Making spongy sponge cakes

Today we decided to make pretend play food.  This was an idea that I got from the Tiger who came to tea exhibition as there were some cakes on the table that had been made this way.  When looking through our box of scrap I realised that we had loads of sponge so I set to work cutting it down and added the foam on top (which looked like the icing on the cake) I did this as I thought it was best to use the hot glue gun.

This then meant that Little Boo could decorate the pretend cakes.

Little Boo soon got very busy with cutting and sticking and adding glitter! 

Little Boo decided that some of the cakes could  have pen decorations

It did not take long for the desk to be very full of all the decorations Little Boo asked for.

Little Boo was very impressed with the end result which took one day to dry properly we then used them in a few activities which I will share with you in a few days.

Let's go fly a kite

Today we have been thinking again about weather and focusing on wind.  We have therefore made the most simple kite but Little Boo loved making it then playing with it in the house!

All you need is

• Paper bag 
• Lolly stick 
• wool 
• decorative items such as paper, stickers, sequins, felts and stamps. 
• Glue
• scissors (if you wish this to be an exercise for practising cutting)
• Ribbon or crepe paper

Here is how we made ours 

Decorate the bag however you like

Little Boo is LOVING cutting everything at the moment so this was a great activity to practise! 

Place a hole in the bottom of the bag in the centre.  I did this by folding the bag and punching half a hole. 

wrap some wool around a lolly pop stick and secure with tape on the stick, then thread through the hole. (the lolly pop stick just helps to reinforce and secure the wool)

We then placed some ribbon on the top of the bag just to make it look extra pretty! you can also use crepe paper. 

All that is left is to fly your kite! 

Hope that you enjoy making these we hoped to go outside and play with this afterwards but it started to rain really badly so played in the house instead.  Hope we can go outside and play tomorrow.

Fathers day present!

For Fathers Day I have been thinking around the topic of favourite things! Me and Little Boo have been talking about what Daddy likes! It was actually a funny conversation as a lot of it centred around crisps! As apparently "daddy really likes them" which I must admit is true. This is where the thought of making a hamper of "daddy's favourite things" came from. It has been really fun choosing the things. 

I was considering a way of containing the items, then whilst in our local pound shop (again) I found a plastic tub which looked ideal. I did not want to leave it like this so set to work customising it with Little Boo. We got a pile of old photographs and one of Little Boos paintings. The idea was to collage the tub with photographs of Little Boo and Daddy. Due to the tub being plastic I went over it initially with sandpaper to make a rough surface to sick to.

Little Boo has a fascination with cutting at the moment so this activity was brilliant! Here she is cutting up the art work that she made.

After a few minutes of cutting.  She also wanted to cut up a few pictures.  These were stuck to the container with normal glue stick but then we had to go over the top with a few layers of PVA glue and it looked great!

Our own shredded tissue made with up cycled art work.  It looks fantastic and sounds nice too.

Daddy's hamper granted not the most healthy but it is fathers day after all! He deserves a big treat. I later covered it with some cellophane so it all stayed together.

I hope that you like the idea it could be used for birthdays as well.  There is always the thought that the hamper could contain all home made items for the recipient.
I hope that you all have a wonderful day tomorrow it is not just "Fathers Day" at work we tend to think of "A Special Man" I hope that you all have the opportunity to thank a special man in your life tomorrow.

Birthday card for Nanny

I wanted to share with you a craft that we have been doing since Little Boo was ten months. It is making contact pictures, it is wonderful as I have seen how the pictures have improved with time.  Nannies Birthday is today so we decided to make her a card using our contact picture.

All that is needed is

• Two pieces of contact paper (Usually used to cover books) whatever size required.
• Whatever is wanted to fill it with. (We have used sequins, foam shapes, and pieces of magazines, tissue paper)

First of all lay the contact paper sticky side up.  I remember when Little Boo was younger even this was funny as she would just keep on touching it.

Add what is wanted

Little Boo wanted to cut some pieces of paper as well to  place on there

The finished contact with a printed message. Now place another piece of contact on top of this to sandwich everything together.

We made ours into a card for Nannies Birthday so I made a border on a card

Then attached it inside.

The possibilities are endless with these contact pictures.

Upcycle bottle tops into magnets

As part of our up-cycle challenge me and Little Boo have made use of the bottle tops and made them into magnets! This is a very simple idea and the possibilities are endless.  We decided to put sequins and glitter inside the bottle tops to decorate them.  However, many items can be used such as photographs or small old toys.

Here is how it went

First, we had to give the bottle tops a "bath" very funny that Little Boo said that herself and enjoyed cleaning them.  This led to discussion on how the bottle tops were "floating in the water".  Little Boo then counted them onto the towel to dry and dried them by hand.  The bottle tops could be left overnight to dry if needed.  I was thinking of doing this bit myself but I am glad that I decided not to as little Boo has so much fun.


Once dry we started making

First squeezing out the glue

Then adding the sequins

Little Boo also wanted to cut up some straws to use

Leave them to dry for a day and add a magnet on the back. We decided  to add a feather to this one.  As you can see once they are dry you can not see the glue

You could chose to add a magnet on the back, use them as counters or for matching games. This was very simple to do we have loads of bottle tops so watch this space I am looking at more things to make. 

Engaging children in letters and numbers

After purchasing some 3D numbers for little Boo to paint I decided to try and make her name from 3D letters. I am hoping that this will be a good way of her learning the letters that spell her name. I thought that making them may be a bit difficult for her to join in. However, she really enjoyed spreading the glue on the pieces of newspaper used to cover the letters and then asked for scissors so she could "cut out the paper" just shows how I should never underestimate her many talents! I am hoping the letters will be all dry and ready to paint in time for Easter holidays will be a great activity.

Make a bouquet of flowers

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mothers Day.  Just thought that I would share this link with you cup cake flowers. Me and little Boo made one for my Mom and she loved it.  More than normal flowers actually.  Little Boo was able to do the task of filling the cup cake cases independently.  It was actually very surprising the amount of natural conversation that the activity engaged us in.  We were discussing the colours and what Pom poms to put inside the cases.  Apparently, we had to use loads of bright colours as "Nanny likes them best".  Very funny, hope that you can all make use of this activity it is really versatile for loads of celebrations.