Knutselen: Slingers voor een piratenfeestje #1

Volgende maand is het zover: dan wordt mijn oudste dochter 3 jaar! Alle redenen om een feestje te geven. Zelf weet ze al heel goed wat ze wil en op de vraag wat ze voor feestje wil, antwoord ze telkens weer: "Pieteratuhfeesje!"

Een piratenfeestje dus. Voor mijn meisje. Prima!

Tijdens onze dagelijkse knutsel uurtjes zijn we dan alvast maar begonnen met wat dingen voor te bereiden en een beetje in de piratenstemming te komen.

Vandaag stond op het programma: het maken van een slinger!

Geheel in het thema van piraten, hebben we de slingers gemaakt in de kleuren rood, zwart en wit. En omdat het natuurlijk een meisjes-piratenfeestje wordt heb ik er dan ook maar de kleur roze aan toegevoegd.

Wat heb je nodig?

- Schaar / kleuterschaartje

- Lange stroken papier in de kleuren wit, zwart, rood en roze

- Knutsellijm

Zet jezelf en je peuter of kleuter aan het werk door de stroken in stukken te knippen van ongeveer 10 cm lang. Mijn peuter is nog niet heel erg handig met haar schaartje, en ze heeft ook geen idee wat 10 cm ongeveer is, dus zijn het kleine frommeltjes papier geworden die ze grotendeels heeft afgescheurd.

Maakt niet uit, mama doet het voorbereidende werk wel.

Vervolgens pak je de lijm en doe je hiervan een beetje op een kant van het strookje papier.

Daarna de moeilijkste stap voor jonge kindjes, maar ik moet zeggen dat het mijn meid al wel goed af ging! Je plakt het strookje papier waar de lijm op zit op de andere kant van het andere uiteinde, zodat je een dichte cirkel krijgt. Vervolgens pak je weer een nieuw strookje papier, doe je er wat lijm op en haalt deze door de eerste cirkel heen. Je plakt hem op dezelfde manier weer vast. 

Als je dit vaak genoeg herhaalt krijg je vanzelf een mooie slinger. Maak diverse slingers met verschillende kleurpatronen. Ik heb mijn dochter er toch meer dan een uur mee zoet weten te houden!

Het resultaat is een tas vol met slingers die we volgende maand op haar feestje gaan gebruiken om alles mooi te gaan versieren. 

Heel veel knutselplezier!

Recipe: Hot Chocolate Milk (low on sugar)

Autumn is coming

The evenings are getting darker and I'm in the mood for a nice cup of hot chocolate milk!

Of course I am currently forced to be on a low sugar diet which makes it all a bit more difficult. But not impossible! 

After I tried to heat up a cup of chocolate milk light, which I've bought as a finished product in the supermarket, I thought, this can be done much better!

So here it is, my first attempt to a low sugar hot chocolate milk recipe:

Ingredients:

- 250 ml soy milk

- 1 tbsp cocoa powder

- 1/2 tsp stevia / 5 mini sugar free marshmallows

Method:

Warm up the soy milk. Fill a cup with the cocoa powder, add a little bit of cold soy milk and stir it to a smooth paste. Add the warmed up soy milk. Add a little bit of Stevia to sweeten it as desired. 

If you'd like you can add sugar free marshmallows in stead of the Stevia as a sweetener. The soy milk is sweet from itself so you don't need much extra.

Enjoy!

Autumn is coming

The September rain is gently ticking against the window. 

The evenings are getting darker.

 In my living room, the candles are spreading a flickering light,

 and it smells like freshly baked apple pie.

Blankets and cozy slippers have found their way back downstairs.

The muddy boots in the kitchen are a reminder of the walk in the forest this afternoon. Just like the acorns and leafs gathered by my little girl.

Oh yes, autumn is coming...

Is spring finally coming?

I hope everybody has had a wonderful Easter and has enjoyed it as much as I did.
It was cold, but sunny, with lots and lots of chocolate eggs!!
Our little monkey enjoyed the egg search very much, and I don't believe she missed any one of them.
With Easter behind us and April begun, I hope that we will leave winter behind us soon. I am craving for the sun. And I am looking forward to explore the outside world with our toddler!

Toddler - Painting with forms & shapes

One of my favorite creative activities to do with my little girl is painting! I think she even likes it more then I do, and that is saying something. Sadly though, simply painting with a paintbrush is getting old very soon. I notice that my toddler wants to get challenged and stimulated. 

So on my quest to find more interesting painting projects, this idea is one of the first things that I've stumbled upon:  

Painting with forms & shapes

Throw the brushes aside and collect some - easy to clean - plastic objects in a variaty of interesting shapes; square, circle, triangle, etc. Blocks from a blocks form box are very suitable for this. Some other ideas are Duplo or little (plastic) play dolls.

Look at my tips for painting with Toddlers, get inspired and get started!

A lot of fun for your Toddler is guaranteed.

And (with a little bit of help from mommy) the result could look something like this...

Be creative, and have fun!

Creative with Toddlers

As a creative person, and as a mother, I am always looking for craftsy activities for my toddler.

And that isn't always very easy. 

Toddlers do tend to not have full control of their body movements, nor do they understand how to be creative, in the way that you expect them to be. They make a mess out of everything that they do, which leads to most people not to fond of toddler art projects in the first place.

But I must admit, I love it. I take the mess for granted, and enjoy the happy face of the little girl with the dirty hands. With the correct preparations you can minimalize the damage. That said, I guess there are always several lessons you need to learn.

The easiest art projects for me to do with my daughter, are simply (finger) painting. Although I know this is something which most people are scared away from, I am to believe it is one of the most enjoyable things for toddlers to do.

The texture, the colors, the figures that they can create themselves on the empty sheet in front of them.

My daughter thinks it is awesome! Everytime she sees mommy paint, she wants to do it too. And she is already becoming a real artist. She demands an empty canvas for her to paint on. She doesn't know the names of the colors, so therefore she just points to the paint bottle she wants.

Then when after five minutes the canvas is no longer blank, but filled with a chaotic collection of mixed colors, she holds up the canvas, says it is pretty and demands a new one. Within 30 minutes she can produce at least five paintings.

With that rate, I'm out of my supplies in no time,but it is also starting to get boring very easyily.

So therefore, I'm looking for new art and craftsy projects to undertake with my toddler. 

In the next few weeks I'll be posting the first of my (our) efforts.

For now, I like to share with you, what I believe must be very recognizable for all you mom's out there; toddlers exploring there creativity beyond the limits of their paper sheet...

Coming up every week from now on, Toddler Thursday!

2013

So this is it: My first blog post in 2013. 

We are already two weeks into the new year - almost- and I am still convincingly procastrinating on all my resolutions!

 I must say that I am usually a little bit skeptic about new years resolutions. I mean, why should January 1st be the One day that you can quit smoking, start losing weight - or any of the other stereotype resolutions - and succeed? If you really really want something, the day that you start shouldn't matter. Right?

Nevertheless, people need a little boost sometimes. And at year end, it is always a good time - at least it is for me - to reflect on the old year, and the new year to come. 

When a new year is coming, it is full of new opportunities and chances. And I always feel very excited to grab all the chances that I can get. So I can imagine why this would be the perfect moment for people to try to get rid of the nasty habits and incorporate some healthy or positive new ones.

My 2013 resolutions are plenty and I shall be very happy if I will succeed in at least one of them. But it is not only about reaching your goal. It is also about making the effort. 

So here it is: My attempts into reaching a few of many goals...

Good luck with all your new years resolutions! I hope that in the near future I'll be updating my blog with all the things I would like to be doing. 

Have you all a very bright, cheerful and colorful 2013! :-)

Sandra Hermans

www.sandrahermans.nl