Tag: kids crafts

Arts And Crafts, Children, Education, Families, Family Life, Messy play, Toddlers

Paper Plate Peacock Fan: #BostikBloggers

by thejoyoffive1 Comment on Paper Plate Peacock Fan: #BostikBloggers

The theme for this months Bostik Bloggers challenge was birds and flight and to be honest it left me a little stumped for a while and everything that came into my head involved hand painting and I wasn’t feeling up for the mess that this always creates!

I then thought I could revolve the craft around one on my favourite birds…the majestic peacock and here’s how we got on.

Paper Plate Peacock Fan

What you will need:

Small paper plate
Blue foam sheet
Green crepe paper
Blue tissue paper
Yellow foam sheet
Blue feather
Two googley eyes
Wooden stick
Glue
Scissors
Sellotape

Firstly take the green crepe paper and cut around 14 small circles to cover the edge of the plate. Then take the blue tissue paper and cut a large circle to create the body and finally the blue foam and cut a smaller circle to make the head.

Once the circles are complete then the the yellow foam and cut a small triangle to make the beak and cut the top of the feather to make it a little shorter to be a good fit.

Next take the paper plate and put it onto the table with the back facing upwards and attach the wooden stick with a couple of pieces of sellotape.

Next take the green circles and cover the outer edge of the plate to form the feathers.

Once all the feathers are in place put the tissue paper circle at the bottom of the plate to make the body and then the foam circle above to create the head.

Now that the main part is complete glue the beak into the centre of the head with the eyes just above this and the feather in the centre of the head.

The last thing to do now is to cut small sections of the blue tissue paper and scrunch into little balls and attach them to the centre of the feathers with a little glue.

And there you have it, your very own peacock fan!

Arts And Crafts, Children, Crafts, Families, Family Life, Learning

Creating A Wintery Scene

by thejoyoffive2 Comments on Creating A Wintery Scene


The first lot of creative homework came home with number four last week and whilst some of my friends recoiled at the thought I was more than happy to get going with it!

I was never one for the academic side of things at school and have always found I took in much more information through hands on, creative projects.

I do however still find it a little hard to let the children have free reign when it comes to crafts and always go at them with a very ‘hands on’ approach!

They were set the task of a winter scene and I immediately thought of snow covered houses and glitter.

Being out of glitter I had to settle for spray snow and this is how we made our little snowy town.

You will need:


  • 6/7 toilet roll tubes
  • A hard base such as cardboard 
  • White felt to cover base
  • PVA glue
  • White paint
  • Spray snow
  • Thin white card or paper
  • Battery operated tea lights
  1. Firstly get yourself a firm base of cardboard or thin plastic and attach white felt in a rough fashion to create a bed of snow. 
  2. Get your toilet roll tubes and trim down so that they are all slightly different heights. 
  3. Take a pair of sharp scissors(adults only) and cut out small windows near the centre of the tube.
  4. At one end of the tube create small cuts all the way round and splay out to make a firm base.
  5. Paint all the tubes with the white paint and allow to dry.
  6. Whilst they are drying draw around a mug onto the card and cut out to make a circle.
  7. Make a small triangular cut from the outside of the circle to the circle. Turn the circle onto itself to create a cone for the roof of the houses.
  8. Once dry position the tubes onto the base and attach with the glue.
  9. Pop a tea light inside each tube, place on the cone roof and create a dusting of snow with the spray snow.

Arts And Crafts, Children, Families, Family Life

Making Conker Snails

by thejoyoffive4 Comments on Making Conker Snails

Currently I have conkers in pots, conkers in pockets in fact I have conkers anywhere imaginable!

I get as excited as the kids when I spot the first lot hitting the ground and we gather them up by the bucket load.

Unfortunately playing conkers at school has been banned for many years now and I just get stuck with he little beauties gathering dust.

Last year we did some autumnal painting with them which was great fun but I wanted to try something a little different this year.

We’ve have put wiggley eyes on them to create little people which was fun, but my favourite has been these conker snails. 


All I did was to get the kids to take small amounts of plasticine and roll into a long sausage shape, place the conker near to the end of the sausage leaving a little for the tail(not sure that is the correct term). Then finally create the tentacles by splitting and moulding into shape at the top.


The children had great fun rolling out the plasticine and just needed a little help with the tentacles.


I still have hundreds left so really need some more ideas if anyone has any!

Children, Crafts, Hobbies

Gel -A-Peel Review

by thejoyoffive1 Comment on Gel -A-Peel Review

Number three loves jewellery and if she can create it herself that’s even better.

When the Gel – A – Peel package arrived she excitedly planned who she was going to give her creations to. We were really taken with the simple, cool packaging that really appealed to my pre-teen.

Patience is something she’s not gifted with so luckily the instructions were easy to read and very clear so she could get started straight away.

First up were some bracelets which looked liked the simplest thing to start with.

She placed the clear plastic sheet on top of the templates provided and then chose from the three colours and different nozzle shapes to create the design for her bracelet.

The gel needed to be applied in sections so that it can dry slightly before the next colour is added.


It took longer than expected to dry but when it did the bracelets were very pretty and she was extremely proud of her creations.

Once her confidence grows she is going to try to create her own designs and give the hair clips and earnings a try that are also provided in the pack.

For me this is a great gift for anyone that loves a relatively simple craft with great results.  You can stick to the ideas that are given or really let your imagination run wild and create something more individual.

I think I know what we will all be getting for Christmas this year!
* I was given this set for the purpose of this review and they are all my own, honest opinions.

Arts And Crafts, Children, Families, Family Life

Ice Pop Paints

by thejoyoffive5 Comments on Ice Pop Paints

It’s been such a long time since I’ve posted any crafts on here and I have really missed sharing things with you that will hopefully keep little fingers busy for a while.
Mine love to get the paints out and with this good weather I thought it would be a great opportunity to make some ice pop paints and stick them in the garden stripped down to just their pants to save on cleaning up all the mess!

They are super easy to make and a great activity for the warm summer holidays.


Ice Pop Paints

  • A selection of different colour ready mixed paint.
  • Ice cube tray
  • Lolly pop sticks
  1. Take your ice cube tray and fill the sections with different coloured paints. We did individual colours and a couple with layers of different colours.
  2. Cut the lolly sticks in half and place one half into the centre of each cube.
  3. Place in the freezer until hardened. We left ours for a good few hours.
  4. Grab some paper and get creating.

Children, Crafts, Gifts

Selfie Jewellery Review

by thejoyoffiveLeave a Comment on Selfie Jewellery Review

  
Number three has always loved making jewellery so when we were asked by GALT to try out their new Selfie Jewellery from their Express Yourself range she was over the moon.

This set comprises of beads, silky cord, elastic, stickers and pendants to create your own bracelets and necklaces.

 
What sets this apart from most sets is that you can take your own photos and use them to create a more personal gift.

Number two decided the first one she would make would be a Christmas present for her Nan.  We found a picture to fit the size of the pendant and then easily stuck it on with the adhesive stickers provided.  There is then a clear protective layer to place over the picture to prevent any damage.

  
To finish it off she chose some silver beads to thread on either side.

   
 
Her plans are now to make some more colourful bracelets to give to her friends for pressies at the end of term.

This is a of lovely way for children to get crafty and create something personal.  It would be a great end of term gift to keep them occupied in the run up to Christmas.
We were gifted this set for the purpose of this review and they are all my own honest opinions.

Arts And Crafts, Children, Families, Family Life, Toddlers

Christmas Tree Craft For Toddlers

by thejoyoffiveLeave a Comment on Christmas Tree Craft For Toddlers

Christmas is on its way and one of my favourite parts of the celebrations is the decorating of the tree.  Something I now allow the children to help with and then rearrange once they are in bed!!

An easier way to solve this problem is to create their own little tree from paper.

 

All you need to do is to find some green paper which you need to fold into half and draw half a tree along the folded side.  Once this is cut out you will have a tree with perfectly even branches.

From there you need to pick some colours and paint baubles onto the tree.

   
 

Once they have covered the tree with the coloured baubles you can then cut lengths of coloured pipe cleaners to glue across the tree as tinsel.

  
This is a really simple craft which is great introduce little ones to the magic of Christmas.

Arts And Crafts, Children, Crafts, Families, Family Life, Sons

Colour Explosion Firework Paintings

by thejoyoffive2 Comments on Colour Explosion Firework Paintings

As an adult I still find all the beautiful colours and the spectacular explosions of fireworks amazing.

I really wanted the children to be able to recreate the splender through some artwork with the children.

I popped over to the wonderful Mum In The Madhouse and found some really cool ideas that I got some inspiration for to make with my own littlies.  

I took two toliet roll tubes and cut lines halfway up the tube all the way round and then splayed them out.  I then cut bits off of the lengths at random. 

  
I put two different colours onto two separate plates and the covered the toliet roll ends with paint.

   
 

Number four had a great time creating explosions all over his page and it got him really in the mood for going out to watch the real thing tonight.

  

Arts And Crafts, Children, Crafts, Families, Family Life, Learning, Memories, Outdoor Play, Parks

Making Autumn Colourful

by thejoyoffive14 Comments on Making Autumn Colourful

We may be having some fantastic weather for this time of year but Autumn is in full swing and the parks are littered with all sorts of natural materials that are perfect to take home and use to make some masterpieces with your little ones.

   
   

After spending a good while at the park tonight foraging around and making the most of the sunshine we went home and got together a selection of twigs, leaves, pine cones, acorns and conkers and took a large sheet of paper which we used to create a colourful Autumn pattern.

   
     

Next up we picked the roundest conkers we could find, painted them in different colours then placed a sheet of paper inside a baking tray and rolled them around and around to create a really pretty pattern.

   
   

Being late in the day I couldn’t stand the mess of number five joining in with the painting so a made a tray up for him containing all the items we collected plus some play dough which he happily sat poking and pushing around while the others got on with painting.

  

This is a great activity to get the children interested in their surroundings and using art to explore different colours and textures.

  

  

  

  

Arts And Crafts, Banstead, Cafes, Children, Crafts, Families, Family Life, Reviews, Surrey

Princes And Princesses At Monkey Bean 

by thejoyoffiveLeave a Comment on Princes And Princesses At Monkey Bean 

  
 

Arts and crafts with the under fives can bring the best of us out in a cold sweat!

You spend ages setting up and prepping the much anticipated activity for the kids to dab a bit of paint or sprinkle a bit of glitter and walk off to find something else to do.

If you do manage to capture their imagination and they get really into their task this can then result in every spare inch of your home covered in every craft material you could think of.

I have mellowed a lot over the years and no longer worry about the mess.  Yes there is a lot of effort but as long as the children are enjoying themselves and learning something new it’s worth that bit of time.  This said to be able to go along to a session where all the prep and mess is taken care off it couldn’t be passed up.

I went along to try out Monkey Bean which is a craft based class for the under fives where the emphasis is on the children being allowed to make their master pieces in a relaxed environment where the parents can have as much or as little input as needed.

On arrival you are greated with a warm welcome by the bubbly Mum and daughter team who make the children feel at ease with a friendly song to introduce each child.  There is a cosy section with toys set up that the wanders amongst them are free to pop over and play with.

   
 

This weeks theme was princes and princesses so the boys had the choice of a Knight’s shield or a fairytale princess hat to decorate.  They opted for the shields and whist number four sat there intently decorating his shield number five was backwards and forwards like a yo yo!

   
    

There eyes lit up when a large tray of glitter was bought out to finish off their masterpieces.

   
 

To round off the session and to allow time for their artwork to dry off the children all come back to the matted area for some songs with musical instruments. 

   

Both boys had a fantastic time and will be going back next week to make some Mr Bloom themed goodies.

If you are looking for something a little different to the usual soft play type sessions that are the norm for this age group then this is the place to go.

There are sessions at both The Caterham Arms in Caterham and Pistachios In The Park in Banstead.  Both of which have good parking facilities and refreshments available. 

Give Monkey Bean a like on Facebook to see what great activities they have coming up and to have a nose at some of the creations that have already been made.

We visited Monkey Bean today to review the session and here are my own honest opinions.