Keeping a toddler entertained isn’t always the easiest thing so I’m always on the look out for easy activities for toddlers. As a mum of two kids I know that I’ve spent silly amounts of money before on educational toys that my kids couldn’t have cared less about while they have both spent many a happy hour going through the contents of my handbag. Toddler activities don’t need to be complicated though, sensory play ideas always work really well and this cookie cutter rainbow sensory bin has been so popular with my one year old that it’s currently my go-to activity for keeping her happy.
Crafts for kids
Paper Cup Apple Shaker
Somehow it doesn’t seem quite right to be sharing apple crafts yet, it’s still summer after all! Yet this week I went on a day out with my kids to a local orchard run by a charity. They had a great time hunting for bugs, counting butterflies and eating blackberries and windfall apples there. So maybe it is apple season already?! This week I’m sharing some paper cup crafts along with some of my fellow bloggers and after we came home I did two little apple themed crafts with my kids, the first one of these is this simple paper cup apple shaker which would be great fun for getting kids to make some noise at a Harvest Festival (Harvest Festival talk already?! Woah, let’s get on with the craft…!)
Inside Out Activities for Kids
Have you seen Inside Out yet? We haven’t but I really want to! I love the idea that it helps kids understand their emotions a bit better, actually I think maybe some of us grown ups could benefit from it too?! My four year old son caught me looking at Pinterest the other day and was really interested in some of the Inside Out activities and crafts on there so I thought it might be nice to share some!
How to make a Batmobile out of a cardboard box
So I have to start this off by admitting that I nearly didn’t share this post. It is, by all accounts not exactly the most Pinterest friendly thing I’ve ever done and will probably take me a long, sweet time editing to get a photo that doesn’t show my messy home or my kids making daft faces. Then I realised that this is kind of the whole point. My kids are not stock photos and if they have cheesy grins in this that’s because they totally adored this activity. We had a box delivered from Amazon and my son informed me he wanted us to turn it into a Batmobile. You can’t turn requests like that down if you write a crafts blog, it’s a really poor show. So the challenge was set and all I had to do was try and quickly work out how to make a Batmobile out of a cardboard box!
Darth Vader Craft Stick Puzzle
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!