Five crafty activites to keep kids busy these school holidays

Our school holidays here in SA have just started. Two whole weeks to try and not hate my kids company by the end of it! If the weather is crap I need to be prepared with things for them to do.

All you need to do all of these crafts is a printer stacked with a lot of paper, colouring pencils or textas, glue and your blinders on to the mess that might ensue! 

Busy kids are happy kids I say! Here's a few of the things I am preparing and printing out, so I am ready for when they say "I'm bored". Or in the case of my lovely girls, before they start picking on each other, hair pulling, or stage a fight bigger than last weeks welterweight world title bout. 

LET'S GET READY TO MAKE SHIIIIIIIT! Yes I did just slide that in... or in the case of my kids, who love cutting and making stuff with paper, replace shit with mess. Same diff really.

Fold a doll's house from Kate at Picklebums. I know my girls are going to love this one. This was Isabel's effort over the weekend.

Flextangles from Ana at Babble Dabble Do. This may be the very thing to keep those idle fingers busy these holidays, a certain rival for fidget spinners. It is amazing they way that they work. If you're kids are keen Pokemon fans they will love these  Pokemon evolution flextangles!

Toilet Paper tube puppets is one of my go to holiday activities. Toilet roll tubes are something we have a never ending supply of and there are tons of different designs. How do you like my toilet roll tooth fairy?

Twirly fish by Piikea Street. They really twirl when dropped from a height. If you have a few paper plates handy, these paper plate fish are EASY to make too. 

Over the last christmas holidays I printed out a christmas themed bingo game for the girls. They love it and still play any old time of the year. I have laminated the cards so they last longer. DKTK  have a Bingo card generator so you can let the kids design and print out their own game, which will hopefully keep them busy so you can sit down with a nice cup of tea.

I had forgotten all about the game of paddicks I posted back in 2014, so you get a bonus to keep the kids occupied. 

It involves each person take turns connecting the dots on a page with a line. When a box is formed, the player puts their initial in the box. When the page is full of 'paddicks', the player with the most formed is the winner.There is a printable page available to save you having to draw all those dots!

How do you keep your kids happy in the holidays? I might need some extra ideas!

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My hobbies

I don't have one particular hobby that I spend a lot of time on. I have several different hobbies that I dedicate my time to. I'd love to have more time to dedicate to them and I would probably be amazing at them all. I am happy with mediocre.

I think it's important to have some sort of hobby, even if it is just one. Everyone needs something to fill the downtime with, to keep minds active and to help relax, whether that be reading, knitting or scrapbooking, or whatever.

My hobbies begin with gardening. I've made a garden in every house I've lived at for the last 25 years. I find great pleasure in planting something in the ground and being rewarded with gorgeous flowers or produce to use in my kitchen.

It's taken me a lot of years to be good at growing my own veggies. I sucked at it for a long time, mainly concentrating on having loads of colourful flowers. 

I enjoy going on garden tours and looking at other people's gardens too. My mum is  in a local gardening group who do just that once a month and I don't mind tagging along with the old ducks. I am sure they will set me straight about the old bit right away!

My other hobby is photography. I would love to be better at it, and I suppose this is one of those things that the more time I spend on it, the better I will be. 

I have to make more time for getting out with my camera to different places and conditions. I could probably explore with my camera settings to see what more I can do with it.

The Wattle Range Council photography competition is coming up quickly. I need to go through all the local photos I have taken in the last year and pick some good ones I can enter. 

I am a pretty creative person, and love to create when inspiration hits. I 

I don't do one particular sort of craft, like sewing or painting. I like to have a go at just about anything. You could say that I am a jill of all trades when it comes to crafting.

I have never been inspired enough to take up knitting or crochet, but don't mind sitting behind my sewing machine if something takes my fancy. Like the humpty dumpty I made for my Kindergym class.

There was a time when I did lots, and I mean lots of embroidery. I enjoy that, but haven't done any for a while.

I don't mind getting my paintbrushes wet every now and then too, and I've been known to do a bit of drawing.

I tend to only craft when I am inspired and motivated to do so, and I am always happy I did. Google comes in handy if I get stuck on how to get something done! I get very determined when I set out be creative.

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A whole buncha fun

Product review brought to you by Nuffnang and Funtastic Bunchems.

My little clown, super excited with her box of Bunchems RRP $39.99

I was hesitant about accepting Bunchems into our house. I knew nothing about them but the stories about horrific hair tangles. From what I'd seen on social media, it had me thinking that surely they were evil and a shoe in for worst toy of the century.

You have to excuse me for expecting them to fly out like heat hair seeking missiles as soon as the box was opened.

It wasn't the case. Not to say, I wasnt cautious, with a whole spiel to the girls about not putting anywhere near their heads. I even went as far as putting their hair up so there were no accidents!

A furry caterpillar

 

Everyone knows kids are happier when they are busy, and this doesn't always mean busy in front of a screen. It's important for them to be creative and engage their imagination through construction and craft. Bunchems keeps them busy and entertained with no glue, sticky tape or MESS.

Bunchems magically cling together to build and create anything your kids can think of and they can create again and again, as the plastic spheres are reusable.

Here is how much fun my girls had with Bunchems on the day they arrived in our house. The next morning they pulled them out again for more fun.

Some of the designs were a bit more involved, like the octopus and the crazy car. Izzy needed a little help with these ones, I found myself sitting down for some creating too.

It dawned on me that it's been a while since I joined in for some quality time creating with them. I really enjoyed it. Mostly though they were happy to construct whatever their minds desired.



A vase of flowers. Summer's favourite thing was making flowers.

A snake

My very own Bunchems fail. The girls thought it was pretty good!

Izzy's favourite, the unicorn

What was your favourite Bunchems creation?

What would you create with Bunchems?

Biding my time with gardening and art

As I gardened yesterday morning, I had thoughts of some smug little bastard looking down on me, smiling and nodding, all Mr Miyagi like. He'd be all happy I was learning some patience. Not that I need teaching. I think hubby needs that lesson. The lesson for me was to slow down, to live in the present, I am sure of it.

You can't get more down to earth and living in the present that doing some gardening. I deadheaded roses and cut back some perennials that had had their moment in the sun. Their flashy show of colour. Instead of wishing my present away, waiting for the keys to our new holiday house, I was tending to the house we already had. A garden that needed tending to, before it is neglected in the excitement, of a new house, that will steal our attention for a while.

I have been busy making my own art to hang at Casa Pelicano. We really can't afford to go all out and buy all the stuff. I have seen the stuff, even pinned it. I've just gone out and made it myself, for much less. It's the only way I can have said stuff!

I bought two canvases, two picture frames, brushes and paint for $23, from the cheap shop. A sheet of MDF for $10, and learnt to use(not very well) hubby's jig saw. 

The two canvases

The two frames with free chalkboard printables

rainbow fish made with old wood offcuts, painted and glued to a sheet of MDF.

A pelican for the front door and a sign for kitchen

I am suitably impressed with myself, even though they are not perfect, they are me. They are folk arty, like the way peasants have decorated their homes for centuries.  I like them and that is all that matters. 

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The useful box

 This is the useful box, messy hey? Do you have a useful box for your kids? Does it look this this?

This is Isabel making a mess stuff. We cut up the Kmart toy catalogue.

We go through lots of paper, I just buy the black and gold stuff from the supermarket for the printer, she uses that. I got some plastic scrapbooking scissors from the cheap shop, they have interchangeable blades with different cutting patterns. There's no glitter left, and I'm not in a hurry to get more. Maybe I could, and hide it, because I've just had the thought I could put it in the glue.

We ran out of glue, I remembered that Mum used to make it with flour and water, she used it cook it. I did at first, then read in an activity book for kids, that I didn't need to. So now I don't. That's what's in the coffee cup. Flour and water mixed to a glue consistency, and a little paint brush.

She does make a mess, but it keeps her busy and happy for a while. If anything goes on the floor, it get the dustpan and broom and sweep it up, it usually goes straight back in the box. Depends how dirty the floor was in the first place!