Sabrina is a Lifestyle, Parenting and Product Review Blogger. A Writer, Photographer, Reviewer, Home Cook, Crafter & Nature Enthusiast. You will find a bit of all those categories here on Severn Wishes Blog, Welcome to Sabrina's Lifestyle Blogging & Honest Reviews.
Autumn is such a beautiful time of the year, and it should be enjoyed by people of all ages and of all abilities too. But as the cost of living goes up again with our need for heating on and more food, not to mention the loom of Christmas… most people will vote to stay in, worrying they cannot afford to go out.
Well I’m in the same boat as all of you again this season, knowing that money will be tight but I also want to make the most of weekends I have my son. School takes up so many hours of the week, and the majority of children don’t really want to be stuck inside (unless the weather is gale force and torrential rain!). So it’s important to come up with some cheap ideas that will suit everyone and that can be fun of course, so here’s what I do.
See what can you do for free in your local area. Where do you begin to look?
Start off by writing down on a piece of paper the people in your household, their ages and abilities.
Do you need toilets frequently, baby changing facilities or access for a pram or wheelchair?
Once you have established the type of place you need to find you can look up on an online map what is available for free in your area.
Check local free magazines in supermarkets, check out social media by searching in events local to you by so many miles radius.
Some of these things can include;
Public Footpaths. Canal Routes or Designated Walkways. Parks and Gardens. Local Heritage Sites. Castles or Stately Homes. Farms with Free Entry to look at Pumpkins, Flowers or do Maize Mazes. Nature Reserves with free car parking so you can do a Nature Walk to collect leaves. National Trust (some people will already be members, sometimes they have reduced entry fees).
What Can You Do While Out?
Enjoy a walk together as a family, don’t forget to take some photograph’s! Gather items to take home and make art and craft pieces another day. Go for a Nature Walk and talk about what you can see and hear (great for young children). Nature Bingo where you make a list before you go and then tick off the items as you find them. Discuss the life cycle of trees with older children and the importance of renewal each year.
(If you don’t mind spending a little money) Pumpkin Patch Picking Maize Maze or Woodland Trails Local Trust Properties or Heritage Sites
Sabrina’s Top Tip: Take a picnic or packed lunch with you, and drinks for everyone too which will save you money, even if you have to eat it in the car then it won’t matter because it’s still family time.
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Thank you for reading this blog post today, I do hope that I have given you some good ideas.
Have a great day and lots of fun if you take on board any of my tips!
Anyone who has ever put a child in school will know that there is so much to remember that it can make your head spin. For example, last weekend I labelled shoes, 37 items of clothing, 7 lunch boxes and a variety of other smaller items. Your child will have a Bag, a Lunch Box or Bag, quite often a Book Bag, a PE Kit and Bag as well as maybe other things to take in with them too. It’s a lot of work for one person (a single parent like me) to handle, and there are time saving ways of doing things and ways to make it easier on yourself too. Let’s see what ideas I have below and what I have done during these last two weeks in preparation for school starting up again.
Yearly Wall Planner and / or Yearly Diary Get a year long wall planner and some little round stickers to keep track of everything, make a key at one side and then add any appointments, school trips, swimming days, special dates (like those where additional things are required like dressing up or concerts) and keep updating it every time you know a knew agenda item. This is useful as well for the non-school days and other important reminders too such as Dentist, Doctors or Opticians for example. I think I would be lost without my wall planner.
Weekly Planner A weekly planner is also something that I have on my dining room table, it’s so that on a weekend I can prepare for the week ahead, read up on any paperwork sent home from school on a Friday and let my child know what is expected of them for that upcoming week. It could be school photo week or they are expected to bring an item in for show and tell, but we will know not to forget because of the planner. I can also arrange this planner in a way that has both adult and child organised, as well as meal planning if I have items to be used on a certain evening. A useful item and much better than a phone calendar you may forget to look at, but if you sit down to eat as we do together as a family, the planner is there for you to go through so everyone knows what is what and where and when.
Labelling – It is so Important! Label all of your children’s items for school including their lunch boxes, clothing, bags and shoes. There is nothing worse than them going to school and losing something, and because it’s not labelled it’s unlikely to be returned to you. Schools tend to have lost property boxes that are checked at the end of every day or the end of the week and the items appropriately returned, but this cannot be done without labels. I used a permanent laundry pen to write on my sons clothing labels, and I used stickers for the more solid items. Consider using their full names or even getting their own personalised stickers printed as I have done. Especially if your child has a popular first name.
Use the halved sticker hack for getting your children to put their shoes on themselves and to ensure that everyone knows which shoe is who’s. The sticker inside hack allows them to put their shoes on the correct feet every time and it’s genius. Simply cut a large sticker in half and place either side of it into the shoes. When the shoes are correct the sticker will match and the child will know that they have the shoes the correct way to go on their feet. See my photo below for inspiration.
Clothes Piles per School Day Fold up any school clothing into “day piles” in their bedroom on a weekend ready for the school week ahead. This hack of mine is so useful, I did it over the summer too with day clothes as I was getting my son to practice getting dressed by himself. It’s so that I don’t have to police every single item of clothing going on every morning. My son has pants with the days of the week on them, and because that’s the item he will put on first he then has a pile beneath that. So you start with a pair of pants with his daily school uniform laying under it. Pants, Socks and Trousers, then his Polo Shirt last and his jumper is always downstairs and the last item to go on (to save any breakfast getting on it). It’s also so much easier on a Sunday to just make these piles up and put them in the correct bedrooms ready for the week. If you have to wash midweek, even doing two piles of clothing is better than searching drawers first thing on a Monday morning for that missing sock.
Save On Washing – Remove at the Front Door This is always a good one! Take off their school jumpers and any “still clean” uniform pieces as soon as you get home through the door before they have time to get messy and creased. Hang the jumpers up especially on hangers close to the front door ready for the next morning. This helps save on the clothes washing and the ironing by hanging them up safely as soon as they take them off. And it’s always a good idea that a school jumper be the last item to go on in a morning routine anyway, after breakfast and teeth brushing so that it stays cleaner for longer.
Something else you can do to save on washing is always wash with full loads, if that means you get to Thursday and it isn’t full yet then why not consider wearing those similar colours yourself so as to fill up the load space.
Mini Cool Blocks Investing in some mini cool blocks so that the children’s lunch food stays fresh is important during the warmer months of the year. I place a block under a removable plastic section of his large Sistema lunch box, or I place it at the bottom of the small cool bag I send with him. It’s important if he’s wanting chicken for his lunch which should be maintained at a low temperature to prevent it going off. These are great for adult lunches and days out throughout the year too.
Practice Makes Perfect and Less Stressed Children Practice the opening and closing of lunch boxes, bags with zips and coats too. We are getting to that time of the year where bags need to be closed from the weather and our coats need to be zipped up. During the summer holiday we might not have used those items very much so it’s good to refresh your children’s memories by having them practice doing these things again. Lunch boxes are another one, as they might have a new one this term and you’ll need to make sure they can safely open and close it in order to get at their food or snacks. It’s important that your children drinks enough water while they are at school too, so get them a reusable water bottle that they really like and will continue using throughout the day.
Thank you for reading this blog post today I really hope that you’ve liked it and found at least one of my ideas to be useful. By getting yourself and your family into good habits like these early on, it will make sure you have more time and energy to deal with anything else that happens. Because life nearly always throws you a curve ball when you just about have everything under control am I right?
I hope I see you again for another of my parenting articles, I hope you have a lovely month of September with (I also hope) minimal stresses.
Here is a Photo montage of Bee’s that I have taken this past year… as a Nature Photographer I am constantly making images.
AWESOME FACTS ABOUT BEES
Bees are insects that have 6 legs and 5 eyes.
Bees have been around for approximately 30 million years.
Here in the United Kingdom we house around 270 species of Bees.
Worldwide there are more than 20,000 species of Bees.
Honey made from Bees was found inside the tombs of Egyptian Pharaoh’s and it would still be edible today.
Honey Bees communicate with one another through dancing moves!
Bees can fly up to 20 MPH!
Male Bees are called Drones.
Female Bees are called Worker Bees.
The Queen Bee can lay up to 2000 eggs a day and a hive will only have one Queen.
A Honey Bee will only make 1 Tablespoon of honey in their lifetime.
Some species of Bee are solitary and live alone except for reproduction moments, these often live underground too!
On average a Bee will fly 32,000 miles in their lifetime and visit more than 1 million flowers!
Honey Bees live in Bee Hives where they work together to make Honey.
If a Bee loses its stinger it will die – so make sure not to hit them and let them just fly around you and fly off again – once they realise you’re not a flower you won’t interest them anyway!
SABRINA’S HOW TO MAKE A 3D BEE!
I thought what better way to immortalise the Bee than to make your very own 3D craft version of one! I came up with this last year but sadly I missed the deadline for World Bee Day 2021, so I have saved it all for today! World Bee Day 2022! They are fairly easy to make and I will now tell you exactly what you need before we begin the how to method!
One Sheet of A4 Thin Yellow Card or Thick Paper One Scissors One Piece of Cereal Box Card Pens – black and brown A Permanent Pen – Black with a Fine End (for the Wings) Double Sided Sticky Tape A Piece of Thin Plastic (mine was off some toy packaging) (for the Wings) Two Circular Objects to Draw Around – 1 for the Small Bee Head and 1 for the Body Circles
Step 1. Cut All of Your Circles Out – You need 1 head, 1 main body out of box card and four out of the yellow card. The yellow and the body have to be the same size, but the head needs to be 1/4 of the size. Put some double sided sticky tape on the cereal box card circle because this will be your base to work the rest up on. Put the other yellow circles down on a flat surface ready for their details.
Step 2. Draw some sections on the 4 yellow circles that will become the Bee body, you will need to have 3 sections that are lined horizontally and similar in size to each of the other matching circles (See image below). Colour these in Brown. The best thing to do is to have them on top of one another, mark the section the same and attempt to line them up with the opposite side. With the small Circle that is yellow (the Bee head), you need to draw two large Oval Eyes in Black, and then do some vertical lined streaks in brown so it looks like fur. Leave the top section of it Yellow, we will be sticking it to the body shortly.
Step 3. Stick the Head to the Body using double sided tape with only 1/4 of it attached to the Card and the rest sticking out. Now place the Bee in front of you, with the head facing you (facing South). You want to now take one of the striped yellow body sections, choose the one that is least lined up. Put some double sided tape on the back of it and stick it down on to the main card body, covering the edge of the head, with the stripes going horizontally across the Bee body. Place this beneath something heavy for a few minutes so as to stick it all into place while we do steps 4 and 5.
Step 4. Take your Plastic now and Scissors and permanent pen. You want to draw out two identical wings, Bee wings tend to have some ridged ends but you can just do ovals with a pointed end if you’re not confident (See Images below). Look at my Bee montage at the start of this blog post for wing inspiration! Once you are happy with the drawing cut them out, and make sure they’re the same size by overlapping them and trimming any overhanging edges.
Step 5. Draw some lines down the wings with the permanent thin pen, try to match the Bee wings (again take inspiration from my pictures at the start but be creative too this is your own Bee!) and match each other, make the same marks on both wings by having them side by side as you create the lines. Place them off to one side to fully dry. (If you use normal pen on plastic it will likely rub off).
Step 6. Now it comes to the tricky part, you need to take your Bee body parts and fold them in half, all three of them with the coloured lines on the inside of the half fold. Make sure that the centre is through the middle of the horizontal lined sections. Do this for all three and also make sure they are folded the same across the sections so when stacked together they are the same (or close as you can).
Step 7. Once you have folded them and they do match best they can, you need to take two of them to start with, and place some double sided tape strips on the one side of each one, so that is one taped only the left underside and one taped only on the right on the yellow underside of each of them. Take a look at my photograph below for clarification on the folds and the tape.
Step 8. Take your folded Bee body circles and place one on either side of the main Bee body with the head. Line them up with the circle that is already on it, the one you put the tape on the left underside goes on the left, and the right taped side on the right. When you push the body middles together they should be flush and straight in the centre and aligned with the head. Make sure the stripes line up and are horizontal to the head that is facing south, and the crease line for your folds should be straight up from that facing north. If this is accurate you can now remove the double sided tape, stick one side down at a time, to the main body. Then do the opposite side (see Step 7 and 8 images) and this leaves you with the other half of each circle standing up on end. The final circle you still have will go in between them causing the body parts to stand up 3D.
Step 9. Attaching the final circle on to the body is just about lining it up. First you need to put some double sided tape on to the pieces that are already attached to the Bee body that you stuck down in Step 8. (See image Steps 9 and 10 to clarify this next step). With the double sided tape now in place but not removed the tabs yet, you first line up the circles, look at it and think do the edges match and is it horizontal across the body? If the answer is yes then remove the tape tabs and stick that final circle on to the top of the Bee in between the other pieces.
Step 10. Press and hold the Bee body firmly now, gently run your fingers down each of the sides to press the circles fully together and ensuring the tape grips flush. Once they look like they are fully stuck with no gaps anywhere you can now make sure your wings are dry from earlier.
Step 11. Take your plastic wings from before, line them up with where you want them to go on the Bee body (they are usually attached to the middle section of a bee’s body). Then take two thin strips of double sided tape and match those up on either side, stick down the tape. (See Step 10 and 12 image for wing tape placement).
Step 12. Attach the wings now and make sure you press them down on to the tape for at least a minute to ensure the plastic gets a really good grip. Hold the Bee upside down and make sure they don’t come loose, if they do then press again.
Step 13. Tidy up any lines on the Bee and trim any edges with scissors that aren’t in line to neaten her up. Then you have your Queen Bee! You could hang her up somewhere or make her a little hive…
HAPPY WORLD BEE DAY! You now have a friendly Bee to live in your home and remind you of their importance, coolness and cuteness.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP THE BEES?
Make a wildflower pot, planter or corner of your garden and attract bees and help them with their pollinating. You can get wild flower seeds free with some things such as “30 Days Wild) and Brands often give them away with food products too.
Don’t pull out all of your weeds, leave a few because bees need them especially because weeds are usually the first flowers of the new season.
If a Bee comes into your house leave it alone, open some windows and let it find its way out, do not attack it or attempt to catch it because it may sting in fear and then it will sadly die. Most Bee’s will head straight back out a door or window when they smell the fresh air.
Visit a local Apiary and But Local Honey products when possible.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE A CRAFTY BEE HIVE? What You Will Need
Tiny Craft Wooden Bees (Found in The Works craft shop) A Narrow Sided Box or a Lid from Something (Rectangle is best) Disposable Dehumidifier Pot Lids – doesn’t matter what colour as you will Paint them Brown Paint and a Paintbrush
Step 1. Paint your box and the humidifier pot lids you have collected, they should be brown or a mixture of brown and black and yellow. Step 2. Leave them to dry somewhere flat overnight at least. Step 3. Place something to resemble honey and nectar between the lids, maybe tissue paper? Step 4. Stick the Two (or more) lids together to form mini hive type structures. Step 5. Stick the lids into the box and stick your Bee’s around. Done!
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post today, I hope you have enjoyed it. If you make any Bee’s please share your pictures with me on social media, use the hashtag #SevernSabrina and #SabrinasHowToMake or tag me on them using @Severn_Sabrina or @SevernWishes Blog.
Hello Severn Wishes Blog Fans! Today I am bringing you a Lifestyle / Parenting / Hacks / Product Review article I have written all about something I have now owned for well over a year! And that item is… The TUFF TRAY!
These fantastic trays are usually found in a school setting, especially with younger children like those in a preschool or nursery setting, but due to their versatility they have been becoming more and more popular with mums who are able to do a lot with their children at home.
As soon as I heard about them I knew it would be a great investment for the future. I ordered mine in black but they do come in a variety of colours. I preferred the black due to it not getting stained or if we made any scuff marks with toys they wouldn’t be showing up as easily. Overall I’m really happy with the quality of the tray for what I paid for it. So far it has withstood a toddler doing all sorts on it and in it! I chose to purchase without the stand so it was then just suitable for laying down on the floor.
Be it Sensory, Messy Play or just toys on a flat surface, the Tuff Tray is ideal for lots of reasons when you have little ones growing up. Here are just some of the many ways that we have used our tray this past year or so! Both in visual form and I made a little list too!
1. Ideal for Craft to keep the craft pieces and mess contained in the tray borders.
2. Great for when you want to do some Messy Play and use paint so it doesn’t get on the floor.
3. Doing some experimenting with foods in toddlerhood? Keep those rice crispies, rice grains and other food stuffs within easy clean up-able reach. You can wipe clean anything off it.
4. Using Glitter today? This tray is ideal to wipe clean after your picture making as the bits will all be contained within the tray walls. Sit your children outside of it and let the mess be inside (mostly).
5. Potty Training? Stick the Potty in the centre of the tray on the floor, and it will be easy to clean spillages off the plastic rather than off your floor!
6. Building Lego or Duplo or Blocks? It can be annoying for little ones if pieces are rolling away or falling over all the while! But on the tuff tray they won’t get far at all! It also means it is a flat surface for the building to become easier on little hands.
7. Doing a Jigsaw? Be it an adult one or a children’s one? Do it on your Tuff Tray and you’ll be able to move it at a moments notice off the floor and then continue it later.
8. Want to do some baking with the kids but you want to do it at their level? It is much safer to do it on the floor where nobody is balancing and this tray doubles as a big flat surface, just clean it with sterilising spray and let it air dry before you start any food preparation.
9. Sensory Play can involve all sorts of things like craft or food stuffs, having it all contained within the Tuff Tray makes life easier for you and if you planned to do it for a few sessions over a week you could even leave it on the tray and just move the whole tray instead of packing everything up.
10. Play-Doh can get messy and easily sticks to hard surfaces like tables or floors, but by using a Tuff Tray base for all of the items they are contained within its sides. If you choose to get a stand with your tray you can even have the tray at a suitable height for your little ones. Or you can do what I do and maintain it on a flat floor, whichever is easier for you.
11. A Tuff Tray can be used outside for a water table or a sand table due to its sides being all the way around with no holes within its surface.
12. Design a World – Use your Tuff Tray and things like chalks or washable paint to create a world, a map or a world for your children to put their toys in to and play. I have drawn a road on mine for my sons toy cars before now and also used elements like sand made of ground cereal to make a beach.
So overall the Tuff Tray doubles up as another useful hard surface within your home and is ideal for playing, learning and food preparing. Young children can safely sit within its boundary or outside of it leaning in in order to play. There are no sharp edges on the Tray and the hard plastic is coated so its easy to wipe clean after every use. I purchased the standard (medium) size but it is also available in small or extra large depending on the supplier you’re purchasing it from. They are also available in many colours. Prices range from £11 to £70 and all Tray prices do depend upon the colour, and the size and whether you wish to buy a stand with your Tuff Tray purchase. They can be used inside or outside but I would recommend you keep them out of direct sunlight and harsh weather conditions and keep them inside a garage or shed when not in use in order to maintain the sturdiness of the plastic.
What do we use our Tuff Tray for the most?
Craft and Messy Play and Sensory Play mainly.
Thank you for reading this blog post today, I hope I have inspired you and if I have then I would love to hear what you and your family use your Tuff Tray for!
Well look at that, three years have literally gone past in a blur, and I am sitting here trying to fight back my eyes welling up. My baby boy is no longer my little baby boy, and in fact he has grown up so much this year that it’s scary. Having just emailed in all of the many forms I am now sitting on my sofa writing this blog post as I prepare for him to go off to Pre-School this September.
Backpack – Ollie & Millie’s Sistema Tubs – Tesco Kids Shoes – Tesco F&F Fox Cool Bag – Ollie & Millie’s
Going to school is like a right of passage and it’s a huge milestone in any child’s life. So I wanted to get my son some items to make that transition a bit easier. I had seen this gorgeous backpack on a page I follow on Facebook called Ollie & Millie’s. I had been looking at buying one for months, I looked around for a while, and then I decided to order one from them when I couldn’t find anything that looked as niceas theirs.
And because of Covid19 the School is not able to share some things any longer such as plasters, so every child must have their own in their bag. But that isn’t all, and my sons allergies also pose issues so he has to have everything he needs altogether in one bag. Luckily everything has fitted into the one I have chosen to buy from Ollie & Millie’s. Things such as a reusable water bottle (which we use already in my house but I bought my son a new one just for his school days), a (I chose personalised) backpack, snack pots, wellies for outdoor play and any medical items they require for the time frame they are at school are also included.
I’m very impressed with the backpack because of its quality in both material and its features such as strong straps and zips. There are several colours to choose from but my son loves blue so I chose blue for him, and because it’s a light sky blue colour the writing for his name really stands out. I was impressed with the time frame between ordering the product and receiving it from Ollie & Millie’s. The backpack also has versatility because I was surprised by just how much I could fit inside it, once I had gently opened it out when it arrived. Overall I rate it exceptionally highly and would recommend it to any parents who are after a good priced backpack with their child’s name on. The cool bag is also a lovely product and it is of excellent quality with a very cute fox design. Ollie & Millie’s have a wide range of products and also make personalised t-shirts and other clothing as well.
Other items that I have got to make things easier for both my son and myself are some fantastic plastic tubs from Tesco which are from the brand Sistema. The tubs are not only different sizes than what you would usually see in the supermarket, but they also have fun sections built in and have genius clips and lids too. Bonus points that I could get them in blue to match my sons bag as well!
Everything shown in my picture above is now inside the backpack, and with a handy bottle pocket on the side my sons drink is safe and secure too.
Thank you for clicking on this post, I hope you have enjoyed reading it.
Have you got any young children heading to School this term? I do hope they take it all in their stride! I will be doing a follow up post about how things went after the first few weeks too.
My Fun Craft Caterpillar is an easy to make craft project, that can help you to teach your toddler about colours and counting. You can make it any size you like and with only a few simple and non expensive items. Ideal for children aged two plus with good fine motor skills.
Designed for Age Group – 2 Years Plus (Supervised) Parent Difficulty to Make – 3/5 Time it takes to Make – 4 – 6 Hours Cost to Make – £10 Reasons to Make – Learning about Colours and Counting. Helps Develop Fine Motor Skills.
When my son began having issues with delayed speech I came up with several things to aid him in his communication. One of which was a Caterpillar friend that I made into several different items. Today I’m going to be showing you how I made my Fun Craft Colours Caterpillar!He is cute and great for helping little ones learn about colours, counting out and developing fine motor skills.
TOP TIP I wanted to help my son develop his fine motor skills as well as improve him saying different colours, picking up the Pom Poms and getting them to drop inside the correct tube does take some skills for little ones, so don’t worry if they have to learn how to do it. My son got the hang of it really quickly and was soon getting faster at doing it. One Tip is to show your little one what you want them to do, and then let them figure it out on their own a bit too. Always supervise but encourage and praise when they succeed.
What You Will Need
Toilet Roll Tubes – You can use toilet rolls and kitchen rolls and just trim them so they are a similar height. Order your card and Pom Poms and work out how many rolls you will need, you require one roll per colour.
A Thick Cardboard Base – Do you have a sturdy box after going shopping or have had something delivered? You need a piece of strong thick cardboard either a Square or a Rectangle for your Base that the Caterpillar will stand on.
Coloured Card – You need to try and match the coloured card with the Pom Poms you are ordering. If you want to do a simple Caterpillar just go for a pack with Red, Yellow, Green and Blue mix, sometimes you get an Orange or a Pink in those packs. I bought two packs to ensure I got black, white, purple, pink and orange for my more complex Caterpillar.
Coloured Pom Poms – A toilet roll tube is a certain width across, so make sure you only order Pom Poms that are less than this. My tubes are 4cm wide so I purchased a bag of mixed coloured 2cm Pom Poms. This means they are easy enough to tip back out after every use. Also ensure you get non toxic child friendly craft items from reputable companies.
Double Sided Tape – You need this tape for cleanly applying your Card to your Rolls, this is the most time consuming of the craft build but it’s easier and less messy than waiting for lots of paint to dry. (See my How To below).
Paint for the Base – I chose to just paint my base Green, as if the Caterpillar were on a leaf or some grass. You can be as creative as you like! You only need to paint the base, once you have fixed on all your tubes (see my How To below for more clarity).
Stationery and Craft Extras – You may want to stick on googly eyes and feelers, or draw them on, it’s totally up to you, your Caterpillar, your choice! 🙂 You will also need a Pencil and a pair of Scissors.
Where I Got My Craft Items
Coloured Card Packs – Hobbycraft Online Pom Poms – Hobbycraft Online Goggly Eyes and Pipe Cleaners – Craft Bundle from The Works Double Sided Tape – Tesco Store Green Paint and Brush – The Works
How To Make Colour Caterpillar – Sabrina’s Step by Step Guide
Step 1. Assemble all of your items as described above and ensure you have enough of what you need. Place a tube, a piece of coloured card and your desired amount of Pom Poms (I used 4 per colour) into individual piles. See what you have and how many tubes with the right colours and Pom Pom matches.
Step 2. Arrange the plain tubes on your base, and see how you would like them arranged. You need a one centimetre gap between each roll where it will be attached to the base. Bearing this in mind, arrange your tubes and mark with a pencil on the base where you would like them to go.
Step 3. Satisfied that you have all the pieces you need you can begin the card craft. Start by marking the pieces of coloured card for your tubes. For example mine were 15cm high, so I marked the card at 16cm with a pencil leaving the gap of one additional centimetre. Then cut all the card pieces to size ready for wrapping around the tube. TOP TIP ensure you leave enough card to wrap all the way around a tube with the extra at the bottom. You need at least a one centimetre section of card at the bottom of every tube for attaching it to the base.
SABRINA’S TOP TIPS: Don’t throw away pieces of card that you have left over from this make, I have plenty of Craft and Art ideas on my blog that you could use these bits for 🙂
Step 5. Cut strips of double sided tape, align them along the top and edges of the coloured card and down the centre, ensure there is enough at the edges. At what will be the base of the tube stack the pieces vertically, using a small gap between them, this will be cut in Step 7 to ensure an easy attachment to the cardboard base. Make sure you put tape on all of the coloured card pieces. TOP TIP Make sure to do this Step and on to Steps 6 to 7 at the same time and don’t leave the craft part way finished, otherwise the double sided tape will dry out before you can affix it to the base.
Step 6. Time to roll the card on to the tubes. Remove all of the double sided tape strips. Line up the top section of the cardboard with the edge of the tube, on a flat surface like a table, gently roll the tube along the card. The tape will stick well to the thin tube, using your thumb and first fingers you can smooth out the card as it sticks. Try keeping it in line at the top. Once you come to the end of the coloured card make sure the final line of it is secure to its tube, smooth with your fingers and hold the edge in place for a minute per tube making sure that its firmly stuck in place. Repeat this per tube, laying them down on their sides once you are finished.
Step 7. You now need to be cutting the base of each tube so that they can be attached to the base. Take the first coloured tube you want to attach to the base (I did a Rainbow so mine was Red) and using sharp scissors cut a one centimetre slice up into the card at the tube base. Rotate the tube around cutting vertical slices as you go. Then once cut all the way around, gently peel back the slices and make a base for your tube. Affix it into place on your cardboard base because they should already have the double sided tape attached. Press down firmly and hold for one minute. Repeat this action with all of the coloured tubes until they are all attached to the base. (See images above and below).
TOP TIP Painting the base last ensures the tubes stay in place after the double sided tape has helped stick them down on the base. It also neatens up any edges that may have tape sticking out or tubes that weren’t quite level.
Step 8. With all your coloured tubes attached to the base you can now consider adding anything else to your caterpillar, and also paint the base with whatever paint you choose. I added googly eyes and some pipe cleaners as my Caterpillar feelers.
Step 9. Leave your Caterpillar to dry overnight before showing it to your little one. Ensure that you only play with it supervised either by you or another adult. The Pom Poms should be stored inside something that little ones can’t get into unless you are doing the toy together. Most children wouldn’t eat them at this age but better safe than sorry. I recommend a small plastic box like the really useful ones with the clip over lid handles.
TOP TIP Your Caterpillar friend can now be used to teach colours and numbers! Ask your child to count how many body parts the Caterpillar has, how many Pom Poms fit in each tube, can they separate the colours correctly and add them to the correct tube? This craft project can be used for play and learning and will keep your child occupied for hours.
Have you enjoyed this Craft Project? I would love to know what you think! Please leave me comments on the blog section below or on social media. Please tag me if you make a Caterpillar of your own! Use the hashtag #SabrinasCraftCreations
Thank you for reading this blog post today, I hope I see you again soon!
There are many ways to introduce toddlers and young children to nature. No matter where you live there will always be something to see. So here are my top tips on how you can start showing off the nature where you live, to your children. It’s never too early to start learning!
And I am sure that David Attenborough would agree with me when I say that “You’re never too young or too old to learn about the world around you”.
By making things fun children are more likely to learn and remember the information you are portraying.You can still stay safe at home but enjoy nature around where you live by keeping to social distancing guidelines.
Here are my Top 5 things to do at Home but Outside! Be it in your Garden or if you don’t have one you could just go on a Walk around your village or town or park. It may be lockdown but that doesn’t stop you walking socially distanced from other families.
Children are more likely to learn and listen if you turn things into fun and a game. So why not make your own games up, or take a look at my ideas below.
1. Bird Spotting 2. Bug Finding 3. Pick a Creature – Try To Find It 4. What Is That I See? What Is Around My Home 5. Eye Spy Lockdown Edition
1. Bird Spotting is easy enough to do, take a notepad and pen with you and write everyone’s names at the top. Make columns down the page and write down every different sort of bird that you spot. The person who spots the most species of birds is the winner!
2. Bug Finding is great fun in a small space, depending on how old your children are you could just spot basic bugs and say things like “Beetle” or “Spider” or you can go into what type of bug you are looking at such as “Stag Beetle” etc. You could even ask little ones to draw what they saw on the walk from their memory when you get back home.
3. Pick a Creature is a great game to play with children who already know what certain animals are. Take a walk and get everyone to pick something, one person might count Crows, the other Cats, another Pigeons, but whatever it is they have to keep score of their creature until you get home.
4. What is that I see? Use your knowledge of things around where you live and discuss things with your children like the seasons, if there are evergreen trees, what colour the flowers are you can find, any buildings and their purpose etc.
5. Eye Spy Lockdown Edition is literally eye spy but your children are only allowed to pick one type of thing during your walk. You could say just birds, or just objects, whatever is best for your children’s age.
Books I Recommend
I recently invested in several books for my son who is two and a half. He is interested in matching things up lately so I thought books with pictures of things to spot when we go out for a walk are ideal. I also have a number of nature books I have collected over my lifetime, anything with large pictures and easy to see nature depicting scenes are engaging for most children.
“Usborne Minis” are Great little books ideal to carry with you on a walk, and they have a range so you could pick which is most relevant to you and where you live, for example Birds, Trees or Bugs. There are always National Trust books and also RSPB for birds. Another great book I own is the DK Pocket Nature Wildlife of Britain book, it’s a few years old now but has excellent photography and information about British wildlife.
Of course you can always use a search engine on your phone to find out what you’ve seen, but the joy of these sorts of books is being able to mark things off when you have spotted them. The Usborne Mini book set have stickers for you to place on a grid inside the book in order to tick them off. This is great because you also have to identify the sticker as well as the creature or tree for example. Simple but it’s still learning at its best.
Thank you for reading this post today, I hope I have inspired you to get out and about in your area with your children (or just your other half). I have many more lockdown friendly ideas coming up over the next few weeks, so please check back another time if you enjoyed this post.
Fun to Make ~ Easter Art and Crafts ~ with Sabrina of Severn Wishes
I have wanted to do this blog post for the last three years, and I have always been too busy to complete it! Mainly because it is a mixture of writing the blog, creating and making the craft items, and then taking the step by step images, processing all of those and then putting the entire lot together in one blog post. It is both time consuming and a lengthy in process too. So what changed this year? Well for one thing, I was more determined to do some more craft this year, but isolation has also made me re-evaluate what’s important, and that is to make happy memories with my son. No matter what is going on outside our home, he doesn’t understand, and it is my job to keep things as normal as possible, so extra fun, extra learning and extra memories are all on the table at the present time. I’m so glad you could join me to hopefully make some memories of your own!
So without any further ado, let’s get our crafty fingers at the ready! Depending upon which Crafty Project you wish to undertake you will need a variety of items. My idea is this, pick an item from the four below, and then match the “You Will Need” items with what you already have at home. Providing you have all the necessary bits and bobs then feel free to scroll down to that Project and then get cracking with my Step by Step guides! Happy Crafting!
1. 3D Friendly Ladybird 2. Wiggly Caterpillar 3. 3D Paper Flower (Can be Framed or Made into an Easter Card) 4. Hand Print Easter Bunny Rabbit 5. Other Craft Ideas
1. 3D Friendly Ladybird
You Will Need Pritt Stick or Glue Coloured Paper and / or Card Circular Objects to Draw Around (This will determine the size of your Ladybird) Pencil Scissors Black Pen Googly Eyes (if you have some but not essential)
This is the easiest of my crafts today, and will take around twenty minutes to make. You can make it any size, any colour that you like. Why not make one for each member of the family? I am going to make several of them to put around my son’s bedroom. He loves Gaston from Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom, so my son is the inspiration behind this particular craft project.
Step 1. Choose the Size of your Ladybird. Choose your colour. Draw around a Circular object so that you have 4 Circles the same size, and then you will need a smaller circle for the head, judge this depending upon the size of the body. Cut out these 5 circles and then you’re ready to begin.
Step 2. On the small circle draw a line across the centre, you want to colour the half of this circle in with black pen. Don’t forget to draw eyes on it too like mine, if you don’t have any fun stick on eyes to hand! Then pop this face to one side you won’t need it now until Step 6.
Step 3. Take 3 out of the 4 Large Circles and fold them in half across their centre. Gently crease them with your fingers, take a look at my image below to see how they should look.
Step 4. Take the flat circle and cover it lightly in glue or pritt stick, I always prefer a glue stick when messing with card, less mess! Then take two of your folded circles, stick glue on their side that faces flat, place them back to back and glue them down on to the flat circle so that they make a V shape.
Step 5. Take the remaining Circle that is folded in half and cover it in glue before pressing it down into the centre of your Ladybird body, covering the two below neatly. You now have a finished insect body.
Step 6. You can now glue the head on by placing the glue on to the half you didn’t colour in, make sure you line it up with the V of the Ladybird to make it look right. See my image below.
Step 7. Push down all the flat surfaces of the Ladybird and leave for an hour or two for the glue to dry. Then using a Pen or Marker, draw on however many Spots you would like.
Step 8. Repeat steps for making other colours or other sizes if you have Card or Paper left over. If you need a base for your Ladybird to sit on, why not make him a cardboard leaf! (You need leaves for another of my crafts anyway!) 😉
CRAFT FINISHED
2. Wiggly Caterpillar (munching on a leaf)
You Will Need Pritt Stick and PVA Glue Green Paper or Card (Card is better) A Mixture of Green and Black Pens Poms Poms! All Colours Welcome! Googly Eyes or Stick on Sequins Scissors A Pencil A Piece of Cardboard (Cereal box is good!)
This is a fun craft to do with young children. They can make their Caterpillar whatever colour they want. All you need is some Pom Poms! You can follow my Steps or watch my video below!
Step 1. Draw and Cut Out a Leaf Shape (this is your main leaf) from your Cardboard. Then draw around this cut out piece of cardboard on to your green paper or card and Pritt Stick together.
Step 2. Draw your Leaf design on with Green pens. Set to one side.
Step 3. Decide what Pom Poms you want to use and arrange them!
Step 4. Make some antenna and extra leaves and stick your eyes on to a Pom Pom ready to assemble your bug!
Step 5. Using PVA glue stick your Caterpillar together, don’t forget the extra leaves, arrange however you wish, then leave to dry in a warm flat place.
Step 6. Add any additional things to your bug once it has dried.
3. 3D Paper Flower (Can be Framed or Made into an Easter Card)
You Will Need Pritt Stick or Glue Different Coloured Cards or Papers A Piece of Card for Sticking to Scissors Pencil A Circular Object to Draw Around (it’s diameter will be half the width of the flower so choose wisely)
This idea is simple but looks so pretty when complete. It makes a great card.
Step 1. Take a piece of plain card, this will be your base. Draw a Stem or Cut Green Card or Paper and create one. Make sure you leave plenty of room to stick the flower part. Cut out leaves and small circles of yellow paper to create the centre of the flowers. Be as creative as you like.
Step 2. Making the petals next, you need to cut circles of different colours, you will end up with 8 Petals in total per flower. I did two different sized circles to end up with two sized flowers.
Step 3. Fold all of the petals in half so you end up with 16 halves with flat sides that stick up. This is how the petals will look 3D.
Step 4. Using Pritt Stick, stick the sides of the petals down so that they rotate around the centre of the flowers. You want them all to face the same way when you stick them around the yellow centre.
Step 5. Turn the flowers into a card if you like, or make other smaller flowers too using smaller circles, and make a pretty Easter meadow scene picture. Draw or Stick Easter Eggs and Rabbits and other Easter items along the edge like an Easter scene.
4. Hand Print Easter Bunny Rabbit
You Will Need Paper or Card Pencil Hands!!! Pens for the Details Scissors Paint
Paint works well for this one so you don’t have to colour in, unless you prefer to colour of course. It depends how much you’re painting, if you plan to do my hand prints picture (below) then you could do extra on different paper and make them into cute Rabbits!
Step 1. Draw around your hand and / or children’s hands. Or you can do a Hand Print on to Paper using Paint! MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE OUT THE THUMB! You want the shape to resemble a Rabbit head with two of each fingers being the ears! Keep two fingers together!
Step 2. Once dry you can cut the Rabbit shape out.
Step 3. Draw on Nose, Mouth and Eyes!
Step 4. Add any extras like whiskers, inner ears and freckles! Cut it out and hang it up or stick to a handmade card if you like.
FINISHED
Not the best hand print but you get the idea! My son was a bit reluctant to help out yesterday, ha ha!
5. Other Craft Ideas If you want to just Print some Easter Egg patterns and do some Colouring in with younger children then here are a few that I really like that you can save and print 🙂
Alternatively you could do some Painting of Hands and do some Prints!
Layer the Prints of your Hands to make a nice picture.
Thanks so much for joining me for this blog post. I hope that you’ve had fun, maybe even a laugh at my crafty items. If you made something please share it with me on social media, tag me or my page! I would love to see them! What was your favourite? Would you like to see more Art and Craft? Leave me a comment. Have a wonderful fun and safe Easter!
Being an Argos Tester I often get sent items for the purpose of a review. In December I was offered an item under the category of Entertainment. This post is of a product I have been supplied in order to review and test it. During the latest Entertainment campaign I was offered an electronic keyboard.I jumped at the chance to review and test something musical because it’s been years since I have had the opportunity to play anything such as this.
The Casio CT-S100AD Keyboard and Bundle Supplied.
Product Name: Casio CT-S100AD Keyboard, Stand & Headphones Bundle Product Information: A Keyboard Ideal For Beginners. New Slim Line Full Size 61 Key Keyboard. Integrated Carrying Handle & compatible Stand & Headphones set. This keyboard can connect to computers via a USB port. There are 122 sounds, 61 rhythms & 60 songs already saved. It has a Built-In Metronome. 2 Speakers with Clear Sound. 255 Level Tempo Control. Grand Piano feature which has 32 note polyphony. Chorus and Sound Effects kits included. Speaker & Headphone Jack for additional sound or for quiet learning. When Batteries are used it has 16 hours of use, it requires 6 AA Batteries (not included). Mains AC Adapter is included for use on mains electricity. Keyboard Weight 3.3 kg. The stand is easily erected with the use of an Allan key which is supplied.
Overall this Keyboard has great features, the keys are soft and easy to press, the addition of the stand and headphones mean that you can learn quietly in your own time and without disturbing others. I really liked how the keyboard has so many features like the added songs, sounds, instrument themes and various rhythms. This type of instrument is fun for people of all ages to have a go, and for those who wish to learn it allows you to start at the beginning and work your way up. The Mains adapter and the keyboards lightweight design is also great. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to learn or wants to mess around and create some fun music of their own. My young son was rather intrigued when sounds came out while he was pressing the keys, I’m sure he will take more interest in it as he grows up.
This Casio keyboard is filled with great features like being slim line & has its own carry handle. It has soft gentle keys that are easy to use and ideal for beginners. A great bundle that includes the stand & headphones so you can learn without disturbing anyone. I really liked the feel of the keys & how easy the controls were to navigate. There are great features like built in songs & rhythms too. Being able to connect to a PC is a fab feature & its stand & headphones make the package complete.
✩✩✩
Thank you for visiting Severn Wishes today, I hope you have enjoyed this review. If you have any other questions about the product then please leave me a comment or click on the links above to visit the Argos website.
As part of being an Argos Tester I often get sent items for reviewing purposes. This recent campaign has been surrounding Fisher-Price toys and items relevant to development and learning. It has been a great opportunity for me to introduce my son to various new things and to build that level of curiosity within play time and learning.
An Eye Catching Colourful Design on this Fun Toy
Today I’m bringing a new Argos Tester Review to my blog with the help of another fabulous Fisher-Price toy. This is the Laugh and Learn Silly Sounds Light-up Piano, and it is classed as a teaching toy.
This mini piano is great for any child who has shown an interest in liking music and sounds. It’s especially brilliant because of how easy it is to use, any infant will love to press the buttons and make the sounds and songs appear.
Learning and Fun with the Light-Up Piano
Who doesn’t like a mixture of learning and fun?
The Piano has 4 Settings with fun and learning incorporating sounds and words. Numbers, Colours, Shapes and Sound including songs that encourage children to listen and learn. Each key when pressed will be spoken by the Fisher-Price voice in either the Number, Colour or Shape. For example, “8!” “Teal” & “Diamond!” And it also sounds a little jingle afterwards representing the shape.
The 8 main keys are smooth to the touch and are brightly coloured. Each of them have a colour, a shape and a number. They are the perfect octave! Although I almost wish the black keys were also press-able so it was like a real piano.
There are also 2 fun modes of Duck and Cow which have various sounds from both of the animals which is so funny that even 30 somethings laughed when it was pressed in our house! The novelty aspect of these modes makes it quite unique.
The flashing light on the top part of the toy is a great way to get little ones attention to the beats of the songs and along with the sounds it encourages movement. The light colour also corresponds to whichever key has just been pressed too. The green handle on the top right of the you piano is excellent for ease of carrying and moving the item around the home.
This Fisher-Price toy is excellent for allowing children to explore all sorts of sounds, while encouraging their learning of shapes and numbers too. As well as recognising a range of colours and animal sounds. The great thing about toys like this is that a child will be counting and not even realise because they’re just playing, but it’s a wonderful way to introduce both musical aspects of playtime and also early academics with each mode available.
Retailing for around £20.00 this toy has been made to an excellent standard and comes ready to use. When the batteries do run out all that you’ll require is a small screwdriver and 3 new AA batteries to replace them with.
Manufacturing Quality 5/5 Overall Design 5/5 Toy Features 5/5 Entertainment Value 5/5 Development Value 5/5
Perfect for little fingers…
✩Argos Tester Review✩
This toy is excellent for allowing children to explore sounds while encouraging their learning of shapes, colours & numbers too. As well as recognising a range of animal noises. The great thing about this is that a child will be learning & not even realise because they’re just playing with the instrument. It’s a wonderful way to introduce musical aspects to playtime & also incorporate the essential early academics with each of the learning modes available. Just wish the black keys worked too!
“8 keys to count with me” sings the piano…
Thank you for reading this review today, for more of my opinions on some of the latest children’s toys then please click the appropriate categories on my main page.
See you on Severn Wishes again soon I hope!
✩ Sabrina ✩
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