Easter Messy Play & Crafting

We have been having a great Easter holidays so far, its been so nice having the nice dry weather. We have held 2 group messy play sessions, been catching up with friends and attended a Gromit model making session. The boys had great fun learning to make a Gromit, with George from Ardman animations. I was hoping that Joseph (5) would be able to make his own but he did need lots of help, so I ended up making most of both!

On Monday we held an Easter themed group messy play session, where we made bunny grass cups, and Easter bonnets/hats. To make the hats cut a strip of card to fit your child's head then cut out and staple on some bunny ears on top.

I didn't get chance to share the Easter bonnets I made the boys last year, I was inspired to make Joseph's angry bird hat by this chick hat I found on pintrest.

Back to the messy play session.... We had an easter sensory box with rainbow rice in the base, & in the other box I used cooked seed pearl tapioca. I was hoping the tapioca would be like water beads but its more sticky, but still lots of fun.

In one of our pools we had cornflakes and fake flowers. In the other pool we had lots of pom poms and we painted and labeled egg boxes so the children could match the colours, they also had the option to use child's chopsticks for some fine motor practice.

We also had a table set out with Easter colouring sheets (lots on my easter pintrest board) and play dough and laminated play dough mats.The kids had lots of my funky crayon miss-shapes to colour with...

On the floor we had a large sheet of paper for painting, using brushes & stamps. We also used a potato masher as i'd seen on pinteset it maks a great egg shape! The other tip I found on pintrest is to use a sponge in the bowl it applies an even coat of paint to the stamp to make it easier to get a good print.

It was a very busy and fun session, so much so I didn't get chance to take many pictures!

If your looking for more Easter fun take a look at these posts from last year...

E is for Easter... Last years Easter round up!

Easter Chick Farm Sensory Box

Paper Plate Lamb/Sheep (pic is right at the bottom of the post)

The second messy play session we held was Lego Movie themed & I promise to share all the details soon. We are going away for the second week of the holidays, down in Dorset, fossil hunting. So I will apologise now if I go AWOL until after The Easter weekend & hope you all have a lovely Easter whatever your up to. 

x Jo x

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Easter Bunny Grass Cup

I'm busy getting ready for another couple of group messy play sessions I'm holding this Easter holidays. One of the crafts we will be making is these cute Bunny Cups that are great on their own but even better with grass hair!

Daniel (3.5) helped me make this test/example bunny, if you'd like to make one too here are the instructions.

Valentines Crafting

One of the great things about blogging is being able to look back at things you did in previous years. Last year we made a Valentines display using the boys artwork cut in to heart shapes. I didn't file these away with the other art work but kept it with my seasonal decorations so I could find them easily. I thought they would look great on the heart shaped photo holder I bought from a car boot a couple of weeks ago for just £2! I had no idea where I was going to put it, but for that price decided to find somewhere! So for now I've put it up on the kids art wall with their hearts from last year and a few old photos that had come out of frames ages ago. Daddy's not sure about it possibly because its pictures of him!

Our Art Wall.....

We have also been doing lots of valentines crafting in the last week..... The boys had lots of fun making some valentines cards for their 'girlfriends' this did include Nanny, Grandma & Daniels pre-school teacher, but its still a lot of cards for 2 boys so young to be giving! To decorate the cards we used some foam stamps & some heart shaped play dough cutters, with paint soaked sponges. This was the first time we had tried the sponge technique & it really helped limit the amount of paint on the stamps.

We also decided to make some Valentines trees, or Valentines Christmas Trees as Daniel (3) kept calling them. We painted some cardboard cones from our junk box, one had already been painted in the past so came out a darker shade. Apparently they needed glitter so to save on the mess we added some glitter to the red & pink paint. Later that day, once dry, the boys decorated the trees with various bits from our craft cupboard, Using PVA to stick them on.

For more valentines fun take a look at these posts from last year:
Bubble Wrap Heart Printing
Valentines Butterflies

x Jo x

P.s. Don't forget there is still time to enter our chrome letter competition!

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Bottle Top Christmas Tree Art

I must admit to pinching this idea from Josephs(5) school, but it looked like so much fun through the window that Daniel (3.5) wanted a go too, and Joseph was more than happy to make another... Joseph told me at school that they had to stick the bottle tops to the (pre-cut) card in the pattern in the example. Then the next day, once dry, they got to decorate them.  

I'm really struggling to fit in crafts/activities after school, by the time we get home its almost time to cook/eat & then bath & bed. I've found that if I either set up the activity before I pick the boys up or at least have it all gathered & ready the night before (if I'm working) then we can fit it in straight after a snack. 

My Example

So before they got home I sorted through our bottle top collection (i was glad to use some up) for green/red milk bottle tops & some smaller ones in other colours. I did lay out some bottle tops on the card to show them (mainly Daniel) how he could make them look like a tree. 

Josephs Tree

Daniels Tree

I then let them loose with the glue to make their trees however they liked. Joseph really wanted to do the same as he had done in school, Daniel's was much more unique! Once they were happy with their tree shapes we used some of our sequins & Christmas craft stickers to decorate them. They both had lost of in creating this 3D effect tree & I then didn't feel guilty letting them crash in front of cbeebies whilst I cooked tea.

The finished trees...

I also would like to have a go at making a bottle top wreath using a paper plate but don't know if we will get around to it in time to write a blog post as we have still got many of our 20+ Pre-School Christmas Crafts on our to do list....

x Jo x

20+ Pre-School Christmas Crafts

Paper Plate Crafts...

Angel - Crafty Journal

Snowman - The Crafty Hostess

Christmas Tree - A Mommys Adventures

Wreath - Big 2, Little 2

Gingerbread Man - My Preschool Crafts

 

Craft/Lolly Sticks...

Pretty Wreath - babble dabble do

Snowflake - All Free Christmas Crafts

Snowflakes- Happy Hooligans

Snowmen - A Day Of Wonders

Christmas Trees- A Home School Journey

Salt Dough...

Christmas Shape Salt Dough Decorations

Hand Print Keepsakes - This Blessed Nest

White Clay - The Imagination Tree

 

 Hand Prints...

Christmas Tree- The Gingerbread House

Reindeer Card - Emmys Mummy

Snowman - Pinners and Needles

Santa - The Mother Huddle

Angel - Happy Home Fairy

 

Other Great Ideas...

Simple Santa Hats

Happy Hooligans

Pipecleaner Icicle - Happy Hooligans

 

Pine Cone Tree & Mouse -  Retro Betty

Penguin Craft

I really can't wait to make some of these with the boys this year. If you would like even more Christmas ideas follow my Christmas & Winter board on Pintrest.

x Jo x

CD Fish Craft

I've been so wrapped up in Autumn & Halloween I've forgotten to share the details of the last of my summer messy play sessions. Our theme was the seaside to include the beach & under the sea. I have been wanting to make CD fish with the boys for a while so it seamed like the perfect craft for this theme.

Daniel (3)

Once I had collected enough old Cd's (thank goodness our local scrap store had some), I cut out lots of fins, tails & hearts for lips, form various colours of stiff paper (card or craft foam would also work well). You could glue these on, but would need to wait for them to dry before decorating the front. So we used sellotape to attach them on to the back of our Cd's.

We then flipped them over stuck on a googly eye & then the kids got creative with a selection of decorations to glue on.

My example fish, I love having an excuse to create!

Here are a few of our fab fish..

These would be great to make any time, but would be great if you are working on an under the sea theme or the letter F. Check back soon for the rest of the details of our seaside messy play...

 

x Jo x