Yesterday we headed about an hour up North to Mansfield, Ohio to visit The Ohio State Reformatory.

I didn’t really know what to expect but I did have a few ideas of what I thought a jail would be like. Let me tell you–it was nothing like this!

Somebody with us described it as Hogwarts! The building was absolutely beautiful!

I never did take a picture of the whole building–what was I thinking? It was huge. The grounds were beautiful and did I mention the place was huge? Even with part of the building demolished it was huge. Apparently the back section was torn down before The Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society stepped in to preserve the it. It was really hard for me to listen because I was taking so many pictures but I tried. It was SO very interesting and informative. The kids and I really enjoyed this tour. We plan to go back again sometime soon…after watching The Shawshank Redemption ( filmed there.) Several other movies, videos and photo shoots have also taken place at The Reformatory.

The first two floors were administrative quarters and offices.

Third floor was a chapel.

The rest of the floors were filled with cells—rows and rows of cells.

Little Wayne even filmed a video in this cell!

These are the showers.

This is a really bad picture of the tunnel used in The Shawshank—good thing I took a picture of this-everyone asked if we got to see “the tunnel.”

I just can’t say enough great things about this field trip. If you are anywhere near Richland County and can get to The Ohio State Reformatory you really should try to visit. Help preserve this rich piece of Ohio history by taking a tour.

Just down the road is The Historical Carrousel District in downtown Mansfield. A perfect place to stop for lunch and a ride at The Richland Carrousel Park

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Post tags: Carrousel District, cells, field trip, Mansfield, mansfield ohio, mansfield reformatory, Ohio, ohio history, ohio state reformatory, Preservation, preservation society, Reformatory, Richland, richland carrousel park, richland county, Shawshank, shawshank redemption, Shawshank---good

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He told us the two things he loves about the weather “It’s never boring and it’s always changing.” So very true! Just as we were there a tornado watch appeared in Indianapolis. We were able to see the storm up close on radar.

He is showing them to look for the hook on the radar screen because that could be a tornado.  Jym then showed us the tornado machine he built in college to show the things you need to have for a tornado happen.

warm, moist air, tall clouds, heat and a chimney effect.

Look—it worked!!!

We also learned about volcanoes.

and ash!!

We were told not to look directly at the light—but I think we all did!! shhhh

The kids got to see just what it’s like to report the weather–backwards sort of. You look at the tv screen in front of you and point to the green wall behind you. The viewers see you pointing at the map–so it is sort of a mirrored effect.

Ginger tried her hand at reporting “breaking news!”

We had a great time and learned so much! Thanks again Jym and NBC4i!!

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Post tags: chimney effect, class, field trip, Ganahl, jym ganahl, meteorologist, radar screen, tornado, tornado watch, warm moist air, weather, weather station

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When sorting through our puzzle drawer I found a few puzzles my kids have outgrown. I remembered seeing a puzzle diy on alisaburke’s blog

First Ginger painted the whole puzzle

Be sure to spread paint out the paint so there are no globs and it’s not too thick. Then we removed all the pieces to dry.

Draw your pattern, design, picture or whatever you decide with pencil if you are like me or you can go straight to the sharpie if you are bold and brave!

After you outline your work in sharpie you can start painting.

After everything is dry — give this fancy new puzzle to a friend!!

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Post tags: art, DIY, Draw, Paint, Painting, puzzle, puzzles, Upcycle

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I thought the play was phenomenal. Totally worth the trip! And as always– it’s so nice to travel back home to Cleveland!

After the play we headed to The West Side Market  and Ohio City for lunch.

Then we were off to The Great Lakes Science Center

Apparently there are people with a fear of knees. huh–who knew???!!

We did all of this in about 13 hours-including about 5 hrs in the car- start to finish. I’m going to bed now!!!

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Post tags: art, Artist, artist mark, broadway play, Cleveland, cleveland ohio, field trip, great lakes science, great lakes science center, homeschool, mark rothko, Market, Ohio, Play, Playhouse, playhouse theater, science, Theater, tony award, West Side, west side market

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We went to a Valentine’s Day party today with some other homeschoolers and I was so impressed with all the craftiness!!

I  mustache you to be my Valentine!!!

Hearts!

Oragami hearts

Fortune cookie Valentines—cut out a felt circle, glue a pipe cleaner down the center, insert fortune and fold up and sqeeze into fourtune cookie shape! Genius!!

Look how cute these pins are!!!!

Molly made these. Hershey kisses, cellophane, flower petals, floral wire and tape. So cute!!

I LOVE these!!!! We used a die cut machine to cut the word love out of cardboard and then wrapped it in yarn. I first saw these here. We also used pipe cleaners to make the word LOVE and then wrapped those in yarn also.

Aren’t these so cute???? You still have a few days to get your Valentine craft on! Hope something here inspires you!

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Post tags: craft, Crafts, floral wire, flower petals, fortune, fortune cookie, fourtune, hershey, hershey kisses, homeschool, homeschoolers, mustache, Oragami, pipe cleaners, project, Valentine, valentine craft, valentine hearts, valentine s day, valentines, Valentines---cut, yarn

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I have been ooohing and aaahhing over Artsyvilles  drunken tiles for a while now. We finally bought some alcohol based inks (adirondack inks) and some 10 cent tiles from Lowe’s and went to town!

We started with  the alocohol blending solution squirted onto the tiles and spread it  around with a toothbrush.

Then we gently dripped small amounts of the colored dyes on to the tiles. As long as the alcohol is wet the dye spreads and runs.

We used straws to blow around some of the colors and q-tips to draw into the colors. If  you add alcohol on top of the dyes it takes the color away.

This was so fun. No two tiles turned out alike. We also learned that you can’t really control the outcome. You think you have it just the way you want it to look and then the dyes just keep spreading and combining into something else. But they all looked really great!

This is the same tile from the first photo–look how it changed.

These dyes are permanent and will stain so prepare accordingly!

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Post tags: adirondack, adirondack inks, alcohol, alocohol, art, class, color, colored dyes, colors, dye, Dyed, tile, Tiles

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Now as much as I would like to say this was my great idea..I found it on Pinterest. I have said it before, I LOVE PINTEREST!! And I will say it again, I LOVE PINTEREST!!  As a visual person, this site takes the cake!

These were easy to make and called for only a few ingredients. You just need a little time and space.  And having a little helper around really helps!!

First arrange pretzel sticks into a star pattern on a lined cookie sheet or large tray

Next melt some chocolate (white or dark)

Now pour that melted chocolate into a plastic baggie and cut a tiny bit of the tip off. This makes it so much easier to make webs around the pretzels. Be sure to drizzle the points in the middle together really well and make sure to hit each stick on your way around the web!

Next we tried putting 2 raisins into the center of melted chocolate for spider bodies. Then we covered the raisins with more melted chocolate and made some legs.

And after about 4 or 5 of these my helper quit on me! So I was on my own. I decided to simplify– but I must say I like my version better!! I skipped the spider in the center and just shook some Halloween sprinkles into the melted chocolate. Ta da…

Just the right combination of salty and sweet. These were a big hit with both kids and adults alike!

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Post tags: Cake, choc, chocolate, Cook, COOKIE, halloween, halloween parties, halloween season, Kids, melted chocolate, PepperPaints, Pinterest, potluck, Pretzel, pretzel sticks, Pretzels, Pumpkin, pumpkin cake, Snack, snacks, Spider, spider web, star pattern, Web

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Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday to celebrate the dead.

While I was away on vacation another Mom lead our art class at Co op. I left her with printed pictures of sugar skulls and masks created for the holiday to share with the kids. They used acrylic paints to paint the blank masks I bought at Michaels. Then used a hot glue gun to attach fake flowers and ribbons. They came out really great!!

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Post tags: art, art class, day of the dead, day of the dead masks, Dead, dia de los muertos, holiday, mexican holiday, Michaels, sugar, sugar skulls

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I started off this activity with a practice version so kids could see the importance of drawing and placement of the art. I made a simple picture of a pumpkin. It was like a puzzle.

This may be one of my favorite group projects so far! For the real activity– I took a poster of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and cut it up into 12 pieces. Each student received a piece of the art work along with a blank piece of paper cut to the same size. I numbered the back of the poster and the corresponding papers along with an arrow pointing to the top.

We used oil pastels to fill our papers. Trying to copy what was on our piece of art work.

After everyone was finished we put both the original art work as well as the students art work back together.

I love it! I am planning on pasting the pieces on to a black matte board to hang up at The Rec Center.

I got the idea from TEACH KIDS ART —thanks!!

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Post tags: activity, art, art work, class, drawing, group, group projects, matte board, oil pastels, original art, picture, project, rec center, students art, sunflower, sunflowers, van gough

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Puffy Paint is super expensive to purchase–especially for a whole class. This DIY version is not meant for fabric but more for a paint that dries bumpy. It adds a little depth and texture to the work.

It’s cheap and easy to make. Equal parts salt, flour and hot water. Stir until dissolved. Add liquid or powder tempra. This potion is very forgiving. Add more water if too thick and add more salt and flour if it’s too thin –especially after adding the liquid tempra.

Pour or spoon mixture into squeeze bottles–I bought empty ketchup and mustard bottles. You want the consistency to be runny enough to squeeze out of the bottles with out splatting. Understand? You will once you start mixing. Think frosting–creamy frosting! You can even add a little glitter for some fabulous sparkle!

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Post tags: art, class, creamy frosting, dale chihuly, DIY, glitter, Homemade, mixture, Paint, Paints, puffy, puffy paint, recipe, squeeze bottles, tempra, texture

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