Rona got some beautiful cards for her birthday and I always feel guilty just recycling them. This year I tried to use them constructively. I used some cardstock to create a 3D box. Rona used the images she cut out of the cards and stuck them on the box to make a 'birthday box'.
The girls really enjoyed this and I used a punch to put a rivet and some ribbon on the lid and glued a button on the front to loop the ribbon around and create a fastener.
Tuesday 18 October 2011
Tuesday 6 September 2011
A toy to let the imagination run wild
If you are looking for a toy to spark the imagination, whether for a child or an adult, try Rory's Story Cubes. They are amazing!
http://www.storycubes.com/
We bought some of these for my 4 year old for her birthday. They comprise of 9 dice with different images on each face. Once rolled you have to start by saying 'Once upon a time....' Then you use the images to tell your story.
You can make it as complex of as easy as you want. My youngest daughter likes to choose her images rather than having the randon rolled selection, however the eldest likes to roll them then write the story down. This can be taken as far as you like, you could set a time limit to the story so they have to fill a lenght of time thereby increasing the time they have to spend thinking or make it an association game where they can't actually say the name of the image in the story telling, they have to refer to it in a round about way.
Some of the ideas both of the girls have come up with have stunned me. My favourite so far was told by Rona (the youngest);
'Once upon a time there was an aeroplane and he left a foot print.....' If only she knew!
http://www.storycubes.com/
We bought some of these for my 4 year old for her birthday. They comprise of 9 dice with different images on each face. Once rolled you have to start by saying 'Once upon a time....' Then you use the images to tell your story.
You can make it as complex of as easy as you want. My youngest daughter likes to choose her images rather than having the randon rolled selection, however the eldest likes to roll them then write the story down. This can be taken as far as you like, you could set a time limit to the story so they have to fill a lenght of time thereby increasing the time they have to spend thinking or make it an association game where they can't actually say the name of the image in the story telling, they have to refer to it in a round about way.
Some of the ideas both of the girls have come up with have stunned me. My favourite so far was told by Rona (the youngest);
'Once upon a time there was an aeroplane and he left a foot print.....' If only she knew!
Sunday 28 August 2011
mobile stories
Last night we were driving home from a friends house after a lovely day at their Chocolate Fountain party. The girls were tired and it was getting dark so they asked me to tell them a story. Well I am not the greatest at spontanious story telling so I started to use my mobile phone to search for story web sites and I found this excellent site;
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/cgi-bin/read_db.pl?search_field=genre&search_for=children&order_by=rating,length_range,length&page=1&type_ind=stories
We spent the whole of the journey with the girls listening intently to the different stories. A very valuable story resource in my opinion.
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/cgi-bin/read_db.pl?search_field=genre&search_for=children&order_by=rating,length_range,length&page=1&type_ind=stories
We spent the whole of the journey with the girls listening intently to the different stories. A very valuable story resource in my opinion.
Wednesday 24 August 2011
A-maize-ing
Both of my girls love crafty things and I am always looking for different crafty ideas (you can only keep them interested in pencils and paints for so long).
Whilst in Austria we attended a kids club session using an excellent product called 'Playmais'. These are made from corn starch and you have probably seen them inside boxes as packaging. The playmais comes in different colours (all natural) and can be shaped and, by using a tiny bit of water, they can be stuck together. You can buy books to help your modelling. My eldest made a triceratops whilst my youngest made a giraffe and a tree. The playmais can also be cut into any shape and it can also be stuck onto paper to make a picture.
If you google it you will see there is a lot of it for sale on amazon, however it appears to be predominantly a German product at the moment and the link below will take you to the German site. It looks like they are working on an English site but it is not up and running yet, but you can get the idea of things that can be made.
http://www.playmais.de/index.php?s=what_can_i_do_with_it-models&l=en
When I first saw the Playmais I could not understand how you were expected to make the things show, but after using it I think this product has a lot of potential. It is very tactile and is easy to mold bringing hours of fun for the younger and older members of the family.
Whilst in Austria we attended a kids club session using an excellent product called 'Playmais'. These are made from corn starch and you have probably seen them inside boxes as packaging. The playmais comes in different colours (all natural) and can be shaped and, by using a tiny bit of water, they can be stuck together. You can buy books to help your modelling. My eldest made a triceratops whilst my youngest made a giraffe and a tree. The playmais can also be cut into any shape and it can also be stuck onto paper to make a picture.
If you google it you will see there is a lot of it for sale on amazon, however it appears to be predominantly a German product at the moment and the link below will take you to the German site. It looks like they are working on an English site but it is not up and running yet, but you can get the idea of things that can be made.
http://www.playmais.de/index.php?s=what_can_i_do_with_it-models&l=en
When I first saw the Playmais I could not understand how you were expected to make the things show, but after using it I think this product has a lot of potential. It is very tactile and is easy to mold bringing hours of fun for the younger and older members of the family.
Sunday 21 August 2011
Kind'er holiday for us all
Back in February my husband and I were struggling to find a holiday that would suit us all. Neither myself or the huddy like the heat that much and sitting on a beach or round a pool all day is not our idea of fun. The girls take a lot to entertain and although they would have loved pools and the beach they struggle with the heat. After talking to a friend she recommend the KINDER HOTELS. http://www.kinderhotels.com/uk-index.htm. She had been to one for the skiing and said they were very good. So we looked into it.
We asked for a brochure to be sent and we sifted through all of the hotels, looking at the activities offered and distance from airports. In the end we chose the Post Family Hotel in Unken 30 minutes from Salzberg. http://www.kinderhotelpost.at/en-family-hotel-austria.htm.
This was the most amazing hotel! We were picked up from the airport by a lovely Herren (man) who transferred us from the airport to the hotel and even though he didn't speak much English he tried his hardest to point out local landmarks and mountains. Upon arrival we were greeted by a Damen (lady) in traditional costume who greeted the girls with a soft toy (Smiline- one of the kinder hotel chain mascots). She spoke excellent English and gave us a map of the hotel and pointed out the restaurant and kids club.
We were a little early for our room so we went into the restaurant for a drink. Soft drinks, water, coke and lemonade were constantly available as was fruit and biscuits.
After we had settled into our room we went down to the restaurant for our lunch. We were gobsmacked by the array of food on offer. Mostly traditional German/Austrian food but there was such a selection that there was always something for everyone to eat.
At 3 o'clock the bar by the lake served 'Snack'. I use the term loosely as it was more like a second lunch. There was a selection of cheeses and cooked meats, sandwiches, melon, water melon and a huge array of amazing cakes. All food in the hotel was made in the kitchens using organic ingredients only. Then at 6 the restaurant was opened for dinner for the children and for the adults to have soup and salad, then at 6.30 they started serving the adults a 3 course meal. Needless to say by halfway through the week we had a small salad at lunch and missed snack! The waitresses were lovely and spoke excellent English.
My eldest loved the freedom of the kids club. We were given a weekly rota of events in the kids club and we picked and chose the ones that we wanted to do. If you wanted you could drop the kids off at 9.30 and pick them up at 8pm. They could have their lunch, snack and dinner there at the 'kids table'. A few of the families would drop the children off and go off walking or cycling. We were selective about what we did. The kids club took the children horse riding, out for walks, did crafty things with them as well as taking the children on an evening for rehearsals for a play they put on, on the Friday night for the families to go and watch. It was good, but mostly in German so even though we knew the bones of it we couldn't follow the jokes or other spoken parts. In fact it inspired my eldest to want to learn German!
The hotel housed a huge selection of activities for the kids, ranging from horse riding, tennis, basketball, an indoor heated pool, trampolines, a bike shed full of bikes for everyone to use, a big park, and indoor soft play area, archery, table tennis, golf, and go karts. Every child that came to the hotel had 60 hours child care which was provided by the Kid's Club. For the older children there was a games room with PS3 and a Wii with games changed every day as well as table football and billiards table. There was also white water rafting for the over 7's which did come at an extra charge, but i though the price was reasonable.
There was also saunas, steam bath and a gymnasium for adults included in the price, and the option of having a massage, manicure or pedicure in the wellness centre at an extra cost.
It was the little touches that struck me the most, like the steps and platform at the front desk to allow the children to see what was going on at reception, the sweeties on the bed that awaited the girls as we we entered our room, as well as the quilt origami. Every morning the chambermaid would straighten the room and when we returned the quilts on the bed were arranged into very creative shapes such as hearts and bows. And as we left the children were given a box of PLAYMAIS (which I will write about later) and a DVD of photos taken by the kids club over the week (that was amazing to look through when we got home and will always bring back the lovely memories).
All of this set in an amazing mountain setting. We had an excellent time and would recommend it to anyone and we will definatly be going again in a couple of years!
Friday 12 August 2011
hair today!
Another possible idea for those wet and rainy holidays;
Next time you are in a pound shop why not stock up on plain hairbands and plastic gems of all shapes and sizes.
My two girls spent quite some time sticking gems onto the hairbands. I used Pinflair Gel glue, I bought mine in a local craft shop. It cost just under £5 but it has lasted me a long time. It comes in a tube and you can squeeze it into a syringe to use. It is not sticky, so there is no fear of the girls glueing their fingers together and it doesn't fix the gem in place for about half an hour so they can remove and reposition their gems on the hairband until they are happy. This glue will also rub off surfaces easily within the first half an hour yet once it is dry it hold firmly on most materials (infact I havn't found any yet that it doesn't work on).
You could also buy big material flowers to stick onto the bands, being as elaborate or refined as you like.
Next time you are in a pound shop why not stock up on plain hairbands and plastic gems of all shapes and sizes.
My two girls spent quite some time sticking gems onto the hairbands. I used Pinflair Gel glue, I bought mine in a local craft shop. It cost just under £5 but it has lasted me a long time. It comes in a tube and you can squeeze it into a syringe to use. It is not sticky, so there is no fear of the girls glueing their fingers together and it doesn't fix the gem in place for about half an hour so they can remove and reposition their gems on the hairband until they are happy. This glue will also rub off surfaces easily within the first half an hour yet once it is dry it hold firmly on most materials (infact I havn't found any yet that it doesn't work on).
You could also buy big material flowers to stick onto the bands, being as elaborate or refined as you like.
Sunday 7 August 2011
Rainy day
Well we have had a couple of rainy days recently and my eldest is not one for sitting around. So we went into the local town center. I took her to a shop that sells cheap painting canvas' and I bought her a large canvas for about £4, I also bought a smaller one for my youngest daughter.
Now since my eldest can be quite careful painting, we decided to carefully draw a picture of Disney fairies on it. (If you are great at drawing then why not photocopy the picture then enlarge it or reduce it to the size you want and then trace it onto the canvas). So far it has taken her about 4 hours to finish about a third of it and she has really surprised me with the care she has taken. She is really proud of what she has achieved so far and is really excited about hanging it in her bedroom once it is finished.
My youngest decided she was going to paint an owl on hers and I had to watch her as to make sure it did not turn into a massive brown splodge. In fact it turned into a 'Spotty Slat Monster 1' which she got particularly upset about as it did not look as good as her sisters. I have promised her she can have another canvas next year and we can see how her paining skill progress.
We have also made cakes (the cherry and white chocolate ones were my fav) and jam. We were supposed to be going Damson picking today to make some damson, but rain has stopped play again so hopefully we can do that when the rain stops. All the soft fruits seem to be starting to ripen about now so i better buy some more jam jars.
Now since my eldest can be quite careful painting, we decided to carefully draw a picture of Disney fairies on it. (If you are great at drawing then why not photocopy the picture then enlarge it or reduce it to the size you want and then trace it onto the canvas). So far it has taken her about 4 hours to finish about a third of it and she has really surprised me with the care she has taken. She is really proud of what she has achieved so far and is really excited about hanging it in her bedroom once it is finished.
My youngest decided she was going to paint an owl on hers and I had to watch her as to make sure it did not turn into a massive brown splodge. In fact it turned into a 'Spotty Slat Monster 1' which she got particularly upset about as it did not look as good as her sisters. I have promised her she can have another canvas next year and we can see how her paining skill progress.
We have also made cakes (the cherry and white chocolate ones were my fav) and jam. We were supposed to be going Damson picking today to make some damson, but rain has stopped play again so hopefully we can do that when the rain stops. All the soft fruits seem to be starting to ripen about now so i better buy some more jam jars.
Sunday 31 July 2011
Holiday Scrapbook
This is the 3rd year that my eldest daughter has kept a scrapbook of things she has done over the summer holidays. This year my youngest wanted to have her own book too.
It is an excellent keepsake and is lovely to look through, especially as it helps us remember things we did in previous years that we may like to do again.
All we use is a cheap A4 lined pad which can be bought from any supermarket. I find these are best as it gives lines for the children to write their thoughts on. I know that it does not give an acid free background for the photos to be mounted on, but it is intended only to give the girls a place to stick memento's.
On the first page the year is written (so for my eldest Summer Holidays school year 2011-2012).
On the second page we write the start and end date of the summer holiday and under this will be written the notable activities and the date it was done eg:
Friday 22nd July - Tuesday 6th Sept
Fri 22nd July - Signed up for the Summer reading challenge
Sun 24th July - Travelled to Devon (pooh Cottage - camping) and stopped at Stonehenge
Mon 25th July - Went to Budleigh Salterton beach
etc.
We left 2 pages to write the day by day information on, then we wrote 'Fri 22nd July - Summer reading Challenge'. A further 2 pages were left after this title so the girls can stick in the 3D stage and the certificate once they are completed. Then the following page was given the title 'Sun 24th July- Camping and Stonehenge'. My Eldest then proceeded to write in the information she recalled from the audio commentary from Stonehenge (so far she has written 3/4 of a page and still wants to write more, it really sparked her interest). My youngest is too young to write her own information so I wrote the title out for her in pencil and she went over it in a different coloured pencil, next she stuck in the tickets from Stonehenge and the information booklets we were given. We will leave spaces for photos too before progressing to the next day/page.
This allows us to keep mementos from holidays- in previous years my eldest has collected 'Hagrid sick' (green paper which was used to represent sick from Hagrid when we went to Alnwick Castle last year), tickets from films we went to see at the cinema and pony hair from dartmoor ponies that we found on Dartmoor when we were there last week.
The girls really do enjoy doing this and for my eldest it is a way of improving her writing without it feeling like work. The children can put in as much or as little information into the books as they want/are able and it also makes sure that I remember to take photos through out the holidays.
I also enjoy helping them to keep these memories and we finish off every yearly entry with a photo of them on the first day back to school. This provides a lovely yearly record of growth, especially if you have the same piece of furniture in the background so you can see how they have grown!
It is an excellent keepsake and is lovely to look through, especially as it helps us remember things we did in previous years that we may like to do again.
All we use is a cheap A4 lined pad which can be bought from any supermarket. I find these are best as it gives lines for the children to write their thoughts on. I know that it does not give an acid free background for the photos to be mounted on, but it is intended only to give the girls a place to stick memento's.
On the first page the year is written (so for my eldest Summer Holidays school year 2011-2012).
On the second page we write the start and end date of the summer holiday and under this will be written the notable activities and the date it was done eg:
Friday 22nd July - Tuesday 6th Sept
Fri 22nd July - Signed up for the Summer reading challenge
Sun 24th July - Travelled to Devon (pooh Cottage - camping) and stopped at Stonehenge
Mon 25th July - Went to Budleigh Salterton beach
etc.
We left 2 pages to write the day by day information on, then we wrote 'Fri 22nd July - Summer reading Challenge'. A further 2 pages were left after this title so the girls can stick in the 3D stage and the certificate once they are completed. Then the following page was given the title 'Sun 24th July- Camping and Stonehenge'. My Eldest then proceeded to write in the information she recalled from the audio commentary from Stonehenge (so far she has written 3/4 of a page and still wants to write more, it really sparked her interest). My youngest is too young to write her own information so I wrote the title out for her in pencil and she went over it in a different coloured pencil, next she stuck in the tickets from Stonehenge and the information booklets we were given. We will leave spaces for photos too before progressing to the next day/page.
This allows us to keep mementos from holidays- in previous years my eldest has collected 'Hagrid sick' (green paper which was used to represent sick from Hagrid when we went to Alnwick Castle last year), tickets from films we went to see at the cinema and pony hair from dartmoor ponies that we found on Dartmoor when we were there last week.
The girls really do enjoy doing this and for my eldest it is a way of improving her writing without it feeling like work. The children can put in as much or as little information into the books as they want/are able and it also makes sure that I remember to take photos through out the holidays.
I also enjoy helping them to keep these memories and we finish off every yearly entry with a photo of them on the first day back to school. This provides a lovely yearly record of growth, especially if you have the same piece of furniture in the background so you can see how they have grown!
Start of the holidays
If you are looking for something to keep the kids occupied for part of the summer holidays why not sign up for the Reading Challenge at your local library. This year it is Circus Stars http://www.circus-stars.org.uk/. On signing up the children are given a 3D stage and a card (so the library can see how far through the scheme the child is). The kids then, through out the summer holidays, have to read 6 books. Once they have read the books they will recieve a medal and a certificate as well as getting stickers to put onto the 3D stage.
This is the third year my girls have done it. If they are not old enough to read themselves then simply sharing the book qualifies too.
Well its the second week of the summer holidays and we are just back from a lovely week away camping in Devon. Although sleeping in a tent isn't my idea of comfort (and I do LIKE my comfort) the kids and the hubby love it.
On the way over we stopped at Stonehenge. Considering my eldest is 6 and the youngest 3 they loved it! We got 2 audio commentaries with the intention of my husband and I listening to them and relaying the information of interest to our daughters. Needless to say neither of us heard much as the kids took them from us and listened. I am stunned at the amount of information my eldest took in. She has been writing up her scrapbook today and she has written a whole essay using the information she remembered from the audio commentary. The Structure is amazing and it is defiantly something you must see in your lifetime!
We had never been to Devon before and it was nice to see that part of the country. However, we love Scotland and both my husband and I were a little underwhelmed with what the South-West had to offer. Everywhere we went was very busy (I know it's the summer holidays). I wanted to take the girls rock pooling and, after searching on the Internet, we found a recommendation for an excellent rock pooling beach just a few miles from where we were staying, with the added bonus of it being a fossil beach were 'Fossils could be easily found on the shore line'. When we got there we found the rock pools were full of seaweed and even after an hours searching no fossils were found, but the eldest was happy with swimming in the sea and the youngest decided she was going to dig her way to Australia!
I would also recommend a trip over Dartmoor, but be careful of the ponies. We saw some ponies up by a parking place and we stopped to take some pictures and have a bite to eat. A male pony that was about 400 yards from the car galloped over looking for food. The kids thought it very amusing, but the couple having a picnic on the hill beside the parking place did not. He trampled all over their rug and almost trampled the couple too! There are some beautiful little streams which are lovely to stop by and have a paddle (or to fall in and get soaked from head to toe as our eldest did).
Hopefully I can come up with some things to help pass the holidays away, but sofar the weather is looking good and the kids can get outside and burn off the energy.
This is the third year my girls have done it. If they are not old enough to read themselves then simply sharing the book qualifies too.
Well its the second week of the summer holidays and we are just back from a lovely week away camping in Devon. Although sleeping in a tent isn't my idea of comfort (and I do LIKE my comfort) the kids and the hubby love it.
On the way over we stopped at Stonehenge. Considering my eldest is 6 and the youngest 3 they loved it! We got 2 audio commentaries with the intention of my husband and I listening to them and relaying the information of interest to our daughters. Needless to say neither of us heard much as the kids took them from us and listened. I am stunned at the amount of information my eldest took in. She has been writing up her scrapbook today and she has written a whole essay using the information she remembered from the audio commentary. The Structure is amazing and it is defiantly something you must see in your lifetime!
We had never been to Devon before and it was nice to see that part of the country. However, we love Scotland and both my husband and I were a little underwhelmed with what the South-West had to offer. Everywhere we went was very busy (I know it's the summer holidays). I wanted to take the girls rock pooling and, after searching on the Internet, we found a recommendation for an excellent rock pooling beach just a few miles from where we were staying, with the added bonus of it being a fossil beach were 'Fossils could be easily found on the shore line'. When we got there we found the rock pools were full of seaweed and even after an hours searching no fossils were found, but the eldest was happy with swimming in the sea and the youngest decided she was going to dig her way to Australia!
I would also recommend a trip over Dartmoor, but be careful of the ponies. We saw some ponies up by a parking place and we stopped to take some pictures and have a bite to eat. A male pony that was about 400 yards from the car galloped over looking for food. The kids thought it very amusing, but the couple having a picnic on the hill beside the parking place did not. He trampled all over their rug and almost trampled the couple too! There are some beautiful little streams which are lovely to stop by and have a paddle (or to fall in and get soaked from head to toe as our eldest did).
Hopefully I can come up with some things to help pass the holidays away, but sofar the weather is looking good and the kids can get outside and burn off the energy.
Thursday 14 July 2011
dohlightful
'What shall we do today?'
'Can we make play doh mammy?'
'Why not!'
So this morning we donned our aprons and rolled up our sleeves and the Salt Doh fun began.
I always get my youngest daughter to tell me the quantities as I read out the ingredients to her. We do this whenever we are baking or reading from a recipe/instruction list.
Salt Doh Recipe
3 cups of plain flour
3 tablespoons Cream of tartar
3 tablespoons of sunflower oil (however I use baby oil as it smells lovely and is good for the skin- and to be honest who hasn't got a bottle of baby oil that they bought to use on the kids, but found they couldn't pick them up as they were to greasy and just put the bottle back in the cupboard?)
1 1/2 cups of table salt
Food colouring
(also any of the following can be added- glitter, essential oils (lavender is nice))
I place the cup inside a large bowl and give my daughter the bag of flour and a spoon. I got her to fill the cup with the flour (and because the cup is already in the bowl it doesn't matter if she misses!) and do that 3 times. Then she used the same method to add the salt. Next I gave her the measuring spoon and she measured out the 3 tbsp of cream of tartar and held the spoon whilst I poured in the baby oil. I half filled a second bowl with water and she filled her cup and poured it into the bowl with the flour, cream of tartar, oil and salt. I gave her a whisk and she mixed the ingredients together. After that mammy was allowed a little go too.
Next we poured half the mixture into another bowl as we wanted 2 different colours. To one bowl we added yellow food colouring and to the second we added green food colouring and a couple of drops of lavender oil.
There are 2 different methods of cooking I always use the microwave as it is quicker, but you can also use the hob.
I start off by giving the mixture 1 minute on full power in the microwave, then stirred it (removing any crispy/hard bit that appear around the side of the bowl as you don't want the hard bits in the doh). I continued heating, stirring and removing hard bits at 30 second intervals. Once the doh started to come away from the edge of the bowl and form a ball, I then continued at 15 sec intervals until I could touch the doh and it was not gooey or sticking to my fingers. Caution the doh is very hot at this point, do not give to the child. I allowed the doh to cool for about 20 minutes, kneading occasionally otherwise it may stay hot in the middle.
After a little wander to Lake Meadows park in Billericay to feed the ducks we came home and the doh fun began. Using plastic kids knives, plastic pizza cutters and rolling pins my daughter created a Rapunzel (inspired by the DVD they watched at the weekend as a treat- however it took a lot to explain the stabbing bit- Walt Disney really have gone down in my estimation). Then we got out all of the play doh equipment that we have accumulated over the years and we spent a lovely afternoon sitting in the garden making night garden and dora shapes.
If you wanted to extend this activity you could dry the things you make in the airing cupboard and paint them once dry. The girls really enjoy doing this.
'Can we make play doh mammy?'
'Why not!'
So this morning we donned our aprons and rolled up our sleeves and the Salt Doh fun began.
I always get my youngest daughter to tell me the quantities as I read out the ingredients to her. We do this whenever we are baking or reading from a recipe/instruction list.
Salt Doh Recipe
3 cups of plain flour
3 tablespoons Cream of tartar
3 tablespoons of sunflower oil (however I use baby oil as it smells lovely and is good for the skin- and to be honest who hasn't got a bottle of baby oil that they bought to use on the kids, but found they couldn't pick them up as they were to greasy and just put the bottle back in the cupboard?)
1 1/2 cups of table salt
Food colouring
(also any of the following can be added- glitter, essential oils (lavender is nice))
I place the cup inside a large bowl and give my daughter the bag of flour and a spoon. I got her to fill the cup with the flour (and because the cup is already in the bowl it doesn't matter if she misses!) and do that 3 times. Then she used the same method to add the salt. Next I gave her the measuring spoon and she measured out the 3 tbsp of cream of tartar and held the spoon whilst I poured in the baby oil. I half filled a second bowl with water and she filled her cup and poured it into the bowl with the flour, cream of tartar, oil and salt. I gave her a whisk and she mixed the ingredients together. After that mammy was allowed a little go too.
Next we poured half the mixture into another bowl as we wanted 2 different colours. To one bowl we added yellow food colouring and to the second we added green food colouring and a couple of drops of lavender oil.
There are 2 different methods of cooking I always use the microwave as it is quicker, but you can also use the hob.
I start off by giving the mixture 1 minute on full power in the microwave, then stirred it (removing any crispy/hard bit that appear around the side of the bowl as you don't want the hard bits in the doh). I continued heating, stirring and removing hard bits at 30 second intervals. Once the doh started to come away from the edge of the bowl and form a ball, I then continued at 15 sec intervals until I could touch the doh and it was not gooey or sticking to my fingers. Caution the doh is very hot at this point, do not give to the child. I allowed the doh to cool for about 20 minutes, kneading occasionally otherwise it may stay hot in the middle.
After a little wander to Lake Meadows park in Billericay to feed the ducks we came home and the doh fun began. Using plastic kids knives, plastic pizza cutters and rolling pins my daughter created a Rapunzel (inspired by the DVD they watched at the weekend as a treat- however it took a lot to explain the stabbing bit- Walt Disney really have gone down in my estimation). Then we got out all of the play doh equipment that we have accumulated over the years and we spent a lovely afternoon sitting in the garden making night garden and dora shapes.
If you wanted to extend this activity you could dry the things you make in the airing cupboard and paint them once dry. The girls really enjoy doing this.
Tuesday 12 July 2011
preparing for christmas
Well, no-one can ever call me ill prepared! I have already started making the kids christmas cards.
Every year, since they were little, the girls have always made and sent their own christmas cards to members of the family and close friends.
It started off with the girls sticking cotton wool balls onto black card and adding some eyes (hole punched from white paper) and a foam, carrot shaped nose. They then stuck snowflake confetti onto the background. Easy enough for a 1 year old to do.
The following year we cut out a large hexagon from dark green card and cut it in half. I scored a line from the center of the straight surface, to each of the 3 corners. By bending along the scored line we were left with a 3 sided triangular card that we could add gems to.
On the third year I designed a sleigh which I used a craft knife to cut out of a piece of folded brown card. I also cut out sack shapes using a different shade of brown card and gave the girls an old argos catalogue to cut up. They cut toys out of the catalogue to place hanging out of the sacks. We also hung small bells from cotton and draped these along the edge of the sleigh.
Last year I simply bought some rubber stamps and stamped some white card with either a father christmas or a Rudolph and the girls coloured them in. However, as we got close to christmas they became bored of colouring in the same designs, hence the reason I have started so early this year.
I am using the same stamps from last year, but I am stamping them on to shrink plastic and cutting them out in circles. Once cut out I use a hole punch to put a hole in the plastic then the girls are colouring them in and signing each one with their name and date. Once they are coloured I use a heat gun and the plastic reduces in size by 45%, leaving a medallion which I am adding some hemp cord to. I am intending to fix these to a card and give them to friends and family. The great thing about it is the medallions can be removed from the card and used as decorations on the christmas tree the following year.
The girls love watching the plastic shrink and I am going to make keyrings with them at some point. You do not need to own a heat gun to do this, as the plastic will shrink just as well in the oven too.
Shrink plastic is great fun and gives an excellent keepsake if you get the children to draw a picture on it, alternatively stamp their hand print or footprint onto it and date it..................
Every year, since they were little, the girls have always made and sent their own christmas cards to members of the family and close friends.
It started off with the girls sticking cotton wool balls onto black card and adding some eyes (hole punched from white paper) and a foam, carrot shaped nose. They then stuck snowflake confetti onto the background. Easy enough for a 1 year old to do.
The following year we cut out a large hexagon from dark green card and cut it in half. I scored a line from the center of the straight surface, to each of the 3 corners. By bending along the scored line we were left with a 3 sided triangular card that we could add gems to.
On the third year I designed a sleigh which I used a craft knife to cut out of a piece of folded brown card. I also cut out sack shapes using a different shade of brown card and gave the girls an old argos catalogue to cut up. They cut toys out of the catalogue to place hanging out of the sacks. We also hung small bells from cotton and draped these along the edge of the sleigh.
Last year I simply bought some rubber stamps and stamped some white card with either a father christmas or a Rudolph and the girls coloured them in. However, as we got close to christmas they became bored of colouring in the same designs, hence the reason I have started so early this year.
I am using the same stamps from last year, but I am stamping them on to shrink plastic and cutting them out in circles. Once cut out I use a hole punch to put a hole in the plastic then the girls are colouring them in and signing each one with their name and date. Once they are coloured I use a heat gun and the plastic reduces in size by 45%, leaving a medallion which I am adding some hemp cord to. I am intending to fix these to a card and give them to friends and family. The great thing about it is the medallions can be removed from the card and used as decorations on the christmas tree the following year.
The girls love watching the plastic shrink and I am going to make keyrings with them at some point. You do not need to own a heat gun to do this, as the plastic will shrink just as well in the oven too.
Shrink plastic is great fun and gives an excellent keepsake if you get the children to draw a picture on it, alternatively stamp their hand print or footprint onto it and date it..................
Monday 11 July 2011
getting Started
It was suggested to me that I might enjoy trying to write my own blog. I have never done this before, but my friend thought that some people may well be interested in some of the things I get up to with my kids. I have 2 girls, one 3 and one 6 and I try to keep them away from the telly and computer games as much as possible. We are often out at the park or sitting reading books and doing crafty bits. So here is to, hopefully, interesting Blogging!!!!
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