Easter Fun!

Easter is always a great opportunity to add some art and craft time to your long weekend schedule.  I've compiled some fun ideas from some awesome sites for you!

Visit the Disney Family Fun website for loads of great ideas,

Enchanted Learning will keep you busy for a while,

Kaboose is also packed with ideas!

We made a cute little cotton ball lamb for an Easter craft:

I found the idea here.  They have a great step by step tutorial.

You will need:

Toilet Paper Roll

Glue ( I would recommend craft glue and not a glue stick like we used)

Black Felt

Black Pom Pom

Felt in any other colour for your bow

Black Pipe cleaners x 1

Scrap Paper

Wiggly Eyes

Cotton Balls

I pre constructed part of the lamb by inserting the scrap paper into the tube, adding the face with black felt, the eyes and ears as well as the pipe cleaner legs.  Just wrap the pipe cleaners around the tube.

I then covered the tube in glue and while holding it, Mouse stuck the cotton balls on.  Lastly we glued on the pom pom for a tail as well as the blue bow.  I trimmed the legs a bit to add a bit of stability.

She is very impressed with the lamb and very proud of how it turned out!

Hope you have a wonderful Easter long weekend!

Trudie xx

Valentine's Craft projects

Valentine's day is just around the corner and we have some art and craft inspiration for you!

 You can make some super cute heart shaped light catchers.  Simply cut out a heart shape from a piece of construction paper.  Cut out a center heart as well - leaving just a heart frame.  Add some contact paper to the one side and place sticky side up in front of your little one. 

 Let them decorate the contact paper with some glitter, this will be messy!

 Once they are done with their artwork, cover the glitter side with another piece of contact paper.  Punch a hole in the top, thread through some ribbon and hang in your window!

 We made these little plaster hearts using plaster (mix it thickly) spooned into a heart shaped cookie cutter.  Leave to set for a few minutes then remove cookie cutter.  Once dry you can paint them.

 Make a cute Valentine's inspired threading game for your little one.  I used some pink craft foam, cut out a heart shape and punched holes around the edge of the heart, give your little one a shoelace and they will have loads of fun!

 We created these fun cards with some bubble wrap, paint and construction paper!  First apply some paint to the bubble wrap, stamp on the paper and then you can paint some heart shapes on top.  Will make great cards!

 You can also do a red themed sensory box.  For this box we used some bran, feathers and some containers.  This was a huge hit!

 Why not try a red themed mosaic box?  We used feathers, pipe cleaners, paper and contact paper.  Cut two pieces of contact paper, place one sticky side up in front of your little one.  Let them decorate with the art supplies, then cover with another piece of contact paper.  Huge fun!

Make a extra special Valentine's gift for daddy.  Use a store bought canvass, paint little ones hands with non toxic paint and let them stamp their little hands on the canvas.  This is such a special gift!

Enjoy and we hope that you will have a lovely Valentine's day!

Trudie xx

Holiday fun ideas

The December holidays are around the corner and you will need loads of fun ideas to keep the little ones busy!  Here are some fun ideas to keep them entertained:


1. Make some blow-painted silly faces

Mix some paint with water to make it extra runny.  We used paper plates and drew some fun faces on them before adding some drops of paints as hair.  Use a straw and blow the paint into streaks to form some silly hair!  For older children:  ask them to blow without a straw first, then blow with a straw, when you blow out air normally the air spreads out and loses pressure quickly and you cannot make streaks with the paint.  When using a straw the air is forced through the narrow gap increasing pressure and you can spread the paint easily.

2. Slimy fun!

Mix half a glass of cornflour with a quarter glass of cold water, add a few drops of foodcolouring too!  Stir using a metal spoon, then mix thoroughly with your hands.
Now for the fun part!  punch the slime in the bowl, roll it into a ball, hold the ball and see what happens!
The slime will feel solid when you punch it or squeeze it, but runny when you hold it.  When you hold it the little pieces (particles) that makes up the slime spreads out and the slime turns into a liquid, when you squeeze it or punch it you apply pressure and the little pieces (particles) forms a solid.


3. Window decorations

We absolutely love contact paper, it is such a wonderful versatile medium!  Stock up on some this December holidays for loads of fun.  Create a fun window decoration by cutting two pieces of contact paper.  Stick one onto a flat surface, like a table top, with some press stick, sticky side up.  Give your child some mosaic items, for example - feathers, tissue paper pieces, coloured rice, cut pipecleaners, pieces of paper, glitter or any other fun item that you can find.  Ask your little one to create a mosaic with all the items on the contact paper.  Once finished cover with the extra piece of contact paper to seal the master piece!  Now you can stick the finished art work in the window!

When using items such as tissue paper you can explain to an older child why light can be seen through the different items, highlight terms such as see through, transparent, translucent, opaque.

4. Bubble wrap painting

Save those pieces of bubble wrap for bubble wrap stamping fun!  Simply let your child paint the bobble side of the wrap with some paint and then turn it over onto a piece of paper to create beautiful stamps!

For older children you can explain that the raised edges of the bubbles are the only piece in contact with the paint and paper.

For more fun activities why not subscribe to Clever Kids Club?  Will make a great "stocking filler"  for Christmas!