Great Games at the Dollar Tree and a Chair Makeover

I don't visit the Dollar Tree often, but on a random recent visit while searching for a mini puzzle for a Pinterest project, I spotted these games on the toy isle.

 Telling Time, Counting Money, Addition, and Subtraction Games

I will use these for my early finishers and my "I'm Finished, Now What? Station"

 These reproducible sheets will come in handy for students who need additional practice with manuscript letter formation and acceleration practice for those ready for cursive.  My kids think cursive is fancy writing and will think its a special treat.

 These timed tests will be great as well for remediation and acceleration.  I'll place these in a basket with a timer.  The students can time themselves or have a friend time them.

 I think this activity will be great for Work on Writing during Daily 5.

Head on out to your local Dollar Tree to snatch up these wonderful classroom deals.

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 This is the makeover chair on display in my consignment shop.  (I love this display.  I'm learning so many things hanging out on Pinterest. I've also become obsessed with my shop.)  

The process was pretty simple.  This chair was originally brown. (Sorry, I don't have a before picture.  Once I get started on a project, I forget I need to take pictures through the whole process.  Sorry~)  It was a chair discarded by the school system I previously worked in.  Being the person I am, I have hoarded it in my storage space for the last 7 years. It was time to clean out the storage and give it a new life.

After two coats of primer, it was time to choose the paint color.  So I just headed down to the Home Depot and stood in front of the spray paint waiting for one to beg me to take it home.

 

Summer Squash yelled the loudest, so I took it home and sprayed the chair with two light coats.  Allow time between each light spray.  Don't rush or get too close.  You want to avoid "runs."

 

Two coats later, this is the result.  Next, I took this picture perfect chair into the garage and roughed it up using my Black and Decker hand sander.

Distress the furniture to your liking.  You really can't go wrong.  I stopped when I got this look.

I've been adding a little water to brown acrylic paint to give my furniture the distressed look, but I decided to try a walnut color by Minwax.

 

It wasn't as easy to work with as my acrylic paint. I'm not convinced that this particular product will continue to hang out on my paint shelf.  I do like that it is water-based versus oil based.  Better on my airways and less stained hands. Here was the chair after an application.

Not too bad.  Overall I like the end product.  The summer squash is a keeper on the shelf.  I'm loving my new found interest in repainting simple pieces of furniture.  And I'm loving all the positive feedback I get from the visitors at the shop.

 

Thanks for stopping by~