on May 8th, 2012%
One of the ideas we had for our Screen-Free Week was to have a rummage around on our craft shelves to see if there were any long-lost art materials that we might like to try. We struck gold with two packs of air drying clay that Father Christmas had brought in the girls’ stockings and which had been put away in a post-Christmas tidy up and forgotten about.
Modelling with air drying clay
Have you used air drying clay before? It’s not too messy and quite easy for young children to use – my 5-year-old had no problem manipulating the clay into the shapes she wanted. The girls had wooden skewers and scissors to use to cut and make marks with but mostly just used their hands. The clay warms to the touch and is a great work out for fine motor skills. Read more »
on April 11th, 2012%
Whether you’re celebrating St. George’s Day, the patron saint of England, this month or whether you just need a junk model dragon to add to your play, here are four dragon craft ideas you can try.
What colour is a dragon? Do they have wings? Do they breathe fire? All of ours were made from bits and pieces we had in our making box and each is unique, based upon the young artists’ impressions of what the dragon essentials are. They do have one thing in common though – they’re all scary!
Dragon craft ideas: make a model dragon Read more »
on January 26th, 2012%
Many of the play ideas I post here happen as a result of my children taking some everyday materials and experimenting. Having a well stocked making box (which really doesn’t mean lots of expensive art materials) and permission to help themselves to some of our kitchen supplies often leads to all sorts of creativity and learning. Today’s post is an example of how a fusion of two materials can produce lots of thinking about maths, dimensions, construction, creativity, roleplay and of course plenty of fun.
Play dough and cocktail sticks Read more »
on January 17th, 2012%
 Join the Kids Art Explorers
This year we are undertaking lots of different art experiments. We’re exploring materials, techniques and styles and seeing where our creativity takes us. We’re celebrating the process of art: trying new things, having a go, being daring, making mistakes. We’re interested how things turn out but much more focused on the fun we have along the way.
Would you like to join our Kids Art Explorers? We’re going to pick a new material or process to try in each month – something which is easy for you to get hold of and which you can try out with your children. The Nurturestore kids will have a play and see what art they come up with, and I’ll share the results of our experimenting with you. We’ll also invite you to join in, try out the material for yourselves and share with us what you come up with. Read more »
on December 27th, 2011%
Were you lucky enough to receive any Christmas gifts in great big cardboard boxes? Try these fabulous ideas to make the most from your box.
Seventeen cardboard box crafts
Use your cardboard box and make…. Read more »
on December 1st, 2011%
Do you remember the toilet roll tubes from last week’s Play Academy? No-one guessed what they were for! Not an advent calendar, not snowmen but in fact a frosty winter village, for some small world play.
How to make a model Christmas village
We started by cutting our toilet roll tubes into different sizes so we could have a variety of houses and then painted them all white. We used acrylic paint as it covered the cardboard better than our water-based poster paint. Read more »
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Copyright Information Please feel free to use any of these ideas with your children at home, school or any place you teach and play. You are welcome to pin images from this site onto Pinterest so long as your pin links back to the original article here. If you would like to share a post on a blog or site, you may use one picture so long as you include a link to the original post. Please do not re-post the whole article or distribute printed-out content without written permission from the original author. You can contact me at cathy (at) nurturestore (dot) co (dot) uk. Thank you.
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