Geometry for little ones

My computer has died which means the blog has been silent. Hoping to fix this problem ASAP as I miss documenting the fun things we do! Typing on my IPhone is annoying :( 

Anyway,  here's a short little project to help kids learn their basic shapes. 

We made robots but ideas are endless- just cut out ( or let them cut out) various shapes and let them create!

I had the kids cut out their own shapes, good for practicing dexterity - and patience!

Then glue the shapes onto a blank page. 

Sahira personalized hers with a hockey stick and Sayda made a cute bow for her "girl robot".

Have fun :)

Crayon Tins

Today turned out to be a day full of refereeing! Some days are worse than others but I had had enough by the time we got to fighting over crayons. ( FYI, I do teach my children to share most of the time). 

Samir is very temperamental these days and just wasn't going to get the whole share your crayons thing- plus our homeschool teacher was expected to arrive within twenty minutes. This was not the time to have a life lesson on sharing crayons, especially with a nonsensical two year old capable of ear popping screams. 

Anyway sometimes good things come out of tough situations right? So is the story of Saydas new crayon tin. 

I had duct tape left over from our pouch craft, and an empty tea tin. 

No tutorial needed! The only advice I have is to make sure the lid doesn't have a layer of duct tape on the inside or it becomes hard to close ( as duct tape is thick). I folded the edges over into the inside of the lid and now Sayda can't close it herself. However it alsoeams Samir can't open it- which works for me. 

It's always great to re-use items that you've got hanging around the house, and to make them unique!

Plus- no more crayon fights, which should give them plenty of time to learn how to share a billion other things in life. {unless of course Samir decides that he wants the Frozen Tin- and believer that's a very real possibility #knockonwood}

Autumn Leaves {faux} Stained Glass

Autumn is my favourite season!

My most favourite part of fall is the leaves. The beauty in change, the metaphors found in the trees letting go of what sprung from their branches only seasons ago. Its just all around lovely. 

Throughout the years we have done different "leaf" crafts, but this years is my absolute fave! With many children, its nice to be able to do one big craft together as well, which we did for this one. 

How to make this beautiful Fall Craft:

Materials:

A bunch of different leaves

An Iron

A sheet to Iron on

Waxed paper

Old crayons in a few different colours

Scissors

A Grater

Procedure:

Step One: 

~ On a large work surface ( I used my kitchen Island), lay out the sheet first. I forgot to do this and then had to carefully slide the project on top for ironing afterwards!

~on top of the sheet, lay a piece of wax paper, wax side up!

Step Two:

~Arrange the leaves however you want. Cut any large, thick stems off first. Leave a bit of space in the middle so that you can seal it with the crayon wax later.

Step Three:

~Peel the paper off of the crayons.

~ Grate the crayons into one pile, mixing all the colours. {Adult job}

~Sprinkle these crayon bits all around the edge of the wax paper to create a frame, and also in the spaces between the leaves where you can.

Step Four:

~Lay an equally sized piece of waxed paper, this time wax down! on top. *** It's important that two waxed surfaces are facing each other as they will melt together, sealing the project.

~ Now your going to iron the top at about medium heat, slowly. be careful of the edges as sometimes the crayon bits escape and ironing straight onto them could ruin your iron! The longer you hold the iron over certain areas the more liquid the crayons inside become, and the more thei colours mix- creating black. The point is to melt them just enough so they stick! Slowly but surely! {Adult job} 

Step Five:

~take your scissors and trim the edges straight.

~I used transparent tape to adhere it to my window. Pick a window that get sun exposure!

Picture Tutorial:

 {Materials}

{Arrange leaves}

{Peel Crayons}

{Grate Crayons}

{Sprinkle Crayons}

{Wax paper on top}

{Gently Iron}

{Cut Edges Straight}

{Display!}

 Now I've just got to pray for a little west coast sunshine to beam through that window!

 

Tea Time

A tea party is a very "educational" thing you see. One of the best things I've learned as

a homeschool mom, is that it's the everyday moments, the little things- where you 

find some of the most important growth. Curriculum is there to give me a guide line- 

but, Life, is there to learn from. Plus, all good conversations happen over tea ♥️☕️

Duct Tape Craft

I never knew what those huge bins of beautiful Duct Tape sold at Walmart were for. I have since learned that Duct Tape has become it's own category in the craft world! From flowers to purses, you can make just about anything- one girl even made her prom dress AND her dates suit out of the stuff!

Because we must cover Art in our homeschool curriculum, I am always looking for new mediums to work with and different project ideas that will keep the kids interested. You can only paint and colour so much!

This craft does require Adult Supervision and honestly it's probably not for 10 years and under. My mom ended up doing most of the work for the little ones! However, the kids still learned a few skills to do with measuring and X-Acto knife safety! Thumbs Up!

Duct Tape Pouches

{Click to Watch!}

What you'll need:

Cutting board

Ruler

X-Acto knife

Plastic bag

Duct Tape

Procedure:

1. Using the cutting board, X-Acto Knife and ruler, measure the plastic bag and cut into a rectangular shape. Once you cut it you will end up with two pieces, use one per pouch.

2. Start lining the Duct tape across one side of the plastic bag. You can go horizontal or vertical, depending on the design on the tape. make sure to overlap each strip slightly.

3. Flip the piece over and repeat the Duct Tape strips on the other side.

4. Now you want to measure the ends of each side of the rectangle, use your ruler and knife to give them a cut so that all of the edges are straight.

5. Fold the piece in half lengthwise.

6. To finish the top of the pouch, cut a strip of Duct Tape in half lengthwise and apply on each side of the top of the bag.

7. Similarly, cut a piece of tape lengthwise and use it to stick the two opening sides together.

Clean up any tape that hangs off the edges with the x-acto knife

You will now have a flat pouch

8. Now you need to push each corner of the bag into the center, creating a flat bottom.

9. Cut another piece of Tape lengthwise and adhere it to the insides of the pouch.

10.  Take a rectangular piece of tape and cut it into four equal portions. (cut horizontally and then vertically) Use the pieces to tape the inside corners down to the bottom of the bag.

11. Shape the bag by folding the sides inwards and flattening the bottom. you can add a slit in the middle of the bag and thread some ribbon for a finishing touch. 

These are super cute to use as Make-Up bags

Or you could make one and use it as a gift bag. Two gifts in one!

The ideas are endless, but my favourite part is that they are homemade and useful.

Sayda's Day {Rainbow Cupcakes}

Having a big family has its many blessings, and one of them is that there is always someone there when you need them. My kids really pull together and it fills my heart to watch the relationships between them blossom and grow. We are busy and life is hectic, but we are a team.

Every now and then, the universe aligns for some one on one time with one of my kids. It makes for some of my fondest memories. Here I get to completely indulge in the sweetness that each one has and recognize the uniqueness that they embody. These moments allow me to pour all of my hearts love for them. I know they love it, and I know they'll remember those moments, just as I always will. 

Last weekend it was Sayda's Day. Big sisters were off with their Nanna and I timed Samir's nap around my time with her. We planned the night before to make cupcakes and her sweet little heart was so excited to make them as a "surprise" for her sisters upon their return. What an amazing little soul, to have the time all to herself but choose to do something for others. 

We talked, we laughed, we ate Cheetos and watched her choice of TV, while the cupcakes baked. And of course we licked up unnecessary amounts of icing.

I let her do everything herself, minus the oven work and separating the cake batter. She was so happy and proud, and so was this momma. 

If you haven't made Rainbow Cupcakes before- then you must try! They're always a hit because they are just so cool. You can use the same strategy in a cake too.

Directions

1. Make your favorite Cake batter, it must be white/vanilla coloured. We used a boxed cake to speed things up a bit.

2. Separate the batter equally into four bowls. you can use more or less, depending on how many colours you want, but doing more than four makes for very small amounts of colour into each cupcake. 

3. Add a different food colour to each bowl and mix it up.

4. Spoon the different colours in layers into the cupcake liners. ** try to keep reds/pinks, oranges/yellows separate so that the colours don't blend into one while baking.

5. Bake!

That's it, so simple and fun and beautiful!

~~~ Click here to watch the process ~~~

Sayda decorated her tops as rainbows to go with her theme. She spread blue icing with a butter knife on top, added white "clouds" with white icing in a piping bag, and then used these striped coloured sour candy as the rainbows. They looked so cute!

***By the end the rainbows were all falling over, so I would suggest cutting them a little bit shorter and using a stiffer icing to hold them still. {ours was store bought icing that day}. Dont forget that adding food colour to icing makes it softer/more drippy.

DIY: Cut your Own Hair! {Or your daughters}

{***Make Sure to tie the elastic as close to the hairline as possible.}

{*** That's 1.5 cm, sorry you cant see the decimal on the chalkboard!}

Like This:

AND VOILA, 
A LONG-LAYERED LOOK.

I found this DYI on pinterest here: Lee Stafford Tutorial

Of course I experimented with my own hair first, and since it turned out great, I then cut all four of my daughters hair this way. They all were way overdue or trims! Just keep in mind that this does give you layers.