Nothing says Summer like some fresh, brightly coloured fruit. Ice-cold watermelon, bright red strawberries or even the odd fruit daiquri or two enjoyed in the sunshine is what it’s all about. With the Summer holidays coming up I have DIY’s on the mind and what better than some fun fruit crafts for kids to keep them busy. So I’ve rounded up 10 of the very best fruity DIY’s – some with free printables for a quick little project and others that are a bit more involved. Most of these fruit crafts for kids would make great decorations for a fruit themed Summer party too.
Do you celebrate Father’s Day? We don’t do gifts but we always have cards and a usually a nice family meal. Every year I have the best intentions of making a card but it never happens. This year though I decided I would be organised and make sure it happens. So I made these little mustache cards – aren’t they cute? I was so pleased with the way they turned out that I thought I would share them here. If you still need a card, then these free printable Father’s Day cards are the answer. You can print them and let the kids decorate them as they wish.
To make these cards, all you have to do is print out the PDF’s, fold along the line and cut them out. Just make sure that you don’t cut all the way round – the tops shouldn’t be cut so that the back of the card remains attached. I used pink, maroon and grey coloured card but you can choose whatever colours you like. And if you’d like the kids to decorate them then lighter colours will of course be better.
I’ve attached two PDF’s of these Father’s Day cards – one where the mustaches have little messages printed on them and the second which are left blank for you to put your own message or just to decorate as you wish. We’ve made so many of them and Anya can’t wait to get decorating. Happy Father’s Day to all those great dad’s out there!
With Easter fast approaching (how did we get to March already?!) it’s time to think Easter crafts. Anya loves all kinds of crafts but I know that Easter crafts are her absolute favourite – eggs, bunnies, chocolate – what’s not love? So today I have these adorable free printable Easter bunny cards for you. Anya’s already made loads to give to her friends – they’re super easy to make and look so cute!
These free printable Easter cards have been created exclusively for my readers by a super talented graphic designer and architecture student called Annelies. I stumbled across her site and I fell in love with her work so we collaborated and here are these cute little cards. This is the first part of the collaboration – there’s another part coming soon.
To make these cards simply print out the templates provided and cut them out. Stick the envelope part with glue or invisible tape, pop the card in and you’re done! I have chosen to use pastel coloured card as these colours remind me of Spring but of course you can choose whatever colours you like. I would suggest using something heavier than regular printer paper like thin card for best results. Once printed, write your message on the back and give them to your friends or you could even make an Easter bunting by hanging these bunnies on to string. They’d also make great gift tags and so much more.
I am so glad I discovered Annelies’ work and we managed to collaborate. If you like pattern and design then don’t miss her blog A pattern a day where she creates beautiful new patterns every day. Annelies is only 22 so I can’t even begin to image what great things she will get up to in the coming years! And don’t forget, this is part one – part two of the free Easter printable is coming soon.
Here is the PDF – Annelies has created a few versions of the bunny cards each with slightly different patterns. Print and enjoy for your own personal use:
This is such a simple DIY that I wasn’t sure whether I should post it here. But I decided that since it’s quick and easy and you get a fun little game out of it, I would share it. In fact it’s easy enough for the kids to do by themselves so with that in mind here is our Valentines inspired DIY tic tac toe game.
We are big fans of all kinds of games in this house – from the more involved to the really quick ones. But I find that when time is short and Anya is still insisting on playing a game (like at bedtime) I like to pull out the quickest little games. The ones that we regularly play are snap, connect 4, tic-tac-toe and a few others. Since I have all the other games but not a tic tac toe board I thought why not make one. And with Valentines day coming up, I chose to go with heart counters. So you can make this for Valentines but of course you can play with it for ages after.
The instructions are very simple. The make this DIY tic tac toe game I bought some wooden heart craft shapes from ebay which I painted red and black. I then got some thick card to make the board. I cut the card in to a square and also cut strips of the same card to make the dividing lines. You can also use washi tape for the lines as I was planning to but then I quite liked the simplicity of the black and red colour against an all white background. And that is all there is to it! I think it makes a sweet little Valentine craft for kids to do with or without you.
It’s finally Friday! It feels like it took a little longer to come this week, but it’s here. Today I’ve got some fun things from around the web to make you smile. To begin with, this room has to be one of the most playful kids rooms I’ve come across. So much fun and personality to this room where anything goes and yet it all comes together as a dream space for any little kid. To see more of this room and loads more images of seriously cool kids rooms visit Nynneetliloujos.
This head teacher shows us the ultimate way to announce that school is closed due to snow (hilarious – watch it!)
A couple of years ago for Anya’s birthday, Richard and I thought that she would love a dolls house so we decided to make one as that is so much more personal than buying one. Richard painstakingly made the dolls house out of some wood he bought, we ordered wallpaper samples to line the walls and we even made teeny tiny furniture from bits of wood and small toy blocks. We had my mum-in-law knit mini blankets and we made little cushions and pillows from foam and fabric scraps. Because it was going to be a surprise for Anya, we did most of the creating at night, often staying up till the early hours to get it finished on time. Lots of love, effort and time went in to this handmade DIY dolls house. On her birthday with much excitement and anticipation we gave it to her.
Anya’s initial reaction was one of joy and we felt happy she had a dolls house as we knew that every little kids loves a dolls house, right? Wrong. After playing with it for about half an hour, the dolls house was never looked at again. Ever. It’s now been given to charity and I am hoping some other little kid is enjoying it. That’s the thing about kids though – you never know what they will like! We will not be making any more dolls houses ever again (we are scarred for life : ) but if you want to try and make one here are some fabulous ideas to get you inspired and I really hope you have better luck then me:
A DIY cardboard dolls house is an inexpensive option and you can be very creative with it like these two examples show. The first cardboard dolls house is a simple construction from cardboard boxes. I love the colourful windows and doors but you don’t have to stop there – you can add as much colour as you like. Maybe paint the whole house white and then add the colours around the windows. In the second dolls house, each room is made out of a basic box and if you tire of one room you can just get another box and make a new one. Also there’s no limit to the number of rooms you can add.
This is such a simple and cute idea. Really easy to make, these DIY house shelf dolls houses can be decorated with wallpaper samples or paint and you can even have different floors on the larger shelves. I love the idea of hanging these on the wall so they are at the perfect level for play and they look great too.
Using an old bookshelf is another way to make a fabulous dolls house. But like the picture above you can easily turn an old bookshelf in to a fire station or police station too. I love how the roof is painted on the wall so you don’t need to create a roof from additional wood and the bigger the book case, the more rooms you can have.
This is a fantastic Ikea hack. This is a basic Ikea bedside table that’s been turned in to a modern and fun DIY dolls house. The furniture too is from Ikea but you could always make your own.
Last is this really clever DIY suitcase dolls house. It’s as fun as any of the others and it’s so easy to store away too. The front of the house can be decorated with chalkboard paint and chalk like this one or you could create windows and doors with washi tape and add lots of colour too.
There you have some of really fun ideas to get creating your very own DIY dolls house. Even though I won’t be making anymore dolls houses anytime soon, I’m still loving these ideas. My favourite is the house shelf – I think it looks so adorable and doubles up as really cute decor too. What’s your favourite?
I spend half my life researching stuff on the net to share on this blog. And often I come across delightful or funny little things that I want to share but they don’t really fit in to posts. So once in a while I like to share them here. My recent fun finds include this playful pear poster and here are the rest:
Add a little sparkle to your kids bedroom in under 10 minutes with this simple idea.
About to become a parent? Practice these 11 (hilarious) steps and you’ll have mastered parenting!
Boys can wear polka dots too. How cool does he look?
This striking neon reindeer may be sold out why not try making it as a Christmas craft?
Your little boy will love you even more if you make this easy Washi tape DIY in his bedroom.
Don’t have space for a Christmas tree? Why not get creative with an alternate tree like this?
I’ve long been a fan of Merrilee Liddiard who writes the creative kids craft blog called MerMag. She has now published a book full of the most fun crafts to make with your kids. The thought behind the book is that we can make toys and fun things for our kids just like our grandparents did. Everything doesn’t have to be bought but instead it’s all about engaging with your kids to create playful things where the making part is just as important as the playing. Being the stylish mum that she is, Merrilee goes a step further with her book. While it’s all about kids crafts it’s beautifully presented with thought given to the clothes the kids wear, the interiors and every detail so that it’s a book you can happily display on your coffee table.
The book is called “Playful: Fun projects to make with + for kids” and has a big range of crafts including toy making, paper crafts, making dressing up stuff and lots more. Some of my favourite crafts include those cute wooden necklaces (pictured at the top) and those giant animal cutouts. That tiger pinata looks really fun for a party too. There are many crafty mums out there but the reason I especially love Merrilee’s creations is because everything is do-able by non-crafty mums like me and it’s very easy to genuinely involve kids and let them do a lot of it. Also, you never need ridiculous amounts of materials or complex tools. And besides all her crafts look so beautiful don’t you think?
Nothing says Summer to me more than fresh fruit. OK, maybe ice-cream too but fruit is up there with the Summeriest of Summer things. The bright colours, the fresh flavours, the juicy consistency all shout Summer. Apart from eating it, I love the idea of having a fruit themed Summer party for a kids birthday, a family gathering or just about any excuse you can come up with to have a party. I went looking for some fruit themed party inspiration and here are 9 of the best fruit decorations, cakes and more for a fabulously fresh n’ fruity Summer party:
Ebabee Likes is a style guide for babies, kids, teens and their mamas. It’s all about inspiration, ideas and indulging yourself and your brood. It’s written by me ~ Nomita ~ a style loving girl from Mumbai who now live’s in London. Read More...