Kids Crafts – Painting A BirdHouse

We love a delivery from Baker Ross! Our last delivery was one packed with fantastic products all of which the children really enjoyed getting creative with.

Crafting, is a great way to amuse the kids during the school half term. We have so far had no boredom set in, despite the rainy weather we have experienced here in london these past few days! Why? Because the children have been busy painting and decorating their very own birdhouse.

The suppliers (all provided from Baker Ross Ltd) were as follows…
Box of cardboard readymade Bird Houses, selection of 8 Grotto acrylic paints (designed specifically for children), PVA glue and some fantastic and EZ Stones (that I’ll explain a little more about later within this post).

The toddler age 3 and my daughter Alice Sara 10, Had a fabulous time painting their birdhouses.These cute little houses come ready-made and all that is required is your child’s colourful imagination and some child friendly grotto paint. Grotto acrylic paints are specifically designed to be used by children, they come in 8 colour shades, are supplied in their own carry case, and are all water based and 100% safe to use.

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Alice Sara used the paints to decorate her birdhouse in a Multi coloured stripy fashion. She then used sponge stamps to decorate various areas of her birdhouse. Harley also went for a Multi coloured design and enjoyed mixing and swirling his paints all over his house… And mine!

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The children gave their birdhouses an hours drying time before applying PVA glue to the roof and then covering the glue in crystal EZ stones. These colourful vibrant crushed natural stones add a Three-dimensional effect, giving it that something. a great alternative to glitter. textured, sparkling effects. 6 assorted colours, 150g per colour.

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This is the very first time myself and the children have come across EZ stones but already we love them! They really help to make a craft project that little bit different. The natural stones have been finely crushed making them easy to work with. They are available in an array of fantastic colours and can be added to almost any surface whether its a painting on standard paper or a huge playhouse made of cardboard boxes and toilet roll tubes. I’ll be honest! These stones can leave a little mess around the table/floor but that’s easily sorted with a clean dust pan and brush (you can then sweep them back into their original containers and seal).

Now, back to the project at hand! Once the glue was completely dried and the stones firmly stuck in place, the kids painted a few layers of Mod Podge as to give it a seal and protect the kids lovely art work.

So… Here are the finished birdhouses!

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I love these cute colourful birdhouses and think the kids did a fantastic job. I know that if I were a bird I’d definitely fancy popping in for a quick bite to eat! Wouldn’t you?

If you think your little ones would love to get creative in this way, then just pop over to the Baker Ross ltd online store where all of the listed materials can be easily found. The great news is that Baker Ross Ltd don’t charge the earth for these materials and whats more they can even be brought in bulk which saves you even more money (fantastic for schools and community groups ect).

Well, thanks for reading! We (myself and the children) hope this project has inspired you to get crafty.

Kids Crafts – Crafting With Baker Ross Ltd

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I love Baker Ross, they are one of my favourite online craft stores, especially when I’m purchasing craft bits for the kids.

As reviewers for Baker Ross we have been sent some fantastic craft kids for the kids to review that proved the perfect activity for a cold afternoon.

I decided to pull out the box of goodies today while the older children were at school and the toddler (Harley age 3) was in desperate need of entertaining (saving from boredom).

The first activity I want to share is that of the fabulous Bug Scratch Art Magnets.

Within the set you get an assortment of reasonably large bug shapes (12 in total), 12 scratch tools, 12 self adhesive magnet strips, instruction sheet.

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Firstly the scratch tools provided are wooden and are not overly sharp, so I was happy for the 3 year old to engage in this activity with my supervision.

There were all sorts of bug shapes from butterflies to spiders and Beatles. The technique is simple just scratch your shapes with your tool and the colour comes through. There are different colours on different areas of each shape meaning as you scratch an array of different colours show through, making each bug colourful and unique.

The next step is to apply the self adhesive magnetic strips to the back of your magnets and then simply stick them on the fridge or a magnetic notice board.

I love that kids can be really creative with their designs, yet there is no mess, paint brushes in need of cleaning, pen lids need finding… Nothing! Simply scratch on your designs and that’s it.

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The toddler had the most fun, he found the whole process fascinating. Its kinda like magic to a 3 year old.

I love his groovy bugs almost as much as I love the concentration on his cute little face.

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We were also sent a number of different packs of self adhesive foam shapes, flowers, dinosaurs, butterflies, and Harley’s favourite… Galaxy foam sticker shapes. This was as well as the huge tub of self adhesive foam letters.

As well as making some really funky 3D pictures and cards that I’m planning on showcasing in a later post, we also used these to decorate some foam pencil cases we were sent (these pencil cases come in a pack of 4 in an assortment of colours).

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A very simple craft idea, especially for a 3 year old. I peeled back the backing paper on the letters and one by one he stuck them in a row on the case in the order that they were given to him. This meant that we were left with his name across the pencil case.

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Harley decided he wanted to use the space foam stickers to decorate his pencil case. He was able to peel away the backing paper but as this took him a while and he started to get bored of doing so I sat and removed the backing from all the shapes that he wanted. I was then able to leave him to his own devices. He had lots of fun creating a space inspired pencil case that I think looks super!

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Again this is the perfect activity for kids. No messy glue to contend with, just a load of paper peelings that are easily brushed into a paper waste bin in seconds.

Lastly we made the British Butterfly Decorations, another foam activity kit.

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These are great but a bit complicated for a 3 year old as you need to follow the visual instruction for each of your 6 butterflies. However Alice loved this one and now home from school she has taken them off with her to her bedroom to complete.

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When doing this with the toddler he just wanted to stick the foam pieces everywhere and anywhere. In the end I positioned each piece and he stuck it down. The next step is to thread the ribbon through the hole and then simply hang to display.

Again no glue, scissors or paints required… Another non messy activity.

Reference…

Bug Scratch Art Magnets (12 Pack)£2.99
British Butterfly Decoration Kit (6 Pack) £3.96
Foam Pencil Cases (4 Pack) £3.96
Self Adhesive Foam Letters Value Tub £6.99
Galaxy Foam Stickers £2.99 per pack

We are extremely lucky to be reviewers for Baker Ross and we love receiving a box full of materials every few months. Although we are provide with the materials free of charge for the purpose of review, all opinions are honest and that of my own.

How Too Make A Tissue Paper Googly Eye Wreath

So here’s our second Halloween craft project of the day.

As promised these are last minute craft ideas that don’t cost very much money to create. 🙂

This spooky tissue paper googly eye wreath took less than 30 minutes to make.

You will need…
Large Polystyrene Ring
4 Large Sheets (Orange Tissue Paper)
4 Large Sheets (Green Tissue Paper)
Dress Pins
Small Sheet Felt (spooky design)
Pack of Googly Eyes (self adhesive)
Pack of Sticky Gems (Small, Self adhesive)
2m Satin Orange Ribbon

Tools…

Just Scissors

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All done… I think it looks pretty spook-Tastic for a load of tissue paper, how about you?

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