• DIY pencil holder - the gingerbread house
    Back to school crafts - crafts - Handmade gifts - Kids crafts - Reception - School crafts - tutorial

    Back to school with a DIY pencil holder

    July 17, 2014 - By 

    This is a funny time of year. My 4 year old is going through his last week of Nursery and we have 6 weeks of fun before he starts Reception. It’s both exciting and sad as we start a new chapter as a family. With him starting Reception we have a list of essential items to buy. I have really happy memories of the start of a new term. Do you remember shopping for a new school bag and lunch box? My favourite part was always shopping for new stationery, nothing beats the smell of a brand new pencil case,…

  • painting with flowers - the gingerbread house
    crafts - Kids crafts - Nature crafts - tutorial

    Painting with flowers

    July 7, 2014 - By 

    We’re fully embracing the warm summer weather and having fun with some summer crafting. It’s lovely to see our garden bursting with colour and we decided to pick some flowers and try painting with them. The children were excited about painting with something other than a sponge or paint brush. Painting with flowers materials: Flowers or leaves Acrylic paint Paint tray Paper Painting with flowers We headed out into the garden and looked for flowers we could pick. We found daisies and dandelions and other things I don’t know the name of. We picked them with enough stalk to hold…

  • Frozen sensory play - the gingerbread house
    Kids crafts

    Frozen sensory play

    July 2, 2014 - By 

    Like many other children mine are absolutely enchanted by the Disney film Frozen. I draw the line at watching the film more than once a day so I’ve been trying to think of activities which Little Sis might enjoy and keep her busy. Over the last few weeks we’ve made our own version of Arendelle from boxes and cardboard tubes covered in foil. She’s also been happy using the tuff spot for some small world play with her beloved Frozen figures – Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Hans, (not our favourite!) Sven and Olaf. Her little Frozen figures have been coming every…

  • easy lego soap dispenser - the gingerbread house
    Handmade gifts - Kids crafts - Lego - tutorial

    How to make a Lego soap dispenser

    June 30, 2014 - By 

    We love Lego and I’ve been looking for some ways to use it a little differently. What could be better than Lego in soap? Surely that could only encourage my potty training 2 year old to wash her hands! Lego soap dispenser materials: soap dispenser lego liquid soap How to make a lego soap dispenser First of all I let my 4 year old go through our Lego stash. I asked him to fill a container with green pieces but he was easily sidetracked! Eventually we had plenty of pieces to look at. He chose enough to half fill the…

  • competition - crafts - Kids crafts - tutorial

    How to make a Peppa Pig nose

    June 28, 2014 - By 

    As a mum of two pre-schoolers it’s fair to say we watch a lot of Peppa Pig. My children adore Peppa and Little Sis has all the Peppa Pig playsets, clothes, cutlery and story books she can get her hands on. Nick Jr. is one of their favourite channels and Little Sis gets quite upset when the adverts get in the way of watching her beloved episodes of Peppa! Luckily for her Nick Jr. is gearing up for a month of Peppa Pig celebrations. This July will mark 10 years since the nation’s favourite pig was first broadcast on Nick…

  • painted stone fairy door
    crafts - Crafts for kids - Fairy garden crafts - Kids crafts - Nature crafts - Painted rocks - tutorial

    Painted stone fairy door

    June 25, 2014 - By 

    Little Sis loves princesses and fairies. As the children are spending so much time out doors at the moment I thought we could make a magical door so the fairies could come and visit us. This is a great nature craft. I don’t know about you but we seem to pick up flat stones where ever we go. I love to re-use them rather than let them sit around in glass jars. We’ve already used some to make Gruffalo story stones and we have a few more crafty projects up our sleeves. Painted stone fairy door materials: smooth, flat stones…

  • book review - crafts - handmade - Kids crafts - Paper craft - What I'm reading

    Win a copy of Petit Collage by Lorena Siminovich

    June 24, 2014 - By 

    Petit Collage is a collection of 25 vintage modern handcrafted designs for children and families, from award-winning designer Lorena Siminovich. The fun, imaginative projects range from a paper toy dollhouse and personalised baby blocks to an adorable bunny clock and Petit Collage’s signature name plaque, growth chart and paper mobiles. Many can be made with the help of your children and there are ideas throughout to make them ‘kid fun’. The book also contains gorgeous photography, step by step instructions and additional tips for each project. Petit Collage will help parents create handmade items for kids that adults will also…

  • competition - Kids crafts - tutorial

    15 Gruffalo activities for kids (and a $500 giveaway)

    June 20, 2014 - By 

    You know that our family are huge fans of the author Julia Donaldson. My children have nearly all of her books, especially those illustrated with Axel Scheffler, but their favourite is easily The Gruffalo. We’ve had great fun exploring the themes of the book and wanted to share some great Gruffalo crafts with you today. Take a look at my list of 15 brilliant Gruffalo activities for kids: Ways to explore the story: Gruffalo Story Stones from the gingerbread house and Gruffalo Story Sack from the fairy and the frog, perfect for encouraging little story tellers. Or how about making…

  • crafts - days out - handmade - Kids crafts

    The Creation Station!

    June 17, 2014 - By 

    A couple of weeks ago I saw a poster advertising the Creation Station, educational creative fun. As soon as I saw it I knew it would be perfect for my 4 year old. Since Little Sis has come along we’ve found it really hard to find an organised activity they can both do but with her attending nursery two mornings a week we now have a little more time. The idea of the activity is to stimulate your child’s senses through the medium of art, craft, music and movement. My son was a little shy to begin with but as…