Author Archives: TodayWeDid

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.

Jan29

Pop-stick Bookmark Holder

Posted on January 29, 2014 by TodayWeDid

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Books are one of my family’s greatest loves. We have them packed into shelves, stacked around on tables, chairs, and on any available flat surface, and A has been known to sleep with a book or two under her pillow. We buy more books every year and we frequent the public library, which allows us to borrow an unlimited amount of items and they’ve done away with over-due fees! So you can imagine how many books we read every year between us, and many of them are too long to be read in one sitting, however much we might want to read them to the end. I will use just about anything on hand as a bookmark, scraps of paper, lolly wrappers, hair clips, business cards, pencils…. and I’ve found L using another book as a bookmark a few times. This is not due to lack of ownership of proper bookmarks, but we just never seem to be able to find one when we need it, or they are already in a book (I’m particularly bad at having multiple books on the run at the same time). Big L often shakes his head when he sees me using some unusual object as a bookmark. We really needed a place that was dedicated to storing bookmarks, somewhere that we could find a bookmark when we needed one, and replace it there when we were finished, all ready for the next book.

Bookmark holder full of bookmarks.

L built us a bookmark holder out of pop-sticks. She started with a base of pop-sticks, and then built it up from there. She used PVA glue to stick the pop-sticks together, working around in a square pattern. I helped a little with the glue and adding some of the pop-sticks, under L’s directions. When L was using the glue, she often added so much to the corners that it squished out the sides, so I don’t think it will ever come apart! L kept adding pop-sticks until the holder was a good height. To finish it off, she used some mini pop-sticks and match-sticks to decorate the top layer. I added a couple more pop-sticks to the bottom of the base to prevent any of the thin bookmarks slipping there the small gaps between the pop-sticks.

Creating a base.

Adding glue.

Building up the sides.

Drying.

It took a long time to dry, but it’s very solid! We have put as many bookmarks as we could find into the holder, and placed it on one of L’s shelves. Hopefully we will manage to keep putting our bookmarks back in between uses 🙂

Jan29

Paper Plate Aquarium

Posted on January 29, 2014 by TodayWeDid

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Both L and A have been fascinated by the ocean and its inhabitants for a while now. They want to read books on ocean creatures, watch ocean documentaries, do sea creature craft, and watch The Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo over and over and over… They also want some pet fish, but we just don’t have a good place where we could keep a fish tank at the moment, not with Baby T learning to climb on everything and pull things over. We improvised instead, and made some little aquariums using paper plates to hang in their rooms.

L’s aquarium.

Painting the plate blue.

First, the kids painted one of the plates blue to represent the water in their aquariums. This was fairly quick, but of course, we had to wait until they were dry. While that happened, the kids started colouring in their sea creatures with markers. L only coloured in a few of her creatures, as she only wanted to make one aquarium, but as A wanted to make two, she coloured all of hers in. I found the undersea creatures to colour in on the Crayola site. There are lots of colouring pages available to print there.

Colouring in.

L cutting out her fish.

L only needed a little bit of help cutting her sea creatures out, but A asked me to do hers after she almost cut off the fish’s head. We used crepe paper to make sea weed, I just cut a few different green shades and some brown into strips. The kids glued some seaweed on, and then added their sea creatures. They both added some more strips of seaweed after this, making some of the animals appear to be hiding in the sea weed. This was their idea, and I love it.

Adding sea weed.

Gluing on sea creatures.

I made the lids for the aquariums using a second paper plate. I cut the centre out, leaving just the ridged bit around the edge. Then I taped some plastic cling wrap over the plate, creating a clear cover for the aquarium. We stuck the two paper plates together at the edges using tape, added some string to the top of each aquarium and hung them up.

A’s aquariums.

Jan29

Plaster Hand-Prints

Posted on January 29, 2014 by TodayWeDid

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I like the idea of having little mementos of our children’s childhoods. They each have a box of things that we can show them when they are older, such as the hospital tags from when they were born, favourite baby toys, newborn clothing, and as they get older, certificates, special drawings and some school things. Having hand and foot prints of our children have been a nice addition to their boxes, as we can look back at how small they were. I wanted something that we could display (aside from photographs), and making hand prints in plaster was the perfect solution.

I bought a box of plaster-of-paris, and mixed it according to the directions on the pack. We used some small plastic plates as our moulds, into which I poured the plaster mixture to fill the plate about three-quarters full.

Plaster-of-paris.

I’d made it a little runnier than necessary, so we waited for it to thicken a little before each of the kids placed their hand, palm down, into one of the plates. I used Baby T’s foot instead of his hand, as I thought he would probably just scrunch his fingers up in the plaster, and we wouldn’t get much of an impression. L and A held their hands in the plaster for about a minute before carefully lifting them out, leaving behind their hand print. I held Baby T’s foot in the plaster while he sat in the high chair, he was not overly impressed by this. It was very easy to wash the plaster off their skin once the impressions were made.

Impression in the wet plaster.

We left the plaster to dry for several hours before checking them. They seemed fairly dry, but I left them overnight to dry completely before removing them from the plates. They slipped out of the plates very easily.

Impressions in the dried plaster.

Once dry, I painted each impression with silver acrylic paint, and then the surrounds with gold acrylic paint. I did a couple of coats to make the metallic colour brighter. I left them to dry overnight, and then I added their name and the date in black acrylic to each one. I’m still deciding whether to add some spray gloss to them. I think it might be a good idea to help protect them, but I have to go and find where the gloss was stashed after our last project to use it.

Painted foot print.

Jan26

Pizza Pinwheels

Posted on January 26, 2014 by TodayWeDid

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Pizza pinwheels.

Along with snacks for the kids lunchboxes, I also like to have snacks for Big L’s lunchbox too. He doesn’t mind a range of cakes and cookies, but for a savoury change, I made him some pizza pinwheels. These are very similar to the cheese and bacon pinwheels we made a few days ago.

After defrosting the puff pastry sheets, I spread one with tomato pizza sauce, and the other with BBQ pizza sauce. To these I added grated cheese, shredded ham, and sliced mushroom. The kids can help with this bit. Sometimes I add other pizza ingredients like pepperoni and pineapple, but I didn’t have these today.

Ingredients.

Ingredients laid out on the puff pastry.

Each sheet of pastry is rolled up into a log, and the edge pinched together to seal it. Then the log is cut into slices, and each slice is transferred to a baking tray covered in baking paper. I add a little grated parmesan to the top of each pinwheel before putting them in the oven to cool until the pastry is golden and the cheese is melted.

These make for a delicious snack or light meal. They freeze well, but for a crispier finish, after defrosting them, I would pop them in the oven for a little while to reheat.

Sliced up log.

Laid out ready to cook.

Jan25

Frankfurt Octopuses

Posted on January 25, 2014 by TodayWeDid

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This is a fun and interesting way to serve cocktail frankfurts. A friend of mine served these at an undersea themed birthday party last year, and I just had to try them for myself.

Frankfurt octopuses.

Surprisingly easy to make, the kids often ask for their frankfurts to be made into octopuses now. I use a sharp knife to cut into each frankfurt starting from about half-way up, slicing through the bottom half length-ways. Then I turn the frankfurt around and cut it through again, so now the bottom half is in quarters lengthways. Then each quarter is cut in half again to make eight tentacles. I have found it just as easy to cut through the two opposite quarters of the frankfurt at the same time, as it is to tackle each quarter separately.

Cut up ready to cook.

Cooking in the pot.

Once the frankfurts are cooking, either on the stove top, or in the microwave, the tentacles will start to curl up and out, giving the frankfurts an octopus look.

The kids like to have tomato sauce with their frankfurts. They dip the octopus’ tentacles into the sauce and bite them off. While they were eating, I heard a lot of “I have a four-leg octopus” and “I have a no leg octopus!”. L even exclaimed she had a “no-head octopus” after she bit the top off her frankfurt.

Frankfurt octopuses ready to eat.

Jan25

Golf Ball Painting

Posted on January 25, 2014 by TodayWeDid

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Last week we bought some storage products that came packed in cardboard trays. We put these cardboard trays to good use for painting with golf balls.

One ball at a time.

No one in our family plays golf, but sometimes while we are out walking we find a golf ball on the oval, or near the path. The kids love picking them up and bringing them home. We used four of these golf balls to do some interesting paintings in the cardboard trays.

Adding another colour.

I put some paint onto sponges and the kids rolled the golf balls in one colour, placed it in the tray with their paper, and moved the box about to make the ball roll around. This allowed the paint to be transferred to the paper in tracks. When the paint wasn’t too thick we could even see the pattern of the golf ball on the paper.

Interesting patterns.

L started with just one golf ball in the tray at a time, while A put paint on three golf balls, and put them all in together. They shook the trays, and moved them side to side to make the balls move about. A also used her hands to push the balls around.

Pushing the balls around.

They both made some really great patterns.

Jan24

Cheese and Bacon Pinwheels

Posted on January 24, 2014 by TodayWeDid

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It’s almost time to return to school for a new year, and I have started the back to school baking. I like to stack the freezer with various snacks and treats ready for lunchboxes, such as muffins, cakes, and slices. One of my favourites are these easy cheese and bacon pinwheels.

Yummy cheese and bacon pinwheels.

More puff pastry, my kids just love puff pastry! While the puff pastry is defrosting on the table, I gather the rest of the ingredients, which is only grated tasty cheese, diced bacon and I like to add a little grated parmesan to the top of each one before cooking them.

Laid out prior to rolling.

I spread the grated cheese over the pastry sheet, and then the bacon pieces, trying to give it a fairly even coverage. This is a great job for the kids, though I have to watch that we don’t end up with all the bacon in one corner! Then I roll the pastry from one edge up into a log, catching all the cheese and bacon inside, and pinch the edge down to seal it. The log is then cut into slices around one to two centimetres in width. These slices are placed on their sides on the baking tray (I always use baking paper on the tray for ease), I add the grated parmesan then put them in the oven until they are golden.

Rolled up ready for slicing.

Sliced up.

Ready for the oven.

These are delicious little savoury bites, and they freeze quite well, though the pastry will not be as crispy after defrosting as it would be straight from the oven.

Jan24

Pigs-in-Blankets

Posted on January 24, 2014 by TodayWeDid

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Pigs-in-blankets are a great finger food for kids parties, and they are super easy to make!

Cut up into eights.

A frankfurt waiting to be rolled into its pastry blanket.

I buy the puff pastry in frozen sheets because I’m not much of a cook, and I’ve never managed to make my own puff pastry successfully. It is also much easier and quicker to buy frozen puff pastry. I let it defrost for a few minutes before cutting each piece in half across, and then in thirds or quarters lengthways, making six or eight rectangles of pastry out of each square pastry sheet. When the pastry sheets are cut into eighths, each frankfurt has a little less pastry on it, so there is a little bit of red poking out the ends of the pastry blanket.

Ready for the oven.

L helping me to roll the pigs.

Onto each piece of pastry, I placed one cocktail frankfurt and rolled them up, just like in a blanket. I pinched the edge of the pastry down, and then popped them on a tray in the oven to cook until they were puffy and golden.

Cooling down before eating.

Ready to eat!

These go down very well with the kids!

Jan22

Play Foam

Posted on January 22, 2014 by TodayWeDid

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A received some play foam for Christmas. It looks like tiny coloured balls of foam, and is a little sticky. They had some of this at her playschool last year, and the kids all loved it. It had said something on the pack like, it never dries out, and doesn’t stick to floors, carpets and clothing, so it is an easy clean up. I know from playschool that if it falls on the ground outside, it is near impossible to remove the dirt, grass and leaves from it, and if you happen to tread on some and don’t notice straight away, it is very difficult to remove from the bottom of your shoe. With this in mind, I placed a muck mat down, and then put the play foam into one of our play tubs, just in case.

The play foam came in a pack that was sectioned into different colours. It did not stay in separate colours for very long though. A immediately started squishing it through her fingers, and mixing the colours, so soon it was rainbow play foam.

Squashing the colours together.

More squishing.

Making cupcakes.

She likes to roll it into little balls and sausages, and mould it into various shapes, but what she likes best is to squash it! She also used some muffin cases and made pretend cupcakes with some plastic straws for candles. She shared the pretend cakes out, and we had a little tea party. Then she asked me to help her roll all of the play foam into a big ball. Once we’d done that she put some straws into the ball, and told me she was making a hedgehog.

The big ball becoming a hedgehog.

It was a pretty easy clean up, with any stray bits of foam being picked up with the big ball, and it didn’t stick to anything other than itself. I did take precautions though, and warned A not to move it off the muck mat.

A’s hedgehog ready for bed.

I enjoyed playing with the play foam as well, I like the feel of it, and so did L. It is easy to mould into shape, and holds its shape well. It should keep for a long time for future play, so long as we look after it, and don’t let it get too dirty or fluffy.

Jan22

Starry Stars

Posted on January 22, 2014 by TodayWeDid

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The kids really like stars. I think their two favourite shapes at the moment are stars and love hearts. L, in particular, is going through a stage of drawing love hearts and stars on everything. So a simple post-dinner activity was placing star stickers onto a cardboard star.

I drew the stars on a sheet of cardboard and cut them out, then I let the kids loose with two star shapes each, and several sheets of star stickers. A placed random stars all over hers, while L used the stars to make patterns, and even a face on one cardboard star. She also layered some of the stickers to make some stars with lots of points.