Hats off to Mummy

Today is national hat day - So obviously we had to make a hat!

I just pulled out some random bags from the cupboard today, including some party hats left over from the Zebras first birthday.

For some unknown reason, the Zebra made it very clear she did not want any feathers near her hat!

We soon got over the tantrum and got stuck into the glue! No matter how much pva we glooped, most the pom-poms fell off, so we used foam and glitter shapes instead

And the best bit of hat making? Trying it on! 

For our princess crown, we used some glitter glue tubes - it was going great onto the Zebra sat on it and wipe all the glitter into her bum... Time to tidy up!

Cold as Ice

Brrrr!!! It certainly has turned cold today, so our craft is reflecting how we feel - Frozen.

Frozen themes only need two colours - blue, and white to give different shades of blue.

With one piece of blue paper I used masking tape to make snowflake shapes. For the other piece I cut a toilet roll to make a snowflake printer.

Despite having lots of different brushes, the Zebra insisted on painting her hands and feet. She would then stamp and pat the paper to cover it white...

Once it dried, I peeled off the masking tape to give lovely blue snowflakes against a snowy white sky 

Next, the Zebra had blue paint mixed into the bowl and was given the toilet roll stamper. Things started well and she made some snow prints, but it wasn't long before the toes got in on the action and the piece became a big blue smear! 

We did have a bit of artist temper half way through as the Zebra was clearly not happy with the direction her work was going, and demanded a clean sheet of paper...

The way things are feeling here, we may have some real snow in the next couple days! 

David Bowie 1947-2015

There's a starman, waiting in the sky...

Bowie, you well and truely did blow our minds. 

I couldn't post today without giving tribute to another star in the sky. When I think of my childhood, I can't count how many hours I've spent listening to his music, and The Labaryth is up there as one of my most watched films. Even now I often find myself jumping around with the Zebra singing "Dance magic dance". He is a genuine legend.

Today we decided to have a Star theme, and wanted to make something bright and happy. We tried a craft similar to this at Halloween, but with paint, and it was an epic fail, so this time we tried it with glitter.

Holding a paper star against the card, I covered everything in pva glue. When the star was lifted, it left a perfect, clean shape in the centre. 

Time to get the shake-shake out and let the Zebra loose with the glitter!

Once she got bored, I made sure the whole paper was covered in different coloured glitter. 

Shake off the excess, and you are left with a shining star! 

The zebra also enjoyed some time playing with the glue and glitter to make some sparkly footprints and played with the sticky star I used as a stencil.

Cinnamon Swirls

Yay for baking Saturday's! And what better way to use up the festive flavours than with some swirls. Or pin wheels. Or rolls. Or what ever you call them! 

Ingredients:

*Rolls

350g self raising flour

Pinch of salt

2tbsp caster sugar

2tsp cinnamon powder

100g melted butter

2 egg yolks

200ml milk 

*Filling 

1tao cinnamon powder

55g brown sugar

2tbsp caster sugar

1tbsp melted butter

Icing sugar and cinnamon powder for glacé - can be made to suit tastes.

Pop all the ingredients for the filling into a bowl and give a good mix. We used melted butter, however, if I was to do this again I would use soft butter to make more of a paste. Pop bowl to one side. 

For the rolls, add the dry ingredients together in a big bowl and mix well. Then add in the rest of the wet ingredients and stir up it. Be careful of little fingers when adding the melted butter if it's still warm. 

Once you have a firm dough, it's ready to taste!

I tried rolling on baking paper, however it kept sticking, so we ended up using flour on the table. 

Sprinkle on the filling, and then roll up the dough! 

It was then mummy's job to slice the roll and pop into a greased oven dish. Then into the oven for 30 minutes at 180deg.

Once it's out the oven and cooked, it's time to ice the swirls! I started with making some thin icing sugar and pouring over the top so it found its way into all the gaps and inside the swirls. I then made some thicker icing and added cinnamon powder - this was used to glacé over the top.

Perfect! Now I just have to resist eating until tomorrow...

Bubble Blowing Prints

This was a bit of a fail on all levels if I'm honest! We did get two nice prints but it wasn't worth it.

I think I may have gone wrong with the colouring - I imagine liquid food colouring would work a lot better than dissolving gel in warm water.

It seemed like such an easy idea - food colouring, fairy liquid and water. Blow with a straw to make bubbles...

However, the Zebra was much more interested in playing with the bubbles! Not so great when using super-strong, mega-staining colouring.

She also wanted to blow the bubbles her self. After a quick go and a big mouthful of fairy liquid she soon changed her mind.

We did manage to get some of the paper on the bubbles, but the blue card was no good as it was so shiny the bubbles just ran off.

A great sensory activity...

If you don't mind hands looking like this!!!

Jelly Play

*Caution*

This post contains scenes of an extreme messy nature!!

As the Zebra has eaten jelly on a few occasions now, I wasn't sure if she would explore this activity, or just munch the bowl!

To try and add something extra to the bowl, I layered two flavours of jelly, setting in some animals in each one. 

I set the bowl and some toys up on the table and told the Zebra there were animals hiding in the kitchen she needed to find...

She was quite exited at the sight!

But the first thing she did was eat the jelly...

It wasn't long until she was trying to set all the animals free - and giving them a good clean!

As with everything sensory, it was only a matter of time before her feet got involved. She just loves different textures on her toes, much more than her hands.

There was lots of digging and scooping and covering, all helping with fine motor skills, and she was soon having so much fun she forgot to eat it...

For a few minutes anyway! 

Tweet Tweet!

Tweet tweet tweet!! So it would seem today is national bird day (thanks again Google!), which makes another great theme for some crafts. I don't really know many birds so thought I'd go with the English robin and a colourful parrot.

As always, just basic materials needed - white paper can be used but I went for green and blue card - green jungle for the parrot and blue wishy-washy winter sky for the robin.

The Zebra loves nothing more than painting with her hands and feet and was more than pleased for me to paint the blue and yellow to make the parrots body 

After you've made your foot print, paint the hand with yellow and blue. Put the palm of the hand onto the toes, so the fingers point down and create tail feathers.

The robins are much easier, just two brown footprints! Use each foot once so the birds are looking at each other on paper.

Add a brown branch, orange beak and googley eye to complete the parrot...

...and a red tummy in the foot instep, orange beak and googley eyes for the robins!

While I finished the birds, I let the Zebra have some good free-play with the paints - she really does love it!

Tweet!