While at Bullseye last week for the class I took, we were shown how to properly prepare a kiln shelf for firing. I’ve been an advocate for thin fire to fire glass on, but that’s because I can be a bit lazy now and then. You can get away with it for flat work but if you plan to slump your work you’ve got to use kiln wash to prep your surfaces. Over at the Warm Glass web site they have a tutorial on how to coat your shelf with wash. The picture in the pdf file was taken at Bullseye, so this is exactly what I learned last week. I’ve been shown this procedure in the past but Nathan, our fab instructor, was so good he made me want to always use kiln wash. And since I did pick up that set of square plate molds in various sizes…but that a whole other posting.
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Tropical Bird Crafts and Learning Activities
I don’t know why tropical animals feel like something you should learn about in the summer, because these tropical bird crafts and activities are great to do any time of year. Let’s take a look.
Homeschool Giveaways has a printable tropical birds copywork book kids can use to practice cursive or print writing. They also have links to more fun printable activities, mostly about parrots, toucans and cockatoos.
Homeschool Share has a printable lapbook all about parrots. This one is a lot of fun because it includes things like the pros and cons of owning a pet parrot and some parrot jokes alongside information about where parrots live, why they have hooked beaks and their lifespan, among other things.
Use colorful bird puzzles to reinforce number order with this free printable puzzle collection from Craft Play Learn. It includes five different bird puzzles that are each eight pieces.
And if you want to look at toucans in particular, check out this toucan study guide aimed at elementary students from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus. This isn’t a free resource but it’s 31 pages all about toucans, their life cycle, anatomy, what they eat, role in the rainforest ecosystem, activities and more well worth the cost.
How about some tropical bird crafts? This 3D macaw parrot from The Craft Train is a great one, also not free but super cute and easy to make with the printables.
I Heart Crafty Things has a super cute parrot made with cardboard and card stock. If you hang it from the ceiling it will even spin.
Or try the cute cardboard tube parrots from Kids Craft Room, which kids will love to decorate (you could even use feathers if you have some). You can also make a parrot (or whatever other tropical bird you like) from a paper plate with these instructions from Crafts on Sea.