Heart For Harlow...

I have to start this post with a big thanks to Integration Support Services for believing in us and providing a platform for us to display our talent.

Yesterday we attended the "Heart For Harlow Festival" on the grounds of water Gardens. We were part of Integration Support Services where my son displayed the toys he had made most of which were science related. Some people were amazed and others were immensely impressed. All in all it was a big success and a great boost for my son.

Pencil Case / Small Bag

How about using an old torn backpack and turn it into an awesomely useful pencil case or another smaller bag?

When my son's regular pencil case got torn, he really wanted a new one which I did offer to buy from the shop. But he wanted a big one, one which can hold lots of things. I did not understand why he needed a big one since all he needed to put in were a few pencils, pens and may be a ruler and eraser. But I was surprised to see the contents of his bag....It had everything I would not expect....Can you guess...it had a magnifying glass, a paper cutter, a few rubber bands, toothpicks, etc.,etc...He uses these to create his designs and experiment during free and break times. He does make some awesome stuff like shooters, uniquely designed paper planes which really work well. So my task was to make a big bag enough to hold all his stuff and small enough not to look like a backpack.

New small bag

Original backpack

Front pocket cut out

I had one old backpack whose main zip was broken and could not be repaired. So I cut it out and took the smaller front pocket. This would be my new bag. I took off all the hooks and one damaged zip on the front. The bag was stitched all around to make to look nice. I sewed Velcro for the front pocket whose zip was taken out. And that's it...A nice new looking small bag with lots of pockets ready to be used as a pencil case or as a small book bag. If needed, you can attach some handles to it. I did not need that as this was supposed to be used as a pencil case.

Handmade Toys

This Easter,I had fun making toys with this little kid. Simple homemade toys especially made by kids themselves bring so much joy and boosts their creativity. It also makes them think why certain things behave in the way they behave and hence teaches them the principle behind these toys in a fun way.

Magic Fan

Walking drum

Woodpecker

I bet you can't get these toys anywhere in the market. Have fun!

Easter Egg

Its Easter time and also time for some eggs...
I made this Easter egg with tissue paper.

Raw Materials:

1. Tissue papers
2. Glue
3. Small balloon
4. Water
5. An Easter chick or chocolate to put inside.

Method:

1. Tear the tissue paper by hand into small pieces. The pieces can be any size and shape. It simply does not matter. Make sure the pieces are not too big.
2. Roll each piece of paper between your palms to make small paper rolls. They roll up very easily and quickly. You can wet your hands with a few drops of water to make it more faster.
3. Stuff the balloon with the chick or chocolate as you wish.
4. Blow the balloon to the size you want your egg to be and tie its mouth.
5. With the help of glue, paste these tissue paper rolls on to the balloon. The paper does not stick easily. But with a little practise, you will be able to do it.
6. Let it dry well. Once the assembly is completely dry, it becomes hard. Now pop the balloon with a pin and take it out through one of the many holes.
7. Your Easter egg is ready to be gifted.

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Paper Mache

Paper Mache is one art that has always fascinated me. I had learned it from a TV show when I was a kid and was surprised to see how a few delicate sheets of paper could join and make a strong structure. It is only your imagination that limits what you can create. I remember the first bowl I made as a kid. I painted and covered it with varnish to make it waterproof. We used it till I finished college!!!

My son has made a few of them and here are two of them...

To make Blue Bell:

Blue Bell was created when Britain hosted the Olympic games in 2012. He was designed to be the Olympic Mascot.
To make Bluebell, the first step was to make a paper cone and fill it tightly with news paper without disturbing the shape of the cone. Then close the mouth of the cone by gluing a sheet of paper.
Make a few thick strips of paper. You can do it by rolling newspaper and then sticking at the end to prevent it from unrolling. Now paste these strips at the flat end of the cone.
Apply one or two layers of tissue paper to make its skin look good. After everything is dry, apply an even coat of the color of your choice. We chose Blue and Orange.
To make eyes and mouth, we took help of the Pizza carton. The eyes are made of cucumber and mouth is tomato;-)
Cut thin strips of paper and color them with the colors of Olympic rings. Paste them on Blue Bell's head.
This completes the Olympic mascot.
The hidden secret of Blue Bell is that if you turn Blue Bell upside down, he becomes the Olympic torch!

The second one is named MUSHI....Not the Moshi Monsters though. We had not heard about them till then.

To Make Mushi:
To start with, we made two paper balls and pasted them one above the other. Then cut two identical cardboard pieces to resemble wings. We also cut two cardboard pieces to form legs for Mushi. The cardboard pieces were held in place with the help of sticky tape. After that the whole structure was covered with two layers of tissue paper.
Now came the colorful bit....Shreyas chose yellow for the body and orange for the limbs. You need to be very careful while painting because the tissue paper tends to rip off. Just dab the color with cotton ball. Once everything is dry, use paintbrush to make the facial features.
The last and final bit was the hair for Mushi. Cut a long strip of paper and then fold it in half length wise. Now open the fold and make cuts on one half of this strip width wise  Now roll this around Mushi's head and glue it in place. Viola! A new creature has just been created.

Decorated Folder

How about decorating a kids folder according to the contents of the folder?
This will make the kids open the folder again and again and may be encourage them to go through the contents as well.

Whatever it is....all I can say is it looks beautiful.

I used an old file, some foam, a printout of the name and some embellishments.

Cut the foam to the size of the folder and paste it on the front of the folder.

Then cut the letters from the print and paste it on to the foam. Paste a decorative ribbon on the edges of the foam and decorate the remaining empty spaces with embellishments.

Broken CD - Beautiful Vase

I have tons of CDs which no longer work or are useless. But I don't like to throw them. That shiny surface always holds me back when I want to put them in the bin. So here's what I did with them when my olive oil got over and I had a beautiful green bottle at my disposal.

Step 1: With pliers remove the rings that are surround the rim of the bottle and any other unwanted parts.

Step 2: Thoroughly clean the bottle and the CDs (of course without damaging the shiny surface) to get rid of any dirt or oil. They dry them well.

Step 3: wrap the CDs in a cloth and use a hammer to break them. I used two CDs. The cloth will prevent the pieces from flying and collect in the cloth.

Step 4: Smear one side of the bottle with glue.(I had a square shaped bottle. You can do part by part on a round bottle so the glue does not dry out. Use a strong glue for a lasting product.)

Step 5: Now choose the pieces of broken CD and place them on the glue with shiny side up in a mosaic form. You can play with shapes and sizes so they look different and individual.

Step 6: Keep them to dry and make sure the pieces stay where you have glued them.(keep the bottle on it's side to prevent the mosaic from slide off,out of pattern.

Step 7: Wipe your bottle with a soft cloth to remove any glue sitting on top of the CD pieces and bring back the shine of your bottle.

Step 8: With a ribbon or a thread cover the rim so the groves in the bottle are covered.

Step 9: Place a nice bouquet in the bottle.

Step 10: Admire your creation, your very own CD bottle.

These bottles are easy to make, hardly cost any money and will keep your house nice and beautiful.Why not try some other things that you should keep in like a tiny light or a candle? or maybe change the shape of your container!

Kid's Collage 2

Its those times when kids have holidays and no one to play with and to make things more worse, you are left alone with them for extended periods of time. What do you do to keep them engaged so that you can complete your household work before playing with them? Its just that little extra time you need.
When my kid was young, I used this trick to keep him engaged. It not only helped pass time but also helped him improve his creativity. All I did was very simple. I took some colorful papers and cut different shapes out of them like triangles, circles, small strips, thick and thin strips, etc. Gave him one A4 plain sheet of paper with a glue stick and asked him to create designs using those paper clips. He could create anything real or imaginary limited only to his imagination. You never know what they may create...We may stumble upon some master artist...

This is what my son came up with during one such session.

I used his talent and coaxed him into creating one very beautiful collage with a combination of plain paper cuttings and magazine cuttings. This time he imagined the picture and asked for images. He also did use the scraps lying around. I had to make him do it a few times before I was satisfied. I sent this creation to a competition held by Ryan Global School, Mumbai and guess what, his creation won the first prize for kid's under 5!

The first image won the prize. But we did not get the art back. So we had create another one on similar lines to display in his school.