Egg Carton Critters - Butterflies and Caterpillars

Egg cartons seem to build up around here, and whenever they start falling out of the craft cupboard on opening the door I decide it is time to pull out the egg carton craft kit.

Our favourite egg carton craft is trying to come up with new, crazy little critters to play with.

Today we decided that our winter windows could do with some brightening up. 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' was the most recent book we had read together, so it served as inspiration for the resulting butterflies and caterpillars that the children made.

First we painted half an egg carton green

Then we added legs, googly eyes and a smily mouth

We didn't make a cocoon for the caterpillar because the children decided that was their jobs. They then wrapped themselves up in blankets to and went to sleep. Day two (today) resulted in the butterflies emerging from their box and having their wings attached.

Our butterflies ended up with red bodies

Imogen wanted to have green and blue wings

James wanted to have plain wings so he can decorate it with stickers.

Now to make sure the glue is dry before we trying hanging them in the window. Maybe tomorrow we should make some flowers for the butterflies to land on.

Papier-mâché Puppy Mask

Does anyone else find that balloons start piling up in their house? I do. Every time I go to the mall or Bunnings we end up with another 2 balloons. Then when we have a birthday party there are even more balloons to add to the growing collection. These linger forlornly around the house until they pop or I get sick of them. I always feel guilty if I have to bin them, so I while there are balloons in the house I collect newspapers for papier mâché.

I started Christopher covering one balloon with paper and glue, when a little tug on my leg reminded me that there was another boy who didn't want to be left out. A second smaller balloon was found and the boys happily covered the balloons with paper strips. It wasn't long before the boys gave up and left the balloons to finish the next day.

To make this puppy mask we used 1 large and 1 small balloon. When the balloons had received 2 days worth of attention and 4 days of drying (the middle of winter is possibly not the best time to do this) we were able to begin constructing our mask.

When they were completely dry we popped the balloons inside and trimmed the larger shell into a nicely shaped mask. We marked the places for the eyes and cut out 2 circles. Now we used the second smaller shell to tape on as a nose. Some more paper strips and glue to hold it in place and we left it to dry for another day.

Now to paint the mask. This seemed to be the most difficult decision yet - do we want a back puppy or a golden one? In the end we settled on black to match the only felt to be found in my cupboard. Christopher cut out the ears while James painted. Christopher also found a small ball of black wool for the nose. Once the paint dried we attached the ears and nose with glue and some string to hold the mask in place.

Time to go and play.

Car Trundle

As anyone with children will know, it feels like toys multiply whenever you're not looking and suddenly you are tripping over toys every time you turn around.

My biggest problem has always been finding a home for cars and trains. They are so small that it is easy to miss one or two when packing up. I seem to be standing on them all the time. Given that I like walking around the house in bare feet (or my sock slippers), it was only a matter of time before I had to find a solution. After stepping on a car for the 3rd time in a morning, I took myself to the shed to try to see if I had any containers that the boys would find easy to open and therefore find it easier to put the cars away. I didn't have any containers but the big piece of wood that fell on me as I opened the shed door did attract my attention. When my gaze wandered over 4 wheels the idea of a car table came to me. Wouldn't it be so much easier if I made a trundle to store the cars on, and we could just push it out of the way under the bed when the boys finished playing with it?

I dragged the wood out, screwed the wheels onto it and flipped it over to see if it worked. By this time Christopher joined me and wanted to know what I was doing. When I said I was making a car table, he pointed out the obvious fact that there was nothing to stop the cars rolling off the trundle. Hmmmm...I needed sides on it. Back to rummaging around the shed and I found some long pieces of wood that I could nail  on and form a shallow box.

My part was done. I undertook to keep everyone away while Christopher painted the whole table blue. When the first coat dried we drew the road on to the table and painted it black. Christopher then found a sponge and sponged green paint everywhere else. The final touches were applied the next day when I put the white markings on the roads and we moved the table into the house.

Just need to put all the cars on it and we
can push it under the bed until the boys
want to play with it.

This is currently the longest lasting of all the toys that the children play with in our house. I wonder how many more years it will keep them entertained quietly for...

Matchstick Pictures

On opening the cupboard today James discovered a box of matchsticks. And I am not talking about a little box of matchsticks. This is an entire shoebox full of them.

Just looking at the open box brings back memories of hours spent creating little houses after a visit to Cockington Green one year. I was so proud of my efforts and would display them around the house and give them as presents to any of my relatives who happened to visit during this time.

Telling James about all the things I used to make with them gave him an idea. He wanted to build a rocket. I was rather dubious about this until he explained he wanted to make a rocket picture and stick stars on it to make the picture sparkle. He ran back to the cupboard and pulled out a piece of cardboard and the glue.

We used the glue to draw the picture. Then stuck matches on it to make a lasting picture. Pity we didn't have any stars in the cupboard to finish them. Maybe some glitter will have to do.

Canvas Art in two colours

Who loves painting?

I do, but only when little children aren't involved.

My first encounter with a painting disaster happened to be when I was painting the walls in my hallway. I had put the children in their bedroom with plenty to entertain them as well as food and drink and explained to them that I was painting the hall and not to come out. I finished painting and was feeling rather proud of myself.

As always, this moment of satisfaction was then followed by a mini disaster - James heard me packing up and came down the hall to help. My shriek of 'Don't touch the walls - the paint is wet' resulted in the inevitable sight of James plastered flat against the wall. To my shame, I was more concerned with trying to get the paint out of his jumper than I was getting it out of his hair. Luckily for James white paint is not very obvious in blond hair.

So after asking the kids what they really wanted to do, I was rather flattened to hear that they wanted to paint. Not something I will be very good at coping with while over-tired and already grumpy. The solution ended up being a compromise. We would get out a canvas each and paint it a solid colour. This is something we have done a few times over the years as presents for grandparents and I enjoy it almost as much as a non-painting kids activity.

While waiting for it to dry we would pick out a silhouette picture that we liked and cut it out of contact. Once the paint had dried, the contact picture would be stuck on to the canvas and we would paint over it with a contrasting colour.

Again, we waited for the paint to dry (a good time to stop for lunch) before peeling the contact away to show our simple painting.

Christopher decided to try 3 colours.
Now to peel the contact off to see if it worked.

Phew. We don't have to do it again!!!

And this is James's painting. He had help with cutting out the contact but he stuck it onto the canvas and did all the painting and peeling.

Hopefully I will think of something as stress free the next time I am faced with the painting request!

Swan Costumes

Having a child at school means that occasionally I am faced with the need to scrabble around my cupboards to produce a costume in record time.

So, dear friends, we have today's problem. How to make a swan costume so my son can go as one of the Wild Swans to his fairy tale dress up at school this week. My google search failed me. I couldn't find any pictures of swan costumes for boys. Why is it that dressing up as a swan seems to be considered a girls domain?

After stewing on this for a few days I have decided to bite the bullet and make up my own pattern for the costume. Or rather, go to the shops and buy a white hoodie to add wings to. At the shops I found a gorgeous fluffy jacket that serves the purpose. Two circles of black felt with googly eyes stuck to them and an orange triangle with a black v glued on make the swan face on the hood, and some tulle with ruffled edges make the wings.

Finished swan costume. Just need to find the child to try it on!

Phew. If only my kids remain happy with the home made effort for their schooling lives, I'll be happy.