Juice carton crafts – lamp

So more brilliant Juice carton crafts today from the 11yo – who wanted to make a lamp…

Not any old lamp though, it had to be a blue narwhal of course, complete with pointy horn.
The milk carton is in itself waterproof, so will be coming camping with us this year apparently!

If you and your kids would like to have a go at this you will need:

1) Juice carton, or milk carton, empty (!) and rinsed.
2) Acrylic paint
3) Googly eyes
4) Scalpel (and a steady hand)
5) Battery powered tea light

So 11yo got busy cutting the holes for the eyes. And cutting the shape of the mouth, with a fold back to make the tongue. The *Narwhal’s (a whale!) ‘tusk’ was created by twisting a piece of paper into a cone shape and sticking into the hole left by the juice carton lid.

If you enjoyed this craft, you may also like our juice carton birdhouse here.

The narwhal, or narwhale, is a medium-sized toothed whale and possesses a large “tusk” from a protruding canine tooth. It lives year-round in the Arctic waters around Greenland, Canada, and Russia and according to 11yo, is blue.

BiB2014craftsVote Ali also blogs over on aGreenerLifeforus.com and is a new lover of Instagram too… pop over and say hello! And if you liked this Craft on Kids Chaos, you’ll be pleased to know that we’ve been shortlisted in the Britmums Brilliance in Blogging Awards – whoohey!

book reviews, crafts, education, key stage 2, kids

Button Crafts: Paperclip bookmark

We do love our Button Crafts at KidsChaos, and as 9yo is obsessed with a new book by Steve Cole – Secret Agent Mummy, and is currently using an old key as a bookmark… Don’t ask, he likes keys ok?!

So we made him this lovely giant paperclip to use as a bookmark, he’ll be so pleased to see it with his favourite book! It will make the book seem even MORE special!

They are made in the same way as the flowers here, and we added a bit of green felt for the leaves – nice eh?!

We are going to buy a LOAD of these giant paperclips and make some of these paperclip bookmarks for the school fair, I think they would be very popular! Button craft paperclip book mark
Ali also blogs over on aGreenerLifeforus.com and is a new lover of Instagram too… pop over and say hello! And if you liked this Craft – do vote for Kids Chaos, as we’ve been shortlisted in the Britmums Brilliance in Blogging Awards – whoohey!

crafts, create, gardening with kids, kids

Juice Carton Crafts – Birdhouse

We made a Birdhouse from a Juice Carton! We do have a lot of Tetra Pak Milk Cartons and Juice Cartons in our house. I drink soya milk, and we often buy orange juice as a special breakfast treat for the kids, and to try to reach our FIVE A DAY, or is it SEVEN a day these days?! You may have seen the video on Instagram, so now here’s the ‘how to’….

Ok…..so guess what we are making this afternoon….? Watch this little video for a clue!

Anyway, we don’t throw the juice cartons away…These naturally weather proof cartons stack up on the kitchen shelf waiting patiently to be made into something via the kids’ love of junk modelling, and had a big old milk carton crafting session this weekend with Red Ted Art and family – 11yo made a Blue Narwhal night light (more on that later) 9yo made a vase, and some seedling boxes (again, more on them later) and we all had a hand in making this Juice Carton Birdhouse!

We started by cutting off the pouring spout, and using it as a circular template on the front of the juice box, to make the hole for the birds to enter the juice carton birdhouse box.

Then started wrapping string around the juice box, adding a blob of glue occasionally. We wound the string all the way to the top of the box.

Using a section from a plastic milk carton, we covered the pouring spout hole. And glued pieces of broken twigs to the ‘roof’ of the juice carton to make an organic natural looking roof for the Birdhouse. Carefully cutting the string around the bird’s doorway, and gluing back the string inside to make a smooth entrance, and adding a lolly stick below finishes the juice carton Birdhouse off quite nicely! All we need now is one of Red Ted Art‘s juice carton bird feeders and we’re away!

This is a really fun recycling craft to do with the kids at the weekend, and my sister has started collecting the Tetra pak’s and will be making these at Forest School next week too!

If you like this post, check out 11yo’s little blue narwhal lamp which he made from another milk carton here! Ali also blogs over on aGreenerLifeforus.com and is a new lover of Instagram too… pop over and say hello! And if you liked this Craft – you’ll be pleased to hear that we’ve been shortlisted in the Britmums Brilliance in Blogging Awards – whoohey!

create, easter, google+ hangouts, kids

Paper plate flower crafts – fascinator

We are loving Paper plate flower crafts and experimented to make a paper plate flower fascinator! Experimenting with paper plate crafts have really inspired us this week, from cookie gift boxes to Paper plate flower crafts fascinators, if you’d like to know how to make this, read on!

This fascinator is made from just one paper plate… the flower in the centre, is made from the centre of the plate, and the two flowers with petals, are made from the two halves of the outer circle of the plate. If you would like to see more paper plate flower crafts, click the youtube image below to watch our Google+ hangout hosted by the wonderful Maggy at RedTedArt.com who made some simple paper plate nests for her pom pom chicks and the most beautiful woven paper plates too. Also present were Rebecca from herecomethegirls, with her paper plate daffodils, Emma with her mylittle3andme spiders and bird feeders, Cerys at RainyDayMum, and Anthea at ZingZingTree.

For full instructions on how to make a paper plate cookie gift box, click here, includes a very simple ‘how to’…

Ali also blogs over on aGreenerLifeforus.com and is a new lover of Instagram too… pop over and say hello!

crafts, create, easter, food, kids, monster

Marbled eggs – dinosaur eggs

Marbled eggs – quick fun craft for Easter or as great dinosaur eggs for a dinosaur party!

This blog post has now moved – CLICK HERE thank you for stopping by!

create, google+ hangouts, kids

Button Crafts – Cupcake Gift Tags

Button Crafts – eek and I’m in my element!

So with Mother’s Day looming, I thought we’d make some pretty button crafts gift tags for Grandma and Granny’s parcels as we won’t be with them on the day.

It’s a life-cycle thing too, as we have LOADS of buttons in our button box which belonged to my Grandma – we LOVE buttons in our house, and have spent hours picking through the buttons in the tin, each one having a special childhood memory for me, and now for my own children too!

Combining two of my favourite things, Button Crafts, and Cakes, I took some rather fetching paper cake cases and cut them down to fit some parcel swing tags I had lurking in the gift wrapping box. These would make great Birthday cards too – I just loved the idea of making the gift wrap special too… 🙂

Instructions:

1) Cut the cake case down to size. You should be able to get four out of one cake case.

2) Position all of the buttons where you want them onto the swing ticket.

3) Ideally take a photo for reference, we did this, so that we could remove them all, and glue them all back on in place – it’s a great way of getting the buttons exactly where you want them! Button crafts can be quite fiddly, so this is a great ‘cheat’!

4) Glue the paper case into position, I put mine over the top of the buttons, to give a more 3D effect.

If you’d like to see more button crafts, check out our Christmas Rudolph Greetings Cards, and watch the Google+ hangout hosted by Maggy at RedTedArt where myself, Anthea and Maggy shared our favourite button crafts. (Check out Anthea’s cookies – you won’t believe them!!!)

Ali also blogs over on aGreenerLifeforus.com and is a new lover of Instagram too… pop over and say hello

food, key stage 2, kids

Family friendly places to visit with the kids

Family friendly places to visit with kids – something I search for when we’re in London for the weekend – this weekend was no exception, so we made our way to the British Museum, to look at their amazing Egyptian collection, and the Rosetta Stone.

One of the most famous objects in the British Museum. The Rostta Stone is a broken piece of a bigger stone slab. And carved in different scripts and helped experts learn to read Egyptian hieroglyphs. Fabulous architecture both old and new and great for Key Stage Two kids! They have a brilliant online presence too, for those who are unable to visit.

Our next stop was the Forbidden Planet on Shaftesbury Avenue. There is a bit of a comic book ‘thing’ going on in our house – and there really is something for everyone in this amazing store, certainly Family Friendly! and we didn’t leave empty handed – the boys were so excited and slightly overwhelmed by the stock, needless to say, Marvel comics did well out of us!

Child Friendly restaurant

On the way home, we popped into Pho restaurant in Soho, 163-165 Wardour Street, and I’ll let the kids’ reviews and photos tell you more – needless to say, we were wowed from the off, with enticingly graphic colouring-in sheets, and the most delicious fresh juice combinations.

We fought over the summer rolls, and the pork balls, and squid starters, and we were amazed at how reasonably priced the Kids Menu is – with main courses from £2.70.

The Soho restaurant has a great atmosphere, and the decor is fab – we rather liked the faux fireplaces – which came into their own as the light started to fade outside – the staff were brilliant, and were really warm with the children, who enjoyed the attention, and having their own menus.

11yo however did go for the hottest Cà-ri a Vietnamese curry packed with veggies & mushrooms, topped with nuts & served with fragrant broken rice – needless to say, he didn’t need any ADDITIONAL Chilli sauce, which he’d been previously eyeing!

The side order of Rau muống xào, stir fried morning glory (water spinach) in garlic, was delicious, and enjoyed by all four of us.

It certainly is a family friendly restaurant, so much so, the kids’ have hand written their own reviews here:

For dessert, we were told that the Banh lá dứa pandan pancake, with roasted coconut, was fabulous, and it so WAS! Served with honey & ginger or coconut ice cream (we had both) – it was quite exquisite… And quite bonkers to have a green pancake!

The kids had sorbets whilst we enjoyed a traditional Vietnamese coffee, a Cà phê: which is entertaining in it’s own way too, served with condensed milk – and a little filter contraption – clearly very photogenic, as was the whole experience to be honest!

As 11yo quite rightly put it:

“I recommend Pho for everyone…..

All in all, Pho is a must-go!”

Ali also blogs over on aGreenerLifeforus.com and is a new lover of Instagram too… pop over and say hello!

crafts, easter, FREE printables, kids

Denim pocket purse FREE leaping rabbit printable

Leaping rabbits and hares have a real Spring feel about them don’t they? I’ve been doodling them forever, so I thought I’d put them to good use, and couldn’t get the Chas and Dave song out of my head, (and I fancied a denim pocket purse craft) – Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit – exactly what you do when you are on the telephone? Yep – Soooo, I thought, iPhone wallet?

Looking around the house, I came across some old denim jeans in the bag destined for the charity shop, and as we love to upcycle in our house, cut the back pockets off! My quest for a denim pocket purse craft was realised!
Yes? Well I liked it, and so did the kids so I’ve made these for their iPods, using little self-adhesive velcro dots as closings on the inside of the denim pockets, and we’re looking for a use for the little coin denim pocket – ideas welcome? Full instructions below…

Instructions:

Carefully cut the back pockets out of the denim jeans, so that you retain both layers of fabric, thus creating your OWN denim pocket.
Find (and iron) some contrasting fabric to applique onto the denim pocket purse for the rabbit shapes. (I used some fabric I had acquired from ReUsefulUK and my neighbour RedTedArt‘s hubbies old work shirt.
Print off the FREE printable rabbits template, to the scale you require for the three leaping rabbits to fit comfortably on the back pocket (the scale here is for a man’s jeans, so you may find you need to print at 90% for smaller pockets).
I used Spraymount glue to lightly adhere the rabbit sheet to the BACK of the contrasting fabric, (so that when you remove the paper from the reverse of the rabbits, the rabbits will be facing the right way… your choice!)
Peel the paper template from the back of the rabbits. And position on the denim pockets. I used a PVA glue to stick the rabbits onto the denim pocket purse, and gave them a light coat over the top too…
Add your velcro dots to the inside of the pocket to make a secure closure.

These would make FANTASTIC little denim pocket purse bags for mini-eggs for a quick Easter gift too!

For other Spring and Easter ideas click here for our Daffodil cookies

Ali also blogs over on aGreenerLifeforus.com and is a new lover of Instagram too… pop over and say hello! And I’l adding this to Lizzie’s #MagpieMonday as I love to salvage, upcycle and re-use stuff!

crafts, create, google+ hangouts, kids

Rainbow paper bunting with a sewing machine

We love a nice bit of rainbow bunting in our house…. oh, and a sewing machine. One that works anyway….(frowns in the direction of redtedart)

So I had this idea to make some colourful paper bunting with some left over paper triangles (don’t ask, I can’t bear to throw ANY scrap of paper away – even if it IS destined for the recycling!) And rainbow bunting sprung to mind… Avoiding the typical rotation of the triangles, we went with sewing down the MIDDLE of the triangle – and there you have it!

This is perfect for 17th March – St Patrick’s Day in our neck of the woods – if you fancy a #StPaddys party – would be a great decoration!

If you’d like to see some more fabulous #rainbow crafts, and #Stpaddys crafts – check out the #getyourcrafton challenge here.

Also, Maggy, Anthea, Liz, Kelly and I were in a google + hangout recently discussing various rainbow crafts, and you can watch us in all our glory by clicking here.

If you like any of these images, and would like to keep them to remind yourselves to make some later, do PinIt 🙂

Ali also blogs over on aGreenerLifeforus.com and is a new lover of Instagram too… pop over and say hello!

baking, crafts, google+ hangouts, kids

Valentine’s Day Hand Hearts

Ah, this one is SO easy to do, once you start, you won’t be able to stop, and you’ll have a whole room full of them stapled together as Valentine’s Day bunting!

Simply fold a sheet of paper in half, and draw around your child’s (or your own) hand positioning the thumb and forefinger slightly over the folded edge of the paper – (see the red paper image here) As you are drawing the area which will become the ‘heart’ slightly curve the tip of the thumb up, so that you can see the shape of half a heart appearing… cut around the fingers, and unfold to create this lovely shape of hands holding a heart, and repeat! If you have access to a sewing machine, you could join them together to create bunting, a stapler would work just as well, or simply write your message on the hands, and pop into an envelope! #SWALK (that’s sealed with a loving kiss if you aren’t familiar with that acronym!)

Granny has had several of these hearts over the years, dated, so we can see their little hands growing in size every year…. so sweet!

For the recipe for the Cake in a Mug seen here, click through to Ali’s other blog aGreenerLifeforus.com

For more Valentine’s Day inspiration, try my FREE Printable jigsaw puzzle piece crafts Valentine’s greetings cards and check out our Google+ hangout hosted by Red Ted Art, featuring Kelly from domesticgoddesque.com with her glitter heart cake toppers Lizzie with her missielizzie-meandmyshadow.blogspot.co.uk rustic twig heart wreaths and her silver birch bark candle – amazing… Plus Anthea’s needle felt hearts and Maggy’s collection of Valentines Day craft ideas.

Oh, and I’m on twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, and funnily enough on Facebook and Pinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!