An Invitation to draw

Most children LOVE to draw but i do find Tara will 9/10 draw a bird or a house and Mason will draw a face or a digger but how do i encourage variety?

I left an invitation to draw on the table on morning and they jumped at completing them!

I flicked through magazines to find some interesting pictures, then cut them out leaving out half of the picture. Tara had half a butterfly and Mason had half a duck.

They then had to use their imagination to complete the picture and surrounding environment. These would be great to keep up your sleeve for long car rides, plane trips or when you just need that five minutes to make a phone call!

Newborn mobile

We saw this idea on "Mister Maker" one of the shows Tara adores and changed it a little to create a mobile for Tara's little brother.
First we started with 3 sheets of card stock-red,white and black as we know newborns see high contrast colours well for the first 6 months of life.
Take 2 of the pages and cut into strips of all thickness' then use the hole puncher to create holes in your strips of paper. The great thing about this activity is that is doesn't have to be perfect to have a great effect. Uneven cutting or holes in the wrong area is fine-the baby will love it all!
Now you have hole punched the strips of paper, paste them on the third piece of paper in any order at all

Completed sheet! Now laminate over the top and cut into any shape you require

We made a mobile from squares-this is the view bub will get from his change table

And added some more to the walls

We will have bub sleep in a hammock for a few months so we used the black,red and white design paper made by Tara on the underside of the hammock bar

This can also be used in any bassinette or cot and is very helpful when trying to prevent positional plagiocephaly or "flat head syndrome". Just take note of which way bub tends to turn his/her head and place the coloured patterned paper in the opposite direction so they are drawn to looking at it and gives the head a chance to even out.

Bottle top- photo magnets

These magnets are a quick and easy way to recycle all those bottle tops you collect and make sweet presents for loved ones.

First find a photo and trace around the lid to see what will fit in the magnet

Cut out your circle and trim until it fits snug in the bottle top

As so, no need for glue or tape it will stay nicely if you have cut it correctly to size

Use some paste on the back of the lid

Place a magnet on top and wait to dry. These flat magnets are found on the back of junk mail calenders and other advertising promotions that we get delivered in the mail. Great to collect also to place on the back of your party invites.

Finished products on the fridge!

Fathers Day-cut and paste

This cut and paste activity was perfect for Tara's age. She needed little help and really enjoyed finishing it. The squares are easy for toddlers to try and cut out and the letters just need to be matched to the shadows on the template-great letter recognition.
Finished it off with a little colour and ready to give to daddy. The templates are found here and you can choose a boy or a girl design.
http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/FathersDayCutandGlue.htm