Maggie at Red Ted Art (who has a new craft book out) hosts a weekly Google + Hangout and this weeks was all about Pine cone crafts. Mini has been studying nocturnal animals this week, so we decided to make a pine-cone owl.
This is one of those crafts that you can adjust dependent on the age of your child bu cutting out all the felt (or foam) and allowing them to glue it or they can cut it out and glue it too. I made templates for the boys to draw around on the felt with a soft pencil and they cut out the felt themselves.
Materials
Pine-cones
Felt (or craft foam) in yellow, brown and orange
googly eyes
Glue gun or glue (Maxi uses a glue gun, but mini uses craft PVA)
Method
Cut out in yellow a figure of eight shape for the base of the eyes larger than your googly eyes and stick the eyes to it.
Then using orange felt or foam cut out a small triangle for the beak and curves with points which are the owls feet.
You cut out a square in brown for the owls hat – approximately 2 inches in size, but this depends on your pine cone.
Cut two triangles for the owls wings
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In fact it took less time and effort to make the cards than it did to hassle them to filling them in. I really do want the boys to have good manners and thank you cards are part and parcel of receiving gifts in The Mad House, but at six and seven I feel that the responsibility for writing them should come down to the boys and that I no longer should have to send them in their behalf, but what a palaver. I ended up nagging and nagging them to get them done.
Do you make your children write thank you cards? If so how do you encourage them to complete them?
So when Mini asked if he could have the watercolours out to paint and started painting concentric circles in squares, I decided to sit down and we had a fab discussion.
Wassily Kandinsky (1866 – 1944) was a Russian-French painter. His style of painting originally belonged to expressionism, and is sometimes included in symbolism. Kandinsky was one of the artists who gave shape to the abstract art in the early twentieth century.
Kandinsky was inspired by music. So whilst mini was painting I popped on Vivaldi’s four seasons. We talked about the fact Kandinsky thought that each colour has its own language and expression. Kandinsky tried to convert musical compositions into paintings. He heard colours in music and he saw music in colours. Mini told me that black must be sad music.
We also talked about the fact that paintings do not have to be of things or people and can be looked at in lots of different ways. I loved the fact that it is something that MIni could easily mimic and didn’t feel that there was a right or wrong.
Natwest are relaunching their iconic piggy banks of the 1980s. I always looked at those piggy banks and wanted them, but I was forced to bank at the local bank! We were asked by Natwest to design our own piggy’s to help publicise the competition #pigsbykids
I love crafting. More than crafting myself I love crafting with my boys. I love watching them get all excited about the things they make and the way that they glow with pride when they present people with their finished makes. Being creative isn’t something that should be left just to girls and I have and do encourage my boys to be as creative as possible. for me this means not only with art work, but with cooking, making music and just life in general.
Sometimes though I find that other things take over and we need something that we can fit in with Beavers, reading and being outside, this is where Yellow Moon comes in to its own. More often that not they have perfect craft activities which are quick and the boys can do with minimal or no supervision.
the brush) and placed the wrapping paper on top.
He continued to do that for all the sides of the box and then the top. I used a craft knife to cut a slit in the paper at the top so the money could still go in.
Mini then coated the money box in glue to protect the paper.
Pin Ito parents, STOP IT……….. This is not about having the perfect egg, the best decorated or anything like that, this is about your children doing something. So sit on your hands and let them do it ON THEIR OWN.
I am a great lover of nativity scenes and grew up with the lower image in my mums house. When Maxi was born she gifted me it. I love it, so do the boys, but as it is china they can not play with it and make up their own story, so we made more »
A large part of simplifying Christmas for me is making it all about homemade. Homemade decorations and homemade gifts I am a great believer in that the simpler things are, the more effective they are.
One of the main ways we start the festive season is by making our advent crown or wreath. This is one of the many things I remember doing as a child, however, I remember the Blue Peter version of wire coat hangers, tinsel and open flames!!
We have decorated the kitchen this week and I have also rearranged the art corner, with the introduction of the boys small table in to the kitchen are and the addition of some great storage from Ikea for the pens etc. We have painted the kitchen Willow (a soft soothing green) after MadDad decided that more »
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