My girl's have always loved creating cards for family and friends for birthdays or special occasions. The great part about this is that our family members, myself and grandma included, love anything handmade, so handmade cards or pictures can also make the best presents. The girl's favourite type of card to make, other than a standard drawing, is a sticky card where we decorate a sticky shape on the front of a card. We've made so many over the years and this one is the collage sticky heart card they made their grandma for Mother's Day.
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Monday, April 20, 2020
Earth Day Paper Plate Craft
Earth Day is an annual event held on April 22nd around the world. Earth Day is typically celebrated by showing support for the environment which people can do in many different ways. Community groups often come together to facilitate a volunteer clean up day and support environmental charities. You can look up Earth Day events being hosted in 2023 at earthday.org.
Of course it's still easy for families to individually celebrate Earth Day at home. Some hands on ways to celebrate Earth Day include planting a tree or some vegetable seeds, recycling, creating a compost bin in the backyard, setting up a worm farm, or by making a homemade bird feeder, butterfly feeder, or bug hotel. We're a pretty environmentally friendly family and have done a few of these activities already, as well as some environmental small world play, so when my girls asked to do some craft over the weekend I thought it was the perfect time to do some Earth Day crafting.
Friday, April 17, 2020
How to make a DIY Recycled Bird Feeder
Want to attract more birds to your garden? Don't worry you don't need to go and buy a fancy bird house or bird bath, you can attract them with something as simple as a toilet paper roll or a milk bottle. You can make an easy DIY bird feeder from recyclables with an empty milk bottle and a few items from around the house by following the steps below.
We've been spending so much time at home lately and the girls have become really interested in the wildlife that visits our yard. They love watching the birds, bees, dragonflies, ladybirds and butterflies that visit our garden. A few weeks ago we made our own DIY butterfly feeder to attract more butterflies and they've been so excited checking it all the time, so we decided to make our own DIY bird feeder from things we had around the house too.
We've been spending so much time at home lately and the girls have become really interested in the wildlife that visits our yard. They love watching the birds, bees, dragonflies, ladybirds and butterflies that visit our garden. A few weeks ago we made our own DIY butterfly feeder to attract more butterflies and they've been so excited checking it all the time, so we decided to make our own DIY bird feeder from things we had around the house too.
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
How to make DIY Chalk Paint
Are you always finding broken bits of chalk laying around? Chalk and crayons are notorious for breaking apart as kids use them, and just like broken crayons, chalk can be repurposed. Don't throw out all the little bits and pieces, collect them up and make some DIY 2 ingredient chalk paint.
Like a lot of other families lately, we've been spending a lot of time stuck at home. However, it's good for the soul to get outside and escape the four walls of the house, so we decided to chalk paint our front pathway. Making the chalk paint itself is just as much fun as painting with it, so it's like two activities in one. It not only brightened my kids day, it also brought some joy to our neighbours as well.
Friday, April 10, 2020
How to Play with a Grimms Rainbow: Over 50 Play Ideas
Without a doubt one of the most popular wooden toys available is the Grimms large rainbow. But why are Grimms rainbows so popular? Should you buy one? Who are Grimms? and how do you play with a Grimms rainbow?
Don't worry, by the end of this post I'll answer all your questions and you'll know everything you need to know to determine if you want to add a Grimms rainbow to your home, school, or early learning centre, as well as over 50 ways to play with a large Grimms rainbow. Plus I'll let you know where to buy my rainbow play ideas PDF booklet so you can have loads of rainbow play ideas printed in one handy place.
WHAT IS A GRIMMS RAINBOW?
Grimms Spiel & Holtz Design {more commonly known as Grimms} is a world renowned family owned German toy manufacturer. They've been designing, manufacturing and selling wooden toys since 1978 and they're now stocked in boutique toy stores all over the world. Grimm's specialise in open ended Montessori and Waldorf inspired toys made from sustainably sourced wood. The Grimms rainbow is arguably their most popular and well recognised toy.
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
30 Bunny Crafts for kids: DIY Cards, Paper Crafts & Sewing Projects
It's almost Easter so that means it's the perfect time to make all the bunny crafts! If you need some inspiration, I've put together 30 bunny crafts for kids including diy cards, paper crafts, painting and drawing sheets plus sewing projects. You don't need to be a crafty mum or kindy teacher in order to do these crafts, they all have step by step instructions and some also come with free printable templates.
Monday, April 6, 2020
How to make a DIY Glitter Calm Down Sensory Bottle
Sensory play sometimes gets a bad wrap or people immediately close themselves off to the idea because they associate it with mess. Sensory play doesn't necessarily mean mess. Sensory bottles are a great way for kids to engage in sensory play without making any mess. I've made lots of sensory bottles with dry ingredients like rice, beans, pasta and couscous, however even I avoided making water based ones for years {because I was paranoid they would leak}. However, now that we've made one, I wish I had tried it years ago.
Water based sensory bottles are a great way for kids of all ages {and adults} to help deal with anxiety, feel less stressed and less overwhelmed. They're also great to use to calm down before bed and as a screen free quiet time activity. They also provide a great incentive for tummy time for babies and are great for eye tracking as they watch the movement inside the bottle.
Thursday, April 2, 2020
30 Games, Activities and Crafts to try with Plastic Easter Eggs
Plastic Eggs are everywhere in the lead up to Easter. Craft stores, dollar stores, even the supermarkets are full of shiny, brightly coloured plastic eggs. They're a great alternative to chocolate Easter eggs for an Easter egg hunt and you can hide small objects inside for an instant surprise egg.
As soon as Easter is over they quickly disappear from the shelves, however unlike chocolate Easter eggs, these ones don't get eaten; so what do you do with them all for the rest of the year? I'm generally anti plastic items for play, but plastic Easter eggs are one of my exceptions, because they're actually a really great open ended learning resource. Instead of throwing them out or hiding them away in a box for a year, try some of these 30 fun crafts, games and learning activities that can be done with plastic eggs all year round.
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
How to make a DIY Butterfly Feeder
My girls are obsessed with butterflies, they get so excited when one comes into our yard. They much prefer butterfly watching to bird watching. Unfortunately we have quite a small backyard and no plants so most of the butterflies that come in our yard are simply passing through looking for flowers.
To try and encourage more butterflies into our yard and to get them to stay for longer I decided to make our own butterfly feeder. Butterflies are attracted to bright flowers and nectar so I did a bit of research and then came up with a simple butterfly feeder using items from around the house. Making the butterfly feeder with the girls was a fun activity within itself and since then it's provided hours of entertainment and excitement as they check it for butterflies.
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SUPPLIES YOU WILL NEED
- Water
- Scissors
- 1 tbsp sugar
- Rocks {optional}
- Pyrex jug {optional}
- Banana or orange pieces {optional}
- Shallow basket or wicker plate holder
- 1.5m thick ribbon, bakers twine or jute string
- Plastic lid or plant saucer
- Flowers from the garden
To make a butterfly feeder the main thing you will need is a flat basket or plate so that you have an area to put the butterfly food on, which is what attracts them. I made ours a hanging butterfly feeder because we have cats so I used a wicker plate holder as the base with a plastic bucket lid inside to hold the butterfly food. If you don't have any other animals in your yard you could make the butterfly feeder without any string and leave it on a table or in the garden, in that case you could just use a plant saucer or a shallow bowl.
HOW TO MAKE A HANGING BUTTERFLY FEEDER
1. Collect all the items you will need. To make our butterfly feeder I simply repurposed items we already had around the house that I could transform into the idea I had in my head. We have a heap of wicker plate holders that I inherited from my grandma and I've been pondering what to do with them for a while, turns out they're perfect for a hanging butterfly feeder. I didn't have any shallow lightweight bowls so I used a plastic lid from a fairy floss bucket. I couldn't find our twine so I searched the Christmas stash and found some silver elastic ribbon.
2. Cut the string in half to make two even pieces. Thread a piece of string through the wicker basket on either side. Make sure the two pieces coming out are even in length so the basket will hang flat.
3. Make the sugar water mixture. Boil some water in a jug then combine water and sugar in a pyrex jug and stir until all the sure is dissolved. You will need to use a 9:1 ratio of water to sugar. We used 9 tablespoons of boiled water and one tablespoon of caster sugar. You can use any sugar you like, but caster sugar dissolves a lot quicker because it's so fine. Once the sugar is dissolved put it in the fridge to cool.
If you don't have a pyrex jug you can measure out the water and sugar and boil it in a saucepan on the stove top. Stir the sugar as it boils until it is completely dissolved. Transfer the water mixture into the fridge to cool.
4. While the water is cooling collect some flowers from the garden to use in your butterfly feeder. You can use any flowers, however pink and purple ones are meant to attract butterflies better than other colours. We cut some flowers from our neighbours yard, you could also collect some on a nature walk or from a park.
5. Layer all the items inside to butterfly feeder. Put your plastic lid or saucer inside the wicker plate holder and place the flowers on top to get an idea of where to place them. If you're hanging the basket it's easier to compile it all once the basket is already hung, but I did this to have an idea of how I wanted to set it all out.
6. Hang your butterfly feeder outside on a post or in a tree. We initially hung ours under our pergola in the backyard and later moved it to the front of the house. Make sure the basket is hanging flat before you add all the items into it.
7. Assemble the butterfly feeder. Carefully pour the water mixture into the butterfly feeder {you will only need a small amount if your lid/saucer is shallow}. Any left over mixture can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 weeks. Layer the flowers into the sugar water so the stems are in the water and the flowers are overhanging the edge of the basket. You can also add some rocks to balance the weight if needed and some pieces of banana or orange into the mixture. Butterflies are attracted to nectar so the bright flowers and sugar water + sugary fruit will attract them to land on the feeder. *You will need to change the flowers every few days as they wilt and top up the water mixture as needed.
Our butterfly feeder has been set up for over a week now and the girls love checking it to see if there's any butterflies on it. There have been all different coloured butterflies stopping by {of course they always fly away before I get a photo}. We initially set up our butterfly feeder in the backyard, but we've now hung it in our front garden so all the neighbours can enjoy watching the butterflies as well.
MORE FUN IDEAS TO TRY OUTDOORS
Disclosure - This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience which means I may earn a small commission, at no cost to you, should you make a purchase.
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