Note: This post was created on November 9 2012 so the kids look much younger. This is still a great post to do for a cheap and one-of-a-kind gift.
Are you trying to cut costs? Having Christmas presents to buy does not help with the already strained budget. What do you get everyone that doesn’t cost a lot of money?
What about a partially handmade (the decoration part is the handmade part) gift? My inspiration came from a Pin from Jodee Kulp on Pinterest, she posted about oven mitts that had been decorated by kids for relatives. Now that is a different gift that a relative would love and a cheap gift.
The girls making Christmas presents
Now what is needed to do this craft exercise?
I used oven mitts and pot holders as they came in a set, I got them for $3 each, so that was lucky. Make sure to pre-wash whatever you are using as they might shrink and you would not want your work of art to be ruined after a wash.
Apron for the kids. Kids in clothes that if it gets dirty it does not matter/or if it is hot enough they can just have the apron on and that will save on the washing. The bottle says fabric paint washes out with water, but I would be careful.
Make sure to put a cover on the floor as I kept on putting my foot into the paint the kids kept on spilling. Not good as I wondered why there was paint in the kitchen but it was due to me walking there.
Newspaper/paper to line the table so you just need to chuck out the paper and not scrub the table.
After paint has dried from the oven mitts and pot holders you just need to iron it or add heat so that it sets to the fabric paint. I would advise putting a tea towel over the creation and then ironing it. After this is done according to the paint instructions it should be good to be washed but wash with like colours.
Busy creating
One tip: Due to the material being raised and not flat, the hand prints did not come out as I imagined. Make sure to get material that is flat all over to ensure a better hand-print outcome.
Christmas Craft
The twins got messy and just had a great time with this activity. Just be careful when kids help create presents for Christmas, they cannot keep a secret. My girls were telling Nana (my mum) that they were making presents for her and describing what it was. I then explained it was a secret and then both girls realised. Maybe you need to talk before you start the project that it is a secret and no one can tell until the present gets opened on Christmas day.
How about trying tea towels or T-shirts? Why not try this using fabric crayons you can have a drawing by one of the kids put on a t-shirt or tea towel. I came across them when doing this post, have not found them but when I do will try them with the kids.
Do you make gifts for Christmas? If so what have you made?
Do the kids help you? If the kids have helped, have they shared the secret before the present was given? Send in your comments.
Are you stuck what to get someone for Christmas? Wonder what to get the kids teachers for the end of the year? Well I have you sorted! Yes, worry no more!
How about making something that will be super cheap to make that you will be amazed at the outcome and even happier with the fact that you have made a unique and personal gift as well. I wanted to give the twins teacher a little something but was wondering what to do. I wanted to get them something practical but also personal from the girls. I decided on creating tea towels with the kids hand prints on them.
Personalised home made tea towels for the twins teachers.
So how did I make the tea towels?
I purchased tea towel material from the local sewing shop. I only bought enough for two. As you will see the material I purchased has stripes down the sides. You don’t have to get this type. Pick whatever fits the project you are creating. I paid $15, for the fabric plus the fabric pen.
I already had fabric paint from an earlier project.
When I got the fabric I also purchased a fabric pen to write the name of the teacher, the year, class and also to have the kids sign their names.
Fabric paint on plates to make it easier for kids to put hands flat to cover the whole hand.
Process
I washed the material before use. This made sure to ensure that the tea towel would not shrink after I have done all this work to it.
Once tea towel material was dry, the kids had fun adding their hand prints to the material. Make sure to have a different colour for each child and to leave enough room top and bottom for your hems and edges.
I made sure to have a butter knife to allow me to spread the paint evenly over the girls hands. I got the kids to practice on a spare piece of material I did not care for so that they knew how the paint would go on the material and how much was needed to give the right effect.
Once the fabric paint from the kids hand prints were dry, I added the teachers names, year, and class for the girls. I added their names under the right hand prints and also got the kids to sign their names to each tea towel. It is a bit hard to write with these pens so you might need to help a little person with this.
Make sure to iron the fabric to set the fabric paint once all dry. The paint needs heat to set it into the fabric.
The fabric paint is drying, on our DIY tea towels for the twins teachers.
The stitch that I used was great for the edges. It looks pretty and as you will see from the below video goes over the edges nicely to make sure it is secure and will last a long time!
All wrapped up and with Panda cards. The kids are in a class called the Kinda Pandas so this was so cool I found this online.
I hope this gives you some ideas and tips on how to make a cheap gift for family or your lovely teacher. Have fun and don’t get paint everywhere!
Yesterday the kids and I created mini Jack O’Lanterns.
Three mini pumpkins, just the right size for kids to carve and also the right number for each child. Also, they were a little cheaper than the bigger ones. So if you wish to have a little celebration and not spend a fortune, get a mini pumpkin.
Mini Pumpkins, one for each kid.
This year we did it a bit differently with the way we cut out the design for each pumpkin.
I let the kids draw on their pumpkins with a permanent marker so they could easily see the shapes they had to cut out.
As the pumpkin was smaller than we have had in the past putting a printout and sizing it correctly would have been a pain to do.
Drawing on the pumpkin allowed the freedom to change the design although you could still see the texta marks.
NOTE: I made sure that I supervised the kids with the knife. I showed them carefully what to do and when I realized things were getting difficult I took over. I didn’t want any lost fingers prior to Halloween and frankly, I can live without that drama. We have all got our fingers intact and this is how we like it.
Make sure you supervise kids using a knife and in doubt do it for them.
Julia and Lillian help me
make Mini Jack O’ Lanterns
Note the lovely sibling love when Lillian says to Julia that she will not survive due to stinging herself with the inside of the pumpkin due to a cut. Nice sisterly love.
Also, you can hear the cicadas in the background, they are very noisy and go nonstop during the day. They are not as noisy during the cool nights.
I hope you liked our Jack O’Lanterns. Make some to celebrate Halloween today. Or if it is not for Halloween cut out a different decoration.
The finished product. 3 lovely scary mini Jack O’Lanterns.
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Perfect for your next party, a spooky one, or just a birthday celebration.
Need a great activity to do with the kids? I have seen this on the web and thought “Does it really work?” “Will it do as advertised?” and as you guessed it the answer is YES!
Read on to find out what to do and what you will need.
What you will need to create fairy lights
Now that you have the following items:
Jars – I got ours from Big W. You might have some in your kitchen or pantry that are not being used.
Glitter – You can get glitter from anywhere. Newsagency, supermarkets, $2 shops and so on. (To make your fairy lights really glow make sure to get the silver or gold glitter. You will see that we tried on with red glitter and it was not as bright.)
Glow Sticks – I got ours from the local hardware store as it was cheap. I got a pack of two glow sticks for around $6.00.
Scissors – You should have a pair but you might need to use a heavy duty kitchen scissors to make sure they can cut through the plastic on the glow stick
Here are the steps to follow to make your very own Fairy Lights…..
Step 1: Crack and Activate the Glow Stick
Activating the Glow Stick before cutting the top off it.
Note: Be super careful of the glass inside the glow stick. To make it work it needs to be still in the jar. Make sure that little fingers don’t touch it. Also, have sealable jars to ensure kids cannot open them.
Step 2: Cut the top off the glow stick – Be careful of the broken glass
Cutting the end off the glow stick to get to the glowy goo to make the fairy light sparkle!
Step 3: Empty out all the glowy goo into the jar
Glowy Goo is now in the Jar. Waiting for the glitter to come and sparkle!
Step 4: Add the Glitter
Adding the glitter
Step 5: Your Fairy Lights Are Complete – Have Fun!
Completed fairy lights. Great idea for a party. Enjoy!Amazed by the fairy lights. So bright and amazing! This light worked the best due to the fact it had the gold glitter. The red one was not as bright.
Note: Make sure to use gold or silver glitter as mentioned before. You will get much better results with lighter and brighter glitter.
I hope you have enjoyed this activity and my instructions on how we did ours. I am sure your little ones will love it as the twins cannot wait to give it another go.
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Kids love being outdoors and I find that if kids don’t get the outdoor time they are hard to deal with.
How about searching for painted rocks at your local parks? Or other parks?
WEAR OLD CLOTHES AS THE PAINT MIGHT NOT WASH OUT
How to create your very own painted rocks
Rocks are essential to have, you can either find wild rocks that live in your garden or park, or you can buy smooth rocks from a craft shop (otherwise known as captured rocks). We used wild rocks that were living in our garden.
Acrylic paint in bright colours.
Sharpie pens – we used the metallic ones to add a nice shimmer and due to the twins wanting to do a space theme this looked great with their space and galaxy rocks.
Paint brushes.
Container with water to wash out paint brushes.
Baking paper to put rocks on to ensure they don’t stick to paper (You don’t want your kid to go to hours of trouble to then have paper stick to the wet paint on their rock)
Waterbased Sealer – Use Mod Podge as this is ideal for rocks. I couldn’t get any and the one I used was not perfect and some of the colour of the paint came off. Once dry was okay.
WARNING KIDS WILL GET MESSY AND NEED A SHOWER/BATH AFTERWARDS.
Check out Facebook for a Rock Group in your area, they are all over Australia so you will be sure to find one.
Online you can get clues for where to find your next rocks.
Get the whole family involved and enjoy the outdoors.
Have fun and let me know what you create, send your photos to my Facebook Page
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Would you like to do something fun with the kid this Easter?
How about making fizzy dyed Easter Eggs?
It is soooo easy and fun, the kids will love the fact that it is fizzy and bubbles away. It not only impressed the kids, I and other adults loved it too.
What you need
1/2 tablespoon of baking soda
Hard-boiled eggs
White vinegar – 1/3 cup per cup
Cups for the eggs
Food dye
Newspaper/baking paper to make sure you don’t have a mess
Tray to put the cups on and to contain the mess
As you can see this is a super fun way to dye your Easter Eggs and one that is interactive and hands-on for the kids. I am sure you and the family enjoy this fun activity.
Enjoy and watch for other Easter Activities on the blog.
Creating Marble Easter Eggs is fun and you get pretty eggs. It is also a fun project to do with the kids this Easter.
Marble Dyed Easter Eggs
What Do you Need to Marble Dye Easter Eggs?
Eggs (this is pretty essential, you will need eggs to have an Easter Egg)
Oil
Food Colouring
Vinegar (for dying the eggs in the fizzy solution)
Bicarbonate Soda (for dying the eggs in the Fizzy solution)
Water
Don’t they look amazing! Marbled Dyed Eggs
Method
Hard Boil your eggs – If you would rather you can blow out the eggs so that you don’t need to boil them and the eggs will be preserved. I used boiled eggs.
Cool down the eggs so they are not hot
Dye the eggs with an overall colour first. You can do this by using my Fizzy Dyed Eggs project
We dyed ours with the fizzy method
Fill a bowl with water and a tablespoon of oil and another colour food colour. We did this for a bit and then also added the food colouring directly to the egg.
Dry off with paper towels after you are finished.
Adding the Marble colour in the water and oil solution
This might not be the way many do this but it worked for us. Give it a go and see what different patterns and differently dyed eggs you can create.
Alexander helping with the marbled Easter Eggs
The finished product – Marble Dyed Easter Eggs
We noticed that some were not holding the colour so adding the dye straight onto the egg helped.
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The weather is colder and the leaves are falling from the trees, some leaves are so pretty and colourful it is a shame to just have them fall on the ground.
If you are wondering what to do with the kids then this craft activity is for you.
This task is super easy and fun and one that will occupy all age groups.
So what do you need?
Paper
Paint
Crayons/Pencils/Textas
Autumn Leaves
Coloured craft paper
Glue Stick
Clear contact paper if you wish to do a see-through option to stick on a window
Method
Collect your colourful leaves and anything else you wish to stick to your picture. Draw or paint the branches and other items if you like. Now with the glue stick add glue to the areas you want to add the leaves and create your autumn/winter picture.
I know it is now winter but when I did this it was officially still autumn.
If you don’t want to do it on paper as we did simply add craft paper for the branches for the trees and then add the leaves, making sure to stick them all on clear contact paper. Once your picture is complete add a final top layer of see-through contact paper and then you can put on your window. Attaching this creation to your window will allow light to come in and shine on the colours in the picture.
This isn’t an expensive task and one that will be fun for everyone, and you will be the proud owner of new artwork for your walls and windows.
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Do you want to make some fabulous-smelling and amazingly soft play dough for the kids?
This play dough smells so good!!! Also if your kids accidentally eat it, it won’t matter. It would just be a little salty.
I do have a secret ingredient that makes this play dough super awesome.
It’s raspberry jelly crystals
The recipe is below:
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 cup of salt
1/4 cup McCormick® Cream of Tartar
2 cups of hot water to melt the jelly crystals
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Jelly Crystals – instead of food dye
BE CAREFUL WITH THE HOT WATER, ONCE MIXED WITH THE FLOUR THE PLAY DOUGH WILL BE NICE AND WARM
Method:
Mix all ingredients and knead to make a dough. Might need more flour if too sticky.
After you play with the play dough put in air tight containers or in a resealable plastic bag.
Enjoy and have fun with this great new smelling play dough.
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Are you looking at something fun and different to do with the kids?
Why not take them Diamond or Crystal mining, or maybe both?
Would it surprise you that my four-year-old and I found diamonds and crystals (AKA Rocks) at our local park? I think you would be rather impressed.
It was a great time at the local park. My little boy rode his bike to the park and while there we searched for valuable crystals and diamonds.
Alexander found a few and made sure to put them safely in his pockets or if they didn’t fit my pockets. We took them home to wash them to allow us to inspect our haul of treasures.
I know that we didn’t collect actual crystals or diamonds but the hunt and chase for the real thing was super fun, plus after we were home water was involved to clean the rocks and this meant that Alex was then covered head to toe in the water and of course spent hours playing in the water and investigating his special treasures.
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Easter will soon be here and so will the Easter Hat parade at your local school.
If this is shocking, then I might have freaked you out. Breathe it is okay!
I will hand you a lovely cup of virtual coffee or tea depending on your preference, and you can have a little quiet time. This will allow you to process that it will soon be school holidays or the fact that kids will be hyperactive and high on chocolate due to the gifts from The Easter Bunny and a well-meaning family.
White Knight and Bear and Sparrow sent my girls some lovely Easter Hat kits. It was so much fun creating them and they look so good. Much better than I would have done on my own.
If you are like me, you failed badly at creating an Easter Hat for your kids. I ran out of time and purchased an oversized beach hat for each child. They were pink so I thought they would love them. However, as soon as decorations were added to these hats they immediately fell off and due to the size of the hat and the fact it had a very floppy rim the kids could not see very well while the hat was on. If you really must analyse how it went, it might be termed a complete disaster.
Hopefully, you are now feeling rested and relaxed after the virtual cuppa I gave you.
Now for my solution to make it all better for Easter, or the very least making the Easter Hat Parade stress free this year! Yes, it can be easier and your child will have one amazing rockstar of a hat.
White Knight Paints and Bear & Sparrow have teamed up to create to help parents take all the stress out of creating the Easter Hat.
“White Knight Paints has been a leading force in the specialty paint market for many years. When painting bathroom tiles, kitchen cabinets, metal fencing, your front porch or just indulging in a fun upcycling project, White Knight has an easy-to-use product for just about every DIY project, to help our consumers always achieve a professional result” says Brand Manager Dilani Fernando.
Bear and Sparrow is a registered Australian owned, boutique children’s decor business. They are based in Brisbane and have some lovely handmade wooden pieces.
The Easter Hats use White Knight Squirt Spray Paints. They come in 43 different colours and the new formulation has a primer and topcoat all in one. This paint dries quickly and is touch dry in just 10 minutes. This is good for craft projects with kids, you know how keen they are to start using their creations.
All the components for making this fabulous Easter Hat can be purchased at the hardware store and craft store, all for under $40.
It should take about 1 hour to make, so that is not long at all. Check out the video and download the Easter Hat Instructions here.
After your kids use their new groovy Easter Hats in the school parade you can also re-use it as a table decoration for family meals during Easter.
Make sure you tag your bunny project with #wkxbearsparrow, #wksquirts and #whiteknightpaints #mummytotwinsplusonecraft
Here are the girls finished hats. They look great, don’t they?
Lillian loves her new Easter Hat.
Julia being cheeky with her stylish Easter Hat.
The girls think their new hats will impress at the local school and also the Easter Bunny.
Check out the bunny tail on the back of the hat. Very cheeky indeed.
C’mon and hop off and create your own amazing Easter Hat as we did. You can download the Easter Hat Instructions here, and make sure to watch the video above if you get stuck.
I hope you have fun and enjoy this project as much as we did.
A HUGE thank you to White Knight Paintsand Bear & Sparrow for sending both my kids a kit each.
Oh, and the hat boxes are so nice and great for storing your finished hat in too. This will ensure that your stylish creation is not damaged.
Julia’s hat is all safe in the hat box.
You can add paper to make sure the hat does not move around.
The kids are super cute and young here, the reason is that this post was created on March 22, 2017. Still a great post and activity.
Paint to paint the wall any colour to fix it before you apply the blackboard paint
Plaster to fix any holes or uneven surfaces
Sandpaper to make sure all smooth if you have plastered
Chalkboard paint
Plastic sheets to ensure you have paint everywhere
Painter tape (you will be thankful you got it, trust me!)
Paint brushes
Chalk to use on the chalkboard
Kids who are keen to be artists and try out their new blackboard! I am sure you will be able to find this easily.
Step 1 – Prepare your wall
Make sure your surface is smooth and clean. My wall had to be patched up as it had some uneven parts. Once we re-plastered those, dried them and sanded them back the wall was painted all over with a white colour. The white colour got two coats and had to dry to make sure it was ready for the blackboard paint.
Wall plastered and sanded. Now ready for the white paint.Painting the wall white, before you add the blackboard paint.
Step 2 – Add the blackboard paint
Once all the wall is dry from the other paint you are now ready to add the blackboard paint. Make sure to place painter’s tape to mark the area where you would like to have the blackboard. This tape is a wonderful thing, it allows you to have great shapes that are neat and great lines and the tape just comes off after the paint is dry. It also helps you not go outside the lines. You don’t want to have black paint on the lovely white wall area. We did two layers for the blackboard paint and let it dry for a few days before we used it. Make sure to read the instructions on the tin.
Adding the blackboard paintThe blackboard is ready. Looking good! Can we use it now mummy?
Step 3 – Test out your new blackboard. Have fun!
Julia very pleased with her new blackboard.
The girls are getting so good at writing and the first thing they both wanted to do was to write their names. As a proud mummy, I had to take pictures of how clever they were, and also due to the blackboard being a new addition to our house.
The art did not just remain with names or cute pictures it did get very wild and abstract. I was pleased and glad that the kids had fun. I like the idea that the blackboard is a place for the twins to express themselves and be creative.
Happy drawing away.The first art that graced the new blackboard, aside from the girls names.The creative art from the artists, Julia and Lillian.
Have you created a blackboard for the kids or yourself? Where did you put it? We made ours on the back wall of the house. This area is undercover and allows the kids to use the blackboard even if it is raining.
Now you see you can have a blackboard in 3 easy steps, why not give it a go? It is a great weekend project. Enjoy and have fun.
Salt Dough Ornaments are a perfect craft project to do with the kids.
They are fun and you can make whatever your heart desires. Your imagination can run wild.
My kids wanted to create different animals and I made them do handprints as well. You can do feet prints if you wish.
The kids will love to see their creations hanging from the tree, or on the doorknobs of cupboards and doors.
You can make these decorations for any celebration. Easter, Birthdays and more!
Make Salt Dough Ornaments today with the kids
Ingredients
4 cups of plain flour
1 cup of salt
1 and a half cups of water
Food dye (whatever colour you wish to create)
Paint if you wish to paint the ornaments rather than colour with food dye.
Glue
Glitter or Glitter Glue
Ribbon or string to thread through the ornament.
Chopstick or another item to make the hole to hang the decoration on the tree.
All my ingredients aside from the food dye to colour the dough.
Method
Mix all the ingredients together.
Add the food dye and mix some more to make sure that it is the right colour.
I separated the dough into three different batches. I made different colours for each child. This is a good way to ensure you know who’s decorations are whos.
Mixing the blue dough.All three coloured salt dough.
Roll out the dough so it is not too thick and not too thin. (I made some of ours too thick and it has taken a while to dry)
Cut out the shapes with the cookie cutters and then press handprints or footprints on the decorations.
Adding the hole so you can hang your ornament. Make sure to do this before you bake the ornaments.
Make sure to add a hole to put the string or ribbon into the decoration. Don’t forget to do this. Once dry it will be next to impossible to add the hole for the ribbon to tie onto the tree. We used the end of a chopstick.
Put the decorations on a tray with baking paper and then bake in the oven.
Bake in the oven for 1-2 hours at 100°C. or 200 °F. Time might vary depending on how thick the dough is for your decorations.
If the ornaments are still doughy you can put them back into the oven, or maybe leave them out to firm up before you decorate them.
Once the ornaments are dry you can decorate them.
The saltdough creature is ready to bake now. You can clearly see the hole that will allow you to put string/ribbon to allow you to hang up your decoration.
Add glue to the areas you wish to add glitter then sprinkle the glitter. Make your decoration sparkle! (I ended up buying glitter glue instead of just glitter. This saved me from adding the glue and then the glitter.)
Add ribbon or string to thread through the hole that you have added to the ornament to allow you to hang on the Christmas Tree or elsewhere.
Decorating the Salt Dough Ornaments with Glitter Glue.The finished Salt Dough Ornaments. Some were harder than others as they were not as thick as the others. The thicker ones need more time. If I was to do it again I would make them a bit thinner.
I hope this helps you create your own wonderful salt dough masterpieces.
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Happy Halloween! I hope you have a fun and spooky time.
Have you created your Ghost Pumpkin or otherwise known as a Ghost jack-o’-lantern yet?
You might be wondering why I am referring to the pumpkins as Ghost pumpkins. Well, Coles was selling lightly coloured pumpkins as Ghost Pumpkins and I thought how cool. I have never seen a pumpkin that is not orange. I thought it would be fun for a change and also loved the genius from the Coles marketing department by labelling them Ghost Pumpkins.
We were carving our Ghost Pumpkins for Halloween. We did one bat and one ghost.
You can just picture the conversation around the board room…. it might have gone something like this.
“We have a whole batch of pale coloured pumpkins”
“Geez, how are we going to sell them?”
“Halloween is coming up, if we call them ‘Ghost Pumpkins’ they will fly off the shelves!”
I really don’t know what was said behind the closed doors of Coles and especially from the marketing team but maybe it did go down as I suggested. I went back the other day and they seemed to have sold out of these Ghost Pumpkins so calling them ghost pumpkins was a brilliant idea.
Since I purchased the pumpkins at Coles they also said that they had more info on how to decorate them on their website. I downloaded the Halloween Stencils to allow me to create the correct shapes and pictures. Do you use stencils or do you just create something on the fly? We have done a bit of both over the last few years so thought I would give the more complicated pictures on pumpkins a go.
What do you need to carve a pumpkin
A pumpkin or two. Yes, I know it is obvious you need to have a pumpkin to carve it.
An ice cream scoop helped us clean out the inside of the pumpkin and made it so much easier.
A couple of very sharp knives. You might want to have a bigger one to do the initial cutting of the top of the pumpkin and a smaller one for the actual carving of your design. (THIS IS SOMETHING THAT AN ADULT SHOULD DO AS KNIVES ARE DANGEROUS AND YOU DON’T WANT TO HAVE YOUR OWN REAL-LIFE SPOOKY ACCIDENT HAPPEN. I am sure you can live without this added drama)
Know the design you wish to create for your pumpkin. It helps to have an idea of what you would like to create, you will be less annoyed afterwards if you have a plan.
If you are not excellent at cutting pumpkins and need to have a guide for the shapes it is an excellent idea to have a stencil to work with. You can trace the outline and then use this to cut out the shape.
To help attach the stencil to the pumpkin I used toothpicks. I put the toothpicks into the area of the pumpkin that would be cut out.
How do you carve a pumpkin?
Step 1: You need to get the top off the pumpkin first. It is best to create an outline with your knife and go over it, again and again, to work it loose.
The top with the cuts around it to help get the top off.
Now the top is off, the inside of the pumpkin needs cleaning out. You can also keep the pumpkin seeds and roast them to add to meals or snacks.
Step 2: Clean out the inside of the pumpkin. This might take a while and it is recommended to dry it out. If you are in a rush and would like to use the pumpkin that day and not wait too long to dry you can put it on the trays in front of the oven to get the heat but not cook it.
Cleaning out the inside of our Ghost Pumpkins.
Using an ice cream scoop was a great idea as it made the job so much easier.
Step 3: Once you have cleaned and dried out the pumpkin it is now ready to carve. Remember it is best to have a good idea of what you are going to do. If you make a mistake you will have to start all over again with a new pumpkin.
I used stencils from Coles this time and they helped me get the right shapes for the characters. However, with the ghost, I should have made it smaller or put it on the bigger pumpkin (this was not possible due to one child claiming the bigger pumpkin and wanting the bat on it, I could not tell her otherwise) due to the fact that the head was missing and I thought it would not be an issue. I did think that a headless ghost would be great but it did not give you an idea of the character. I ended up adding a new head with the cut out from the stencil for the eyes and mouth.
Now the stencil is attached to the pumpkin you can use the knife to mark the lines of the bat. Once you have all the lines there you can remove the stencil and start to create the bat.
I did the same for the ghost, although I needed to make the image smaller or find a bigger pumpkin. Make sure your design fits perfectly on the pumpkin.
See here I’m tracing the lines with the knife. This is not to difficult but it does take some time. Don’t worry if you cut through the paper as this will just end up in the recycling anyway.
See the lines on the pumpkin is now in the shape of the bat that was on the stencil. The next step is to cut out the bat shape and reveal the bat so you can light it up for Halloween.
Step 4: Now you have the outline the work begins to cut out the bat image from the pumpkin
Getting there. It is partially cut out and on its way to being a nice-looking bat. Just take care of the knives and don’t hurt yourself. Remember it is for an adult to do this so that little fingers don’t get hurt.
Step 5: After cutting out for a bit and removing the excess pumpkin a bat is born!
Our ghost pumpkin bat. I think it looks amazing. Using the stencils really helped get the right shapes for the bat’s wings and ears. What do you think?
So now both the pumpkins are complete and the girls were keen to see them with candles in.
Our wonderful bat and ghost pumpkins are now all complete and lit up with a candle each.
I even added a little bit extra to the ghost one. I put the word BOO! Not my best work but it was done freehand and I thought it might turn out better than it did. Still does a good job and gives a nice spooky impression.
The ghost pumpkin with added head due to smaller pumpkin.
The word “BOO!” on the side of the ghost.
If you don’t have a ghost pumpkin just use a regular orange one.
Download this amazing printable to decorate your cupcakes. Perfect for Halloween or birthday parties. Spooky monsters will make you giggle while you eat your sweets.
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Young kids usually have only a vague sense of time. They probably know that an hour is longer than ten minutes, and a week is shorter than a month, but it’s difficult for them to gauge time’s passing.
Making a paper chain calendar can help them learn this valuable math skill.
What You Need:
Calendar
3” x 8” strips of colored construction paper
Glue
Make a Paper Chain Calendar
What You Do:
Pick a date in the future that has some meaning for your child, for example, the first day of school, the date a relative is set to come visit, a birthday, or the start date of a favorite activity, like soccer. Ideally, the date should be about a month away.
Pull out your calendar, and with your child’s help, count the number of days until the event you’ve chosen.
Give your child the construction paper strips and explain that each strip stands for one day. Together, count out the correct number of strips (one for each day until your event), then help your child make a paper chain, by gluing the end of each strip together to form a link, then adding the rest of the links to form a “chain”.
Hang your chain in your child’s room, or in a prominent place. Each day, allow her to remove one link from the chain. As the days pass, this will give her a visual picture to associate with the numbers she sees on the calendar.
Not only does this provide a concrete image for the passing of time, but it gives your child a great excuse to practice counting backwards!
A big thank you to Education.com for this creative way to help kids learn. If you have not checked out their website make sure you stop by. Education.com have excellent resources to help your kids be super clever.
Last year the Easter Bunny did not clean his paws when he came to our house.
I know, it was very rude of him, but we were nice about it and cleaned up the mess.
We told the girls that it was nice enough to get some chocolate and he took the trouble to visit our house.
The girls have remembered this, and tell people every now and then that the Easter Bunny came to our house, and that he left paw prints and daddy had to clean them all up. Poor daddy.
The girls were so taken with the fact that the Easter Bunny came and he gave them chocolate eggs and bunnies.
Now you might say, “What do you mean the Easter Bunny had dirty paws?, well I never!”
Well the girls were so curious about the paw prints that they investigated and wanted to find out where the bunny had been. I left carrots out the night before and they were eaten in the morning, he was a hungry bunny.
So if you want to amaze you little one, paw prints are a great way to do it.
We cut out the image and used it as a stencil to then sprinkle flour on the floor, this was easy to clean up and left the idea that the Easter Bunny got his paws dirty before he came into our house.
As Easter is approaching soon, thought that this idea might be of interest.
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Make 5 – 6 different towers or more it is up to you
Decorate your towers with animals or other LEGO items
Get a small ball and then see how many skittle towers you can knockdown
If they break, build them again and keep on playing
Enjoy and have fun playing LEGO Skittles.
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Chinese New Year is nearly here, and one great way to get kids involved is with craft.
Example of what the Year of the Rat lantern looks like – download yours now
I’ve updated my printable Chinese lantern for The Year of the Rat! Yes now, you can have your house decorated with these cute little lanterns that your kids created.
All you need to do is to sign up with your email address, once confirmed your PDF download will be instantly sent to you. It’s that easy!
I hope you enjoy this printable.
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Skittles is so much fun and a great activity to keep little 
