I got this nice post from writer, Mom and craft lover called Annabelle Short and thought I’d share it with you. Looks like fun and the kids will love it! Read the rest of this entry
Oct24
Fun Glove Puppet Guest Post by Annabelle Short
Category Archives: 11-13 Year Olds
Aug2
Beautiful Coloring Books on National Coloring Book Day
Adult Coloring has taken the world by storm and of course as all good things there has to be a day for it… and there is! Today is National Coloring Book Day so I thought I’d show you some beautiful books that I got to review from faithful-to-nature.co.za. (Click here to like them on Facebook)
There are many benefits to adult coloring. Mostly we just do it because we love it, but it has proven to be very effective in combating anxiety and has even been used in hospitals as Read the rest of this entry
Feb24
DIY Kids Improvisation Book With Stickers
Nov28
Christmas Tree Decorating Coloring Page and Advent Calendar Printable
Nov3
DIY Christmas Series
Oct20
ZAR Play Money Free Printable for Checkers Mini Groceries
Sep15
Fun With Hand Cut Outs Paper Art
Sep8
Fun Activities for Kids: How to Make Animal Masks
Aug11
Your kid may become an illustrator of a new book “Bostik Book of Unbelievable Beasties”
Jul21
How to make Paper Hand Puppets
Mar22
Easter Egg Crafts
Mar17
4 Quick & Easy Science Experiments
Feb11
In The Gap Clothing
I got this awesome shirt from In The Gap Clothing for my son and I love it! Local is surely lekker and to top that, this is a growing family business to watch!
Wearing Christian clothing is not everyone’s cup of tea but for some people it can be a great opportunity to share their faith and answer questions around the clothing they wear. It can be a whole ministry field on your way to work or at the shops. I think its awesome!
About In the Gap:
“Well, it all started with a dream. When my husband awoke one morning with several designs still in his mind, he realized that the dream of printing Christian t-shirts was from God. More than a year later (in God’s perfect time) the opportunity came to start our Christian Clothing Company and countless details fell into place within a matter of weeks. We were amazed at our King, knowing that this step and the timing was from Him.
In the Gap Clothing is situated in Mossel Bay, South Africa, and we seek to design and distribute quality Christian clothing aimed at promoting Kingdom life.”
They have some pretty cool pillow cases, wall stickers and shirts & hoodies so hop over and have a look!
Follow their BLOG for insightful posts on relevant Christianity topics or browse around their ONLINE SHOP for awesome Faith clothing. Also follow their FACEBOOK page.
Jan14
Kids Activities Calendar with Bostik
Here’s a fun way of showing your Primary School kids what’s on the extra curricular calendar for the week. When they are still so small they are excited about what they are doing when, so this is a nice way for them to be aware of what happens what day. The time labels are there for the older ones who have an idea of time but mostly it helps for mom to also know whats going on!
What you’ll need:
- A3 Hard project board and an optional A1 to cut to size for a frame (you can also use two A3’s and cut one of the pieces smaller if you prefer a smaller calendar)
- Bostik Crazy Clay
- The lid of an ice cream container
- Whiteboard marker
- Bostik Rainbow Glitter Glue
- One or two different colours felt
- Bostik Art and Craft Sprayable Adhesive
- Bostik Clear Adhesive
- Bostik Glue dots (extra strong)
- Velcro (5-10cm should do) You only need the rough part
- Bostik Sew Simple
- Bostik Prestik
Step 1:
Create your activity pieces with Bostik Crazy Clay and allow it to dry for about 6 hours. This clay is really easy to work with and dries into a nice spongy piece. I created activity pieces for swimming, hockey, maths classes, reading classes, tennis, piano lessons, art classes and birthday parties.
Step 2:
Cut rectangles of about 5,5 x 4,5cm for the non-repetitive activities that only happens that week out of the lid of an ice cream container. Cut half of them in three for the time labels. Round off the edges with Bostik Crazy Clay or Bostik Glitter Glue. I did the non-repetitive labels with Crazy Clay and the time labels with glitter glue. Leave to dry.
Step 3:
Spray an ample amount of Bostik Art & Craft sprayable adhesive on the project boards and firmly press the felt to the board, smoothing it out to ensure there are no wrinkles. Turn the boards around and cut the squares out in line with the edges of the boards. Apply Bostik Clear Glue on the excess edges one by one before you close the tabs otherwise the glue may dry into the fabric too quickly and dry out too soon.
Step 4:
If you use an A3 project board and measure the width in Landscape it should be around 60cm. That gives you 7cm per day of the week with one extra for the activity pieces, so draw lines with Bostik Glitter Glue 7cm apart, leaving one bigger space at the end for the extra pieces you won’t use for the week. Leave to dry.
Step 5:
Cut the rough part of the velcro in small squares, press the backside firmly on a glue dot, pull it from the film and stick it to the backs of all the activity pieces and labels.
Step 6:
I just love Bostik Sew Simple… I hardly use a needle anymore (oops). Apply it abundantly on both sides of the covered project boards, smooth out with your finger or a piece of cardboard and allow to dry for 10 minutes. Press firmly together and set aside to dry.
Step 7:
Finally write the days of the week with Glitter Glue at the top and there you go, time well spent for organizing your kids’ extra curricular activities.
Use a piece of Bostik Prestik to put the eraser marker on the wall next to the activity board for the blank labels used for the non-repetitive activities. Have fun!
This post is sponsored by Bostik smart adhesives.
Dec26
DIY Christmas series for last minute Christmas decorating with kids!
Still having Christmas with other family or friends? Heres a full list of my DIY Christmas series. These are mostly made with found objects around the house and easy to do with kids.
Enjoy!
Dec26
Back to School Countdown Calendar!
The first day of school is one of the most memorable events in a kid’s life and counting down to the day will make it so much more fun! I have had the wonderful privilege to make this awesome Back to School countdown calendar with Bostik smart adhesives. Although this is a sponsored post, Bostik has been my favorite choice of adhesives since I was a child so you can just imagine how excited I was to work on this project.
In South Africa, the new school year starts on the 13th of January 2016 so I filled 10 boxes with back to school stationery that will each be opened in turn from 10 days before school starts.
On the day before school the last one, which is the school building, is opened where they will find the last of the stationery needed for school. This is an exciting way to help first graders know when school starts and that way every new piece of stationery will be received with joy!
You will need:
- A3 Project board or a side panel of a storage box
- Bostik Art and Craft Sprayable Adhesive
- Bostik Clear Adhesive
- Different colors A4 project board
- Bostik Rainbow Glitter Glue
- Bostik Super Clear Tape
- Containers from around the house like toothpaste boxes, cookie boxes etc.
- Bostik Crazy Clay
- School Supplies like pencil, sharpener, ruler, scissors, glue, lunch box etc.
- Bostik Glue Stick
- Bostik Blits Stik Super Glue Gel
- Bostik Colour ‘n Paint Twisters
- Bostik Prestik
Step1:
Gather all the school stationery and supplies and find boxes and holders around the house that the items will fit into. Common boxes like toothpaste boxes, cookie boxes and Bostik Crazy Clay boxes are ideal. The Crazy clay box works well for a homework book and notebook for instance, which is bigger but thinner and don’t fit anything you usually find in a food cupboard.
Step 2:
Arrange the boxes on a project board to resemble a school building. You can even just do a big school bus containing all the boxes, or something else school related… be creative!
Step 3:
Place the stationary into the boxes and tape it with Bostik Super Clear Tape so that the opened box tabs wont make the box towers tumble.
Step 3:
Cover the boxes with colorful project boards. Bostik Glue Stick works well for the smaller parts like windows and wheels. It leaves no bubbles and dries quickly.
Bostik Art and Craft Sprayable Adhesive works amazing on the larger surfaces. Simply cut the project board to size, spray the surface and stick. I am amazed at how well this glue works and how quick it sticks even though the instructions are to wait a few minutes before you stick it. Definitely one of my new favorite adhesives!
For the round roofs I cut out a circle, made a cut to the centre of the circle and twisted it into a cone before I stuck the edges together. Bostik Clear Adhesive has always been my ultimate favourite… it works great for quickly sticking ends together without having to hold it while waiting for it to dry.
Step 4:
This was the most fun of this whole project! I made numbers for the boxes, with the Bostik Crazy Clay, to count down from ten days to school to the last day (I used Bostik Blits Stik Super Glue Gel to stick them to the boxes) and then I was going to make school children for the school grounds but ended up making minions to match the lunch box and juice bottle set. Crazy Clay turned out to be absolutely crazy to work with!
Moulding and smoothing out bumps is child’s play compared to other clays and if you like what you made, you only have to leave it out to dry and you end up with a soft, yet firm spongy figurine that can also bounce! How’s that!!
The left overs can easily be stored in tact by keeping it in the airtight containers it comes in. I really, really like this clay a lot and I think we will be having loads more Crazy clay fun from now on.
Step 5:
This step is all about the finishing touches.
I used Bostik Colour ‘n Paint Twisters to add detail to the windows, pathway and grass like the picture above.
Bostik Rainbow Glitter Glue rounded off the edges of the grass well and made beautiful shiny apples on the tree and lit up the school bus in the picture above by using silver glitter glue for the details on the wheels.
Step 6:
Lastly I used Bostik Prestik to stick the roofs to the cylinder containers and also to secure all the boxes to the A3 Project board. You don’t want to stick everything with a glue that won’t allow you to disassemble the boxes in order to get the stationery out as your kids will probably want to put the boxes back together after opening them to keep the display in tact for a keepsake.
Well that’s it folks, have fun! This will be a first day of school to remember….
This post is sponsored by Bostik smart adhesives.
Dec10
DIY Christmas #4: Button Bulbs
Oh how I love these bulbs… Buttons, buttons and more buttons! This one is more for older kids if you want to do it neatly with a glue gun as the buttons are too heavy for glues that don’t dry as quick but younger kids can probably do something similar with craft glue and something other than buttons.
You will need:
- Polystyrene balls (purchased at CNA, PNA and Crazy Store in South Africa)
- Glue Gun
- Lots of buttons (Also purchased at Craft stores. I bought mine at CNA)
- Scissors
- Rope, ribbon or lace
Step 1:
Now before you get all excited about all the buttons and start glueing like me, take a scissor and make a hole for the rope. I added the photos from a previous post cause with this one I accidentally got ahead of myself.
Step 2:
Squirt a little glue inside and quickly insert the rope.
Make sure there’s enough glue to hold, squirt a little on top if neccessary.
Step 3:
Now you can glue your heart out… its best to glue the button instead of the polystyrene ball as the glue can melt the ball and its better for exact placing of the buttons.
When done, it will look something like this… the best of all is that each ball will look different!
Click Here for more DIY Christmas ideas!
Dec3
DIY Christmas #3: Glitter Rope Bulbs
This is the third post in the DIY Christmas series. These glitter rope bulbs are very easy for kids of 6+ to make.
You will need:
- Craft Glue
- Rope
- Glitter
- Ribbon
- Balloons
Nov26
DIY Christmas #2: Advent Calendar
Christmas is such a special time and I think its a great idea to have a countdown from the first to 24’th of December for kids to know when Christmas comes. That way they won’t have to ask every day and on the 25’th they get their presents.
Every day from the first of December, a number gets poked to see the gifts inside. I suggest adding bible verses for older kids or maybe the story of Jesus (or Santa if you prefer) so every other day they can get an additional paragraph until the story is complete.
The kids had so much fun making this advent calendar. This seems like a lot of steps but its fairly easy!
You will need:
- Brown Paper
- 24 Toilet paper rolls
- Glue gun or strong fast-drying glue
- Pencil and red, green or black marker
- Numbers stencil (optional)
- Scissors
- Strong piece of card board like from boxes or curtain packaging
- Small stickers, sweets and gifts that fits into a toilet paper roll. If you are planning to make one house for multiple kids, remember to buy gifts that you can fit more into one toilet paper rolls. I have two kids so everything had to be small enough to fit two into one toilet paper roll
- Short piece of string or ribbon
Step 1
Trace the toilet paper roll with a pencil to make 24 circles, leaving enough space in between for adhesion tabs.
Step 2
Stencil the numbers 1-24 in the middle of the circles
Step 3
Cut the circle out, about half an inch or less away from the pencil line and cut small little tabs so the paper can go around the circular toilet roll smoothly.
Step4
Glue and paste.
Step 5
Glue all the pieces neatly together with a glue gun. Its important to use fast drying glue otherwise it will fall apart before it dries. Remember to do all the numbers backwards from right to left, otherwise you may get your numbers mixed up.
Step 6
Cut out two identical rectangles for the roof (optional to make it stick over the front edge to give it more depth. The back edge needs to be flush with the wall.) Place them and trace the triangles for the triangular space in between to give strength to the structure.
Step 7
Now this is a tricky part and you may need an extra set of hands… Once again its much easier with a glue gun (hint hint… glue guns aren’t optional in a crafty house) Hold the two roof sections 90 degrees and glue them together. Glue the back triangle flush and place a toilet roll to measure the distance for the front triangle. Glue baby glue!
Step8
Glue the roof to the toilet paper rolls. This is very tricky and needs strong glue that dries properly to hold.
Step 9
Paste a little strip of glue to the back of your roof and stick a loop that you can hang it on.
Step 10
Now you’re ready to insert all the gifts in the rolls. As I said in the “You will need” above, if you are planning to make one house for multiple kids, remember to buy gifts that you can fit more into one toilet paper rolls. I have two kids so everything had to be small enough to fit two into one toilet paper roll.
I bought all my gifts at a dollar store and some of the items include finger lasers, stickers, ink stamps, mini bath ducks, candy watches, candy dummies and other sweets.
Step 11
Lastly, cut a piece of cardboard big enough for the back of the house to cover all the openings and glue it tightly to the back.
Viola, your advent calendar is done! I can suggest sticking it with additional prestik to make sure the weight holds all the gifts.
Remember not to be too worried about how it looks. Another one we made did not come out so perfect (you can see it in the pictures with the gifts above) but I actually loved it.
Enjoy!
Click Here for more DIY Christmas ideas!
Nov20
DIY Christmas #1: Flower Bulb
Ive been busy with creating DIY Christmas ornaments and will be sharing them in the following month. Here is my first attempt at a globe made from recycled materials. It may cost you if you don’t have the tools but if you do, its very cheap. I made my own version, but saw the original post HERE. Read the rest of this entry