Made Co.

Do you have a child with a creative mind?  Do they have a great imagination and like to create things?  Then I've got the place for you -- a place to get your child's ideas made!  Made Co.  I even got to experience the site with my nieces and nephews (see my experience below). 

[The following is info from Made Co.]
Earlier in March, Honey Maid created an online initiative – Made Co. – to help kids get their ideas made. Made Co. is a unique new online contest series in which kids ages 6-12 can win opportunities to have their ideas brought to life with the help of industry experts.  The site was developed to inspire kids to learn and create under the guidance of real world professionals in their chosen fields. Lately there’s been a trend of kids being more interested in consuming content than in making it; Made Co. is a direct response to that. 

Through Made Co., Honey Maid will partner with several experts from a variety of industries including clothing designers, game and toy makers, among others. Along with Honey Maid, the industry experts will review idea submissions and select one grand prize winning idea per project to be professionally created, with the help of the winning applicant.  

Pretty cool - right?  Made Co. sent me a gift certificate to Target to buy art supplies to help get the creative juices flowing in the children in my life - my nieces and nephews!  

Then, their mom will help them submit their ideas through Made Co. online!  My niece has created a series of Comic Books that she would like to submit!

Copywrite: All drawings/art shown in the above pic are belong to Hannah (pictured above).

Copywrite: All drawings/art shown in the above pic are belong to Hannah (pictured above).

When they do enter the contest it's pretty easy to navigate the site and submit ideas!  When you go to Made Co. you can select 'Enter Your Ideas' or 'All Projects' to be taken to the project page to see what current projects (example: recipe, video game character, dog toy contest) can be submitted and how many days are left to submit an idea.  Once you select an idea you can then see what is expected in the challenge, tips on what to do, what the winner of the contest will receive, and easy ways to submit your ideas (upload a pic, or draw your own on the site, etc.).  I found it very user friendly and easy to use!

Get creative and start helping your kids submit their ideas!

Building Houses

This week in preschool we are learning all about "The Three Little Pigs".  In talking about their houses, we tried making our own houses with marshmallows and toothpicks!  The kids even tried blowing down the houses down, like the Big Bad Wolf!

Dinosaur Fossils

We made our own fossils, and you can too!  They're so easy!

All it took was a batch of home-made playdough (no food coloring added or needed).  Each student got their own bit of playdough to play with and push small play dinosaurs into, when they were finished they did one final press of a dinosaur into their playdough then we cut around it and left it out to dry.  They loved taking home thier own 'fossil'.

My playdough recipe:

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

1 tbsp cream of tartar

2 cups boiling water

2 tbsp veg oil

Put 2 cups of water in a container in the microwave and heat until boiling.  In the meantime, mix the flour, salt and cream of tartar in a large bowl.  Once the water is boiling, pour in to the flour mixture along with the veg oil.  Stir until incorporated and then finish incorporating all ingredients with hands.

Dino Excavation

I was trying to think of 'different' fun things to do with Dinosaurs in preschool and thought it would be a fun sensory experience to excavate dinosaurs from ice.

Each student got a small frozen dinosaur, they would then put on safety goggles and with the help of a teacher they hammered the ice until it would crack/break, then they would run it under luke warm water until the ice came off -- and for all of their hard work, they got to keep their dinosaur!  The kids LOVED the activity!

Apple Turkeys

For our kids activity this year I went back to my roots -- when I was a kid.  I remember one or two of my teachers making 'Apple Turkeys' with us and I loved it, so I knew the kids would too!  They were a hit!

They're pretty easy to make!  Everyone just needs an apple, some toothpicks (little ones get help from an adult) and some candy and treats to stick on the toothpicks to make a turkey!

We filled bowls with the candy/treats/toothpicks for the kids to have easy access!

I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends!