Learn how to bubble write
Colouring in
Write a book report
Try some decoupage
Write a letter to a penpal
Make fingerprint art
plan and cook a meal
Make a masking tape race track or town
Make your own play dough
Make paper flowers
Looking for more ideas, then Cass at Frugal Family has some more great rainy day ideas on her blog.
The notebooks were from the pound shop and the stamps we already have, but you can pick up similar from ebay, just search for 70 piece Alphabet/Number/Symbol Stamping Kit, they are about £10 and brilliant for all sorts of things.
We used washi tape or stick on stamps to hide the smudge marks!
We also bought the two main teachers a brill stamp set from Skull and Cross Buns on Etsy.
Teacher Appreciation Gifts 2013 – personalised note books Read More »
We are a family that loves making and receiving homemade cards and I adore crafting. However, I am aware the boys are getting older and I want to keep their enthusiasm for the homemade and very amateur cards. So I thought I would share with you the cards I made for Maxi this year and
This is one of those craft activities that you can do whilst mindlessly watching the TV. Sometimes on an evening when I spend time with MadDad I have the urge to craft, but it needs to be be something that I can do whilst chatting about our day and perhaps watching TV or listening to music. These masking (washi) tape eggs really fitted the bill.
To make it even easier you could use polystyrene eggs rather than blown eggs and then you wouldn’t worry about pressing too hard either. All I did was place strips of tape length way on the eggs from heat to point and kept going over lapping each time.
They would look lovely hunt onto a branch as an Easter tree too, however, mine make me happy in one of my many cake stands and dishes.
Method – Chicks
Make a largeish pom pom in yellow wool for the chick’s body
In yellow felt cut out two shapes for the chicks wings and one for the chicks tail feathers. Also cut a small triangle for the chicks beak – in future ones I will make this orange to stand out more.
Stick the wings and tail to the pom pom using a glue gun.
Stick the eyes and beak on using fabric glue
There is nothing better than collecting the boys from school and them being really excited. “I have something in my bag for you Mum”, “So do I”. As we get near home the boys get even more excited about it “I can not show you, it has to be a surprise” and the two of them whisper conspiratorially to themselves.
I am smiling big beaming smiles, as I know that Mothers Day is nearly upon us and this means they have both been busy creating their own special card for me.
Queue Sunday morning and the boys excitedly come running in to the bedroom with a cup of tea for me and their cards and jump on the bed and tell me all about their cards. Maxi explains he drew round his left hand, but turned it over once he cut it out, so it looks like his left hand and how I have beautiful brown eyes and love heart lips for kissing. Mini excitedly tells me he did all the cutting out himself and used a punch to make the tree. He used zigzag scissors to cut out his label.
What more could a mother ask for on Mothers Day?
Mini’s favorite place in the whole wide world is London. He loves visiting it, loves reading about it and sleeps in a London themed room. So when it came to making him a quilt (my first one ever) it had to be London themed. I have had this fabric and the deciding for this quilt for over six months thanks to Kelly, but have discovered that cutting fabric is my kryptonite I just can not bring myself to cut it at all. Knowing that I had to get past my fear, I booked in for a sewing class. I go two hours a week on a Tuesday and the quilt was my first project.
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?
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
