Tinkering

It has been so long since we wrote a blog post! I thought I'd share what we did yesterday as it's something T has enjoyed for a long time- taking things apart. This time it was our old printer.

Obviously we have to check that there's nothing in there that could be dangerous. We also took away the old ink cartridges.

We just provided him with screwdrivers of all sizes, scissors and a light over his head. He has spent hours taking all the bits apart and finding treasures. Motherboards seem to be of most interest as he says they look like mini cities.

a kitty container

I found this very cute upcycling project here. You just use good, sharp scissors to cut a empty 1.5 l fizzy bottle to shape, paint the outside, let it dry and draw on features. This one is M's. I'm going to use the same idea to make T a bear one. I'll paint it brown and cut the ears as half circle shapes. You could do a monster, pigs, rabbit- any animal really.

a cardboard dollshouse

Inspired by these images and post about cardboard American brownstone style houses on the beautiful blog http://mermagblog.com/

 

M has decided to sell her Sylvanian furniture. I have to admit she hasn't really played with it much and the most recent purchases may/ may not have been because I liked them! They are overpriced though so I'm quite pleased this stage is behind us.

She's said she would prefer to make something her own. We've made the house together and M plans to make things for inside it over time, T has an awesome idea for how t make light shades. I've kept the hedgehog family and few pieces of Sylvanian furniture until then. While ours isn't as exact as the inspiration, we still like it.

I took heaps of photos of the making process which involved a washing machine box, a craft knife, an entire roll of masking tape, paint and printed washi tape. The kittens moved in to the 2nd and 3rd floors too- but sadly I lost them : (

peg dolls

I got the idea for these from here: http://beafunmum.com/2015/06/peg-mermaid-dolls/

We just spent the weekend at our family bach. I knew it would be cold so I took a bag full of things to keep the kids (all of us) busy in the afternoons.

M was all about the sequins, gold nailpolish and ribbons and T decided to make a boat with a crows nest and a plank for badies to walk. When we next went to the beach we took them with is to get some photos.

 

homemade kinetic sand

M and T have been asking for kinetic sand for a while now. I don't really want to pay so much for so little of it so thought we'd have a go and making something similar. While this isn't as 'sticky' as the store bought stuff it's still really fun to play with, smells nice and holds its shape well.

After looking around the www I came up with this recipe:

• 5 cups sand( the finer ther better, we started sieving ours but gave up)
• 1.5 cups cornflour
• 1/2 teaspoon dish soap (e.g. Dawn Dishwashing Liquid)
• water (about 1 cup)
• optional: 1 teaspoon Tea Tree Oil (for its antibacterial properties)
• optional: fine glitter

Just out it all in a big container and mix- adding the water a bit at a time. I mixed the dishwash with the water first.

So that was them for the afternoon- nearly 2 hours of playing with it under the Winter sun  : )

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stained glass

I did this in two classrooms last week ( we made rainbows) and I bought home some of the left over materials. The idea is to sellotape clear book cover sticky side up to the table top. I put a white piece of paper under it to make it easier to see the colours. Stick pieces of cellophane onto the book cover- keeping in mind that it's hard to get off once it's in place. The kids loved this and they look really nice with light shining through them.

We also adapted it slightly and drew using a permanent maker, on the smooth side of the book cover before peeling the backing off and taping it to the table. I didn't get a picture of that one finished.