Gingerbread Boy

Run Run as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man!

The kids are fascinated by the story of the Gingerbread Boy and its song.  Kammi kept asking if the Gingerbread boy will really jump out of the oven if we were to make him. We gonna prove that he can!

Materials: Pre-packed gingerbread man ingredients from supermarket

Time spent: 20 minutes dough, 20 minutes cutting/ decorating, 20 minutes waiting for them to cool

Gingerbread boys/girls before going into the oven

Kammi's gingerbread girl

Kyler's gingerbread boy

Fresh out of the oven! 

And did they jump out?

YES! Right into the kids' mouths!

Incy Wincy Spider

Incy Wincy Spider


The kids love this song, hence inspired this craft.


Materials used
1) Craft paper - blue (rain clouds), white (lightning, rain drops and clouds), orange (sun),  black (spider)
2) A pair of googly eyes (large)
3) 2-3 black "pipe cleaners" cut into 8 hairy spider legs
4) 4 grey/ brown "pipe cleaners" to be made into spider web
5) Craft glue
6) 2 clothes hangers
7) Sticky tape
8) Crayons/ markers
9) Scissors
10) Strings


Time spent : 40 minutes
Fun: 9/10 Kids loved singing the song and moving Incy Wincy up n down the web!

We drew clouds on the blue craft paper

Our professional Cloud Maker!

Kyler's angry clouds

 We stuck the clouds, lightning, raindrops, Incy Wincy onto an old hanger with sticky tape.

We stuck the black pipe cleaner legs onto the back of the spider body. Also added a brown pipe cleaner to its back. As seen above, stick a small piece of black craft paper over a part of the brown pipe cleaner. Make sure that the spider is still able to move up and down the brown pipe cleaner.

Kyler and Kammi made the happy sun and clouds.

 Incy Wincy is happy climbing up the spout again when the sun is out...:-)

Thunder, rain and lightning! Poor Incy Wincy can't wait to climb down the spout!

(With the clothes hanger, you are able to hang these 2 art pieces on the windows)

Pirates Ahoy!

Pirates Ahoy!

Kyler was asking me to buy him a pirate hat and sword (dunno what cartoons he has been watching lah). Was thinking to myself : It shouldn't be too hard to make a DIY pirate hat/sword, right?

DIY Pirate sword

Materials:

1) Recycled paper bags - I recommend using the harder and thicker ones

2) Sticky tape and double sided tape

3) Recycled disposable chopsticks

4) Colour craft paper

5) Scissors

6) Aluminium foil

 Kyler's and Kammi's swords (end product)

 Craft Materials

 Stick the chopsticks onto a piece of recycled paper bag

 Cut out the shape of a sword (2 pieces of the same size and shape)

Stick the 2 pieces together (note that the chopsticks are still stuck between the 2 paper swords.)

Cover the "blade" of the sword with aluminium foil and stick the loose ends with sticky tape

Kyler busy cutting up craft colour paper to decorate the "helm" of his sword

 Put sticky tape on the "helm". Then stick the craft paper on both sides of the "helm" 

Add on any embellishments if desired ( A piece of Jewel will be nice!)

My fierce pirate brandishing his swords!

DIY pirate hat

Materials:

1) Black construction paper

2) White/ grey construction paper

3) Black marker

4) Glue

5) String

6) Recycled paper bag

7) Sticky tape

a) Cut a strip out from a paper bag (about 2 inches thick, the length depends on size of the kid's head) 

to make into a headband. Stick the loose ends with sticky tape to make a complete loop

b) Cut out the shape of a pirate hat from the black craft paper and stick it onto the headband

c) Draw a skull and bones on the white craft paper, cut them out, 

stick them on the black craft paper hat 

(**you can clearly tell I didn't help Kyler when he drew and pasted the skull, haha)

d) Cut an oval shape out of the black craft paper to make into a eye patch

e)  Stick the eye patch onto a piece of string

Time Spent : 30minutes on sword and 20minutes on hat

Fun level: 9/10 (he has been playing with this for the past 3 days, and now thinking of making a parrot to go along with this pirate theme PLUS maybe a black/white outfit!)

Mosaic masquerade masks (June 2011)

Masquerade Masks


Materials used
1) card board paper (for this I recycled old shopping bags)
2) foam stickers of various colors (for this I cut up left over foam stickers from previous projects). You can also get foam boards from craft shops
3) rubber bands
4) staplers, scissors, double sided tape
5) cotton wool

Materials

Our Masquerader!

Cut out from recycled paper bags (1spectacles and 1 moustache)

Stuck on foam stickers

Stuck cotton wool on paper moustache

Using staple to attach the specs to the moustache

Using staple to attach the rubber bands

TADA! Work done!

1 mask for each tot!

Cost of project = minimal

Time spent = 20 mins each mask

Fun = 8/10.. Kids had more fun wearing the masks to "scaring" their neighbor friends with a loud BOO!

The Toilet Roll Girls (June 2011)

Toilet Roll Girls

Doesn't sound glam isn't it.. haha... but this is the name that Kammi gave to these 4 girls made out from recycled toilet rolls.

With so many kids and adults at homes, we are building up an abundant supply of toilet paper rolls.... Instead of binning them, we can use them to do lots of simple yet fun crafts with the kids....

It was just me and Kammi at home, we decided to do a girl project... We cut out a couple of paper girl heads from an old workbook, then pasted them on top of toilet paper rolls, added some embellishments on their hats, used markers to make some patterns on their clothes.. TADA.....we now have the Toilet Roll Girls, who are (quoting Kammi) "off for their tea party at the Botanic Gardens"...

Materials used
1) Toilet paper rolls
2) craft paper to make the heads of the girls
3) stickers or embellishments
4) markers
5) craft glue and scissors

Cost = Minimal
Time spent = 30 minutes for the 4 girls
Fun = Kammi did have lots of fun after the craft work pretending that the Toilet Roll Girls are doing a tea party

(No prizes for guessing which Toilet Roll Girl was done by Kammi without my intervention.. haha)

欢迎欢迎热烈欢迎 公公婆婆回来！

Welcome garlands and posters for GongGong & PoPo (end April 2011)


We had to pick up the grandparents from the airport. The kids decided they should make some presents to welcome them. 


The kids made some big signs in Chinese that says "欢迎公公和婆婆！”
They also made garlands (all inspired by the Singapore elections, keke).


Materials used for paper garlands
1) paper cupcake holders
2) card board paper (for this I used recycled shopping bags), cut into a 8-10 of circles
3) a long piece of string ( for this I stripped off the strings from shopping bags and tied them to form a long string). Length of this depends on the size of the person wearing this.
4) craft glue


The kids stuck the paper cupcake holders on top of each piece of cardboard circle around the piece of string to form the garland.


Cost = minimal
Time spent = 15-20 minutes

Fun = Kids had more fun putting these around themselves and on their grandparents (vs the hard work)!

Monkey Ears!

We decided to visit Bukit Batok Nature Reserve for some fresh air.

It was a nice walk into the park, the path was a little steep, but the kids managed as they imagined themselves to be Diego and Dora rescuing animals in trouble... Along the way, to the kids' delight,  we spotted many monkeys, a squirrel, some friendly white/brown birds, a pair of bright blue kingfisher, a monitor lizard, a couple of tortoises swimming lazily in the pond...

We ended off playing with in the playground. The kids had fun building sand castles, but what made them most excited was burying the busy ants with sand...it was so amusing to see them being excited by small little games like these...

On the way back, we came across some interesting looking shells on the ground. They looked like the outer shell of some nuts... they look like ears! I made up a story about these shells being the ears of naughty monkeys who do not listen to their mummies..just to scare the kids a little kekeke...

We collected a few of the shells back home to do some art/craft - To stick the ears back onto the monkey's head!

PS/ We finally found out that the shells belong to the Rubber Tree!

I had to draw the monkey's head for Kam, but at least she helped with sticking of the ears...

Ky's great attempt at drawing a monkey...

Ky insisted that the shells look like tyres of a police car...

Materials

a) drawing board

b) craft glue

c) crayons

d) Shells of rubber seed!

Tots Mania fun rating 3.5/5! (Its the process of collecting the seeds that was interesting!)

Pizza Friday!

The kids chanced upon a great book "Pizza Friday" in the library...

Pizza Friday, Every Friday

Now its time to bake

Soon the pizza will be ready 

For me to come and take!

After reading the book, we decided to make our own pizzas. Ky wanted Hawaiian and I wanted Veggie Lovers.

Materials:

1) Construction paper - yellow (dough), red (sausage), green (peppers), grey (onions), bright yellow (pineapple), white (cheese), pink (ham)

2) Markers - red (tomato paste), black (to fill in lines/patterns if desired)

3) Craft glue

4) Scissors

5) Styroform plate (to serve the pizza!)

6) Optional: Centre of a roll of kitchen towel (to serve as the "rolling pin")

This is what Ky said we should do: "Step by step, mom."

Step 1: Make the dough - cut a circle using yellow construction paper

Step 2: Use a rolling pin to "roll over the dough to make it flat"

Step 3: Prepare the toppings - using the construction paper, cut small red circles (sausages), yellow triangles (pineapple), white confetti (cheese), small pink rectangles (ham), etc.... Just use your imagination!

Step 4: Cover the dough with tomato paste - color the yellow circle with red marker

Step 5: Put on the toppings - stick the toppings prepared in step 3 onto the dough

Step 6: Pop the pizza into the "oven", set the temperature

Ky is happy with the pizzas we made

Art Materials used

Voila! Pizza is ready to be served!
(* Remember its hot! Please use mittens!*)

Tots Mania Fun Ratings: 4/5!


Cost of materials: Minimal
Suggestions: You can also recycle old magazines to do this project

We are Kings and Queens!

2 Jan 2011 Sunny and Breezy

Ky and Kam love to cut up things. Give them a pair of scissors, you will end up with lots of confetti on the floor (or Kam always says:" See mom! I made snowflakes"). With kids like mine, we are always in need of art material, especially paper....

One day, PL (my sis) came up with a great idea of recycling old paper bags to do art and craft. Ky wanted to make a crown. He was very much inspired by the cartoon "Little Princess". He wanted to be the King, and Kam, of course, is the Little Princess.

PL rummaged out 2 red paper bags. Making use of the top of the paper bag, she cut out 2 thick strips of paper (about 7-8 inches thick).  She wrapped a strip around Ky's head to measure the length of paper required, then did the same for Kam.

The kids were deployed to do their favorite activity - Paper Cutting! PL made them cut zig-zags round 1 of the long side of the strip of paper. Then she used sticky tape to connect the short sides together - Voila! The Royal Crown is completed!

The Royal Aunt and Uncle

The Royal Baby Princess

Jughead Jones?!

Kam's Royal Penguin

Materials used

1) Just old paper bags

2) Scissors

3) Sticky Tape

4) Markers to draw patterns on the crown (free and easy)

Cost = Negligible!

Tots Mania Fun Ratings: 4/5!

Shapes, Colors, Textures, Scent and Nature!

20th Feb, Sunny Morning

We brought the kids for a much needed run in the park. I wanted the kids to burn off some of their endless energy and get their eyes off the TV. I asked Ky to bring along his and Kam's plastic tanks to collect some leaves, sticks and flowers to do a collage.

I gave Ky specific instructions of collecting the following
a) Leaves of different colors - Brown, Yellow and Green (Shapes, Colors)
b) Sticks of different thickness and textures - thick/ thin, rough/ smooth (Sizes, Textures)
c) Flowers of different colors and scent (Colors, Scent)
As we collected the materials, we went through the different elements listed above.

The project for the day is to make a collage using the materials that we have collected. The only specific requirement is that they have to make a tree in their artwork.

At home, the kids quickly went on with their project with enthusiasm. These are Ky's and Kam's "masterpieces" of their interpretation of how Nature is around us.

Ky's: Trees and Trucks at Work

Kam's: Trees with falling leaves and flowers

Materials
a) Leaves, Sticks, Flowers
b) Construction paper
c) Craft Glue
d) Markers
Total Cost = Minimal

Tots Mania Fun Rating = 4/5! :-)
Great way to learn about Shapes, Colors, Textures, Scent and Nature!