Paper Plate Flowers

Paper plates are a staple in my supply cupboard. I use them all the time - for parties, yes, but also as makeshift paint palettes and for making face masks, hats, and now flowers!

Get Your Inner Artist On!

Who knew that watercolour paper was sooo expensive? It is! From my point of view, $15 for a dozen A5 sized sheets is steep. So when I spotted an A5 size pad (12 sheets) for a happy two-buckeroos, I snatched it up like I was in training for a Gucci samples sale. But what to do with it? The obvious - a watercolour painting - seemed a little uninspired, so we changed it up a bit.

Playdough Sweet Shoppe

I was recently invited to a local church (shout out to Kaliedescope!) to do something special for the little ones in the18 months - 4 year age bracket. As anyone with kids knows, there's a broad range of abilities in that age group, so my challenge was to come up with something that the older kids would still enjoy that the little ones could do as well. 

In the end, I made a few batches of scented and coloured playdough (strawberry, vanilla and choccy) and raided my craft box and kitchen pantry for supplies to make....(brrrrrrrrr - that's a drumroll. There's no good way to spell it, trust me)... a Playdough Sweet Shoppe!

'Activity'-Less Fun!

I'm a big believer in child-led play. Meaning, I chiefly follow my daughters lead when we play and I also offer different games/activities to broaden her experiences, but if she doesn't want to do an activity I have offered I don't push it (no matter how much time/effort I've put into preparing it. Ouch!).
As such, this week has been devoid of our usual activities because of Miss E's simple-play leanings (hence the quietude on the blogging front). So, here's a quick glimpse at what we have done this week...

Spaghetti Sensory Tub

Having seen this great idea crop up in a few spots around the web (I first spotted it at The Imagination Tree), I decided to whip up a batch of sensory spaghetti to entertain my little 3 year old on a bad day.

It was a cinch to prepare: cook spaghetti as per usual, divide into bowls, add some drops of food dye and cooking oil to each bowl (so it doesn't become one big solid-but-mushy-clump), and mix through.

Personalised Valentine for Daddy

My husband's birthday is on Valentine's Day, so we tend to make a big deal of it around here (for Australians, anyway). More accurately, we tend to make a big deal of him on Valentine's Day. This year, we're preparing a gift for him every hour (some bought, some made). One of the gifts we made for him is a poster of two of his favorite people: our girls! Check this out...

I had seen a few images on Pinterest of women holding up signs with messages of love to their significant others, and thought I could do a version with our kids! I laid down a nice blanket, got the girls into white/pink outfits and got to work.

Valentines Day Playdough Treats

Ah, playdough, is there anything you can't do? As Valentine's Day is just around the corner, I thought that a batch of Valentine's Day playdough was in order (see here for Nurture Store's recipe). To the basic dough mix, we added some rosewater and some silver glitter for that extra special something, and pretty much as soon as the playdough was cool enough to handle, Eden was into it!