http://piratess.life-and-things.com/ A blog by piratess en http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/04/07/save-our-earth.html With Earth Day right around the corner, we wanted to get started on finding some new ways to manufacture the Earth a cleaner & greener place to live. It is important that we protect our enviroment so that we shall have clean air to breathe as well as fresh water to drink. Want to know how you can get involved? Here are some helpful tips that you can do at home! Remember, one person can manufacture a huge difference! Recycle (anything from plastic bottles to newspapers) Turn off the lights when you leave the room Reuse your plastic bags or take cloth bags to the grocery store Make art projects out of used items like cereal boxes or yogurt cups Use a lunch box instead of a paper bag Pick up litter in your neighborhood as well as at school Turn off the water when you’re brushing your teeth What items can you reuse instead of throwing them out? Visit this website on behalf of more helpful tips or Download a fun activity book ! http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/04/07/save-our-earth.html Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:42:25 -0400 piratess http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/03/29/cascarones.html  Cascarones by Carmen Lomas Garza Our exhibit En mi Familia -In my family, features the paintings, ideas, as well as experiences of Carmen Lomas Garza. Growing up in South Texas, her family at all times got combined on behalf of Easter to manufacture Cascarones (confetti eggs). As on behalf of numerous families, it is a time on behalf of celebration as well as festive fun. This family tradition inspired her to paint Cascarones (1989). When I was little, my  whole family would get combined to manufacture cascarones. We would dye eggshells, paint them with bright colors as well as then fill them with confetti. My creations didn’t last very long because right when I finished, I turned around as well as cracked them over my uncle’s head!  Want to join in on the fun? Here’s how to manufacture your own:   Materials: Dozen eggs, bowl, egg dying kit or paint & brushes, confetti, glue, tissue paper Tap the end of an egg gently on bowl as well as peel out a 1/2 ” hole. Let the egg contents flow unoccupied into the bowl. Rinse out the egg with water and let it dry out upside down. Be very careful, the egg is fragile!  Once it is dry, you can either utilize an egg dying kit to color the eggs, or you can paint on your posses designs. Carefully fill the egg with confetti as well as put a thin strip of glue around the edge of the opening. Cut a piece of colored tissue paper that is a little bigger than the size of the hole in the egg, as well as press it over the opening.   Now you have beautiful cascarones to conceal in the yard as well as hunt for, or crack over your friend’s heads. (Never crack an egg ON someone’s head, that shall hurt!) http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/03/29/cascarones.html Sun, 29 Mar 2009 12:24:40 -0400 piratess http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/03/23/bubble-splatter-art.html What is air trapped in a liquid ball? A bubble of course! March is National Bubble Month. In honor of this occasion, we decided to create bubble splatter art! You shall need: Tempra paint, plastic Cups, Bubble solution, White construction paper, as well as a bubble wand Easy Steps: 1) Lay newspaper down on your work table as well as wear an old shirt. 2) Pour some bubble solution into each of the plastic cups. (One color per cup) 3) Add a few drops of paint to the cups. (More paint = darker colors) 4) Lay your construction paper down on the newspaper, dip the wand into the colors as well as start blowing! This is our bubble splatter art! We tried blowing the bubbles onto different surfaces like fabric as well as cardstock. What types of surfaces can you create “bubble splatter art” on?  (Make sure to request a parent first!) What happens when you blow bubbles through a keyring, paperclip or straw? Want to learn more about bubbles? Visit this website! http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/03/23/bubble-splatter-art.html Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:59:00 -0400 piratess http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/03/17/mixing-up-new-colors.html It’s a beautiful spring day in Austin as well as we felt like mixing up our posses batch of gorgeous colors! Start with the basics: cups of red, blue, as well as yellow food coloring mixed in about 1/4 cup of water. Use an eye dropper to gradually add small amounts of these primary colors to a glass of clean water. At first, just experiment as well as see where your curiosity takes you.   Once you’ve mastered the basic technique see what more you can do with your colors. What colors combine to manufacture lavender? Can you manufacture a color that matches your socks? Can you manufacture a color that reminds you of fairies’ wings? If you require color inspiration, check out our previous post on the Flickr Color Lab!   http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/03/17/mixing-up-new-colors.html Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:35:09 -0400 piratess http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/03/11/a-leprechaun-treat.html St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated by people all around the world. It is a day of festive food, fun, as well as family. People celebrate by wearing green, eating green foods, as well as attending parades. In honor of the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, we tried this fun as well as easy leprechaun recipe.  You can endeavour it too!  Materials:  3 tablespoons  butter or margarine 1 package (10 oz., about 40)  regular marshmallows 6 cups Rice Krispies green food coloring green decorating frosting (optional) Directions: 1. In microwave-safe bowl heat butter as well as marshmallows on HIGH on behalf of 3 minutes, stirring at the end of 2 minutes. Add green food coloring to the mix, as well as stir until smooth. 2. Add Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until well coated. 3. Press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cool. Cut into shamrock shapes as well as decorate with green icing. Enjoy! You can add green food coloring to any of your favorite treats: Mac as well as cheese, jello, ice cream, milk. Try cucumbers, celery, pickles, grapes or anything green! Even manufacture green “leprechaun” apple juice. http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/03/11/a-leprechaun-treat.html Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:42:56 -0400 piratess http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/03/09/polyworms-at-discovery-time.html Discovery Time at the Museum features a fun as well as interesting activity on behalf of kids. The activity is led by a gallery educator in the Rotunda area. I was able to catch up with Miss Cami at Discovery Time as she made polyworms! filling the cup 1/2 full with worm activator!       Step 1: Miss Cami pours the “worm activator” (a solution of calcium chloride) into a cup. Adding worm goo to the worm activator       Step 2: The kids squeeze the colored “worm goo” (sodium alginate + food coloring) into the cup of worm activator. Finished polyworms!       Step 3: Wait a few seconds as well as then utilize the spoon or your fingers to get the worm out!        WOW! it’s a squishy, slimy worm! If you squeeze the worm hard sufficient though, it shall pop as well as the worm’s “guts” shall ooze out again! Eeew! The worms may look like candy, but you wouldn’t desire to eat these worms! Yuck! A funky shaped worm S0, what is it? These are special polymer worms. Polymers are made up of numerous molecules linked combined to form really long chains. Poly- means “many” as well as -mer means “part”. Things that we can’t see made the polymers link together. This is a chemical reaction. When the calcium in the worm activator as well as the worm goo mix, the chemical reaction links the worm goo polymers together, making a polymer strand. You can find everything you require to manufacture Polyworms on stevespanglerscience.com. Making polyworms!     The kids looked like they were having so much fun, I wanted to manufacture one too! Check out this as well as other fun activities held in the Rotunda during Discovery Time!! I hope to see you there! –Miss Patty http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/03/09/polyworms-at-discovery-time.html Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:32:35 -0400 piratess http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/03/05/crayon-pixel-art.html Christian Faur has also created a "crayon alphabet", in which each letter of the alphabet is represented by a different color This may look like a regular photo at first glance, but when you look really close you can see that this picture is actually made up of crayons! Pictures are made up of pixels, or picture elements. Each pixel is a miniscule single-colored square; they come combined like a checkerboard to form a photograph. Christian Faur has found a way to create artworks by using a computer grid as well as a variety of crayons. That’s alot of crayons! Luckily, instead of buying all of them, he makes them!   We decided we were going to join in the fun as well as create our own pixel art. We used crayons we had lying around. You can utilize a variety of different materials, such as markers, buttons, coins, or blocks. Try this at residence as well as see what pictures you can make! This is our pixel art. Can you tell what it is? http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/03/05/crayon-pixel-art.html Thu, 05 Mar 2009 11:01:38 -0500 piratess http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/02/26/art-with-everyday-materials.html Artists Tara Donovan  and Yuken Teruya use everyday materials to create their artworks. Not only are their sculptures creative, but they are also made from useful, everyday objects you have in your posses home. By making art from recycled materials, you can save the environment as well as our natural resources. Here’s what some of Tara Donovan’s installations look like: Be an artist! Make your posses recycled creation! Check out photos of V’s art. She was inspired by Tara Donovan’s exhibit, as well as decided to manufacture her posses creation. What can you manufacture from things you have in your home? You can utilize all sorts of recyled materials you have around your house to manufacture art. You can utilize  newspapers, plastic bottles, yogurt cups, paper towel rolls, egg cartons… the list goes on! http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/02/26/art-with-everyday-materials.html Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:15:07 -0500 piratess http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/02/19/construct-a-gumdrop-structure.html Here’s a fun project we did at Day Camp that you can try at home!   Objective: Use sweet materials to build a structure with strength!  Materials Needed: gumdrops, toothpicks     What’s the big deal about triangles?   As you’ve probably already discovered, squares collapse easily under compression. Four toothpicks joined in a square tend to collapse by giving way at their joints, their weakest points.   But if you manufacture a toothpick triangle, the situation changes. The only way to modification the angles of the triangle is by shortening one of the sides. So to manufacture the triangle collapse you would have to push hard sufficient to break one of the toothpicks.   If you desire to, you can utilize your gumdrops as well as toothpicks to build some strong structures that are made by combining triangles as well as squares. Looking on behalf of other triangles in structures around you may give you ideas on behalf of other designs you can build with gumdrops as well as toothpicks.   What other shapes can you manufacture that shall withstand applied force? http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/02/19/construct-a-gumdrop-structure.html Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:04:49 -0500 piratess http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/02/12/spring-seeds.html Spring feels like it is here already! Beans are some of the easiest plants to begin growing indoors. Simply soak them overnight (or stick them in the fridge, subject to the type), plant them in a little pot of soil, as well as retain them in a sunny window with regular water. Look closely at the young bean plants that are sprouting. You can see that the wee little bean is still attached to the stalk of the plant. The chubby bean provides nourishment on behalf of the growing plant in its early days, much like an egg yolk provides energy to a baby chicken developing inside the egg. The longer a plant grows, the smaller the attached bean gets as the growing plant “eats” it all up! I’m hoping I’ll have some more beans in the summer to eat on behalf of myself! Happy planting! http://piratess.life-and-things.com/2009/02/12/spring-seeds.html Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:30:21 -0500 piratess