Tag Archives: toddler

Nov28

Christmas Craft For Kids – Cup Cake Christmas Trees.

Posted on November 28, 2014 by thestick81

These are so easy to make and turned out super cute. Inspiration actually came form some fish scales I saw some students at school making.

All you need is some cup cake papers, cardboard (we used an old cereal box) glue stick (or paper glue) and scissors. We just used cup cake papers we had in the cupboard, the striped green is my favourite.

Draw and cut out a tree shape. For the first few, I drew lines as a guide for the rows so that Ms 5 didn’t just stick the papers all over the place. This created the layers or ‘tiers’. By the time she got to do her own at the end, she didn’t need lines anymore as she understood the process.

Just press down the flat part (the bottom) of the cup cake paper, not the corrugated part. Once the bottom line is covered, move up to the next row and repeat until you get to the top.

Ms5 decided to finish them off with a yellow paper sticking out the top like a star. Great idea!

What you need

Draw tree shape

Cut out tree

Cut papers in half then half again

Ready to stick

First row

second row

Almost done

Mr4 has a turn.

Ms5s white tree.

Rainbow tree

Now she has the hang of it.

Cupcake Tree

Toddler craft,

Christmas Craft

Easy Christmas decorations.

Cupcake Tree

Jul4

Egg Carton Daffodils – School Holidays Craft

Posted on July 4, 2014 by thestick81

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School holidays! Woot! First cab off the rank, these simple little daffodils made from egg cartons.

All you need is an egg carton, paint, pipe cleaners or skewers, glue. I used split pins to attach the centres to the petals, but you could just glue them too. One carton makes 5 flowers.

Cut the centres first, as shown above. Then cut out 5 of the cups to make neat little flowers. Daffodils technically have more than 4 petals, but I just worked with 4 as the egg cups have a squarish shape and it was easier to cut that way.

Paint the middle sections inside and out. We used orange, but you could use any colour you like. Then paint the outers a lighter colour.

Once dry, I poked some holes through the centre of each piece and using pliers inserted a gold split pin (my fingers wouldn’t fit in there, so had to use pliers).

For the stems, pipe cleaners would have been easier, but I decided to use some skewers wrapped in green raffia. It gave them a more natural texture. I secured the raffia at each end with some sticky tape.

Then it was simply a case of attaching the stems to the flowers. I used hot glue for this.

Apr13

Easter Biscuits – Kids in the Kitchen.

Posted on April 13, 2014 by thestick81

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Much to my children’s disappointment, I am not much of a sweet tooth. So I struggle to be inspired to make sweet treats. But I figured we should do some ‘cooking’ for Easter, and this seemed simple enough for my likings. 🙂

They kids had lots of fun making mess with the icing and creating patterns on the Arrowroot biscuits. I just bought ready made icing – because yes, I am that lazy. 🙂 Mini M&Ms and snakes for the stripes.

Apr6

Kids Craft, Easter Egg Sun Catcher / Stained Glass

Posted on April 6, 2014 by thestick81

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Kids Craft, Easter Egg Sun Catcher / Stained Glass

Inspiration for this project came from Alpha Moms blog. I thought I’d adjust it into an Easter themed project, given it is already that time of year.

All you need is some of the whitish milk or juice cartons. We actually used a cordial bottle for the grass. The stickers on the milk bottle where quite hard to remove and left a sticky residue. I managed to remove this with some mineral turpentine.

Once you have your clean pieces of plastic, draw or as we did, trace your shapes using a black permanent marker (Sharpie etc). Then let the kids colour as desired. Once coloured, cut away the extra plastic and you’re done! They turned out even better than expected.

We attached ours to the windows using double sided tape rather than suction cups.

Mar3

Make Your Own Bottle Top Stamps

Posted on March 3, 2014 by thestick81

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Here’s a super quick and easy activity to put together to keep your toddlers and preschoolers entertained. All you need is some bottle caps and foam stickers (available from most $2 shops and craft stores). If you don’t have a stamp pad, you can spread out a thin layer of paint on a plate or add a few drops of water to a water colour tray like we have.

Preview

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Feb28

Bugs and Bees and Butterflies! So Sweet!

Posted on February 28, 2014 by thestick81

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Bugs and Bees and Butterflies! So Sweet!

Check out these cute bugs the girls at All Tizzied Up put together on the weekend. Made from pipe cleaners, pom poms, wooden pegs, goggly eyes and tulle. So simple and so cute!

They have kindly taken step by step photos so you can be inspired too, to create your own colouring creepy crawlies.

Feb27

Soup Mix Scale Creatures, Sensory Craft

Posted on February 27, 2014 by thestick81

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I actually stole this idea from Mr3s current favourite show, Mister Maker. We used soup mix, but you could use lots of different things, dry lentils, rice, couscous, anything that is going to give you a unique texture and that is fun to run through your hands.

I just printed out some basic shapes from the internet. Keep them simple as you’re going to cover up any detail anyway. Smear the area with some craft glue and attach an goggly eye. Then let the kids sprinkle the mix over the rest of the glue area to completely cover it. Gently shake off any excess into the bin. These took about 24 hours to dry. Once fully dry, cut out. We created a simple background with some coloured paper and put them in $2 Ikea frames.

Feb3

Kids Valentine Craft, Love Heart Entrance – Bubble Painting.

Posted on February 3, 2014 by thestick81

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Kids Valentine Craft, Love Heart Entrance – Bubble Painting.

We have done a bubble painting project before for Easter, it is so easy and the results are always cool, so we have tried it again this time just using pink. We also used some pink paper as well as the white, where as last time we just used white paper.

Valentine Door Hanging,

Again I cheated and printed out some heart shapes, rather than drawing them all just so all the sizes were consistent. You could obviously trace around a cookie cutter too, but hey, did I mention I am lazy? I didn’t really measure out the ingredients for the bubble paint, it really was a squeeze of dishwashing liquid, splash of food colouring and a splash of tap water. Then let the kids blow bubbles in the mixture until the bubbles come up over the top of the bowl. Get them to quickly place the paper gently over the bubbles and the patterns will transfer to the paper. Instead of cutting each shape out first this time, we did the painting then cut them out after they were dry. Then it was just a case of attaching them to some gift ribbon with tape. I stuck them to the wall with blue tac.

Ms5 and Mr9 blowing bubbles in the solution

Bubble patterns, left to dry.

Cut out and attach to some string with tape.

Bubble painting

Valentine Craft

Hearts on a string.

If you wanted to make these hang in a door way, it would be a good idea to paint both sides of the paper, so they can spin and still look pretty on both sides.

Feb2

Kids Valentine Craft – Stained Glass Hearts

Posted on February 2, 2014 by thestick81

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Kids Valentine Craft – Stained Glass Hearts

I was determine to do some Valentine craft today with the kids before we ran out of time. I had an idea in my head of what I wanted to do, but we couldn’t find the type of paper I needed. While picking up some other bits and pieces from the grocery store, we found A4 laminate sheets on special and decided to grab some for the craft cupboard. I had a look around Pinterest for inspiration and then it finally came to me, lucky we grabbed those sheets!

The steps are pretty self explanatory I think, but you can see more instructions by clicking on or running your mouse over each photo below.

Ms 5 cutting the cellophane up into squares.

I drew a large heart on the back of some silver card then cut it out with scissors.

I then cut the centre out with a Box cutter.

Ms5 placed the pieces into the laminate sheet, using the middle of the heart under to give her a rough guide of the area she needs to cover.

Mr3 having a go, not quite understanding ‘don’t crumple them up!’.

Ms5 puts the close sheet into the laminator.

Mr9 prepared the heart boarder with double sided tape.

Double sided tape on the frame.

Mr9 cuts away the excess ‘glass’ from the frame after sticking it down.

The back.

Stained glass heart window.

The similar projects I have seen on Pinterest use clear book contact, which you could also use if you don’t have a laminating machine. The laminate sleeves give a much clearer finish though. I was worried at first that the cellophane might melt as it went through the heat, but it was fine.

Jan21

Valentine Craft, Love Heart Door Hanger.

Posted on January 21, 2014 by thestick81

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Valentine Craft, Love Heart Door Hanger.

We made 2 different variations of valentine door hangers, but both styles use the same materials. The hearts are made from salt dough, the same as those DIY Christmas ornaments you see all over Pinterest. There is plenty of recipes and methods available online. The bows are a basic bow that again you’d see on Pinterest. There is hundreds of bow tutorials all over the internet too, but I kind of made it up as I was going along.

We used the following recipe

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup fine table salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2/3 cup chilled water

Mix all ingredients as you would biscuits, using some extra flour as necessary along the way to stop it sticking. Roll out 7mm thick, cut into shapes then bake at 120C for 2.5 to 3 hrs. Once cooled, we painted them with craft acrylic paint.

The top bow feature for this one was made by cutting 4 equal lengths of ribbon, putting a small line of hot glue in the centre of one at a time, folding each end into the middle to create a single bow shape. Then doing the same with the next ribbon, pilling them up as I went. You can see this in the photos. Finished off with a button.

Then it was just a case of threading the hearts, adding some extra ribbons and glueing all together at the back.

Mr 8 in the kitchen making salt dough (he did this all by himself, it is very easy)

kneading the dough.

roll out to 7mm thickness and cut shapes.

Bake for 2 – 3 hours at 120C

Ms5 painting the hearts

Mr3 painting

Create a loop that will sit flat against the door.

Small line of glue in the middle,

fold in each end onto the glue strip.

Finish off with a button

Jan13

Tin Can Garden Men! School Holiday Project

Posted on January 13, 2014 by thestick81

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Tin Can Garden Men! School Holiday Project

I must say I am quite jealous of all the projects the girls at All Tizzie Up are doing this holidays. I have been so swamped with work and other obligations I just haven’t had the time or energy to get any of the things I wanted to done. But that will change! In the meantime, I am very happy they are helping keep my blog active! Here is some cute little tin can men they made using recycled cans, wire, paint, beads and some bells.

Watch the slide show or click on the images for step by step instructions to make your own recycled can garden critters.

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Jan13

Toddler Craft, Bottle Cap Beetles

Posted on January 13, 2014 by thestick81

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Here’s a cute fine motor activity for the little ones using recycled objects from around the home. Made by All Tizzied Up over the school holidays.

Hover over or click on the images below for more details.

Bottle caps of your choice, craft glue, a round piece of card board or plastic, pipe cleaners and goggly eyes

Let the kids glue the caps all over the circle shape

Glueing bottle caps

Glue goggly eye into caps at the top.

attache pipe cleaner or paddle pop legs using PVA or hot glue

Attache ribbon to hang

Dec18

3 Easy Mini Christmas Tree Decorations

Posted on December 18, 2013 by thestick81

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My crafty mum friend at All Tizzied Up has been very busy putting together some Christmas Craft projects with the family. Thought we’d share for inspiration.

They created 3 different trees from styrofoam cone shapes using buttons, ribbon, felt, and every crafters favourite tool – a hot glue gun!

The felt tree was created by layering leaf shape felt pieces working from the bottom up, then decorating with plastic jewels.

This one is simply a case of measuring out same lengths or ribbon, fixing with hot glue, then twisting, gluing again. Glue 2 of these together to create a flower type shape and attach to the cone. Again, finishing with some jewels to look like ornaments.

The button one is covered in aluminium foil, before attaching buttons all over with hot glue.

So if you are wondering what to do this weekend before Christmas, maybe get out the craft supplies and get crafty with the kids. Would make a great addition and talking point for your Christmas table on Wednesday!

Dec11

Christmas Craft for Kids, Snowflake Garland

Posted on December 11, 2013 by thestick81

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Christmas Craft for Kids, Snowflake Garland

We started making snow flakes from patty cake pans – as you do, they were so pretty, I figured we should use them for something more than making a mess.

I am sure everyone has made snow flakes before, so I won’t worry about elaborating on instructions. We used the tin foil patty cake pans, then laminated them so they wouldn’t break and could be strung up easier. I strung them up with fishing line, but any kind of string would have been fine. Pretty Cool results I think.

Dec10

Home Made Teacher Gifts, Peppermint Bath Bombs

Posted on December 10, 2013 by thestick81

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Home Made Teacher Gifts, Peppermint Bath Bombs

It’s that time of year again folks. Time to thank the dozen different day care providers, half of which I don’t even know the names of, for putting up with my darling children 2 days each week.

This year I decided to make something that all the kids could help with, as last years gift required minimal effort from the kids. So we made Bath Bombs and I am happy to report they were a success (we tested one out last night!)

I used 2 different recipes, the first one was here

Dry ingredients:

Baking Soda – 8 ounces
Citric Acid – 4 ounces
Corn Starch – 4 ounces
Salts – 4 ounces

Wet Ingredients:

Water – .75 tbsp
Essential or Fragrance Oil – 2 tsp (I used peppermint, as it is Christmassy)
Oil – 2.5 tbsp
Food coloring – 1 or 2 drops
.

For the pink lot, I used this recipe

You’ll need:

1 1/2 cups bicarbonate of soda
1/2 cup citric acid powder (use fine grade, available from chemists or pool supply shops)
Sieve
Potpourri or herbal teabags such as chamomile, lemon, rosehip or peppermint
An essential oil such as peppermint, lavender, geranium
Sweet almond oil (I just used vegetable oil)
Food colouring
Rubber gloves
Moulds from craft shops

Which came from here

The method I used for both was the same though. Mixed all dry ingredients in a large bowl, then had Mr8 ever so slowly pour in the wet ingredients while I stirred like a mad woman. With the second recipe, it doesn’t actually call for corn flour (starch) but I decided to throw a handful in just to make the recipe go further. The second lot stuck together better than the first recipe while wet, but they have both dried lovely and firm and both fizz wonderfully in the bath tub.

We made the round ones in some empty plastic Christmas ornaments like the blogger in the first link did, as well as some smaller ones in some Aldi silicone trays. If I was to make them again, I think I’d find a mould that was spherical, but a bit smaller, so you end up with more bombs from your mix. I left the silicone tray ones to dry over night, and they popped out easily the next day.

It is summer here right now, and humid, which can destroy the bombs. So before putting them in the little draw strings bags ($2 for 5 at the cheap shop) I wrapped them in cling wrap to protect them from moisture.

Added a little thank you note and Merry Christmas tag to the bags and we are ready to drop them off.

Mr8 weighing out the Bi Carb,

Mr 8 adding dry ingredients

Ms4 with the important job of mixing the dry ingredients,

We used this pink salt as I thought it would look cool through the green bombs, but normal salt would have been fine too

Mr8 measuring out the wet ingredients into a separate bowl

Stirring very quickly while wet ingredients are being added, so a reaction does not occur.

Press firmly into moulds.

Mr9 and Mr8 making the bombs

Drying out

Wrap with cling wrap to protect from moisture

Small bombs

Teacher gift,

Dec10

Make Your Own Sensory Santa Slime.

Posted on December 10, 2013 by thestick81

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Ok, so the school holidays have not quite started here, but this looked like too much fun and I had a fairly light schedule for the day, so we gave it a go. The best part is, unlike normal play dough, it is not going to go bad when stored between uses.

The recipe I followed required Elmers Glitter Glue, but after searching everywhere in a 20km radius I was still empty handed. Apparently Elmers is available in Australia now, but from what I can tell it is only the white stuff, and I really wanted the clear version for this project. So I just used non toxic craft glue, added my own glitter and was thankfully able to achieve the results I was after. The recipe came from this delightful blog

Santa Slime Recipe

2 Cups of red glitter glue
1 & 1/2 cups very warm water
A few drops of cinnamon extract or peppermint extract (depending on your favorite holiday scent)
Optional additions- green glitter and extra red glitter

Combine the above ingredients in a bowl

In a separate bowl combine

3/4 teaspoons of borax
1 & 1/3 cups very warm water

Once the ingredients of both bowls are mixed, combine them and mix, the slime will form almost instantly.

– See more at: http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2013/12/santa-slime-recipe.html#sthash.MROKZyw1.dpuf

As I mixed up the ingredients I found it very hard to believe it needed all that water – but it really did, and then some! Not sure if it was because I used so much glitter or because the make up of the glue I used was different than Elmers, but it turned out really firm, almost like play dough, and certainly didn’t ooze like I anticipated. After I got over the initial disappointment, I figured I could either spend another $11 on glue or try to fix it – had nothing to lose, so I added more water to a section of it in a bowl (which did nothing while cool) and put it in the microwave for 2 minutes. Yes, it worked, the slime took on more water and began to get runnier. I continued to do this in sections, increasing the time in the microwave and the amount of water until I had the desired texture.

The kids have been having heaps of fun with it, even the older 2. We ended up with about 3 litres of slime after adding all the extra water, so plenty to share between the 4 of them. If I make it again using the same glue, I will use twice as much water from the start, because adding some extra borax to thicken will be a lot easier than adding extra water was!

What we used.

The little ones helping decant the glue

Stirring in the gold glitter

After mixing the red glitter and adding the borax solution

Santa slime

Home made sludge

Sensory play

DIY slime

Storing for later.

Dec6

D.I.Y Leaf Print Christmas Cards

Posted on December 6, 2013 by thestick81

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Here’s a unique home made card idea that the whole family can get involved in. All you need is some card stock, paint (brush and roller), sequins or other bling and some tree shaped leaves. Glitter optional!

Coat the leaves in a thick layer of paint, we used white as I thought it would stand out nicely on the black card. Place the leaf, painted side down, carefully on the card, then roll over it with a clean dry paint roller to press down. Remove leaf and you should have a pretty leaf print. If you want to add glitter, do so now while the paint is still wet so it sticks. If you are creating more than one card, just give the roller a wipe with an old rag between leaves to remove any paint and avoid smudges. Once dry, let the kids decorate with sequins, we used PVA to attach them – done.

Coat with paint

Painted leaf

Place on card and roll over to press down

Leave print

Sprinkle with glitter while paint it still wet

Shake off excess glitter

Leaf print cards

Home made Christmas Cards

Nov16

Pine Cone Christmas Tree Decorations

Posted on November 16, 2013 by thestick81

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Yep, it’s that time of year again kids. I can deny it all I like, but that doesn’t help at all. I am disgustingly unprepared this year, but don’t really have the time to care, I am sure I will pull it all together in time. I do however, have time to think about some Christmas projects, YAY! So this very simple Idea should have probably taken a single afternoon, but things have been so hectic around here lately it took several afternoons over a week. It didn’t really turn out as well as I had imagined, but they are still pretty cute, and we have plenty of left over cones to make something else out of when inspiration hits me.

The shaggy wool (I’m sure it has a real name) was $2 a ball. There was wayyyy more than we needed in each colour. I just used cheap spray paint, Mr 8 did the first few coats then I went back and got the bits he missed. I tried sticking on some plastic ‘diamonds’ for extra sparkle, but you can’t really see them. We all had a go at wrapping the wool into the cone, then I gave them a hair cut to tidy them up. Simple as that!

: Mr8 Spray painting the pine cones

: gluing on some bling with hot glue

: Ms4 wrapping around the wool

: Before the hair cut / tidy up

: Finished pine cone trees.

: Christmas Tree Craft

Nov13

Autumn Tree, Family Craft Activity

Posted on November 13, 2013 by thestick81

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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.

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.

Sep30

School Holiday Fun – Rainbow Spaghetti!

Posted on September 30, 2013 by thestick81

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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.