CRAFTS AND DIY
Dried Orange and Lavender Star Garland
If you are like me, you keep seeing gorgeous dried orange garland and salt dough garland EVERYWHERE. We had a lazy Saturday to ourselves last weekend and I thought it might be the perfect day to try out this slow, but fun activity. Thankfully I had a few oranges on hand and lots of dried ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
Pretty Paper Roll Snowflakes -- a wonderful way to recycle!
There is something special about staying warm indoors when it is cold outside. Although for little ones, an extended period of time in doors can be difficult. I have found that for my daughter, anything involving glue and glitter makes her quite happy! Thanks to quarantine we have lots and lots of paper rolls so ...
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HALLOWEEN CRAFTS
Perforated Pumpkin Luminaries - A Fun Halloween Cardboard Craft
This year I did not have the energy to go collect a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch and carve it with a toddler, so we tried something new! We "carved", painted and decorated cardboard pumpkins and made them into perforated pumpkin luminaries. This method is 'less mess and no stress', using materials you already have on ...
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AUTUMN CRAFTS
A clay and fall leaves wall hanging for autumn
Can you believe we are already one third done with this year's autumn season! But there is still time to make more decorations if like me you enjoy this time a year. After seeing all the beautiful fall leaves wall hanging all over Instagram, we had to make one of our own. This is actually ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
Sustainable halloween costumes - dressing up capsule tips!
Are you in the mood for dressing up for halloween? Even if your area is in lockdown and trick or treating isn’t really advised, it can be fun to have a dressing up party this time of year nonetheless! Sustainability and dressing up By now we are all more or less aware of the true ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
Felted chestnut hulls: a soapy autumn craft!
Making wet felted autumn treasures is a fun little craft, it's seasonal and requires soap, and who doesn't want to stimulate hand washing these days?! We love making Lara's felted acorns and decided it was time to add some wet felted chestnut hulls to our collection too! The wool for the hull is felted around ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
Nature Soup - A DIY game for little ones learning to count
My daughter loves to cook and can count to 20, but she is just now learning how to count out items. Often when we prepare a recipe at home, I will help her measure and count out ingredients. I made this game for her after seeing a similar mainstream game and thought that it might ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
DIY "ABC" Letter Tracing Chalkboard
My daughter is nearly three and lately she has shown an increased interest in writing. She has been holding a pencil and pretending to write for ages, but now she she is able to identify letters and attempts to draw them. I wanted to find a way to help her practice writing letters. I prefer ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
Paper plate birds - a simple craft for little ones
I made these paper plate birds with Lily weeks ago and she is still playing with them and asking to take them out on our walks! Barbecue season has arrived so here is a craft perfect for those barely used paper plates that get left lying around. Materials: Paper plate (one plate makes one bird) ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
Children's art inspired by black artists
Every month, our friends at LoLA (Lots of Lovely Art) assemble an art box with everything you need to create three high quality, artist-inspired projects: an introduction to the artist, recommendations on books and galleries to visit, plus all the materials you need to make a true masterpiece. The boxes are delivered to your front door, ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
Resist the temptation for a new Christmas Sweater -- make your own instead!
I understand the novelty of Christmas jumpers/sweaters each year... they are cute, fun, and festive. But honestly, it makes my brain hurt just thinking about how wasteful it is to buy one each year, for each person in your home (especially the kids that keep growing), and multiply that times all the families, homes, countries, ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
Winter Imprints on Playdough -- Quite Possibly the Easiest Craft Ever!
Need something new to do with all the natural trinkets that seem to fill yours and your kid's pockets this time of year? Take them to your playdough! I'm always so inspired by the amount of crafting that takes place in the homes of some of the contributors here at Babyccino, especially Esther and Lara! ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
Ava's mouse house! A super fun (and super creative!) craft project.
Ava has been working for weeks on her 'mouse house' -- a collection of old shoe, cereal etc boxes with all sorts of different functions inside. It's really becoming such an extensive project! Sara, Pim and Casper have joined the fun as well -- they each have houses too now, but also business. For example ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
Embroidered Name Shirts -- a great DIY craft and gift too!
This may be my new favourite gift to make -- personalised and hand embroidered shirts! I have now created shirts with both monograms and full first names, and they are always so well received! And I often do pairs of them so siblings can each wear one. Embroidery is really very simple, and you do ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
The Deceptively Simple Joy of a Cardboard Box
I love how interesting the simplest of things can be. And few things have more endless possibilities than that of a cardboard box! It is deceptively simple. And it can elicit a lot of joy for a long time, just depending on how you look at it. Big, small, square, rectangular, all these boxes ...
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VALENTINE'S DAY CRAFTS
Rose & Lavender Bath Soak -- great for mama time!
Bring colour into your grey winter days, wake up your senses, and treat yourself to this very simple homemade bath soak. Then turn on the water and... relax! This pretty, and very simple soak consists of a few ingredients, and can be made in a few quick minutes, with or without children. We made ...
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CHRISTMAS CRAFTS
Festive & Fragrant Pomanders -- a great tradition and an easy craft too!
Orange and clove pomanders are so very simple to make, oh so very beautiful, and exactly the festive touch every home needs too. The colour instantly brightens a room, but the very very best feature is their delightful scent! The smell is incredible! Fresh, yet warm, these oranges studded with cloves are the essence of ...
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CHRISTMAS CRAFTS
Bright & Merry -- Holiday Cards which only take seconds to make!
Cute Christmas cards that take seconds to make and seconds to dry: that is surely a crafting win! After all, factory assembly line crafting is rarely fun for kiddos! So mass-producing handmade cards has to be super simple, and super quick. And don't you love the bright colours in our string of Christmas lights? They ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
An easy Christmas craft: clay ornaments and decorations
This is honestly the easiest Christmas craft, something the kids can do almost entirely on their own, and it has the prettiest result! Last weekend I handed the kids a package of Sculpey clay and some cookie cutters. I gave them each a glass bottle (to use as a rolling pin), and together they made ...
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SKIN CARE AND MAKE UP
Homemade natural lip balm with beeswax and shea butter
'Tis the season! Of chapped lips and dry cheeks. All of my children have been complaining about dry lips and have been asking for lip balm. I've been reading some negative things about over-the-counter chapstick though, like the use of ingredients such as petroleum jelly / petrolatum (vaseline) and parabens. Things I don't want my kids ...
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AUTUMN CRAFTS
Pressed paper clay leaves -- a little fall craft project
Leaves are changing colours and falling in Amsterdam and the colours of the trees are so pretty. When we're going for little walks in our neighbourhood, we can't help but come back with some colourful leaves in our hands. Little treasures!! The colourful autumnal leaves were the inspiration behind this little craft project: beautiful, pressed ...
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SPRING CRAFTS
DIY Yarn Wrapped Letters
How fun and cheery are these yarn wrapped wall letters! We're so pleased with how they turned out that I thought I'd share this simple DIY. The method is quite self explanatory but here are some tips to help you on your way, you'll need medium weight card, tracing paper, scissors and a selection of ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
Rainbow scratch painting
Do you remember having invisible pens? I was completely obsessed with them as a child. The markers that changed color when the "magic" marker drew over them were just that in my mind: magic! My parents would splurge on the books that came with a magic pen to discover secret answers and hidden messages when ...
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