Play School Props

The sun shines bright as the quasi tropical birds whistle an eerie tune (aka Kill Bill). The flying machine farts, grunts and whoops as the occupants on board sip milkshakes. After a soft as a pillow landing, they disembark only to re-board the ever bumpy Ninky Nonk (genius idea on a tummy full of liquid ice cream).

Yes. Welcome to the world of kids TV, where colour and content shall never meet. Fortunately, this mind numbing stimulation is peppered with something for us bleary, weary parents too: Shaun the Sheep, Small Potatoes and a big shout out to the Queen of dry humour… Nanny plum.

These shows come and go. Few seem to have the staying power of Play School, which has been around since my mum had pimples. Jay and Justine sing pitch perfect incy wincy with spider in hand, fashioned from bottle tops, foam, pipe cleaners, sticky tape and wool. It’s terrific, and looks pretty do-able if you’re crafty inclined.

DIY FOAM BALL & PIPE CLEANERS SPIDER

 

Make your own play props…  http://www.abc.net.au/abcforkids/sites/playschool/makeanddo/craft/

Schrödinger’s cat

Curiosity killed the cat… some of the time.

Back in 1935, there was a widely accepted theory amongst physicists when it came to teeny, tiny things not visible to the eye. They agreed that since you can’t see them, it’s possible they could be in state x or state y, so let’s say they’re both, in two states at the one time (the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum mechanics).

An Austrian physicist called Erwin Schrodinger thought this to be reductio ad absurdum (absolutely whack). He put the theory to life size terms to illustrate his point, this became known as Schrodinger’s cat. The thought experiment goes; What happens when you put a cat in a box with a vial of poison and a trigger. How does kitty fare?

According to the accepted thought at the time, since you can’t see the cat, either possibility is valid, cat is both dead AND alive. When you open the lid reality collapses to one possibility or the other. Until that moment, it’s undead kitty.

This led to all sorts of other theories about parallel possible realities… but that’s another story altogether!

DIY UNDEAD CATS

Zombie Cat Straw Toppers

For more of my Halloween crafts –

https://speckledsydney.wordpress.com/category/halloween/

Wizard of Oz

Dorothy looked, and gave a little cry of fright. There, indeed, just under the corner of the great beam the house rested on, two feet were sticking out, shod in silver shoes with pointed toes.

DIY PAPER WITCH SHOES

“There’s no place like home,” Dorothy chanted, willing her return back to her Kansas prairie. Munchkins, winged monkeys and an emerald city weren’t lure enough!

For more of my Halloween crafts –

https://speckledsydney.wordpress.com/category/halloween/

Illustrations by Sara Ogilvie

Witches shoes template here: http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/10/28/paper-witch-shoes/

How to Decorate Tea Cups using Porcelaine Markers

How to Decorate Tea Cups using Porcelaine Markers

Fishy Teacups

Cups & Saucers with Porcelaine markers

Once markers are dry, bake in oven for 30mins at 150degrees. Daughter has plans to fill these with blue jelly!

Sticker Mandala

How to get the kids to sleep?

Back in the day when Jack the ripper was a household name, it was a spoon full of whisky in the bottle. Fast forward to now and there’s ‘controlled crying’ where baby cries whilst parent doses up on the whisky!

Another approach is to read the kids to sleep. An honest look at the frustration of this from one adult to another…

And then there’s the Mandala.

Made by monks as a tool for guiding individuals along the path to enlightenment. These are lofty ambitions for a mama who just wants bub to sleep! nonetheless surely that kaleidoscope of radial balance will work it’s trance like magic and induce baby into an hour long nap.

DIY STICKER MANDALA

The finished product

Put up in place and wait for desired effect!

 

 

Lisa Larson Flygplan

Amongst Sweden’s better known exports are Abba, Volvo and Ikea… and then there’s Lisa Larson, a ceramicist and designer.

Some of her better known mid-century sculptures include Small Zoo (1955), ABC-girls (1958), Africa (1964) and Children of the World (1974–75). We based this craft activity on Flygplan (Airplane) from the 70s.

DIY Flygplan with cardboard & watercolours

Pom Poms & Strawberries

Finger pom-poms

Wax candle on Strawberries

Watercolour strawberries…

Pom-pom and strawberry garland

on the knocker…

 

Kangaroo Carousel

Adventure is not outside man; it is within.

Well put George Elliot! Clearly you’ve not experienced the ‘adventure’ of life indoors with two kids… during school holidays! Yessir, that’s 14 consecutive days of non stop “mama I’m bored.” And so one must take the adventure outside. We went bush…

we went beach…

Now back home and daughter is still yabbering on about kangaroos and carousels, so we merged the two for this craft activity…

KANGAROO CAROUSEL

Kids colour in kangaroos whilst unicorn waits patiently

Cardboard carousel top

Pipe cleaners passed through straws

 Kangaroo Carousel!

Raining Cats and Dogs

Back in the day when ‘forsooth’ and ‘uncouth’ were in common use, cats and dogs sought warmth and shelter in the thatched roofs of village folk. When the heavens opened, the downpour would flush out the four legged from their comfy hidey holes, and thus was borne the saying ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’. This is one of the many theories of the origins of this phrase.

It’s raining cats & dogs in water colour pencils

Printable

 

DIY Photo Transfer

The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return. Nat King Cole crooned this pearl of wisdom back in 1948 and it still rings true. For those of us who have the daily joy of parenting, there are moments where you don’t feel the love in return…

My crime…turn off Frozen and get ready for bed NOW! This lovely piece is blu tac’d to daughters bedroom door. Time to go tantrum art!

DIY PHOTO TRANSFER

Pick a photo of your beloved. Photocopy and enlarge in B & W.

Lightly tape your photocopy (picture facing down) onto your canvas board. Wear disposable gloves and head outdoors. Dip your blender pen into turps and rub pen tip in small wax on, wax off circles on the back of the paper on the parts where you’d like the image to transfer. It starts to look translucent. 

The image transferred over a little faint. Xylene makes for a stronger image transfer, but is a more hazardous solvent to work with. Citra-Sol is apparently a safer alternative.

Colour in with oil pastels then thin out with mineral turps for a watercolour effect. You could use linseed oil instead if you desire a less flammable work of art (or work with oil/ acrylic paints.)

Felt for letters…

Blu tac to door and feel the love!