The summer is definitely over, the St. Martin’s summer doesn’t seem to be coming, it’s raining and one doesn’t really feel like spending the day outdoors. Although the kids could spend the day skipping in the puddles and playing in the wet sand but you can’t do that all day and what then? I like to play with my children in a creative way and I’ll let you take a peek into our creative workshop. Maybe you can get inspired for a rainy day, too. Moreover, I have a special use for each of these techniques which I will show you as well.
1. Stamp picture
You will need:
- two sheets of paper
- watercolors and water
- wine corks (or anything else you can use as stamps)
From one sheet cut out any shape you want your child to stamp around (your stencil). We are going through a heart phase so we chose a heart.
Mix a little water with the colors, show your kid how to hold the stencil in place and then he or she can dip the cork in color and stamp around the stencil.
Once the stamps are all around the stencil, continue stamping the rest of the paper sheet.
When you lift the stencil, you’ll see the shape.
Stamping is one of our top craftsy activities at the moment and we use it for making cards for our friends:
2. Fingerprint dandelion out of bloom
You will need:
- paper
- watercolors
- dark pen
First draw the dandelion steam and the seed steams (I used a black ink pen but you can print some from the internet). Then dip your fingers in the color and print them at the ends of the steams to be the seeds. Then continue around the whole flower to make the seeds seem to fly in the wind.
We liked this picture so much that we decided to frame it and put it on the wall:
3. Embroidered picture
You will need:
- hard paper
- pencil and eraser
- embroidery needle
- embroidery thread
- scissors
Draw the shape you want to embroider on the hard sheet.
Now make holes with the needles following the shape that you just drew. Erase the pencil drawing. Make a mark in the center, it helps the children with the following step (leading the thread over the center).
Thread the needle, make a knot on one end and pull it from the bottom side.
Flip the sheet upside up and pass the needle through the opposite hole.
Now back on the bottom side, pass the needle through the next hole, flip the sheet again and follow these steps until you’ve passed the needle through all the holes.
We used these embroidered drawings as cards, we’ve even started with the Christmas cards.
I hope this post brought you some inspiration and maybe even a few minutes of peace and quiet. Kids tend to lose themselves in these activities so much that they forget for a while they were supposed to climb the furniture and throw things from the drawers.
