Do you know what worry dolls are? I hadn’t heard of them until a few weeks ago when Anya came home from school insisting that she needed a worry doll. I googled it and found out that worry dolls come from Guatemala and that they are tiny dolls that fit comfortably in the palm of a child’s hand. These tiny dolls are made to take away a child’s worries. Whenever your child has a worry, they can take the worry doll to bed with them, tell the doll their worry and place the doll under their pillow. The next morning the worries are gone because they have been taken away by the doll. Worry dolls are especially for kids but adults can use them too. I loved the idea so much – what a sweet and simple way to help your child with their worries.
I love Easter. Not just because of all the divine chocolate you’re allowed to eat but also because of the four day weekend which is a rarity in the UK. It’s a great time to switch off, spend time with family and of course eat more than your own weight in chocolate. What’s not to love?
Last year I shared these free printable Easter treat boxes and this year I decided to make little DIY Easter treat bags that Anya can give to her friends. One of my favourite bunnies out there is Miffy so he was the inspiration behind these cute little treat bags. And the best part is that you don’t need to sew to make these bags, just use a glue gun instead. Here’s what I did:
I never considered myself a DIY’er or a crafter but since I started some crafts for this blog a while ago, I can’t seem to stop. It’s so addictive. My latest crafting obsession is making stuff with home bake clay. Oh the possibilities! My first DIY clay project was making clay necklace pendants for kids. We chose moon and star shaped pendants but you could go any any shape you like. Here’s what we did:
Are your school mornings a mad dash? We are already three weeks in to the new school term and nothing has changed here – no matter what, we are always running late. Sometimes we make it just in time but often we end up being late and it’s getting embarrassing given we live next door to our school. I had been trying to think of ways to organise our mornings better when Anya suggested a kids morning routine chart. She said it would help her to know what order she has to do things and when.
I decided to give her suggestion a try and I finally made one last week. It’s a very simple DIY kids morning routine chart that outlines exactly what she has to do and when. We’ve only been using it for a week but the chart has helped. One of the best things about it for me is that I don’t feel like a drill sergeant anymore! I’m no longer telling her to brush her teeth 20 times before she actually does it. Or if I left the room, I used to come back and find she had emptied her lego box and started building a mammoth house which was impossible to tear her away from. Now she looks at the chart and she knows exactly what to do when. And the chart is also helping her to be more independent.
We’ve also built in a little treat called ‘golden time’ which falls in the middle of the morning routine. If the first part of the routine is done in time then she gets 5 minutes playtime. This has really encouraged her (more than I imagined) to try and get things done quickly. For us, it was always the first part of the morning that went so leisurely which meant that in the last 5-10 minutes before leaving, we were running around like headless chickens to get out the door on time. Anya doesn’t always manage to get her ‘golden time’ but the incentive is there for her to try.
I’ve made the kids morning routine chart out of regular printer paper, spelling out the morning routine. I used a teardrop shape because it looks pretty and used some washi tape to add colour but also to keep my walls from peeling! And I intentionally used a stand out colour for golden time so that it can’t be missed or forgotten. You can of course make any kind of chart – it takes just minutes and it could take some of the stress out of the mad morning dash!
Do you have any tips for taking the stress out of the morning madness?
With all this rain going on here in the UK, we’ve been spending lots of time indoors. While I love watching the rain when I’m inside and dry, I can’t say that Anya feels the same. She is restless. So we’ve been having a few play dates, more tv than we should 😉 and lots of DIY and crafting time. Of all the stuff we’ve made, Anya has most enjoyed making this DIY water xylophone that she spotted on Cbeebies.
It’s such an easy and pretty DIY that I thought I would share it here. Simply let your kids fill 6-8 plastic or glass bottles with different amounts of water. Mix in some paint, in the colours of your choice, and your musical instrument is ready. Tap with a spoon or similar to explore the different musical sounds. Anya made her water xylophone in a pastel palette which I thought was so pretty!
Do you get homework over the Summer holidays? We don’t but reading and writing practice is encouraged. With the best will in the world I know I’m not going to sit down with Anya and start practicing writing every day or even every week. We get enough homework during term time so we all need a break 😉 But I do think it’s a good idea to keep in touch with writing and reading so I thought I would make her a Summer diary where she can write what she does every few days. Last week I rounded up some fabulous fruit crafts which inspired me to make these fruity DIY Summer diaries for Anya.
Anya loved the idea of making fruit inspired DIY Summer journals and chose strawberry, pineapple and orange as her fruits. If you’d like to make these, read on.
What you’ll need: A6 notebooks A4 coloured paperin red, yellow and orange 2-3 sheets thin green card black pen and brown and white coloured pencil scissors tape or glue (optional)
Begin by covering your notebooks with the coloured paper. When I was in school in India, we had to cover all our school books or there would be big trouble. With so many years of practice I can now cover books with my eyes closed! But in case you haven’t done it before, here’s how:
Once the books are covered, you can stick or glue the inside flaps down but I prefer to leave them just folded without glue or tape. Next I needed to make the books look more like the fruit they were meant to be. I drew leaf shapes on my green card – just using a pencil. This isn’t meant to be precise or perfect so just draw freehand. I drew three different types of leaves – one for each fruit. And then I cut them out. But I wanted to create a bookmark too so I cut a long piece of card with the leaves cut out at the top as the picture below shows. So you not only have a DIY Summer diary but also a super cute DIY bookmark to match.
To finish off these fruity DIY Summer diaries I used a fine black pen to add seeds to the strawberry, a brown coloured pencil to line the pineapple diary and a white coloured pencil to add a touch of white to the orange diary.
My favourite journal is the strawberry one – I might even make one for myself! If you’re looking for some more fruit craft inspiration, check out my round-up of some of the best.
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.
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.
These party animal pumpkins are probably the coolest decorated pumpkins I’ve seen! These Disney inspired pumpkins are very easy to make but can you guess the characters?These bejeweled pumpkins would be great for adding a bit of bling to your Halloween table. These DIY donut pumpkins look good enough to eat, don’t you think?
The rain doesn’t seem to want to leave us alone here in London. My loud and repeated chanting of ‘rain, rain go away’ hasn’t done the trick. My 4 year old daughter is luckily a big fan of board games so we do spend time playing these on rainy days. But once you’ve played Snakes & Ladders 14 times in a row, it’s either time to scream or move on. The other rainy day activity that is always greeted with squeals of delight is crafting and DIY. So I went looking for a few fun and most importantly easy crafts and here’s what I liked:
These DIY paper beads are easy to make and look so pretty too. The ones pictured are made of origami paper but you can use any paper you like. So really all you need is paper and a bit of glue. Once made, these can be threaded to make bracelets, necklaces or even a garland for your kids room.These over-sized face masks on a stick are so cute! Very easy to make and your child can get as creative as they like with the faces. Make hats or crowns, glue on straws for the hair or use glitter to add a bit of sparkle… the possibilities are endless. I love these DIY {edible} finger paints because not only can you make as many colours as you like, but this is one DIY that will entertain even babies. Since the paints are edible, babies and get as creative (and messy!) as they like without you needing to worry.
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...
