I got some awesome Father’s Day card ideas on this page but I liked too much of them so I decided to make a special keepsakes box big enough to fit a lot of pages with lots of different messages. The kids had already made Dad special match boxes at a play group we attend so I thought I’d make it big enough to fit different kinds of objects. This project was so much fun and the kids loved it too! Read the rest of this entry
My friends from Play Doh sent me this awesome play doh set and I have to say I had just as much fun playing with it as the kids did, and they played with it for hours!!! It has a cake mould press that easily transforms play doh into a beautiful little cake and a fun cake stand with a cute little cake cloche to display your cake on.
An icing press makes it look fun and interesting and you can either press from the top or take it out and use as a piping gun. The whole stand of the set is also decorated with moulds that you can use as decorations for Read the rest of this entry
Toy Kingdom asked Moms and Kids to review their favourite toys. I never expected such a good response… within a day we had 2,8k views on the video on Facebook with 6,5k views on Facebook… wow! Honestly I didnt even originally load it on youtube and had to do it now without all that juicy views.. sillly me!!!
We made this in a jiff without my trusty professional camera as we only had an iPhone and our toys but we ended up having so much fun and came up with this…
#AgentsOfFun #ToyKingdom Read the rest of this entry
I like this rough grainy clay as its good for sensory development for small toddlers and the shape of your characters stay in place much better when it has something rough to hold on to.
This recipe is so easy your kids can make it! I made this batch twice to make sure it doesn’t clump when making one big batch but maybe it will work for you? Let me know!
Ingredients:
Mix all the ingredients except the food coloring.
Separate the batch in two if you want more colors.
Add the food coloring and put in microwave for 30seconds. If its not firm and still stick to your hands, put it back into the microwave for another 30secs. If it still sticks, add a little flour and repeat.
I ended up with 5 colors because I made the batch twice and then took a little of the blue and a little of the purple and added yellow to get that awesome stone grey colour.
Enjoy!
Having trouble figuring out the colours? Here’s a free printable colour chart!
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!
This is such a fun project to do with toddlers and its super easy!
Mix 1/2 cup glue with 1/2 cup water
Add coloring and glitter
Mix well
Mix 1/2 cup cold water with 1/4 cup boiled or warm water
Add 2 tspoons borax
Mix well
Pour glue mix into borax
Start taking all the glue out with your fingers and the glue will magically transform into bouncy frozen glitter slime! You can break it and press it back together again and bounce it around when its settled enough.
Make sure to store it in a glass container to ensure it doesn’t dry out. It happens within a day if not in a sealed container!
Sell it as an Entrepreneurs project or make it for Christmas gifts!
We had so much fun creating something out of nothing with mainly paper plates, glue, paint and an extra crafts material here and there. Paper plate crafts are so easy and it’s a cheap way to create and explore.
The porcupine above was made by 6 year old Corrie. We made this one from an example off Pinterest in a few easy steps:
The other kids made their own creations… 12 year old Ilané made this happy funny face:
The hair is made from pipe cleaners, the bow from felt, the cheeks are painted egg carton nests and the tongue a craft stick. She cut out the mouth so the tongue can stick out and go in and out… what a great idea!
She also had another clever idea and made this cute little chick out of pom pom’s, feathers and pipe cleaners. The nest is made of an egg carton. She cut a hole in the bottom, glued a pipe cleaner to the chick and stuck it through the hole so the chick can bounce in and out of the nest.
9 year old Elzanne made this interesting lamp:
First she cut a hole in the paper plate and painted it with these wonderful Dala colors! She added pompoms and googley eyes to give it some character. She also painted a toilet paper roll white, and a tin can purple and painted blue dolphins on it.
Then she glued two pieces of egg carton together and painted it yellow to look like a light bulb.
Finally she traced the toilet paper rolls circumference on a piece of card stock and glued it to the toilet paper roll to give surface to the glue to stick to the tin can. She placed the light bulb in the toilet roll and made holes for the pipe cleaners to attach to the paper plate and there you go! What a clever model of a beautifully designed lamp… maybe she will make the real one, one day!
Hey Moms of Crafty Kids, here’s a great competition for 4-13 year olds to show their Craftiness! One awesome Kid from each category will win a R250 voucher from takealot.com. If a US reader wins, they will win a $20 voucher from Amazon.com.
The two categories are:
Kids, make a creation of your own with found objects like recycled materials and whatever Crafty stuff you can find at home, like paper plates, toilet rolls, yoghurt containers, tin foil… use your imagination but REMEMBER… Read the rest of this entry
I found this great, easy to make Face Paint recipe on Popsugar.com and decided I had to share! This is fairly easy to make but does take a bit of time as each color must be mixed
separately. You’ll do better than me if you have a bigger little mixing container for each color rather than having to wash the mixing bowl after every color. I used acrylic water bas Read the rest of this entry
This bird feeder is fun to make and quick and easy to do with toddlers. I just love recycling materials and what better to recycle than toilet paper rolls! Read the rest of this entry
This is the second post in the series “Fun with Practica for 2-3 year olds. In the first post we focused on balance, counting and working with color. This post we will focus on Spacial Relations, Visual Conceptualising, Color Perception, Manual Dexterity, Eye-hand Coordination, Visual Figure-ground Distinction, Sequence of Events, Memory, Logical Reasoning, General Insight, Spacial orientation and Listening skills… all of this in just 4 simple exercises! Here we go…
– Put the pegboard upside down and trace the holes in the board. Draw a circle around a dot to show them where they should put a peg in the board. This will help them draw the connection between the pegboard and its cards.
– Now show them Card 1 and tell them about the boy on the card and how he wants to get to his dog on the other side and that he has to follow the red line to get to the dog. Show them how they must fill the first row with red pegs for the boy to follow to get to the dog. Do the same with the blue, green and yellow lines with the dog and cat, cat and mouse and mouse and hole.
– Give each toddler or mom/toddler each a sorting bowl and play “one for me, one for you”. This teaches them to wait… name each color as you are sorting… “One blue button for mommy, one blue button for Pieter.” etc.
– Now let him do the sorting. IF theres two toddlers, give each a chance. Describe each action… “One for mommy, one for Pieter” “One red button for Pieter, one red button for Hanlé” etc. This teaches them to share.
– Now let each take their own button and repeat “Each take one green button. Now each can take TWO yellow buttons… wow! One, two yellow buttons each…” This teaches them to take only what they are told.
– Place a shoelace on the floor as a starting point and let her stand with both feet behind the shoelace. Show her how to jump with both feet as far as she can. Measure with the Hex Counters (or Popsicle sticks like I did) after every jump and write the results on the black board.
– Use the Pre-school Kwik Pick workbook #1. Explain to them how the boy in block 1 has no head. “Look this boy has no head! Oops… where is his head? He has arms, legs, hands, feet and a body but no head.” Show them the rest of the pictures in the block. “Look, here is his head!”
– Now let them do the second one and ask, “What is missing from this boy? An arm? Which of these pictures are his arm?” As you progress you can just ask, “What is missing in this picture and they should get the idea of finding the missing part.”
– Go on with the pages as long as your child can stay focused. Once my daughter started she didn’t want to stop so we went up to no16 until I had to stop her from getting brain fog 🙂
Well thats it for now folks… please like the Facebook page and follow this blog to stay in touch for more awesome Practica activities.
For more fun Practica activities, click Here!
For more about the Practica Program, click Here!
* Disclaimer: I am not a spokesperson/ promoter/ reseller of Practica. I share my activities, often adapted for my children with other mothers who also have the Programme or would like to know more about it. I will not be held responsible for any damage and/ or injuries obtained while following my instructions.
Practica, according to their textbook is a comprehensive Guide for individual stimulation during the formative years of children from 0-6 years. It is based on recognised one-on-one activities within a closed parent-child relationship. I Have found it very comprehensive, catering for every level of a child’s development. I have done LOTS of research on the internet and I must say theres not many places where I have found something quite like this.
Like with everything else in life I do not agree with every little detail and just take what I want, from what I need out of it. Its like the internet… So many different frames of references combined with so many different techniques.. The fun part however is that its based on educational games, encouraging parents to play. This I LOVE!!
As the slogan says: “Practica, inspiring parents to play.”
Over the past two years since the twins was 6months old we have been doing a lot of fun stuff using the Practica Programme. I am not a Practica promoter and I am not selling the Practica programme, but find the activities fun and my kids sure do learn a lot form it, so I think it has become high time for me to share some of the activities we do! These 3 activities are cause for lots of fun and learning all together for mom and toddler! (Please note that these activities require the Practica Chest with games to play)
Place the wooden blocks with the balancing beams on top on the lowest setting and let the kids help put the pegs in. This is great for fine motor skills and they love it!
Let them walk from one side to the other by holding one hand, allowing them to balance from the beginning to end. Repeat a few times.
Now place the balancing beams on the floor and let them walk by balancing by themselves.
Use the green, blue and red circles, triangles and squares (found in the construction set).As they learn you can add more colors and shapes.
If your child is not yet familiar with the shapes, begin by holding each shape up and talking about them. “The circle is round, feel with your finger, there are no sharp edges.” “How many corners do the triangle have? One, two, three! Look they are very sharp… The triangles has one, two, three sharp corners.” “The square have four sharp corners. One, two, three, four! Look, the edges are all the same length. One, two, three, four edges are all the same in a square.”
Let her place the 3 circles in a row, 3 triangles in a row and 3 squares in a row and let her count how many of each.
Now let her put the three blue shapes in a row, and do the same with the green and red.
Let her count three of each color.
Take out three or four animals in three or four of the same colors
Let him name each animal
Let him name the colors
Let him count the animals
Let him count the colors
That rounds up the first of the series “Fun with Practica for 2-3 year olds.” Please Subscribe to my blog and like Mother in the Making… Naturally on FB for more awesome activities for toddlers. Much more coming up, including a scoop on quick & easy Practica activities for busy moms! Please stay in touch!
For more info on Practica, go to http://www.practicaprogram.co.za
* Disclaimer: I am not a spokesperson/ promoter/ reseller of Practica. I share my activities, often adapted for my children with other mothers who also have the Programme or would like to know more about it. I will not be held responsible for any damage and/ or injuries when following my instructions.
