Getting back on trac (tor)

Sorry for the bad pun in the title. I think however, it is appropriate as the week’s rubbish craft is brilliant, back to the old standard of  stuck together rubbish!  The whole thing was decided upon, designed and done by my four year old (well most of it).

After watching Mister Maker he decided he wanted to make a tractor. We rummaged around in the junk box(es) until he found the bits he needed. Using 2 cardboard tubs, 6 lids and part of a cereal box he made this.

 

First the tubs were painted green and left to dry.

 The next day the wheels were stuck on with double sided tape. I then mixed some pva glue with yellow paint for him to paint the wheels. This bit didn’t work very well!

After it was dry we attached the trailer to the tractor and added stickers for decoration.

Brilliant eh?

I have also been working on this, would like to know if you can work out what it is meant to be. Even my usually perceptive children took several guesses on this one. Good Luck!

 

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Ups and Downs

Since the start of term the usual piles of organised mess in my lounge have been transformed into this…

Everything from the playroom/dining room except the pinball machine has been neatly piled into any available space. My husband has spent his last few evenings and all of this morning laying a new floor in the emptied room.

With a little help from a helpful four year the floor is nearly done, and things can move back in soon…. Only for the lounge to be filled up again with the contents of my kitchen cupboards, ready for a new kitchen.  Oh well will be worth it in the end. 

Enough moaning. This week’s post is more about what happened when I gave my four year old a choice between making something or playing a game one afternoon.  As you can guess, he choose both- and this is the result.

A very unique Snakes and Ladders game. The placing of the squares and snakes and ladders were left entirely up to my son, which lead to a very interesting numbering system. There are also some squares that take you up two ladders if you land on them.  It’s playable though. Hope it gives someone a crafty idea to amuse their little one.

I wish I’d thought of this.

Here is a picture of the rocket car that we have been making this week. The kit was a Christmas present from my mum to my son and we have spent all week after school making it. Thank you mum!

What was particularly impressive was that the main components were cardboard cones and tubes. The cones and tubes looked like they were surplus/ waste from another industry (maybe used to hold wool on looms or something like that).  My daughter made a puppet from a similar kit, but that has disappeared into the Aladdin’s cave that is her bedroom.

Recycled craft kits for children, brilliant idea. Wish I’d thought of it……

What to do?

Happy New Year, as this is my first post of 2012. It seems that having lots of time and nothing to do has made me  very disorganised. Weekly blogs are definitely a thing of the past. Not only have I run out of ideas, I have also had a bit of a clear out and thrown many many many things in the …… bin.

However, I have found time to help help my son make an Octonaut GUP-A , following  instructions in his CBeebies magazine. It was very simply done.

In case you can’t tell the body is torn up tissue paper stuck onto a plastic bottle, using slightly watered down pva glue. It took about 12 hours to dry.

 The other bits were cut out from his magazine and sellotaped on.  Quite pleased with how it turned out. It also helps nicely illustrate one of my favourite words, translucent,  which my daughter has as one of her spelling words thisweek.

I was considering covering other bottles in tissue paper and turning them into a rocket mobile for when we finally decorate my son’s bedroom (though this won’t be very soon). He seemed quite interested in space just before Christmas. However, when we were talking about it he decided he wanted a Lego bedroom.  My initial dismay has turned into inspired excitement as I think I have just the thing to make a large, fake lego bricks….. watch this space……..