Confined Crafting

It's 30 Days Wild , the month of nature activities and wildlife activism organised by The Wildlife Trusts. During June, we are encouraged to do one 'random act of wildness' each day, whether that's something as complex as building hedgehog houses or digging ponds, to something as simple and peaceful as having breakfast outside or watching a wild webcam. The event gives us lots of opportunities for some wild crafting! Here's a rundown of wild crafty activities to do with kids - but there's many more on my 30 Days Wild Pinterest board - have a look! Leaf painting/rubbing Leaves can be used in so many different ways to create artworks - place them under paper and rub with crayons for an imprint, cover them in paint or felt-tips and press onto paper, arrange them in a collage, use them as the skirts for a woodland fairy, or imprint them into clay or salt dough! Sticks Sticks have so many potential uses! They can become paintbrushes, magic wands, picture frames, we...

The kids and I have been making some Easter cards and gifts. I like to stock up on crafting essentials at The Works , which is cheap and cheerful - perfect when you are crafting with small children who don't take that much care! The easiest option here is to get some blank cards and stickers, then let the kids loose! I really enjoy seeing their creativity when they're allowed this freedom. With a little prompting and discussion, there's often the chance to develop linguistic skills too as they tell you about their drawing or creating. The card on the right, for example, shows the Easter bunny hiding eggs for the birds in a 'winter tree' with no leaves. It was lovely to listen to my 4 year old explaining this story as she drew. I also got the finger painting pads out to try a few ideas. Fingerprint chicks and bunnies were so simple to create and yet look so cute! There's no particular distribution here but you could easily make a scene, using stickers as props. T...

One of my suggested  half term activities was to make your own play dough, so I thought I'd share our tried and tested recipe! I have tried other versions that don't include cream of tartar (as it's the one thing on the list that you might not have in). But I didn't find that they came together as well as this dough. You need: 1/2 cup table salt 1 cup plain flour 1 tablespoon oil (I used almond oil, but you can use any type, from vegetable oil to baby oil) 1 tablespoon cream of tartar Optional: food colouring and/or scent. I added lavender essential oils. Mix the dry ingredients together, then add 1 cup of boiling water (you can add the food colouring to the water instead of at the dry stage). Stir with a spoon, it will look lumpy at first. Once it is cool enough to touch, turn it onto a mat and start kneading. If you are doing this on a cool day, it is lovely to knead as soon as it is cool enough to touch but is still warm, especially if you've added a scent. The ...