Teacher role play- learning in a fun way.

Sorry I have been gone for a while I have been so busy finishing my PGCE I am pleased to say it is now completed!!!

It seems very appropriate that today's blog post is all about Boo playing teachers.   Ever since she started back at nursery this term she loves playing teachers.  I have lost count how many times I have ended up on the time out spot!! I decided to assist with this new found interest by providing a few resources that she could use to make it more interesting.

The great thing is that Boo is learning at the same time without realising it.  She spends her time teaching me my numbers and letter sounds on occasions I pretend to get it wrong so that gives her the opportunity to correct me. This proves to me that she understands.

Inside the teachers box is

• Resources from Twinkl  teacher role play pack letter formation worksheets
• RML Phonics cards- my Dad got these from the charity shop at a great price bless him! 
• Buttons to count 
• White board markers as all the sheets are laminated and can be reused 
• Pen 
• An old filo fax I do not use this now and Boo loves writing in it 
• Post it notes 
• Medal- for the student who is best behaved 

I am sure that Boo will add more items to this as we use it.

Create your own colouring books using your own photographs

Little Boo loves painting and colouring in so I decided to make her a colouring book using photographs that we have taken.  The photographs can be of anything that your child likes, most of ours are focused on family and toys.

To do this you need Picasa or Photoshop. Luckily I have access to Photoshop so I was able to do this colouring book on there.  

All you do is upload the photograph that you want then change the filter to sketch then photocopy. 

You then amend the detail until you are happy with the results then Print! 

It is possible to do this on Picasa but I was not as impressed with the output

In Picasa under the special edits you click on Pencil Sketch then move the sliders till you find the best output then print.  

I hope that this has come in helpful.  

Ways to display children's artwork

I feel that it is really important to display children's artwork wherever possible in the house.  Little Boo loves it when I put her artwork up for everyone to see.  Today I am going to share a few ways that I display or keep Little Boos artwork.  There are a few that are repeated from a previous post but I feel that it is always good to recap some posts so they can be seen again.

Hang pictures up 

Make a canvas 

Make a scrapbook

Do a power-point presentation

I know that some art work is difficult to keep especially if it is really big! therefore it may be a good idea to take pictures of some of the items and make this into a power point presentation or a video.  The great thing about this is that it does not take up a lot of room and you can really make it special adding in text and music.  You could always make this together as well.

Frame it!

Having a few picture frames in the house that are saved for children's art work I feel is a great idea.  The good thing about this is that it can be changed throughout the year. Box frames are really good as you can put in 3D items and collages.

Make a calender

This year we decided to make a calender from Little Boos artwork this is so simple to do and saves money as well.

If there are any other ways that you use to display children's artwork please comment below.  I would love to read about new ideas.

Our very easy pom pom chicks

These pom pom chicks are so cute and really easy to make as well!! All you need to do to make the pom poms is to wrap wool around a fork then tie it off.  You then take it off the fork and cut the wool on the sides to make the pom pom.

All is left to do is to decorate it! 

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Introducing my Mommy makes- Quilling

I hope that you all like the new look of the blog with the added buttons! I have decided start to sharing the crafts that I do on the blog.  I am sure that a lot of my followers like to craft themselves (when we have the time). Today I have decided to share with you the Mothers Day card that I made for my Mom.   This year I decided to do some quilling.  I have not done any quilling since I was probably about 11 so was really pleased with the results. The craft is fairly basic to do and only requires a few things 

• Quilling tool 
• Quilling papers
• Circle sizer
• PVA glue 

All you do is make twist the paper with the quilling tool take this off then allow the paper to uncoil to a selected size.  You then glue this then pinch it into the shape that you need.  I enjoyed making this card as it was all my own design so I did not need to worry about following a pattern.  I hope that some of you may be able to try out this idea.  

My First Guest post!!

I am delighted that my first guest post has been posted on the Twinkl Blog today.  I have written all about cheap spring craft ideas that can be made including this beautiful spring wreath  made with egg boxes! 

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Up-cycle egg box

Lately I have been looking for inspiration to use more of what we have around the house to make our crafts with limited funds it is essential that a lot of the crafts that we do are not too costly.  I had a few egg boxes and decided to make paper mache with them.  I was really surprised at the results as the mache was really easy to use and felt lovely.  Little Boo was a bit apprehensive at first as this was a new material but she soon liked it. 

To make the egg box mache it was a complete trial 

We tore up the box into small pieces and soaked over night in a warm bowl of water.  

In the morning we sieved out the water leaving the mixture a little bit damp.  

Then transferred this into a jug and used the hand held blender to make the mixture finer. 

After this I added two tablespoons of salt (this is added to preserve it) 

Add PVA glue.

The mixture was great for pushing into cookie cutters to make shapes.  We placed them on the side to dry then the day after placed them on the radiator (as I was getting inpatient). 

They dried really well so we decided to paint them. I did sand them down a bit before painting. I completely forgot about placing holes in these as they could of been hung up! so instead I am going to add magnets to the back. 

I have shared this idea on