Homemade Fun

This Christmas the girls (Star especially) have been into making gifts for others.  Star has gotten into sewing and is enjoying it and Sky has even been doing a little bit.  We have the book Homemade Fun by Rae Grant and the girls have been getting ideas from there.  It has a good section on hand sewing.  (We have her other books Cooking Fun and Crafting Fun too and you can find many of her projects from here books at her website here.)   We really enjoy her books.  One thing though is they have no pictures of completed projects.  This can be a good thing in that you are not comparing your craft to the picture perfect one in the book.  However, when we first got these books Sky was not into them as she couldn't read much and without pictures she couldn't pick out what she liked.  Star has always really liked them and I really like the vintage graphics in the books.  So I would recommend these books for ages 7- 12 or so.

Sky made this purse for her cousin.  She came up with idea, did all the stitching herself, and made a crocheted chain for the handle.

Star made this stuffed bunny for LK.  She started this project when I wasn't even home.  She traced the pattern onto the fabric and cut it out all by herself.  Then I looked on YouTube to find a video on how to do a blanket stitch and she took it from there.

Now I realize that these are not works of art but they turned out pretty good for the girls having done most of the work themselves.  In the past they would have wanted to make these things but I would have ended up doing all the work.  This way they got to feel the joy of making something themselves and learned some handy skills along the way.  If you notice both projects involved sewing on a button and that is a something everyone should know how to do.  You never know when you will lose a button.

One other thing that Star made was this "I Spy Jar" for another of her cousins.  It is simply a jar filled with rice and small "treasures" that you have to find in the rice by moving or shaking the jar.  She just went on hunt for small items around the house put them in a jar and filled it almost to the top with rice (you want to leave some room so the rice can move around).  You can find more pictures and instructions here. 

So those are a few things that the girls have been working on this December.  It has been a joy to watch them create things to give to others.

Homemade Toys

When it comes to young kids homemade toys are often just as good or better than store bought and they are much more frugal.  We all know that at a child's first Birthday or Christmas they seem to enjoy the paper and box that the toy came in more than the actual toy itself.  Below are two things I made for LK.  The smaller bottle is a shaker made from an old plastic spice container.  I filled it with some beans and lentils from my kitchen and taped the lid closed.  Simple and easy.  Of all the rattles and shakers we have this one is his favorite.  He can see the things inside and he enjoys shaking it around. 

The coke bottle I filled half full with water and put a couple drops of blue food colouring in it.  Then I put about 1/3 cup of oil in.  This one even the girls enjoy playing with as they shake it around and then watch the oil and water separate.  It has spawned some science discussion as they ask why the oil and water do not mix.  (Although the answer is beyond even me, it has something to do with water being charged positively on the oxygen end, and negatively on the hydrogen end. Oil does not have a charge (it's neutral), so the oil does not mix with the water.)

So there you go.  Some simple homemade toys that cost pennies to make.

Celebrating Birthdays With Paper Hats

First of all Happy Labour Day to everyone.  A long weekend is always reason to celebrate.  But we had extra reason as today was my brother's birthday.  We don't usually have large parties or anything for birthdays but usually celebrate with a family dinner and birthday cake.  My girls wanted to make the celebration a little extra special though so we decided to make some party hats out of newspaper.  This is very simple to do (you can find some instructions here) and the girls had fun decorating them and then making my brother wear the special one they made for him.

Here is a picture of the birthday boy.

The girls with their hats beside the pink (yes they love pink) cake they made him.

(Oh in case your confused, no he is not 30 but we reuse candles around here.  I'm sure he would like to think he is still only 30.)

Of course the little guy had to have a hat too.

It was a an easy, cheap, and fun way to add to our simple birthday celebrations. The girls could make these on their own and it was an activity that kept them occupied for at least a little while. 

Summer Fun: Blowing Bubbles

Blowing bubbles is a fun summer pastime.  It is inexpensive, (you can find many bubble recipes online like this one), kids love it, and it can be very relaxing.  So go blow some bubbles today!

Teachers Gift: Pressed Flower Bookmark

Today we worked on making some gifts for the girls teacher.  Over the weekend we picked some flowers and greenery, put it between sheets of newspaper and pressed it in the phone book.  Today we got them out and they looked like this:

We used some card stock to make bookmarks and the girls wrote messages to their teachers on the back.  On the front they glued some of the flowers and leaves.

I put clear packing tape over the bookmarks to protect them.  We punched a hole in the bookmark and used some yarn and beads to make a dangle. And there you go beautiful bookmarks for the kids teachers.

Homemade Toys: Sock Ball

Do you have lot's of unmatched and lonely socks lying around your house.  Make up a quick and easy sock ball for the kiddo's to play with.  Take one sock that is in fairly good condition and stuff it with some other socks (or any other stuffing material you may have) until you have a nice round shape.  Tie a knot in the sock and voila a sock ball.  You can cut the excess material off or just leave it on as I did (it is fun to try and catch it by the tail).  I made this for son to bat around on the floor and when the girls came home from school we had an impromtu game of catch.  It is really soft so it can't do much damage in the house. 

What do you do with your unmatched socks?

Homemade Toys: Playmat

So many baby toys are used for such a short time that I wonder if it is worthwhile to purchase them.  I do believe that by playing with and looking at toys babies are learning alot.  I was really tempted to buy my son a playmat with some toys that dangle, but these things aren't cheap and only really get used for a few months.   Instead I decided to see what I could rig up at home.  My son spents most of his time (when we aren't holding him) lying on the floor on a blanket.  I tied some toys (a rattle that he was given, a spool, and a lid covered with tinfoil) from an old TV tray and let them dangle for him to watch and bat at.  He loves it and it cost nothing to make. 

When making homemade toys please keep safety first.  He uses this only under supervision and it will be taken apart when he is old enough to grab and pull the toys.

Another thing that he enjoys is having a board book propped open on the floor for him to look at.  We can change the picture frequently so that he doesn't get bored and now he is starting to enjoy reaching out and knocking it over.  It is never too early to introduce them to books.

It is fun and frugal to be creative and use what you have in different ways.