Category Archives: Toddler and Preschool activities

Nov13

Autumn Tree, Family Craft Activity

Posted on by
Standard
Autumn Tree, Family Craft Activity

This week I am excited to feature a project from a local crafty mumma from All Tizzied Up .  She and her gorgeous girls have brought nature and some textiles together to create a colourful fall themed wall hanging.  

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

They have gathered up some bark and leaves and painted the leaves while still fresh using acrylic craft paint.  The paint has slowed down the drying out process and kept them supple so they don’t crack through the next few steps.  The rest if fairly self explanatory, or run your mouse over each picture for more details.

Some lovely leaves and bark
MissM paints the leaves
Blue leaves
MissM starts gluing on the bark to the trunk
First layer of bark complete
Coat with a thick later of PVA glue
Dust over PVA layer with saw dust or dirt for texture
Start gluing on the leaves
Alternating colours for effect.
The leaves
Coat with another thick layer of PVA as a sealant.
Allow to dry.
Colourful Tree!

Once all the collage was together, mum then filled in the surrounds of the tree with blue paint and there you have it.

autumntree

Sep30

School Holiday Fun – Rainbow Spaghetti!

Posted on by
Standard
School Holiday Fun – Rainbow Spaghetti!

I actually made this for the little 2, thinking it would keep them entertained for an hour while I got some work done.  Turns out the older kids loved it too. Can’t really blame them, it feels cool and looks so pretty!  I just used one standard pack of pasta, if you were doing this at a birthday party, you might want to use 2 or 3 for lots of kids.  Separate into equal groups of as many colours as you have, then cook each pile at a time, rinsing the saucepan between colours.  You don’t need a lot of water, so it heats up quick.  The whole process only took about 30 minutes for 5 colours.  More details if you run your mouse over the images.  Enjoy.

Water, food colouring, pasta.
Add colouring, then pasta, cook as normal or a little less for firmer pasta
You don’t have to add oil, but it makes it extra slimy fun.
Ms4 having a play
Resisting the urge to eat it.
Sensory play,
School holiday entertainment.

RS

Sep29

Halloween Craft For Kids, Finger Print Gift Tags

Posted on by
Standard
Halloween Craft For Kids, Finger Print Gift Tags

I love finger print critters, and had never actually made them with my kids.  So this seemed like the perfect opportunity.  A bit of parent help is needed for the finishing touches, but there is plenty of steps the little kids can help with along the way.  You can click on the pictures for more detailed instructions, but it is all pretty straight forward as you can see.

IMG_8028

 

Cut up some coloured card. We used wiggly scissors.
Ms4 put holes in each piece of card
Getting into it.
Ms4 making some finger prints.
Finger printed cards
Adding the details,
Adding the eyes – because everything is better with googly eyes!
Mr3 adding some eyes #finemotorskills
Ms4 bundling up the lollies ready for string and tag.
Fastened with string and tag added
Halloween treats bags
Ready to give out.

All we used was some card, white paint, googly eyes (and some sequins) silver paint pen, ribbon, clear cellophane, and lollies to fill.

Sep22

Halloween Toddler Craft, DIY Treat Boxes

Posted on by
Standard
Halloween Toddler Craft, DIY Treat Boxes

I know many Australians still have not accepted Halloween, ‘it’s a silly American tradition’, even though it is not American, but anyway, they really should, because it is heaps of harmless fun and the kids love it.  Our new neighbourhood really gets into it, I think I enjoy it more than Christmas!

But of course, it’s not just about the dressing up and lollies, halloween craft is lots of fun too. Maybe it’s because I am new to it, but it seems so much more fun than Easter and Christmas craft.  Today I just did a simple project with the little kids as the older 2 were not home.  I had another idea in my head, but have decided to keep that for later in the school holidays.  I am hoping to get quite a few Halloween themed projects in over the next 2 weeks while the kids are off.

I cut out some Halloween shapes in the potatoes while Ms4 gathered the paint and plastic plates.  The boxes were just from the grocery store, but they are available at many places, $2 shops etc. We had to allow each side to dry before doing the other side, as you need to apply pressure for best results, rather than trying to stamp the assembled boxes.  Once both sides were dry we applied another coat of glitter paint, and some embellishments, again, one side at a time.  The weather was nice today so the whole project only took a couple of hours even while waiting for things to dry.

Cut in your shape with a sharp knife, around 5mm deep.
then cut in from the sides until you hit the cut out,
Paint, boxes (or what ever you want really) potatoes.
Ms4 stamping away.
Ms4 adds some glitter paint.
Allow first side to dry.
Everything is better with googly eyes!
Add extra detail with a marker if desired.

 

I am pretty happy with the results.  Would have liked some different coloured boxes for variety, and was disappointed we are out of black paint for the bats, but over all, not bad for an afternoons work.

 

Halloween1

Aug20

Ten Tin Bowling! Recycled Cans – Toddler Activity.

Posted on by
Standard
Ten Tin Bowling! Recycled Cans – Toddler Activity.

 

The hardest part of this project was collecting the cans!  To make stacking easier, make sure all 10 cans are the same height.  Obviously you don’t need to cover the cans with paper, but I think it made it a bit more fun.   I just cut some scrap booking paper to size, fixed with tape, and they’re done.

 

Coloured paper cut to size
Secure with tape
Pretty cans.
Ready to bowl
Miss 4 setting up.
Mr2 having a go
Ms4 having a bowl.
Ten Tin Bowling
Recycled can
toddler activity
Gross motor skills
Easy toddler activity.

 

This activity develops hand eye coordination, cognitive and gross motor skills.  Once you’ve had enough, the cans can just go into the recycling!   The kids loved the noise they make as they smashed to the ground.  Older kids could keep score and make a more competitive game out of it.

 

tentinbowling

Jul27

Kids in the Kitchen, Home Made Fish and Chips.

Posted on by
Standard
Kids in the Kitchen, Home Made Fish and Chips.

My kids love fish and chips.  But gone are the days you could feed the family from the local fish and chip shop for under $20.  So we always make our own now.  I am sure its not just me, but I hate crumbing things, fingers getting all caked up with goo.  So, outsourcing it is!  Even my 4 year old can do the whole process herself.  So while it may not be the healthiest meal (we deep fry the fish) it could certainly be a lot worse, and their sense of achievement and the skill building is totally worth the mess!

Mr9 is cooking some pinking fillets here.  He just cut them into small even sized pieces, so they should all take roughly the same time to cook through.  Flour each piece so it is dry, then dip in an egg/milk mixture before rolling in the crumbs.  You could also get the kids to make bread crumbs if you have a food processor.  We don’t, so we are just using store crumbs.

Mr9 is actually mature and coordinated enough to use the deep fry, but I am particularly paranoid about hot oil, so I took over that part of the process.

 

Pink ling fillets cut to size.
Drying in plain flour,
Dipping in milk and egg mixture
Coating with breadcrumbs
Ready to cook
Keep them separate so they don’t stick together while cooking
Frying
Drain on paper towel.
Home made fish and chips.

 

FIsh&Chips

 

And yes, we used frozen chips, shhh, don’t tell anyone.

Jun9

Owl Family Craft Project

Posted on by
Standard
Owl Family Craft Project

To be honest, craft is the last thing I was in the mood for this weekend. After some tragic news on Saturday morning, the tone of what was planned to be a fun 3 day weekend, soon turned into a very sombre one indeed.  All I really wanted to do was hug my pillow and cry.  But my children don’t really understand grief, so after 24 hours of my moping around, they were climbing the walls.  I was inspired by this project from an activity I saw at school a few weeks ago, of individual owls as they related to the letter O (letter of the week).  I thought a little owl family with the kids prints would look very cute.

The concept is quite simple like most of my projects, and as you can see in the photos below, so I wont go into too much detail.  I let the kids choose from my scrapbooking paper a pattern they liked, but you could just as easily use plain colours.  The background is just 2 school scrap books centre pages sticky taped together, then washed with blue water colour as demonstrated by Mr 8.  Once dry, I ironed the paper to make it flat again.  I drew the owl body and Mr 8 and I cut them out.  The eyes were traced from a circular cookie cutter and cut out.  The black dots made with a hole punch.  I just drew one foot, then used it as a stencil for the rest of the feet, so they are all similar.

The kids then chose their wing colour.  I placed the body on the background and had the children do their hand prints one at a time, starting in the middle.  This way I didn’t have to worry too much about working out the spacing. Once they were all done, I sketched in a branch and Mr 8 painted it in. Then it was just a case of glueing eyes, pupils, beaks and feet.  We added some leaves cut out from green paper to the branch and there you have it.  A little owl family hand print keepsake.

Mr 8 painting the sky.
The sky backdrop.
Use one foot as a stencil for the rest of the feet.
Choosing the paper.
Glue owl body.
Paint hands.
Mr 8 placing the first print.
Mr 2’s hand prints
Mr 8 painting the branch
Glueing on the feet
Glueing on the feet
Cutting out the leaves
Adding the leaves.
Girly owl.
Baby owl and big brother owl
Girl and Boy owl.
Owl hand print family.
Owl family wall hanging.
Close up.
From a distance.

Materials:

Paper, Scissors, hole punch, water colour, coloured card and paper, glue stick, craft paint.

If you have got this far, thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed the post and it inspires you to do something just as fun and rewarding with your young family.  But if I can just ask one small thing of you, next time the opportunity arises, please donate to childhood cancer research in your country.  Currently only 5% of research funds go towards childhood cancer research, so please pinpoint your donations to this very important cause. This beast needs to be stopped.

Mar10

Decorated Eggs, Easter Egg Dying and Decorating.

Posted on by
Standard
Decorated Eggs, Easter Egg Dying and Decorating.

While we did the Tie Dying, I also started experimenting with a few other methods of colouring eggs using a home made dye using ingredients that almost everyone has already in their kitchen.  These were some of the results;

IMG_6530

These are obviously pretty straight forward.  Dyed in a food colouring/vinegar/warm water mixture.  Then a scrap booking embelishment stuck on.  Would have preferred embellishments without the clear plastic behind them, but the craft shop didn’t have any like that and you can’t really tell from a distance anyway.

IMG_6521

I love how these turned out.  Just use leaves from the garden, lay over the eggs then cover with a stocking or pantyhose.  I actually used some stocking I had on hand and didn’t even need to ruin them in the process.  Dip dye for a few minutes and you’re done.

Crepe paper results

Crepe paper results

 

We actually discovered this dying method accidentally.  After we had finished the Tie Dying from a previous post, we placed the eggs on this pre shredded crepe paper.   Some of the eggs still had a bit of water in them from the boiling process, so when that ran out and wet the paper, the colour transferred onto the eggs!  So I took it a step further, wet a hand full and covered them in it.  The results are pretty cool I think!

The dying solution we used was 3 parts hot tap water to one part vinegar, with as much food colouring as you wanted, we only used about a teaspoon per large cup.

Some of the other patterns we created can be seen below.

Boiling in water, food colouring and vinegar (later discovered boiling is not actually necessary)
Some foam stickers to create patterns where the dye cant reach.
Trying to keep the eggs afloat to only colour one side – not very successful!
The leaf wrapped around egg within stocking prior to dipping in the dye solution
Leaf patterns
covering in crepe paper.
Wet crepe paper
Crepe paper results
Cant have a craft project without glitter? Yes, actually you can and you should
Egg decorating
Samples of some of the eggs we created
Egg Craft
Eggsperimenting with dying EGGS!
Mar3

Easter Craft, Cute Little Chicks.

Posted on by
Standard
Easter Craft, Cute Little Chicks.

Another very wet weekend has resulted in craft overload in this house.  Today we made some little chickens.  We will call them Easter Chicks, but they could really just be birds and would still be just as cute!  All we used was some small styrofoam balls, paint, google eyes a pack of feathers and a few different glues and double sided tape.  Oh, and some of those pre stuck felt shapes.  First we put the balls on a skewer to hold them up to paint.  The paint, like everything at the moment, took forever to dry, even under the ceiling fan.  Then we added the eyes and beaks.  It was a bit of trial and error with the glue, as some glue dissolves the styrofoam.  But we got there eventually, with some scrap booking glue.

Glue on eyes.

Glue on eyes.

 

For the beak, we just cut off petals from a foam flower sticker (which you will see further on).  We used several different methods to make the wings.  For thicker wings I folded over a feather from the centre, and secured both sides together with some double sided tape.  This worked well, but was a lot of fiddling around and you could see the tape through some, which I was not happy with.  Others I just cut away one side of the feather, to make it more a wing shape.  Then for the crazy birds I just stick the feathers straight in the side, to make them look like they were running.  Way cute!  Twisted some pipe cleaners to make legs and we were done.

IMG_6565

 

Ms 4 wanted to make a nest for them, so I grabbed some sugar cane mulch and let her build one outside, she then sprinkled a few flowers around which I thought was a great idea, so told her to get more.

IMG_6595

 

The coloured eggs are from another project we did this weekend, I will post more on them tomorrow.  They finished it off nicely though I think.

Mr 8 making the stand ready to paint
First step, painting.
All the painted balls
Ms 4 putting glue on for the eyes.
Ms 4 positioning the eyes
Glue on eyes.
Let the eyes dry.
The feather sections as used on each bird, (wing wing tail)
double sided tape method
once folded
tape wing stuck to chick
Make some legs from pipe cleaners.
Bird on a stick
Hey there chubby legs
Mummy Hen
Running Chick!
Easter Chicks
The nest
Pink Chick
Little hatchling
Peek-a-boo
Easter Chickens
Easter Chicken craft
Mr 2 and Ms 4 playing with the chicken family.

 

Mar2

Bubble Painting Easter Garland, Toddler Craft Activity

Posted on by
Standard
Bubble Painting Easter Garland, Toddler Craft Activity

Bubble painting is nothing new for toddlers and preschoolers, but we have never done it at home and I thought it would create a cute finish for some paper eggs.

IMG_1373

Most people will have all this stuff lying around the house, so its a cheap activity too.  Dish washing liquid, food colouring, drinking straws, paper (in this case egg shapes) a bowl and a splash of water. I just Google Image searched ‘easter eggs’ and found some egg shapes, copied into Word, adjusted the size and printed.  Could have drawn them myself, but I was being lazy.  The bigger 2 kids helped cut some out and I cut out the rest. The mixture is equal parts water, food colouring and detergent, you can use more water, but the less you use the more vibrant colours are achieved. Then the fun begins!

Yellow bubbles.

Yellow bubbles.

Simply blow the bubbles so they rise well above the sides of the bowl then place the paper flat on top.  You may need to tip your bowl slightly to keep the straw submerged.  Be sure to place the paper as quickly as possible.  The bubbles will actually last quite a while if untouched, but the colour drops to the bottom quickly, so the longer you wait the less colour will transfer to the paper.

Samples of our creations.

Samples of our creations.

Once dried (on a dry day they would only take a few minutes to dry, but due to never ending rain in Sunny Queensland, they took a lot longer) we attempted to punch holes in the top to string them up with, but due to the moisture in the air, the paper just can’t get crisp enough to punch as such, so we stuck small sections of straw to the back with sticky tape.  This actually worked out really well, as it meant they face forwards rather than side ways all the time.  We used some more coloured straws (cut into 3rds) to space the eggs out then alternated sizes along the way.

IMG_6510

And there you have it.  Its hard to take a photo of, but its really pretty.  Currently hanging in the hallway.  If the sun ever comes out again, I will take a photo of it in natural light to bring out the colours better.

What you need.
Mr 9 cutting out some eggs.
Yellow bubbles.
Blue bubble mixture
Miss 4 making red bubbles
Mr 8 getting his bubble painting on.
Mr 2 doesn’t quite have the fine motor skills required to keep the paper out of the liquid, so I let him play with a paint brush and the mixture to keep him happy.
Samples of our creations.
Each one is painted on both sides so you can use the garland in a walk way.
Attach straw to one side of eggs
Ready to thread on the string.
Ms 4 threading the straw spacers
Ms 4 threading the eggs on.
Easter Garland
Easter Craft
Easter Eggs
Bubble painting
Easter Toddler and Preschool activity
Easter Egg Craft

 

Mar2

Tie Die Eggs – Easter Craft, Egg Decorating

Posted on by
Standard
Tie Die Eggs – Easter Craft, Egg Decorating

In Australia, Easter in my experience at least, is all about chocolate eggs.  The only time I decorated an egg was in grade 3, for a decorating competition.  But apparently in other parts of the world its just what you do at Easter time.  A friend showed me this idea and I just had to give it a go!  I rushed out to the local Op shops that afternoon and fumbled through a rack of ties trying to find any that were 100% silk (they must be 100% silk, polyester will not work). One shop charged $1 each and the other wanted up to $5 each, I told them they were dreaming and talked them down to $2.

$20 worth of Op shop pure silk ties

$20 worth of Op shop pure silk ties

 

You can do this with boiled eggs, but I wanted to be able to keep them for future years or at least future craft projects.  So rather than using whole eggs, we blew the eggs.  That was a challenge in its self, but once I got the hang of it, I cleared out a dozen eggs and away we went.  Cut the stitching at the back of the tie so you can open it up, remove any lining and cut a piece big enough to cover your egg.  Making sure the dark side (what was once the outside of the tie) is against the egg. Secure with a twist tie or as I did, rubber bands as tight as possible without breaking the egg. You want as much surface contact as you can get.  I then removed the excess fabric to make putting on the second layer easier.

All wrapped up tight in the first layer (print facing egg)

All wrapped up tight in the first layer (print facing egg)

 

Then wrap a layer of plain fabric (I used some flannel and calico I had in the scrap fabric bag) and secure again with another band.  Fill a saucepan with water and half a cup of vinegar (I didn’t measure, but would have used more than half a cup of white vinegar) and bring to the boil.  Different directions state different cooking times, from 5 minutes to 20, I went with closer to 20 minutes.  Then the exciting part!

Love the colours and patterns in this one.

Love the colours and patterns in this one.

 

Remove from the water and allow to cool.  Remove fabric and discover what you have created!  Don’t forget to blow out the water that may have ended up inside again if you used hollow eggs.  Out of the 11 we made, 3 didn’t work at all.  I can’t say for sure, but I think they were ‘fake 100% silk’ ties those ones!

Easter egg decorating

Easter egg decorating

 

So, looks like we are having scrambled eggs and omelettes for dinner tonight.

 

I used a small drill piece to try to make a hole in the eggs, a sharp needles works better though.
Miss 4 having a go and blowing eggs, she did pretty will for such little lungs!
$20 worth of Op shop pure silk ties
Make sure it says 100% silk, polyester will not work.
This one actually says 100% silk, but I have reasons to believe it was all a lie! It turned out to be one of the ones that didn’t work.
Cut out the liner and stitching to create a piece of silk big enough to wrap around an egg
DD attempting the wrapping
Ms 4 attempts to fasten the silk around the egg.
I cut away the extra fabric to make putting the second layer on easier.
All wrapped up tight in the first layer (print facing egg)
Miss 4 attempting the second layer, and failing, but at least she tried.
In the pot ready to boil
Weighed down the eggs with a glass bowls, because of course hollow eggs want to float!
Remove from the water and allow to cool.
Remove the bands and see what you end up with! This one didn’t turn out as well as some of the others,
Easter egg decorating
Love the colours and patterns in this one.
More lovely results.
Soem of the finished eggs.
Feb12

Valentine Heart Activities for the Kids, with a side of FAIL!

Posted on by
Standard
Valentine Heart Activities for the Kids, with a side of FAIL!

The concept here is very simple, so the results are totally worth it. Gather up any old crayons, or you could even buy new ones if you like, but with 4 kids in the house, we have plenty of old odd sets.  Let the kids remove the paper (strengthening fine motor skills for the win!) and snap or cut into small enough pieces to fit in your desired mould.  *make sure your mould is heat proof!

IMG_1115Heat the oven to around 120c, it really doesn’t need to be very hot. Place in the oven on another hard tray (like a pizza tray) because they will be super runny before they set again and you don’t want crayon spilt inside your oven – ask me how I know?   If you do happen to spill a few drops, wipe it off with paper towel straight away, much easier to remove it while its still runny.

Once they are all fully melted, remove from the oven to cool.  I put them in the fridge after a while, because I am impatient.  Then just press them out of the moulds and you’re done.

IMG_1147

And now for the fail.  Originally I wanted to make crayon rings, for something a bit different on valentines day.  So along with my heart tray, I ordered a ring tray.  We were all set to go and excitedly looking forward to the results.

IMG_1076

But alas, this tray must have been for the freezer only.  I was sitting at my desk and thought ‘what is that smell’ walked to the oven to check and holey smokes!  I opened the door quickly, at which point the lot burst into flames!  So I threw some water on it in my panicked state.  The results?

IMG_1079A house full of toxic smoke and a colourful mess to clean up!  Oh dear.  So please, learn from my mistake, make sure you check the temperature ratings!

Fill the moulds with small pieces of crayon
Mr 8. Cutting the crayons into smaller pieces.
Ready to go in the oven.
Quickly melting,
The melted down smaller than expected, so I topped them up with more.
The kids popped the cooled shapes out of the moulds
The finished products
Ms 4 with some samples
Making shapes
The original project
Ready to go in the oven.
5 minutes later
fail fail FAIL!

Feb10

Valentine Craft for Toddlers

Posted on by
Standard
Valentine Craft for Toddlers

Super quick and easy to set up, minimal mess and cute results.  Bend a cardboard tube, toilet roll for example, and fix the top with some tape to keep its shape.  If you have some heart shape cookie cutters, they will work too.  We also made 2 potato stamps.  Some coloured paper, paint and let them at it.

 

Paint
Heart shaped toilet roll, held in shape with tape.
potato stamp
Mr 2 stamping with potato
Ms 4 stamping with toilet roll
Different colours
Patterns
Sone of the finished cards
Finished products,
Finished off with a sharpie

 

The potato stamps worked out much better, as neither of the younger 2 had the dexterity required to get the roll to print properly.  You could finish them off and write messages on with a sharpie as I did in the last image, or you could just use them as decorations rather than cards.

Feb9

Wind Chime / Sun Catcher

Posted on by
Standard
Wind Chime / Sun Catcher

Continuing on from the Christmas decorations we made a few weeks back, using the same principal we put together this wind chime or out door decoration.  I’ll spare too much description, as its all talked about in the previous post (linked above), and its pretty straight forward anyway.

So this time we just made all stars, the kids chose their colour schemes and I wasn’t too worried about a colour theme as such.  More colour the better.  Once cooled, again we drilled small holes into a corner of each one, then threaded some fishing line to hang from a branch.  I used a tiny dot of hot glue to keep the fishing line in position.  And that’s it!  Easy peasy.

Fill the metal cookie cutters
Ready for the oven
Drilling the holes for string
Ready to hang from the branch
The finished product
Starts in the trees
Trying to catch some sun on a cloudy day

This is about the 4th time we have made sun catcher type things, and every.single.time there is no sun when I go to take photos of it.  I will hopefully update this when the some decides to come out again.

Feb4

Valentine Craft – Hanging hearts Wall/door Decoration

Posted on by
Standard
Valentine Craft – Hanging hearts Wall/door Decoration

I saw something similar to this on Pinterest, thought we would give it a go.  I just used some scrap booking paper we had already, picked out 10 different pink patterns.  Using the paper cutter, cut strips approximately 1 inch wide.  Then folded them in half, ready to be rolled, as demonstrated by Ms 4 below.  The kids did them around a round pencil, but you can also curl them with a blade like you do curling/gift ribbon.  The blade was much quicker, but I was not letting the kids do that.

IMG_6364

Once both sides are curled towards the middle, fix the to sides together in the centre of the heart with a staple.  I didn’t worry to much about a uniform size.  Variety is the spice of life and all that.

You could use a coat hanger, pice of dowel, or even just a long stick for the hanging frame.  We used some mettle light extension rods we had in the shed, kept them thinking they would come in handy some day and looky here, perfect size for a door way!   I decided on 5 strings of 10 hearts, because lets be honest, the novelty was already wearing off making them after the first 10.

IMG_6382

Then came the tricky part, threading them onto the fishing line.  I temporarily hung the rod from a fan so I could manoeuvre around it easier.  Then threaded through the centre of the heart and tied a knot around where it is stapled together, so the line was centre.  THEN, using a needle, threaded the remaining line through the centre at the bottom of the heart, to keep the heart upright.  Thankfully putting fishing line through a needle is very easy!  The threading process probably took 10 minutes for each strand.  To finish off, I hung some sparkly gift ribbon between each row.  And there you have it!

IMG_6388

IMG_6396

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Stapler, fishing line, paper and paper cutter (or scissors)
Cut strips 1 inch wide.
The cut strips.
Roll the paper strips around a pencil
Finish rolling at the centre then repeat on other side.
Staple the together in the middle.
Threading the hearts onto the fishing line.
Top View
Side View
Bottom View
Purple back drop.
Bed back drop
Against black curtains
Back light
Hearts in the door way.
Purple wall background
Different exposure.
Behind bed, off white wall
Feb2

Beaded Mobile/Chandelier/Wind chime Family project.

Posted on by
Standard
Beaded Mobile/Chandelier/Wind chime Family project.

Sorry if the beads are getting old.  I really made this up as I went along. I wanted to use the rings I had bought to make Christmas Wreaths but never got around to.   I thought this was something we could all do together and the results are pretty cute, although would do it differently next time.

 

Ending the wire

 

We threaded some plastic jewels with beading wire, to make the ends. Then created patterns with different coloured beads, around 20cm long.

ends ready for string

 

Finish off the ends by wrapping the wire into a loop around some needle nose pliers.  The loop needs to be big enough to not let the beads slide off, and to allow you to thread more string on in the next step.

Then I just tied them around the ring, suspended it with some gift ribbon and suspended a glass sun catcher in the middle.  All pretty straight forward. Ms 4 wants to hang it from her light, but as she has a light fan combo, there is nothing to hang it from.

 

IMG_0991

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

What you need
Twisting off the end of the wires
Threading patterns
Ms 4 threading
The other end of the wire
Wire ends
Twist around a pencil to make a spiral
spirals
Attache to mobile frame
finished product
sun catcher
Chandelier

 

Jan22

Memory Wire Bracelets, School holiday and Toddler Activity

Posted on by
Standard
Memory Wire Bracelets, School holiday and Toddler Activity

Beading is hardly new as a way to entertain the kids and improve fine motor skills, but I have never let them try it with memory wire before.  For those who don’t know what that is, Memory wire is tempered wire that “remembers” its shape and retains its coiled form.  You can pick it up really cheap on ebay and then just cut to desired length as required.  Due to the fact its wire rather than thread, it also makes it much easier for the little ones to get the beads on.

 

IMG_0891

 

Once cut to length, just turn the end over with some needle nose pliers into a loop big enough that it wont allow your chosen beads to slip over, or in the case of really big beads, as I have done above, making sure no sharp ends will dig into their little arms.

The kids just made single loops today.  Mr 7 experimented with patterns and Miss 4 went random.

 

IMG_0895

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Memory wire cut to length
Mr 7 threading some beads.
Ms 4 threading onto the wire
Mr 7s own design
Ms 4 modelling some bracelets.

 

Dec14

Easy Toddler Craft, Christmas Reindeer

Posted on by
Standard
Easy Toddler Craft, Christmas Reindeer

How cute are these?  Mr 7s year 6 buddy made him one for Christmas.  I had to give them a go with the little ones.

Super simple and we had everything lying around the house (I will admit I do buy wooden pegs just for craft, they are not much good for hanging out washing!)

IMG_6122

We started off painting them assembled, but that was just silly.  Paint all the bits first, THEN assemble once they are dry.

IMG_6126Add some eyes, a red nose and some pipe cleaner antlers.

IMG_6128

We even made a baby one with the mini craft pegs and mini paddle pop sticks.

IMG_6131

Dec14

Classic Christmas Cooking – Window Biscuit Decorations

Posted on by
Standard
Classic Christmas Cooking – Window Biscuit Decorations

IMG_6117

I helped the kids in Mr 8s class make these at school, so thought we would give them a try at home.  There is heaps of different recipes out there, so you can really make them any flavour you wants, but you want to choose a biscuit that doesn’t rise too much.   We used a basic butter biscuit recipe.

  • 125g butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup caster sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 egg, at room temperature
  • 2 cups plain flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.

I also added a sprinkle of cinnamon and all spice.  I probably don’t need to tell you how to make biscuits.  To be honest, they rose a little more than I would have liked, so might use a different recipe next time.  The recipe also started with the usual ‘pre-heat oven’, but after mixing the ingredients you had to put the dough into the fridge for 45 minutes.  What a waste of electricity having your oven running all that time?

IMG_6104

Use any shapes you like, then a smaller shape inside.  Pop a hard lolly (boiled lolly or jolly rancher etc) into the centre and bake on some baking paper at around 180 for only a few minutes.  The lolly will melt in the time it takes to cook the biscuit.  So simple.

IMG_6119

If you live in an area of the world that is humid, these wont last long on the tree.  So just eat them!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Dec13

Sweet Christmas Treats – Mars Bar Crackles.

Posted on by
Standard
Sweet Christmas Treats – Mars Bar Crackles.

These are a really easy alternate to the traditional chocolate crackles. They are not as sickly sweet either, so adults can enjoy them.

IMG_6091

All you need is 2 table spoons of cream (some recipes say thin cream, but either works) 200 or more grams of Mars Bars  Rice bubbles (home brand will be fine) and thats it.  I also add chocolate drops and coconut for some different textures, but that is not at all necessary.

IMG_6093

Break up the bars and add the cream (I also added coconut at this stage).  Microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring at each interval to avoid hot spots (burnt chocolate).  Once its all runny, you can either add the rice bubbles directly, or poor into another bowl that has the rice bubbles in it.  This actually works better as its easier to distribute and you don’t end up with a heap of chocolate stuck to the bottom of the bowl.

Allow to cool slightly (you can put it in the fridge) so that you can roll the mix into balls.  When its hot its just too sticky and you can’t get it off your hands.  If you are going to add extra chocolate drops, do it when the mixture is cooler so they don’t melt.

IMG_6098