Learning the alphabet: The letter B

Yikes time can pass by quickly! This week in the Ladybug household we are actually focusing on the letter E, but have not updated the blog since we first began, at the letter A (sorry about that!) 

The whole 'alphabet book' part is going really well, not only is the folder somewhere to store all of Ladybug and Petals craft items, but it also gives them something to look at on their own. A few times now I have found Ladybug sat looking through her folder naming all the letters and assorted things we made or did during that week. She also loves showing off her folder to her Dad and Nanna each week. 

The letter B:

 Here is a list of the B activities we did this week: 

- We looked at some more alphabet songs on YouTube:

- The girls did some bending (I cut off the top off some bendy straws and let them bend it I to an L shape) and glued them onto a big B stencil (I just drew it freehand - our printer still isn't working!) 

- Some B tracing on dotted letters. This part is more for Petal (4) than Ladybug (2) but Ladybug still asks to do her tracing too. 

- We went through some old sticker sheets of letters and found the B stickers. 

- The girls made some plastic badges. I found these ones in our craft drawers so am not sure where exactly they are from, but I think I originally bought them in a $2 shop. The girls loved wearing their badges all day too. 

- On the weekend we went to the beach.

- The girls decorated a drawing of a bird with coloured feathers. While doing these activities we talk about how it relates to the letter we are focusing on that week. 

- We blew bubbles at the park - this one was definitely a fave! The girls also had a fun bubble bath together. 

- The girls learnt the Auslan sign for B. This sign is made by touching your thumb and pointer finger together on each hand and bringing them together as if making an eye mask with your hands. Click here to see a demonstration. 

- We made some balloon men. These were really easy, the girls drew funny faces on some inflated balloons while I cut out some feet from cardboard, threaded the knotted end through a slit in the cardboard a sticky taped the bottom to keep it secure. They loved them! 

- We ate bananas and blueberries for morning tea. Yum, yum 

- Ladybug and Petal painted some cardboard cut out butterflies which we later glued on to paper with some foam butterfly stickers. They also did some butterfly paintings (where you paint one side of the paper, then fold in half to create an identical print on the other half of the paper) 

 

- And on one of those hot Sydney days the girls helped to make some banana and strawberry ice cream, mmm

- We did also do some beading, but this activity turned out to be a bit of a disaster. The beads were too small and it was too hard for Ladybug (2) to thread them onto the elastic. Even with my help she quicky got frustrated and we ended up with teeny little beads EVERYWHERE which took a long time to clean up! 

Some other ideas for the letter B:

- Banana cake 

- Balloon play 

- Books 

- Boats 

- Balls 

- Brontosaurus 

- Mix and mess with dried beans 

- Balancing 

- Brain 

- Bowling 

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Ladybug's 2nd birthday present: TV unit to kitchen conversion!

Soooo how better to launch myself back into the blogging world than to tell you about our very cute TV unit to kids play kitchen conversion! 

...Yes, yes, I know, you can buy these things at the shop without all the effort BUT where is the fun in that? 

We decided to do an upcycle for several reasons: 

-To recycle some furniture which lets face it, will never be used again (hello flat screen TV's)

-To not support supermarket giants and mass production of plastic toys

-To create something unique and from the heart for my daughters birthday

-To save money (in total we spent $60 on bits and pieces) and to create something of more neutral colours which will blend in well with our lounge room (considering it will probably sit here for the next few years!) 

-To utilise some of this creativity inside me which I love using 

So, to kick things off I put out a plea on Facebook for an unused TV unit and we ended up with this

 Perfect! It was exactly what I was after and the colour meant that we didn't need to sand/polish/paint anything :-) it was even on wheels which made moving it around much easier! 

Next I gathered all the items I needed and organised for my daughter to be looked after one Sunday so  Mr Ladybug and I could do the project all in one go without her seeing (thanks Uncle Ben!) 

Mr Ladybug removed the glass door on the left and began sizing the laminate chipboard for the fridge 

I painted the wooden coasters and knobs for the cooktop 

After that I painted the oven 

And my husband started on the sink 

Mr Ladybug attached the hinges and the door handles

Meanwhile I covered the backing in wrapping paper and then clear contact. Sorry no pics here as it was very fiddly to try to make sure there were no bubbles or creases, but I'm sure you get the idea. Just like contacting books, only bigger! 

We then nailed the backing to the kitchen and were ready for the finishing touches! As finishing decorations I created a little window with curtains by putting a scenery photo in a wooden frame and then adding some curtains (a cut up blue $2 shirt, bunched together with ribbons) which I secured to the backing with some Velcro strips, stuck some animal wall decal stickers on the front and right hand side and used foam alphabet stickers on the fridge to make it look more 'fridgey' I decided on 'Yum', 'Bah bah', 'Oishii' and 'Delisciouso' which all mean yum in assorted languages (English, Farsi, Japanese and Spanish) 

Want to see the finished product?

Ladybug loves it! :-)

What I bought extra: 

- 1 piece of MDF board for backing

- 1 piece of white laminate chipboard for the fridge door 

- 2 door handles for oven and fridge

- 4 wooden coasters for cooktops 

- 4 wooden knobs for cooktop 

- 2 magnetic clips for door closure on oven and fridge 

- 4 new hinges for fridge and oven doors

- Wrapping paper for backing 

- Photo frame for the window

- Cheap t shirt for curtains (fabric would be cheap too but I wasn't near any fabric stores!) 

- Wall decal stickers to decorate 

What I already had at home or was given to us: 

- Unused TV unit! (thank you Mr & Mrs W) 

- Silver spray paint for the oven 

- Black paint for the oven and cooktop

- Silver salad bowl for the sink

- Silver tap (thank you Mr H) 

- Pretty photo for the scenery (thanks Mum & Dad) 

- Wooden placemat used for cooktop 

- Clear contact to protect the backing 

- Ribbon to tie the curtains 

- Foam letters to decorate the fridge 

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Sweet Valentines Day craft for littlies

Need something sweet for Valentines day but your little one is a it too young for 'craft'? Then keep reading cause we have an easy and super sweet (literally) activity...

  

We made some nice and glossy fingerpaints by mixing food colouring with liquid sweetened condensed milk (I just use the cheap stuff) we don't eat sugar here so I discourage the Ladybug from tasting it, but atleast I know if she did, then it's not so bad!

This is a very messy activity, but pretty easy to clean up with a washer and water.

 

Hang paintings to dry, cut into preferred shapes - we did hearts - write a message on the back and run through the laminator to preserve your little cherubs creation. You could easily add glitter to the painting before laminating it.

We made one for Dad and each set of grandparents.

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