Category Archives: 3 – 6 years

Zoe’s Pipe Cleaner and Pom Pom Craft

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What do you do when no one wants to do the craft things you think they would like to do?

Get the experts in to help.

So of course I turned to Zoe.

And this is the tray of fun she put together:

Zoe's craft fun at Mudpies and Sunshine

Zoe didn’t have a specific idea in mind for her craft. She just knew what materials she felt like creating with. Pipe cleaner fun with Mudpies and SunshineAnd here are the results… Look what I made with Mudpies and SunshineI know the craft object is a little blurry but I included this photo because of the look of pure enjoyment in Zoe’s eyes.

Here are some clearer photos of what Miss Zoe created… Pipe cleaner creations with Mudpies and Sunshine

The shiny green pom pom creature on the left is a fish; the one with the orange pipe cleaner is a letter holder; the large one on the right is a nose phone and the small one Zoe is holding is a baby called “The Tot“.  Yes I know what you’re thinking and you are right. There is no way I could have ever prepared a craft for Zoe that would turn out this varied. Or maybe you weren’t, maybe you were thinking “Thank God she told me what they were ‘cos I never would have worked that out in a million years”.
Pipe cleaner and pom pom creations with Mudpies and SunshineAnyone else a little wistful for their childhood imagination?

Hmm, me too :)

So, what’s up next? Well Mother’s Day is looming here in Australia so I will be featuring some crafts and cards for Mums over the next two weeks. Us Mums love kid-made craft and I am no exception. We also do crafts for the girl’s grandmothers so they will just have to refrain from opening my Mother’s Day posts. I’d hate to spoil the surprise!

Thanks for dropping by!

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Outdoor Balancing Course

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Doesn’t this look like fun? Scrap yard obstacle course with Mudpies and Sunshine

Mr Sunshine is building a chook house with unwanted wood from local building sites – meaning totally free :) The wood he had gathered was piled high under our patio until Zoe decided to drag some if it out onto the lawn and make her own obstacle course. Scrap yard obstacle course with Mudpies and Sunshine - best in pjs

The girls have brainstormed lots of different games and created rules like you wouldn’t believe. Lots of negotiation…and then lots of fun. Their favourite way to play is to create a complete loop and set a target number of laps to complete…whilst setting a maximum number of times you can fall off/touch the ground before you have start all over again.  Once they were out there in complete darkness until bedtime completing a gazillion laps for just one game. Serious balancing with Mudpies and Sunshine

Zoe is a big fan of “free-range” play on the obstacle course.  Scrap yard obstacle course with Mudpies and Sunshine -walk the plankAnd yes, they are in their pajamas! Outside first thing in the morning for some balancing course ACTION… Scrap yard obstacle course with Mudpies and Sunshine - arms helping balance

Zoe just loved being able to design her own course (which she did on another day – see…different pajamas!). Competence competence competence – something that girls (and boys) thrive on when they get the chance to feel it.Organising the course with Mudpies and Sunshine

 

Won’t it be sad when Mr Sunshine finishes the chook house and the balancing fun is gone? We may have to head out to the building sites again and see what we will find (in our pajamas).

Thanks for dropping by!

Easter Bouquet

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Easter Egg Bouquet with Mudpies and SunshineI purchased some foam eggs and knew the girls would appreciate a laid back craft session in the lead up to Easter. This was essentially a free range collage session. The girls chose wool, confetti and fabric scraps as their decorating materials. Craft glue, glue stick glue and glue dots were the necessary tools.

Both girls started wrapping wool around an egg each whilst concentrating very hard. Wool just wants to slip right off the eggs so the wool had to be tied tight. We also used glue dots for the wool attached to the extremities of the egg.

Collage Easter Egg Craft with Mudpies and Sunshine - using wool

Decorating foam eggs with Mudpies and Sunshine

They were very happy, busy with their glue and their materials.

Fabric scraps with Mudpies and SunshineDecorating foam easter eggs with Mudpies and Sunshine

Collage Easter Egg Craft with Mudpies and Sunshine 031

With the confetti, Zoe just rubbed the glue stick all over the egg and rolled it in the confetti. Such a sticky and satisfying result!

Sticky Glue Fingers with Mudpies and Sunshine

Collage Confetti Easter Egg Craft with Mudpies and Sunshine

The eggs were appropriately placed in egg cups while the glue dried… Collage Eggs drying in egg cups with Mudpies and Sunshine

Then with a satisfying sharp prod with some bamboo skewers and a container or vase, you can instantly create a pretty Easter Bouquet.

Easter Egg Bouquet with Mudpies and Sunshine - the finished prodectHave fun!

Thanks for dropping by :)

Easter Bunny Card with Cardboard Tubes

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Easter Bunny Card with Mudpies and Sunshine

We wanted to create some Easter cards for family using only cardboard tubes. Easter eggs seemed like a good idea but instead we wanted a bit more of a challenge…and after a bit of trial and error (on my part) our cute little Easter Bunny was born!

The credit for turning the two bottom circle prints into cute little rabbit paws goes to Ebony.

Step by step to create easter bunny card with Mudpies and Sunshine

I used only a small thumb length tube of acrylic paint for the stamping – with this type of craft a little bit of paint goes a long way.

Both of the girls enjoyed decorating the Easter Bunny and adding an Easter greeting. Ebony liked the “Hoppy Easter” pun, Zoe thought we should be using the traditional “Happy Easter”. Each to their own. For me not to use “Hoppy Easter” would be a waste of perfectly formed pun. But that’s just me ;)

Creating Easter Bunny Cards with Mudpies and Sunshine

Easter Bunny card collection with Mudpies and Sunshine

I’ll admit we have used a large amount of black pen. I think we may colour in some of the drawn Easter eggs to add a touch of colour to the front of the cards.

Are you getting into some Easter craft at the moment?

The girls have spent a whole weekend enjoying some Easter printables from Activity Village. Lots of easter crafts and printables on their fabulous website. Don’t forget to check out my Easter pinterest board – even more easter fun for kids.

Thanks so much for dropping by! And of course….Hoppy Easter!!

Hoppy Easter from Mudpies and Sunshine

100 Free Easter Printables

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Wow – I found this amazing list of 100 free Easter printables over at Craftionary. It really is a comprehensive list with so many cute ideas that I guarantee that if you have never used a free printable before – things are about to change!

Here are just three of the huge list that caught my eye …

Easy to cut out table decorations from Skip to my Lou.

Childs-Easter-Table-Decor

Gorgeous little bunny bags from Mr Printables.

Party Favor Bunnies from Mr Printables

And a beautiful set of Easter table prints and cards for a lunch or brunch from The Pretty Blog.

EasterBrunchMain

EasterBrunchCard

There are so many to choose from – here is the link to the list of 100 printables again. Have fun with it!

{We have been a bit slow on the craft side of things lately. Both girls have been busy with school work, playing with new things they received on their recent birthdays and just plain decompressing. I 100% endorse giving your children space just to “be” so lately I haven’t been organising too much craft for them. 

Not overloading with things to do has been working as they have been getting along well and appreciating the space in their lives. School is tiring them both out at the moment!

However now that we are moving quickly towards Easter the girls will be happy to get into some Easter craft. To that end we have a cute Easter card post coming up on the weekend using materials you will most probably already have to hand. So please check back to see what we come up with!}

Thanks so much for dropping by!

Wooden Peg People

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Wooden Peg People with Mudpies and Sunshine

These lovely folk came about one afternoon when the girls were in the mood for a quiet sit down craft.  They started off with one each which quickly turned into five as they had more and more ideas.

Wooden Peg doll painting with Mudpies and Sunshine

Painting these lovely things requires the finest and smallest paint brushes, especially for any detailed bits and bobs.

Painting wooden peg people with Mudpies and Sunshine

The girls painted clowns, men, mermaids, a chef, a queen, a spy and themselves. Sorry to any peg person I couldn’t recognise or remember. Your value is not diminished if you don’t get a mention, it’s just that the girls aren’t here as I type this.

Painting Wooden Peg People with Mudpies and Sunshine (2)

The girls used small square glasses to rest their pegs on whilst waiting for them to dry. The glasses also made it easier to finish off painting each peg without having to smudge the wet parts of the peg that were already painted.

Painting Wooden Peg Dolls with mudpies and sunshine

This activity kept the girls engaged for much longer than I thought it would. They were creating people for themselves to play with so they spent alot of time thinking about who they wanted to play with and what they should look like. Lots of planning!

Now the wooden peg folk live in their rooms “resting” on the side of jars.  Zoe brings her people alive once she has gone into her room and the door is closed.

Ebony’s are hidden away somewhere secret. Away from little sister’s hands I should think. Doesn’t paint have such transformative powers?

If we didn’t have wooden pegs my next choice would have been plain popsticks or even toilet roll people. Both materials provide a blank canvas and a width to height ratio that easily transforms into bodies with heads, arms and legs.

A great indoor activity and perfect for a rainy day.

Thanks so much for dropping by!

Beach Ball Birthday Party Invitation

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Someone in our house is about to turn 10!!! Beach Ball Party Invitations wioth Mudpies and Sunshine Kids Parties

And that someone is having their birthday party at the local swimming pool where you can hire a giant inflatable thingy, have exclusive rights over the water slide and have your very own life guard.  Yes it’s Ebony’s birthday and she is incredibly excited.  And rightly so – turning double-figures is no ho-hum affair.

I had seen a few beach ball invitation ideas on pinterest and decided this was the perfect way to invite Ebony’s friends along to the pool party.

We both had a go at the writing. I was too excited to let Ebony do everything ;)

Writing on the beach ball party invites with Mudpies and Sunshine

Beach Ball Party Invitations wioth Mudpies and Sunshine Smiley Birthday girl

Ebony wanted to put the (deflated) beach balls into brown paper lunch bags which she decorated. The bags were the perfect size for our deflated balls.

Beach Ball Party Invitation Bags with Mudpies and Sunshine

Beach balls party invitations and invitation bags with Mudpies and SunshineWe can’t wait for the party. From a grown ups perspective, the best thing about an indoor pool party is no agonising over the weather forecast. Just sit back and watch the girls having fun.

Beach Ball Party Invitations wioth Mudpies and Sunshine Kids Parties

Happy Birthday if you happen to be reading this on your birthday :)

Thanks for dropping by!!

Foam Koala Masks

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We made some foam koala masks on Australia Day which we mentioned in that post but didn’t elaborate on.  They are good fun to make anytime and very handy in a dress up box so I thought a full post was called for!

Foam Koala Masks with Mudpies and SunshineFirstly I found the koala mask tutorial on the Woman’s Day website here and printed off their free koala mask template. The tutorial originated from TheHappyHome, a beautiful blog with lots of gorgeous craft. The Woman’s Day tutorial uses felt but we wanted to do ours quickly so we chose foam instead.

Koala Mask Template with Mudpies and SunshineOnce the template was cut out, I traced around it onto the foam. I used black foam for the nose (the pic above is a little misleading – please refer to the pic below which shows the black foam!). Foam Koala Mask Cut Out with Mudpies and Sunshine

Once the foam shapes were cut out, it was time for the girls to get busy creating fluffy white ears for our cute koalas.

Glue and cotton balls for koala's ears with Mudpies and SunshineWe used cotton balls pulled into pieces and white pom poms for the ear fur.

Making a foam koala mask with Mudpies and Sunshine

With both girls finished I hole punched the edges of the ears and tied on matching ribbons. Ribbon allows for easy adjusting and is soft and barely noticeable when tied securely.

Foam Koala Mask with cotton ears with Mudpies and Sunshine

Just for the sake of aesthetics I tied the knots in the ribbon on the back side of the mask. Foam Koala Mask with Mudpies and Sunshine - tie knot in the back

Allow for plenty of ribbon which makes tying so much easier and less likely to get hair pulled and caught up in it.

Jan 2013 078

Both girls were so pleased with their masks. We have seen alot of koalas about lately…

Foam koala masks on with Mudpies and Sunshine

Have fun!

Thanks for dropping by :)

Muffin Tray Motor Skills Practice

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Curious about your kid’s fine motor skills? Me too. I wanted to see how the girl’s fine motor skills would manage with some of the more interesting utensils we own. I also wanted an activity that looked appealing and fun – not like a test – so I reached for my trusty 6 hole muffin tin.

Muffin Tray Motor Skills Practice with Mudpies and Sunshine

Tongs, tea strainer and tweezers seemed like obvious choices, however if I really wanted to annoy Zoe I would have added chopsticks – but since this is supposed to be fun I restrained myself.

So this activity couldn’t be simpler to explain – using any utensil the aim is to move the contents of each muffin round into an empty round. So much to learn with this activity. It looks so simple, which is the best part – it is easy to set up. But the girls really had to use muscles with the tea strainer and hold the tongs and the tweezers with a high level of care to grab and dispense their objects.

Fine Motor Skills in a tin with Mudpies and Sunshine

 

Zoe had to sit on the couch which added to the level of difficulty. I should point out that underneath the coloured match sticks are a small handful of coloured rice grains. Zoe was up to the challenge and started moving the grains with the tweezers…then she decided to get more efficient she would employ the tea strainer. Problem solving skills also in play here :)

Fine Motor Skill Practice in a Muffin Tin with Mudpies and SunshineThis activity can be adapted to suit any age and ability which is why we will do this again and again. Next time the chop sticks will be coming out of the drawer!

A mini muffin tray could also add to the fun – good for individual items for toddlers or smaller more difficult items for the bigger kids.

If you do use this idea I would love to hear about it.

Thanks so much for dropping by. Have fun!

Camping and Making Friends

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It’s been quiet on the blog because we have been away camping and having a lovely relaxing time.

I’m not sure how relaxing it was for the kids. They played hard all day, they made friends and ran with the crowd, they swam, bounced, rode, chatted, shouted and laughed. They had a ball but they weren’t relaxing!

We stayed at a caravan park that had a bouncy pillow, swimming pool and water playground. Just perfect for the remaining hot days of summer.

What I found interesting was how in the freedom and relative safety of a caravan park, at early evening time, kids of all ages would come together. They would congregate at the bouncy pillow and play game after game together. There were no fights, arguments, tears or tantrums. There were also no parents involved. The kids negotiated, gave their opinions, considered the capabilities of the little ones and in general acted as one cohesive group. Ages ranged from 4 years old – 16 years old.

Camping Fun with Mudpies and SunshineZoe loved playing with the little Irish boy who was in the campsite next to us. Isn’t it great when you have the whole bouncy pillow to yourselves?

It was also Mr Sunshine’s birthday – so we went all out for his birthday cake. Took me hours to make ;)

Birthday cake Mr Sunshine with Mudpies and SunshineWhenever the water playground was “on”, Ebony was there. Waiting for the water buckets with Mudpies and Sunshine

One time I went underneath the buckets with her and the anticipation is palpable.  Screaming is compulsory under the buckets. Zoe loved them too!

Water playground with Mudpies and Sunshine

I love this pic of Zoe taking a break against the tent whilst watching the other kids on the bouncy pillow. Yep we were right next the bouncy pillow. Kids thought it was christmas!Watching the fun with Mudpies and Sunshine

So we had fun. Mr Sunshine had a relaxing birthday. The kids got to enjoy bonding with new kids and playing on amazing equipment. And we all can’t wait to pitch the tent again. But reality is good too – this morning Zoe asked if there would a craft waiting for her when she got home from school.  Yes! Paint and celery here we come :)

Have you been camping lately? Do your kids enjoy it? I would love to hear your experiences.

Thanks for dropping by!