Play Dough Cookies (made with bottle tops)

You do know how I love bottle tops... :)

When we went away for a few days in the holidays, I knew it being Winter, that  we would possibly be spending a fair amount of time indoors. I packed the play dough (as I usually do), as I knew that this could entertain both kiddos if need be. I also packed an ocean themed bottle top memory match game I had made awhile back. 

Little One and I got stuck into the play dough one afternoon and I realized that we could stamp some sea creatures with our bottle tops. As we got stamping, the idea of cookies evolved. Make a small round ball (quite tricky for Little One to do and good for those hands) and then stamp it. Voila! A plate of sea creature cookies. They are pretty don't you think?

PS. Link to the bottle top memory match here and to the play dough recipe here.

Nature Colour Match

We were very lucky to go away for a few days during these past winter school holidays and I prepared this activity before we left. I first saw this super idea for an outdoor colour match at the wonderful Inner Child Fun. I collected paint-chips in a variety of colours and then using a square punch I created the cards. One lovely sunny morning , I sent the children on a colour hunt. I think these photos tell the story nicely.

(mmm...just checking...orange or yellow...or a bit of both?)

 

Till next time...

Get Well Soon Robots

I recently saw these wonderful CD case robots over at The Art Annex and thought that they would make great Get Well Soon cards for a few family members and friends who have been ill.

The robot holds the card in his (peg) hand and it reads :

 " Here's hoping that all your parts will soon be in perfect working order."

To make these you need some cardboard, pegs for the arms, odds and ends to decorate and a CD case to stick all the parts in. The little parts have to be fairly flat so that the CD case can close properly.

This was the last of our Robot Fun. Onto some new activities from the next post. Take care :)

Mommy Made Moon Sand

A long while back, I raved about how much we like the real Moon Sand. What I haven't shared, is that we have made several home made batches since then and it is a HUGE hit with Little One. I have tried a few variations, but this is the recipe I use most often:

4-and-a-half cups of sandbox sand 

1-and-a-half cups of cornflour

1 cup of water (add more if necessary)

It does dry out, so you need to add water every time you play with it.
 

 If the consistency is right, you can easily mold it. I am able to use a small brick mold  and make little bricks using this sand.

We keep ours in a large plastic container in the kitchen and Little One requests this regularly. I try to keep it uncovered, otherwise it does get a little smelly. If uncovered, it lasts for quite some time - I've kept ours going for a month or two. And, because it cleans up quite easily, I allow the children to play with this indoors too. 

 

Have fun!

PS. Recipes found at: irresistable ideas for play based learning and Skip to my Lou

PPS. My apologies to my email readers. For some reason, you all received a re-post of my Bottle Top Play Dough Cakes today. Blogger must have a few gremlins, as I never republished the post. This is not the first time this has happened - I'm not sure what's up?

Paint Chip Robots

I have been very inspired by the many crafty uses for paint chips that I've seen around lately. So when I was brainstorming for some robot crafts, I had one of those happy crafty AHA moments (do you have those?) - why not Paint Chip Robots? The chips are suited to robot shapes and of course you have lots of lovely colours to work with.

I decided to add some photos to make these more personal for the boys. I didn't have any recent ones printed of Big One, so I raided an old photo box and found this picture of him - he was about 4 years old.

Little One also loved the idea of being inside the robot :).

More robot fun coming up..:) 

Sharing this at:

For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars 

The Sunday Showcase 

Shaving Cream Fun

If you are following, you will know that we are busy with a Robots theme at the moment, but today I'm breaking away from that to share some shaving cream fun. It's holidays almost everywhere and I thought this to be such a great holiday activity. It certainly kept my little guy busy for quite awhile.

So today I squirted some shaving cream over a few of Little One's cars that I had placed on his table. He was intrigued :). I then left him to play and he quickly added a whole lot of his vehicles, as you can see in the pics.

After a nice play, Little One deserted the scene, so I moved the table outside and asked him if he wanted his spray bottle to clean the cars. "Yes, like a car wash!", was his response. 

 

That entertained him for quite a bit longer, because after the cars were all washed down, he roamed into the garden, spray bottle in hand. YAY for me - I could get a few things done :)

This idea was inspired by posts at  The Herkert House and A Childhood List. Isn't blogging great!

PS. Linking to The Sunday Showcase

Robot Fun in the Bath

I love craft foam almost as much as I love felt. And I'm sure you know that craft foam can make for a lovely bath toy. 

Our robot theme lends itself to craft foam fun and I literally sat cutting shapes at the side of the bath, while my boys called for more and more. 

I love observing their creativity. Big One made lots of small interesting robots and Little One, as you can see here below, made one loooong robot. "Even bigger than me", as he put it. I just loved watching his focus on the task and all the little details he added.

Have fun...till next time :)

PS. Linking to It's Playtime

Robot Fun {Felt Robots}

Time for another mini theme - Oh how I do love a theme!

My boys have been enjoying the movie Robots and a favourite new book from the library, called Wendel's Workshop, so I thought it perfect timing to have some robot fun.

Felt robots are the easiest to make. No sewing required and you don't even need a felt board, simply a nice big piece of felt for the children to make their designs on. Little One wasn't keen on the activity, but Big One made some amazing robots - so much better than mine.

Mine's the middle orange one. I love the detail in Big One's designs. Yes, even a pirate and exploding robot - so cool.

This last one is a birthday card that I made for a little friend. I stuck a piece of felt to card stock and added this sweet girly robot. I didn't glue the robot pieces on and I also made some extra pieces so that she can make another robot if she wants to. This is a modified version of an awesome felt card I saw here at The Mucky Macbook.

Some more Robot Fun coming up. Stay tuned.

PS. A felt robot set makes for a great gift, don't you think?

Sharing this at:
Show and Tell @ ABC and 123 
For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars 

Mommy Made Crayons

  A long time ago I saw some homemade crayons at Papervine and I wanted to try and make some for Little One. I have since seen a few similar posts on Pinterest and have been so impressed at how the crayons turned out. Mine, however, didn't come out quite as nicely, but I still had great fun making them and would definitely do it again.

It's pretty cold over here right now, and just in case you're wondering, we didn't have a mini heat wave in June :). This activity was done late December, when it's very hot here in Cape Town. Apparently if you don't have the sun, you can make these using the oven, but I personally think that sun "baked" crayons are much more fun :).

 If you look closely, you can spot some aeroplanes, boats, cars and trains.

The Steps:

• Go and find all those old crayons lying around and peel off the paper. (Some children love this and it's a great workout for little fingers). Put your crayons into containers. Tip: Wipe your crayons, so that they are nice and clean.

• Chop up the crayons into small pieces. Tip: For a nicer end result, clean your chopping board after you cut each colour, to keep your colours clean.

• Put the small pieces into molds of your choice and squash as many crayons as you can into each individual mold. Now put your crayons into the hottest spot you can find. Tip: I recommend using a silicone mold. The star mold I used was an inexpensive soft ice tray and the crayons completely flopped.

• Keep checking, because as the crayons melt you will have to top up with more small pieces to keep the mold full.

• When the crayons have melted, carefully move the mold to a cooler spot. The crayons will cool down and harden. Tip: Do be careful when picking up the mold - silicone is soft and unstable and the liquid wax crayon is very hot.

• When completely hard, pop the "new" crayons out.

• I mixed better quality crayons with cheaper crayons and I noticed that the crayons separated, leaving a clear wax layer at the bottom of each crayon. I simply shaved the waxy part off with a sharp knife. Tip: I could be wrong, but the softer, smaller crayons seemed to be of a better quality than the bigger, harder variety.

• All done - It's time to colour - Have fun!

a boy and a box

These aren't new photos.
In fact they are all the way from last year May. 

I don't know why I didn't post them. 

When you have a box, you have possibilities...

Never throw a good box away. At least not until it's had a good play.

Didn't you know? All boxes love to play :)

More great box links:

Parents.com
Tip Junkie 

apartment therapy 

Tinkerlab