Relax and Unwind with a New Scratch & Create Book from The Quarto Group!

Scratch and create is the newest form of art therapy for adults! Reconnect with your creativity, reduce stress, and unwind form a long day by scratching your artistic itch with Enchanted Animals.

With the included stylus, you can embark immediately on your scratch and create journey with this book. When your meditation is complete, you will have charming work of art to display and share—and each page is perforated for easy removal.

My Thoughts:

One of my favorite activities growing up has been coloring and scratch art! When adult coloring books became the latest in meditative practices and stress relief, I was certainly excited to rekindle my love for the projects! Scratch & Draw Enchanted Animals by Marisa Redondo was right up my alley with these designs! I adore animals, nature, as well as abstract designs that have a little magic and mysticism to them. I couldn't wait to create with this book! 

As the description states:

Scratch & Draw Enchanted Animals

by Marisa Redondo

Paperback, 20 pages

US $19.99, CAN $25.99

9781631595110

Rockport Publishers

Scuff, scrape, and scratch dark metallic coating away to create inspirational and decorative illustrations of rabbits and dandelions, raccoons, owls, foxes, and a whole forest of enchanting wildlife.

Here is the rough draft of one of the projects I've been working on in the book! I found the creative designs to be fun, easy to follow, and extremely unique. Each scratch page has a different color and they're easy to draw on with the stylus included. Hours of fun for everyone, adults and children alike! I'm excited to bring this book into my classroom for my art students to try! I know they'll love it as much as I do!

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Enjoy Hours of Fun with Modeling Clay!

Modeling Clay with 3 Basic Shapes

Model More than 40 Animals with Teardrops, Balls, and Worms

Bernadette Cuxart

PUB. DATE: SEPTEMBER 2016

Paperback, 96 pp., 8 7/8" x 10 1/2"

ISBN 978-1-4380-0908-7

$11.99, Can $14.50 

Teachers, parents, and kids will adore this book that's bursting with fun-filled projects. With three basic shapes (ball, worm, and teardrop), children will learn how to create personality-filled critters. All techniques described are easy for children to master, and kids will be delighted by the wonderful array of animals they can make with a little bit of clay and a whole lot of imagination.

A step-by-step guide to creating more than 40 clay animals.

Cute photos, numbered steps, helpful illustrations, crystal-clear directions, and some funny text help kids unleash their creativity and artistic talents. Projects include everything from pandas, owls, rhinos, kittens, puppies, snakes, koala bears, raccoons, snails, turtles, fish, and more. 

They'll look forward to rainy days!

A summary of projects and a helpful guide to techniques at the beginning of the book will help you create dozens of different, fun, and original clay figures. Perfect for a rainy day or art class project, or as a fun way to foster and encourage creativity. (Ages 4–8). 

My Thoughts:

As an assistant art teacher, I am always looking for fun ideas for my students. They love doing projects where they can have fun with clay. It was one of the main activities they all asked for during the summer and fall season of our camp. Nothing beats getting to craft their favorite animals. With ages ranging from around 8 and up, each child was able to find a fun idea that worked for them. 

Author Bernadette Cuxart, creates a step by step guide in her book. Each animal has it's own section in the book with instructions on how to create each shape, as well as detailed features. Any additional crafting tools are also shown as well. The instructions are very user friendly for learners of all ages, as well as parents, grandparents and/or teachers who are overlooking the projects. I enjoyed how intricate the animals come out. Although they are all made from three basic shapes, ball, worm, and teardrop, each creation had it's own flare.

For those that are teaching groups, it is nice that each student will generally be starting with the same basics. It makes it nice for the teachers, but also fun for the kids who can work together to help one another make something that is alike, yet they get to incorporate their own unique creativity with through the projects in this book.

I would highly recommend, Modeling Clay with 3 Basic Shapes, for anyone looking for activities that will lead to hours of fun for kids and adults alike! 

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Art and science with Just Add Milk!

The new science activity kit from Griddly Games, Inc.

Just Add Milk, the new science activity kit from Griddly Games

Just Add Milk (for one or more children, ages 5 and up) is the fun and easy experiment kit that comes with everything you need, except the milk.

Explore amazing, safe, chemical reactions that include one-of-a-kind vibrant color displays and cool color burst demonstrations, among other explosive results.

The company hints that the initial Just Add Milk product will be a cornerstone to a line Just Add _(ingredient)__ products that will establish the company’s STEM category of products.

About Griddly Games: Griddly Games are games that get you going. The company, based in Richmond, near Vancouver, British Columbia, creates award-winning party and board games that deliver innovative, engaging fun that brings people together. Founded in 2007 by Reisa Schwartzman, a mother of three boys, who took it upon herself to deliver wholesome family fun that multiple ages could enjoy at once, Griddly Games offers products that inspire laughter and fun, while promoting an active and healthy lifestyle. Griddly Games instill a strict company philosophy to encourage social interaction, learning, strategy and challenges that anyone (from across the grid) can enjoy.

 To discover more about Griddly Games, visit www.griddlygames.com and get all of the most up-to-date, immediate information by interacting with the company on Twitter and Facebook.

My Thoughts

This was a pretty neat art project. It was a little messy and I wasn't sure how I'd like it since it used milk and how the art would smell after. The box comes with a variety of different ideas you can do with your child, but they all basically deal with milk, adding the coloring, and swirling around with paper to make some sort of design.

The booklet that came with it gave insight as to why certain things worked with little science tips here and there to learn. One box comes with the ability to do several science experiments. This kept my daughter entertained on a rainy day.

At this point, we've used up all the paper that came in the kit, so I am hoping that regular paper will work the next time she wants to play with this.  When the artwork dried, it gave ideas about turning it into card to give someone or gift tags.

I would get this for my daughter again. She had a great time with it, and she is older, so this was something she was able to do on her own with little supervision. Clean up wasn't too bad when we were done.