Tuesday, 31 August 2010

Real Woodwork Tools

 

We went to the Brecon Fayre at the weekend, and amongst the food and craft stalls was
an old/recycling tools stall.
I have been looking for an old handheld drill for a couple of months and here it is,
along with a chisel, hammer and set square all for about £12.

I thought that I needed to balance out some of the craft activities...
it's good to sew and knit, but woodwork is just as important.



Here he is drilling his first holes.
I admit he bent the first drill-bit...but you learn from mistakes, he is only 3 after all.

The guy who sold me the tools gave me some great ideas to start Big Seed off with,
and I am learning with him.




Monday, 30 August 2010

Winner of CSN giveaway

I put all the names into a bowl...Daddy Seed has just picked the winner

Congratulations to Fat Cat!

Please email me at twolittleseeds@gmail.com for your prize.

x

Friday, 27 August 2010

Check Out The New Family

Our new family have finally arrived from Knittingmomma's Etsy shop.


Handcrafted by Tonya, they are so adorable.


Here is their new home... his felted pond.
They look very happy there.

Tonya has some amazing wooden toys, and gorgeous woollen crafts in her
Etsy shop...go check it out.

She is offering 20% discount to all Two Little Seeds readers if you mention
this blog when you order. ( She will refund it once the order has gone through.)
Postage is extremely reasonable if you are ordering from the UK, go take a look.

x

If you like what you see...Knittingmomma will be doing an Autumn themed giveaway next month!
And yes....there will be a gnome!

Twolittleseeds is not sponsored by this Shop, but want you to know what lovely things
are out there in the world.

Tuesday, 24 August 2010

Spelling Names

I got this idea from several posts months ago, 
and here is our version of spelling the names of family members
with milk bottle caps.


I put stickers on old milk lids.
Made cards with photos of people along with their name. 
A circle is traced around a lid for each letter and the letter written on the card then laminated.
Big Seed just has to match them up.

He loves this because it has such meaning to him.
I made a bag from alphabet print fabric to keep everything tidy.

Bringing Colour To My Sink

Inspired by Waldorf Mama, particularly what she made here...
 I just had to buy some amazing, gorgeous wool 
called Rico Rainbow Microfibre DK.
So excited when it came...I did not have any needles and grabbed some bamboo skewers from my kitchen!


You never knew what colour was coming next. Its fabulous!

I made this...


OK,  I know it's better close up...it's just a simple dishcloth.
I had to guess how to cast on... and yes there is one hole!

My mum will strongly testify that I hate dishcloths...so I intend to make a few of these
to brighten up my kitchen.

Big Seed liked watching me and asked if he could knit....
got to make him one of those Knitting Nancy type things when he is ready.
We did try finger knitting...but he didn't have the patience.

I think I am going to have to knit some sleeping bags for the Autumn Gnomes.

Even if you can't knit...have a browse around Waldorf Mama' photos, she has a section for knitting and yarn...and see if you don't start searching for some wool!

Monday, 23 August 2010

3D Maths Game To Practice 1 - 6



We laid out some tree blocks and lilypads and the felted pond.
Big Seed chose some animals...roll the dice and make your animal jump accordingly.
The first person to get all their animals into the pond is the winner.


Have you entered our mums' giveaway?

abc button

Sunday, 22 August 2010

Playdough Numbers and CSN Giveaway

We have been doing Montessori based numbers
using Numeral Cookie Cutters



I saw this done the Montessori way with wooden number cards and wooden counters
laid out in the same way.


The cutters are quite small so you need a  paintbrush to poke them out,
but Big Seed enjoyed.


Here are the cutters, we also have an alphabet set too.
These came from CSN Stores.

And now mums, here is your chance to win £20 or $20 to spend on cookie cutters
or whatever takes your fancy at CSN Stores websites.

Just write a comment in this section and you will be entered into the draw which will end next
Sunday at 7.30 pm GMT.
1 entry per person.
If you are a follower of this blog, but not via Google Connect, especially my real world mum friends,
just write a comment with your name/codename. Make sure you come back to check
if you have won the following week.

CSN can only send this prize if you live in the US, Canada, UK or Germany.
Sorry if you want to enter but live in another country but I promise my next giveaway will be global.

Good Luck Ladies!
x


Thursday, 19 August 2010

Mast & Sail Pictures

Following on from the Catamaran activity,
we were still focused on our trip on the Pirate Ship...

we used the masts and sails we saw as inspiration.


I taped down 2 pieces of string for 2 masts.
I cut out some rectangles and triangles of different sizes from a magazine as flags.
I also cut out some plain shapes for the boys to decorate their own flags.


They then stuck the flags onto the strings, until the string sails were full.

The following day, Big Seed wanted to do this again.

I cut out some white paper flags in rectangle and triangle shapes.
He had to stick all the square flags on one string and the triangular ones on the other.

After that I put 2 different numbers on them and he had to sort these.

Then he had to sort 2 different letters.

You can adapt this in so many ways for a sorting and sticking activity.

Wednesday, 18 August 2010

Straw Catamarans

Big Seed and his brother visited a huge replica pirate ship.
Inspired by the day trip we made some boats with his friend Little Elf.


This is a catamaran made from straws, lolly sticks and sellotape.
Big Seed designed his sail taped onto a bamboo skewer, fixed onto the boat by plasticine.


Here is their pond, the lid of the sandpit, upturned.
Wow, it really floats!


The boys are blowing their sails in the sun.


They invited some passengers on aboard: some small toy animals,
and made some smaller boats out of old plastic lids.
Later on they also tried some big leaves too.

Science: floating and sinking - through play.


Tuesday, 17 August 2010

Sandpaper Numerals

I made Big Seed some Montessori sandpaper numerals.
I have shown Big Seed how to trace the numbers. He has to master this before we attempt writing.


He enjoys putting the numerals in the write order...when he gets stuck I ask him to read the numbers from the beginning and then he knows which comes next.

We do this ordering activity with the number lids...these are old juice bottle lids with sticky labels on them.

Here he is matching the lids to the sandpaper numerals.


I bought a set of Montessori "bead stairs", beads on wire rods, a set of 1-10 from Ebay for
£2.
He matches the beads to the numbers, and if he is still interested he then matches the lids.

We have also matched green counters to each numeral.

Monday, 16 August 2010

2 Types of Hand and Footprints To Keep

My local pottery shop has just closed and I was at a loss
for a keepsake of Little Seed's handprints.

I found some white Fimo Clay from The Range.


I didn't roll it out, just made his prints and wrote his name underneath
with a cocktail stick.
There are two holes made with the end of a paintbrush for hanging it up.


Big Seed also made some hand and footprints.
These were made from a "Inkless Hand and Footprint Kit" bought from Ebay,
and it costs under £5.
You wipe his hand with a special wipe and print onto special paper.
We got 3 sheets in the kit, 2 for Big Seed and 1 for Little Seed.
It is what they use for official fingerprinting.


Look how detailed they are.

I wanted to use this when Little Seed was a month old, when his hand was it its tiniest,
but I was concerned about the chemicals.

We did these activities before bath-time so I could ensure any clay residue,
or wipe residue was completely washed off.

Would make a nice gift too.




Saturday, 14 August 2010

Treasure Rocks

Big Seed and Little Elf looked for treasure.
I got the idea from this treasure stones tutorial here.
I changed the recipe slightly as I do not have coffee grounds,
because we are tea drinkers, so I substituted the coffee for tea leaves from tea bags.
I added too much water, oops, so they were a bit bendy but great fun all the same.


Here are the boys...I put a big piece of paper on the kitchen floor to hold all the bits of rock,
and they got their tool box.
They were playing at being builders today so this was perfect for them.
You could hear a pin drop for the concentration ...


Here is a gold coin! A bit bent from being baked in the oven!
I used glass beads, old necklace bits, real pennies, and plastic animals too


What's this? A pig!

" Have you got any more rocks?" they asked....

Monday, 9 August 2010

3 Different Butterfly Activities

The last few days have seen a butterfly theme going on.


First up is some simple symmetry.
I gave Big Seed some stickers, pairs of matching shapes but different colours.
Had to put one of each shape on each half of the butterfly and try his best to get them
in matching positions.

We had looked at butterfly pictures beforehand to explain symmetry,
downloaded from here.



Second is a butterfly suncatcher.
Coloured tissue paper shapes stuck on to sticky film cut out in the shape of a butterfly.
I taped a pipecleaner on the top as feelers.




Thirdly are butterfly stick puppets.
Big Seed and his best friend Little Elf decorated some cardboard shapes,
with a lolly stick stuck on the back.

These are very versatile puppets as they can be used as masks too...


and they can be used for butterfly races.


Sunday, 8 August 2010

How To Make A Pond Felt Playmat


This pond playmat was made using a combination of wet felting and
dry felting too. I think it's a beautiful plaything ( OK the ducks are plastic but I can't find any wooden
ones for singing 5 Little Ducks.)


We started with some hand dyed wool from a craft shop in Brecon.
It was a small amount but I think you really need double or triple this amount as it gets thin when wet.
Tear up the wool into strands and cross them over into a circle on a some plastic.

Big Seed then patted it with dishsoap and warm water, and used a sushi mat to get the fibres to stick together but as it was so thin,
we had to be gentle. There are many decent wet felting tutorials on the net.
 We laid it outside on a table to dry


I cut out some lilypads from green felt freehand, then sewed a lily flower together like this.


I made a lilypad pocket for the frog to hide in.


We got impatient so Big Seed put it on his clothes line to dry.


It was a bit thin in parts so I decided to attach it to a piece of green felt with a felting needle.
Big Seed has this plastic needle-felting contraption which holds 4 needles very safely.
Here he is needle-felting the pieces together on a pillow...with Little Seed getting ever so closer!



Here it is finished. I didn't attach the lilypads as Big Seed loves to arrange things.
Beautiful.

What happens first?
He puts the orange gnome to sleep in the lilypad pocket in the corner
...no sign of a frog anywhere!


Then he thinks it's much better to pile up those lovely lilypads in the corner on top of the gnome...
and what he needs is a big wooden mushroom to go on the lilyflower!


But that mushroom wasn't big enough.
We need a giant green mushroom to sit right on that lilyflower!


No, no, what we really need is to get rid of that nice lilyflower altogether,
and put the mushroom in a wooden bowl in the pond!
Now out comes the olympic frog...he has to jump all the way from the wall to the mushroom in one huge jump!


Big Seed starts making huge jumps as he personifies the frog and saying "ribbit, ribbit."

What is happening here is that although he hasn't used the pond in the way I envisaged,
he has used his imagination, which is the whole point of the toy.

He was having a great time making Little Seed and myself laugh so much,
 until Little Seed needed a nap, and the spell broke.

x








abc button












Saturday, 7 August 2010

Mixing Colours With A Sandwich Bag

Lots of people have been doing this on blogs lately so
we had a go too....mixing colours without getting messy!

Most mums use ziploc bags with loads of paint,
but this proves you can sellotape a sandwich bag with 2 small blobs of paint.




Little Seed going fast!


Making a noise...then rapidly finished with it.



Big Seed going really sloooow....
wondering why his fingers were not getting covered in paint
That was so cute!

x


Thursday, 5 August 2010

Table Pictures and Giant Rubbings



I taped down paper on the kitchen table and asked Big Seed to sit on it.
This was so novel he enjoyed drawing like this.


So we started to draw together in collaboration.
He would add to something I started and vice versa.

It's really strange to do something you haven't done since you were so small yourself;
I mean when was the last time you did giant scribbles?
Good for the soul for sure.

Then I thought of an extension;
In the time it took Big Seed to run upstairs for something...


I covered the table in flat objects.
I taped down coins, lolly sticks, cards, and glue spreaders.
Then I put some more paper on top and told him it was a treasure hunt with crayons.


What joyous squeals of delight and laughter at finding silly things.
Simple bliss.

x
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