Bookmarks

Now that we're reading longer more involved books before bedtime we are in need of some bookmarks to make sure we don't forget where we get up to each night.

Using powerpoint I made some rectangles using the "drawing" tool and then sat with the kids and chose some different clip art to insert. 

We printed and cut out the rectangular bookmarks. The kids coloured them in with textas.

We had so much fun doing this we decided to make some extras for friends at school to colour in themselves.

And come to think of it, a home made bookmark could be something to give dad for father's day, which is just around the corner.

Homemade wrapping paper ideas

We have a few gifts to wrap for special occasions coming up in August and September so we've been busy thinking of ways to create economic and attractive wrapping paper. We tried a few different techniques, starting with brown paper then using the following materials:

• scissors, 
• coloured paper, 
• an old map, 
• texta and 
• ribbons.

I like the letter cut outs, especially the ones made from an old map. I think they look great, contrasting on the plain brown paper.

I also like paper cut outs using the popular paper snow flake technique.

If you are looking for more fabulous ideas next time you have a present to wrap I strongly recommend you check out the site below:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/alannaokun/24-cute-and-incredibly-useful-gift-wrap-diys

Water Colour Painting



Jasmine and I have been playing around with water colour paintings. We took inspiration from a wooden owl we had lying around as well as thumbing through some gardening books. Alex decided instead to express himself with large streaks of colour. While I can't say we have mastered water colour painting yet we've certainly had fun trying.

 

Fruit faces

If you're looking for a fun creative activity to do after school, why not try making fruit faces or fruit people. Take a look at what Jasmine and I made the other day.

Time machine

By the end of the school week, we are usually looking for an activity we can easily and quietly do before dinner rather than energetically running around the back yard. Last week, we turned a box into a time machine. In addition to a box, we used the following materials:

• Foil
• Quicksticks silver tape
• paper
• textas
• cardboard rolls
• glue
• buttons

First up, we covered the box in silver foil. We then added some drawings and buttons so we would have a control panel to allow travel forwards, backwards, fast, slow, landing and takeoff. We used cardboard paper rolls to make guns in case we came under attack by enemies.

My son suggested we go back in time to when the dinosaurs lived.

We also travelled into the future to see what the kids would be doing as adults ...

Our time machine had a flag labelled Alex and Jas' time machine of course!

The teddies also had a chance to check out the future. They told of some fantastic adventures where people don't talk to each other, instead they read each others' minds. People don't eat either, they just swallow tablets of food. The teddies were glad to return home safe and sound.

Imitation gold and silver leaf

We made a few painted wooden items this weekend and experimented with using imitation gold and silver leaf on them. It is a bit messy to use but creates an interesting finish.

First up, Jasmine decorated a mirror.

Step 1: Give wooden surface a coat or two of paint (paint needs to be suitable for wood).

Step 2: Once paint is dry, apply a layer of mod podge with a paint brush.

Step 3: Sprinkle gold and silver leaf over the painted wood.

Step 4: Paint over the leaf with another coat of mod podge.

Step 5: Leave the mod podge to dry. It is likely you'll need to give the mirror a good clean.

Alex made a little money box.

He also made a robot. This was something Alex started a while ago as part of our hammer, nail and wood projects which we talked about here. Up until now the robot was very plain.

He looks much funkier with some paint. Alex decided against using any gold and silver leaf on his robot for now.

Pine cone crafts

We were recently given a bag of pine cones which the kids were very excited about. First we made some pine cone people using double sided sticky tape, buttons, feathers, googly eyes and felt.

Next we made a bird feeder. This involved spreading peanut butter over the pine cone, rubbing it with bird seed and stringing it up in our tree. Now we wait to see if the birds will like it ...