Book Review; 1000 things to make and do

The very lovely Book People sent me this beautiful arty children's book to review. It is Usborne's 1000 things to make and do which is aimed at children aged 5 and over. 

The book is filled with creative ideas, mostly things to draw, ideas for collage, cutting, doodling and painting. I was impressed with the range of ideas to suit older children as well as little ones. All the pages are full colour and the book is ring bound so it stays open on the table.

How to draw a jungle scene in silhouette.

There are also ideas to suit both boys and girls, and plenty of seasonal pages which would be great for both home educators and primary school teachers.

Thumbprint snowmen.

I think the illustrations are great, showing a variety of colours and styles.

How to make a collaged doodle page.

I roped in my son Anthony to test one of the ideas; he chose collage robots which involved cutting out pictures from magazines and also sticking on things like safety pins.

Greenhouse feet!

And I also used one of the pages for inspiration and made this card by cutting out rough circles and sewing a button on top.

I really like this book, and can see myself using it both for myself and for the children. It would make a lovely present for a creative child and offers great value for money.

Mama made Monday - skulls and piranhas

Just made Anthony this t-shirt by chopping the image off an old adult's t-shirt and machine stitching onto a plain one.

And over the weekend James made himself a pencil case on the sewing machine - with a little bit of Mama help of course!

Mama made Monday; pj bag and an mp-whatsit case

My son Anthony (aged 6) chose this fabric for his pyjama bag.

It's just a simple drawstring bag, took about 15 minutes to make and he's very pleased with it.

And there was enough fabric left for a case for his mp4 player.

I sandwiched a layer of wadding between 2 rectangles, sewed them together - added some velcro to fasten the flap and folded into a little wallet, topstitching to hold the sides in place.

Here's the lucky recipient.

That's his happy face apparently.

6, going on 16.

Big Chocolate Buttons

This idea is from BBC Good Food Magazine November 2010 issue.

You need non-stick baking paper, a cup, a pencil, chocolate, sprinkles and sweets.

Draw around the cup onto the non-stick paper. Good for motor skills; Anthony actually found this quite difficult.

Spread melted chocolate inside the circles; it doesn't matter if they're not quite round!

Decorate with sprinkles and sweeties; Anthony favours the "chuck a bit of everything on" method.

Put them in the fridge to set.

Ta-dah! They look great and taste delicious!

Swinging

Haven't scrapbooked anything for a while, but here is a page featuring Anthony on the swing at Granny and Grandpa's.

Pretty plain and simple; I think I might have to add some more stuff if I can decide what it actually needs!

Tulips

Anthony is off school with a sore throat and he has made me some tulips.

Poppy made some tulips too. She doesn't get to do much craft because she scribbles more on herself than on the paper.

This is her "I'm not really going to eat this crayon" look.

Choc chip oat cookies

Today I had a helper in the kitchen.

Anthony likes to crack eggs.

He likes to mix.

He likes to get sticky hands.

 

But most of all he likes to eat cookies.