Monthly Archives: July 2020

Longing for Vacation? Photos from the Beaches of Maine

Something a little different this week. Since many of us can’t get away for vacations this summer, I decided to post some photos from Vacationland–Maine, where I grew up and though I can’t visit it this year, hope to again soon!

So come along this path to the beach. Smell the salt grass and feel the breeze off the water cool your face. Remember that funny squeak your bare feet make in the warm sand?

One of Maine’s few long sandy beachesSeagulls love the beach, too!

Most Maine beaches are smaller and bounded by rocky headlands.

You have to climb down rocks just to get to some beaches.

But I love the rocks! Looking at the folds of the rock ledges. Exploring little pools for creatures. Trying to catch a snail before it pulls in its “foot” and snaps shut. Or watching the feathery cirri of barnacles sweep through the water in search of food.

I especially love being on the rocks in storms. Waves crash against the rocks, sending spray sailing away on the wind.

All those rocks are why Maine has so many lighthouses! That’s us down on the small beach, looking for beach glass and shells!

Maine has many tidal rivers separating the beaches and rocky headlands from each other. This photo shows where one joins the ocean.

The next few photos show farther up one of those tidal rivers. The beautiful marshes provide a habitat for many creatures, including voracious, drone-size mosquitoes! Growing up in this marshy coastal town, we did get kind of used to mosquitoes!

High tide on the marsh

Low tide on the marsh

A foggy day on the marsh makes everything outside mysterious and everything inside soggy!

Beach roses and other wildflowers fill the fields surrounding every beach!

Maine has lots of islands, big and little. Casco Bay supposedly has 365 of them, and sometimes we’d take the mailboat ferry in a round trip to visit a few of them.

Casco Bay ferries

Docking at one of the islandsIslanders waiting for supplies. Everything has to come by ferry.

Preparing to move on to the next island.

One of Portland’s smaller lights, Spring Point Light welcomes us back to the harbor.

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Sandy beaches and rocky ledges, the cry of seagulls and the smell of salt grass, pink beach roses and foggy days–all form important memories of a place I love.

What beaches are special to you? What memories of those beaches do you treasure?

I can never leave a Maine beach without shells, drift wood, beach glass, and even rocks!

What souvenirs do you have from visits to beaches?

Molly is in vacation mode, so this week this little guy is helping me say we hope you’ll visit Kathy the Picture Lady again for great art, fun art projects, and more fun places to visit!

And we leave you with a twilight picture over the marsh–taken at great peril of being carried off by mosquitoes!

Bubble Painting, A Fun and Easy Art Activity for Creative Kids!

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Bubble painting bubbles over with fun for all ages and is just right for a summer activity outside! Try it with your children, and you’ll find it’s hard to stop blowing these colorful bubbles!

Don’t miss the 2 sections at the end of this lesson that show how this art activity can:

Help your children in other areas of learning: in addition to 5 other benefits, this type of painting activity encourages experimentation, creativity, and lots of relaxing fun!!
Help point your children to God: follow the simple outline to discuss with your children how special and unique each one is.

Supplies

Tempera paint in various colors (See safety Notes below)
Small plastic containers such as yogurt containers in which to mix paint, liquid detergent, and water (I used a paper cup for one color, and it didn’t hold up well)
Straws, plastic ones will hold up longer
Liquid dish soap–any brand (Not dishwasher detergents)
Plastic spoons or forks for stirring
Heavy construction paper or watercolor paper
A wide plastic dish tub for cleanup, but not essential

Safety Notes before you get started: This is a safe activity, but here are some things to do and some things to avoid so it stays safe:

I prefer tempera paint since children will be blowing into it with straws, and some may forget and inhale. Children’s tempera paint is nontoxic. There will still be liquid dish soap so especially with young children, you can poke a hole in the straw near the top with a pin, and that will make inhaling harder.
Most children have blown bubbles in their milk or other drink ( often, to your dismay, in a restaurant!!) But to be sure, if you have young children, you may want to have them practice blowing out with a cup of plain water. And this time you won’t tell them to stop!
For additional safety, you could buy children’s bubble mixture to use instead of liquid dish soap. If you use this, you won’t need as much water in your paint mixture!!
While acrylics or liquid watercolors (an intense, pre-mixed form of watercolors, not watercolors you mix yourself, which wouldn’t be bright enough) do produce brighter colors, they aren’t as safe.

Directions

1.In each plastic container, mix a blob of paint with some water—enough to be runny. Then gently stir in several drops of liquid dish soap. You don’t want it to be frothy.

Hint: There are lots of recipes for how much of each, but every tempera paint is different and it’s best just to experiment a little. Mix one color and try blowing bubbles in the mixture

(my paint is pretty thick and the blob was about a tablespoon, which gave me good color. I did keep adding dish soap and water throughout the process as needed. Remember, if you’re using pre-made bubble mix, it won’t take as much water.)

2.Gently blow bubbles in the mixture until the bubbles round up over the top of the container Don’t blow in hard bursts. Blowing in a steady, gentle way produces the most bubbles , and the most interesting patterns as they each pop against your paper.

Hints: The bubbles themselves won’t look very colorful, but don’t worry, they’ll look colorful on the paper!

The more bubbles you get, the more interesting the patterns. Here’s a container with very few bubbles, and it didn’t produce a very interesting painting:

3.Take your paper and gently touch it on top of the bubbles. If you push down hard, you’ll get mostly just a ring of color, like in the above painting. This is because you’ve broken the bubbles before they could adhere to the paper. Experiment until you get the hang of it

Hint: If your paint/bubble mixtures stop making bubbles, add a little more water. Another drop of dish liquid may also help, but again, experiment!!

That’s it. Your mixtures will make lots of bubbles and give you many paintings, so have fun! Enjoy the process!

Notice how this bubble splattered paint as it burst:

One More Helpful Hint:

You can use one straw throughout. Just wipe the paint off the end with a paper towel before changing colors, and it won’t affect the next color.

Clean up Hints:

The paint mixture in the containers could stain your patio or deck, so it’s a good idea to put down an old plastic tablecloth to catch spills
Drips will happen, so old clothes are a good idea, especially if your children may be tempted to blow a little paint in the direction of a sibling J
When finished, put all plastic containers and utensils in the plastic tub and rinse away most of the paint outside with a hose, leaving only a little cleanup for inside

Variations and Extensions:

Try making a trail of bubbles
Make some bubble designs in just warm or cool colors
Find shapes in the bubbles and draw around these to complete a figure. Can you see the baby donkey’s face in this one?
Cut out areas you especially like and use to decorate cards or posters
Use bubbles to create flowers—just draw or paint in stems and leaves

How this art activity can help your children in other areas of learning:

First of all—this type of painting activity encourages experimentation, creativity, and lots of relaxing fun!
Opportunities to make choices as in this activity, enhances problem-solving skills.
Learning to blow gently and lowering the paper gently over the bubbles helps children develop fine motor skills.
Discussing with your children why they chose certain colors builds vocabulary and social skills.
Enhance their observational and verbal skills by rephrasing words and adding new vocabulary. Help them see nuances of color in the layers of bubbles
Encouraging children to find objects or shapes, colors, patterns, etc. in the bubble paintings improves their observational skills.

How this art activity can help point your children to God:

We are able to make beautiful art because we are made in God’s image, with the ability to be creative and think and plan Read Genesis 1:27 together.
He has given us hands that can hold a straw or a pencil and eyes that can see colors and patterns
He has given us mouths so we can talk and share about our art with others
And just as no two bubble paintings ever look alike, so God has created each of us to be unique and special Read Psalm 139:13-15 together.
Ask children to share how they’re unique—their eye color, hair color, their laugh, their favorite foods, their favorite things to do, etc.
Our unique and beautiful bubble paintings can bring love and beauty to family and friends. God has breathed into each of us to make us His unique and beautiful painting to show His beauty and love to the world.
Ask children some ways they can be a beautiful painting in the world for God.

End with a prayer thanking God for making each of us unique, with special ways to make the world a more beautiful place.

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Molly loves how the colors of this sunset are spread over her, and she hopes you enjoyed blowing colorful bubbles!