Spotted: Grape and Toothpick Sculptures + 7 More Ways to Play with Food
Need a snack that’s healthy and fun? Maybe one that inspires some creativity, lets kids practice their fine motor skills, and includes some secret STEM enrichment? Let your kid play with food!
These grape and toothpick sculptures from The Artful Parent let kids play with food while learning a lot. First, kids get to build with the grapes (while munching). Then, they get to incorporate the grapes into a thoughtful and creative art activity (while munching). Finally, they get to take their grape sculpture apart and munch it! Click over to the tute for the complete instructions.
This activity would also work great with cheese cubes, watermelon balls (messier), olives, pitted cherries, or any other small, sturdy food. I kinda want to incorporate all of those, now, and make my own very bizarre, very delicious snack.
Have a kid who likes to play with food? Check out these additional projects and tutorials that make food crafting both fun AND delicious.
1. bread sculptures. My kids love to make monsters using this recipe, because they look even freakier after they’ve baked!
2. edible play dough. Sculpt something fun, and then chow down.
3. food art. Let the kids help you make cute scenes with fresh fruits and veggies, and then serve them up!
4. fruit and cheese dinosaurs. We made this for a kids’ birthday party one year, and they were a BIG hit!
5. natural food coloring. Dye your food fun colors without worrying about harmful chemicals.
6. rainbow yogurt pops. Instead of using any food coloring here, let the kids experiment with stirring pureed fruits and veggies into the yogurt to dye it naturally. Blueberry blue yogurt and strawberry pink yogurt are a yummy combination!
7. tie-dyed cake: Use natural food coloring or pureed fruits and veggies to dye the cake batter for this recipe; the fun is in letting the kids spoon their own color combinations into the muffin tins, for vibrant, original cupcakes!
[grape and toothpick sculpture image via The Artful Parent]
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Art, sculpture can add whimsy to a garden
by Cedar Burnett - May. 23, 2012 11:26 AM
For The Associated Press
For The Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP) -- I feel like Alice in Wonderland. Sprinting past an alligator drinking a soda pop and a T-Rex playing guitar, I lean toward a family of colorful metal toadstools that come to my knee.
"Aren't those great?" asks Jim Honold as he ushers me through a forest of recycled oil drum statues at his Home & Garden Art store.
I've come to this Disneyland for gardeners seeking inspiration for easy ways to add whimsy to gardens, and Honold is giving me the rundown.
"Adding art to your garden is an extension of your identity," he says as we brush past a murder of concrete crows. "You decorate the inside, why not the outside? Any personality, any hobby, can be represented -- classical, funky, seasonal -- you name it."
Looking around, it appears he's right. There's the giant metal umbrella coat-stand for a classy infusion of humor; a multitude of hobby-inspired birdhouses; 4-foot metal lobsters for fishing enthusiasts with no attachment to subtlety; and an old tricycle planter box aimed at the nostalgic set. Everywhere, whimsy abounds.
But how do you actually start adding lawn art to an outdoor living space?
"Instead of throwing stuff in the attic or garage, put it out in the open," Honold says.
He suggests displaying old garden tools, metal toys, or wine glasses and decanters. Chipped plates can find new life in concrete stepping stones, and wooden kid-size furniture always adds a nice touch.
"Focus on what's readily available or representative of your area," Honold adds. "Coastal areas might have fishing nets and glass floats, and places close to rural communities will have farm equipment." In Washington state, he says, "people bring us old saws and ask us to laser-cut their name or address on them."
For a big splash, Honold recommends an artistic gate. Whether installing custom wrought-iron doors with elaborate scenes on them or simply taking a can of bright red paint to a basic home-store model, gates can reflect personality and set the tone for the rest of the house.
"Think about all the things a gate can say," Honold says. "'Stay out!' or 'We're fun people!'"
If the message you're trying to send is "We're magical," find ways to add fairy elements to your garden. For kids and anyone with more than a passing fancy for Harry Potter, there's nothing quite as charming as coming across traces of pixies in the yard.
Greenspirit Arts' Sally Smith knows the power of a good fairy house. She creates high-end custom ones in her studio in Wadhams, N.Y., that have inspired a calendar and greeting card line.
While most of her houses aren't made for extensive outdoor use, she says her calendars and online tutorial often serve as inspiration for people to create their own more durable models.
"Making a fairy house is something we all innately know how to do because of the child in us," Smith says.
For a do-it-yourself fairy house that can stand up to the elements, Smith suggests working with stone as a base, and attaching a stick and moss roof and a wooden door. Decorations can be found objects -- beach glass, pine cones, welcome mats woven from grasses or pine -- even tiny dollhouse furniture.
And what about the garden itself?
"Plant choices can add whimsy to the garden as well, or simply complement the art you've chosen," says New Albany, Ohio, landscape designer Nick McCullough.
He suggests incorporating climbers like clematis, honeysuckle, roses or golden hops to vertical art and trellises, then adding lower plantings at the base.
"Climbers add a mystique to the garden," McCullough says. "They make the garden feel established."
For other art, McCullough recommends thinking about scale and complementary colors.
"If you've got a bunch of pink flamingos, you could go big and bold," he says, suggesting plants like catmint, Rozanne geraniums, Phormium Pink Stripe and torch lilies to surround the birds and "add a taller, architectural element."
For smaller pieces, such as fairy huts or little figurines, lay down a base of moss in a small, shallow trough. Thyme, armeria, succulents and sedums also offer a great base for delicate art, and can provide a border to a bed of pebbles and colored marbles -- a touch sure to delight children.
Colorful bursts can be achieved with black lace elderberry, dahlia "Knockouts," coleus and canna, among other plants. Canna "Tropicanna" and King Tut Papyrus offer a bold structural base.
"There's no right or wrong way to do it," McCullough says. "Gardens are so personal -- you can use them to express yourself in any way."
Meltable art: Sculptures that are as cold as ice
SIOUX CITY | The outside temps may have been scorching but the Sioux City Convention Center's kitchen was downright frigid July 17.
That was good news for Robert Dowd, since the Centerplate sous chef was in the middle of a two-day tutorial from international ice sculptor Michael Pizzuto.
The former director for the National Ice Carving Association, Pizzuto was trained by Sensei Mitsuo Shimizu, one of the world's foremost ice sculptors, at the Shimizu Ice Academy in Tokyo.
Dowd, a chef at the Sioux City Convention Center for more than eight years and an ice sculptor for more than five, said he was excited to learn a few new tricks from Pizzuto.
"Mike is certainly a master in the world of ice sculpture," Dowd said of the Arvada, Colo.-based Pizzuto. "It's an honor to learn from him."
Pizzuto, who has been turning blocks of ice into works of art for nearly 25 years, said said ice sculptures serve two purposes.
"First of all, they help to create a sense of ambiance to any party," he explained, showing off frozen art pieces bearing the shapes of swans, hearts and seashells. "Yet, these sculptures also serve a practical function by chilling or displaying food."
Ice sculptors can even be whimsical as Pizzuto described a pattern that would create a James Bond "007" gun, which would dispense cocktails through a tube.
In fact, he said any type of art could be created if the sculptor has the right type of tools.
According to Pizzuto, most of these tools happen to be made in Japan.
"Although I learned using low-tech dremels and chisels," he admitted, "I realize most chefs don't have the time necessary to rely strictly on those tools."
That's why Pizzuto allows instruments such as an electric saw to help in the creation of artsy ice.
Which is fine by Dowd, who has been creating his own ice sculptures, up to eight times a year.
"Depending on its size, it can take me between one-and-a-half hours to three hours to complete a piece," he explained.
Anticipating a greater demand for such meltable art, Dowd said he'd like more opportunity to test his skills.
"As a chef and as an artist, I'm always looking to give folks the 'wow' factor," he maintained. "Ice sculptures always say 'wow' in my book."
Pizzuto nodded his head in agreement.
"Often times, the most memorable thing about a party is its ice sculpture," he said. "At the wedding reception, people want their picture taken by the ice sculpture, not the wedding cake."
Which sounds about right until you factor in one fact: Wedding cakes don't usually melt.
According to Pizzuto, a typical ice sculpture can easily last five or six hours. Dowd said flakes of Kosher salt can be used at a sculpture's base to prevent it from toppling over.
Yet, this sounds like a heckuva lot of work for art that will literally being going down the drain.
That talk borders on sacrilege to Pizzuto, who said ice sculpture is the most natural form of art.
"Ice is simply frozen water and, when it melts, it evaporates back into the atmosphere," he said. "Then it comes back in the form of rain or snow.
"You can't get more environmentally-friendly than that," Pizzuto added with a laugh.
Dowd acknowledges the transitory nature of his art, saying he takes photographs as a way to preserve his art.
Despite his interest in ice sculpture, he said it works hand-in-hand with the art of creating a gourmet meal.
"A chef is always thinking visually," he said. "Whether you're creating a gourmet meal or an ice sculpture, your goal is to bring an element of drama."
As he hacked off a piece of ice with an electric tool, Dowd added, "with Mike's help, I'd like to add to the drama."
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