Nature – Painting an Insect box

I can’t say I love all insects but they are important.  There are lots of information and links on national insect week about insects, insect spotting, friendly gardens.
Insect Box
I have been looking for some wood that we could use to make an insect box. I found a combined ladybird and bug box along with a bird box with paint for sale.    I am not sure what birds or insects think of colourful houses but Luath and I set to work with a rainbow of paints.  I thought that my painting the houses Luath would become much more involved in the process. I don’t think the bird box is ideal for nesting birds so we are using it as a decoration.
We had some new roll on paints to trial.  Luath enjoyed taking the lids on and off especially.  The rollers are a great idea but you need to keep them upright and give a bit of pressure so they are a little tricky for Luath.  She still enjoyed using them even if only a little paint came out.  I rolled some paint and then we used a paint brush to spread the colour.
 
 
A very colourful outcome.  We  left the insect box for a while before hanging out to give the paint time to settle.  We used non toxic paint but I thought it was safer to give a bit of time to remove any residue.

(Luath was 25 months)

Craft – Gruffalo Natural Art Scavenger Hunt and Picture

The Gruffalo is a big favourite in our house.  We haven’t read the book in a while but we talk about it often, quoting parts of the book and acting it out.  At the weekend Luath saw a pile of logs and immediately said “a log pile house”.  I planned for us to make a Gruffalo so I brought out the book to read.  Next we looked out the colours that makes the Gruffalo. Luath knows her colours so we really didn’t need to do this stage but I thought it was good matching practise. 

Later we went on a natural scavenger hunt for these colours.  I had planned to go to the woods but we ended up doing the hunt in our garden.  We struggled to find bright orange as I was trying to avoid Luath picking our flowers.

I drew the Gruffalo’s outline (sorry doesn't show well in photo) onto thick paper from the inside of a banana box.

We then covered the picture with glue – Luath loved this part.  We then added the leaves, petals, bark to the appropriate parts.

Once it was drier I drew the outline in thick marker pen.  I was quite surprised how well our image turned out.  If you had an older child and more time you could get a stunning picture.
 
(Luath is 30 months)
Shared with Tuesday Tots and Eco kids.

Invitation to craft – Suncatcher Fish

I have seen a few different ideas on the theme of using sticky back plastic (contact paper).  It was No time for flash cards post that inspired me to give it a go with Luath this week.   I prepared the materials – I cut two fish shapes out of blue paper and applied sticky backed plastic onto the fish.  I had some small scraps of material which I cut into little pieces. I placed them on a tray and brought it into the living room and placed on a stool.  I chose to say nothing about the tray as I did so.
 
Luath came straight over to see what it was.  She pressed her finger onto the sticky surface and then said “are we going to stick those bits (material) onto the fish”.  I replied “if you want to”.  She started with one fish and then worked between both fishes. 

She didn’t quite fully decorate the fish.  She asked me to do some.  I asked what colours and where I should add these material.  Once done she picked up the tray and said “we need to put it somewhere safe to dry”.  We haven’t used sticky back plastic before so she assumed it was glue.

I cut around the fish’s outline, punched a hole, added string and hung them in the kitchen on our tomato plants. 

(Luath is 29 months)

Craft – a seed picture

We were looking at flower seeds in the garden and saving some to sow.  I looked out some seeds from the kitchen so Luath could make a picture.  We had butternut squash (from previous nights dinner), orange and apple (we had saved to sow), fennel, coriander and cumin from the spice cupboard and carrot from our seed box.

We started by smelling the seeds.  Luath loved doing this and smelt them often while we made the picture.  She thought the butternut squash seeds smelt like orange and that the spices were like cinnamon.

A lot of fine control and concentration was needed to apply the glue to the seeds – You can see Luath’s tongue sticking out!  She did finish by tipping out the seeds onto a pre glued paper.

The finished work.
       
(Luath is 29 months)

Craft – TP tube windsocks for Canada Day and US Independence Day

We are planning to celebrate both Canada Day and US independence day next week.  I thought we would make a decoration for both days.  One of the things I remember from living in the USA is decorated porches including welcome signs and windsocks.  Luath isn’t the biggest craft fan but she enjoys glue so I set up a windsock craft we could do together. 

I pre-cut the toilet paper roll and paper.  We didn’t have the right colour of blue and four stars were enough.  I didn’t quite master a maple leaf but once I do we will add that.

Luath loved all the gluing.

She wanted to try threading the string through the holes.  It was way too tough but she gave it a lot of effort.  I did then help her get it in.

We hung them on Luath’s bookcase as they wouldn’t last long outside.

(Luath is 29 months)

Shared with discover and explore  via fantastic fun and learning

Rhododendron Flower Crown for Midsummer

This week I had been thinking how I would make a simple flower crown for Luath to wear on Midsummer day (24th June).  When we were out for a walk I noticed lots of Rhododendron petals lying under their bushes.  I thought they looked pretty and was wondering if we could do anything with them.  I then noticed that many of them were intact with a hole in the centre perfect for threading to make a crown or garland.  We gathered some from the ground but I also took three small bunches off a bush – these bushes are plentiful here and actually many are being dug up as they are so invasive.

For the petals that still were attached to a stem the best technique is to gently hold the petals by the base and slowly and very gently twist the stem one way and the petals the other.  The stem with pollen stamen should easily come out.  I used about 25 petals for the crown and probably broke 15.  It is worth doing quite a few extra as they are quite delicate.

The petal hole isn’t that big but large enough for a small knitting sewing needle with two strands from a piece of string.  As long as the needle size is right then no further petals break as they are threaded onto the string.
 
Once the crown was on Luath’s head I tied the string in a bow at the back of her head.  She loved it but would only wear it with her tiara so no crown only photos so far.
 
The petals are quite easily ripped by an inquisitive toddler but it is easy enough to add replacements.  After some wearing I put the crown in a box and into the fridge  The petals were damp from the rain, but if they were dry it is best to spritz them before placing in the fridge.
(Luath is 29 months)
Shared with Friday's Nature Table at Magic Onions
Tuesday tots via Rainy Day Mum

Peg dolls – summer blossom, sun child and sunflower

I made three new peg dolls to celebrate summer/midsummer/solstice.  They were all made quite quickly and I couldn’t find my watercolour pencils and I had run out of glue but they look great on our summer table centrepiece.  Luath did ask if we could bring Daffodil Queen (her favourite peg doll) to meet them. 

First there is sunflower (who needs her petals reworked)
        
Next there is sun child.
 
And finally summer blossom.
 
Summer blossoms flower crown was made using a bag tie.  I wrapped it around the peg dolls head to get the correct size.
 
I wound thin green wool to cover the bag tie.  Then sewed in some cream and pink as flowers.
 
(Luath is 29 months)

Simple craft – a clothes peg dragonfly

I decided that Luath and I would make a dragonfly for our summer table centrepiece.  It really was very easy.
You need:
a clothes peg (natural or coloured)
Cereal box inner bag (or similar)
Tape or glue
Optional - Pens/paint/dot stickers
What we did:
(Paint or colour clothes peg if you wish.)  Cut two wings from the cereal bag inner.  Attach wings to clothes peg.  Can stop here as we did or add eyes, stripes etc
(Luath is 29months)

Toddler Craft – Using Ring binder hole stickers

I thought Luath and I might make some ladybirds together.  Initially I thought we could punch out holes from sticky address labels but I changed this to use ring binder hole stickers when I spied them in the drawer.  I set Luath up with some milk bottle tops, stickers and colouring items.  I added some different objects later.
    
Luath was able to remove the stickers herself which she loved.  She was very engaged in this activity. We made a ladybird together.
 
She made what she called a butterfly.
 
And a few others.

After she had finished with the stickers she started the ladybird and butterfly talking to each other. A very simple activity but which was long lasting and enjoyable.
(Luath is 26 months)
Shared with Tuesday tots via Rainy Day mum

Craft – a quick bunny’s tail

Luath and I made a quick bunny’s tail together.
I squashed a toilet paper roll lengthwise.  Cut two notches to make into a H shape.

We wound some wool around the tube.   I had cut a length of wool to make it easier to handle.

I then threaded the wool under the winded wool and tied this.  I cut though the wool on the oppostie side to the knot.  I then did quite a bit of trimming to make it into a tail shape.

Luath decided she would prefer to wind the wool from the big ball around the doll’s house.

(Luath is 26 months)