DIY Paper mache fairy house tutorial

It is no secret that at the moment I have become somewhat of a fairy freak! I am obsessed with fairy gardens, fairy accessories and now fairy houses!

Desperate for more 'fairy stuff' for my daughter's fairy themed reading corner I scrounged around the house the other day looking for odds and ends from which I could make a fairy house. I also went online and searched YouTube for some inspiration. What I found was a great fairy house tutorial which used a lot of fancy scrap booking tools and materials (which I don't have and will not fork out the money for) but the best part of the tutorial was that it used some paper mache to give the house texture. And this is the part that gave me an idea!

What if I took the few toilet rolls, some corrugated paper, badminton shuttle cocks and tissue paper I found around the house and used paper mache to bring it all together into a neat little fairy house? Well needless to say the idea worked! And for all of you out there who are also crazy for fairy stuff the following is the tutorial for how to make one of these little guys. Enjoy.



What you will need 

• Toilet paper roll
• corrugated paper
• tissue paper 
• plastic shuttlecock (not the ones with feathers)
• Poster paints
• Primer or white undercoat paint
• Paint brushes of varying sizes
• PVA craft glue
• Wall paper glue mix or just diluted PVA craft glue for paper mache
• Scissors
• Yarn scraps
• Optional hot glue gun
• Varnish 

First, cut a piece of corrugated paper that fits around your toilet roll. You can make it exactly to the height of your roll or leave it longer like I did for a taller house. Once you have done that, using PVA craft glue, glue the corrugated paper to the toilet roll.

To add features like windows and doors, cut a few pieces of yarn and using PVA again, glue the string to the house to form the outline of the windows and door. You can make them whatever shape you want. As you can see, I have gone for porthole like windows and an arch door.  At this point let the glue dry.

Next cut up your tissue paper into smallish pieces and get some wall paper glue mix, like I have, or some diluted PVA glue ready.  Wet the pieces of paper with glue and using a brush press the pieces over the yarn so that it gets into the grooves. Cover the whole house with tissue paper in this manner leaving your features to still stand out.

Sorry for the horrid photo below, I only had green tissue paper and the colour has run. But trust me it's tissue paper not paint!See how I use the brush to push the tissue paper into the grooves?

Once you have done that give it a good 2 coats of undercoat or primer. I used old wall paint primer. The photo here shows you where I used the hot glue gun to put in some finer details around the door and the crosses in the windows. This is optional and you can just paint the features in later if you don't have a hot glue gun.

Get your shuttle cock now and paper mache about 3 to 4 layers of paper over the whole thing until you feel it is thick and stable enough. Once finished let it dry a bit and then coat it with 2 coats of primer.

Once the whole thing is dry, glue both pieces together like so, using PVA or the hot glue gun. The roof should fit snug over the main house.

Once the primer is dry it is ready to paint. First decide on your main colours and paint the different sections using the base colour.. Once you have done that, start adding some darker and lighter versions of the same colour to create shadows and depth. Using black and a thin brush outline features like windows and the door and I like to paint the bottom of the roof too with black strokes to give it some form. Use some while to highlight the texture of the corrugated cardboard and to add white spots to the roof. Using several shades of green dab paint with a small brush to give the effect of greenery or moss.

Once the the whole thing is painted and you are happy with it, let it dry. Once dry, give it a coat of clear varnish for protection and to make the colours really pop and shine.

Again let the whole thing dry really well and when it has it is FINISHED, ready to bring magic and enchantment into your home. I do not recommend this little fairy house for outdoors. If you are putting it in an indoor fairy garden I would be careful not to get the bottom dirty with dirt as it might rot the paper. Otherwise it should be fine on gravel and sand that is not wet. But then again if you are very careful to paint under the bottom with two coats of varnish I guess a little dirt and moisture won't hurt it.

Anyhow I hope this tutorial has been helpful , easy to follow and inspiring. Please leave a comment and let me know if you end up making one or many. I would love to know how you go.

Happy fairy house making and happy playing.

Fairy Gardens, a place where children can daydream

It seems that with spring truly here and summer just around the corner, fairy gardens are becoming a popular topic on children's play blogs and Facebook play groups. If you look online you will find a multitude of inspiring photos of beautifully crafted fairy gardens with all the little fairy garden furniture trimmings. It's really hard not to be inspired! Who wouldn't want a magical, whimsical fairy land in their own backyard? Something to admire and to inspire fairy daydreams. A living, growing wonderland.

For me, fairy gardens are more than just a whimsical addition to the garden, they are a great way to get children into gardening and an even better way to teach children responsibility for another living thing without having the trouble of a pet. No fairy garden thrives without being watered, fed, and given enough sunlight. Thus the child must remember to water and fertilize their little paradise appropriately and make sure it stays in a spot with enough sunlight depending on what type of plants are in it. I guess they also learn to look without toughing as fairy gardens are great to look at but not something you play with.

For our fairy garden we decided on an indoor version. Our local hardware and garden store has hundreds of indoor plants and there is a specific section with these tiny little plants for around 1€.

For the base of our garden we bought a plastic terracotta planter and base which we drilled holes in the bottom of for drainage. Very important! My daughter was given the honour of filling the garden with potting mix and compost and then planting the little flowers and greenery. For those of you who are wondering, the flowers are miniature African Violets, great indoor plants!

After planting the garden, my daughter topped the garden with some rocks from our driveway. This will make it look nice and neat and keep the soil moist.

Here is the finished garden at this stage, all ready now for wonderful fairy accessories!














Now with accessories, you might say we went a little overboard. It all started with some simple little wooden animals I'd painted for Christmas tree decorations. Hot glue and a toothpick on the back and I was able to stick them into the soil so they would stand upright. With some blue rocks, bought from the 1€ shop, we made a river. The fairy house is made from gluing little sticks over a toilet roll and then using some felt and coloured paper to create the roof and door. The windows are foam flowers and the roof is embellished with a little wooden ladybug, plastic leaves and flower. Pretty ribbon is also stuck in place around the base just to make it all the more pretty.

The clothes line is made from two sticksand a bit of sewing thread tied between them and then a little dress which I cut out of felt, hung with little pegs I got from the craft store. The fairy, herself, is made from a wooden peg by attaching some wool with glue for hair, drawing the face on with markers and then gluing some felt pieces to form the dress. The wings are from an old butterfly ornament. A few more wooden ladybugs and viola it's finally finished.

In the evening we also experimented with some lighting. We tried the fairy lights and LED tea candles behind the plants to give it a dramatic look. The results were not too bad but I would like to continue to work on it to get the look just right. I am going to ask my husband if he can wire something up that will let us stick tiny LED lights in strategic places rather than on a cord like the fairy lights. The cord is just too hard to hide.

So there it is, our very own magical indoor fairy garden. My daughter loves looking at it and swoons over it, sighing and whispering "oh it's so cute!" She's tried to play with the bits and pieces but I remind her not to touch it, that it's just for looking and she seems to be OK with that. (I plan on making a playable version soon) My daughter has also started telling me that the fairies come at night when she is sleeping to look after her when she sleeps. It's so wonderful too see that her imagination has been sparked by such a simple addition to her bedroom.

Hope you have been inspired to make your own garden. They really are a lot of fun and quite addictive. I'm already buying bits and pieces for one in my bedroom. If you make one I'd love to hear about it in the comment section. Maybe even share some photos.

Until next time happy playing

Reading corner makeover.

My daughter has been a big fan of books since she was 7 months old. The first book I read to her was Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox. We read that book every night for months. It has been read so many times by myself and handled so many times more by my daughter, that it is just barely keeping  together, its poor spine breaking apart in 3 places.

Over the last few years we have read almost every night. Unfortunately lately this hasn't been so. Since we got an IPad my daughter has been more often than not requesting that she watches an episode of The Octonauts, Peppa Pig or Lillie Fee on it and in bed before going to sleep or what was formerly known as story time. At first I was OK with it because it wasn't every night and we usually had a book as well. But lately books have been pushed aside. I hardly catch her looking at books alone and the most heart breaking part is that she doesn't want to sit on my lap or snuggle in bed to hear a story, even if I insist.

I personally am missing Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddle Duck. I am missing the dear Hungry Caterpillar and getting caught up in We're Going on a Bear Hunt. Hairy Macklary from Donaldson's dairy, where have you been these last few months? And Slinky Malinky are you behaving? Oh why doesn't my daughter want to listen to a book anymore? What is that great about watching repeats of the Octonauts? Why have I let it get to this point? I might not have the answers to these questions but I think I know how I might be able to fix the situation. An idea is brewing, one that will put a little magic back into story time.

How am I going to do that you ask? Well, with a reading corner MAKEOVER! No wonder books are being forgotten, story time dumped for YouTube cartoons, look at the awful state of our reading corner! The chair is old and tattered, the books are stashed away in a cupboard and that radio CD player just doesn't belong! (OK sometimes we play audio books on it hence why it's in the reading corner)

After giving it some thought I decided we need to turn this dull corner into a magical fairy nook. For this I was going to hang some organza above the chair to give it a more cosy cave/den like quality. Giving us a sense that when sitting under it we have been transported to magical story land, leaving the real world on the outside.

My daughter was excited once I had explained my idea and vision. She was more than eager to help so I gave her the job of painting a large branch that I planned on using to hang the material from. While she was doing that I got onto sewing a loop in the top of the organza so I could thread it over the branch.

Once that was done I went into the cellar to look for some sort of hanging mechanism. I found two large hooks that I then drove into the slanted roof just above the chair.Yes I had to be brave and bust out the power tools!











 

  With the hooks in place I found some lovely lace ribbon and tied the branch to the hooks. (this was after I threaded the material on)

Now it wasn't only that chair that needed serious work, the cupboard also needed a spruce up! How can a child be interested in looking at books if the books were always out of sight? A few old wicker baskets later, some plastic greenery and LED candles, Bob's-you're-uncle we had an enchanted cupboard top that begged you to grab a book! The basket on the right is for our current library books, the one of the left for our collection of little Pixi books, perfect for darling daughter to choose herself and look at. I also put dolly in the basket thinking maybe my monkey would like to snuggle with her while reading.

Unfortunately the CD rack had to stay, it is after all filled with Audio books, but I decided it will also have to house our paper story stones, which are in the little basket. We actually now sit with the basket when telling stories, picking stones directly from the basket. The toadstool money box is just something we had lying around and I thought fitted the fairy garden theme.

Now you can't have a fairy themed corner without fairy lights, so I've hung some over the branch too. These one's work with batteries which means we don't need a power outlet. As you can see I've also put some more plastic greenery and glued plastic blossoms on the organza, completing the fairy garden look.

So you might now be wondering, has their been any change, has my daughter once more become a fan or books and stories? Well the short answer is YES! Actually as soon as the material was hung and the nook created she was in there with her basket of Pixi books and didn't come out until I was finished and we needed to get dinner ready. Thinking it was too good to be true I figured the next day things would be back to normal and she'd be begging for the IPad again. Nope, that night she gladly let me tell her a stone story and the next morning, as soon as she woke up, she burst into our bedroom with a book in hand begging me to read it.  Again tonight there was no asking for Octonauts but a couple of books under LED candle and fairy lights. I am still pinching myself, I cannot believe that a simple reading corner makeover has brought books back into our lives so quickly. All I can say is thank goodness!

If you've been struggling to make books a thing in your household I hope you have found some inspiration with our story. Let me know if you have. The Internet is also great for ideas just do a Google search and get inspired!

Happy reading, happy playing.

Paper Story Stones, first time trying them

I don't know about you but I am loving these story stones that I keep seeing around the Internet. At first I wasn't sure what they were all about but the lovely women at Sensory Play Ideas for Children helped me out.

So these story stones, what are they all about? Well they are stones with pictures on them that help children, and adults alike, to initiate the telling of a story.

One way you can use them is by putting them all in a bag and then the child picks a stone out and uses the picture on the stone to start the story telling. You then pick out another and use that image to guide the next part of your story. You continue picking out stones and using the pictures to guide the rest of the story. Another way is to sort some stones in a sequence and then get the child or adult to tell a story in the order that the stones show. The stones with their pictures can help a child retell a familiar book by sequencing the pictures in order.

Whilst I love the concept of story stones, at the moment I do not have the time to gather stones and paint pictures on them and neither do I have the money to buy some already made. What I do have though is some time to make and print these paper laminated versions. As you can see I've still kept the stone theme but they are a from a file I made in Microsoft Word and then printed. Easy to make multiple sets!

Here is a basic 'Fairy Tale ' set  I'm making at the moment. I'm using the picture communication symbols from Boardmaker for the pictures. I'm also including the written word as I think this could help children familiarise themselves with the words, and in turn further their reading skills. (I caught my daughter the other day sounding out the initial letters to work out what the pictures were of)

I am the first to admit that these are not as nice as the painted stone versions but sometimes limited time and money means compromise. I must say laminating them does help make them smooth and shinny like a stone (OK I'm trying really hard here to sell them aren't I? Hehehehe). But then again one thing that may convince you of the value of this version is storage and portability. From what I've seen on the Internet, the stones used look quite big and would probably weigh a bit too if you're taking a bunch of them on a trip or outing. They would also need containers for storing and depending on your child, they could also be thrown around and cause a bit of damage! For this reason I think paper  can be a great option too. Who knows, one day I might manage to make them look nicer too!

In order to test how story stones work, I gave it a go the other night by randomly picking one out of the pile to start the story telling and then randomly picking out another to continue. I also wrote the story down so I could share it with you. I must admit, at first I thought it was going to be awkward and hard to keep a story going with random pictures dictating the story but it wasn't, rather it was amazing how inspiring this system is. I would never have thought up of this story on my own! Hooray for story stones!

Here is the story I made up using the `fairy tale`set randomly. 

The Underwater Castle: a story stone inspired tale! 

 (story stone picked highlighted in red)

Once upon a time if you stood by the banks of this enchanted pond you could see a glimpse of a spell bound castle that lay beneath the water. The castle had been captured by a jealous witch who wished to rule the kingdom herself. With a wave of her wand she had cast a powerful spell that condemned the castle and all who lived in it to a life underwater. 

While the witch thought that she'd captured the whole court, there was one who had escaped this watery fate. That someone was the beautiful princess. The princess was not in the castle that day but instead was visiting the house of an old lady she'd befriended. The lady lived in a nearby village. The princess was introduced to this old lady by the queen herself, who was fond of the  parties, cakes and tarts that the old lady baked. The queen's favourite was one of the old woman's family recipes, strawberry and rhubarb tart. 

Since the disappearance of her family and the castle, the princess had made it her mission to find them and to bring the person responsible for their disappearance to justice. She knew she couldn't do it herself so she asked her fairy godmother to help.  The fairy godmother had a clue as to what had happened to the royal family and castle. She told the princess of how she was flying around the forest the day her family disappeared and while she didn't think much of it at the time, she did remember seeing some magical fireworks and lights in the near distance. Could that have something to do with the missing castle? 

That night, by the light of the full moon, the princess and her fairy godmother flew on the back of a the fairy godmother's pet dragon to the place in the forest where the fairy godmother had seen the lights. They didn't want anyone to notice them so they dismounted the dragon by the edge of the forest and then took a winding path through the forest to the spot where the lights came from. 

At first they couldn't see the pond in front of them but as the moon came out from behind the clouds and shone its silvery light, both the princess and the fairy godmother could clearly spot the simmering waters of the pond. While they stood there looking at the pond they noticed the presence of a tall slender figure that had a pointy hat and cloak on. It was the wizard of the forest and he looked grumpy! 

"What's wrong?" asked the princess. 
"I am tired of that nasty witch and her evil spells!" exclaimed the wizard.
"Nasty witch?, why is she nasty?" asked the fairy godmother.
"Because she has done a most unbelievable and despicable thing!"
"What?" exclaimed both the princess and the fairy godmother in unison. 
 The wizard rubbed his beard, leaned in close and whispered..."She put the castle and the whole royal family in MY pond!" 

The princes and  fairy god mother looked at each other with surprised expressions. They did not expect this for an answer.
"What a truly evil witch! How can we get the castle and my family out?" asked the princess. 
"We must wait for a rainbow to appear, then I can gather all my power and cast a counter spell that will put everything right!" declared the wizard. 

So the three of them sat up all night waiting for morning to come, hopefully with a rainbow! But when morning came there were no clouds or rain in sight. The three friends grew desperate. Before the princess, and her company could lose all hope they came upon a gnome. The gnome had heard the three talking the night before and knew that he could help. 

"Hello princess, I think I can help you! I, you see, am a special magical gnome who controls the weather and I can conjure a rainbow for you. I'm a big fan of your dad the king and it would be an honour to help you his daughter."

The princess was so happy. She ordered the gnome to work his magic immediately. As the rain fell and went and the rainbow appeared, the wizard got to work and cast his spell. Out of the pond rose the castle and with a flash and a lightning blitz the castle returned to it's rightful place in the center of the kingdom.

The witch flew in quickly shocked to find her spell had been broken. She tried once more to recast the spell but as she waved her wand a large mighty bird came out of the sky and plucked the wand out of her hand. Without it the witch had no magic. The grumpy wizard, who was so upset with the witch's actions finally had his chance to take revenge and with the wave of his wand turned the witch into a a gold trimmed coach which he offered the princess and the fairy godmother for their journey home.
And so until this day still the princess and her family still use this coach for trips in muddy weather just to make sure the witch had learnt her lesson! 


And that is the end of my first story stone fairy tale! I've kept true to the game and not edited anything, writing exactly what had come into my head as I picked the stones.

Now to test them on darling daughter! Will let you know what she thinks and if she is able to use them for story telling in a future post!

Happy story telling and happy playing!

Free Aided Language Displays for stamp art activity

Looking at my blog stats I can see that the DIY foam stamps and ink pad post has been a popular idea/activity. (See here for post) For this reason I have decided to give you all a free Aided Language Display (ALD) to use when making art with stamps.

If you are not familiar with what an ALD is, and how to use it, please read my post on Aided Language Displays here. Basically they are a communication tool that is based on picture communication symbols which a child with limited or no language can use to communicate simple ideas for any given topic or activity. I have used them extensively when teaching students with special needs.


In order to make one for yourself just click on the picture below, save and print! As mentioned in the other post I do recommend you laminate it before use so it doesn't get damaged. Trust me this is very likely!

I designed it so children can comment about how they think their art looks using beautiful or yucky. They can also request the tools they need to complete the activity, ink pad, paper, stamps. I thought it was good to include 'turn' as well as sometimes children want their play partners to take a turn adding to their art. I know my child does! Stamp art can also get messy, messy tables, messy hands so I've added cells where children can ask to clean their hands or comment that something is messy or dirty. Push has been added there as a child might ask for help to push or press the stamp. They might want to tell you that they want to press the stamp. And with the 'different' cell they can of course request a different stamp or colour. 'Finished' gives the child the opportunity to say they've had enough which I think is important. 

What I thought might also be useful for this activity is another ALD with just colours and shapes. Just click on the picture, save, print and laminate. You can use this for this activity so children can choose colours. If your stamps are of shapes then they can also make comments about the shapes they'd like. Of course this is a useful ALD for any art project or where you are working with colours and shapes. For example you might be building with Lego and want your child to communicate what colour block they want.

Note- These ALD's are my own work. While I obviously don't mind people using them for personal use, in under no circumstances are they to be used for commercial gain. If you would like to share these with other people please do not copy and paste them on another blog, website etc. but rather link back to the posts here at We are Happy Playing.

Please if you are using these ALD's let me know how you go in the comment section below. I would love to know if they are of any help and if you think something should be changed or added.

Happy playing!

Aided Language Displays, helping children communicate and play

Apart from discovery, I believe that communication is a key part of play. Children learn to name objects through play, make requests, comment and negotiate with peers. But what if your child has no or limited language, be that because they are still young or be that because they have a developmental issue? How can they communicate during play? How can they develop deeper connections with peers that language affords us?

One of the most effective tools I used when teaching children with no speech or limited speech was an Aided Language Display or ALD. With an ALD I could give children the opportunity to open up and communicate with me on a certain topic or activity. After much frustration I was finally able to understand more about the children's likes and dislikes. I could easily attend to their needs because they were able to easily make requests. And being able to make comments  like "wow" and "oh no" really made the play session come alive. I was now becoming more a play partner than just the teacher who was watching a child silently play on their own. 

Once more children were using the ALD's successfully, I started witnessing moments where the children were starting to communicate simple ideas with each other. In special developmental education this is like  witnessing lightning strike before you. From my experience it's just that rare. And with more communication came more willingness to play, and more willingness to engage with others which in turn meant more laughter and more fun!

So what exactly is an ALD? Well an ALD is often a one sided A4 page that has printed on it a set number of cells usually between 6 and 20. Within each cell is a picture communication symbol or PCS. The PCS's are related to a particular activity and are chosen so that anyone can by pointing to the symbols and make simple sentences for requesting, commenting and questioning.

Very simple 6 cell ALD for building a block tower

Below is a picture of an ALD I made for the Marble Maze game I posted earlier.The symbols I've used are from Boardmaker and are typically used in special educational settings. (save picute and print for your own use)

As you can see the child can point to a series of cells to make requests  like "I want a block"  or "I want to build a maze". They can also instruct their play partner by pointing out "Your turn"or "you build a maze" Likes and dislikes can be easily communicated by pointing to the 'I' and 'like' cell. A child can also let you know how they feel about the maze by pointing to the 'hard' or 'easy' cell.  Furthermore the child can  express surprise and disappointment using the 'wow' and 'oh no' cells. 

As you might have noticed the board is set up so that most sentences are made by moving left to right. Key cells like 'I' and 'more' are usually in the same position for other ALD's. This helps the child to make sentences quicker as they have already become used to the position of these cells. 

Children do not automatically know how to use these boards, there is some teaching involved. Most of that teaching is done by modeling done by the adult. You can demonstrate how to make sentences by doing it yourself during a play session. Point out the sentences and say the sentence while you do so. You can then help the child by taking their hand and helping them make a likely comment. If you can see that they don't want to play anymore you could take their hand and help them point out "I'm finished" or "I don't like that". I think what is also key to using ALD's successfully is teaching new PCS's exclusively outside of a play situation as well as during play sessions. Some time dedicated in simply learning to recognise the symbols and their meaning.

 If you are working with a child who has limited speech or usually uses one word sentences, encourage them to verbally express what they are pointing to. I've had students with Autism, who would only use one word requests, start to speak in simple 2-4 word sentences, even without the use of the ALD. While I have had such success with some of my students this did not happen overnight but after a lot of work and play using an ALD.

While I think the world of ALD's, they are not without their issues. Some people criticise them for their limited vocabulary. Some people find them a nuisance to take around while playing games with a lot of movement. For me, I think having any vocabulary and option for communication is better than none. And yes they can be a bit of a bother to take with you when you are running or moving around but nothing beats giving a child the opportunity to communicate and the connection that communication can forge between people.And what's more is that you don't need to have lots of money to afford ALD's unlike other communication devices, just a computer, printer and laminator, things people often already have at home.

If you are interested in trying out ALD's with your child then please fill free to save the ones here and print them for personal use. Do laminate them before use because during play things can get rough and sometimes messy, and if not laminated they tend to get ripped or scrunched. Ok, ok and stained on occasions from spilt juice.

I have never used an ALD with a toddler before but I could imagine that it would be an effective way to encourage communication before they are able to speak or speak clearly. But then again I am no expert in this area and cannot guarantee that this would be effective with a toddler. You might like to consult a speech therapist before you try it. 

Note: Being a blog about play for all abilities I have decided that I will always provide an ALD for any activity that I share that people can save for personal use, so do stay tuned for that!

Anyway I hope this post has been helpful and given you some tools for encouraging communication and play.
If you've tried the ALD let me know how it goes and if it can be improved with more or different vocabulary.

As always happy communicating and happy playing!

  

Snack Bingo

A long time ago I worked in after-school care and one of the games we played was Smarty Bingo. For those of you who are not familiar with Smarties they are candy coated chocolate buttons. It was a fun game where the children used Smarties to mark their Bingo sheets instead of the more typical plastic marker. At the end of the game the children got to eat the Smarties they used and the winner got a bonus handful of Smarties for winning. While it was a fun twist on a favorite game , I am not one who is comfortable giving kids sweets as part of a game and so Smarty Bingo has not been played in this household. 

What do we play instead? Snack Bingo, of course! (wasn't going to throw the baby out with the bath water, just make it a little more healthy!)

Instead of Smarties we use...

• Cherry tomatoes
• Pieces of fruits like apple, banana, pear and pineapple
• Mixed nuts, usually almonds
• Grapes and sultanas
• Cubes of cheese and cold meats like cabana
• slices of carrots and cucumbers 

As stated before the game is played like any regular game of bingo but we use food for markers. For our Bingo cards I just went over to Sparklebox on the Internet and searched Bingo cards. Just remember, because you are putting food on the cards you need to laminate them so you can wipe them clean.

Best part of this game is that before you know it the kids have had half an hour of fun, possibly learnt their numbers, colours, letters etc. and their bellies are full! What more could you ask for? It's portable and easy to take on a picnic.

 As you can see from the photo here, today's session was a success! 

Anyway I hope this has given you something to try around snack time. Maybe even encourage the children to try some new food? I also hope you are getting some awesome weather wherever you are in the world. We are just loving this sunny spring weather, think most snack times will be spent outside like this until this German weather throws us storms and rain at us again! It tends to do that!

From us here, happy playing!

Water play threading, a sensory and fine motor skill experience

I am a sucker for browsing in those cheap dollar shops, always looking out for little bits and pieces I can use for play experiences. Today I was blessed with a real treasure of a find. The longest neon coloured straws I have ever seen. I
don't even know why they are manufactured because from a drinking straw perspective they are as useful as a waterproof teabag. I mean who keeps their drink a meter away when drinking? I guess you could have your drink on the floor and use the straw so you don't have to pick it up but really these straws were screaming for a repurpose! The other awesome find I found was foam beads! I can't believe they sell these. I bought a packet for 99 cents that were flower themed. 

I know there will be a hundred different ways I can turn these straws into a fun activity but last night they became the key piece (or pieces if you will) in a bath time game. That game was Water Play Threading and it kept my daughter busy and happy for a whole half an hour. It would have been longer if I wasn't concerned about the level of wrinkliness her hands and feet were sporting. For the activity I just cut up a few of the straws and gave my daughter a plastic stringy thing ( I'm not sure of the technical term) to use to thread them through. It became a lot more fun than normal threading because she had to sieve through the bubble bath foam to find pieces. Kind of like a treasure hunt game and threading all wrapped in one activity.

So that I can show you some photos of the activity ( I couldn't get any of her in the tub where her pink bits didn't show)  I set up the activity again in a tub for the play room. The little one enjoyed it just as much as she did in the bath which is great because sometimes you just want to play with water without having to shampoo your hair at the end!

As you can see in this photo, before I really foamed thing up with dish washing detergent, I just needed to add the foam beads, cut up straws and a plastic thread.

Note: bit of a bubble/foam hack- use a whisk to make bubbles and foam without having to splash about! So easy and quick!














This activity is more than just water play, it is also very good for developing fine motor skills while honing in on the sense of touch. You see the pieces are hardly visible when hidden in the bath foam so my daughter only has her sense of touch that she can use to find the pieces. You can also give your child pattern making charts that he/she can use to thread colour patterns making it also a numeracy experience.

I have to say using the plastic thread makes it much easier for younger kids to complete the activity too. Unlike regular string it is quite stiff and stays straight while a child threads things on. The wider circumference of the straws also makes it easy to thread. I highly recommend using these items for first time threaders!

If you are interested I'm developing a pirate and mermaid theme version of this activity so stay tuned!

Happy threading and happy playing.

P.S Thanks Papa for letting us girly you up a bit! 

DIY foam stamps and ink pad

Shh don't tell the hubby but I was at it again, yes I went dollar shop shopping! I love going there for play supplies. Every time I go I end up with so many new ideas and the best part at the end of the day is that I have a bag full of goodies for about  5 Euros. Well I guess we could say hubby is lucky too, oh and my daughter since she gets to play with it all.

Today's awesome find were these animal foam shapes with a sticky side! I can't remember where exactly but a while ago I came across a photo of some stamps a mother had made using old wooden blocks and bits of foam, sticks and other bits and pieces. Looking at the bag of foam pieces I bought made me think that I too could make some stamps using the foam bits and wooden blocks. Once the stamps were finished with I could always take the sticky foam off and return the blocks to their original use.  It's  truly a 1 minute DIY toy you can make almost with your eyes shut!

 In order to make it simply get some of these sticky foam shapes, round up a hand full of wooden blocks and stick the foam pieces on them. And to think I was seriously thinking of dishing out around 30 Euros for a stamp set. More like 99 cents now! 

I decided I wasn't going to spend the money on ink pads so I made an 'ink pad' from an old kitchen cloth. To make one it is important to wet the cloth, wring it out so it's still a bit wet but not dripping and then put some paint on it, spreading the paint around with a brush so it is absorbed by the cloth. If you dip the stamps into paint without doing this you just end up with sloppy blobby prints.As you can see we've mixed things up by using some other kids' stamps we already had.

Here's a preview of one of the artworks made.

 

My little monkey decided to add some details with textas once the prints were dry. Here she is putting eyes on all the froggies and ducks.You can't see it in this photo but later she also drew in a pond for the animals to swim in.

 

One of the things I like about using stamps to make artworks is that it means children of all ages and abilities can make art that is successful and effective. When I was working at a special developmental school with students who had poor fine motor skills and could not use pencils or paint brushes I would always bring out some stamps so they could feel like they were able to achieve something other than a canvas of smeered paint. You might have to first demonstrate how it's done by using a hand over hand technique but even young children get the hand of it quickly. 

Anyway have a wonderful day and let me know if you give this idea a go. 

Happy playing! 

How to sew a bean bag with clear pocket

Bean bags are an essential part of fun in our household. We love throwing them at each other, in baskets and behind furniture, unfortunately. For a long time now I've been thinking about bean bags with plastic pockets. This way I could use them as a learning tool as well as a source of fun. As a teacher I can't believe I didn't get my hands on some for my classroom. Imagine how much longer my students would have been focused and interested in learning the ABC's or numbers if we did so while throwing bean bags at each other while doing so. 

While I will save the 'how to use these bean bags as a teaching aid' in future posts, today I will explain how to make one.

What you will need

• Plastic film often used for table cloths (you can buy this at a fabric store or at the hardware store. It comes on a roll)
• Non-stretch fabric pieces
• Rice or wheat to fill bean bags
• Thread
• Sewing machine
• Sewing pins
• Rotary cutter
• Cutting mat
• Ironing board and iron

 How to make

First iron and then cut out your fabric. For each bean bag you will need two pieces of fabric cut at 6 inches by 4 inches. Then cut out your plastic film at 5 inches by 4 inches.

 

Arrange the plastic piece so it is aligned with the bottom and sides of the bean bag fabric. There will be an inch gap at the top which you want. Once you have done that put the other fabric piece on top, right side facing in. Pin in place and sew the three sides together leaving the top open. Snip the corners and turn the bean bag inside out.

Note: When turning the bean bag inside out place your thumb on the plastic bringing it towards the side you want it to be on. For example with this bean bag I wanted the pocket on the non-print fabric side. If you do this the plastic pocket will always show up on the side you want it.

Once you have turned it right side out, poke the corners with something to bring them completely out. Pour in some filling and turn the open end of the fabric in half an inch. 

Sew together shut with the sewing machine or by hand and then you are finished! All you need to do now is print some pictures to put into the pockets, with which the possibilities are endless. Here I've put in some pictures of things so we can play an initial sound game.

I hope you've enjoyed the tutorial and as always happy playing!