Frosty marbles

Gosh the end of school holidays already? Man that went by 
in a blink! My Lulu has been enjoying sleepovers this week so I have had a grumpy/sleepy pre teen as well as a grumpy/clingy toddler who is adjusting to daycare. 
And me? Insomnia has become my worst enemy. I will never ever take for granted a restful night sleep again! My poor Hubbie is ready to club me too, because if I can't sleep- neither does he. 
But on a positive note, Valerian is starting to work for me. Hopefully  my sleep patterns will be back to normal soon.

We have had a fun week here and I have got to road test a few fun ideas I got from Pinterest. Here is a run down of the week.....


Frozen Water Marbles

These were awesome! I found this link on Pinterest a while ago but personally not a fan of using food colouring with my Bubba as its a nightmare to get off hands and clothes. 

http://queenvanna.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/ice-ballons/

So, I just filled balloons with water then sat them in a coffee cup in the freezer. Poor Hubbie was very perplexed haha! 
Then once frozen, you just cut away the balloon.
I put mine on a tray and added warm water so they melted a bit and became bumpy and textured. Bubba was fascinated trying to pick them up, lick them, pour water over them, move them and explore the coldness.

Although I left them plain this time, you could pop in glitter, sequins, paint or toys in to mix it up a bit. I saw these pics too but you would need to make sure it was age appropriate and heavily supervise. I'm not too sure I would let a 4 year old wield a chisel, but each to their own!

http://alittlelearningfortwo.blogspot.com/2011/09/ice-eggs.html

http://give-in-to-me1.blogspot.com/

Plain Playdough with Popsicle Sticks

I think children need a time out from colour overload every now and then. Not everything needs to be "Fisher Price red, yellow and blue" to be fun. Give the natural look a go or clay colours for a change. Bubbba really liked the pop sticks too, although he did put them on his mouth and have pretty blue lips.

Playdough is great on its own, don't overload kids too much with stuff like playdough cutters as you are changing the focus from sensory manipulation to a controlled play. Allow them to use their imagination and give "open ended" props that can be used to make anything their minds create. 

Natural and found materials work well too like gumnuts, leaves, twigs, dirt, sand etc. Go for a treasure hunt with a basket and create something special with your finds.

Textured Finger paint

I love messy play (duh!)Sure it does take a bit more effort but the results are priceless. To be prepared, I run a bath, get  towel and change of clothes ready, prepare a bucket of water outside (left up high so out of reach of kiddies), get the camera ready and change into daggy backyard clothes myself. All this preparation means I can just enjoy the experience and not need to stress.

I set this up by sticky taping some bubble wrap that I recycled from the mail and using some aluminium foil too. Obviously if you are going to use aluminum foil- don't do it in full sunlight!! 
I prepared some paint in little containers and had more paint to refill on hand too. Bubba is very into paintbrushes at the moment, so I had a range of different brushes ready for him to use. For small Bubs, the bigger and thicker the brush the easier and as they get more confident add smaller, thinner. Great for fine motor skills!

This paint experience is sensory overload! Smooth and shiny Vs Bumpy and squashy. So much fun!
As you can see, I also took a print of the bubble wrap (paper over the top of the bubble wrap). I'm planning on framing the result. Very Eric Carle (illustrator of the Very Hungry Caterpillar). Awesome 
Things to make with T-shirts

In our family, we do handmade gifts. So much these days is money driven and technology based. Any opportunity I have, I shift the focus back to family values of gratitude, the joy of giving and creating with love. 

The Hungry Caterpillar cushion was made using a block from Spotlight for Bubba for his fist birthday. The middle was made by my Big Girl for her bedroom, using a T-shirt from Kmart. (Queen is the Beiber in my girl's life- Great taste in music is also one of our family values haha). The last one, I made for Lulu using a shirt from Target.
You can't get much simpler sewing than this. You just sew the top and bottom and stuff with polyfill or old cushions. Pretty cool eh?

If you would like any further inspiration of T-shirt craft , check out my Pinterest page, https://pinterest.com/krisnlulu/things-to-make-with-t-shirts/


Time for this Mumma to get off the computer and suck up the last of the holiday fun before the grind begins again x x x