Toddler Tuesday - Playing Matchy Match

Back before Christmas I made Max a matching pairs game for my project in the handmade gift round-up (you can see the tutorial here).

I was actually really nervous for him to open it on Christmas day, I thought he might just brush it aside in favour of the things he asked Santa for (Angry birds, chuggington, trucks, fire engines etc).

So when he opened it and actually loved it I was equal parts happy and surprised. When we were playing with it on Christmas Day he asked me 'why you make this for me Mumma?' and I told him 'because I love you'. He gave me the cutest smile and said 'I love this thing you made for me Mumma'. Toddlers are seriously the sweetest thing on the planet!!

We've played it several times in the last week and I can't believe how good Max is at it. He definitely has a better memory than me!!

Toddler Tuesday - Wobbly Jellyfish

Can you all do me a favour and pretend it's still Tuesday? Toddler Wednesday doesn't quite have the same ring to it ;).  I had this post ready to go for yesterday and completely forgot to post it. Baby-brain, an adorable newborn and some serious sleep deprivation will do that to you!

This week I've been in full swing getting things ready for Max's Fishy Party this weekend. I made some decorations using streamers and had a bunch left over, so Max and I decided to make them into wobbly jellyfish. There was a bit of confusion at first because Max thought I was talking about the kind of wobbly jelly that you eat, but we got through that and had a blast making these :).

You'll need:
 - a paper plate
 - paint (we mixed ours with water to get a watery finish)
 - paintbrush
 - scissors
 - streamers
 - googly eyes
 - sticky tape
 - hole puncher
 - string


We started out by mixing some craft paint with water to give us two shades of watery blue, then Max got down to the serious task of painting the paper plates. (Note the tongue poking out in the second photo, I love that he does that when he's concentrating!).

After putting the paper plates outside in the sun to dry we (and I mean Max - aka Mr Independent) cut some jellyfish tentacles out of our streamers and cello.

We (and this time I helped, which didn't go down to well with Max, but he got over it quickly) cut the paper plate in half to give us two jellyfish bodies.

 Then we flipped out plates over and Max stuck the tentacles on with sticky tape.

Max used the 'cruncher' to make a hole in the top of the jellyfish and I tied through some string.

Last up Max chose some googly eyes and stuck them onto the jellyfish with glue.

And we were done, two wobbly jellyfish!!

 

They were so easy and fun that I'm almost tempted to set up a station for the kids to make them at Max's party. Almost, but not quite tempted enough... The idea of ten kids armed with paint freaks me out more than a little bit :).

Toddler Tuesday - Paper Plate Apples

This weeks Toddler Tuesday project is another one that I first saw over at One Craftee Mumma. I pinned it ages back and have been waiting for the perfect moment to do it with Max. This week with me being 39 weeks pregnant and too huge to do much of anything I thought it was the perfect time to give it a go.

It's a super simple craft project - paper plate apples.

Supplies:
   - Paper plate (non coated)
   - green (or red) paper torn up into squares
   - glue and paint brush
   - brown paper stem
   - green paper leaf

My only involvement in this one was showing Max what to do at the start and then helping glue the stem and leaf in the right spot at the end. Other than that I just sat back and took photos :).

Obligatory eating shot - this kid is so much like his Daddy :)

Easy and fun, the perfect toddler craft!

Toddler Tuesday - Project Cress Recap

A couple of weeks ago I shared a little project that Max and I had started and said I would be back the following week with the results. Whoops! Three weeks late is better than never right?!

Project cress was actually a huge success, Max was so thrilled once the cress started to sprout. Every time someone came over that week Max would carefully carry his egg carton to them and show them his 'little plants'. I loved seeing how proud he was to be growing something of his very own.

 

 

A couple of days into the project I realised that the cress was dying, so we gave them some more water and they sprung back to life. Other than that the whole thing was as simple as checking on them each day and proudly showing them off :)

I think we will definitely be doing this one again in the future!

Toddler Tuesday - Project Cress

This week for Toddler Tuesday Max and I decided to celebrate the start of spring with a little nature project. Inspired by Tamara from One Craftee Mumma, we did our own little 'project cress'.

It was super simple and I was really impressed by how easily Max was able to do all the steps of the activity on his own with just verbal instructions from me.

All you need to get started is:
 - an egg carton
 - cotton wool
 - water
 - cress seeds
 - gorgeous queensland spring sunshine is optional :)

We started out by filling each spot in our egg carton with some cotton wool and then Max carefully soaked each piece with water (using our high-tech homemade watering can).

Then Max sprinkled the cress seeds onto the cotton wool (after I convinced him not to throw them across the yard like the 'cross mumma' in Jack and the Beanstalk!).

 

And now we wait... The seed packet suggested keeping the carton somewhere dark until they start to sprout,  so I have them up in the top of the pantry. If all goes well we should see some progress as soon as tomorrow and will hopefully have a progress report for next weeks Toddler Tuesday post.

Toddler Tuesday - Handmade Father's Day Gift

In yesterday's post I mentioned that it was Sean's birthday on the weekend. In honour of the occasion Max and I made him a sweet little handmade present. Sean absolutely loved it, and whilst we gave it to him for his birthday, it would also make a really great Father's Day present.

It was so quick and easy to do, and the end result is really effective. First up I got Max to draw a picture of Sean. I had him do this part a week in advance, he's two and can be very contrary when he wants to be. I didn't need to worry though, he was happy to oblige and I used the very first picture he drew :)

Later on in the day I sat down with him and asked him some questions about his Daddy. He thought it was a fun game, and loved answering the questions.

All I did after that was type up and print out the questions and answers and frame them along with Max's cute little drawing.

Sean really did love it, and Max loved giving it to his Daddy and seeing his reaction when he opened it. He was so proud of his art and loved seeing it in the frame!

With Father's Day still just around the corner I've been scouring the net for something else to make Sean for next weekend. I'm not going to say which project I've decided on just yet (because a certain baby-daddy reads this blog), but here are some of the best ones I've found.

Julia from Kuku Couture Invitations made this adorable little card with her 2 year old. I love that she has made it into a printable and has it available for download on her blog. It even comes with sweet little 'fill in the blank' coupons that you can include inside the card :)

Another blogger who's made up a free printable is Britni from Hubby Made Me. She created this gorgeous tie bunting and card for her daughter to give her Daddy on Father's Day. So cute!!

I really love this little handmade book from eighteen25. It would be perfect for anyone with slightly older kids, there are a few different pages for the kids to fill out, it's so gorgeously presented and (yep, you guessed it) the eighteen25 girls have a printable all ready to be downloaded on their site.

So tell me, what do have planned for Father's Day this year? Or if you are overseas and have already celebrated, do you have a link to a project you did this year?

Toddler Tuesday - Number Matching Board

This weeks Toddler Tuesday activity was inspired by this little peg board that I pinned the other day.

At 2 and a half I thought that colour matching was a little bit too simple for Max, so I decided to switch it up and do a numbers board instead.

To make the board I used:
 - Cheap dollar store canvas board
 - little black gems (also from the dollar store)
 - wooden pegs
 - coloured card
 - stick on numbers (from my craft stash)

Max really liked it, especially the pegs and numbers. He was really good with the numbers 1 through to 5, but did find the higher numbers a little more challenging.

After three or four days of playing with it he's getting better and better. The key thing for him is that he likes to do the pegging on his own. "No helping Mumma!' he told me multiple times :) So I help him count out the gems, help him pick the right number and then he pegs it on by himself.

Have you done any fun toddler projects lately?