Crafting with petals

Crafting with natural materials can be great fun. The summer months are fantastic for being able to get outside and get creative (although the spring, autumn and winter months are too as long as you are appropriately dressed!).

I'd love to take the credit for this craft but it is entirely the invention of The Fairy and one of her friends. Whilst her friends mum and I were enjoying a cuppa they were quietly playing out side. When we went to check on them they asked for some extra 'making equipment', they wanted to make with some petals they had found fallen on the ground.

They had spontaneously created a selection of flowers. Lots of creative thinking, planning and experimenting went on as well as practising fine motor skills. Obviously petal art only lasts as long as the flowers but they had fun.

Glitter glue fireworks

Have you tried making glitter glue fireworks?

Ever since New Years Eve The Frog has been firework obsessed. This has included running around making 'whizz' and 'bang' noises. So I thought he might like a to experiment with a craft version.

The shiny glue looks really effective on black card.

This activity can be done with a wide age range of children, each learning at their level.

The Fairy wanted to add a 'firework' label using our favourite metallic pen. I've included an affiliate link for the pens in Amazon just in case you want to try them too (for those of you who are new to affiliate links it just means if you buy the product after clicking on the image I get paid a small percentage at no extra cost to you).



Language links: shiny, colour, sound words e.g bang, pop, whizz (links to 'letters and sounds' phase 1, aspect 6 'voice sounds).

Coffee filter leaves

These gorgeous leaves are super easy to make and make lovely homemade fall/ autumn decorations.  

First draw a leaf on a coffee filter paper

Then colour the leaf. We used autumnal (fall) colours to fit in with the season but you could use what ever colour you like.

The Fairy colouring.

The Frog colouring.

Next you spray (we used a well cleaned out bottle to hold the water). Using the spray is great for encouraging motor control in little hands. It helps if the leaf is on backing paper at this point as the link spreads(not kitchen roll as that will absorb all the colour).

The Fairy observed the leaf looked more like a leaf (and less like a blob of colour!) if she used less water.

The Fairy was fascinated to watch the colours blend and merge.

This activity was great fun as well as being a great learning opportunity. Not only could both the children (aged 2 and 5 years) do something together at the same time, they were developing fine motor control and making observations.

Language Links: wet, dry, spread, colours (red, yellow orange brown), autumn (fall)

Father's Day card

Well Father's Day is nearly upon us so thought we'd be unusually prepared and post how we have made our Father's Day card.

Ages ago we made some prints from shaving foam using this technique but didn't know what to do with the prints (so we kept them because I'm can't bear to throwing anything away  love keeping all the beautiful things we've made!) So whilst hunting through our craft boxes (we have multiple boxes as there is too much stuff for 1 - I really do need to de clutter/ organise them better, but that's a whole other post) I found them and thought they were perfect for 'up cycling'.

I cut out the word 'Papa' (as my husband is Spanish so we call him Papa not 'Daddy') and 'The Fairy' arranged the letters on contrasting card.

'The Fairy' chose to add a drawing and a heart cut out of the same pattern as the front of the card.
Hey presto a home made Fathers Day card. Perfecto!

CD plant protectors

Being a gardener you need to be an optimist - you plant things in the hope that they will germinate and grow. No mean feat with all the things that eat young plants on our allotment- not only do we have the usual slugs and birds, we also have rabbits and deer - its a wonder anything survives!.

After our bean crop was decimated, I decided I needed to take action. We looked at all the other allotment plots I could see CDs worked well to scare birds. So we visited the pound shop to buy some. I asked the 'The Fairy' if she wanted to jazz them up - she suggested making flowers.

Sorting out which colours she wanted where

Sticking

The finished product (don't look too closely at the bed below - most of the beans have already been eaten and the bed needed weeding when I took the photo!)

When is a wooden spoon not a wooden spoon?

When its a plant marker of course! 'The fairy' had been watching me make some plant markers out of wooden spoons and decided she wanted to make one too (I'm in the process of creating a play garden for her at our allotment, but that's a whole other post...hopefully I'll update here when there is more progress). 


The ones I made

Her much more creative one (painted to be a purple flower)

I helped by holding the spoon as she painted.

We then left the flower in a glass to dry (after 'The fairy' had painted her hands!)

Now we just need to varnish and plant it

Language Focus

Vocab: paint, brush, flower