Easter Egg Chicks

Cheep cheep!! It's nearly Easter and we all know it's more fun to find a chick in your egg than chocolate... 

It's not like me to buy pre-made crafts, but I found such fun stuff in The Range I just couldn't help myself! 

However, what I thought was a big bag of yellow feathers turned out to be a feather boa... Because what is Easter without dressing up like a sexy bird?!

Cover the foam chicks in PVA glue...

...then go crazy with the feathers - Make sure you wash any glue from your hands first! 

Once they are totally covered in feathers, put them to one side.

Once the chicks have dried, add some googely eyes and a triangle of orange paper for the beak.

Cut a zig-zag across the egg so the chick can hide inside.

Aren't they just the cutest?! 

And there are so many different designs you could try - the egg can also be decorated! 

Daffodils

Spring is almost here! The weather is getting nicer, and 20th March was the official start on the calendar...

We made these pictures for mothers day, however they are a great general Spring craft, or even for Easter cards.

This Zebra just loves her hand being painted!!

Stamp four yellow hands to create the outer petals...

...and an orange hand in the middle for the flowers head. Mummy then added a line of green for the stem.

It's not just daffodils, this method could be used to create all sorts of colourful flowers!

Spaghetti Day

Thanks to some random googling last night, I found out today is National Spaghetti Day. I'm not sure which nation this is for, but it seemed a good theme for the Zebra to enjoy!

I had two activities in mind, using just a few basic supplies I'm sure most people would have! I used orange card, but plain paper would work just as well.

To prepare the lion, I drew the basics of a lion face on the card, then, using a sponge brush I made a mane with pva glue. The spaghetti I snapped in half to use as hair.

I showed the Zebra how to stick a piece of spaghetti down, and she had a go but clearly doesn't have the fine motor skills yet. I snapped up the spaghetti until it was all very little bits in the jug, and then let her pour it over the picture! To make them stick, she would pat them down onto the picture. 

To fill in the gaps between pasta, we used gold glitter which worked a treat!

I stuck on some googley eyes to complete the fun spaghetti lion!

To keep her busy while I tidyed up and started tea, I gave her some whole spaghetti sticks and the collinder. She loved fitting them through the holes and it will help improve those fine motor skills!

New Years Eve sparkle

New Years Eve is not a holiday that can really be properly celebrated with a toddler! However, we have ended our crafty year with lots of glitter to make fireworks 

Just basic supplies needed for this craft. The more variety of glitters the better.

Using a paint brush, I let the Zebra paint the glue onto the paper 

After that, just let loose with the "shake-shake" 

If you use the glue to write straight onto the paper, you can also make some funky pictures 

This glitter can be added all over to give a shiny look (just remember to leave it flat when drying!!!!)

 Or the glitter can go on in stripes or blocks!

Whatever you decide - you will still be finding glitter all round the house long into summer... 

Thank-You Cards

Living in a digital age, it's so easy to forget about the humble Thank You card.

Personally, I think if they are going to be sent, they need to be done within a few days. With it being such a crazy, busy time of year, I went for a quick but sweet idea.

I simply let the Zebra loose with some new craft supplies she got for Christnas.

First we tried out the pink paint and print blocks. She enjoyed working then out, and also stacking them!

The zebra then asked for the green paint, and we tried some of the big sponge-stopper style brushes. 

We then threw in some yellow for good luck, and a few more brushes.

There was a huge temptation from the Zebra to paint her hands and feet, but I just couldn't face the mess...

Once the paintings had dried, I glued each one inside a thank you card and cut to shape. 

The perfect way to get a toddler to "write" a card, before they can spell 

Cotton Wool Snowman

We are finally home after a week staying at Nana's while the boiler was replaced... But that's the end of our good luck as we are housebound with the Chicken Pox!! The Zebra is very spotty, itchy and miserable - At least I have lots of craft ideas to distract her and pass the time 

I wanted to start with something simple in case she didn't feel up to much. Mr Snowman only needs basic supplies and pretty minimal preparation 

In fact, the only prep needed was cutting one plate slightly smaller than the other 

I let the Zebra loose with a pile of cotton wool balls, some glue to "dip-dip", and the plates.

Once the Zebra had used up all the wool, she decided that was enough for this morning and she would much rather just watch me from her box! 

I bent some pipe cleaners to make the arms. Using scissors, I made two holes in the body, stuck them through and secured on the back with sellotape.

For decorations, I used some googley eyes and a feather for his nose. Mouth and buttons were made from small black pom-poms. His scarf is some old ribbon and makes it look neater where his head is glued on.

The Zebra was quite happy with her finished snowman! 

Foam Christmas Trees

We might not have our tree up yet but we can start making decorations ready for it!

I bought a muktipack of green foam trees from The Range but you could also cut them out of green paper. I wanted the session to be more about exploratory fun for the Zebra so I found lots of different textures for decorations; Pom Poms, glitter, feathers, petals, and roll paint. Any colours can be used but I went for a red festive theme 

We used the roller stick of paint first. The Zebra really enjoys footprint painting right now so it wasn't long before her toes got into the action! 

When not distracted by Frozen, we used pritt-stick for the feathers

The Zebra used a paintbrush to get PVA glue onti the tree before sticking on the petals

The Pom-Poms were too small for the Zebra to stick on individually so she would drop handfuls onto the PVA covered tree 

Saving the best for last...time to shake-shake glitter onto the glue! 

Because of the variety of materials used today, the Zebra was kept amused for ages! 

I can't wait for the tree to go up and these decorations to hang on the branches :)