Mouse Bank

Mouse banks made from plastic coke bottles! They were made for Astro kids show, I'm not sure which program and when it will be aired. The shoot was real fun I must say!

Sorry, don't have pictures to show the step by step but I'm sure when the kids look at this images they will be able to create their own cool versions of mouse banks.

Sock Doll

I had a little doll making session at my nephew's 1st birthday party in Auckland. Didn't get to take photos as I was busy showing the kiddos how to make funny dolls. Haha, this was the funniest. It was quite a challenge as the little ones were hardly four years old and only two of us adults helping to make the dolls. With kids that age you really must have one adult to a kid. It was great fun all the same!

Teach your toddler ABC, make them Apple Banana Crackers

Apple Banana Crackers Recipe

step ONE: spread one thick layer of Mashed Banana on a cracker
step TWO: lay Apple slices on top
step THREE: cover with another Cracker

*CHOMP*

Happy teaching!

Eco Project for ages 3 and up | HOW TO MAKE SOCK DOLLS

These sock dolls are really fun and easy to make! Sit back and watch your kids amaze you with their creativity.

MATERIALS

• Old newspaper
• Old kids' socks
• Toilet roll tube/ small plastic bottles
  
• Junk such as fruit jackets, plastic bags, ragged cloth, paper bags, dried leaves etc etc etc
• Eco friendly glue
• Eco friendly marker/felt pen or magic color

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Crunch up 2 sheets of old newspaper into a ball the size of a tennis ball
   
2. Push it all the way into the sock
3. Next goes the toilet roll tube or bottle
   
4. If you're using tube simply tuck in the remaining of the sock into the tube
   
5. Draw eyes, nose and mouth on newspaper, cut out and stick
6. Decorate the doll and go wild with your assortment of junk!

Eco Crafts Workshop with Caterpillar | 24 June 09

More awesome creations by the Caterpillar kids. I started the class by going through the Paper Lifecycle chart like what I did with the previous class.

Saskia is quite an artist. Initially she asked me to help her draw eyes as she doesn't know how ... after some coaxing from me she whipped up those cute lazy eyes all by herself and designed a dress from fruit jacket and used the paperbag handle as ribbon. The beanie is made from a cut up sock. Her doll's name is Flowery.

This is Qaila and her pretty pink dolly. She drew the eyes just like her own with long eye lashes, her doll does in a lot of ways resembles her looks. So pretty.

This is Kelly's doll. I love it, it's so comical and fun!

Kelly at work. Stuffing newspaper ball and toilet roll tube into the sock .

Marvin who thought it was funny dodging the camera so I never got to take a decent shot of him except this oneThis is Marvin's Mr Yellow Bow heehee... very funny. I especially like his color sense. The green blob on its head is the hair by the way.

Eco Crafts Workshop with Caterpillar

I was really looking forward to my session with the Caterpillar kids after I returned from Ubud Bali. The kids at Green School really inspired me and I couldn't wait to see more great creations from these little geniuses!

I started the class by discussing the lifecycle of paper. Some of the kids already knew paper came from trees. Those who didn't found it rather fascinating. 'How could paper be from trees?' wondered Marvin. 'A tree!?' he went, with question marks hovering above his head.


Good quality illustration and print always works on kids a lot more effective than a page full of text. I got the kids to tell me their version of the stories first to get them thinking, and then I explained the illustration.

Before I started the workshop proper, as a warm up exercise I got the kids to fold things from newspaper. Syaza folded a boat, Sabrina made an origami bird, Anya made a river, Reiya made an art piece :) and Anya's kakak folded a plane. The whole idea was for them to realise how useful newspaper can be apart from just disseminating news. Newspaper is a wonderful craft material and they don't cost a cent.

The main purpose of the newspaper for today's class was to make balls for the eco doll workshop. I used to use tennis ball for the doll's head but it's not something every household has them. So, with just newspaper, toilet roll tubes, old socks, old mags and some junk the kids put together their own variations of cool dolls.


Look at Max's creation and check out the wings! He's very good with colors and has got good design sense. Great styling Max!

This is Syaza's little 'white' riding hood :)

Sabrina's cat in evil costume, haha, very creative!

Little 3 year old Reiya, very serious, showing us what we can do with newspaper instead of sending them for recycling or worst to the landfills!

Anya made Custard (left) a new friend for Strawberry (right). A clever way to use the fruit foam jackets. As you can tell she's a pink lady. "Anya, Custard look really pretty with the pink ribbon and pink dress!"Joel's moving octopus! Who would've thought? Very clever, Joel!

From left Joel, Ian, Anya, Syaza, Reiya, Max and Sabrina.

Green School Bali | Eco Doll Workshop

This morning's session with the kinder kids at the kul kul campus in green school, Bali was FUNtabulous! It was my first time conducting a class during a holiday... without my magic tool box!

The usual materials for doll making are toilet roll tubes, tennis balls, old socks, magazine paper and marker pens. But there was no way I'd be able to find used tennis balls and collect toilet roll tubes in time for this class. I panicked a little but thanks to the inspiring energy in Ubud...churning out ideas was as simple as a wave of a magic wand. Abbakaddabra! and my new list appeared before my eyes. Plastic water bottles to replace roll tubes, crunched up newspaper to make balls and as soon as I got there I raided the garden for anything we could use to decorate the dolls.

All it took was 30 minutes for these little geniuses to make these super cool looking sock dolls.

The best craft class ever!