Category: Arts or Education

Tots! Activity: Rain Sticks

As Cheekwood’s Tots program is temporarily suspended, we are sharing today’s activity for parents and tots to activate at home. Use our files to create your own rain stick, then share your work with us by tagging @cheekwood on Instagram and using #cheekwoodtots!

Here’s what you’ll need:• Cardboard tubes

• Paper

• Tape or glue

• Paint, decorative tape, other things for decorating

• Rice, beans, beads, buttons, etc.

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Directions:1. Seal one side of your cardboard tube using paper and glue or tape.

2. Put rice, beans, pasta, extra buttons, beads, or whatever else you want to try into the tube, but do not fill the tube more than halfway. You can experiment with what you put in the cardboard tube to see the different noises you can make.

3. Seal the open end the same way as the first.

4. Decorate the outside using scraps of yarn, paint, decorative tape, and craft materials. Try to upcycle materials that may go unused.

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Try pairing the activity with one of these books:
Because by Mo Willems

I Got the Rhythm by Connie Schofield-Morrison

Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin by Lloyd Moss and Marjorie Priceman

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Ask your artist: • What does your instrument sound like?

Tots! Activity: Marvelous Mobiles

As Cheekwood’s Tots program is temporarily suspended, we are sharing today’s activity for parents and tots to activate at home. Use our files to create your own marvelous mobiles, then share your work with us by tagging @cheekwood on Instagram and using #cheekwoodtots!

Here’s what you’ll need:• String and fabric

• Small toys, lids

• Items you were going to throw away

• Glue

• Stick, embroidery hoop, or coat hanger

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Directions:1. Choose what the base of your mobile will be: coat hanger, stick, embroidery hoop, old basket, or whatever you have that you think will work.

2. Decorate lids, cardboard, and other pieces with paint and craft supplies. String beads or old pasta on string or scrap fabric.

3. Attach the upcycled pieces to stings, ribbons, and strips of fabric.

4. Attach the fabric to the base of your mobile. For motor skills, let Tots tie the fabric and string to the base. You can also glue it.

5. Hang it somewhere you can see your creation all the time!

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Try pairing the activity with one of these books:
I Had a Favorite Dress by Boni Ashburn

Michael Recycle by Ellie Bethel

Not a Box by Antoinette Portis

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Ask your artist: • What did you use to make your mobile? What were those things originally for?

• Can you think of other things that we throw away or recycle that we could use for our mobiles?

Tots! Activity: Suffrage Roses

August 18, 2020, marks the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage. Tennessee became the deciding vote in the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, on this date in 1920. Yellow roses became a symbol used to identify those in support of women’s suffrage.

As Cheekwood’s Tots program is temporarily suspended, we are sharing today’s activity for parents and tots to activate at home. Use our files to create your own suffrage roses, then share your work with us by tagging @cheekwood on Instagram and using #cheekwoodtots!

Here’s what you’ll need:• Yellow tissue paper

• Scissors

• Green pipe cleaner

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Directions:1. Cut out large squares from the tissue paper. Also cut smaller squares from the tissue paper.

2. Put the smaller squares in the center of the larger squares. The more layers of tissue you have, the fluffier your final rose will be.

3. Accordion fold the squares.

4. Pinch in the center and wrap the pipe cleaner around to hold.

5. Fluff up the tissue paper layer by layer.

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Try pairing the activity with one of these books:
Bold and Brave by Kirsten Gillibrand

Lillian’s Right to Vote by Jonah Winter

Around America to Win the Vote by Mara Rockliff

She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton

Little Dreamers Visionary: Women Around the World by Vashti Harrison

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Ask your explorer: • Can you think of any other symbols?

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Additional learning:Did you know that the Hermitage Hotel in downtown Nashville is now a National Historic Landmark due to its connection to the events of 1920? Learn more about the history here.

Tots! Activity: Used Container Planters

As Cheekwood’s Tots program is temporarily suspended, we are sharing today’s activity for parents and tots to activate at home. Use our files to create your own used container planter, then share your work with us by tagging @cheekwood on Instagram and using #cheekwoodtots!

Here’s what you’ll need:• Various containers (cans, fruit cups, etc.)

• Other recycled materials and craft supplies

• Soil

• Water

• Seeds (grass, chia)

• Hammer and nail

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Directions:1. If using a can, use the hammer and a nail to put drainage holes in your container. If using something plastic, use something sharp to put drainage holes in your container.

2. Decorate the container with other recycled materials and craft supplies. We put faces on ours.

3. Let your tot fill the container with soil.

4. Add seeds and cover with a little soil. If you use grass or chia seeds, your planter will look like it’s growing hair!

5. Show your tot how to water their new plant.

6. Check on the plant every day to water it and watch it grow.

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Try pairing the activity with one of these books:
Be a Maker by Katey Howes

Stuff!: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle by Steven Kroll

Made by Maxine by Ruth Spiro

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Ask your artist: • Why do you think we needed to put holes in the bottom of your planter?

• What do the seeds need to grow?

• Tell me things that you use everyday and throw away when you are done. Do you put any in recycling containers? Could you?

Tots! Activity: Reuse Fairy Houses

As Cheekwood’s Tots program is temporarily suspended, we are sharing today’s activity for parents and tots to activate at home. Use our files to create your own fairy house, then share your work with us by tagging @cheekwood on Instagram and using #cheekwoodtots!

Here’s what you’ll need:• Acrylic paint

• Empty plastic bottle

• Scissors

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Directions:1. Cut the top off of the plastic bottle.

2. Cut out a door, and cut slits in the top piece, which will become the roof.

3. Paint the pieces. It may take two coats. You can use the rectangle or arc from cutting out the door to make a chimney if you want to!

4. Once dry, place the top on what used to be the bottom of the bottle. Use hot glue to make it stay better if it isn’t staying.

5. Place your new fairy house in your garden.

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Try pairing the activity with one of these books:
What Do You Do with an Idea? By Kobi Yamada

Don’t Throw That Away! By Lara Bergen

Backyard Fairies by Pheobe Wahl

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Ask your artist: • Why did you design your fairy house this way? Did you try to make it look natural? Did you want people (fairies) to be able to tell it is made out of recycled materials?

• Why do you think reusing things is important?

• Where do you want to put your fairy house?

Tots! Activity: Foil Paintings

As Cheekwood’s Tots program is temporarily suspended, we are sharing today’s activity for parents and tots to activate at home. Use our files to create your own foil painting, then share your work with us by tagging @cheekwood on Instagram and using #cheekwoodtots!

Here’s what you’ll need:• Foil

• Paint

• Brushes

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Directions:1. Tear off a large piece of foil and place it and the paints in front of your tot.

2. Allow tot to paint pictures and patterns or whatever they desire.

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Try pairing the activity with one of these books:
Art’s Supplies by Chris Tougas

Art by Patrick McDonnell

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Ask your artist: • How is painting on foil different than painting on paper? Did you like painting on the foil instead of paper?

• What did you paint? Why did you paint that?

• What is your favorite part of your painting?

Tots! Activity: Bubble Paintings

As Cheekwood’s Tots program is temporarily suspended, we are sharing today’s activity for parents and tots to activate at home. Use our files to create your own bubble painting, then share your work with us by tagging @cheekwood on Instagram and using #cheekwoodtots!

Here’s what you’ll need:• Painting paper

• Small bowls

• Bubble solution

• Bubble wands or straws

• Liquid water colors in various colors

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Directions:1. Pour the bubble solution into small bowls. Mix in liquid watercolor.

2. If using a bubble wand, dip in the bubble solution and blow bubbles onto a piece of paper.

3. If using a straw, place the bowl on or near a piece of paper. Use the straw to blow bubbles until it overflows onto the paper, making sure tots know to blow through the straw and not to drink the bubbles.

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Try pairing the activity with one of these books:
Big Bad Bubble by Adam Rubin

Curly’s Fun with Bubbles by Sherry Boddie

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Ask your artist: • Did you try to make a design with your bubbles? Was it difficult?

• What kind of things make bubbles?

• Can you describe your bubbles?