• Bento - tutorial

    How to make molded eggs for a bento picnic

    I’m currently working with BritMums and British Lion Eggs on the Shortcut Eggsperts programme. Our latest challenge is all about creating egg dishes for summer outdoor dining. The weather has been amazing lately and we’ve been enjoying lots of picnics in the sunshine. My children love it when I surprise them with a fun bento lunch and I thought I would show how to make molded eggs for a bento picnic. How to make molded eggs for a bento picnic You will need egg molds (I bought animal ones from Amazon) and eggs First you need to hard boil your…

  • crafts - Crafts for kids - Fairy garden crafts - Kids crafts - Nature crafts - Painted rocks - tutorial

    Painted stone fairy door

    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…

  • competition - Kids crafts - tutorial

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

    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 - Kids crafts - playing - tutorial

    Gruffalo Story Stones

    You may have noticed we’ve been a little obsessed with the Gruffalo lately. We recently spent a lovely time in the deep dark wood hunting for the Gruffalo and friends on a Gruffalo activity trail. My children also enjoyed a fun Gruffalo-themed bento box for their lunch. I thought I would keep the theme going with some Gruffalo Story Stones. Gruffalo Story Stone materials: Smooth stones Decopatch glue Colour images of the Gruffalo, Snake, Owl, Fox and Mouse How to make Gruffalo Story Stones: First I chose some smooth stones from our stash, every time we visit the beach we…

  • crafts - Kids crafts - Lego - Recycled crafts - tutorial - upcycling

    How to transform an Ikea table into a Lego Duplo table

    One of my favourite upcycled crafts has been transforming our old Ikea coffee table into a Lego Duplo table for the children. It’s probably the piece of furniture we’ve had the longest as I think we bought it 8 years ago when we first moved in together. It’s served us well. A couple of years ago it got its first transformation. It was given a coat or two of blackboard paint so the toddler could do his mark making on it. He quickly got bored of that idea (walls were much more appealing) so it was pretty un-used and even…

  • book review - crafts - Kids crafts - tutorial

    Herman’s Letter by Tom Percival

    This week we sent off a parcel to the Reading Residence as part of the 2014 Love Books Summer Exchange. We took part last year and had a lot of fun with it. Basically you send a book and related craft suitable for the age of your child and receive the same. My son eagerly awaits the Postman knocking on the door as he often receives packages with things to review. You can imagine his expression when he opened the door to a large cardboard box! It contained a copy of Herman’s Letter by Tom Percival, and everything needed to…

  • Bento - eating - tutorial

    Gruffalo Bento Box

    Yesterday I told you how much fun we had at the Gruffalo Activity Trail at Wendover Woods. After running about in the woods, building dens, climbing trees and hunting for the Gruffalo we had all built up quite an appetite. We took a picnic as we were out all day and I made a special Gruffalo Bento Box for the children. I had so much fun putting together the Gruffalo Bento Box that I thought I would share it with you today. How to make a Gruffalo Bento Box I knew I wanted to give the children Roasted Fox, Owl Ice…

  • Bostik Family Craft Bloggers Network - crafts - Father's Day - handmade - Kids crafts - tutorial

    Cut out Father’s Day card

    Have you crafted anything for Father’s Day? This year it falls upon June 15th and we’ve been busy making some little gifts. Recently we received a small package of craft materials as we’re members of the Bostik Craft Club. One of the products was a Blu Tack blu stick which my 4 year old immediately claimed as his own. We were also given coloured tissue paper and card. He’s been badgering me for a while about using it so today we did and made a cut out Father’s Day card. Materials you will need: paper template craft knife self-healing cutting mat…

  • crafts - Crafts for adults - nursery - sewing - tutorial

    How to make a minibeast costume

    A couple of weeks ago I read those words that strike fear into a parents heart. My 4 year old was taking part in a Minibeast concert at nursery and needed to dress up as a minibeast. I pride myself on being an organised parent but I only found out about the dress up a week before the event! When I asked my son what he wanted to wear he said a worm, a snail and also a butterfly. We had a chat and compromised on a ladybird cape that could be worn with black trousers and a black long-sleeved…