Hama Bead Creations

I’ve spent most of the day with an iron in my hand. No, I’ve not been catching up on my post-holiday ironing.  The older children have been making things with Hama Beads.  At first my pre-teen son wasn’t interested.  I introduced him to Pinterest where he could find ideas of what to make. Since then he has created Superheros, Umpa Lumphas, Mario Kart mushrooms, a cartoon ninja, a duck and many more.  The girls are currently creating lots of mini cupcakes.  They’ve requested skin colour beads which are now on order from Craft Merrily along with some glow in the dark beads.

I was quite surprised with the range of craft materials and activities in Wilkinson’s today. We have bought bunting to decorate tomorrow and also some mini magnetic ceramic tiles.  I went in for Hama beads, couldn’t find them but came out having spent £22 on things I didn’t go in for!  My shopping included some little conifers which the children have just planted in pots in the garden. We also transplanted lot of bulbs ready for the spring.

Painting with Marbles

Today we used marbles and paint to make marks on paper.  I had three boys aged between 17 – 30 months who all enjoyed the activity.

We had a bowl of yellow paint and a bowl of pink paint. The boys dropped some marbles into each bowl of paint and stirred them around so that they were covered in paint.

We sat some paper on the bottom of a clear plastic box (I used a Poundland cake carrier).  The boys used spoons to take the marbles out of the paint and pop them onto the paper.

We put the lid on the box and they each took turns to shake the box.  They could see the marbles rolling around making trails of paint across the paper.

The paper had a  flower outline printed on it.  I’ve cut the finished flowers out and we’ll use them to make cards at a later date.

I've been told that this activity works well using golf balls, we'll try that another day.

Valentine's Day Hearts

I recently read a discussion about whether or not it is appropriate for children to be doing Valentine’s themed activities. At this time of year we see pink and red hearts everywhere we go. I think it’s nice to use these shapes and colours in what we do.

This afternoon I had three children whose age ranged from 2 – 8 years. I gave them each a heart shaped piece of paper and some red, pink and white paint. To save arguments they had a palate of paint of their own. The younger children tend to mix the paint colour, which annoys the older children! I showed them how to paint on one side of the paper then fold it over to create a symmetrical pattern. This brought back memories for me of being at Primary school, I remember doing it as a child.

lt was such a simple activity yet all the children enjoyed it at their own level. The four year old had a go at using the folded paper and scissors to cut a heart out. The youngest child chose to do some handprint painting while the eldest created pictures for her Mum and Dad.

Later in the week we are going to do some Valentines baking. I have the heart shaped silicone cake mould that I bought last year and some heart shaped sprinkles.