Advent Calendar for Toddlers

After years of searching, I've finally found a wooden Advent Calender that I am in love with!!!

 

 

Advent Calendar

  

Now to fill it! As the boys are still young for little toys like yoyos, lollies/chocolates, activities like Christmas light watching (the boys are in bed before it's dark!), this is my 25 days of Christmas advent Calender activities suitable for 15 month old toddlers (and the family)!!

 

1. Take photos with Santa

 

2. Start wearing Christmas Pyjamas

 

3. Finger paint Christmas cards/wrapping paper

 

4. Read Christmas stories

 

5. Feed the birds some bird seed

 

6. Make salt dough hand print Christmas ornaments

Non Thermomix - http://www.mommymoment.ca/2013/04/salt-dough-handprint.html

Thermomix - http://www.trtlmt.com.au/salt-dough/

 

7. Sing and dance to Christmas carols

 

8. Take Christmas themed photos at home

 

9. Make homemade hot chocolate with marshmallows (their first taste of hot chocolate!) https://thermobexta.wordpress.com/2015/03/11/thermobextas-heartwarming-hot-chocolate/

 

10. Check out Christmas displays at a shopping centre

 

11. Stocking game - place toys in Christmas stockings and get them to pull them out one by one to play with

 

12. Have a picnic in the backyard with Christmas themed food

 

13. Go the beach and make sandcastles

 

14. Make little canvas paintings for presents - use painters tape, and tape a shape/initial on a canvas, and finger print on top - when dry, peel off the painters tape!

https://www.pinterest.com/explore/painters-tape-art/

 

15. Play with bubbles

 

16. Make easy 'snow globes' for presents

https://www.pinterest.com/explore/snow-globe-crafts/

 

17. Make Christmas shapes out of red and green playdough

http://thermotwinning.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/playdough.html

 

18. Feed the fish some bread

 

19. Run in the sprinklers in the garden

 

20. Play with Christmas stickers

 

21. Make Christmas feet Reindeer

https://www.pinterest.com/explore/reindeer-footprint/

 

22. Play with red and green balloons

 

23. Tree/Star shaped pancakes for breakfast

http://www.recipecommunity.com.au/desserts-sweets-recipes/best-ever-pancakes/119949

 

24. Watch a Christmas themed movie as a family with popcorn

http://www.kidspot.com.au/MySpot-escapes-The-best-Christmas-movies-of-all-time+6494+178+article.htm

 

25. Take family photos in front of the tree and open presents!!

 

 

I cut out little cards to write the activities on to put inside the Advent Calendar boxes - Christmas shapes - I placed 3 colours of paper together and cut them together once to save time!

 

 

Write the No.'s 1 to 25 onto the shapes

 

 

Write down the activities (see my list above)

 

 

Place them in the corresponding box

 

 

Advent Calendar all ready to go for December!!

 

 

Playdough

Both of the boys have been sick and it's the first time one of them has been put on antibiotics (Harley :( ) so thought I would treat them to their first playdough experience!

 

 

First time playing with Playdough!

 

There are many playdough recipes around, but this one caught my eye, since it was titled as 'the best' Thermomix playdough recipe by Fat Mum Slim, so I just had to try it!

 

http://fatmumslim.com.au/best-thermomix-playdough-recipe/

 

For the non-Thermomixers, she has also put a link to a non cook/non Thermomix recipe too!

 

The recipe pretty much cooks up the mixture, cooking/dissolving a salt, water and cream of tartar mixture:

 

 

 Dissolved/heated salt, water and cream of tartar

 

Then you mix in some plain flour:

 

 

Added flour

 

And then mix in some oil. I chose coconut oil as I just looove the smell!

 

 

 Added Coconut Oil

 

I then added 1 teaspoon of liquid blue food colouring and kneaded it in the Thermomix as I wanted minimal 'hands on' effort especially with the food colouring - 3 minutes/kneading function.

 

 

Added 1 tsp of blue food colour

 

 

After 3 minutes/kneading function

 

I then used a spatula, and kneaded it with a handful of plain flour into small shaped balls for the boys to play with...and 'tested' it for them too :)

 

 

Playdough!

 

 

'Testing' it first

 

 

:)

 

As they are still quite little, and eat everything they're not supposed to, they did try to eat bits of it, but luckily it's non toxic and all the ingredients are things that they have eaten in their 'proper food'.

 

To avoid this, I pressed in cookie cutters for them to take off and press in - they are great at dismantling Duplo blocks/wooden blocks, so it is a different 'sensory play' for them to do it with playdough!

 

It felt amazing, silky and smooth and feels so nice coming out nice and warm from the Thermomix. I haven't played with playdough for over 2 decades, but this will definitely be my 'go to' playdough recipe in the years to come as I cannot fault it in any way!

 

 

Yay for playdough!

 

 

Getting serious with it!

 

 

 

DIY Nautical Themed Party Food Labels - Ethan and Harley Turn 1! (6 day party countdown)

To fit in with the boy's nautical themed party, I decided to make labels using the old school origami paper boats!

 

 

Paper Boat Party Labels

 

I used A5 sized brown paper, and cupcake toppers, both from the local party shop.

 

 

A5 sized paper and cupcake toppers

 

Despite it being such a simple origami task, probably one of the first ones I learnt as a kid, it's been a looooong time since I've made them and had to look it up! For those who have also forgotten, here's a step by step tutorial:

 

 

Step by step tutorial - Paper Boats

 

To get the flag in, use the 'toothpick' end of the cupcake topper to pierce the paper from the bottom to create a small hole, then slide the cupcake topper on the top!

 

 

Putting the cupcake topper flag in

 

You could use them for any sort of party (kids/adults) and just swap up the cupcake topper flag to suit the party! It's so cheap and easy to do! You could even just keep the paper boats and reuse for future parties with the different cupcake topper flags/labelling.

 

You could also get anyone in the family to help, and could be a craft session for the kids to get involved in the party preps!

 

Enjoy! :)

 

DIY Smash Cake Backdrop Decorations - Ethan and Harley Turn 1 (8 day party countdown)

Today I made the backdrop decorations for the boys smash cake set.

Smash cakes are a recent trend for 1st birthday parties where the birthday boy/girl is sat in front of a cake (usually layered with a pastel buttercream) and 'smashes' into it. Sometimes it's when they are sitting in their high chair, and sometimes it's on the ground with a colourful backdrop which is great for photos.

I have no idea what this backdrop is specifically called (let me know if you know?), but it's a whole lot of material knotted around a rope to form a colourful backdrop.

 

Smash Cake Backdrop

The boys are having a nautical theme for their party so I chose 5 different types of fabrics, with the 3 nautical colours (blue/white/red). You could choose any types of fabric, even just 1 type, but I think it creates a lot of texture and colour with a selection of fabrics with a coordinated colour palette. I had 1 metre of each type of material cut so that when it is tied onto the rope it would have a height of 50cm. 

You could use any rope to tie them onto, but I chose a rope I got from Bunnings (like the anchor rope), and I also found wooden anchors from Spotlight to add to it too. I cut the piece of rope about 3 -4 metres, so that the fabric could cover a length of about 1.5 - 2 metres with excess rope to attach to the wall. I made it really wide as it has to fit 2 babies in front of it, however if it was just for 1 baby, I would make it narrower with a width of about 1 metre.

 

Rope, fabric and wooden shapes

 

With each piece of fabric, I cut it into strips about 1 1/2 inches wide. You could either cut the length with scissors. However, some cotton fabrics you can snip about 1cm from the edge and tear the rest of the way, so I tore it - sooo much easier and faster than cutting every single piece! AND it's fun!

 

 

Snip approx. 1cm from the edge

 

When tearing, there will be some loose threads on the edge, so you will need to smoothen the piece of material and pull off the excess bits of thread.



 

 

After tearing the fabric with excess thread

 

 Smoothen fabric and pull off excess thread

Repeat with all the material, and order the fabric prints in order of how you want to place them (I put them on the back of a chair).

 

Place lengths of fabric in order

With your pre cut rope/string, loop the length of fabric by folding in half, and looping the ends around the rope through the middle loop as illustrated:

Fold fabric in half

 

Loop ends of fabric around the rope and in between the middle loop of fabric

 

Pull fabric through and tighten



Repeat with all pieces of fabric and push together so it sits tightly together on the rope. I then knotted the ends of the rope to finish the ends off.

Loop all the fabric around the rope and tie a knot at the ends

I then tied the wooden anchors onto the fabric to go with the nautical theme.

 

Add wooden anchors

 

Finished product - ready for the smash cake session!

This was the first time I've made something like this and was inspired by all the creative backdrops on Pinterest. I wanted something really 'rugged' and boyish but still suitable for my little baaabies (which are growing up so quickly!!) as I feel like I have overdone the bunting and tissue flower decorations.

It was sooo easy to do, and I started and finished it in one day with a lot of errands and running around in between. Skill level: Beginner! :) :)

Baby Wipes Bling

Looking to add something extra to a baby shower present? Or, want to bling up your dreary bum wiping experience?

 

You just need 3 simple 'ingredients':

 

1. Sequins

2. Craft Glue (not PVA Glue, as Craft Glue is for plastic)

3. Huggies Baby Wipe Box (they come free with some Huggies purchases, and with the zillion nappies I buy, I also have a zillion Baby Wipe boxes scattered throughout the house!)

 

Stick the sequins on with glue and Voila! (

 

I made this for a friend's baby shower whilst supervising the boys having dinner one night! A blingy sequined crown fit for a princess!

 

 

Blingy Baby Wipes Box

 

 

Equipment for Blingy Baby Wipes Box

 

 

 

 

 

Home made scarves - Loom Knitting Kits

My ID twin boys, Ethan and Harley were 11 months old yesterday!

 

 Ethan and Harley - 11 months

 

I've taken weekly shots of them since they were born, this week they are wearing scarves that I made with a loom knitting kit.

 

I bought this kit at Lincraft for around $30 which includes 4 diff sized looms, a needle and metal hook. I used the small pink loom for the boys baby scarves, and I made a matching one for Daddy with the slightly wider green loom.

 

It is super easy, I made the 2 small scarves for the boys in just ONE day!

 

The instructions that come with the pack are sketchy so I just youtubed how to start and finish the scarves. I have so far made 4 scarves and 2 place mats (1 half done as pictured in the middle of the pink loom).

 

There's something satisfying making things for your precious ones!

 

If you're into DIY stuff, I totally recommend these loom kits!!

 

 

Ethan and Harley - 11 months

 

 

 Loom Knitting Kit

 



 

Loom Knitting Kit with Ethan, Harley and 1/2 of Daddy's Scarves