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.

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!

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.

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!

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 Spring Crafts – Tissue Paper Flower Bouquets

Here’s a very easy craft project to do with the kids this weekend.

Given its been kinda wet outside these past few days spring doesn’t really feel like its in the air. So, why not bring spring indoors with this cute spring bouquet made with tissue paper flowers.

These are easy to do yet an enjoyable activity for children both big and small.

Bouquets can be decorated anyway your child desires whether it be simply dotty flower wrapping or crystals and bows.

To make these with your children, here’s what you are going to need to make it happen.

3x Sheets Of Tissue Paper (3 different colours)
Mod Podge (or PVA/water mix)
Ribbon
3x Strong Glue Dots
3x Tiny Faux Pearls (for smaller flowers)
3x Big Faux Pearls (for larger flowers)
Decorations (examples… Embellishments, beads, glitter..)
1x Elastic Band
1x Sheet Of Green Tissue Paper (optional – if leaf shoots are desired)

Here’s what to do…

First take two sheets of tissue paper in 2 of your 3 colours and rip them into strips (you want around 6 strips, 3 in each of the 2 colours).

Now one at a time roll your paper strips ( ensure that 3 of the strips are rolled more tightly than the other 3). Now pinch 1/4 of the way down and twist to form a bud and stem.

Fiddle with the paper buds to form the flowers shape. At this point you can slightly open the buds and fluff them out a little on the not so tightly rolled flowers. For the 3 tighter flowers be sure to twist and pinch a little firmer to keep them closed like rose buds. Remember, for this tutorial we are making 3 rose buds and 3 open roses.

Now, cut of some of the stems away to make the flower smaller. At this point no glue is required as the twisted paper will hold itself.

Once you have done this step for all your tissue paper strips bunch them together and secure with an elastic band.

Now bring forward your remaining sheet of tissue paper, fold in half and half again and lay down at an angle like that of the image below.

Place the bunched flowers at a tilted angle so that the buds are directly beneath the top right corner like so.

Wrap your flowers in the paper forming a cone like shape, squeezing the bottom tightly and securing around the middle with pretty ribbon.

Push the 3 small faux pearls into the 3 rose buds.

For the larger open roses, add an extra strong glue dot to the bottoms of the 3 large pearls and again push into the centre of the flower.

Now add a very thin layer of Mod Podge or PVA/Water mix (though this will require many more hours to dry).

If using mod podge leave to dry for around 40 minutes (more or less dependent on the conditions your working in.) If using PVA/Water mix this could take anything from 6-24 hours to dry.

Use your decorations to glam up your bouquet. We just added a sequinned pink heart to our flowers wrapping for a pretty finishing touch. If using gems and glitter apply another coat of glue mix or mod podge to ensure all decorations are set. We just added our heart so nothing more was required.

You can let the kids go crazy making these. They could really mix up the colour combinations or even roll one colour tissue paper inside of another to give that pretty two tone effect.

Experiment with the wrapping of your flowers, maybe wrapping them in pretty cellophane or felt. Another pretty idea which can be done for winter as opposed to spring, is to add white ultra fine glitter dust around the edging of each flower for an iced, snow effect.

If like us you want some green in with your roses, then why not add some shoots of grass to your bouquet which are easy enough to achieve and requires nothing more than a sheet of green tissue paper.

Here’s how its done.

1… Simply roll the green tissue paper tightly
2… Pinch and twist a 1/4 of the way down
3… Twist tightly the remaining paper making a stem and cut in half (discard of bottom half)
4… Tie off at the end and then snip the flat end (top) to resemble grass.
5… Fit into your bouquet where desired.

Don’t they look lovely?

Hope you’re now feeling inspired and the kids are too.

Kids crafts – Easy Easter Felt Art

This is really easy and great fun for pre-schoolers.

The idea is for you to create the felt shapes and then for your toddler to use them to create and decorate an Easter egg.

What’s great about this craft idea is that your child will require nothing other than that of the felt to create his egg. There is no sticking, cutting or mess to be made by your child! Once they have designed their egg, they can simply remove the felt pieces and do it all again! The kit can then be stored away and played with again at a later date.

All you will need to create this kit for your pre-schooler is that of the following….

An egg template (or make one with card)
A pencil
Various coloured felt
Scissors and craft knife
A3 coloured card
A4 card any colour
A4 foam sheet
A5 self Adhesive foam sheet
Glue dots
Mounting tape

Here’s what to do (Note – This is so easy you could do it in as little as ten minutes.)

Firstly use an egg template like mine below and with a pencil transfer the shape onto some felt. Do this by drawing around the shape. Once you have finished, cut out the felt egg shape with a craft knife and leave to one side for later.

Next use different pieces of contrasting coloured felt to cut out various shapes in various sizes. You could cut out felt strips, hearts, triangles, squares, circles, zig zags and much more besides.

Once you have cut out all your shapes your felt art is almost ready to play with.

First though, take the A4 card line it with glue dots making sure all the corners are also covered and lay your foam of the same size on top.

Now your card and foam are attached, again with glue dots attach the green felt sandwiching the foam in the middle.

Now cut the sandwiched piece of board in half and trim down excess if needed (my felt slightly overlapped the card base).

Once you have two halves , put one half to one side and cut the other in half again. Place the two halves to one side.

Now Bring back your bigger halve and stick it to your thick self adhesive foam making sure you stick it down on the card side (not felt).

Trim down any excess if needed. By placing my egg in the centre of the felt, it allowed me to see how much I wanted to cut off. My felt base finally resembled the base of a standard birthday card.

I then brought forward my large coloured card, folded it in half like a birthday card and stuck my felt board onto one side of the centres fold with double sided mounting tape .

I now had the two smaller halves I cut earlier on left. I got rid of one ( this isn’t needed) and stuck the other halve long ways up on the opposite side of my cards centre fold with mounting tape.

Lastly, bring forward your felt egg that you prepared as one of your first steps and use mounting tape to stick it to the centre of the large green felt board.

The card should now be able to close like a book with the felt being on the inner side.

How to use…

The felt board on one half of the card would be the place for your toddler to get creative and decorate his/her egg. The felt stripe alongside it (opposite halve) would line the pieces of felt that are not currently in use.

Now that you’ve completed the felt kit, simply give it to your child and watch as they get creative, letting their imaginations run wild.

The best bit for me is the lack of mess involved! Felt sticks to felt really well without being hard for little ones to remove it! Its heaven not having to mop up after him, he can easily pack this away himself once his finished playing with it. Harley honestly thinks that felt is magical, especially considering his so used to using gloppy glue.

When your felt game isn’t in use, close it like a book, keeping the felt and all its pieces inside and store in a plastic zip bag, tin or ice cream container ready to play with again on another day.

Here’s some ideas for your kits…

Make additional cards for different occasions like Christmas and Chinese New Year.

Use the cards to help your child’s recognition of the various seasons, events and celebrations.

Use the felt game to help your child grasp the various different shapes and colours contained within the kit.

Create new cards together as your child grows and develops new interests.

Add new shapes when existing shapes begin to age, or just add new shapes every now and then to keep the game fun and exciting.

This is a lovely craft idea that is in a sense very educational too. Felt play will benefit your child’s development both physically (fine motor skills) and academically (shape, colour recognition, creative art).

So why not have a go? I’m sure your little ones will be mighty impressed!

Not Much Moshi For Your Money

Our second TRU Toyologist box was full of all sorts of surprises, one being the “My Moshi Home“.

I won’t lie, both little man nor Alice have an interest in Moshi Monsters. They both feel that at 12 and 9 they are both that bit to old for it. Nonetheless, my almost 3 year old is a big fan. He loves everything and anything Moshi so I knew there would at least be someone happy to play with it.

The idea behind this toy is to allow moshi fans the opportunity to recreate their online Moshi home!

The set contents are however a tad disappointing. The packaging makes you think your not only going to get the Moshi Home but some Moshlings to live in it. sadly this is not the case (you do however get one posable poppet figure). The set also comes complete with 20 different accessories featuring Telegroan, Pop-Up Bin, Friends Tree and Wheel of Fortune. You also get a secret code for a Limited Edition Moshling Online.

Many of the parts within the Moshi Home are interchangeable. This means children can change the set up of their Moshi home whenever they get bored. Items that can be changed are the window frames, doors and floors. Children are also provided with a number of stickers to customise their Moshi Home as they wish.

As mentioned Alice wasn’t really into it but made an effort to have a play and share her thoughts! She states its not really “her thing” but she is sure it would provide lots of fun for Moshi Monster fans. The toddler proves this to be the case when he refuses to play with anything else for the first week we received it.

The toddler plays with it really well. His not that interested in changing all the pieces, mainly because his quite young! He does however love pushing his Moshi monsters through the doors located on the Moshi house. Luckily Harley already owns a number of moshlings and was happy to add these to the play experience.

Setting up the toy wasn’t that difficult, however, it should be noted that there are images shown on the packaging that don’t tie in with the product. An example being… The box image shows the ceiling covered in a plastic yellow shell therefore allowing stickers to be displayed on it! However, the product itself doesn’t reflect this. I spent ages thinking I must be missing pieces but looking online at other decorated Moshi homes this doesn’t seem to be the case. There is no plastic ceiling covering making the box that bit more misleading.

I also found that the chimney would not slot into place accordingly and once I managed it, it kept dropping back off. The floors are also made of card which in my opinion doesn’t make them very durable.

The great thing about this toy is its easy storage. The house has a catch that locks it and its contents shut whenever it isn’t in play.

Moshi monster fans will love this little house (including the toddler) but it was my honest opinion that for £32.99 you really are not getting a lot of Moshi for your money.

The Moshi Monster My Moshi House is Available from Toys R us.

Silent Sunday

Christmas Crafts With Baker Ross Ltd

Its no secret how much I love Baker Ross, a truly wonderful craft supplier who simply have everything for ones crafting needs. Whether its gloppy glue, sequins or 3d paint your after, then you’ll find they have all these and more at their online store.

Baker Ross also supply a huge range of craft kits which are fantastic for kids. Better still they are really reasonably priced. For each season or holiday Baker Ross Ltd bring out some fabulous seasonal craft kits and one we recently tried was the 3D Reindeer and Sleigh Foam Kit that you can buy in packs of 2 for £2.50 or 10 for £11.00.

What’s really great about this kit is that each one is individually packed so these could be added to party bags or shared between friends etc… The kit itself consists of a number of foam parts that require popping out and slotting together. The googly eyes, reindeer nose and the stars that decorate the sleigh are all self adhesive so no glue is required.

Everything you need to construct this 3D Reindeer and Sleigh is in the kit. Its simple to construct and Alice-Sara made one easily. These look great dotted around the house as decoration or like the toddler you can sit playing with them for hours.

Check out the many Pre-prepared craft kits and more over at Baker Ross Ltd online

Autumn In Pictures

How to make a beaded picture

I know Easter has been and gone, though this is a method you could use for other occasions and designs.

Making beaded pictures are a really simple yet fun activity, it’s not all that messy (well, a little) and the end result is pretty effective.

Now you may choke on your tea with complete horror if I told you I did this activity with my 2-year-old toddler! Why? Because this does involve working with small beads. However, Harley really isn’t one for putting alien objects in his mouth, up his nose or even in his ears. I was with him throughout, therefore lots of sticking fun was had. 

Nonetheless, please do note that this activity does require you to work with small beads and sequins, so please be careful with small children, especially those under 3. Only you as a parent knows if your child is suited to an activity so you should therefore do this at your own risk. 

This activity is perfect for improving or aiding the development of a child’s fine motor skills

What you will need…

Some card in a selection of colours

Some thick double-sided tap (white as opposed to clear) 

Selection of beads

Selection of sequins 

Glitter 

Large sheet of black or other coloured card 

Glue stick

scissors

pencil

clear glue

Paint brush

Now we recently got a pack of eggs and baskets made from thin card (the type that require you to fold it along a dotted line leaving you with kinda 3D design). These are meant to be used for an egg hunt but I had other plans. Instead these became the perfect base for our beaded picture. Cutting along the dotted line, rather than folding it, then continuing to cut around the entire shape  I was left with a flat paper egg and basket. These cards were just £1 from poundworld and both perfect and inexpensive (they also make good templates).

However if you cannot get a hold of any, you will need to make your own by drawing a large egg shape on some coloured card and the body of a basket (no handle needed) on another piece of coloured card before finally cutting them out.

Next, lay down lots of newspaper over the space you’re working at and tip a selection of brightly coloured beads and sequins in the middle of the area.

Now, take your thick double-sided tape, adding a strip across the middle of the egg. It’s important that you only remove the outer strip protecting your tape once it’s positioned exactly how you want it! Note you don’t have to add a stripe across the middle, you could do any design that takes your fancy. 

Once protective strip has been removed let your toddler stick the beads to the tape. Top tip, buy white double-sided tape as this way your toddler can see where to stick

his/her beads and sequins.

Let your child stick them at different angles (on their sides, flat etc…) as this gives greater impact making it a fantastic effect.

DO this for both the egg and the basket

Once your child has finished sticking, Mum/Dad should give the beads the once over, giving them a firm press to ensure they are stuck down well.

Next, take the glitter and ensuring the egg and basket shapes are laid on some newspaper, sprinkle the glitter all over the tapped and beaded area, blowing and lightly tapping off any excess (This will cover any gaps between beads which will be much easier to see if using white tape)

Now with the paint brush cover your beaded area in clear glue, giving it a protective and shiny coat (do not use white glue as this will dry white and take away any sparkle you have going. 

Leave to dry for 1-2 hours before using your glue stick to stick down the decorated shapes any way you like on your black card (or which ever colour you chose). 

We chose black as I felt this helped our creation to really stand out.

So, there you have it! A beaded Easter Egg picture that’s both inexpensive to create and loads of fun to make.

 Why not try it yourself?

A toddler, A Puppy & A Football 11/366

Well, I wasn’t stuck for inspiration today, I actually had a difficult job choosing which picture would make it here on the blog as todays 11th picture in the 366 photo project. My toddler, “Harley” 2 and my mum’s adorable 6 month old puppy “Angel” gave me plenty of picture-taking inspiration as they played football in the garden together, (well, I say football, though it was more a case of the puppy refusing to drop the ball)!

I absolutely adore this shoot! Harley is on his knees in the mud and is now ready to set chase! I love the way you can almost feel the speed in which the puppy is jetting off across the garden, ball firmly between gritted teeth.

Its images like this one that create beautiful lasting memories… Priceless!

Yep… this has to be my favourite picture of the project so far.

Check out “The boy and me” where you can link up your favourite 366 post of the week, plus uncover many more awesome images from fellow bloggers listed in the Linky.

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