i already did a kid craft for the month, but i've had an idea brewing in my mind since Sugar Bee's birthday and i just had the opportunity to try it yesterday!
for Sugar Bee's birthday, we got her some insect specimens from amazon.com since she just adores bugs - she'll pick them up dead, alive, or barely kicking. they were cool - but the specimens weren't super identifiable for her since they were made (and collected) in asian countries.
so, yesterday we found a fresh, dead cockroach and it hit me as the perfect opportunity to build our own bug collection! (it was dead at least! my bug guy's coming tomorrow to spray again...) ew gross, right?
so our kid craft #2 for october is - INSECT BLOCKS.
this activity was so eewwwwy, creepy, and disgusting, it was perfect for october!
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i had the hubby help me with our specimen. until i was ready for it, he put it in a plastic baggie. i prepared my resin-making supplies that i had purchased 2 years ago from Little Windows (i bought it at the Houston Quilt Festival, if you can believe it). and i followed their instructions for embedding in resin. i have the resin-making ingredients and different shaped/sized molds.
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here's what i learned: bugs float. so, i had covered the roach with resin, but it kept floating slowly to the top of my mold and it's hairy legs would break the surface of the wet resin. i kept having to push it back down with the plastic scoop to keep it down. i gave up for about 30 minutes when the resin was more gooey. then it stayed down more. after a couple hours, i noticed a couple roach hairs had still managed to poke out, so i put another thin layer of resin on top - cause there's no way i want to touch those things through my resin block!
when i do another specimen i will fill the resin mold 1/2 full and wait for it to harden for a couple hours (to keep the bug at the bottom of the mold, and then i'll pour more resin on the remaining top 1/2 to cover and seal it in. live, learn, do more bugs later.
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how cool and creepy is that! the girls thought it was pretty neat - and i don't mind bugs this way. i plan on making more as we find native insects in good (dead) shape!
for Sugar Bee's birthday, we got her some insect specimens from amazon.com since she just adores bugs - she'll pick them up dead, alive, or barely kicking. they were cool - but the specimens weren't super identifiable for her since they were made (and collected) in asian countries.
so, yesterday we found a fresh, dead cockroach and it hit me as the perfect opportunity to build our own bug collection! (it was dead at least! my bug guy's coming tomorrow to spray again...) ew gross, right?
so our kid craft #2 for october is - INSECT BLOCKS.
this activity was so eewwwwy, creepy, and disgusting, it was perfect for october!
i had the hubby help me with our specimen. until i was ready for it, he put it in a plastic baggie. i prepared my resin-making supplies that i had purchased 2 years ago from Little Windows (i bought it at the Houston Quilt Festival, if you can believe it). and i followed their instructions for embedding in resin. i have the resin-making ingredients and different shaped/sized molds.
here's what i learned: bugs float. so, i had covered the roach with resin, but it kept floating slowly to the top of my mold and it's hairy legs would break the surface of the wet resin. i kept having to push it back down with the plastic scoop to keep it down. i gave up for about 30 minutes when the resin was more gooey. then it stayed down more. after a couple hours, i noticed a couple roach hairs had still managed to poke out, so i put another thin layer of resin on top - cause there's no way i want to touch those things through my resin block!when i do another specimen i will fill the resin mold 1/2 full and wait for it to harden for a couple hours (to keep the bug at the bottom of the mold, and then i'll pour more resin on the remaining top 1/2 to cover and seal it in. live, learn, do more bugs later.
how cool and creepy is that! the girls thought it was pretty neat - and i don't mind bugs this way. i plan on making more as we find native insects in good (dead) shape!