Matchbox Mayflower Diorama

Thanksgiving is around  the corner, thought we would share this old favorite from a few years ago!

I gave this to my mother who hosted our Thanksgiving dinner that year!

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It is November, and Thanksgiving is approaching! 

Here is a clever gift to share for the holidays: a matchbox diorama of the 

Mayflower voyage with a ship you can move around through the waves like it is sailing to the New World.

Fable of the Day Refrigerator Magnets

Do you like to regale the people in your life with useful advice? I do, whether they want to hear it or not! I love this project because it allows me to combine my love of Aesop's Fables with my interest in discussing morals and ethical dilemnas with my children. What you do is use the spinner to find the Fable of the Day. (or week, or whenever.) Then you can use the magnets to set up the fable on the refrigerator or on a magnet board. Then if you want, you can talk about the moral. I picked 7 fables that happened to appeal to me. Some have straightforward proverbs, like "don't count your chickens before they hatch." Others are more equivocal like "a tree that is unbending is easily broken." I am looking forward to springing this project on my family as soon as Corinne finishes taking pictures for me. (The poorly composed, badly lit photos are mine and the good ones are hers.)
You might find the 7 fables I picked to be not to your taste but fortunately there are over a hundred fables to choose from. Here is a convenient list of morals at the angelfire site. After you find a moral you like you can search for the fable and find it pretty easily online by typing the moral into Google with the word "fable" attached. Then there are numerous sites that feature fables. Of course, you may have a book of fables to read and mull over, which would be even better.
Here are the 7 that I chose.

The Farmer and the Stork

Moral: Birds of a feather flock together                                                The Olive Tree and the Reed

Moral: A tree that is unbending is easily broken.

The Hare and the Frog
There is always someone worse off than yourself 

The Serpent and the Eagle

One good turn deserves another

The Tortoise and the Hare   Slow and steady wins the race                                                      
 

The Milkmaid and her Pail

Don't count your chickens before they hatch.

The Lion and the Mouse

   No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.

To make your own magnetic fables you have to decide which fables you want to use and how you want to make the characters. I cut mine out of felt. You could draw them onto paper and laminate it, use clip art from the internet, or come up with your own original way to illustrate the fables. You also need to write or type the name of each fable and the proverb that goes with it.

Materials

• Artwork to accompany each fable ie animals, props, title of fable, moral
• Magnetic printer paper
• Craft glue
• scissors (It would be good to have both big and sharp and tiny and sharp.) 

Steps

1. Take each fable and decide what you will need to execute it. I tried to keep things simple. For The Lion and the Mouse I only have the animals and a net. This is the same net that is used for The Farmer and the Stork. Many items like trees and roads can be used for multiples stories.
2. After you have your list make the items and glue them onto magnet paper.
3. You can hand write or type the title of each fable and the accompanying moral.
4. I made my spinner out of blank shrinky dink paper. I punched a hole in it before baking so that I could insert a brass fastener. If you have any old board games laying around with spinners it would be really convenient to just repurpose an existing spinner, or at least dismantle one and use the arrows.
5. The bag that holds everything is just a piece of felt folded in half and sewn up the sides. I bought two magnetic clips so it can hang on the refrigerator too.  
6. Now, spin the dial and discover some words of wisdom to guide your day!

 

 

Mayflower Matchbox Diorama

It is November, and Thanksgiving is approaching! 

Here is a clever gift to share for the holidays: a matchbox diorama of the 

Mayflower voyage with a ship you can move around through the waves like it is sailing to the New World.

Magnetic Monster Mash

We are so excited for October. The leaves are falling, the air is cooler, and best of all, we can decorate for Halloween!

We are also thrilled to have 2 Halloween crafts featured in the latest copy of  Kids Crafts 123.

Mod Podge Fruit Blocks

My sister just gave me a box of wooden blocks that are a little scratched up but still perfectly nice blocks. I happened to be rereading my mom's awesome 70's craft book Creating with Tissue Paper by Babara Stephen and she has a really cute project making decorated blocks. So the timing was right, and I decided to seize the moment and make some fruit blocks!

Happy 4th of July!

This is one of our very first posts, we thought it was worth another view, since likely many have not seen it.
We have here, a little patriotic party Sarah and I prepared for the kids
dollhouse family.

Hope everyone celebrating July 4th, has a safe and happy holiday!

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The kids are out of school, the weather is heating up, Fourth of July is coming!

The dollhouse folks are totally prepared and ready to celebrate!

A picnic feast has been prepared.

We have our American flag (made from fimo clay) and tiny paper pinwheels,.

Homemade Magnetic Paper Dolls

So our Summer Break is really here now, and as much as we play outside, or go somewhere outside of our

house, my kids always end up bored at home, at some point, and want either the TV or computer/tablet play.

Sometimes I can get them to read books, or play creatively, but we are just beginning our Summer, so I

need new creative ideas for them now!

Science Board Sweet Shop

Birdhouse pocket game

Sarah had this great idea to make these little pocket games. I remember these as a kid,  rolling the ball

around to get it in that tiny indented spot it belongs in. 

I have no idea what these games are called, if anyone knows, please tell me! But I do 

remember getting these sort of things at carnivals, and especially our dentist office.

We always had a giant treasure box of plastic toys to pick through after getting our teeth cleaned, as 

a reward for no cavities!

Shrinky Dink Barrettes

My daughter has a crazy head of thick curls, that is in constant need of some kind of hairband, barrette or something or other to tame it. We have an endless supply here, and she is pretty bored with them all, so I 

decided to personalize some for her.

Little Clover Clips- for St. Patricks Day

You can make your own luck...or lucky charm this St. Patrick's Day, with these cute 

Four leaf clover clips.

You can clip a note to them, as a holiday surprise..clip to a treat from 

a leprechaun. Or even stand the clip upright, and use as a place card holder.

These are really simple to make. In fact my kids came up with the idea, when I let them play
around with a bag of random wooden shapes and some Popsicle sticks.

 I used a regular, wooden clothespin, and then I had

a bag of irregular wooden shapes, you can find at most craft stores.

Pick out 1 star, and 4 little hearts, the same size.

The star will be your base, add glue to this, and attach the petals

to the glue on the base. 

 All points toward the center.

 Then allow your clover petals to dry.

You can attach these clovers to anything...when my kids made these, they

attached them to popsicle sticks, and we displayed them in our plants.

 Then attatch to your clothes pin....the end that pinches things...not the 

end you press on.

Then wait for it to dry. They look pretty cute natural wood color, but 

I liked the green for the holiday, adding a little gold glitter paint over the final coat.

Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Tiny Toadstool Pegs

More fun with tiny pegs! I made a Portable Peg Family  with these
same size pegs in an earlier post.
They seem to have inspired me!
So one of my favorite things to make tiny, in almost any medium
is little toadstools.

Look how cute they are!

So these are pretty self explanatory.

1.Go buy some tiny wooden pegs.

2.Using acrylic paint, paint the top rounded part, red, or brown.

3.Add polka dots by dipping the end of the paintbrush in white paint, and dabbing 

onto the top.

So cute. Now I just have to figure out what to do with them.

Suggestions are welcome!

-Corinne