For the Kids - Weekend Boxes

Regular readers will know that Wiss has now finished nursery ahead of him starting school in September, and that I am officially on Maternity Leave for a year. Yay! I've been really looking forward to spending time with my little man, especially before the baby comes, but being 8 and 1/2 months pregnant does mean I have had to plan a little more 'at home' time than usual.

We were really lucky to be sent a Weekend Box, which is full of activities for kids. The Weekend Gang is made up of four characters who each have their own speciality: Wooster the Rabbit likes to get creative in the kitchen, Hattie the Hedgehog likes getting her hands dirty in the garden, Sammy the Squirrel likes arts and crafts while Oswald the Owl loves to read. Every box has four envelopes containing the things you will need and full instructions for each task, plus stickers for once you've completed it.

Wiss really liked the different characters and getting to choose which project to do first. There was a Sammy Squirrel face mask to make, including powder paints to mix up. I have to say, I was tempted to use our ready-mixed paints but this was actually the bit that Wiss enjoyed the most, and while he mixed the paints we talked about what colours would be made by adding black or white, and how paint was originally made.

We also made Popcorn Cupcakes with Wooster's envelope which contained the special ingredients and recipe (a few store cupboard extras were needed but this was no problem.) Wiss decided that he needed an audience to help him make the cakes, as you can see!

The only cooking required was to make the popcorn itself, but apart from that Wiss made them by himself. And ate most of them himself too!

Our other activities were to make a board game (dice and counters included in the box) and to plants some seeds using expanding compost disks! Once all the projects have been completed there is a certificate on the bottom of the box to be coloured in.

Although the boxes may look quite small initially there was definitely enough to keep Wiss entertained across a few days (or weekends), and all the activities were open-ended enough to lead on to further questions or spark his imagination to try something different.

The boxes are aimed at 4-6 year olds, and can be delivered in the post fortnightly or monthly, with each box costing £7.50. We thought our box was really good fun, and would make a great present idea.


Disclosure: We were sent our Weekend Box for free but all opinions are my own.

Easy Halloween Decorations to Make with the Kids

We got our hands dirty in the name of art this week!
 

 

Our Dining Room Art Gallery needed a new exhibit, so we went spooky for Halloween... Floating Ghosts and Creepy Spiders! These are so easy to make the kids can do most of it themselves, and they look fantastic too.

For the Ghosts you will need:

Some polystyrene cups, some plain white tissues, pva glue and some googly eyes.
Then all you need to do is turn the cups upside-down, paint around the base of the cup with glue and stick on one tissue, making sure there is enough hanging down past the cup. Repeat with another tissue to create a full ghost effect.

Once the glue is dry stick on googly eyes as desired. Hang away from the wall with fine thread (to create the illusion of the ghosts hovering). The ghosts will move whenever someone walks past....oooooooohhhhhh!

The spooky spiders are made from two black hand prints cut out and stuck together and their web is just cut from folded tissue paper (like you would make a snowflake)

 

I have always loved the Mexican Day of the Dead imagery and think that it is a wonderful idea to celebrate those no longer with us. The brightly coloured sugar skulls and fun skeletons are in contrast to our own spooky ones, and they are great for kids to make (especially those that may get a little frightened by Halloween.)

I drew a very basic skull shape with eyes and teeth and left the rest up to Wiss and his glitter pens! As he was drawing I explained that the festival remembers the happy lives of those who have died so that we don't have to be sad. He thought for a minute then asked if we could paint a happy 'Jimmy'. Jimmy was his black fancy goldfish that was unfortunately found floating on Saturday morning :( So, here are our Day of the Dead inspired skulls, and a fish!

 

Enjoy Halloween with the kids (and the sugar-induced craziness!) but if you're looking for something more grown-up then check out the Horniman Museum website. They are hosting a Day of the Dead Late night on 7 November from 6 - 9pm for over 18s only. With parades, theatre, puppets, Mexican street food and costumes, it looks amazing!!! See you there?

World Book Day Event Part 6

Hello! We have reached the penultimate day of the week-long World Book Day event here on This is Wiss and I have asked another special guest to write today's blog.

Lisa started her blog, 'A Day in the Life of a Crazy Busy Mum of Two' last year and it does exactly what it says on the tin! She describes herself as a 'craft virgin' but she crochets, knits and stitches and has tackled a whole range of projects recently including Kindle covers, bunting, keyrings and participated in craft swaps. She has so much enthusiasm and is always trying something new, that it's always exciting to see what she's been up to.

"So when Angela contacted me to write a guest blog for world book day two things happened. The first was a wave of excitement came over me and once I’d quickly typed my acceptance then came the fear! I’ve only been blogging myself a few months and tend to ramble and digress. A bit like I’m doing here!

World Book Day! I am a self-confessed Bookaholic, if there is such a thing. I love them, my house is filled with them and luckily it seems to of rubbed of on my two and a half year old.

I knew straight away which book I would like to write about as Nathan and I have been having fun with it for a couple of months now. It’s called '365 Things to Make and Do.'

Now you need to bear with me here, Nathan isn’t the easiest child to photograph for two reasons, one he doesn’t sit still long enough and two when you ask him to smile we seem to have taught him to grimace?!

Anyway, the book has, as the title suggests many many activities to make and they are all very easy and simple. There are detailed steps and images to show you just how to put them together and all you really need is a "Treasure Bucket" just a good selection of craft bits.

Nathan loves just sorting through them first.

Then we start the actual making, I can’t get pics of that though due to me needing to be very alert around the use of glue! We’ve made many things using the book, from a tiger mask to a real spider with 8 legs! Today however Nathan decided on a rocket. I’m sure you’ll agree with me that we did a very good job?!

Nathan is still quite young to be using the book but I’ve found that if you choose things that are very quick at producing results it will hold his attention just long enough. I recommend this book wholeheartedly and like I said I’m a Bookaholic. I have several childrens craft ones although this is the only one we have used so it must count for something. There are fabulous pictures inside, so much so that Nathan happily looks through it for periods of time just to decided what we can make next time!"

Thank you Lisa, and of course Nathan! I love the fact that he chooses what he wants to make from the book, and it must give him a great feeling to see his real one alongside the one on the page. It has inspired me to try some crafting with Wiss!

Once again, I'm going to urge you to check out the Official World Book Day website. They have lots of fab competitions, including Design a Bookmark, or Design your own Picture Book (which will get printed if you win!)

Please come back tomorrow for the very last post in this week-long event.

Kelli from Tales from a Homemade House will be sharing the favourite authors of her four children, and from her own childhood!