Runny Paint Possibilities

Oh the fun you can have with runny paint...

or... put the paint at the top edge of the paper and watch it go...

  or...

  or add a marble and a tray....

Little brother wants to see too...

or what about painting with a magnet stick and a metal ball... (I had to go outside for these - the lighting in the kitchen was deteriorating quickly)

Big One looks rather serious in these pics, but he was concentrating on the task at hand and definitely enjoying the process. 

 

We used acrylic paint for these activities and when it was a little thick, we added some water.

Have fun!

PS. Sharing at 
Show and Tell @ ABC and 123

Make an Airport (and some aeroplanes)

I've had this idea for the longest time to make Little One an Airport. (I actually saw an amazing wooden toy one, but the price left me gasping for breath!) So with a little bit of imaginative thinking, some recycled containers and some craft paper...I got building.

Most importantly, I wanted an Air Traffic Control Tower. To make, I used a Lipton tea box...cut off the hinged lid and turned it upside-down.  I then glued a polystyrene rectangular dish (also upside-down) to the top of the upside-down tea box - you got that right?  And then I balanced a clear plastic container on top of the polystyrene container (also upside-down). I specifically didn't glue this part, so that Little One can remove the container and play with the men inside. I'm sure this picture will help make sense of my tutorial :).

The lego blocks that you can see inside the tower are the fancy computors and equipment that are used to bring aeroplanes home safely.

To make a hangar or two, I also cut off the hinged lid of a tea box and put it on it's side this time. Our smart passenger jet is parked inside one in this picture.

A nice tallish box makes for an Airport terminal...

The landing strip is a big piece of white cardboard and some coloured strips for the runway. I used the same road map for my Seussville Town.

The craft stick aeroplanes (can you spot them?) were also very easy to make. I painted the wings and added some star stickers.

I showed the boys some You Tube videos of Air Traffic Control Towers in action, as well as aeroplanes taking off and landing. It gave them a nice idea of what an Airport is like. Little One has never actually been to the Airport - that's still on our to do list .

All that's left to do is...PLAY!

 

Sharing this at:

Kid's Co-op 

Show and Tell @ ABC and 123 

Making cards using children's art

When Mother's Day comes along, I'm always racking my brain for a great gift for the Grannies in our lives. I like making something for them - or letting the children make something. So I was grateful when a friend of mine reminded me of this lovely idea. 

 

I don't know about you, but I love having some blank cards (bought or made, although I prefer home made) in my writing box. They are nice to have for birthdays, thank you's or any other reason - actually who needs a reason - I love giving and receiving a card! It's great to have something pretty to grab and use when you need it. I knew that both the Grannies would love this... 

So here's how to make some:

• If you can, buy some pre-cut cards and envelopes - much easier than cutting and folding your own.  
• Scan your child's art work into your computor OR 
• If you don't have a scanner or the art work is too big for your scanner, photograph the art and download it. 
• Use a photo editing program to touch it up or crop it if necessary - I use Picasa - it's free and easy to use. 
• Cut it out and glue it on. 
• A nice touch is to write the Artist's name at the back of the card and their age when they created it.   

 

Some beautiful, personal cards for Granny, or any special lady in your life.  

Now I definitely need to make some for myself :). If I do, I'll share them too. 

Happy crafting! 

PS. Sharing this at  
Weekend Wrap Up Party @ Tatertots and Jello

Bottle Top Art, Pinterest Boards, and a Winner!

Getting tired of all these bottle top posts :)? I hope not, because I just can't help myself. When I see bottle tops...I see possibilities!

Here in South Africa we have many schools with very limited resources and every time I pick up a bottle top, I see all the potential that this little throw away plastic top has :). So to better collect and organise ideas, I have created Bottle Top Teaching and Bottle Top Fun Pinterest Boards. The first board will focus on using bottle tops to teach and the second board will be anything creative one can get up to with a bottle top. I hope you will drop me a line if you have been doing some bottle top activities. I will be right over to check it out :).

So this sweet bit of art (see above) was really easy to make.
All you need is :

bottle tops

two chubby little hands (yes, chubby ones required)

gloopy glue (you know...gloopy white runny glue)

pretty paper sprinkle/confetti

I wish I had a picture of those two chubby hands squee-eezing the glue into the bottle tops, but we did this fun activity at night and the photos came out rather yucky. I can assure you though, that Little One loved this. After all the squeezing, came the sprinkling of the paper confetti. When he was done, I arranged the tops nicely onto a page and stuck them down to make some super easy wall art. Easy and fun!

One last thing before I go...
I have a winner for the makedo giveaway. 

Congratulations Lizanne from Clay Jar People! 

I'll be in touch shortly to get your postal details.

Thanks also to all of you who took part and left such kind comments. I'll definitely be having some more giveaways, so stay tuned.

Till next time, be good...

Georgia :)

makedo {A Giveaway}

I was so excited when I recently discovered a new product, called makedo. I immediately went and checked out the website and after seeing all the wonderful possibilities, I couldn't resist getting it for the boys. 

What is it? Essentially, as they so aptly put it, it is "a set of connectors for creating things from the stuff around you". 

I particularly like that they offer both free-play kits, as well as find-and-make kits. In the free-play kit, you have a set of connectors and using the recycled objects you have at your disposal, as well as your imagination, you can make anything you want to. The find-and-make kit is a project-based kit, in which you make a specific thing, for example, flowers. These kits tell you which recycled objects you need for the project and it gives you the required connectors and instructions - cool hey?

In the Easter holidays we had some friends over and I gave the kids some recycled items as well as our free-play kit. Here's what they came up with...can you spot the tiny toilet roll character?

According to the website, this product is suitable for ages 5 and over. I think this depends on the child's fine motor dexterity and finger strength. The children who made these items in the picture were aged 10 and 12.

I really knew I had made a smart purchase when shortly after getting our kit, Big One had to go dressed up to school for "Crazy Day". He created a mask from a box and using the connectors, he attached items to the box to make it interesting. I was so thrilled, because it was far easier and quicker than using glue - no drying time required!

And now for the best part, Annelize, our local agent for this super product, has very kindly given me a 33 piece free-play kit to give away to you! 

How do you enter? It's really easy. 

• For one entry, leave a comment and tell me what one of your favourite posts has been here at Love and Lollipops.
• For a second entry, tell a friend about this competition. 
• And, for a third entry, "like" my Love and Lollipops Facebook page. 
• You need to leave separate comments for each entry and please make sure that I have your contact (email) info.
• The competition closes on Sunday the 13th of May and is open world wide.

:)

Can't wait and want to buy some in the mean time? If you are local, you can contact Annelize via her Facebook page or send her an email at preta(at)mweb(dot)co(dot)za

Annelize will also be exhibiting at the next My Favourite Things market, being held in Paarl on the 12th of May. 

Good Luck!