I didn't want to go out and buy a whole lot of stuff for Easter themed crafts. In particular, as we weren't doing anything like having an Easter bonnet parade (my son did that at school) I didn't want to have to buy a hat that he's never going to wear. Instead, I had some paper bags, and plates, to use as the base, and I bought some little chicks and Easter themed confetti (£1 each at the 99p store) and we used items that we had already in the craft cupboard at home.
I'm just not great at messy play. I love the idea of it, but seriously, if I could, I would convert the garden shed into a messy play room so that I can just shut the door behind us till next time. If I ever get over that, I think we'll try these. Or maybe in the summer, when we can sit out on the grass and have minimal mess. And a hose down afterwards.
These painted marshmallows do look like fun though. A great alternative to an afternoon of building with Lego!
There’s 20% off the Make a Crystalite Trinket Box set at Amazon, and it has free delivery too. It’s part of the same brand as the Make A Fairy Plate set that Sarah told you about earlier today.
I think this would make a lovely small gift or stocking filler for someone who likes to keep her (or his) hands active and creativity going, and at under a fiver, it certainly won’t break the bank.
All you have to do is apply glue and sprinkle the crystallite beads to create your own special trinket box. The set comes complete with everything you need too, so no rushing out on Christmas day (or any other day, if you’re just looking for a holiday activity!) trying to find glue.
They recommend this for girls aged five and over and I can see it being a lovely crafty activity.
I was looking for an alternative way to decorate eggs for Easter with my son. Not having done it before I was frankly a bit unsure about doing the whole egg blowing thing.
Then I came across this idea on the internet for doing it with crayons, using the heat from the boiled egg to melt the crayon. Genius. Would it work with a six year old, or would it be a disaster? The only way to find out was to try it.
For a wider variety of ways to decorate eggs for Easter, check out Tamsin Oxford's feature tomorrow at 1pm.
To do this project you will need:
If you haven't got an egg carton you can use to put the hot egg in while you're working, then I've been told a bottle top (like you kind you get off a 2litre bottle of fizzy pop) will do the job.
Being a cautious person and not wanting to waste eggs unnecessarily, I only boiled two eggs to start with. This was a bit of a mistake actually, as I probably left them in too long and just before I took them out of the pan, one of the eggs cracked. This meant we only had one egg to work on.
Which my son jealously guarded. Mummy was not allowed to touch HIS egg. So I only got to live this one vicariously.
The tongs are very necessary to get the egg out of the pan, and to move it around while you are working. The boiled egg stays extremely hot for quite a while. This impressed my son a great deal, who thought it was really cool to be working with a scorching hot egg (he only touched it once!).
That it could burn gave the project a frission of danger that ordinary egg decorating wouldn't have. And that made it really 'cool', apparently.
Then all you have to do is press down on the eggshell with the crayon and it will melt directly onto the egg. You can build up quite a few layers of colour in this way too, and allow it to run down from the top to create a 'dripping' effect.
My son chose to decorate his with octopus and jellyfish rather than flowers, although the end result looks pretty much the same to me. But sssh, don't tell him!
He happily worked on his egg while I did the dishes. All I had to do was turn the egg now and again, so he could get to another clear patch.
I used some old eggs for this, that were a bit past their use by date although they hadn't gone off. And they were from Iceland so in the clear plastic carton. This is something I have to stress I normally try to avoid, as I don't like adding to the plastic waste there already is.
But in this case I think it worked well as I was able to cut out the little egg holder bit and use it as a stand for the egg.
Alternatively, if I'd used a cardboard carton, I probably would have painted it to use as a holder.
One other thing that impressed me using this method is that the colours stay quite strong. Also the texture of the crayon is quite nice.
Early Learning Centre has a pretty fab selection of Easter Craft items to keep your little ones entertained this Easter.
While everything in the ELC Easter crafts range is listed as being suitable for an age range from 3 years old, I'm pretty sure that with supervision even younger children might enjoy some of these fabulously fun projects.
Of course, you're still going to need to have the time and patience to sit down and do the crafts, especially with younger children, but I do love having goodies on hand to keep them entertained without me having to wreck my brain trying to come up with ideas. For £14, you could actually have a project on hand twice a day for all of the Easter weekend! Especially useful if, heaven forbid, we end up with a rainy weekend.
Kits available are:
Delivery from ELC is pretty pricey at £4.50, but you can order it for in store pick up which is free.
Thanks to hillsbills at HUKD
TK Maxx have a bunch of great crafty toys on offer, and I particularly like this Box of Projects for just £5, or half price.
If the thought of half term is about enough to send you running for the hills, TK Maxx might have some help for you in the form of their Box of Projects – a box filled to the brim with 30 things to do! That's just under .17p per project. Doesn't really get cheaper than that!
The box comes with:
Postage is a little pricey at £3.99, but it still brings your total to under £9. If you order before 2pm today, it'll be in your hands by Wednesday, after 2pm you should still have it in time for the long weekend. Alternatively have a look for it in store, and try not to get too distracted by all the other fab things on offer!
Oh, this brings back memories. Other 70's kids might remember the craze for 
making friendship bracelets - and now you can pass the retro love onto the next generation with this fab kit for making friendship bracelets, reduced from £7.99 to £4.99 at Play.com now.
Included in the kit is everything you need for hours of friendship bracelet fun, plus a funky tin to keep your creative bits and pieces in one safe place.
There doesn't seem to be an age guide for this item but I must have been about 11 years old when I got obsessed with making friendship bracelets. The thing I love about this set is that it looks as though it comes with safety pins too - when I was a kid the cool thing to do was pin your work-in-progress to your jeans around about your knee so that the whole thing was secure while you worked away at it, so it's a cute touch that they've got the safety pins included for that purpose.
I think this would make a sweet gift for a little girl with a love of crafting, or if you remember making friendship bracelets when you were a kid as fondly as I do, why not indulge in a little you-time with a retro twist? I am tempted to click on 'buy' as I type this...
I've just had an email from the Early Learning Centre full of toy ideas to help pass these dark Winter days, and this paint-your-own card house looks like brilliant fun.
At £30 it isn't a cheap purchase but considering you get the house, 8 sheets of coloured stickers, 22 sheets of coloured paper and 5 felt tip pens along with an instruction sheet, 
I reckon it probably works out at fairly good value.
After all, not only do you get the fun of decorating the house together, which should easily take up a rainy afternoon, but it should provide hours of fun afterwards, too.
At 109cm tall, the house is easy to assemble and made from from forest friendly card.
If only all house purchases were so easy, eh?
Recent Comments