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Posts Tagged ‘Crafts’

Glass is one of those everyday materials that we use everywhere and it is taken for granted a lot of the time. We use it in our cars, buildings, light bulbs and wine glasses, but few people know exactly how glass transforms from raw materials into the functional molded end products. Here is a breakdown of the steps required in glass making.

1.)    The raw materials of glass are sand and some additional elements. Not any old sand will do and most often Silica is used, in combination with certain amounts of soda ash and also limestone. The amount of each component used has quite a big impact on how the glass turns out, and additional elements are often used to alter density and colour etc. For example, a glass blower might add a small amount of red dye to the mix to make pink champagne glasses.

2.)    The mixture is heated to a temperature of around 1700oC. At this temperature the minerals in the mixture all become liquid and blend together. In order to achieve this heat, huge furnaces are needed. Electric powered furnaces are on the increase, although traditional glass blowers still prefer to use classic coal fires. In its molted form, glass can be manipulated very easily and can be blown or moulded into pretty much any shape desired. The skills involved in manual glass making takes years to learn and are often passed on through generations.

3.)    Once the glass has been shaped it is left to cool down. This is a very important step as the rate at which the glass cools has a large influence on the refractive index of the glass and the density of the glass. For example, whisky glasses are often cooled slowly as this makes them less susceptible to scratches, although the refractive index is slightly lower than other types of glass

Making Earrings Made Simple

There are always occassions that we would enjoy giving gifts for.If you are on a tight budget, what can you give?   Well, you can make them a gift!

A simple thing you can create is jewelry.Jewelry is a gift that can be used longer than baked goods. Additionally, sometimes it is even cheaper.   Here are 2 easy types of jewelry to make: beaded earrings or bracelets.Due to needing less beads, earrings are generally less expensive to make.  However, sometimes the beads used to make bracelets are really inexpensive.For larger gifts, give the person a matching set! So lets go over how to make jewelry!

Getting Started

First you need to get supplies.Craft stores like ArtBeads, Micheals, and Joanns should carry everything you need.  For either project you need: beads, round nose pliers and wire cutters.  For earrings you will also want earwires, headpins and tweezers; for bracelets, you need memory wire.Most crafters will create both types of jewelry for some extra variety.

Realize that nicer beads creates better looking jewelry.  Sometimes you can get freshwater pearls rather inexpensively that makes wonderful jewelry.

Making The Jewelry

Both types of jewelry need loops to be created.  These are easily created using you round nose pliers.  To trim off extra wire, you will be using your wirecutters.

For earrings:  add beads to each headpin, close off headpin with a loop and attach the loop to the earwires’ loop.

For bracelets: create a starting loop, add beads, and then close it off with a loop.

Nice Touches

Putting the earrings on cardboard or a blank business card makes them look more professional.   Having the earrings or bracelet in a small plastic baggie helps make certain that the beautiful jewelry won’t be damaged.  If you have extra jewelry boxes around, these help even more.

Have a great time giving such lovely presents!

Grandparents can play a pivotal role in encouraging creativity and stimulating the immagination of their grandkids by simply providing them with the time, resources and the space for making art.When your grandchildren come to visit you, set aside some interruption-free quiet time for drawing, in a mess-proof zone – so that their creativity can run wild. Make sure you cover all surfaces so that any splashes of paint or scribbles of crayon are 'caught' - because nothing squishes creativity more so than a Nanna or Pop  saying "Don't make a mess" every 2 minutes!

Choose the right drawing materials too as this is very important. Many craft materials can be improvised, but when drawing tools and paper are required, opt for a small selection of good quality age-appropriate products, rather than loads of inferior products. Always ensure that you check safety information and follow instructions. During any ‘art-time’ children should always be surpervised because many necessary materials – such as crayons – pose a choking hazard.

Surroundings: As with writing or working at a computer, good posture and a comfortable position are important for drawing. With young children, a child-size table and chair is actually preferable to an easel. If the chair is a little high, provide a phone book for a footrest. A coffee table and an inexpensive plastic chair work well. A small kitchen storage trolley is ideal for containing supplies, or if space does not permit, a portable tackle box is a good option too. Messy toddlers may need a drop-cloth and supervision to avoid ink-stained walls, as even ‘washable’ pens often don’t deliver on that promise!

Art Materials: Avoid cheap markers, too-hard pencils and thin paints – these types of materials are discouraging to the child and therefore a waste of money. Provide many sheets of blank paper to inspire their crativity and occasionally invest in a canvas so that your child can paint something and chances are you’ll want to hang it on your wall! Provide also coloring books or coloring pages which are bountiful online – coloring pages are not so great for creativity, however they do provide children with the chance to practice their fine motor skills and sometimes it’s very relaxing and just what they need to simply color in without the ‘pressure’ of thinking about WHAT to draw.

Nothing much has changed since your children (their parents) were small – little boys still  typically enjoy coloring pictures of cars and trucks while little girls may enjoy coloring images of Barbie and at sites like Barbie Coloring Pages you’ll find the best Barbie pictures to color.

When it comes to drawing and coloring, at each age/stage of a child's life provide….

Toddlers

• Child-safe markers and wipe-off boards
• Chalk boards and safe chalk
• Plain paper and coloring pages

Juniors

• Sketchbook
• Student colored pencils
• Washable Markers
• Oil pastels
• Plain paper and coloring pages

Middle School

• Sketchbook or scrapbook
• Graphite Pencils
• Watercolor sketch paper
• Watercolor pencils
• Marker pens, marker paper
• Plain paper and coloring pages

High School

• Sketchbook or scrapbook
• Quality drawing papers and boards
• Graphite Pencils
• Artists’ quality colored pencils
• Illustration markers, marker paper
• Pastel paper and hard pastels if liked
• Plain paper and canvases to work on

All ages

• Safe sharpeners, erasers, dusters, stencils and rulers
• A folder for storing large pieces
• Storage boxes for smaller pieces
• Consider photographing or scanning pieces for a permanent record.

Here you have a dozen play-time ‘recipes’ to help keep your children entertained during the school holidays. Learn how to make homemade goop, papier mâché, cinnamon ornaments, soap crayons and much more. When the kids say, “I’m bored!”, print off this article and stick it to your fridge – it will be one of your best weapons against the ‘boredom’ gremlins!

Washable window paints
A selection of tempera paints (powdered or premixed)
Clear dishwashing liquid
Mix powdered paints with dishwashing liquid until they resemble house paint. Line the window sashes with masking tape and spread newspaper under the window area to protect flooring. To erase paint or touch up mistakes just wipe paint away with a dry paper towel.

Home-made coloring books

Go online and download a dozen or so coloring book pages and collate them into a coloring book. Put this aside for rainy days or for long car/train/plane journeys. Little boys love images of motorbikes, cars and trucks while little girls prefer coloring book pictures of fairytales and princesses. At sites like Pokemon Coloring Pages you’ll find many free Pokemon printables

Cinnamon ornaments
3/4-1 cup applesauce
1 (4.12-oz.) bottle of ground cinnamon
Mix the applesauce with cinnamon to create a stiff dough. Roll out to 5mm thickness. Cut with cookie cutter and make hole for ribbon using the end of a drinking straw. Carefully put aside to dry for several days – turning occasionally. This recipe makes 12 sweet smelling ornaments/drawer scenters.

Goop

2 packets of cornflour
2 cups of water
Several drops of food colouring

Place newspaper or plastic sheets on your work surface. Mix all these ingredients in a large bowl. Children love goop’s squeezy and squishy consistency. You can also use coloured or black paper to make goop paintings if you wish. To remove goop from carpets, allow it to dry, then brush vigorously or vacuum. The great thing about goop is that it may be re-used after it has dried out. Crumble it to a powder then restore it to the original consistency by adding water a tablespoonful at a time.

Funny putty
2 tablespoons of white glue
1 tablespoon of liquid starch
Food colouring
Mix glue together with the desired food colour. Pour starch over top. Swish so that all the glue is covered. Let set 5 minutes. Squeeze off extra starch and knead until mixed.

Bubbles
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of glycerine
2 tablespoons of liquid dish soap
Mix water, glycerine and soap. Pour in sugar. Add food colouring if desired.

Papier mâché

1 cup flour
1 cup warm water
1/2 inch strips of newspaper
Balloon/s

In a large bowl, mix flour and water – add more flour is mixture is too sloppy (dripping). Place newspaper strips into the gooey mixture, then smooth onto blown up balloon. Cover balloon completely twice, letting dry in between layers. Do not cover the balloon’s knot. Dry in a warm place for 2-3 days then hold the knot and pop the balloon with a pin. Paint, glitter and decorate the balloon as is or cut in half so you have a bowl/hat shape to embellish.

Modelling/play dough
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
water
food colouring

Mix the ingredients and knead to a dough consistency. To speed up the drying process, place the dough artwork in the oven on a low heat.

Soap crayons

1 3/4 cups of soap flakes

50 drops food colouring
1/4 cup water

Mix water and soap flakes together. Add food colouring and put mixture into an ice cube tray. When hardened, pop the ‘ice cubes’ out. These soap crayons are fun to write with on the tub and tiles when bathing. If grouting stains, spray with a weak solution of bleach.

Sand dye

Fine sand

Water

Food colouring

Paper cups

Plastic spoons

Fill paper cups half full with sand. Next, add water to cups to completely cover sand. Add food colouring until you get the desired colour. Stir with plastic spoon and let set for 15 minutes. Pour off water, spoon sand onto paper towels and spread the sand out to dry. Use sand to make sand – art – pictures (spread glue on paper and sprinkle sand on top) or to fill pretty bottles in layers.

Cornstarch Art/Finger-paint

3 tablespoons of cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

2 drops of dishwashing liquid

1 cup boiling water

Food colouring

Combine cornstarch and cold water – stir until smooth. Add dishwashing liquid. Pour the boiling water into the bowl and stir well until the mixture thickens. Add food colouring and let cool. Use this exactly as you would use store-bought finger paint.

Puffy Paint

Flour

Salt

Water

Tempera paint

Mix equal parts of flour, salt and water in a bowl. Add just a small amount of tempera paint to the mixture and pour into a small plastic squeezy bottle. Repeat this over and over to make as many colours as you wish. Squeeze onto heavy paper or cardboard to make designs. Mixture will harden into puffy shapes.

Colourful Salt

1/2 cup salt

5 to 6 drops of food colouring

Add food colouring to salt. Stir well. Cook this in a microwave oven for 1-2 minutes or spread on waxed paper and let salt air dry. Store in an airtight container and use as you would glitter.

Are you fed up with paying top-dollar for the latest piece of over-hyped plastic? Answer “What can we do now Mum?” by making and creating activities from items you already have around the house or that cost nothing at all.

1. Shops. Save all your empty grocery cartons for a week or so and you’ll soon have a well stocked shop that any aspiring grocer would be proud of. Gluing down the flaps makes cereal boxes, jelly packets etc. look unopened. Clothes, shoes, and even toys can all be used as “stock”. Paper bags and real or play money add to the fun.
2. Paper balls. When the kids keep arguing suggest that they throw something at each other! Paper balls are easily scrunched up from torn out magazine pages to make “ammunition”. When it’s time to tidy up, stand the waste paper basket in the middle of the room and see who can throw the most in. A rolled up magazine makes a good “bat” too.
3. Doctors/Nurses. A roll of white toilet tissue makes this game much more fun as Dads, Grans, teddies or dolls are mummified before your eyes. Plastic medicine spoons and cardboard box hospital beds for toy dolls are extra props that make the game last longer.
4. Tubes. Cardboard tubes from kitchen roll or foil make instant telescopes for sailors or pirates, or tunnels to roll marbles through. Littlle babies love to watch things disappear then reappear out of the bottom. Don’t leave them alone with the cardboard tube though as they will probably suck it.
5. Cardboard boxes must be about the best free toys you can get hold of. Push in the ends of large ones in order to make tunnels and caves to crawl through. Draw on windows and doors with felt tip pens to make a house, add a flag and portholes for a boat or paper plates and a steering wheel for a car.
6. Miniature gardens. The foil trays that (meat and dessert) pies and other prepared foods arrive in make lovely containers for miniature gardens. The children can enjoy hunting around the park or garden for twigs to make trees, moss for a lawn, stones to arrange as a rockery or a waterfall. Keep twigs or stones where you want them with a little blue tack or plasticine. Add toy people or animals and maybe a little water if the container is watertight. This can be a very creative and enjoyable exercise if you have children of very different age groups to entertain. A variation is to use play sand (not builder’s sand – it stains everything yellow) to make a beach scene, maybe adding shells, stones and a blue paper sea.
7. Paper puppets. A picture of anything – a colorful bird, clown’s face, cartoon character, carefully cut out by an adult and stuck to the top of a strip of card about five inches long and one and a half inches wide becomes a very easily made puppet. These give such pleasure and are so easy to make that you will probably end up with dozens of them. Magazine pictures can be stuck on to folded card to make theatre set background and wings.
8. Potato prints. After cutting a potato in half, draw on a simple shape. A triangle, circle or star perhaps. Cut away the rest of the potato, leaving a shape to dip into paint and print on to paper.
9. Skittles. Skittles can be improvised from large plastic cola or lemonade bottles. A little sand or water in the bottom makes them more stable. A good game for learning to count.
10. Dens. Building a den must be one of the most memorable parts of childhood as we all seem to recall the bliss of blankets draped over the airing rack in the garden or over the backs of chairs indoors. Even today’s sophisticated kids seem to find the thought much more exciting than just erecting the shop bought plastic play house. I think the secret is to give structural advice about making the thing stay upright, but let the children do as much as possible themselves. Really large boxes of the type that washing machines and fridges come in can be had for the asking from the big electrical goods retailers and are useful for rooms within dens. Indoors, one of the simplest dens can be made by throwing a large sheet or old tablecloth or duvet over a table. Cushions, torches, biscuits and comics or books will all be needed at the housewarming.
11. String. Children find a million uses for string, from tying up toy “baddies” to making a washing line for doll’s clothes. It can be tied to chair legs to make a jump, dipped into paint and twirled on to paper, plaited, knitted with, made into a parachute or mobile, used as a measuring aid or for learning how to tie shoelaces and bows. It need never linger in the kitchen drawer again.
12. Sewing cards. Stick a picture on to a postcard or draw a simple duck, car or teddy shape. With a sturdy bodkin needle, push holes around the outline of your design approximately one inch apart. Using brightly colored wool in the bodkin or a long bootlace, thread in and out of the holes.
13. Create a personalized coloring book by printing free coloring pictures from the Internet. Little boys love coloring images of trucks and cars as well as those of favorite TV characters such as Bob the Builder or Pikachu. At sites like Pokemon Coloring Pages  you’ll find  Pikachu coloring book pages while at Princess Coloring Pages you can print and color  many printable colouring suitable for little girls.
14. Stilts. You need to do a little drilling for this one. Take two strong tins (coffee or clean paint tins are ideal for this) and drill a hole about one inch from the top on opposite sides of the tin. Insert a length of string and knot securely. Check that the handle is at a comfortable length for the child before knotting the other side. These are always very popular, but never leave young children alone with them especially near stairs or steps.
15. Cafes. Children’s tea sets are the best prop for this game, but a picnic set or microwave cookware is just as good. Giving the waiter/waitress a little notebook and pencil to take orders and making a tall white hat from a cylinder of paper for the chef will add realism. Sit dolls and teddies around as well as willing Aunts and Grannies for extra customers.
16. Playdough. Mix together two cups of flour, one cup of salt, one cup of water, one tablespoon of oil and a few drops of food coloring for an easy to make dough that will keep for about three weeks if you wrap it in polythene and keep it in the fridge. All you have to do is knead the mixture well. Divide the mixture up first if you have more than one color available.
17. Obstacle course. An obstacle course can turn a rainy day into an exciting adventure. Use whatever you happen to have available. A bench to walk the plank, cushion stepping stones across shark infested seas, through a cardboard box tunnel, up a chair mountain or through a duvet cave. The wilder your imagination the more your children will love it.
18. Easy boats. Recycle your empty / discarded margarine cartons. Use them as boats for the bath or paddling pool. These are so easy that even very young children can help to make them. Cut out sail shapes that are triangular from white or colored paper. Make a little hole at the top and bottom of the sail so that you can poke through a straw to create a mast. Let the child fix this to the bottom of a clean margarine tub with a lump of plasticine or perhaps blue tack. They sail extremely well and will even take a couple of toy people on an exciting cruise.
19. Capes. Nurses, kings, queens, Batman, Superman – they all need capes or cloaks. Luckily they are easy to make by attaching ribbon ties to an oblong of fabric in the color of your child’s favorite caped character. Keep an eye on them though as anything tied around the neck could be dangerous.
20. Leaf art. Collect leaves and draw around them. This is fun for young children and an educational tree identification game for older children. Color in the details with crayons or paints. The leaves could then be stuck on to paper collage style or dipped into paint and then pressed firmly on to paper for a lovely leaf print.
21. Make a puzzle. Stick a favorite picture on to card and allow drying with a heavy book on top. Cut into pieces, how many depending on the age of the child, for an almost instant and personal puzzle

Here are a dozen play-time ‘recipes’ to help keep your children entertained on school holidays or during rainy days.  Learn how to make homespun goop, papier mâché, cinnamon ornaments, soap crayons and much more. Pull out this article and stick it to your fridge – it will be one of your best weapons against the ‘boredom’ gremlins!

Washable window paints
A selection of tempera paints (powdered or premixed)
Clear dishwashing liquid
Mix powdered paints with dishwashing liquid until they resemble house paint. Line the window sashes with masking tape and spread newspaper under the window area to protect flooring. To erase paint or touch up mistakes just wipe paint away with a dry paper towel.

Home-made coloring books

Download a dozen or so coloring sheets from the Net and collate them into a coloring book. Put this aside for rainy days or for long car/train/plane journeys. Little girls love to color images from fairy tales and of Princesses while boys prefer images of cars and trucks and of favorite characters such as Pokemon’s Pikachu. At sites like Pokemon Coloring Pages you’ll find  an array of free Pokemon coloring

Cinnamon ornaments
3/4-1 cup applesauce
1 (4.12-oz.) bottle of ground cinnamon
Mix applesauce with cinnamon to form a stiff dough. Roll out to a thickness of 5mm. Cut out a shape with the cookie cutter and make a hole for the ribbon using the end of a drinking straw. Carefully put aside to dry for several days – turning occasionally. This recipe makes 12 sweet smelling ornaments/drawer scenters.

Goop

2 packets of cornflour
2 cups of water
Several drops of food colouring

Place newspaper or plastic sheets on your work surface. Mix the ingredients in a fairly large bowl. Children love goop’s squeezy and squishy consistency. To make different painting with goop – try using black or coloured paper. To remove goop from carpets, allow it to dry, then brush or vacuum. The great thing about goop is that it may be re-used after it has dried out. Crumble it to a powder then restore it to the original consistency by adding water a tablespoonful at a time.

Funny putty
2 tablespoons of white glue
1 tablespoon of liquid starch
Food colouring
Mix glue together with the desired food colour. Pour starch over top. Swish so that all the glue is covered. Let set 5 minutes. Squeeze off the extra starch and knead until mixed.

Bubbles
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of glycerine
2 tablespoons of liquid dish soap
Mix together the glycerine with the soap. Pour in sugar. Add food colouring if desired.

Papier mâché

1 cup flour
1 cup warm water
1/2 inch strips of newspaper
Balloon/s

In a fairly large bowl mix together the flour and water – add more flour is mixture is too sloppy (dripping). Place newspaper strips into mixture, then smooth onto blown up balloon. Cover balloon completely twice, letting dry in between layers. Do not cover the balloon’s knot. Dry in a warm place for 2-3 days then hold the knot and pop the balloon with a pin. Paint, glitter and decorate the balloon as is or cut in half so you have a bowl/hat shape to embellish.

Modelling/play dough
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
water
food colouring

Mix the ingredients and knead to a dough consistency. Place the dough artwork in the oven on a low heat to speed up the drying process.

Soap crayons

1 3/4 cups of soap flakes

50 drops food colouring
1/4 cup water

Mix water and soap flakes together. Add food colouring and put mixture into an ice cube tray. When hardened, pop the ‘ice cubes’ out. These soap crayons are fun to write with on the tub and tiles when bathing. If grouting stains, spray with a weak solution of bleach.

Sand dye

Fine sand

Water

Food colouring

Paper cups

Plastic spoons

Fill paper cups half full with sand. Next, add water to cups to completely cover sand. Add food colouring to get the desired colour. Stir thoroughly with a plastic spoon and let set for 15 minutes. Pour off water, spoon sand onto paper towels and spread the sand out to dry. Use sand to make pictures (spread glue on paper and sprinkle sand on top) or to fill pretty bottles in layers.

Cornstarch Art/Finger-paint

3 tablespoons of cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

2 drops of dishwashing liquid

1 cup boiling water

Food colouring

Combine cornstarch and cold water – stir until smooth. Add dishwashing liquid. Pour boiling water into the bowl – then stir until the mixture thickens. Add food colouring and then set aside to let it cool. Use as you would finger paint.

Puffy Paint

Flour

Salt

Water

Tempera paint

Mix equal parts of flour, salt and water in a bowl. Add a small amount of tempera paint to the mixture and pour into a small plastic squeezy bottle. Repeat the procedure making as many colours as you wish. Squeeze onto heavy paper or cardboard to make designs. This mixture will harden into puffy shapes.

Colourful Salt

1/2 cup salt

5 to 6 drops of food colouring

Add food colouring to salt. Stir well. Cook this in a microwave oven for 1-2 minutes or spread on waxed paper and let salt air dry. Store in an airtight container and use whenever you please, just as you would glitter.

The benefits of arts and crafts such as drawing and coloring for kids are frequently argued by child development experts, educators and parents alike… especially so for the real impact they have on child development. However, it is difficult to argue with the top three reasons why we should all encourage the children in our care to take part in arts and crafts.

Creativity – Ask anyone what the first personality characteristic arts and crafts develop in a young child and most will answer ‘creativity’. And they are correct. Everyone has natural talents and skills and it is possible to improve and boost them… even if you only have a little natural talent. Creativity enables your child to try out and benefit from new
ideas, options and alternatives in a future career. Kids learn to do things in new and alternate ways and literally profit from thinking “out of the box”.

Perseverance – Perseverance is perhaps the single most important quality for any successful individual – be they a a business person, sportsman or other professional.In fact, most well-known accomplishments in life have been attributed to perseverance alone. Arts and crafts improve everyone’s level of perseverance. For instance, children learn to keep trying until they complete the task, be it a sculpture or a coloring in sheet. If something goes wrong… they are encouraged to perservere by trying different ways and means and the outcome is a wonderful piece of art that they have created.

Concentration – Akin to having perseverance, developing concentration is another quality well-worth having as an individual. Drawing, coloring, sculpting, painting and even doodling will definitely teach your child to focus on one specific task at hand… ignoring other distractions. In short they overall concentration will definitely improve.

Even from a young age children can draw and color – so give them blank pieces of paper or coloring in sheets so that they can scribble away to their hearts content whilst also improving their fine motor skills.

For example little girls enjoy coloring images of princesses and fairies and at sites like Fairy Coloring Pages you’ll find the best coloring pictures of fairies

Little boys on the other hand tend to prefer images of cars, trucks and machinery – however, favorite characters such as those from Disney movies are also hits with little boys.

Give your child many opportunities to experience being creative, concentrating and perservering through the fun medium of arts and crafts. Provide them with materials and resources and the occasional canvas so that they can be creative and feel pride in what they create.

Encourage creativity in your children by providing them with the time, resurces and the space for making art. Try to set aside interruption-free time for drawing, in a mess-proof zone – so that their creativity can run wild. Make sure you cover all surfaces so that any splashes of paint or scribbles of crayon are ‘caught’ – because  nothing squishes creativity more so than a parent saying “Don’t make a mess” every 2 minutes.

Choose the right drawing materials too as this is very  important. Many craft materials can be improvised, but when drawing tools and paper are required, opt for a small selection of good quality age-appropriate products, rather than loads of inferior products. Always ensure that you check safety information and follow instructions. Young children should always be surpervised during ‘art time’ because many necessary materials – such as crayons – pose a choking hazard.

Surroundings: As with writing or working at a computer, good posture and a comfortable position are important for drawing. With young children, a child-size table and chair is actually preferable to an easel. If the chair is a little high, provide a phone book for a footrest. A coffee table and an inexpensive plastic chair work well. A small kitchen storage trolley is ideal for containing supplies, or if space does not permit, a portable tackle box is a good option too. Messy toddlers may need a drop-cloth and supervision to avoid ink-stained walls, as even ‘washable’ pens often don’t deliver on that promise!

Art Materials: Avoid cheap markers, too-hard pencils and thin paints – these types of materials are discouraging to the child and therefore  a waste of money. Provide many sheets of blank paper to inspire their crativity and occasionally invest in a large canvas so that your child can paint something ‘grand’ and chances are you’ll want to hang it on your wall!Also provide coloring books or coloring pages – of which you’ll find plenty online. Granted – coloring pages are not so great for creativity, however they do provide children with the chance to practice their fine motor skills and sometimes it’s very relaxing and just what they need to simply color in without the ‘pressure’ of thinking about WHAT to draw. 

Little boys typically enjoy coloring pictures of cars and trucks while little girls usually enjoy coloring images of fairies and princesses  - at sites like Princess Coloring Pages  you’ll find the best printable colouring pages

When it comes to drawing and coloring, at each age/stage of your child’s life provide….

Toddlers

• Child-safe markers and wipe-off boards
• Chalk boards and safe chalk
• Plain paper and coloring pages

Juniors

• Sketchbook
• Student colored pencils
• Washable Markers
• Oil pastels
• Plain paper and coloring pages

Middle School

• Sketchbook  or scrapbook
• Graphite Pencils
• Watercolor sketch paper
• Watercolor pencils
• Marker pens, marker paper
• Plain paper and coloring pages

High School

• Sketchbook  or scrapbook
• Quality drawing papers and boards
• Graphite Pencils
• Artists’ quality colored pencils
• Illustration markers, marker paper
• Pastel paper and hard pastels if liked
• Plain paper and canvases to work on

All ages

• Safe sharpeners, erasers, dusters, stencils and rulers
• A  folder for storing large pieces
• Storage boxes for smaller pieces
• Consider photographing or scanning pieces for a permanent record.

Here are a dozen play-time ‘recipes’ to help keep your children entertained this summer.  Learn how to make homespun goop, papier mâché, cinnamon ornaments, soap crayons and much more. Pull out this article and stick it to your fridge – it will be one of your best weapons against the ‘boredom’ gremlins!

Washable window paints
A selection of tempera paints (powdered or premixed)
Clear dishwashing liquid
Mix powdered paints with dishwashing liquid until they resemble house paint. Line the window sashes with masking tape and spread newspaper under the window area to protect flooring. To erase paint or touch up mistakes just wipe paint away with a dry paper towel.

Home-made coloring books

Go online and download a dozen or so coloring book pages and collate them into a coloring book. Put this aside for rainy days or for long car/train/plane journeys. Little boys love images of motorbikes, cars and trucks while little girls prefer coloring book pictures of fairytales and princesses. At sites like Princess Coloring Pages you’ll find many free princess coloring

Cinnamon ornaments
3/4-1 cup applesauce
1 (4.12-oz.) bottle of ground cinnamon
Mix applesauce with cinnamon to form a stiff dough. Roll out to 5mm thickness. Cut out a shape with the cookie cutter and make a hole for the ribbon using the end of a drinking straw. Carefully put aside to dry for several days – turning occasionally. This recipe makes 12 sweet smelling ornaments/drawer scenters.

Goop

2 packets of cornflour
2 cups of water
Several drops of food colouring

Place newspaper or plastic sheets on your work surface. Mix the ingredients in a fairly large bowl. Children love goop’s squishy consistency. You can also use coloured or black paper to make goop paintings if you wish. To remove goop from carpets, allow it to dry, then brush vigorously or vacuum. The great thing about goop is that it may be re-used after it has dried out. Crumble it to a powder then restore it to the original consistency by adding water a tablespoonful at a time.

Funny putty
2 tablespoons of white glue
1 tablespoon of liquid starch
Food colouring
Mix glue and desired food colour. Pour starch over top. Swish so that all the glue is covered. Let set 5 minutes. Squeeze off extra starch and knead until mixed.

Bubbles
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of glycerine
2 tablespoons of liquid dish soap
Mix water, glycerine and soap. Pour in sugar. Add food colouring if desired.

Papier mâché

1 cup flour
1 cup warm water
1/2 inch strips of newspaper
Balloon/s

In a large bowl, mix flour and water – add more flour is mixture is too sloppy (dripping). Place newspaper strips into mixture, then smooth onto blown up balloon. Cover the balloon completely twice, letting it dry in between layers. Do not cover the balloon’s knot. Dry in a warm place for 2-3 days then hold the knot and pop the balloon with a pin. Paint, glitter and decorate the balloon as is or cut in half so you have a bowl/hat shape to embellish.

Modelling/play dough
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
water
food colouring

Mix the ingredients and knead to a dough consistency. To speed up the drying process, place the dough artwork in the oven on a low heat.

Soap crayons

1 3/4 cups of soap flakes

50 drops food colouring
1/4 cup water

Mix water and soap flakes together. Add food colouring and put mixture into an ice cube tray. When hardened, pop the ‘ice cubes’ out. These soap crayons are fun to write with on the tub and tiles during bath time. If grouting stains, spray with a weak solution of bleach.

Sand dye

Fine sand

Water

Food colouring

Paper cups

Plastic spoons

Fill paper cups half full with sand. Next, add water to cups to completely cover sand. Add food colouring until you get the desired colour. Stir with plastic spoon and let set for 15 minutes. Pour off water, spoon sand onto paper towels and spread the sand out to dry. Use sand to make sand – art – pictures (spread glue on paper and sprinkle sand on top) or to fill pretty bottles in layers.

Cornstarch Art/Finger-paint

3 tablespoons of cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

2 drops of dishwashing liquid

1 cup boiling water

Food colouring

Combine cornstarch and cold water – stir until smooth. Add dishwashing liquid. Pour boiling water into the bowl and stir until the mixture thickens. Add food colouring and let cool. Use this exactly as you would use store-bought finger paint.

Puffy Paint

Flour

Salt

Water

Tempera paint

Mix equal parts of flour, salt and water in a bowl. Add a small amount of tempera paint to the mixture and pour into a small plastic squeezy bottle. Repeat this over and over to make as many colours as you wish. Squeeze onto heavy paper or cardboard to make designs. Mixture will harden into puffy shapes.

Colourful Salt

1/2 cup salt

5 to 6 drops of food colouring

Add food colouring to salt. Stir well. Cook in microwave for 1-2 minutes or spread on waxed paper and let salt air dry. Store in an airtight container and use as you would glitter.

Fed up with forking out for the latest piece of over-hyped plastic? Answer “What can we do now Mum?” by making and creating activities from items you already have around the house or that cost nothing at all.

1.    Shops. Save all your empty grocery cartons for a week or so and you’ll soon have a shop any aspiring grocer would be proud of. Glue down the flaps to makes cereal boxes, jelly packets etc. look unopened. Clothes, shoes, and toys can all be used as “stock”. Paper bags and real or play money add to the fun.

2.    Paper balls. When the kids keep arguing suggest that they throw something at each other! Paper balls are great ‘ammunition’ – and easily scrunched up from torn out magazine pages. When it’s time to tidy up the mess, place the waste paper basket in the middle of the room and see who can throw the most in. A rolled up magazine makes a good “bat” too.

3.    Doctors/Nurses. A roll of white toilet tissue makes this game much more fun as Dads, Grans, teddies or dolls are mummified before your eyes. Plastic medicine spoons and cardboard box hospital beds for toys are extra props that make the game last longer.

4.    Tubes. Cardboard tubes from kitchen roll or foil make instant telescopes for sailors or pirates, or tunnels to roll marbles through. Babies love to watch things disappear then reappear out of the bottom. Don’t leave them alone with the cardboard tube though as they will probably suck it.

5.    Cardboard boxes must be about the best free toys you can get hold of. Push in the ends of large ones to make tunnels and caves to crawl through. Draw on windows and doors with felt tip pens to make a house, add a flag and portholes for a boat or paper plates and a steering wheel for a car.

6.   Make a coloring book for your child by printing free coloring pictures from the Internet. Little boys love coloring pictures of cars and trucks as well as those of favorite characters such as Bob the Builder or Pikachu. At sites like Pokemon Coloring Pages  you’ll find  Pokemon coloring book  while at Princess Coloring Pages you can print and color  many princess coloring pages suitable for little girls.

7.    Miniature gardens. The foil trays that pies and prepared foods arrive in make lovely containers for miniature gardens. Children can enjoy hunting around the park or garden for twigs to make trees, moss for a lawn, stones to arrange as a rockery or a waterfall. Keep twigs or stones where you want them with a little blue tack or plasticine. Add toy people or animals and maybe a little water if the container is watertight. This can be a very creative and enjoyable exercise if you have children of very different age groups to entertain. A variation is to use play sand (not builder’s sand – it stains everything yellow) to make a beach scene, maybe adding shells, stones and a blue paper sea.

8.    Paper puppets. A picture of anything – colorful bird, clown’s face, animal or cartoon character, carefully cut out by an adult and stuck to the top of a strip of card about five inches long and one and a half inches wide becomes a very easily made puppet. These give such pleasure and are so easy to make that you will probably end up with dozens of them. Magazine pictures can be stuck on to folded card to make theatre set background and wings.

9.    Potato prints. After cutting a potato in half, draw on a simple shape. A triangle, circle or star perhaps. Cut away the rest of the potato, leaving a shape to dip into paint and print on to paper.

10.    Skittles. Skittles can be improvised from large plastic cola or lemonade bottles. A little sand or water in the bottom makes them more stable. A good game for learning to count.

Bouns idea : Dens. Building a den must be one of the most memorable parts of childhood as we all seem to recall the bliss of blankets draped over the airing rack in the garden or over the backs of chairs indoors. Even today’s sophisticated kids seem to find the thought much more exciting than just erecting the shop bought plastic play house. I think the secret is to give structural / engineering advice about making the thing stay upright, but let the children do as much as possible themselves. Really large boxes of the type that washing machines and fridges come in can be had for the asking from the big electrical goods retailers and are useful for rooms within dens. Indoors, one of the simplest dens can be made by throwing a large sheet or duvet over a table. Cushions, torches, biscuits and comics or books will all be needed at the housewarming.