Tag Archives: dress-ups

Nov8

Flower Lei

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IMG_5633Summer is coming! Warm weather, sun, sand, surf… The thought of the beach put me in the mood to make flower leis with the kids.

Fabric flowers.

Fabric flowers.

This is a very simple lacing activity using fabric flowers and cut up plastic drinking straws. I bought the flowers from Educational Experience, an online educational supply store. These flowers have little holes in the centre of each one, perfect for threading. You could also make your own fabric flowers from fabric scraps, or use paper/tissue paper for the flowers.

Threading flowers and straws.

Threading flowers and straws.

We cut pieces of yarn roughly a metre long, and tied a big knot in one end to prevent the flowers from slipping off. The kids alternated flowers and straws until they had filled their yarn up. I helped them tie the ends together to form a loop, and the leis were ready to wear.

The younger kids had some trouble keeping the plastic yarn needle on the yarn, so I tied the needle on for them. This allowed them to focus on the threading without the frustration of needing to re-thread the needle all the time. Once they were finished, we just cut the needle off and tied the ends together. The boys (who are only two) did very well with this activity, carefully threading their flowers and straws on. This is a great activity for fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and concentration. And it makes some lovely, bright leis for dressing up with!

 

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Sep4

Book Week 2015

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Book Week was last week and the girls dressed up for a parade at school. They both took a long time to decide on who they wanted to dress up as this year. There were various fairies to consider, Grug, the witch from Room on the Broom, Thelma the Unicorn…. Finally A decided to be Lauren the Puppy Fairy from the Rainbow Magic Fairy books by Daisy Meadows, and L chose to be Esau from Esau the Paw by Chris Gurney and John Bennett.

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A as Lauren the Puppy Fairy.

A’s costume was easy. We just went through her drawers and came up with some pink cord pants, pink shoes, a pink singlet and pink fairy wings from the dress up box and she was done. She used a pink pencil with a gem on the end of it for a wand, and took one of her toy puppies along too.

L's cat tail.

L’s cat tail.

L’s costume needed a bit more work. Esau is a very furry cat that needs to be shaved because his fur becomes matted. L vacillated between wanting to be Esau prior to the shaving, directly after or when the fur was beginning to grow back. She eventually decided on the latter, wearing grey shorts and a furry hoodie with joggers. I made her a skinny grey tail with a big fluffy end from yarn, and used the same yarn to create a headband with fluffy, grey cat ears on it. I attached a loop of thick elastic to the tail so that L could wear it around her waist comfortably. To finish her outfit, we used face crayons to give her face more of a catty feel.

They both had a fun time at the parade. We like dressing up for Book Week!

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L as Esau the Paw.

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.

Jan8

Reindeer Foam Mask

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IMG_4017While we were in Riot Art and Craft, the kids each chose a small Christmas craft kit. A picked out this reindeer foam mask, and L got a snowman hand puppet.

We opened the pack and tipped out all the pieces. For some reason there was no piece for the mouth in our pack. Luckily the pieces of foam from where the eye holes are cut out were in the pack, and we were able to cut one of these to make a mouth. A used some glue to stick on the nose, mouth and eye-lashes. Then when that was dry, we turned it over, and stuck on the ears and the antlers. It used a couple of pop-sticks to keep the antlers up straight, and a piece of elastic to hold it on the face.

It was very easy for A to make this mask, and she has been having lots of fun wearing it around. She loves her dress-ups, and it has been a fun addition to her wardrobe.

A wearing her new reindeer mask.

A wearing her new reindeer mask.