Beeswax Candle making

The kids were rummaging through the craft cupboard and came across some sheets of beeswax. They wanted to know what we could make with them and could they please use them. A quick search of the shelves also turned up some wicks, so we were set to make candles.

As you can see in the photos, beeswax candles only need 3 things - beeswax sheets, wicks and a hair dryer. We lie the wick along one end of the sheet with a little bit overhanging. Then we warm the wax with the hair dryer and tightly wrap the wick with the end of the sheet. Now we use the hair dryer to warm up the wax and tightly roll the wick up in the wax. The end of the sheet needs to be heated a little more until it almost melts so that the roll sticks together and doesn't unwind. Once we've finished making the candle, if we have wax in a different colour we cut out shapes and melt it on to the candle.

Depending on the age of the child making the candle, it may be tightly wrapped or loosely wrapped. It doesn't really matter. The tightness of the wrapping simply makes the candle last longer. So whenever I have a fast burning candle, I know my kids love me so much!

Felt Making for the Young

Have you ever tried making felt? You know, the stuff you buy in the craft shops. Well last year at Majura Womens Group we spent a term learning how to make felt. Feeling enthusiastic about felting I went and equipped myself with the rovings necessary to make felt pictures. I was convinced that at any moment I was going to come up with a design that would instantly transform me into an artist.

I cleared the kitchen bench during quiet time while the kids were resting, put my box of colourful rovings on one side and set up an area to lay out my picture. And then I sat down to think...

and I thought...

and thought some more...

until I realised I had only thought about collecting everything I needed rather than having an idea of what I wanted to do with it.

It wasn't until the boys came out and asked what I was doing and if they could help that I thought we could work together on a design. So I asked both of them for an idea. The eldest wanted to make a nativity scene. The youngest wanted some spring flowers. I showed them how to layout the background and let them loose.

Here is James's flower scene. I did help with getting the pink balls of roving to stick to the picture.

Christopher's nativity was more of a solo effort. 

Once the pictures were laid out on a large piece of bubble wrap, it was a matter of covering with netting and sprinkling with warm soapy water, rolling it tightly up around a plastic tube and rolling, rolling, rolling in all different directions until the felt comes together. The warm soapy water causes shrinkage and wobbly edges, but this makes it authentically home made. 

The netting should be removed once the felt has started to stay together. Then the felt is simply rolled up again around the tube and rolled firmly to and fro 50 times in each direction. It is easiest to unroll the plastic and carefully lift the felt and turn 90 degrees. By doing this you are preventing the felt distorting and ensuring that the fibres are meshed together. 

The pinch test tells you if the felt is done - if you pinch a section of the felt between your fingers and you can feel movement in it then it still needs more rolling. If it sticks together then you can rinse in warm water, press it between a towel to remove excess water and leave it to dry. Do now wring the felt out or it distorts.

These are our finished products. If we feel inspired we may attempt some hand sewing to embellish them...but I think they look good just as they are!

Grasshoppers

Grasshoppers.

Until today it had never occurred to me to wonder how they jump. We were making cardboard roll grasshoppers when one of my boys asked me how grasshoppers managed to jump with their legs on backwards. Hmmm, the only way to work it out was to try it ourselves. We tried lying down and jumping backwards. We tried using our legs to launch ourselves across the slippery floor.

Nope. 

It doesn't work for humans. It must be the little miracle that makes grasshoppers so very different to us.

After we had been trying this for while Paul found a video clip showing how grasshoppers jump and how the rear legs are designed to give extra power to their jump. Next time I'll be saving myself a lot of effort and sending the kids to ask Dad what the answer is.

Our grasshoppers were painted green. While we waited for the paint to dry we cut out two  big legs (the reason we ended up trying to jump horizontally) and 4 little legs. We did have to consult our 'How to Draw Insects' book for the correct shape of the legs...and then decided it was too tricky so made some carefully rounded legs for the small ones. The large legs were triangles with feet. 

The antennae was one pipe cleaner with curly tips. The wings were some scrap materials cut into wing shapes and glued on. 

I have to confess that after the children left the grasshoppers to dry I did sneak some strong glue to hold on the wings as I didn't think that the kids glue would hold it for much longer than it took to dry. I hope the kids didn't notice!

Egg Carton Critters - Under the Sea

Generally on a Sunday evening we will watch a documentary together while we eat pizzas. This is our one day of the week where we don't sit at the table (mostly because the pizzas are ready at different times and it is rather miserable sitting down to watch everyone else eat). Sunday night we watched a documentary on sea creatures. While we were watching, my boys started working out how they could make toy jellyfish so they could put on a puppet show for me.

I could only manage to get everyone into bed by assuring them that we could make their creatures the next afternoon.

Let me introduce you to Gail the Jellyfish and Henry the Octopus (do little children call an octopus anything else these days?)

Not bad for a quick craft session. We did have a few dramas making the 8 legs for Henry because we tried to use pipe cleaners first as an easier alternative to plaited wool but discovered that they don't glue very well with kids glue.

Now I just have to sit back and wait for the promised puppet show.

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...