Category: toddler

2018 · motherhood · mothering · parenting · sleep · tips · toddler

Our sleep journey. (How we get our kids to bed by 5pm)

JustBindyLeave a comment

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Hi friends,

Let’s talk sleep… Kids and sleep – some just seem to “get it” and some don’t… Mine are a little in the middle.
Our kids seem to be very attached to us (which we do not mind at all, actually we love) and tend to sleep better beside us… Both started sleeping in our bed around 6-9 months and that’s how most nights are for us. I have rocked/fed them to sleep from the first moment and I have found they slowly grow out of it.
Now LuLu goes to sleep in her own bed at 5pm most nights and sleeps the whole night in there, that is a recent & positive change for her this year. I feel having both her & Tommy in our bed was starting to become a problem of one of them waking the other… But Tommy still is in our bed and we won’t bother trying to encourage him out until he is ready.  (We felt LuLu was ready.)

So let’s rewind… LuLu use to sleep with us, I rocked/cuddled her to sleep until she was nearly 3, when I neared the end of my pregnancy with Tommy I would sit on her bed until she fell asleep and when Tommy arrived she slowly learnt to fall asleep on her own and now recently we slowly started her sleeping a full night in her own bed. (She is 5 in October.)
My main tip with any sleep transition thing is slow and gentle and making sure they are ready.
Our theory with our babies has always been we are going to love and hug them as much as possible because one day maybe they won’t want to do that as much anymore and if we make them feel welcome with love & also allow them to sleep where they feel safe with us, that we are setting them up to feel secure to always come to us if they don’t feel safe or they need comfort.
I’ve never been able to do cry it out and each parent’s choice is their own, I have friends and family who do it and for them it has worked well. I tried once with LuLu & just couldn’t, I don’t think I even lasted 2 minutes. She was a super emotional baby & went from zero to hysterical very easily so I felt for her that was not the way to help her to sleep. So I fed her, I rocked her and then that transitioned into her laying on my lap for cuddles of an evening and when she nodded off I would carry her to her bed. As I got further along in my pregnancy with Tommy I became weaker and couldn’t carry her as much, especially when she was sleeping. So I started sitting on her bed, we would read some stories and then sing some songs and then I sat with her while she fell asleep. When Tommy arrived we continued the same routine for awhile and then slowly changed it to me saying I had to go sit on the couch and feed baby Tommy as he was tired & hungry but when he was asleep I would come back to her room and give her another kiss goodnight… This worked really well for us. Usually when I got back to her room she was fast asleep. So she had learnt to put herself to sleep.
In the last few months we started encouraging her to sleep in her own bed for a full night. Previously she would always go to sleep in her own cot/bed but around 10pm-1am at some point she would come into our bed… We never bothered fighting that, we liked the snuggles & we valued our sleep.
Anyway, we said if she spent a whole night in her bed the “fairies” may leave her a little gift near her fairy door… Sure enough when she slept a full night they did! Then the deal was if she sleeps a whole week, she gets another little gift and that time frame just keeps getting stretched out, now she hardly remembers it. But the fairies like to leave little gifts every now and then especially when she’s been extra good.
I feel really proud of how good she is sleeping.
Both of our kids go to bed around/just after 5pm and have done so since before Tommy was born (this time can be later if Trent is home or we are out & it may become later in the summer) and they wake around 6am-7:30am (usually later if I need to be somewhere early! ha!) It doesn’t matter if they go to bed at 9pm, they wake up at the same time.
* To save your question on why so early? It works for us for multiple reasons. Trent does shift work, some days I’m solo parenting from 5am-7pm, setting myself up to have at least an hour of alone time is important to me. I get to reset and do something for myself and this early bedtime is also what is best for our kids…
LuLu doesn’t nap, she hasn’t since before she was 3 – so an early bedtime for her is needed.
Tommy has 1 day nap occasionally during the morning at around 9:45am/10am-11/11:30am’ish – but that’s rare now, normally he doesn’t nap, so he also needs to be asleep early…
I still feed/cuddle Tommy to sleep for nap and bedtime – but if Trent is home I can feed him and hand him to Trent and he will fall asleep that way as well.
Lately he has been waking during the night as he is cutting a bunch of teeth. (He is 19 months today (14th/July) and just the other day he cut 3 teeth over night which included 2 molars. This made his tooth total 8 teeth, so he is due for a few more yet!)
With our kids we believe in being gentle with sleep. Of course when we have “those” nights like everyone, we get frustrated & sleep deprivation is torture & brings out the worst in everyone! But we try to be gentle. And of course we have rough nights, but we have found 99% of the time it is for a reason. Teething, night terrors or feeling unwell and occasionally I swear the moon affects my kids sleep patterns!
But we just try to ride the rough night waves as best we can…

Edit to add:
Tommy is now  nearly 21 months and as of recently I have had to wean him (read why HERE). Now he gets a cuddle to sleep, then I place him in his cot, he sleeps in his cot (with the side off) until we go to bed and then almost like magic he wakes up, we pop him in our bed and he sleeps through the night, only waking rarely now.
Of course when he is feeling poorly or teething, he maybe in our bed earlier or need more cuddles.
He will transition to a big boy bed in December when he turns 2, same as LuLu did at 2.

Sleep for every family is unique. No one style will fit everyone, but that is how we handle sleep in our household. We have been through every high & low of this sleep ride with our kids… We’ve had moments where they won’t sleep anywhere but on us (still occasionally – Tommy!), we’ve had amazing night sleeps where we wake up in fright in the morning because they slept the whole night in their own bed – so that must mean something is wrong of course! We have walked countless laps of the house trying to help them fall asleep and we’ve had moments where we felt like we didn’t have a clue about what to do next & get frustrated… But we survived and right now I feel like we are in a pretty good sleep space – having already ridden this sleep wave with LuLu who was a very clingy baby and not the best sleeper, I can be optimistic about the future with Tommy. For now we co-sleep with him, I love it but I know one day, when he is ready he too will go to sleep on his own in his own room for a full night… But for now I am enjoying this season, my all night snuggles and being there to help him feel safe & comforted when he needs me.

If you are having some troubles with sleep, a few things I’ve found that may help are…

  • Establish a set bedtime routine with your kids that is predictable. My kids know at 5pm or shortly after it is bedtime… By that time they are normally yawning and tired. We do bath time around 4pm, then a quick tidy of the playroom, read a book and then off to bed. Trent works shift work so our daily routine is flexible, on the days he does night shift the kids know after we say goodnight and goodbye to Daddy it is bedtime. (He leaves at 5pm) I truly believe children thrive on routine, they like knowing what to expect.
  • Rewards. If your child is old enough to understand some sort of reason, try to make sleeping in their own bed part of a reward system. Similar to our fairy deal, maybe a sticker each night and 7 stickers in a row means something special… The options are endless.
  • No electronics in the room. That’s a given, but young kids don’t need something stimulating their little minds. Bedtime should be for winding down… Books, prayers, talking about their day – but not electronics.
  • Have a good snack. Some children wake due to hunger, could be a growth spurt or maybe they didn’t eat enough dinner. A banana before bed is a terrific sleepy snack. The potassium is said to be great for promoting good sleep.
  • Fairy lights. LuLu isn’t a huge fan of the dark, nor am I really. We leave our hallway light on every night – it’s always dimmed very low but is bright enough that if she needed to, she could comfortably walk to our room. She also has a string of battery operated fairy lights in her bedroom. She thinks they are very special and it’s a highlight for her to switch them on each night before bed.
  • A well stocked night stand. LuLu is now at the age where she can help herself at night. She has a water bottle & a box of tissues beside her bed. This minimises the need for her to call out to us at night. She knows if she is feeling unwell or does need us though, that she can always come to us or call out.
  • Sleepy oils. This may or may not help, but I’ve found oils are a great addition to our bedtime routine. They can be applied to the feet, wrists and behind the neck or/and diffused during the night. I find them very calming & use my diffuser almost every night. If you would like to learn more click HERE.
  • The 4th trimester. If you are reading this and have a newborn, please just ride the wave. I found my babies just needed cuddles & patience when they were new. Tommy slept a lot better than LuLu but I feel that was also due to me being more confident in my abilities. Remember you are all they know and you are their comfort & safe space… Have a read about the 4th trimester & also leaps.
  • Co-sleeping. This is not for everyone, but for us it worked beautifully. We valued our sleep and found when our babies would wake upset they would quickly settle tucked in beside us. Please do your own research and use your own caution when co-sleeping.
  • Team work. Having a husband/partner that can wake up and help out with waking babies/children is a Godsend. Trent has always helped out during the nights and I’m very thankful for that. Working as a team is important and if you find yourself feeling overwhelmed don’t be afraid to ask for help.
  • Patience & understanding. It is easy to get frustrated with children who wake constantly, you are already tired and then you are dealing with a difficult situation with usually an unreasonable little person. But it is important to try and have patience, try and understand why they are upset and won’t sleep. This will help you fix the issue. Are they upset for a particular reason? Are they not tired? Are they cold, hot, in pain, sick, has a big life change happened, hungry, need to use the toilet, scared, stressed? There are so many reasons that can effect kids and their sleep. I encourage you to have patience before losing your temper. As I said above, more often than not when my kids are having a rough night it is for a reason.
  • Consistency. But on the other hand sometimes children test boundaries as they get older and they need to know you’ll remain firm and bedtime means bedtime. If your child is being cheeky and constantly getting out of bed to see what you are watching on TV (I remember doing this) or asking for sips of water, take them back to bed making sure there is no actual reason for them to be out (have they used the toilet/had a drink/are full, no temperature etc) say “no, it’s now bed time, you need rest for tomorrow!” give them a kiss, say good night and walk out or if they are terribly upset, I would sit by their bed for a little while until they are calmed down.  (I only recommend this with children that actually understand reason and for each child that age will vary, but I would say not for very young children, I would do this with LuLu but not Tommy.)

I hope you found this post helpful, I would love to know your top piece of sleep advice, what has worked best for you?
Connect with me on my social media and let me know!

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#motheringwithheartandjoy · 2016 · activities · craft · LuLu · motherhood · toddler

Mother’s Day Craft. {2016}

JustBindy1 Comment

Hello friends!
Mother’s Day is quickly approaching, which is exciting. My sister should have had her little baby by then, so it will be a very special Mother’s Day. 
To celebrate Mother’s Day, LuLu & I made some cute cards for my Mum & Grandmother (her Ninna & Great Nin). 
We just used a sheet of A4 sparkly glitter card, but you could make this craft smaller for a card. 
Our card is a bit more like a poster to hang on the fridge and wall! 
It is a card that also gives the lovely ladies in our lives a special bouquet of flowers!


This craft is very simple and you only need a few basics things and the main item you probably have in your pantry!
You will need;

  • Cupcake/patty pan liners.
  • A piece of paper or card. (Any size you like, a plain card or an A4 sheet)
  • Green pipe cleaners, paint or felt for the stems.
  • Glue.
  • Scissors.
  • Glitter or buttons or any other embellishments you would like to decorate the centre of the flowers with. 
  • An extra piece of paper to add a message. (optional)
  • Pens, markers, crayons etc.
  • A magnet if you want to make it hangable on a fridge. 
Steps;
  1. Pick out your cupcake liners and flatten them, LuLu loved doing this! 
     

  2. Lay out your design on the piece of card. This is the part where if you want to trim the flowers with scissors, you can now. Laying it out is helpful so this way you can plan how they will look and they will fit. LuLu picked the colours of the flowers and I stacked them together, while we were doing this craft we were going over our colours and also talking about patterns (dotty, swirly etc) 
  3. Glue your flowers together and then to the card, I found glue stick wouldn’t work and we used craft glue. 
  4. Embellish the middle of the flowers with glitter or anything you find pretty. We of coursed used glitter – because glitter is always necessary according to LuLu.  
  5. Attach stems, we used green pipe cleaners & hot glue (I did that). I find pipe cleaners wont stick with regular craft glue. But painting, drawing or even using a felt stem would work as well. Work with what you have. 
  6. Attach a Mother’s Day message. We attached a small banner to the top and have written a message on the back of the cards. If you wish to attach a magnet, do so to the back of the card. And ta-da a bright and lovely bunch of flowers that will brighten someones day. This card could also work as a birthday card or just a sweet little gift to remind someone you love them!
This craft is very basic, but I think it is very sweet & any Mumma, Grandma, Auntie – whoever would love it. They are beautiful bright flowers that will never die! The best kind!
If you make this craft I would love to see them, please show me on my social media;

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I hope you are all having a lovely week.
This weekend is my husbands birthday & my sister is due very shortly to have her baby – so it is a very exciting & lovely time for us all!
Take care friends!

#motheringwithheartandjoy · craft · diy · st patricks day · toddler

4 fun & easy St. Patrick’s Day Crafts.

JustBindyLeave a comment
May your troubles be less and blessings be more and nothing but happiness come through your door. – Irish Blessing.

Hello friends!
St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow! (To be honest, for some reason I thought it was on the 21st!)
So this week I am bringing you 4 very fun & easy St. Patrick’s Day crafts, I know they are almost a bit too late – but they use very basic craft supplies & are a lot of fun.
We did these yesterday as just a bit of fun & to do a craft as LuLu loves craft time, they turned out so sweet I thought I would share them with you all.


Pot of gold under the rainbow.
We made this craft unique by changing the way we did the rainbow, I was missing a few paint colours for the rainbow, so I had a stack of paint cards in the craft box so I cut them up and we made our rainbow a collage. I think it turned out lovely. 
You will need;

  • A paper plate.
  • Scissors.
  • Paint.
  • Glue
  • A way to decorate the rainbow, paint, colour pencils, texta, crayons, coloured paper – the choice is yours.
  • Cotton wool balls.
  • Gold Glitter.
How to;
  1. Cut out one half of the plate, leave a “handle” up top. It should look like this. 

  2. Paint the base of the paper plate “the pot” black. 

  3. Decorate the rainbow how you wish. 

  4. Attach cotton wool balls as little clouds/overflowing gold out of the pot. 

  5. Add gold glitter. We added it over the cotton wool balls and painted some craft glue onto the top of the pot for the “over flowing gold” look. 

  6. Admire your work. 

3 Leaf Clover.
We made this a 3 leaf clover, I did try a lucky 4 leaf clover – but it looked a bit awkward. The 3 leaves, look much better. This craft is so easy!
You will need;
  • 3 small paper plates.
  • A stapler (or a way to attach the plates together)
  • Green paint (or green colour pencils, crayons or pens)
  • 1 green pipe cleaner. 
How to;
  1. Attach 3 small paper plates together. 

  2. Paint the plates green. 
  3. Attach pipe cleaner as stem.
  4. Admire your 3 leaf clover!

      

Leprechaun. 
You will need;
  • 1 large paper plate.
  • A sheet of white paper or card.
  • Scissors.
  • Glue
  • Orange paint (or crayons, pencils, textas)
  • Green paint (or crayons, pencils, textas)
  • Black paint. 
  • Gold pen or paint.
How to;
  1. Cut out the centre of the paper plate. 
  2. Cut out the shape of a hat & also one strip of paper to be the hat band. 

  3. Paint your pieces. Hat band – black.

  4. Hat green. 
      
     
    Trent helping LuLu before he left for work.
  5. Paint the circle orange (like a beard & hair, you could also use cotton wool balls or another craft supply that you think looks like hair!) 
  6. Attach the hat to the beard & the hat band to the hat. I just glued them all together.
  7. Draw on a little gold buckle with a gold pen or paint. I used gold puffy paint.
  8. Say hello to your little leprechaun! Your child can even use this as a little mask, take a photo of their face through the cut out hole! 

Handprint 4 leaf clover.
This is so simple and only takes minutes to do and makes for a very sweet keepsake.

You will need;
  • 1 sheet of paper or cardboard.
  • Green paint.
  • A small set of hands. 

How to;

  1.  Paint your little ones hand. 

  2. Press hands onto paper. 
  3. Repeat 4 times, to make 4 leaves. 

  4. Draw/paint on a stem.
  5. Admire your sweet little lucky 4 leaf clover! 

I hope you enjoyed these very simple but very sweet crafts.
If you are wanting more festive crafts to do, last week I did a blog post on 4 Easter Crafts please click HERE to check that out! 
I hope you all have a lovely St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow & the luck of the Irish is with you!

If you recreate these projects with your little love I would love to see it! 

Happy St. Patrick’s day! 
Posted by Modern Wife Life 31 on Monday, March 16, 2015

#motheringwithheartandjoy · 2016 · craft · diy · easter · toddler

4 Simple & fun Easter Crafts.

JustBindy2 Comments

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Hello!
It is that time of year, the Easter bunny is so close to hopping by.
We have been reading Easter books, singing songs, talking about why we celebrate Easter and doing LOTS of crafts.
I have documented the 4 crafts we loved the most and thought we would share them with you all today!
The 4 of these are very simple and 3 of them use very basic everyday items you probably have in your house & LuLu had a really good time with them.
There were parts that I helped her with, but for most of it she did everything and picked all the embellishments!
Now for the tutorials…

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Easter stamps.
This one would have to be the most simple to create. These stamps turned out surprisingly very good, so cute in fact I got a bunch of plain cards and we made some quick and easy Easter cards for our loved ones!

You will need;

  • A paper towel roll or a few toilet rolls.
  • Scissors.
  • Tape or a stapler.
  • Paint.
  • Paper or cards.
  • Embellishments if you wish to add them to a card.
How to;
  1. For the egg shaped stamp pinch the top of a toilet roll, voila you have an egg shaped stamp.
  2. The bunny is a little more complex. You need to make 2 egg shaped stamps and attach them to a regular shaped roll. (So 2 ovals attached to a circle)
  3. You can attach them with a stapler or glue. I found sticky tape was quick & easy.
  4. Set out your paints & admire how easy this was and how cute your bunnies & eggs look!
  5. For our Easter cards we did 3 eggs on one side and 1 bunny on the other. We then added Easter egg sequins & little foam stickers. I think they look so sweet & lovely!
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Paper plate bunny.

This craft turned out very cute and LuLu had so much fun making it! She did pretty much everything, I helped a little bit with attaching embellishments, but she insisted on helping glue each item & also painting the mouth on.
You will need;
  • Paper plates.
  • I used a doily as an added touch of pretty – but it’s not needed, I just had spare.
  • Cotton wool balls.
  • Plain paper or card.
  • Glue.
  • Stapler.
  • Pipe cleaners.
  • Paint.
  • Googley eyes – these are also optional but LuLu is obsessed with these eyes lately so every craft project we do needs eyes. You could just paint eyes on.
  • Magnets if you wish to hang it on the fridge.
How to;
  1. Attach paper plates to each other (I stapled them) & if using a doily glue that on now.
  2. Make prints of your little loves feet & hands. You can do this however it is easiest for you. LuLu sat on a step for me and I painted 1 foot at a time & stamped them, then I used a wet wash cloth to wipe her foot clean (we did this inside) & then did the same on her hands. You could also do this outside, but the day we did this was super windy! While the paint is still wet you can sprinkle with glitter if you like.
  3. While the prints dry, glue cotton balls to the bunny. To do this I just spread glue over the area of the bunny that needed fluff and let LuLu attach the cotton wool balls how she wanted. (Turns out she is just like me and hates the feel of them! But she still loved this craft)
  4. Once all cotton balls are attached, carefully cut out the feet & hand prints.
  5. Attach them as shown in the picture. Hands for ears & feet for the bunnies feet.
  6. Add extra embellishments. Pipe cleaners for whiskers, draw on some eyes or add googley eyes, draw on a mouth and attach a bow.
  7. Admire your very cute & festive creation. This bunny would be lovely attached with a magnet on the back for Grandparents.
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Painted eggs.
Now this craft is the most simple out of all of them. You don’t need to make anything & it is easy! I decided this year to use styrofoam eggs instead of blowing eggs to dye. Using real eggs would be a bit tricky with a toddler. These eggs aren’t delicate so they can’t be broken & paint is a bit easier for a toddler to work with instead of food dye. Also, I can never find white eggs in Australia!
You will need;
  • Styrofoam eggs. I got mine from a cheap shop a few years ago.
  • Paint.
  • Paint brushes.
How to;
  1. Paint the eggs. LuLu had a lot of fun experimenting with how to paint the eggs.
  2. Let dry, they dry fairly quickly.
  3. Display & admire!
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Toilet roll bunnies. 
These bunnies turned out very sweet & they make me smile. They were simple to make & LuLu thought the bunnies were so great. Once again these guys needed googley eyes but drawing them on would work fine.
You will need;
  • Paper towel or toilet rolls – cardboard tubes.
  • Scissors.
  • Stapler & sticky tape.
  • Paint.
  • A marker.
  • A cotton wool ball.
  • Any embellishments you wish to use. (Glitter & googley eyes are not needed, but in LuLu’s opinion are a must have in any craft project!)
How to;
  1. Cut 2 small sections from the cardboard tube – these will be “the ears”
  2. Pinch the circles to make ovals.
  3. Attach the ears to a longer bit of the cardboard tube “the body”.
  4. Paint & decorate how you wish.
  5. If you wish to add glitter, do so while the paint is wet. The easiest way I found for us to do this was to hold the tube with my fingers inside & just roll it as LuLu sprinkled the glitter on.
  6. Add features such as eyes, whiskers, nose & mouth.
  7. Attach cotton wool ball tail on.
  8. You now have one very sweet bunny made from something that was probably going to the recycling bin!

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I hope you found these little craft projects inspiring & that you do one or all of them with your little bunnies!

These crafts just weren’t fun & wasting time, as we craft I try to encourage LuLu to learn new things. Colours, shapes, how things work, about bunny rabbits etc.
Everything is a learning experience for kids. Craft time is can be extremely beneficial to your child’s brain development.
Some of the benefits of doing crafts include, but aren’t limited to…

  • Bilateral Co-ordination; Can be strengthened with crafts. 
  • Creative skills; Feeling different textures, improving her painting skills & expressing herself with what she likes. 
  • Cognitive thinking; Understanding cause & effect (mixing colours,) & visual processing. 
  • Motor skills; painting, sprinkling glitter, controlling tricky objects to paint (cardboard tubes & eggs roll around unlike a flat piece of paper) & helping attach small embellishments.  
  • Thinking skills; Considering options & making decisions. 
  • Problem Solving; Working out ways to stop the egg from rolling & how to paint a round object.
  • Listening skills; Following instructions. 
  • Science; That glue is sticky when wet but isn’t when it is dry, round things roll & paint is wet but when we wait & have patience it will dry.  
Doing craft is so much more than just passing the time and making things that look cute. It is amazing the things young children pick up & learn!
It is also a great time to spend with our children, bonding, talking, working out what colours they like and teaching them things.
I encourage you to take a day, an afternoon or just a few hours before Easter or over the Easter long weekend and make some crafts with your child. They don’t have to look perfect, your child will not care – the crafts above aren’t perfect, but we are proud of them & think they look wonderful. We had so much fun making them and LuLu just loves craft time and I can bet your child will love making them too with you.
I look forward to seeing your creations on social media!
#motheringwithheartandjoy · 2016 · activities · decorations · diy · LuLu · motherhood · recipe · toddler · valentine's day

Making hearts with my sweetheart. {Easy D.I.Y Clay Ornaments}

JustBindy1 Comment

Valentine’s Day is this Sunday…
So this upcoming sweet holiday has been the perfect excuse to do some crafting with my tiny sweetheart! 
This past week we made some little clay ornaments…
She is at the age now where she is very interested in helping out in the kitchen so she really enjoyed helping make them, rolling them out & cutting out the shapes.
They do take a little time to make, but LuLu had a very fun time making them and painting them with her best little friend.
The dough is very soft to work with and not grainy, it dries well and is a beautiful white colour. 


“Not salt dough, clay ornaments” –
Ingredients;

  • 1/2 cup cornflour (corn starch)
  • 1 cup bi-carb soda (baking soda)
  • 3/4 cup of water.
  • A few drops of lavender (or any essential oil you like) *optional.
  • Food colouring *optional. (if you wish to add colouring, mix with water first then add)
Useful items;
  • Small/medium sized sauce pan.
  • Spatula/wooden spoon.
  • Measuring  cups.
  • Bowl.
  • Wet chux/cloth.
  • Rolling pin.
  • Cookie cutters.
  • Straw.
  • Paint/glitter/embellishments/clear varnish or clear drying glue.
Making the clay;
  1. In a small-medium sized pot add all ingredients. 
  2. Stir over medium heat, it will be very liquidy for a few minutes. 
  3. Then suddenly you will notice the texture start to thicken, keep stirring. 
  4. When it looks like very smooth dough take it off the heat. 

  5. Place the clay dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cool cloth to cool down. (About 1/2 an hour) 

  6. When cool, dust cornflour over a smooth surface and knead the dough.
  7. Start rolling it out flat – you don’t want it to be too thin because that will cause it to crack. Try to not over roll it too many times as that can also cause cracking. (about 1/2 a centimetre thick is good) If you find the clay is starting to dry out or crack a tiny bit as you are rolling it, wet your hands lightly and roll the clay back into a ball. 

  8. Cut out your shapes. You can use cookie cutters for this or stamps (trim around the edges once you’ve made the imprint with a stamp) and you can even make hand prints.
  9. If you plan to hang your ornaments, make a hole in the top with a straw. 
  10. To harden you can either let air dry over night or for a day or pop them in the oven at 80degrees Celsius (175 Fahrenheit)  for an hour, turning them over 1/2 way. *Mine could’ve had a bit longer in the oven, so you could extend the cooking time for an extra half hour or so – but check them regularly, they did finish drying over night. 

  11. Once baked/air dried – decorate however you wish. We used paints & glitter and sealed them with a clear varnish.

This craft was lots of fun for both of us. I also made a few little gift tags to use on gifts. The clay was super easy to make, with the addition of lavender it also smelt nice and the bright white of the clay was very pretty – so if you didn’t want to paint it – you don’t need to. If you didn’t want to involve your child in the making of the dough (because kids in the kitchen can be a bit of a handful sometimes) you could easily whip this up while they were asleep at night and then they are all ready to paint and decorate the next day! This was the perfect activity for a play date, both girls seemed to really enjoy painting the ornaments. 
These love hearts will make very sweet little Valentine gifts for our loved ones! 
I really love doing activities like this with LuLu, it may just seem like a craft or play – but she is learning so much through play.
She was learning;
Maths; Measuring and shapes. (She now tells me every time she see’s a heart)
Science; She saw the mixture change form. From dry ingredients, to liquid and then to a clay. And then from a soft clay to a hard ornament. She also learnt that the clay was hot, but we had to wait for it cool down.
Motor skills; Scooping and tipping ingredients, mixing, kneading, rolling, squeezing the clay, cutting, painting, sprinkling glitter, helping thread the twine and hanging the ornaments.
Literacy; Following instructions and older kids would also be learning to read a recipe.
She also learnt patience while the clay was being cooked on the stove & while it was cooling.
So please always remember every single thing we do with our children is a learning experience. They are little sponges and take it all in, they love to learn. You don’t have to sit down and do actual lessons – play based learning is so wonderful for little kids. 
So I encourage you to try this craft, I would love to see your beautiful ornaments.
Make sure you hashtag #MotheringwithHeartandJoy or share it to one of my social media accounts!

Facebook; Modern Wife Life 31
Instagram; @Modernwifelife31
Twitter; @Modernwifelife3

Snap Chat; Bindy_30 
I hope you have a lovely Valentine’s Day with your loved ones. 


To read my previous 2 posts that have been very popular click HERE and HERE.

On the blog today; making hearts with my sweetheart! ❤️❤️This clay ornament recipe is very easy and is handy to…
Posted by Modern Wife Life 31 on Monday, February 8, 2016

2016 · activities · australia day · craft · holiday · toddler

Toddler crafts for Australia Day {2016}

JustBindy1 Comment
G’day mate…

It is Australia Day this coming Tuesday, so to celebrate LuLu & I thought we would share this super fun & very cute craft.
I am all for celebrating holidays – any holiday deserves celebration. Now that I am a Mumma of a little toddler I really like to make the effort that we do at least 1 little activity for each holiday we celebrate. We talk about the holiday while doing the craft and why we are making this certain thing & how it is relevant to the holiday… You can’t get to in-depth with a toddler (well you can, but I think it may get a bit overwhelming for them), or expect them to know why we celebrate certain holidays with out talking to them first, so I think starting a conversation is good, even if they just take away a very basic point – I just think it’s important & really great to just make them aware and just chat about it. This applies for any holiday. Books are a great starting point for conversations. 
So today we made frill neck lizards and a koala to decorate our house for Australia Day.

They are both simple crafts to do, the lizard does require a little bit of prep work but it isn’t super hard. 

Koala.
You will need…

  • 1 large paper plate
  • 2 smaller paper plates (or cut some card board)
  • Grey paint (or black & white paint – I had no grey)
  • Googly eyes or a sharpie to draw on features
  • Glue & a stapler
  • Cotton wool, white crepe paper, tissue – something to create fluffy ears. I used crepe paper because I cannot stand the feel of cotton wool, so I don’t own any.
Steps…
  1. Cut out or assemble face & ears. I stapled mine together, but you can glue them together if you prefer.
  2. Mix together black & white paint to create that perfect koala grey fur colour (mine is a touch too dark)
  3. Paint the entire thing. 

  4. Let dry. (I just pegged mine on the clothesline)
  5. Add glue to ears and fill with cotton wool or some white scrunched up crepe paper. Leave a small border around the ears… 

  6. Glue on googly eyes, or draw some on. 
  7. Paint or draw the nose on.
  8. Ta-da your little Aussie friend is complete. 

Lizard.
You will need…

  • Some cardboard, I used an old wrapping paper tube leftover from Christmas – this gave the lizard a more 3D type of effect because it was curved and sat up a bit. 

  • Sharpie/pencil/pen.
  • Stapler, sticky tape & glue.
  • Scissors.
  • Paint of your choice, you can either do a natural coloured lizard or some bright fun ones like we did.
  • Glitter or embellishments if you feel like bedazzling your lizard (that’s a sentence I never imagined I would write)
  • Red pipe cleaner.
  • Cupcake liners/patty pans.
  • Googly eyes 
Steps…
  1. Draw your lizard on the cardboard with a pen. Now, draw a test lizard first so you can work out how you like your lizard – I kind of fluked my lizards. They kind of look like spoons with fat stomachs and tails – but I guess that’s pretty much a lizard though! 

  2. Cut out your lizards.
  3. Lay your lizards on another piece of card board, draw legs on either side – use the lizard body as kind of a guide to how you want the legs to look. Mine are not perfect, but, at least my lizards have legs. If you really do not want to bother with legs, make it a legless lizard. (LOL) 
  4. Cut out your legs and staple or glue them to the lizard.
  5. Prepare your paint.
  6. Paint the lizards. 
  7. If you want to decorate your lizard, now is your chance – glitter, sequins – whatever you like – make the lizard shine. (This step is added in because no craft is complete in LuLu’s opinion without a healthy coating of glitter – she makes me proud) 
  8. Let the lizard dry.
  9. Take 2 patty pans, flatten them out & place together with the plain sides facing in. Cut a small section out of them and a small hole in the middle. Attach around your lizards neck and staple, think of it like attaching a necklace. (This step is optional – you could make a lizard that isn’t a frilly if you like) 
  10. Glue on eyes (or draw them on)
  11. Roll up pipe cleaner for tongue and attach with sticky tape or glue. (I attached mine under the lizards head) You could use a blue pipe cleaner & leave the frill off if you would like to make a blue tongue lizard.
  12. Admire your one of kind true blue lizard.
I thought I would also suggest some “Aussie” books that we really love and a few DVDs that I enjoyed as a child, we may watch one of these tomorrow or on Australia Day… (Possum Magic is another beautiful Australian book, I just don’t own it… yet)
LuLu absolutely adores the Aussie “If you’re happy & you know it” & “Goodnight Possum”, we read them countless times everyday. I bought the “If you’re happy & you know it” book for everyone I know with kids for Christmas, I think it’s so sweet. I even sent it to a few friends in America!
Aussie classic – Skippy and a Disney movie based in Australia.
These crafts are not “pinterest perfect” and they do not have to be, this is just something fun I was doing with my daughter. I encourage you to have the same mindset, do not be focused with them being “perfect” – the main idea here is just spending time with our children, having fun, talking about Australian animals & Australia Day… I know my lizards look more on the funny side (that is my own fault, I am not a very skilled lizard artist), but we had a lot of fun making them and LuLu is very proud of them. She picked the colours for them & wanted them to be glittery – I would love to see your lizard & koala creations if you and your little love make these. Please tag me in your pictures on social media or send them to me! 
Well a storm is blowing in, so I best post this, turn off my Aussie classic music (Jimmy Barnes, Crowded House, Midnight Oil, Lee Kernaghan etc) & shut the computer down.
Have a great Australia Day! 
Night!

“We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love … and then we return home.”
 – Australian aboriginal proverb
2016 · life · LuLu · nightshift · toddler · trent · wife life

Wife Life; Surviving night shift life with a toddler in Summer.

JustBindy3 Comments

Hello dear friends!
How has your week been?
Our week has been quiet but busy… Trent has been on night shift this week, so our days are normally very quiet because he needs to rest. But after he leaves to work LuLu and I have been having some very busy afternoons.
So let’s talk about shift work, it is very common today – almost all my friends have had some experience with it. Either they do or have done it, their parents did or their partners work shift work. Thankfully the shifts my husband works are family friendly hours. He gets home at good & reasonable hours and also has a good amount of days off. We are very fortunate, but the days he works are still hard on our little girl who loves her Daddy very much and always wants to be close to him.
The way we deal with – “survive” the nightshift side of shift work at this season of our life is just to keep busy. LuLu misses her Daddy a lot when he is working, doesn’t matter if it’s day or night shift or even if he has just popped out to the store to grab milk, she misses him anytime he isn’t with her – so to help with that I try to keep our time together busy and with lots to do. 
Now Trent doesn’t do FIFO or live away from us, he comes home at the end of every shift and I am very thankful for that – so I am not an expert on dealing with extended time away from my husband and LuLu away from her Daddy, but I thought the way we run our life may encourage or inspire one of you, especially if you are in a similar stage of life & situation to us.
Trent leaves for his nightshift in the early afternoon and he returns home just after midnight – so that gives him a good chunk of time to sleep when he first gets home and he has a few extra hours in the morning after LuLu and I wake up, then he is awake and spends some time with LuLu – this week they have been in the pool every day. It’s been very hot here so the nice cool pool has been a real treat! 

Our little fish loves diving in the pool for her toys.

While they swim, I either pop out and do groceries, tidy up around the house, do laundry, catch up on my jobs, sometimes join them for a swim and then I make lunch. We have a big lunch when Trent is on nights and he takes leftovers for his dinner. 
LuLu has a nap after lunch and Trent sometimes does too and then he leaves for work… When LuLu wakes up we have afternoon tea (bowl of fruit) and she watches a small amount of TV.
After 3/3:30pm LuLu and I head outside. While Trent is on nightshift I use our afternoons to try and get lots of jobs done outside, especially when the weather is so nice & warm and the days are a bit longer.
I really enjoy getting a lot of jobs done in my day, it makes me feel good & satisfied knowing I did something today and chipped away at my always growing “to-do list”. I also feel I am helping Trent out a lot by taking away some of the jobs that he often does. He is off working hard, so if I can mow the lawn to save him doing it on his days off – that makes me happy & that time on his days off can be better spent as family time or he can relax after working hard. I know I don’t “need to do” these jobs, Trent would easily do them – but I like being helpful to him and that is also part of the calling of being a wife. (Genesis 2:18) 
LuLu loves outside time, so she thinks it is the best thing when we put on our sunscreen, hat & shoes and get ready to head outside.
This week we have so far; bathed the dogs, hosed the gardens & lawns everyday, pulled weeds out of the garden, washed the car, mowed the lawns, washed out the garbage bins – you know basic tidying up around the outside of the home and we also baked some cookies & painted our nails as a treat and the other afternoon my parents visited. So our afternoons have been jam packed & full of jobs but also fun. 

Pats for the freshly bathed doggies.

I always make sure that I when do a job I either try to include LuLu as much as possible or straight after I am finished we do something fun so LuLu feels involved and it is also enjoyable for her.
LuLu is now at the age where she can wander around the yard & play or follow and help me – she just loves being outside. Some jobs like washing out the bins, she obviously doesn’t help with – but I make sure she has something to do – like have a bike to ride while I quickly get the job done. I always make sure I can watch her as I work. With washing the car, mowing the lawn, watering the plants, baking – these are jobs LuLu loves to help me with. She washes her Little Tikes pink truck & bike, she has her little mower, her own watering can and loves to help hose and she’s a great little helper in the kitchen.

Our 2 little “big rigs” all washed.
Helping me out by hosing the plants.

While I mow the lawns LuLu has a ton of fun toys to play with outside, she has a trampoline, cubby, little climbing toy and I also set up her water table for her to play with. This week we have also been setting up the sprinkler with our tank water, LuLu has been having a ball running through it in the afternoon.

Water table fun… If LuLu is getting bored with the toys that come with the table, I just bring out some toys from inside. This Kewpie doll was mine when I was younger, and its the perfect dolly for her to bath.
Running through the sprinkler.
Bouncing on the bounce with Ninna… Grandparents, friends & family make great distractions too for little kids when a parent is off working…

One afternoon I got the hose out while we were playing on the trampoline – “The bouncy bouncy” – our wild & fearless little girl thought it was the best thing in the world. In no time at all she had worked out how to run & slide with her feet and she was having a ball! 

We often are outside until about 6pm’ish – then we go inside dirty & exhausted from our big afternoon of playing and doing some jobs. Our night routine is to have showers, eat dinner – which is often leftovers from lunch, tidy up and then read books while LuLu drinks her milk, clean our teeth and get ready for bed. 
Once LuLu is asleep I finish tidying up the house for the night, put the dishwasher on and then I either read, check my social media, text friends or watch a movie (often I am doing more than one of these at once – LOL) 
But that is how I survive night shift with a toddler in Summer. Every season of life and the year is different and brings new challenges – but I think at this stage of our life when LuLu is an active, outdoor loving little toddler and the weather is so nice & warm – having a busy afternoon is the best, for us. Your idea of a busy afternoon maybe visiting friends or family, doing crafts, heading out to do some shopping or heading to a local park or library. You have to make your time with your child, your own. I really like showing my daughter that it is great to get outside, help out, be active, enjoy nature, take care of our home, have fun & it’s ok to get a bit dirty & messy when we are working. I also like having LuLu help when it’s appropriate for her to help, I believe it is creating a good foundation for her to grow up knowing that it is important to help others & help with jobs around the house. (She is very good with her little jobs, if you would like a post on that let me know!)
The other thing I want to note here, is when we are outside in the afternoon my phone is inside. The photos included in this blog post are taken quickly on my little point & shoot underwater camera, mainly at the end of the afternoon… I try to make a conscious effort every day, especially when it is just the 2 of us to spend time with LuLu with no phone. I use the time after she is asleep to check & update my social media. I really do encourage you to try the same, even just 1 hour – leave the phone on charge. 
Our afternoons together have been really beautiful & wonderful this week. I especially love the time when we are just holding hands walking around hosing the plants and the grass, we have little chats, water fights, we laugh – it is just lovely. I love motherhood I really do and it’s moments like that I will treasure forever. 
I know night shift/shift work can be stressful and overwhelming at times & it is hard on children when they miss their Dad/Mum, but I hope this posts encourages you. Even if you don’t have to worry about shift work, I hope this post motivates you to at least just go outside this afternoon – set up the sprinkler and run through it! It doesn’t matter how old you are, it’s always fun!

Get outside and dance under the sprinkler, do it! I highly recommend doing it at sunset, even quickly set a timer on your camera and take a quick photo to remember the fun.

But in all seriousness, I truly hope this post helps someone. Last year our season of life was different, LuLu was younger and I couldn’t get as much done – but now she’s older and wants to help & would be outside every second of the day if I let her. So you have to do what you can at your season of life, but my biggest suggestion & tip for you if your partner does shift work – especially nights – is to stay busy. It can get lonely and boring and the hours can drag on if you let it – but I really find staying busy or having plans makes it so, so much easier. Make a plan, say “this afternoon, I am going to hose the garden” or mow the lawn, paint a picture, have a play date, do a messy craft outside, bake a treat, call my friend or watch a movie after the kids are asleep etc. 
I think getting outside with kids & having water play instantly makes them happier, so if you can do that – do it, especially if they are cranky! Also make life easier on yourself, make enough food at lunch so you can eat leftovers for dinner, it’s easier to have leftovers than cook a whole new meal. 
I find having lots to do makes the time go faster and it makes the whole experience a lot easier on our daughter and also myself. We have night shift weeks that aren’t so busy, fun & successful and I often find they drag on and aren’t enjoyable and then I find myself getting down. But the days we plan to do something or even just get outside and play or do a small job, makes it a lot more enjoyable and pleasant. Having a very busy & active afternoon also makes us both tired and helps us sleep – so that is also a bonus. (I don’t know about you but I don’t sleep that great without my husband!)
Does your partner do shift work? How do you handle it? Do you have any tips? I would love to hear them, leave me a comment below or on my social media! Please also let me know if you would like to hear our week works when my husband is on day shift.
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Have a lovely afternoon, we are on our final night shift for this run, so I am off to wash down the outside windows & my brother is coming to visit and take LuLu swimming.
Enjoy your weekend…

christmas · craft · diy · toddler

Deer oh deer, some deer-lightful Christmas crafts. {Toddler Craft}

JustBindy1 Comment

Hello fellow Christmas lovers,
How are you? Are you waving your festive freak flags proudly? Crafting up a storm? Or did you just finish your Christmas shopping yesterday, like I did? (Yes, Christmas is next week and my unorganised self just finished Christmas shopping!)
Now, it’s no secret I love deers, we all love deer. I like them just as animals, their antlers, their tasty meat (sorry) and as ornaments…
And of course we love the most famous reindeer of all, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. 
So here are some adorable little Rudolph crafts…


To make these adorable little fellas you will need some basic things you probably have laying around your house;

  • Paper plates
  • egg carton 
  • Brown paint (or crayon, or pencil) 
  • Brown cardboard
  • Red embellishments for a nose
  • Googly eyes
  • Scissors/stapler for parent to use
  • Pen/pencils
Now the simple steps;
1. Cut your paper plate in half and then cut 1 half in a triangle.
2. Staple together.
3. Cut out 1 section of egg carton. 
4. Draw around your child’s hand for antlers on the brown cardboard, cut out 2 copies of a hand print per paper plate reindeer you are making.
5. Also cut out 4 legs for each reindeer.
6. For egg carton reindeer, draw antlers (mine are not very good) and ears and cut out.
7. Paint your reindeers.
8. Let dry.
9. Attach googly eyes, red noses, antlers and ears.
10. Ta-da you have the most adorable little sweet reindeers.
I also made a few other “reindeer” things this week.
I whipped up a stocking for Trent with some lovely fabric from Spotlight. This is the first stocking I have ever made and I was impressed that my basic sewing skills created this…
And yesterday LuLu and I baked some gingerbread cookies, I used The Pioneer Woman’s recipe and it is really nice. If you use this recipe keep in mind it does make a lot of dough. I decorated the gingerbread men like deer, please excuse my basic icing ability. Trent & LuLu think they are tasty and cute though!
  To end this deer-lightful post I will leave you with some photos of the “reindeer” (red deer) that were at a shopping centre in town the other week, LuLu loved them and wore her sweet little “deer” print top. She loves deers and says “doe” & “buck”.
Comet is death staring me down because he knows I have a relative of his in the freezer, Blitzen is in the back oblivious, singing Christmas carols. 
Have a beautiful week before Christmas friends.
If you make these sweet reindeers, I would love to see them so tag me in them on social media!

2015 · activities · christmas · decorations · diy · toddler

Paper plate Christmas trees, 2 ways. {Toddler Craft}

JustBindy1 Comment

Hello lovelies!
Yesterday we had a day that was so terrific it deserves a blog post. 
I recently wrote a very honest blog post about feeling like I lost some of the sparkle out my life, I was trying to get it back – it was almost there… But not just yet. 
But yesterday, that day sparkled and it sparkled hard. Maybe it was the fact LuLu used most of the contents of a huge gold glitter shaker or maybe it was because yesterday was just really, really lovely.
Now, the day didn’t start off super splendid. My day had started at 5am when Trent got up for work and then we were all up. Thankfully I was able to persuade LuLu to have snuggles for an extra hour, but she was pretty insistent that I get up and make her some breakfast.
Now at the time I often do not enjoy dragging myself out of bed, but I do actually love getting up early, especially in the warmer months. I can get lots of jobs done when it’s nice and cool (before the Summer heat kicks in) and I just feel very productive which in turn makes me feel great.
Anyway, we had an early start on the day, not by choice – but I am glad we did…
I got my jobs for the day out of the way early and then I decided LuLu and I would attempt a Christmas craft. Our first Christmas craft.
We made paper plate Christmas trees in 2 styles. We made 1 of each for our house, my parents and for my Nin. These sweet little crafts make lovely little gifts to Grandparents from your child, we delivered the finished product to my Mum yesterday afternoon and it was hung straight away on the fridge. 

Our sparkly Christmas trees. 

I just used items I had laying around the house so you could do this too with your littlies. 

For this craft you will need;

  • Paper plates
  • Scissors
  • Stapler/tape
  • Green paint
  • Glitter, embellishments, pom poms – anything you have laying around.
  • Optional – magnet. (Attach to back with glue or tape after child has finished decorating, for easy display on a fridge)
Directions;
For the flat layered Christmas tree I just cut 3 triangle shapes out of a plate and stapled them together. After cutting out 3 of the same shaped triangle you are left with 1 very small triangle, I used this as the trunk and just stapled it all together.
For the cone shaped Christmas tree, I cut a section of the plate out and then just formed a cone shape and stapled it together. You could also cut the plate in half and then shape a cone out of the half. 
Sorry I didn’t really use a pattern, I just free handed everything. So it was all trial and error and they are by no means cut out perfectly. I actually didn’t plan to blog about them either which is why I didn’t take photos of all the steps. And just a note, when buying paper plates, find the cheapest ones possible. The more expensive ones tend to have a clear coating over them, you want proper paper plates to do crafts with.
Step 1; Do not squeeze your paint tubes so hard the nozzle end shots off and into the cup of paint. Great start to the project Bindy, good job Pinterest Mum… 
Next I just gave LuLu a pot of green paint (I mixed some craft paint I had with a green glitter paint) and let her paint all the trees. She did incredibly well, this was her first ever Christmas craft.
The paint needed to be applied very thickly in LuLu’s opinion. 
While we let the trees dry we went outside for a play, to hang out the laundry and to check out our tomato bushes. We picked the little tomatoes and sat in the sun and ate them… Yum!
Yummy home grown tomatoes – the perfect snack for in the back yard.
After the trees were dry (“I had distracted LuLu long enough to let them dry as much as they could”) I set LuLu up to decorate her trees. I gave her a pot of craft glue and a paint brush, a box of embellishments like old ribbon, cut up pipe cleaners, pom poms, sequins and her favourite decorative touch – the gold glitter shaker.
Now I warn you, if you do this and want to use glitter – be prepared it will get messy. Ours did – there was glitter everywhere. And that is ok. LuLu was having fun and in my opinion glitter is the prettiest mess you can have.
I personally think the glitter adds a nice festive touch to the floor and this maybe a new favourite photo of mine.
I sat there in awe watching her dip her brush into the glue and paint the tree, carefully picking out sequins to push into the glob of white glue and then grabbing the shaker and covering the tree, the table and the floor in gold glitter. Moments like this are what I dreamed of being a Mumma. Just having fun, doing crafts, making memories and a mess and just being together. 
LuLu took decorating her trees very,very seriously. Every tree (& the table & floor) needed a good healthy dose of gold glitter.
Our craft table afterwards. Clean up was pretty easy. I picked up the pieces I wanted to save/reuse, cleared the table, rolled up and tossed away the drawing paper that covers the table and did a quick vacuum. Easy! We then went and jumped in the pool to clean and cool ourselves. 
One of LuLu’s masterpiece proudly displayed on Ninna and Poppa’s fridge.
That sparkle, I love it and it’s coming back, in full force. We take our sparkle very seriously.

I encourage you to have a go at this super simple craft and let me know how you go. I would love to see the photos of your little ones masterpieces. 
If you don’t have any green paint at home, making home made paint is super easy, check out my recipe HERE.
I also have a Pinterest board full of Toddler Christmas craft ideas that you can check out HERE.
Also, I have a give away running on THIS post, so make sure you check it out and ENTER! (2 days left to enter!)
Have a lovely weekend and if you do this craft, share your trees with me on my social media.
Facebook; Modern Wife Life 31
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Snap Chat; Bindy_30

diy · toddler

Easy DIY colour book for your toddler.

JustBindyLeave a comment
Hello!
Today for “Toddler Tip Thursday” I am bringing you a super easy and cute DIY for you to do for your toddler or young child, this project will help them learn colours. This little DIY is basically free if you have a collection of stickers and coloured markers laying around the house like I do. 
This project takes maybe an hour at the most, way less than that if you are uninterrupted. You could probably complete it while your little one naps.
This is how to make a paint chip colour book;

You will need;

  • Paint chip cards of a variety of colours, get 2 slightly different cards of each colour you wish to use. (Bunnings and Masters don’t seem to mind when I take a few colour chips home, when I say a few I mean like a handful. I guess if someone gives your grief or you need to explain yourself, either say you are making a colour book or your painting a rainbow in your kids room and want to get a rainbow of colour chips to pick the shades) You could also just use white coloured card and paint or colour it in… But the paint chip cards make it very easy. 
  • Stickers to match the colours.
  • Colourful pens/Sharpie/Markers to write with.
  • Glue.
  • Clear contact or a laminating machine.
  • Hole punch.
  • Ribbon or split ring.
Step 1;
Raid your local hardware store for paint chips in a variety of colours. I went for every bright colour I could find and also brown and grey. Remember to only get paint chips from the same brand so they match up together well, as they’ll be the same size. I forgot this and only got 1 yellow one, so luckily I had spare ones at home but the spare was from a different brand so I had 2 from 2 different brands, it still works but it doesn’t look totally perfect. 
Step 2; 
Lay out how you want your book to flow. 
Then put the book together to see which cards need to be glued to the back of each other. 
Step 3; 
Glue the cards together. I found it easiest to have the book set up/stacked together how I wanted and then I just worked through it gluing the backs to each other until I was done.
Step 4;
You could let your child help with this step… Decorate with stickers and write the colour name on the card. 

Step 5;
Cover with clear contact or laminate. I laminated mine and just a word of warning, I stupidly didn’t think when decorating mine and used little jewels and 3D stickers, they don’t go through the laminator well. My red page is a bit ruined! 
Step 6;
Hole punch the sides of the pages and secure with ribbon or hole punch in the top corner and secure with a split ring.
Step 7;
Enjoy!

LuLu likes her little book and we go through the colours and point at all the different stickers. I really like this project, using the paint chips with different shades and tones of the colours shows children that colours come in a variety of shades. 

I hope you give this project a try, it is super easy and can be as detailed or as simple as you like. If you do try this DIY please tag me in it on social media!