Every week this summer I’ll be sharing some craft ideas along with some of my blogging friends, everything’s being made with materials that a lot of parents have lying around and this week we’re kicking it off with stick crafts! I had this idea that we were going to do some beautiful thing with real sticks, but to be honest, give my kids a real stick and all they want to do is hit stuff. True fact! My son and I went hunting for inspiration and he decided that he really wanted to do a Star Wars craft. I thought maybe Boba Fett (my favourite) but he’s four so he calls the shots, instead we’ve made a fun little Darth Vader craft stick puzzle that’s super thrifty and I think super cool too!
How to make a paper gift bag
Advert. Last week I was challenged by the people at wrap.me to make something cool using their gorgeous wrapping paper. I’m a big fan of theirs having used their paper before to cover a notebook and my kids are always super pleased when we get some of their paper through the door, nothing cheers a four year old up as much as the site of their own face in print! As the paper is ultimately designed for wrapping gifts I thought I’d do just that, but instead of just parcelling something up I thought I’d challenge myself to working out how to make a paper gift bag! After a couple of tries I realised it’s actually a lot simpler than it seems so I’ve made a little video so that you can make one too!…
Kinetic Sand Dinosaur Excavation
My son has been desperately wanting to try out some kinetic sand for ages and I have to admit that I have too! We were offered the chance to review some of the fab toys from House of Fraser and I knew straight away this is what he’d want to try, we’ve seen it played with on kids You Tube channels but I hadn’t seen it available in UK shops before. Of course rather than just have a play with it I thought I’d try something a bit extra so I set up a little activity in the form of this kinetic sand dinosaur excavation.
10 Sneaky Ways to Make Sand Play Educational
During the summer I’m generally in favour of opening the doors to the garden and letting my kids run riot, to me having fun is the most important thing a kid can do! However, the sensible mummy side to me does like to sneak a bit of learning in when I can, I’m not a fan of worksheets (though I do love the more educational comics) so it has to be something that the kids will find fun too! Playing with sand is one of my kids favourite things to do during warm weather so with that in mind I thought I’d share some educational sand play ideas, There’s some great ideas you can do indoors too so even if the weather isn’t that great you can still have fun!
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Tips for preparing your child for starting school
Somehow the impossible has happened, this is my son’s last ever week at playgroup. I’m not quite sure how this can be the case since I’m fairly certain he only started a few weeks back but come September he’ll be starting school. That’s particularly crazy as it’s just taken me three attempts to write school, I’m not sure I’m ready for this! Like most mums I’m not super panicking about him starting, however I do want to make the transition as easy and enjoyable for him as possible, so with that in mind I asked the super wise ladies over on the Crafts on Sea Facebook page for their advice on preparing your child for starting school as well as the advice of some of my blogging friends and there’s a few things we’re doing thrown in here too!