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Lollypop stick puppets

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The great thing about having a craft box stocked up with materials is that when the creative urge strikes you can make your vision a reality.

Big was bored today. It’s getting near the end of a two week school holiday and she was mooching around, in need of an idea she said. I suggested she have a look at the craft shelf to she what she could find and hey presto, a short while later she presented me with these:

 

That’s me with the long swooshing shirt. She’s the one in the red dress.

She re-arranged the sofa cushions to make a theatre and put on a puppet show. Out of boredom comes creativity.

And it seems lollypop stick puppets are The Thing this week. Helen Rawlinson made some fantastic ones from a Boden catalogue, which you should go see. Have you got some lollysticks? What could you make?

Annual egg rolling contest

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We are lucky to have both sets of grandparents coming for lunch tomorrow – I love it when the family gets together. The girls love it too as it means we will be battling it out in our Annual Egg Rolling Contest. It’s a great way to get all three generations enjoying some festive fun together. Here’s how we play…

First you need to get some eggs ready. We’ll have two people playing at a time so we need two different colours of eggs. This year we will be using coffee and onion skins to dye the eggs, but in the past we have also used turmeric, red cabbage and beetroot.

We’ve hard boiled some eggs in a saucepan of water with some ground coffee in. (It does make the kitchen smell like a coffee house!)

Then we wrapped some more eggs in onion skins and fastened them with elastic bands. It makes it easier if you can take the skin off the onion in big pieces as they will then curl nicely around the egg. Once they’re wrapped up, put them gently in a pan of water and hard-boil them. When they’re done, leave them to cool before you unwrap them.

Now you’re ready to play. You need a target to aim for – as it’s Easter we’ll be using a toy bunny rabbit. Place your target a few metres away and then take it in turn to roll your eggs at the target. We usually play in pairs with each person having two eggs each – so two chances to get closest to the bunny. Of course you can also use your turn to aim for your opponents eggs and knock them right out of the way! The winner is the person who ends up closest to the bunny. (And if you’re anything like my family you may need a tape measure to adjudicate.) We usually award a little chocolate egg to the winner.

Looking for more Easter fun? Here are some more Easter activities and crafts.

Starting School: school dinners

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Little is starting school in September. (See how calmly I typed that?) She is already excited about it and can’t wait to follow in Big’s footsteps. She currently attends the local pre-school each morning, where she has two best friends and lots of fun. She is confident and gregarious and I’m thinking she’ll find the transition to school OK, but I’ve been thinking about how I can help her get ready for her next step. I have no checklist of ‘Things Your Child Should Be Able To Do When They Start School’ in mind – that’s not how I think at all. But there are certain things it would be useful if she’d practised or skills she’d tried, before September rolls around.

Thinking ahead gives us plenty of time to play around with the idea of school. I thought I’d share some thoughts with you on a ‘Starting School’ theme as we go along – and hope you’ll offer some comments and ideas too. (And if you are homeschooling I hope you’ll still find some of the later topics relevant.)

Launching the Starting School topic is ‘School Dinners’.

Eating lunch somewhere unfamilar, helped by unfamilar adults can be a big deal. So how about some trial runs before the big day? We started off by going shopping for a special lunchbag and drinks bottle, chosen by Little herself. Then I let Little play with them – getting used to opening and closing them and having a pretend school lunch. This gives lots of opportunity to practice what might happen at school. We chatted about what she might like to eat and who she can ask to help her peel her banana. (Please note how many slices of cake she packed for herself.) If your child is going to be having dinners provided by the school they might benefit from practice at carrying a tray.

After Easter Little’s pre-school is running a Lunch Club one day a week, where the children can stay half an hour longer than usual had have lunch. This is a perfect first step, in a familar environment. If your own pre-school doesn’t offer a lunch club, maybe you could suggest one? Alternatively you could pair up with a friend and take turns hosting your own lunchclub at eachothers house.

Even if your child is used to having meals at a nursery this kind of roleplay is valuable. Get them used to the bag, bottles, containers they will be using at school. Can they open their own yoghurt pot? Unwrap the clingfilm on their sandwiches? You’d hate them to go hungry simply because they couldn’t get at their food.

So, those are my thoughts around school dinners. Do you have any other suggestions – I’d love you to leave a comment. And if there are any other topics you’d like me to cover, please let me know and I’ll do a post so we can swap ideas.

Easter chick pompoms

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Little is taking part in an Easter Parade at pre-school tomorrow and needs an Easter bonnet. She’s also crazy about chicks, ever since one of the kids at school brought some into class. So, what would suit her better than a bonnet full of chicks?  These pompom chicks are really easy to make, and if you use a thick wool they’re quick too. Pre-schoolers will probably need some help in case they get in a tangle but Big can make them by herself with no problem.

You need: some wool (you can stick with one colour or mix a couple together depending on how you want your chick to look), scissors,2 rings per chick cut from cardboard, card to make eyes and a beak.

The size of the rings will determine how big your chicks will be.

All you need to do is follow the photos below:

Place the two cardboard rings together.  Take a length of wool (say 75cm-ish) and start winding round the two rings. Keep winding! When you wool runs out, get another length and wind that in. Keep winding and adding more wool. Once the ring is full (fuller = fluffier chick), cut around the outer egde of the ring with your scissors. Take another length of wool and use it to tie a knot INSIDE the two cardboard rings. This is going to hold the chick together so make it a tight knot. Tear off the cardboard rings and your pompom is finished. Any bits of wool sticking out can be trimmed to size. You can trim off the extra length of wool which you used tie your knot, or leave it long so you can hang it up (or tie it on to your bonnet).

Glue on some eyes and a beak and your chick is ready. You can use this as an Easter decoration or play with it.

Or, make a family of them and tie them round your bonnet.

Happily shared with  arty crafty party

 

 

Sponge painting shapes

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Here’s  a quick idea you could try to explore shapes with your child.

Take a kitchen washing-up sponge and cut it into different shapes using some scissors. We made rectangles, squares and triangles. Talk with your child about the shapes: How many sides do they have? What are they called? Can they see anything in the room the same shape? What pictures could you make with the shapes?

Then place some paint onto a shallow dish and show your child how you can dip a sponge shapes into the paint and then press it on to a piece of paper to make a print. Have fun experimenting to see what you can create… a house, a train, a spaceship?

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