Rice & Tubes - Adding another dimension to the sensory box

So when I saw an amazing sensory box from Frugal Fun For Boys on my Facebook feed I pinned it immediately. While I was pinning it the boys caught sight and wanted one of their own. A couple of hours later I decided to have a look around to see if we had enough bits to make a more basic quick DIY version.

Penguin Craft

Joseph (4) & Daniels (3.5) example penguins.

At this weeks group messy play session the theme is arctic, so I really wanted to make a cute penguin craft & searched pintrest for inspiration & settled on the idea of a loo roll penguin. Only thing is loo rolls aren't that hygienic (we use them at home but didn't want to expect others to) & I didn't have enough kitchen roll tubes to cut in 1/2. 

Also they would need painting black, again something you can do a home but not great when the kids are only there for an hour. So I ended up recycling some thick black card that I had (old a4 folder dividers), cut them in 1/3 rolled & stapled.

Craft table.

 I then used orange, white & black paper to make the beak, feet, wings & front, 

for the kids to stick on along with googly eyes.

Joseph's alien penguin he made at group!

I will add a post about the rest of our arctic fun soon!

x Jo x

Road Signs - For Daniels Party

For Daniels racing car birthday party I spent ages scouring pintrest for ideas, I loved these road signs so saved up my wrapping paper tubes from Christmas. I attached them to some boxes by cutting approx 1" up the tube all the way around then used duct tape to secure. It this point I painted them using the boys ready mix paint. My husband then took one look at my slightly wonky sign posts and said that they would fall over (I secretly agreed) & that I should have cut a whole in the box to push the tube through before taping! Along with some cursing, this is what I did along with some hot glue for good measure. 

For the crossing sign I tried using white paint on the stripes however it didn't cover very well even after 2 coats, so I ended up using double sided tape to attach white paper. I really wish that I had made my stripes thinner so I could have fitted a couple more on. 

To make the signs I used goggle images to look for the signs I wanted then used word to stretch them as big as I could fit on a4 paper. I then printed them out twice so that they would end up double sided. I then used prit-stick to glue them on to some cereal box card & once cut out some double sided tape to attach to the post. For the traffic light I used a large orange juice carton, again painted black & stuck on circles of coloured paper. To attach it I used my original method of cutting the tube & duct tape, this time with some added hot glue for good measure!

For Daniels Easter bonnet we had used craft foam to look like grass & tissue flowers. As I was looking to re-home the bonnet from the shelf in the kitchen, I took this opportunity to re-use it as grass at the bottom of a couple of the signs. On the party day I added a yellow balloon to the top of the crossing sign, to look like a light on top. I used double sided & normal tape, it only lasted about 20 mins before it kept falling off, so I wouldn't bother again!

I'm really glad I made the effort to make the signs as they really added to the overall effect. We left the signs at the hall for the toddler group to enjoy & they are still going strong a couple of weeks later!

x Jo x

Valentines Toilet Roll Butterflys

Continuing with our letter B activity's, we decided to make some toilet roll butterfly's. We were inspired by several ideas that I had pinned, like this bee, this caterpillar, & this butterfly.

While Joseph (4) was out on an errand with Daddy, Daniel (2.5) painted 2 toilet roll tubes with our red glitter paint. With the first one he left several bits unpainted so I touched these up for him, then on the second one he spent ages making sure it was all covered. Next I cut out 2 sets of heart shaped wings from pink card, I used some scrap paper to make a template, so I could fold it & get a symmetrical shape.

Daniel then used our heart shaped pastry/cookie cutters that we used with our valentines play dough last week, to print heart shapes on to the wings. He was enjoying the painting so much that he also ended up making 2 cards!

The next day we all assembled the butterfly's, we used double sided tape to stick the wings on & made some antennae with a silver pipe cleaner then added some eyes (always a favourite). To decorate, I put out some shiny valentines confetti, and we also added some buttons from my stash to continue the B theme.

Both boys enjoyed making there butterfly's, which (once dry) did several laps around the kitchen before landing among our heart display wall.

x Jo x

Tube Slide

I had a spare cardboard wrapping paper tube to hand (yes I have been wrapping already) & was wondering what it could be used for that wouldn't become a sward or hitting device! With 2 boys this is often the case, even though I have so far avoided buying anything sward or gun related, Joseph (4) has made a gun out of Duplo & started pointing it & shouting "kill kill kill"

Anyway... Daniel (2.5) is a fan of making slides from things either for himself or toys. He even quite often will stand his spoon against his breakfast bowl & say "made slide mummy". 

So I made him a slide for his toys by cutting up each side of a wrapping paper tube, then stapled them together to make it a double slide. I then attached it onto a table with some sticky tape - don't do this on your best table!

We found some figures (Duplo but others would work just as well), bob the builder & a fireman had lots of fun on the slide. I did try suggesting to Daniel that some small cars could use the slide but apparently it was a silly idea!

Daniel played with this for nearly 30 mins & then re-visited on and off throughout the afternoon, until Joseph came back from pre-school pulled it off & started to use it as a sward!

If you fancy making a ball run with your wrapping paper tubes take a look here a happy wanderer & if you cant resist making a sward take a look here ikat bag.

x Jo x