So we built a snowman in the garden (a snow pirate, actually), did snow angels, had a snowball fight, went sledging, yada yada. What next? Back indoors to warm up and do some snow-related crafts, that's what.
To make a snowman collage, all you need is cotton wool (balls are nice and easy), a sheet of dark-coloured card (to make the white cotton wool stand out), some glue - and then add whatever bits and pieces you have to hand for hats, scarves, noses, eyes etc (fortunately we are never without googly eyes in this house).
The sticking was a bit fiddly - I would probably make them a bit bigger next time - but Matthew did most of it himself and he really loves these snowmen. And these ones won't melt and break his little heart.
We were back at The Little House in the Park last week, getting creative again after the Christmas break.
The session was all about exploring wintry colours - silver, white, pale blue and purple. We made long hangings and collages using various bits of paper, felt, wool, tinsel, pine cones etc. Matthew also discovered the apparently endless joys of using a hole punch. Anyone needs any holes punching, he's your man.
It was the last session of term at The Little House in the Park yesterday and we are now officially Christmas-crafted out.
First we made a festive crown by sticking sparkly bits onto silver card. Matthew really enjoyed doing this, and chose a purple and gold theme which I thought was pretty tasteful for a 3-year-old. He never likes wearing these things, though, so Basil has been crowned Christmas Bear.
Then we made a wand from laminated bits and bobs cut into a star shape and taped onto a stick, and a Christmas star decoration from white tissue paper glued over bent willow. There was all kinds of glitter etc to stick on top, but Matthew insisted on just one red and white thing - which proves there is Danish blood running through his veins.
This week the Holburne Museum is organising a Lantern Procession to mark the beginning of the Bath Christmas Market. We are very excited. Especially as we now have our very own homemade lantern, which we made at The Little House in the Park last week.
We started off by threading willow sticks through a cardboard base with holes round the edge, bending the ends of the sticks underneath the card and taping them down. Then we taped another piece of card over the bottom (to cover all the ends) and taped around the sticks near the top (to stop them waving about and poking small children's eyes out).
Then came the really fun part - gluing white tissue paper around the sticks (two layers), covering that with lots more glue, and decorating it with bits of coloured tissue paper and glitter. A big old sticky mess.
We've put a string of LED lights in our lantern (you have to make a hole to get them in) and are now ready for the procession (or recession, as Matthew calls it).
Today's adventures at The Little House in the Park were of the spooky kind, in anticipation of Halloween next week.
The spider is made from pipe cleaners and furry fabric. You twist four pipe cleaners in the middle, wrap a strip of fur around, then use a long piece of cotton to wind all round the body and in between the legs to keep everything in place. Then you use a darning needle to thread elastic through the top layer of fur, and finish off with googley eyes.
The bat is cut out of black card, with some strips of netting stapled on top. Again we used a darning needle to thread the elastic through. You can't see in this picture, but the end of the elastic is tied to a stick so you can bounce and fly the bat around. Cool.
The pumpkin is just bits of torn up orange tissue paper glued onto gold card. We sprinkled some green glitter on top too so it catches the light. We were supposed to make it into a mask but didn't quite get round to that (someone lost interest and started running amok with all the stuffed toys. It wasn't me).
Last week's theme at The Little House in the Park was apples (in celebration of National Apple Day on 21 October). Here are some of our appley things.
The biggest one is a willow wreath wound round with wool. Matthew couldn't quite manage the winding but was very enthusiastic about choosing autumnal colours and finding the ends of balls of wool (which he is quite handy at).
The top right apple is made from plaited ribbon glued onto card in a spiral, and the bottom right one is glitter and other shiny bits scattered onto that sticky foamy stuff (don't know what it's called). We glued a safety pin on the back of that one too, to make it into a badge.
Can I take this opportunity to sincerely wish everyone a very Happy Apple Day.
This is what we made last week, at The Little House in the Park (where we go every Friday). The session was all about portraits. We started off decorating large cardboard frames with bits of tissue paper, feathers, glitter etc, then we made colourful backgrounds using inky paint and sponges. We stuck it all together with black and white photos on top, and then went crazy with collage. Matthew's choice of white frayed ribbon for his picture led to interesting/disturbing results. Would the Mayor of London please go and wash his inky hands. Now.
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