Dairy Cow Bookmark...

June is National Dairy Month.  To celebrate, I am partnering with Crystal at Mom for Less to bring you a homeschool lesson and a cute little craft to learn about the wonderful world of dairy farming!

This month we actually made two crafts!  Growing up on a dairy farm, I love all things dairy so it was definitely hard for me to pick just one craft to create and share with all of you!  The first craft we made was a dairy cow bookmark.

My kids are up to their eyeballs this Summer trying to meet their Summer Reading goal and win the "grand" prize.  It always seems like they are always looking for a bookmark, so I thought this was perfect.  Also, they are each showing two dairy heifers (a young cow that has not yet given birth to a calf) at our county fair which is a week and a half away.



You will need:
Jumbo craft sticks
black (and possibly brown) sharpie marker
Pink craft foam
black (and possibly brown) construction paper
Raffia
Jingle bells
Hot glue gun
White paint
paintbrush

Begin by painting both sides of the craft stick and allow it to dry...

Next cut out ovals from the pink foam.  This will be for the nose...

Cut ears out of black (or brown) construction paper...

Then cut about a 6 inch piece of Raffia and tie it in a bow.  Unravel the ends a bit to give it a rustic look;)...

Glue the oval foam to the craft stick then, using a black sharpie marker, add lines for the nostrils and the mouth.  Add the eyes and hair.  Then draw a line from the bottom of the nose all the way to the bottom of the craft stick.  Make two half lines near the bottom for the hooves...

Color in the hooves with the Sharpie marker..

Begin making the black or brown spots on the cow...

With hot glue, attach the ears, bow, and bell and your bookmark is all finished!

 Mel decided to use a brown Sharpie for her calf since one of the heifers she is showing is red.  Most Holsteins are black and white, but some are born with a recessive gene that makes them red and white.

The next craft we did was milk painting.  I saw a video floating around Facebook a while back where someone had milk in a shallow bowl, added a few drops of food coloring, and a few drops of dish soap and the reaction was so cool.  The girls loved it, so the idea for milk painting popped into my head. 

You will need:

9x13 baking dish

whole milk

Food coloring

dish soap

Q-tips

Sketch paper (or cardstock would work also)

Add a thin layer of milk to the bottom of the baking pan.  Then add drops of food coloring to the milk...

 Next, add a few drops of the dish soap around the perimeter of the pan and swirl with a Q-tip a bit.  Don't do this too much or you will end up with brown:/..

 Gently press the paper into the milk.

Remove the paper from the pan and allow it to dry.

I loved how each paper looked different.  It's almost a tie-dye effect...

 This project is so simple, that you can dump the milk and do it over and over!

Now hop on over to Mom for Less and learn about the big and wonderful world of dairy with a homeschool lesson.