The seed to Papercrafting!

Bits of Paper, Bits of Paper, Lying on my bed...
Yesterday my four year old daughter asked for scissors and reached for her pastel colours. I thought to myself this is going to be another cutting and scribbling exercise, like any other afternoon. And I will have to endure another no sleep afternoon. But to my surprise the cutting and scribbling suddenly turned out to be a work of mixed media. She had decided to place the cut pieces together based on her own imagination and created a cute dog. Was really surprised with the work of art. It could very well grow into the art of papercrafting. Thus bringing alive how children can see patterns even in random objects and create works of art even when there are no specific instructions. And often we as parents over do our instructions. Are you guilty of asking your child to fill the boxes, or colour within the lines. Help your child go beyond boundaries and let her colour the grass red and the sky orange. You will be amazed what young minds are capable of when they are left to explore on their own a myriad of shapeless new shapes and images...

Super creative waste recycling ideas

1. A dollhouse for DD with all the present boxes and cardboard boxes. It had side doors, an open roof and an attic too.

How to make a Pirate Hat

Ahoy there! Recently we were invited to a pirate themed birthday party where DD had to wear a pirate dress.

Here is a pirate hat that I made for my daughter. Its quite simple to make.

1. All you have to do is grab 3 sheets of newspaper (two sided- no half sheets) for making a sturdy hat.
2. Spread it out infront of you sideways.
3. If you fold on the front at the middle from both sides (leave a little bit of space in the middle), 4. Take the first 3 sheets, fold them up and crease it. Do the same on the back side of the hat.
5. Measure your child's head size and staple it on both sides of the head so that it fits nicely on the head. Now the base of the hat is done.
6. You may use black construction paper or paint to colour the hat. I painted the hat black and sketched a skull on it to give it the pirate hat look.
7. I also added ribbons to the hat so that it could be fastened on her neck.

There you go, Mates! Your hat is done.

Activities for your Toddler

Here is an activity I learnt from one of my fellow bloggers (Thanks for it). I thought the idea was very cute and simple. So, I decided to have some craft fun with my toddler.

Making Pop - up cards

1. Take a blank sheet of paper and fold it in half. (Preferably take a comparatively hard sheet of paper)


2. On the folded paper, make two marks like this. Ask your son/daughter to cut the same using plastic scissors. If he/she cannot do it, you may help.

3. It will look something like this.

4. Just push open the cut sheet inside.

5. You can ask your child to paste a cut out of whatever interests him/her. Alternatively, you can use it to teach numbers or alphabets. This is what she made.

4. She is too busy admiring the flowers. :)