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.
Apr1

The Terrible Plop by Ursula Dubosarsky

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IMG_8646The Terrible Plop by Ursula Dubosarsky and illustrated by Andrew Joyner, paperback picture book, first published by Penguin Group (Australia) in 2009, this edition published by Penguin Group (Australia) in 2012.

The rabbits are having a relaxing snack by the lake when they hear a loud noise. It frightens them and they run away from the lake as quickly as they can telling all the animals they meet on the way about the “Terrible Plop”. They come to a bear who doesn’t believe anything could be scarier than him, and he forces the smallest of all the rabbits to show him where this “Terrible Plop” is.

Just as some children are wary of trying new things, the littlest rabbit discovers that some things seem scary at first, but once they are explained, they are not really scary at all. This is something most people can relate to. The Terrible Plop is an entertaining story with rhyming text and lovely illustrations. It is an excellent read-aloud book, and I love sharing this one with my kids. Great for preschoolers and lower primary school children, this story is sure to become a favourite.

Mar31

Pom Pom Bunnies and Chicks

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IMG_8836When we went into Riot Art & Craft last week they had a large display of Easter crafts, including some little craft kits. Each of the kids picked out a pom pom critter kit to make at home. L chose mini chicks and bunnies, and A chose some chicks.

IMG_8818IMG_8819There were some instructions on the back of the pack, but it would have been possible to complete the pom pom critters from the picture alone, given what was in each kit. We had to cut up some of the pipe cleaners to the right length, but otherwise everything was ready to go.

 

Adding the chick's bunny ears headband.

Adding the chick’s bunny ears headband.

L got started on hers straight away, getting the beak and little puffy cheeks onto her chicks. A asked that I help her with the glue, and making the pipe cleaners into the right shapes. Once I’d placed the glue, she put the pieces together carefully.

One of L’s mini bunnies experienced a small accident which left its face elongated, so L started calling it the ele-bunny. I think she just damaged the pom pom, making it a weird shape.

L's mini bunnies and mini chicks.

L’s mini bunnies and mini chicks.

It was a fun way to pass an hour or so, and once the pom pom critters dried, the kids had great fun playing with them. A even took her chicks to bed with her and cuddled them to sleep.

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Mar31

Bunny Ears

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A as a cute little bunny.

A as a cute little bunny.

After the bunny cake was all eaten last week, I was left with the felt and foam ears. We decided to put them to good use making some bunny ear headbands for the kids to wear.

White felt ears.

White felt ears.

We had to make another set of ears for the second headband. L glued the pink foam onto the white felt to make the ears, and then we left them to dry.

Bunny ears ready for gluing.

Bunny ears ready for gluing.

I cut some strips of cardboard and stapled them together to the right size for the kids’ heads. Then the kids glued their ears onto the cardboard band. They placed the base of the ears behind the cardboard at the front of the headband so that the pink foam sections were lined up against the cardboard.

Sticking the ears to the headband.

Sticking the ears to the headband.

Once the headbands were completely dry, the kids placed them on their heads and hopped all around the house just like rabbits.

L being a mischievous little bunny.

L being a mischievous little bunny.

Mar31

The Bear’s Lunch by Pamela Allen

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IMG_8642The Bear’s Lunch by Pamela Allen, paperback picture book, published by Puffin Books in 1998.

When Oliver and Wendy go for a picnic lunch by the lake, they are unaware that a very hungry bear is roaming near by looking for a meal. The bear becomes increasingly hungry, so when it spies Wendy and Oliver, they look like a nice, easy lunch. However, Oliver and Wendy have other ideas.

Pamela Allen books are very popular in our house, and The Bear’s Lunch has been read many, many times. My kids love to do all the growls and roars throughout the book. The story is easy to follow along, and it is great to share with young children up to lower primary school age. This is a fun story with a happy ending that most children will enjoy.

Mar30

Bottle Doll

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A is crazy for dolls of all sizes and shapes. She does a lot of pretend play with them, in particular she likes to give them baths…. which are not always so pretend. She carries them around, takes them on outings, and to bed. A asked if we could make some dolls for craft, so we gave it a go. I remembered using a soft drink bottle to make a doll when I was a child, so we started with making a bottle doll.

The doll's head.

The doll’s head.

We had an empty mineral water bottle that we washed out, and removed the label from. I cut out an oval of pink foam for the doll’s face, and A glued it to the top of the bottle. A decorated her doll’s face, giving her googly eyes, and using a marker to make a mouth and a nose.

IMG_8631I twisted two pink pipe cleaners today to make one long one, and I helped A to wrap this around the bottle to make some arms.

Then A got down to the very serious business of dressing her doll. She decided her doll should be wearing a shirt and a skirt. She chose to make the skirt from red tissue paper and blue honeycomb mesh, and the shirt from gold honeycomb mesh and pink crepe paper. I helped her to poke the doll’s arms through the mesh and crepe paper of her shirt. I held the shirt and skirt shut at the back while A taped them together. She is getting much better at removing tape from the dispenser without sticking it to itself now.

Adding hair.

Adding hair.

Once she was dressed, it was time to “make her pretty” according to A. She didn’t like the bald look her doll was sporting, so she added some curly doll’s hair to the top of the bottle and around her face.

Placing her necklace.

Placing her necklace.

A also used some stick-on gems to giver her doll a necklace, some earrings and a little watch.  She found a thin pink ribbon in the craft box and asked me to make her a bow to place in the doll’s hair too.

Adding the final touches.

Adding the final touches.

As a final decoration, A placed a small blue feather as a pendant on the doll’s necklace.

A made a bed for her new bottle doll beside her own bed that evening, so she would be comfy and warm, and ready to play first thing in the morning.

 

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Mar29
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Aside

I have decided to investigate some social media for Today We Did. I’m not very experienced with any particular platform, so I’m trying twitter first. If you’d like to follow along, find me @TodayWeDidBlog.

I’ve also managed to set up a Facebook page, called Today We Did. I thought this might be a good place to chat about our activities, and I would love to see photos of some things you’ve tried at home too!

Please forgive me in advance if I don’t get the hang of social media straight away 🙂

Cheers,

Sara 🙂

 

Social Media

Mar28

Bunny Cake

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IMG_8719Big L made a round buttercake, and I decided we should decorate it as a bunny. It was iced with plain white frosting andIMG_8711 then covered in dessicated coconut.

Bunny ears.

Bunny ears.

The ears were made by gluing some pink foam onto white felt, and then when they were dry, I attached them to the back of the cake using toothpicks, so they were sticking up into the air.

I used both normal sized and mini marshmallows to make the nose and the teeth. The eyes are half a marshmallow with a mini m&m as a pupil. The mouth is made out of writing fudge, but I had lots of trouble getting it into the shape I wanted as it didn’t stick to the coconut very well. By the time I came to make the whiskers I was a bit frustrated with the writing fudge, so I started looking for something else to use. I thought about using liquorice, but we didn’t have anything, so I compromised and used dry spaghetti. I broke the spaghetti into the lengths I wanted and then laid the pieces down as whiskers.

Everyone was very happy with how our bunny cake turned out, and even happier when they were eating it!

 

Mar28

Monster Masks

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Gluing down some tissue paper.

Gluing down some tissue paper.

The kids created their own monster masks using paper plates as a base. I cut some eye holes, and then they got started decorating their masks. We started by placing tissue paper over the plate to create the monster’s skin. Once we’d glued the tissue paper down, A chose to leave her tissue paper loose around the edge as a bit of a frill. L chose to push the edges of her tissue paper around to the back of the plate and glue it down.

Gluing the edges down.

Gluing the edges down.

The kids used some crepe paper to add fur, felt and foam for horns, mouth and ears. L added a silver tail to her mask too. And then it was glitter glue and more glitter glue. A used lots of glitter glue to create some pretty sparkly teeth that haven taken a couple of days to dry in our damp weather.

 

Adding a glitter glue nose.

Adding a glitter glue nose.

I added a large pop-stick to the back of the plate to help support the mask, and then another large pop-stick at the bottom of the mask for the kids to hold it.

A adding purple fur.

A adding purple fur.

Glitter glue teeth.

Glitter glue teeth.

When I took photos of the kids using their masks, they growled and roared for me. They also ran out wearing their masks to scare Big L when he got home from work.

L modelling her monster mask.

L modelling her monster mask.

A modelling her monster mask.

A modelling her monster mask.

Mar27

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

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IMG_8648The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler, paperback picture book, published by Macmillan Children’s Books in 1999.

A little mouse strolls through the woods, several predators offer for him to join them for a meal. He frightens each of these animals away with his description of the fictitious monster, the Gruffalo, but then he actually meets one. The Gruffalo thinks he would like to eat the mouse as well, but the mouse has a clever idea to escape becoming lunch.

This is a beautifully written and illustrated picture book that is extremely well loved in our home. The kids can recite this story because we have read it so many times. I love it too, and I am always happy when one of the kids choose it for story time. The story is written in rhyming text, and the mouse’s description of the Gruffalo is delightful. It is amusing and original, and not at all scary. It is a wonderful book to share with children of all ages. The Gruffalo is a must have for every child’s book collection.

 

Mar27

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

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IMG_8643Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, children’s paperback, first published by Harper and Row in 1963, this edition published by Red Fox in 2000.

Max is wearing his wolf suit and being a bit naughty, so he is sent to bed without any dinner. While he sits in his room, a forest grows, and an ocean appears, with a boat just for Max. He travels over the water to the land where the wild things live, and rules them, but he is lonely in the land of the wild things and he wants to go home.

This picture book is an award winner, and considered a children’s classic. It is a simple story with plenty of illustrations. Where the Wild Things Are is not my favourite picture book, but it’s okay. As toddlers my kids thought this book was terrifying, mostly due to the drawings of the wild things. Now that they are a bit older, they like this story fairly well, just not before bedtime.