visit friends
~ Cincinnati Zoo
~ Bike riding at the International Freedom Park
~ Play at Lunken Airport's Playfields
~ Explore Rowe Woods
~ Hike in the woods at Highland Cemetery

If you are looking for more fun ideas in the Greater Cincinnati area, check out Family Friendly Cincinnati's bucket list as well!  And don't forget to give me your ideas!

our own chihuly sculpture

a few months back i read about a very cool art project for kids on the blog mary making and it inspired me to do the same project with my children.  i think that the idea of exposing children to famous works of art in order to inspire creativity within them is a brilliant idea.  and we are lucky to have some fabulous museums in our area, so i decided to take advantage of our local art museum and do our own family dale chihuly-inspired sculpture.

first we went to the cincinnati art museum to visit the dale chihuly sculpture that hangs in the front lobby of the museum.  it is a gorgeous blue glass sculpture called  Rio Delle Torreselle Chandelier.  the kids and i spent quite a while underneath this sculpture talking about how it was made, and what it looked like to them (the answers included fish, snakes, blue grass, flowers, and more).    have i mentioned how beautiful it is? 

also over the summer we visited the children's museum of indianapolis (amazing place to take the kids!) where there is another dale chihuly sculpture: Fireworks of Glass.  and that's exactly what it looks like, fireworks.  this sculpture was awesome because there was an exhibit at the museum oriented around (or shall i say "under") the sculpture.  you could lay back on a rotating couch and look up at the sculpture.  it was as if you were inside of a kaleidoscope.  there were also hands on activities for the kids, like using plastic pieces replicating the glass pieces to make their own sculptures.  very very cool stuff.  this piece is chihuly's largest permanent installment, and is made up of over 3,000 pieces of glass and weighs 18,000 pounds. 

the kids were fascinated by these sculptures.  they have always loved exploring museums of all sorts, but this focus on chihuly's glass sculptures had intrigued them, and it was a great conversation starter for them.  i loved hearing their  imaginative and unique perspectives on the sculptures.  it was fun for me to watch their young minds at work on this project.  dale chihuly has installations all over the world, and i highly recommend you find one near you to check out.  and then, if you'd like you could do this art project.  because it is so much fun!

here's how to make your own chihuly-like sculpture.  first you gather your materials:  shrinky dink paper (i found 8x11 sheets on etsy - aka Polyshrink), sharpie markers (the more colors the better), an oven, and a hot glue gun. 

i cut the large pieces of polyshrink into smaller squares, circles, hearts, and other shapes.  then i let the kids loose with the permanent markers (an old plastic tablecloth is a must for this project).  i worked right alongside of them, coloring my own pieces of plastic.  we worked on these pieces over a period of several days, because it was alot of coloring!

after you color each piece you heat them in the oven according to the directions on the package.  keep a close eye on them, it doesn't take long at all...when they start curling and shrinking yank them out of the oven.  while they are still warm you can manipulate the plastic a bit into designs.

once all of the pieces are "cooked" and contorted into their funky shapes you can use the hot glue gun to mesh it all together into one big sculpture.  we hung ours from the dining room chandelier.  the kids were so proud of their work, and very excited about this project.  and i was excited that they were interested in learning about artists and enjoyed our visit to the art museum.  i am looking forward to doing a few more artist inspired projects in the future! 

and thank you again to mary making for the great idea!

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis

before school started this month we took a road trip to indianapolis to visit the children's museum. read all about it over at family friendly cincinnati!

a visit to the art museum

last week i took the kids to the art museum. that's right...four small children at the art museum. i was nervous at first, but felt much better when we arrived and i saw busload after busload of noisy little children entering the museum. i have always thought of the art museum of a quiet, peaceful place, and i was not quite sure how the munchkins would do in such a setting unlike our usual boisterous outings. i was not sure if they would appreciate the beauty and understand the magic of looking at fine art. all of my worrying was for nothing. they loved the art museum, they spent their time looking around, taking it all in, asking questions and making guesses as to what the pieces were or what they meant. it was as if the peacefulness of their surroundings had a calming effect on them. they spoke in hushed, almost reverent tones, and looked around with wide eyes while holding tight to mama's hand. it was truly a magical morning. and when we got home the pencils, markers, and paper came out and their own masterpieces were created.

the exhibit that excited the children the most is an instillation that is in progress of being put together right now...artworks: the american road. they are in the midst of painting a rather large mural on the 2nd floor, and have numerous neon signs & the like ready for display. i cannot wait to go back and see what the finished product will look like. the kids were excited about "big boy" being a part of the exhibit (can you see him in the picture below?).

we only saw a fraction of the artwork at the museum, because we just stayed for a short while, but since it is free to visit (you only have to pay for parking) we will surely be back again before the summer is over. i am hoping to tie some things that we saw at the museum into some art projects i have planned for the coming weeks.