Zoe’s Pipe Cleaner and Pom Pom Craft

Posted on April 20, 2013 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

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 didn’t have a specific idea in mind for her craft. She just knew what materials she felt like creating with. And here are the results… I 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…

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”.
Anyone 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

Posted on April 12, 2013 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

Doesn’t this look like fun?

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.

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.

Zoe is a big fan of “free-range” play on the obstacle course. And yes, they are in their pajamas! Outside first thing in the morning for some balancing course ACTION…

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.

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!

100 Free Easter Printables

Posted on March 15, 2013 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

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.

Gorgeous little bunny bags from Mr Printables.

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

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!

Learning How to Knit

Posted on March 12, 2013 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

I’m a new knitter. I’ve started on and off over the years, each time having to start from scratch again and again. I know ladies who could knit for “Look at These Crafty People YOU Could Never Be Like Magazine” and I know ladies who couldn’t care less if they never “cast on” in their lives. Me – well I am learning to keep my hands busy at night and gain that satisfaction you get when you have made something yourself. I have discovered that if my hands are busy at night with knitting, then they aren’t able to open the fridge or the pantry and place calories in the mouth. And I could do with a new scarf.

I am also learning so I can teach my lovely little girls how to knit as well.

Big news…this morning I taught Ebony how to cast on. I was so elated that I was passing on a skill which has such a long and important history. Ebony was elated as well. I have a feeling though that she is expecting to get from casting on to a beautiful long scarf in a matter of minutes…well the reality will be another of one of those essential learning opportunities that we should be letting our kids experience on a regular basis.

So why knitting and why now?

Well Ebony received a lovely little knitting kit for her birthday so that helped with her motivation to start learning. I have been doing some embroidery and mentioned that I wanted to get back into knitting so it seemed to spring from there.

I spent some time looking on YouTube at casting on stitches until I finally found a video with an easy method to learn and copy. The video is presented by a young British woman and is a lovely quirky short video. I highly recommend it!

I hope to repost about Ebony’s knitting some time in the future and show a lovely young lady modelling a fine warm scarf.

I’d love to hear from you dear reader about your knitting experiences. To knit or not to knit? How do you answer that probing question?

Thanks so much for dropping by!

Wooden Peg People

Posted on March 7, 2013 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Posted on March 2, 2013 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

Someone in our house is about to turn 10!!!

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

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.

We 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.

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

Thanks for dropping by!!

Camping and Making Friends

Posted on February 18, 2013 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

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.

Zoe 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

Whenever the water playground was “on”, Ebony was there.

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

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!

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!

Valentine Egg Carton Lucky Dip Game

Posted on February 10, 2013 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

Here we are at the third installment of Mudpies and Sunshine’s world famous Valentine’s Egg Carton Craft Series. We painted the egg cartons in the first post; in the second we tested our brain power with the memory game and now we will be playing a game of chance (with many giggles) called the Lucky Dip Game.

Here’s how I set up the game:

12 different stickers x 2 (you could use laminated numbers in hearts, anything flat that can fit into one of the egg cavities)
12 envelopes and note paper to fit inside
12 felt balls (which happen to fit perfectly into the egg carton cavities)

Once I was all set up I invited the girls to sit on the rug and get started. There are no rules with how far away from the egg carton you need to be (however you may wish to shake things up a bit and have a throwing line).

HOW TO PLAY:

1. Sit down.

2. Choose a felt ball.

3. Throw the felt ball into any cavity in the egg carton.

4. Ascertain the sticker colour and style your felt ball landed on.

5. Find the matching sticker on one of the 12 envelopes.

6. Open the envelope, read the note and have fun. The notes are self-explanatory.

The one Zoe is reading says “Ring the Garden Bells“.

I wrote the activities for the envelopes and placed all the stickers on the envelopes and the egg carton in around 15 minutes. It is a simple game and it is SO FUN. The best part is you can tailor the activities/questions to suit the personality of your children.

The girls loved the game and we have played it multiple times already. When the game gets a bit ‘stale’ I will change the notes inside the envelopes. The beauty is the game can be adapted over and over again.

Now let me share some of the other notes inside the envelopes :

Time for a Tickle

Walk Around the Kitchen With Your Eyes Closed

Do a Crazy Dance for 60 Seconds

(Zoe added a crazy song as well, 2 for the price of 1)

Receive a Surprise Sweet Treat (both players benefit..and Mums)

I added a token educational question…

Do Ten Star Jumps

Stand on One Leg as Long as You Can

Give Everyone a Big Hug

I also had one called “Take Another Turn” which Zoe got and was thrilled with (go figure because, in hindsight, I am of the opinion that one is a bit boring!).

Ebony was lucky to get “Say the Peter Piper Tongue Twister 10 times as fast as You Can” and “Put a Toy Away” (she chose a book to place back on the shelf).

Does your family love playing games together? If you give this game a go I would love to hear about (or even see it if you are able to send a snapshot!).

For little ones I suggest using one word prompts for early readers or pictures of the activity the child needs to do for the pre-reader or toddler.

We’re not finished with the pink and red egg cartons yet! Oh no no no. There are more crafty ideas to come in this egg carton series and they will be coming to you soon! Just in time for you to play some lovely games and spend some quality time with your little cherubs this Valentine’s Day.

Have (lots of) fun!

Thanks so much for dropping by

Getting Kids to Help with School Lunch Box Ideas

Posted on February 6, 2013 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

This year approximately 420 school lunches will be prepared in my home. Thousands have already been made. Sometimes the girls have expressed *disappointment* with my lunch box fare but most of the time they are happy. Because I generally like to collaborate. I cringe at the thought of either of my girls throwing away food at school and then not telling me about it. They see kids throw food into the bin at their school every lunch time. What a waste.

My girls also see half of the chocolate, sweet, chip and biscuit aisles in other kid’s lunch boxes. They definitely don’t want to be the only kids with a 100% healthy lunch box. I agree. School lunches do not need to be a battle ground between parent and child nor however does the lunch need to be the equivalent of a local sweet shop.

So this year I asked the kids to help me with their school lunch ideas.

Before school went back I handed them this list and asked them to fill it out and add as many things to each list as they liked. You can tell it is still the school holidays in this picture as Ebony’s hair is, um, free flowing.

The list visually reminded them of how their lunch box is divided into categories of food. It gave them them an opportunity to feel heard (about real life decisions) and they felt their thoughts and ideas were worth hearing.

Most importantly I have followed through with this idea and everything in the girl’s lunch boxes IS from the list. I haven’t lessened their ideas by promoting my own. Of course if they included crazy things we would have had to edit the list somewhat… but kids will surprise you. Alot of time and thought went into their list which makes my life a whole lot easier. I am not expecting any negative feedback on their lunches!

By asking them to write their ideas down, it also gave the activity a sense of gravitas. I wanted them to feel that “Yes an adult, a grown-up is taking us seriously. We must be competent and clearly we are needed.” I am on a mission to let my girls do everything they possibly can do for themselves.

An unintended benefit is the help with menu planning. It makes my shopping list so much more planned and ‘targeted’ when I know exactly what they want. One week the treat food is chop chip pikelets, another week it’s Anzac biccies etc etc.

This week the lunch time food (as opposed to the recess break food) was ham and salad wraps. They LOVE wraps. Ebony grates the cheese and carrot the night before so that it will be easier and quicker to put together in the morning.

So the list is paying off. They are loving their lunch box food because the contents have essentially come from them. And they know that every day there is a treat

Thanks so much for dropping by! I am happy to type up the list and make it a free printable. I can make it look prettier, I swear. Just ask me

Contact Paper Heart Mosaic

Posted on February 3, 2013 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

We love contact paper. Well I love it because it makes craft time easy and accessible when I am rushed and/or need to keep kids busy! Mostly we do a random mosaic where the kids can let their imaginations run wild.

This time we wanted a heart theme so I folded a large piece of contact paper in half and then cut out a heart shape free hand. By cutting it in half I can guarentee that at worse the heart will be symmetrical!

We had lots of tissue paper cut up from other craft – tissue paper has a lovely transparent quality which is perfect for window art.

With a little school glue stick added to the back of the heart – I stuck the heart to a window and invited Zoe to come along and decorate to her heart’s content.

…

Zoe wanted to leave some gaps so “just the light would shine through”.

So simple and very sweet.

This is a really quick craft to prepare and something kids enjoy creating. The bonus is that their artwork is being displayed as they are creating it

Thanks so much for dropping by! If this is your first time here and you don’t want to miss any more posts – please consider signing up to the blog.

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Mudpies & Sunshine

Category Archives: Going with the Flow

Zoe’s Pipe Cleaner and Pom Pom Craft

Outdoor Balancing Course

100 Free Easter Printables

Learning How to Knit

Wooden Peg People

Beach Ball Birthday Party Invitation

Camping and Making Friends

Valentine Egg Carton Lucky Dip Game

HOW TO PLAY:

Getting Kids to Help with School Lunch Box Ideas

Contact Paper Heart Mosaic

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