friends with kids.

as we get older and friends have kids we have realised that we have a non kid friendly home and nothing for kids to play with. at a garage sale on the weekend i found a beautiful old crate with lots of potential and decided to turn it into a box full of things for kids to play with when they come to visit. 

now 'the kids' does not sound very interesting so i went a little french and here's the end product. cute right? i think so!

and with just a little paint...

now i just need to wait for the next set of little visitors and see if they like it.

make your own kids costumes- doctor, office boss and post officer.

i thought i'd share today a quick way to make some great kids costumes. all you need are some old tshirts and paint. once you have made the costumes, then scour the garage sales and you might be able to pick up some cute stethoscopes or other play accessories.

doctor: plain white tshirt, red paint.

 post office worker: plain red tshirt, white and blue paint.

office boss: striped shirt, white and black paint.

these are super easy costumes that the kids in my class love and super cheap :) so that makes me smile too!

get well card.

source

just a post to say sorry about the silence on this blog as of late, i'm back from a sick spell. i wanted to share this cute little diy get well card; bandaids with personalities. next time i need to send a get well card, i'm heading for my pack of bandaids and getting creative!

costume making.

every year we have a family night where the kids perform a cute little dance for their parents. we did a dance to 'under the sea' from the little mermaid and i got to be creative and make some great costumes for the kids. i showed some of the costumes when i'd just started them but obviously they were all finished in time for our performance. i didnt want to spend much money on costumes and wanted them to look homemade but also impressive and cute. the total spent on all these costumes was $5 (for 20 costumes for kids) thanks to a $5 bag sale at the local op shop (thrift shop) where i got lots of hats, tshirts and bits and pieces...and it helps to have a classroom filled with craft supplies too. so if you're looking for some ocean inspired costumes i've listed some ideas i came up with.

starfish: cardboard stars painted pink, covered in patty pans and sparkles and glued to an old tshirt. for a headpiece get an old cap, get rid of the front and paint it pink. then add some paper plate eyes.

crab: red tshirt and sock arms. crab pinchers made from bra pads painted red and cut to shape. hat made from an old cap (minus front ) painted red with pipecleaners coming from it. cut white paper plates to eye shape and stick on googly eyes.

turtle: green tshirt. front made from painted cardboard (cut in oval shape and painted using green and brown paint. turtle shell made from plastic green plates stuck together and tied to front using green string/ribbon. hat made from old cap (minus front) painted green with eyes cut from frog plates found in the classroom.

mermaid: top is kids own (swimming top). skirt made from green fabric sewn to make a basic skirt. then tails are made from cardboard painted green, covered in sequins and glued to green skirt. the head piece is made from a cap cut to lose the top and front. then some flowers (from an old hula skirt) were glued around the bit of the cap left.

jellyfish: a square of blue plastic tablecloth stuck to a mini hula hoop. lots of ribbons and strings are hung from the mini hula hoop and the plastic tablecloth is covered in sequins held down by sticky tape. hat is a cap painted blue, front off and eyes made from paper plate/ black paper.

we also had a diver, shark and some octopuses but i didnt manage to get any good photos.
it was such a cute little performance and they were all excellent little sea creatures. we had moves that matched the lyrics because when i hear words like beat, rhythm, timing it all sounds too much and we included pretty much every ocean dance move we could brainstorm. it was fantastic!

my daily dose of art and crafts.

i love having a job where i get to be crafty and creative at least some of the day. my class has been making lots of things related to celebrations this term and i thought i'd share some ideas that have worked out well. 

witches feet with pattern stockings for halloween.

turkeys with hand print feathers and corn dotted using cotton buds.

dragons with hand print bodies for chinese new year.

collaged poppies for remembrance day.

and our current project...making 'under the sea' costumes for family night.

i stocked up big time at the $5 bag sale at the local op shop for costume props and have a pile of caps and tshirts ready to be turned into costumes. this is just the start at the moment, a cap fish, shark head and cap crab. here's hoping they turn out looking amazing to distract from the fact that i'm not a dance teacher and the dance we're performing is as good as i could make up :).. it's got lots of swimming movements in it and some seaweed swaying.

father's day craft idea.

one of the main reasons i love being a primary school teacher is i get to be creative and do lots of fun arts and crafts with my kiddies. i always search for good ideas and thought i'd share a father's day idea that works well and looks great. we made cards for our dads using different types of paper and putting my button collection to good use. simply fold the paper to look like a shirt, decorate and add buttons.
to all those fathers out there , i hope you get spoiled with lots of lovely cards and gifts.