Author Archives: TodayWeDid

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About TodayWeDid

I spend my time sharing my love of reading, arts and crafts with my four children. I also review children's and YA books.
Apr9

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

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IMG_8888Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel  Scheffler, paperback picture book, first published by Macmillan Children’s Books in 2001, this edition published by Macmillan Children’s Books in 2002.

The Witch and her Cat are going for a broom flight in the starry night, but things keep blowing away. Each time they descend to the ground to recover the lost item, there is another animal wanting a ride on their broom. Can the broom hold all of these animals, or will they come to a sticky end?

Room on the Broom is another delightful rhyming book from the creators of The Gruffalo. This is a fun book to read aloud with children of all ages, but is especially good for pre-schoolers and lower primary school children. The illustrations are nice, and the story is funny, and I enjoy sharing this one with my kids. There is a dragon in this story, which my kids thought was a little scary the first time we read the book, but that hasn’t stopped them requesting many re-reads! This is one of our favourite picture books.

 

Apr8

Two Little Pirates by Ruth Paul

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IMG_8894Two Little Pirates by Ruth Paul, paperback picture book, first published by Scholastic New Zealand Limited in 2010, this reformatted edition was published by Scholastic New Zealand Limited in 2013.

As the day draws near, two little pirates attack the King and Queen where they lay in their bed sleeping. They tickle the Queen’s feet, and the King falls down, but soon the tide turns and the little pirates are hung over the side of the ship. Captured, they have to pay for their pirate ways, but soon punishment is exchanged for snuggles and cuddles.

This is a lovely book, with gorgeous illustrations and rhyming text that makes the idea of being woken up by young children seem like a fun and engaging experience. The language is just right for the subject matter, with humour and pizzazz. Two Little Pirates is a great book for sharing and reading aloud with young children. Slightly older children, lower to middle primary school age, will also enjoy reading this themselves, and listening to it being read of course!

Apr8

Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby

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IMG_8867Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby, paperback novel, 321 pages, first published by Scholastic Press in 2011, this edition published by Scholastic Inc. in 2013.

Solveig is a princess growing up in the shadow of her beautiful older sister, Asa, and that of her younger brother, the heir, Harald. To the King, she has always been the plain, unpromising and unimportant middle child, but when the three siblings are trapped behind an icy fjord for the winter, Solveig comes into her own. As their father fights a war, the princesses and prince are being protected in the King’s Hall with some loyal servants and a band of violent berserkers, that normally serve the King in battle. They cannot leave their ice safe-hold until the spring thaw arrives, but that is a long time away through a bitter winter. It soon becomes apparent that there is a traitor in their midst, but it’s hard for Solveig to imagine that one of these trusted few could betray them and their father. What appeared to be a protected haven, has now become a place of uncertainty, distrust and danger. They must wait for the thaw that will allow them to escape the trap that they have found themselves in, but maybe it won’t come soon enough.

I suppose Icefall could be described as a ‘coming of age’ story, as Solveig begins to define herself outside of her father’s narrow view of her during a period of stress. She matures and finds a strength she never knew she possessed, and in turn she finds herself. Also, Icefall is a mystery which was exciting and interesting.  The characters were well developed, and the storyline was compelling. The story is told from Solveig’s point of view, and the reader is able to grasp how she feels and thinks about the situation she finds herself in, and those she shares it with. I could also visualise the berserkers and the location in which the story is set. I really enjoyed this book, it was definitely a page turner for me. I think it would probably be best for upper primary and high school children, but mature younger children might also enjoy this adventure.

Apr7

Paper Plate Hot Air Balloon

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IMG_8949There was recently a Hot Air Balloon Festival held near us, so we have been talking about hot air balloons a lot lately. This led to some hot air balloon craft using a paper plate and some cardboard.

The basket attached to the balloon.

The basket attached to the balloon.

The pegs attached to the passengers.

The pegs attached to the passengers.

We used a rectangle of cardboard to make the balloon’s basket, and we attached this to the paper plate using string. A drew a picture of herself and one of her friends to be the passengers. I carefully cut around them, and we glued tiny pegs to the backs of these pictures, and left them to dry.

Placing the cardboard mosaics.

Placing the cardboard mosaics.

Adding more mosaics.

Adding more mosaics.

I had a bag of cardboard mosaics, which are little squares of coloured cardboard, great for decorating art and craft projects, or making pictures with. A brushed Clag glue all over the inside of the paper plate, and then she stuck the mosaics squares on randomly. We had to leave this to dry for a while.

A used the little pegs on the back of her passengers to attach them to the basket. We hung the balloon in her room and her passengers can go for a ride in the breeze from the window.

 

Apr7

Painting Pillow Cases

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3D glitter fabric paints.

3D glitter fabric paints.

3D fabric paint with glitter, oh we had to try that! It came in a pack of six colours with easy to use nozzle applicators. I bought some cheap white pillow cases for the kids to paint on, and I placed some thick cardboard into the pillow case to prevent the paint from running through to the other side. I used pegs around the edges to keep the pillow case flat while the kids were painting.

The tubes only needed light pressure to squeeze the paint out, but A was a little heavy-handed at times, and her paint went on very thickly. She didn’t like the look of this, so she took a paintbrush, and spread the paint out over the pillow case. This made a glitter rainbow that she was very pleased with. She asked me to squeeze more paint out in lines all over the pillow case, and she used the paintbrush to mix it. She had lots of fun doing this, though it meant that the 3D look of the paint was lost.

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Almost finished.

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Spreading the paint.

L preferred to paint a picture on her pillow case. She drew mountains and hills, the sun, grass and herself standing next to her trampoline. She was much better able to control the flow of paint than A, and she even mixed some of the colours to create new colours.

L painting her picture.

L painting her picture.

Once they were done painting we left the pillow cases to dry. We could have painted on the other side after a few hours, but we chose not to. We followed the instructions on the paint pack, leaving them to dry for a couple of days prior to washing them. Once they were washed and dried, the kids put them on their pillows. Due to the 3D nature of the paint, it is raised a little and the kids said it feels funny to sleep on. This is why I asked them not to paint on both sides. They can have the painted side on display during the day, but at night, they just flip the pillow over and sleep on the smooth, unpainted side. They are both happy with this.

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Apr5

Wooden Beads

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The pile of wooden beads.

The pile of wooden beads.

A found a little box of wooden beads and laces while we were tidying up her room. She asked to do some beading with them today.

Sorting the beads.

Sorting the beads.

She tipped them out into a pile, and then sorted them by colour. There was also a few bigger beads with flowers on them, and A placed all of these ones together. Once she had them in separate piles, I gave her some little cardboard labels on which I had written the French words for the colours. She read each one, and then put the label next to the correct pile.

Sorted beads with French labels.

Sorted beads with French labels.

A placed the beads onto the laces, making patterns with the colours. Once she was happy with her string of beads, we hung them up in her room.

Bead pattern.

Bead pattern.

Apr4

Paper Plate Rabbit

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A made a paper plate rabbit today. It has paper ears, a button for a nose, googly eyes, a pipe cleaner mouth and little pom pom teeth.

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Adding a button nose.

Adding a button nose.

I cut out the ears for A, and she glued them together. Once she had glued the ears to the top of the paper plate, they were a bit floppy, so we added a couple of popsticks behind the ears to keep them upright. A glued down the nose, eyes, mouth and teeth, and then left it to dry.

Adding popsticks to keep the ears up.

Adding popsticks to keep the ears up.

We used the hole punch to put a hole in the plate between the ears and added some string so that it could be hung up in her room. This was pretty simple and quick, and A is very happy with her rabbit.

Apr4

Backyard Teepee

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IMG_8907Our simple teepee is just the right size for one child. L has been using it for some quiet time by herself, where she can read and eat a snack in peace.

IMG_8900We used a small plastic hoop (I think it was 50cm in diameter) at the top of the teepee. To this we attached a plastic shower curtain using plastic shower curtain rings. Last time I actually had a shower curtain the rings clipped together once they went through the curtain and around the curtain rod. These curtain rings didn’t clip, and the shower curtain kept popping off them. To solve this we taped the opening of the ring shut. I overlapped the shower curtain, placing the last ring through the first and last holes to  stop it from moving around the hoop so much.

At the base, we used a larger plastic hoop (this one was 75cm in diameter). L helped me to punch holes around the bottom edge of the shower curtain with the hole punch. Then we used the rest of the shower curtain rings to attach the bottom of the curtain to the bigger hoop, and taped up the gaps.

Placing the curtain rings.

Placing the curtain rings.

Punching holes in the shower curtain.

Punching holes in the shower curtain.

I tied the small hoop onto the branch of one of our trees, to hang at about the right height for the big hoop to rest on the ground, but without the curtain billowing out too much. We didn’t have enough rope, so I used some poly string as a temporary tie until I can get some more. We added a soft-fall mat under the teepee so that the kids didn’t have to sit on the ground while they were using the teepee.

The kids are very happy with this little teepee, and they have both been playing in it. A took some toys out and had a little tea party, while L has mostly been using it as a reading spot.

Apr3

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Mozzie by P. Crumble and Louis Shea

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IMG_8896There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Mozzie by P. Crumble and Louis Shea, paperback picture book, published by Scholastic Australia in 2010.

This is an hilarious Australian twist on the classic There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly. Only here, the Old Lady swallows a Mozzie (mosquito), followed by a range of Aussie animals, which get bigger and bigger.

The illustrations in There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Mozzie are fantastic. The Old Lady is comically dressed in purple slippers with matching purple hair, and a purple bow on her wide-brim hat. My favourite picture is of the Old Lady eating an echidna sandwich with tomato sauce, but every page contains a wonderfully humorous drawing. And the story is just as entertaining, as she eats her way through the Australian bush in an attempt to catch the mozzie she has swallowed.

I shared this book with my children, and they loved it. It’s best for lower primary school children and below, though all ages can have a laugh while reading this book. It is perfect for reading aloud and for sharing. Once we’d read the story we really enjoyed talking about the pictures, and how silly the Old Lady is for swallowing all those animals, especially since she took her teeth out at the start! A fun book we will read over and over.

Apr2

Yarn Dolls

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I remembered making yarn dolls when I was a child, and I wanted to try it with the girls.

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Wrapping the yarn around the cardboard.

Wrapping the yarn around the cardboard.

First I cut some sturdy cardboard up into two rectangles to use to wrap the yarn around to make the body of the doll. I started each child off by winding the yarn around a few times, and then they continued to wind it until it was as thick as they wanted it to be. Once that was done, I helped them remove the hank of yarn from the cardboard. From this yarn we would make the head, body and legs of the doll.

 

 

Tying yarn around the body to form the head.

Tying yarn around the body to form the head.

The body with hair, head, body and legs.

The body with hair, head, body and legs.

L cut a few pieces of yarn off the ball to use to tie around the hank of yarn to differentiate the hair from the head, and the head from the body and the body from the legs. L tied her knots, but A had difficulty, and asked me to help her do this part. Once the yarn was tied around the body at the top of the legs, we split the yarn beneath this into two roughly equal parts, forming the legs. A small section at the base was also tied off to form feet.

Arms ready to be added to the body.

Arms ready to be added to the body.

To make the arms, the kids wrapped some more yarn around their cardboard, but this time, around the shorter sides of the rectangle. This hank of yarn was also not as thick as that of the body. Once we had removed this yarn from the cardboard, a small section on each end was tied off to form the hands.

We carefully threaded the arms through the body of the doll, and secured the arms in place using another piece of yarn wrapped around the doll’s chest in a criss-cross under the arms and around the back. We snipped off all the loose threads from our knots, and then the dolls were done. L left her doll just as it was, but A added some tiny googly eyes to her doll, but not other facial features.

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