{NO Mess Golf Ball Painting}

Today after school the boys really wanted to do some painting. Since I have about 3.5 hrs after school to get home, play, dinner, bath time and then bed....painting isn't usually on the agenda.

However, they seemed extra keen and so I thought I'd try something I saw on play-school yesterday which seemed to be A LOT less messy than the inevitable finger-painting mess I envisaged.

Need:
-Sheets of paper
-1 cardboard box (large enough for paper to fit in base)
-Paint
-2-4Golf Balls (this is what they used on play-school and we had many around the house after daddy's golfing trips...could probably use any other small balls or objects (experiment with what you have).
-A bowl with water and towel to wash after seen colours.

1. Place paper in bottom of box
2. Squirt dots of paint onto paper.
3. Place golf balls (or similar) into box and roll around.


We were all sitting in the grass outside together and we also closed the box up and shook it taking turns. Opening up the box once we had all shaken it was like Christmas morning with the suspense and surprise!
The boys also held a side each and rolled it back and forth. They had so much fun they didn't realize they were sharing....happily lol!

These were the results....they turned out so well. And NO mess at all!!!!


Lauren x

{Pasta Play : And Other Cheap Toddler Fun}

All this funny Sydney weather has left me many times with a very active toddler at home whilst it's raining outside. Here are SOME of the ways I have kept him amused lately. I have had to get creative as he is a smart kid, but needs to burn energy and get creative and change activities frequently!

1. Pasta Play:
I started simply by putting 5 pasta noodles on one plate, handing him another empty plate and some mini tongs. No instructions, just let him play and count.


2. Spaghetti Tower: Then I blu-taked a spaghetti strand to a plate and he started building them up counting as he went. He was enjoying this more than I thought.





Of course my son found a way to make a mess (he is an expert there) and do we turned cleaning into another game (I know I may have a shelf life for this lol)!



Then we got s break in the sun so we decided to try car painting. Combining cars and mess = BIG hit for my little one.

1. Find old or cheap cars you don't mind getting painted.
2. Let them paint the wheels and watch on some paper as the tyres make rainbow tracks.
3. Then put done warm soapy water in a bucket and have a "car wash" to clean up ;)


There are a few other things I will share soon that don't cost the earth. If you have any other ideas - feel free to share them here or on facebook or twitter :)

Lauren x




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Cute Footprint Memories

I saw this craft project on 'brown paper packages' and just thought it was SOOO cute!!!! What a way to keep the memory of your family alive. ADORABLE!!!!! You could even make it a "green" project by re-purposing a wooden stool you have at home.....for details, click on the blog link above and see their instructions - this is DEFINITLEY going on my to do list!!!!

Displaying Children's Art

I am sure I am not the only parent that ends up with so many origional, one off art-works from the kids! So i have started filing them in display folders labelling the dates/ and any notes on them so they pack away nicley. However I do enjoy showing some of it off, but being a modern neat freak, the idea of endless scrap paper with a mish mash of designs covering EVERY wall makes me cringe a little. Then I cam across this genious idea from Sarah Jane's blog entitled "making an art gallery".
What a great idea!!! She did some finger painting art and then bought a few ikea frames and created an art gallery to display it with a difference.

There are two different ways you could do this that I see:
1. You could cut out the shape/ animal/ design from the dry painting and glue it on backing board.
2. Go to a framing or scrapbooking type place and get them to di-cut the shape into the monuting board and place over the full painting giving similar effect.

Either way - I love the unique and classy way she found to store and showcase some special paintings. Definitley trying this one!