Toilet paper flowers

We always paint with our watercolours set. I have noticed that when we do something over and over again the kids' attention span starts to wane. Worse still, the time spent painting gets shorter and shorter. I have also noticed that when you change just one aspect of an activity the kids' interest can be totally re-energised.

When I saw an idea in Skye Roger's book Paper Bliss that turns squares of toilet paper into paper roses I knew what I could do to re-invigorate watercolour painting.

Our Micador watercolour set came out and I grabbed a toilet paper roll. I cut a circle from each square of toilet paper. It might sound strange but the kids were intrigued. I asked them if they would like to paint on my cut toilet paper circles... they did. It took them a little while to realise they had to be gentle with the toilet paper. Their brushes kept tearing the paper. They soon got the hang of it and began dabbing the paint on and watching it bleed into the paper.

The girls painted many, many circles of toilet paper. We laid them all over the dining room table to dry. I didn't get a chance to paint as I was too busy cutting circles to keep them in supply.

After the paper had dried I stacked the circles in piles of four. I pushed a paper fastener through the stack and then scrunched each layer until I had a rose shape.  We arranged them in a vase and they are sitting on the mantlepiece.

If this is your first visit to At home with Ali – welcome. If you like it, you can follow along via email, RSS, google+ or facebook. You can also find me on Pinterest and Instagram. Cheers Ali

Linked to Kids Get Crafty

Team Tag – Simple Cars and Crayons

Today I have a little surprise for you. The contributors to Childhood 101 are playing a team tag game where we are sending readers on a journey through the blogosphere. So it is with great pleasure that I introduce to you fellow contributor, Kate from Picklebums. Today you can find me over at Octavia and Vicky with an energetic improvisation game for kids.

Kate is  an early childhood educator and Mum of four, who lives on a small property called ‘The Pickle Farm’ in rural Australia. Kate writes about all sorts of wonderful things from gentle parenting, gardening, family food to fun printables for the kids. Thanks for being here today Kate. (follow the link at the bottom of the post to join our game of tag)
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There are times when I need a quick and easy activity to engage one or two of my kids while I attend to something, or someone else. I don't have time to set up a fancy art activity, or create an elaborate imaginative play scene. What I need is something that is quick to set up, easy to clean up and that even my toddler can do independently. And sometimes, these quick and easy, spare of the moment activities turn out to be really great... this was one of those times!

I just needed ten minutes to have a sane, adult, phone conversation. I needed something new and interesting to engage my five year old and something the toddler could also join in with. It had to be an activity where they could work side by side, together, but still with enough space to do their own thing. 

I thought for a moment... what is one thing they both like right now? And how can I present that in a different, but easy to set up way? Then I had a brainwave!

I got out the long roll of paper and spread it right along our large dining table, from end to end. 

I grabbed the big box of pastels and dumped them in the middle of the paper.

I grabbed a handful of cars and popped them on the paper too.

Then I drew a road down the middle of the paper as the boys watched me.

That was it.

It didn't take the boys long to get in on the action...

Noah (who is two) drove cars up and down the road, while Morgan (who is five) drew car parking spaces, trees and an airport.

After I'd made my phone call and wandered back in I discovered both boys busy drawing their own roads and other items, creating elaborate imaginative play scenarios, making car noises and playing together happily.

I tucked this super simple idea away in a corner of my brain and have used it a few times since. We revisited the cars idea and also had lots of fun with drawing things for our wooden people. Even the big girls (nine year old twins) got in on the action when we combined Lego with the drawing.

I'd love to hear your ideas for super simple play that really hits the spot for your kids!

(You can find Kate on her blog, facebook, pinterest and twitter.)

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Thanks so much Kate for your super simple and fun idea. To keep the team tag going pop over and visit me at Octavia and Vicky. I have been dying to share our improvisation game.... exploring creativity in a different way. And then keep going and visit all the blogs in the team tag. There might be a new one to discover! Cheers Ali xx

10 more things to do with a 2 year old

I have been overwhelmed and awed by the response to my post – 10 things to do with a 2 year old at home...... so I decided to do a second instalment before Boo hits the big 3. I hope you find some ideas here to entertain your busy 2 year old... even if it only last a few minutes!!!

1. Sorting pom poms

Moving pom poms or small objects from container to container is very popular in our house. Adding a spoon or a scoop adds an extra challenge.

2. Grow something edible

We watch it grow, check for interesting bugs that often get there first and finally pick it and eat it (if bug free). You only need a tiny bit of room to get growing!

3. Thread with pipe-cleaners 

Long pipe-cleaners are perfect for little fingers to thread through holes punched in paper card. My 2 year old also likes to use the hole puncher to make holey paper.

4. Play hat shop

Lay out every hat in the house. Set up a cash register... use a toy one or make your own. Our homemade cash register is an egg carton with slots cut into the lid to feed coins into. I always add a few paper bags so that Boo can package up the sold bags.

5. Make a small world on a tray

We use a playdough base and then add whatever elements are popular on the day. Our latest small world (below) is a fairy inspired world with shells, rocks, fairy figurines, unicorns, sticks and a light sprinkle of glitter.

6. Go exploring with homemade binoculars

These binoculars are easy to make and great to take on an adventure. Cover the ends of two cardboard rolls with cellophane and tape them together. You can also add a string so they can be easily carried.

7. Make some sponge decorations

This is  always popular in our house. I cut shapes from cheap soft sponges. Boo paints the sponge shapes with pva glue and dips them in glitter. Sometimes we turn the glittery sponges into puppets by gluing on a wooden skewer.

8. Do some print making

This is very simple print making. My trusty plastic tray with a raised edge is perfect for this sort of art activity.... I place a couple of dollops of watercolour paint on the tray, add some water and then let Boo mix it all together. Lay a sheet of paper over the paint and lift it off to see your creation. It is all about the reveal!!!

9. Make a bead oyster

Tape two paper plates together. Add a pool of pva glue inside the paper plates and let your little one add the treasure. We use beads and buttons, but of course these are a choking hazard so I have to supervise very carefully. If you are worried, substitute beads for small pieces of paper. Once the glue is dry, you can close them up so that the oyster's treasure is hidden.

10. Try a little science

We have done this many times and it is always fun. Add bicarbonate of soda to a container/jar containing a mix of white vingear and food colouring. Stir and watch it fizz..... supervision is needed of course. You can play around with varying quantities to see the reactions.

I would love to hear your ideas for keeping 2 year olds happy and entertained. It can be a tough job sometimes!

And now for some useful links:

• A newly discovered blog for me that has tonnes of ideas for play is Fun at home with kids. I particularly like this water transfer challenge post.
• For reggio inspired art activities for toddlers visit An Everyday Story.
• If your child likes sensory play check out this post by Small Potatoes.
• The places on Pinterest to visit for tonnes of ideas are For the littlies, Sensory Play is so much fun and Playdough magic.

If this is your first visit to At home with Ali – welcome. If you like it, you can follow along via email, RSS, google+ or facebook. You can also find me on Pinterest and Instagram. Cheers Ali

A Castle Cake for a Princess Party

Cakey wanted a princess theme for her 5th birthday party. With her agreement we changed it to a castle theme to make it a little more open-ended and boy-friendly. I really had no idea what to do for the cake until my mother pulled out her old copy of the Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book. Inside was a castle cake that I thought that I could make.

I am not that great in the kitchen. Normally for birthdays, I bake a round cake and decorate it with sweets. This castle cake was going to be my very first fancy cake. I used my usual kid party cake recipe from Donna Hay, this recipe makes a solid cake which is easy to ice and decorate.

Recipe for one basic vanilla cake:
2.5 cups of plain flour, sifted
1.5 teaspoons of baking powder, sifted
1.25 cups of caster sugar (Donna's recipe actually calls for 1.75 cups of sugar but it is way too sweet)
250g butter, melted
4 eggs
1.25 cups of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat all ingredients until smooth. The mixture is quite runny. Pour the mixture into a lined and greased cake tin. Bake at 160 degrees C (320F) for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. I made two of these cakes in a 22cm square tin. I made each cake from scratch because after many baking failures I have finally learned not to double a recipe.

Bake two square cakes

I made a large quantity of fluffy butter cream icing in a pale pink. (I also had extra icing ingredients in the pantry in case I needed to make more.)

Butter cream icing
250g butter, softened
2 cups of icing sugar mixture, sifted
2 tablespoons of milk
Beat the butter with an electric beater until very pale and creamy. Beat in the icing sugar, milk and food colouring.

Now the construction... I chose the flattest cake for the castle's base. I covered it with a thin layer of icing. I squared off the second cake and cut out four, mostly equal, squares for the castle towers. I placed the cake squares (towers) on each corner, the icing acted like a glue.

Cut out four equal, flat squares for the castle towers

At this point Chris took the kids to the park so they wouldn't hear my swearing as I tried to ice the castle cake. I found the joints between the base and the square towers very difficult to ice. In the end I disguised my messy icing with strategically placed liquorice all-sorts, smarties and freckles.

Ice the cake and use ice cream comes for the turrets

Next the turrets... using tall ice cream cones. I placed the cones on top of the iced cake towers. According to the photo in the Women's Weekly the ice cream cones are completely covered in icing. I could NOT get the icing to cover the cones. In the end I only iced the bases of the cones and left the rest of the cones/turrets plain.

We needed some little flags to finish off the turrets. I cut four flag shapes from a piece of folded over paper. I glued the paper flags onto toothpicks and carefully poked the sharp end of each toothpick into the top of each turret. I added candles and I was done. Yay! For her 6th birthday Cakey will be getting a round cake decorated with sweets.....

If this is your first visit to At home with Ali – welcome. If you like it, you can follow along via email, RSS, google+ or facebook. You can also find me on Pinterest and Instagram. Cheers Ali