Cardboard Bugs Craft

When it comes to our craft activities, probably half of them come from my own ideas or those I've discovered on Pinterest or on the Internet and the other half are inspired by Tommy's interests. This activity was one of Tommy's requests. We'd just had a large delivery from IKEA and so we had a large cardboard box knocking around and we thought we might as well make use of it to create these gorgeous little bugs.

We started by cutting out a variety of different bug shapes from the corrugated cardboard box, using pictures from the Internet and books as our inspiration and then painted them in a variety of bright colours.

 

Once they were dry, we cut pipecleaners and pushed them through the slots in the corrugated cardboard. We then added googly eyes and decorative details like wings, stripes or markings using pompom balls, foam and tracing paper.

Easy to make chocolate chip cookies

We've had one of those days today where it's been raining non-stop and we've had little chance to get outside. When we have a day like this we normally spend at least some part of it baking. Baking things is a good real-life opportunity to use Maths skills and Tommy already talks about grams, kilograms, millilitres and litres in his play and it's all thanks to us baking regularly.

We decided to make chocolate chip cookies today, as they're delicious, require very few ingredients we always have in the store cupboard and they are very simple to make. Tommy (3) was pretty much able to make these independently, with just a little help needed from me when it came to the measuring of ingredients. We've tried lots of cookie recipes in the past and this is the best one we've tried to date. These are perfectly light, crunchy on the outside but crumbly on the inside. Here is the recipe, which makes 20 cookies.

Ingredients:
125g unsalted butter (Stork spreadable butter works really well in this recipe)
185g soft brown sugar
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon milk
215g plain/all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
250g dark chocolate chips/milk chocolate cut into small chunks

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (350 degrees F). Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl using electric beaters. Mix in the natural vanilla extract and gradually add the egg, beating well. Stir in the milk.
3. Sit the flour and baking powder into a large bowl, then fold into the butter and egg mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips until they are evenly distributed.
4. Drop level teaspoons of the cookie mixture onto the baking tray, leaving about 4cm between each cookie, then lightly press with a floured fork.
5. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly golden. Cool on a wire rack.

These cookies are best eaten on the same day but will keep fine in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Chances are though, they won't last that long!  Happy baking!

Playdough Lovebugs

We made these adorable playdough lovebugs after nursery this afternoon, as another 'wind-down activity' before bedtime. I set this up ready for Tommy so that it was ready to crack on with as soon as he got home.

To do this activity I used:
- a collection of sequins
- heart confetti
- coloured matchsticks
- pipe-cleaners cuts into short sections
- heart cutters
-googly eyes
- batch of homemade playdough

I used this recipe to make the playdough:
- 2 cups of plain flour
- 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup of salt
- 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar
- 1.5 cups of boiling water
- red, pink and purple food colouring

Method: Mix the flour, salt, cream of tartar and oil in a large bowl. Divide the mixture equally and put into as many bowls as the number of colours of playdough you intend to make. Divide the water equally into cups/small bowls. Add food colouring to the concentration required (we used liquid food colouring for this but Wilton Gel colours are much better if you can get hold of some). Add the liquid to the dry ingredients a little at a time, and stir until it combines to form a sticky, combined dough. Once the playdough has cooled, lift it out of the container and knead vigorously until it is no longer sticky. Add the glitter at this stage and continue to knead until the glitter is evenly-spaced.

When I do an invitation to make, I always ensure I've made a few examples myself beforehand, so that Tommy has a starting point and he has an idea as to what the end product might be. This both motivates him and inspires him to make his own creations.

Tommy loved this activity and continued to use the playdough for up to an hour before bedtime. It really helped him calm down after an exciting day at nursery.

Heart Suncatcher Decorations

 

Despite not really celebrating Valentine's Day as such, we've been doing quite a few Valentine's-related arts and crafts recently. I wasn't too sure how much of a hit these heart suncatchers would be with my son but he had great fun making them and I even ended up having to cut out more hearts at the end of the activity so he could continue with it. These can be made with very few materials, they take no time at all and they're easy enough for even a one-year-old child to make.

To make them, you will need:

- large coffee filter papers (I bought mine from eBay and I think they were size 4)

- liquid watercolour paints, paints that are slightly watered down, and/or food colouring (we used orange, pink, purple, red and yellow). 

- paint palette/muffin tray/ice cube tray

- scissors

- plastic pipettes/droppers

- kitchen roll

We started by cutting out a number of different-sized hearts out of the flattened coffee filter papers. I placed them on top of one another to enable me to cut out several at once. I put my food colouring into a muffin tin and added a little water to each one. I was a little disappointed with the colours that were created with food colouring, as they were relatively pale. Next time, I'd try watercolours instead to make more vibrant colours or add less water to the food colouring.

Tommy then set to work, drawing up a small amount of food colouring in a pipette and then squirting it onto the filter paper and watching it spread. He added a variety of different colours and enjoyed watching hem as they merged together.

 

Once each heart was finished, we carefully peeled them from the table over and placed them on kitchen roll to dry. Once dry, we stuck them to the window. These would also look lovely dangled on some string from the ceiling or the top of a window.

Melted Snowman Shortbread Biscuits

Shortbread is my absolute favourite kind of biscuit. I've been searching for the perfect shortbread recipe for ages and it's never turned out quite the way I wanted it to, until I stumbled upon Paul Hollywood's recipe. This one makes the perfect shortbread - buttery, crumbly and with a crunch. This time I thought I'd try and do something different rather than just cutting it into simple shapes. We chose the idea of making melted snowmen, as they can be made so easily and very young children can do them with minimal help from an adult.

The shortbread recipe is extremely simple and fool-proof. It makes 12 biscuits.
You will need:
225g unsalted butter (make sure it is very soft before using, otherwise it will not mix well with the other ingredients and the shortbread will not hold together)
225g plain flour
110g cornflour
110g caster sugar
pinch of salt

For the decorations you will need:
white marshmallows (12)
Writing icing in a variety of colours
smarties
400g icing sugar
cold  water

Method:
1. Lightly butter 2 trays, or line with baking parchment.
2. Put the butter and sugar into a large bowl and cream together, using an electric hand-held whisk or wooden spoon, until light and fluffy. Sift the flour and cornflour into the bowl, add the salt and mix together until smoothly combined. Tip the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and knead to a soft dough.
3. Roll out the dough between 2 pieces of baking parchment to a thickness of 1cm. Prick the dough all over with a fork and cut into circles. Re-roll the scraps once to cut more (if you re-roll too many times the dough may start to get greasy). Put the shortbreads on the prepared baking trays and chill for at least 30 minutes (this is a really important step).
4. Meanwhile, heat your oven to 170°.
5. Bake the shortbreads for about 20 minutes, until just turning golden brown at the edges. Leave on the baking trays for a few minutes to firm up slightly, then lift the shortbreads onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add the water a tablespoon at a time, stirring thoroughly until the icing is at the right consistency. You may require more or less water than it states in the recipe, but keep adding water until the icing drips off a spoon, rather than pours.

Spoon on a tablespoon of the icing onto each biscuit. Using a spoon is better than a piping bag/bottle for these - the messier they are, the better they look! The icing should run to the edges of the biscuits and down the sides. If it doesn't, use a palette knife to spread the icing to cover the biscuit or simply tilt the biscuit to make it run. Place a marshmallow at the top of each biscuit and add smartie buttons and leave to dry completely.  

As a final touch, add eyes, noses, mouths and arms using different-coloured writing icing. I did this bit, as it was the fiddliest job. These not only look gorgeous, but they are simple to make and taste delicious too.

Snowflake stained-glass windows

My hubby and I made a New Year's resolution (of sorts) this year - to not spend our time after having dinner crashing out on the settee in front of the TV. It's so easy when you have been working all day (as is the case with hubby) or looking after two demanding children all day (as is the case with me) to just put your feet up and not do an awful lot. This is fine on occasions but we wanted to try and get away from this and use the time between tea and bed to do something more meaningful with our little ones instead. The TV/iPad now doesn't come on until just before bed, if at all.

This time of day can be quite tricky, as it's usually then that our toddler starts to become really tired (particularly if he has been at nursery that day). It also tends to be the time at which Isla is the most unsettled. But it's also the only family time we have during the working week and on the days that Tommy attends nursery. We fill the hour we do all sorts of activities: writing, drawing, painting, baking, arts and crafts, board games, jigsaw puzzles and role play. Whatever we do, we try to make it a relatively quiet, focused activity, so as not to get Tommy too excited before bedtime! 

One of our most recent activities was making a snowflake stained-glass window. As Tommy was at nursery that day, I prepared all the materials beforehand, so that he could get on with it straight away once he got home. If you're going to have a go at it, you need contact paper/sticky-backed plastic, black card, snowflakes cut out of card/paper, scissors, glue and squares of tissue paper in wintery colours. 

We made A3-sized windows, as two of them would fill Tommy's bedroom window nicely. To start with, I cut some snowflakes out of white paper using a template I found on the Internet. Then I cut the inside out of my 'windows' leaving just the border (1-2cm thick). I also cut up some tissue paper squares so that they were ready to use. 

The next step is to peel off the backing of the sticky-backed plastic and very simply stick the tissue paper squares onto the plastic, overlapping them to create a range of different shades of colour. Continue until all the plastic is covered with tissue paper and lay the black outline over the top to make sure no gaps are left.

Finally, use glue to stick the snowflake shapes onto the design, stick the window outline on top and then cut off the excess plastic. You might want to then cover the whole thing in another layer of plastic but we left it there. 

We are so pleased with the finished result! These look lovely on Tommy's bedroom window!

Snow cloud dough and snowman-building

I mentioned in my last blog post that we are still waiting for our first snowfall this winter. I'm sure we'll get it at some point, and hopefully soon. One of my favourite snowy day activities, (and I'm sure it's a favourite of most) is snowman building. Living in the more hilly part of Lincolnshire, we do get our fair share of snow each winter, but it's not always the kind of snow that settles or the amount or consistency of snow needed to make a snowman. We've been doing a fair few wintery craft activities at home over the last few weeks and I wanted to do something that would continue with the winter theme and involve messy play. Making our own snow and building snowmen with it seemed like the perfect choice.

To make the snow itself you need two inexpensive ingredients: cornflour and shaving foam. Yes, really, that's it! I used two boxes of cornflour to one can of shaving foam. As Tommy was going to be exploring and mixing the ingredients with his hands, I used a sensitive brand of shaving foam just to be on the safe side. 

Start by tipping the boxes of cornflour into a shallow box or container. I used a tuff tray, as it gave Tommy lots of space in which to make a mess and working in the middle of it meant there'd hopefully be less to clean up afterwards! Spread the cornflour out a little and spray a little shaving  foam over the surface. Mix the two ingredients together and keep adding shaving foam until the material can be pressed into a ball. You will find the cloud dough very powdery in texture. It can be moulded into shape very easily but also breaks up easily too. If you decide to do this activity with very young children, you might wish to use snow playdough instead, which will hold its shape better and potentially be less frustrating. Glitter and sequins could be added at this stage to make the snow even more sparkly and magical.

 

Tommy spent a LOT of time feeling and playing with the 'snow' before building anything. It felt really soft, silky and cool (similar to the real stuff!). To make it more like the real thing, you could place the snow dough in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer for 10 minutes. We did this the second time we did the activity and it really made a difference! 

After playing with the snow for a while, we decided to begin building some snowman. To decorate them, we used paper cups as hats, ribbon and pipe cleaners as scarves and an assortment of buttons and googly eyes. 

Here are some of our creations! We even made an igloo, which we unfortunately forgot to take a picture of! Boo! 

 

 

This snow dough keeps indefinitely, so it can be used time and time again. We keep ours in a zip loc bag. The possibilities of play with this material are endless - it can be used for lots of small world play.