Play A Game: board games

Made by Lboy8, Kgirl11 and Kboy12.

After many, many hours of thinking and creating, the board games (as shown in the photo) were completed and entered into the 2010 Incredible Science: Board game competition.

At the end of the day Kboy12 came away with a “Highly commended” which he was pleased with!

Unfortunately Kgirl and Lboy didn’t fare so well…but there’s always next year guys.

Made By Me: salt dough bears

As Mum’s and Dad’s wedding anniversary approached all us kids scrambled to make  special gifts…most of us ended up making various things out of salt dough.

Here’s the recipe:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup salt
1 cup cold water

Just mix it all up and knead until smooth. Create! Bake at 150°C until hard.
Paint if desired.

Super simple!!!

So here’s my finished piece:

World Craft: Henna

Location: Malaysia

Craft: The art of appling Henna originated from India. Henna is regarded as having “Barakah”, blessings, and was applied for luck as well as joy and beauty. Mum and the two big girls each had a hand decorated at a Hari Raya celebration, in Malaysia.

Kids in the kitchen: popcorn

Corn is able to pop because, unlike other grains, its kernels have a hard moisture-sealed hull and a dense starchy filling. This allows pressure to build inside the kernel until an explosive “pop” results.

~wikipedia

Pop corn is very easy to make! Heat 1t of oil in a pot over the stove. Put 1/4C of popping corn int the pot and put a lid on!!! You should soon hear the corn popping. Occasionally shake the pot so the corn doesn’t burn. The corn is ready when you can count to ten without hearing more corn popping! You should have about 3 cups of popcorn by now.

You can flavour the corn with butter and salt, icing sugar, pepper…try your own combinations.

Play A Game: musical instuments

One of the easiest instruments to make would have to be a shaker, or a maraca. Once made, these are very useful for shaking the beat.

Fill a screw top container with rice/beans/pasta/beads/anything small and hard.  Have fun experimenting with different materials.

Once you’ve screwed the lid on glue or tape it on (this will stop rice from flying everywhere during some vigorous shaking).

Recycle: crayons

If you’ve got lots of crayon stubs that you might be throwing out, wait!!!

To make some funky multi-coloured crayons break all your crayons into smaller pieces and pop them into patty pans. Melt the crayons in the oven. When the wax has cooled knock your new crayons out. Pretty clever!

World Craft: castles

Location: Carcassonne, France

Craft: When castles were the center of activity and the fortress in times in trouble, they were the power and strength of the countries.

Kids in the Kitchen: toothpaste

Don’t be fooled, this white mixture is not going to taste like the white icing it looks like!!! But it’s very effective in cleaning teeth!!!!

• 7 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4t glycerin (easily found at our local friendly pharmacist’s)
• 15 drops peppermint essential oil.
• 1t water

Mix all the ingredients together and store in a small bottle. Use like a normal toothpaste.

Tuesday Tutorial: apron

Not too long ago I made an apron for my littlest sister’s birthday. It was very simple! And only took about ¾ of an hour to whip up.

You will need: A colourful tea towel, bias binding, and coloured thread.

1. Lay the teatowel out and fold it in half long ways.
2. Along the salvage edge draw a fairly shallow curve. This will be the top edge so it will have to fit under the arms, eventually. Cut along the curve you’ve drawn.
3. Take the bias binding and put a pin through it at about 50cm. Then from that point pin the binding on to the curve and when you get to the top leave just enough for a small head to get through and then continue pining it onto the other edge.
4. Leave 50cm on the other side and then cut the bias binding.
5. Sew the binding over on itself and onto the tea towel.
6. Embellish with buttons, pockets or however you would like it.

Made By Me: paperweight

Originally this paperweight had her hands sewn together and she could hold a pen. Now she just keeps the timepiece in order!