Easter Potato Printing

Create colourful prints with potatoes and paint!

First cut the potatoes in half - try to ensure you have an egg shaped potato when it's cut in half.

Then, very carefully, carve out some patterns.  We did zig zags, stripes and attempted spots but that wasn't very easy - maybe some sort of special tool would have made spots easier.



Now you can either dip the potato straight into the paint and start printing or if you want different colours on each print you'll need to paint the colours onto the potato with a brush as we have done here.

Happy Easter!

Baby Sensory Bottles

Baby girl is nearly 5 months old already and so keen to touch and explore anything she can get her hands on. 


Clear plastic bottles can be filled with a whole range of objects that baby can safely explore, just make sure the lid on on super tight!! 







This particular bottle has been filled with water, daisies and colourful sequins from one of the pound shops. 


Fascinating!

Cereal Box House (on fire!)

Recycle cereal boxes into buildings for play in these easy steps!



This particular building was to accompany our fire engine play which is why it has flames.

If you want to try, here's what we did......



Turn the cereal box inside out.  Tape up the sides

Draw on some windows and doors with a black pen.

Glue on some colourful flames cut from card or tissue paper .

Add on a roof - made from some card folded into a triangular shape

You could also add a little hose prop made from a pipe cleaner and some more tissue paper.

Loads of fun!

5 Currant Buns Finger Puppets

It's amazing what you can achieve if you put down Candy Crush for an evening!

We were singing this song at bedtime the other night - a fairly new one for my two year old - and he really liked it.  

So as a surprise for him I decided to make some little finger puppets that we could use while singing the song.








As soon as they were both in bed and I could sit down with a cuppa I got out the box of felt and got started on these little currant buns.  They're completely made from felt which is great as it means you don't have to finish edges - just cut it!  And the currants are just french knots using darker thread.

I left a little gap at the bottom so little fingers can slip in and out easily.

He was delighted to find them lying out for him when he came down the next morning and we've been doing lots of singing, buying, eating and counting too!


Here's the song we sing (there are different versions)

5 currant buns
In the baker's shop
Round and fat with a cherry on the top
Along came (child's name) with a penny one day
Bought a currant bun and took it right away

Continue for 4, 3, 2, 1

Old MacDonald Stick Puppets

These came about by accident as many things do when we start to play and make.

I bought these animal sticky shapes a while back in one of those bargain stores for next to nothing. 

The quality of the images isn't great but they're good enough for collage/sticky pictures, especially considering the price.




We had a whole load of crafty 
bits and bobs out today including these and I just happened to peel off the backing of one of the animals and stick it on a lolly stick.  


We were happily playing with them but the back was still mainly exposed and very sticky so to cover up the sticky bit I just cut out some colourful circles and stuck them on which worked well.....

Before we knew it we had made a whole set as well as a cup to hold them all!

We've been singing away today, and not just Old Macdonald.....

What about making some more pigs and telling the story of the 3 Little Pigs, or singing This Little Piggy, Baa Baa Black Sheep or Giddy Up Horsey?

If you know any cow or cockerel songs please let me know!

Valentine's Water Play

Super simple water play fun....

Hearts, petals, confetti and some spoons and containers for pouring and filling.

The only thing we forgot was glitter! 

Valentine's Sensory Bins and Coloured Rice

I've been meaning to try making coloured rice for soooooo long but all the instructions I found involved using alcohol and what seemed like rather complicated and laborious lists of things to do.


And then I found a super simple one.

Basically, you just put the rice in a box with a lid, sprinkle on some food colouring and give it a good shake and then lay it out on a baking tray to dry.  It really was that easy!

Since we're close to Valentine's Day I made up a red and pink sensory bin with all things hearty and lovely.

It's definitely something I'll do again in different colours as all that pouring and filling was great fun.




....and here's another basket idea for babies, full of red things to look at and investigate.