Felt Doughnut

Hand and monoprinting

Bubble was keen to get her hands 'painty' today so we made some mono prints using her favourite colour of the hour, red (it changes almost daily). We used a large shallow plastic container so that Bubble could really get her hands into the paint and spread it around without making too much mess. We then used cotton buds, toothpicks and paddlepop sticks to make patterns in the paint. When she had finished creating I laid paper over the top and rubbed it all over so the print had transfered to the paper when it was lifted up. Bubble made quite a few of these and then moved onto hand printing since she was already in paint up to her elbows :-)

WE USED:
* paint
* paper
* cotton buds/matchsticks/paddlepop sticks/toothpicks
* a surface to spread your paint on (shallow box, plastic tray, glass or stone tabletop, large ceramic tile, plastic drop sheet or tablecloth)

Other ideas: experiment with other things to make your patterns. Toothbrushes, balled up alfoil, fruit nets and even sticks and leaves can leave great effects in the paint.

Felt bird mobile

I finally finished a felt bird mobile Ive been working on for Bubble's room. The bird shapes are just traced from a brush on Photoshop which I made the right size and then traced onto paper right off the screen (saves on printer ink ;-D). I filled the birds and circles with dried beans as well as stuffing so they are weighted and turn easier.

Box building

Turning an old box into a block of apartments...

Cover the front of the box with paper and draw your building design. You could have a school, icecream shop, houses - make a whole box city!

I used a needle and thread to sew a bead onto the door to act as a doorhandle.

I then cut the door leaving one side uncut so it was hinged.

Bubble then got decorating!

Open, close, open, close :-)

Jewellery box painting

I bought this musical jewellery box at Toys R Us (it is a wind up music box dancer type one) but have also seen non-musical versions at craft and dollar shops as well. Bubble enjoyed painting her own special box and having somewhere to keep all of her 'sparklies'.

Rice tent play

We have a jar of rice that we reuse for playing games and the 'Rice Tent' is one that Bubble really enjoys. We put up the play tent and fill it with kitchen utensils and her play rice jar and off she goes. Its amazing the games she comes up with and at the end of the playtime it's easy to just sweep up and put back into the jar again. The tent mostly contains the mess and Bubble loves feeling like she is in her own little house. If you dont have a play tent then a large box will do just as well (ask at local whitegoods stores). Living in a small space like we do the play tent was a great investment, we bring it out for a few days and then fold it up into nothing and stash it in the wardrobe again. We even take it out with us when we go for family trips, having a picnic lunch inside a princess play tent adds that something special! :-)

Tongs and rice are a great fine motor play activity.

A toy dog having a snack :-)

Rice dancing - its bound to catch on ;-D

Fabric crayons

This is a great activity to use if you have old teeshirts etc... that have stains but are otherwise ok. Fabric crayons can be bought from most craft stores and are really fun and simple to use.
I put out a craft board for Bubble on the floor as a hard surface to work on (our craft board is actually the base of her old changetable, but any board, hard flooring or tabletop works fine as a work surface). We then laid a tee shirt on top of the board and inserted a breadboard inside the tee it to make drawing on the front easier. I folded the sides and arm around the breadboard and held it firmly so that Bubble was left with a rectangle of taut fabric to draw on.

WE USED:

*fabric crayons
*iron
*washing machine
*small breadboard
*old teeshirts

Bubble machine

Best purchase of the week = a bubble machine. They were on sale and since Ive been coveting one for ages I made a special trip in just to buy one. It's even more fun than I thought it would be, I cant believe the amount of bubbles it can pump out! The girls have been having a ball with it and my lungs are pretty happy about the new arrangement too :-D

Toothbrush painting

I remember doing this at school (Kindy?) and thinking it was so fun to be able to paint with something usually reserved for something else! I had saved a few of our old toothbrushes and gave them a bit of a clean in the dishwasher so that we could use them at a later date, and finally we got around to doing it today. I had some paperwork to get done so Bubble got busy while Squeak had her nap and made some beautiful paintings.

WE USED:

* old toothbrushes
* paint
* paper
* tray for paint (we used the lid from an old egg carton)

Sorting games for small people

Squeak is still very little but she joins in most of the activities that happen during her awake times (there aren't as many photos of her on the Blog because I usually have my hands full helping her do whatever craft/game we are playing). One activity that she really enjoys is sorting games; I put out a variety of coloured bowls or cups, or the silicone cupcake holders in the photos which are a favourite, and some objects that are easy to hold and that can be labelled by me as she picks them up. She loves to pick the items up one by one, hold them up while I tell her what it is, and then place them into the bowls/holders. Sometimes she has a go at saying the words, sometimes she doesn't, but she always has fun :-)

Cookie cutter painting

This painting activity is fun, easy and limited only by the shapes in your cookie cutter collection. If you dont have any then the rims and tops of different bottles and containers will work just as well. Try raiding your recycling for bottletops and empty containers.

WE USED:

* paper towel on a plate, dampened with water and covered thinly with paint. You could also use a sponge or paint pad.

* cookie cutters

* large paper sheets (we sticky taped scrap paper together).

Magazine collage

WE USED:

* old magazines (if you're not a magazine reader you can buy old ones from op shops)
* scissors
* scrap paper
* childrens glue stick
* any extra craft items you have that could be used for a collage (on this day we were using some fabric leaves that had come off an artificial flower, but glitter, sequins, scraps of wrapping paper are also good).