Mother's Day Collage Sticky Heart Card

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.

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 2024 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.

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.

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.

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 how to get 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.