DIY haute couture

A friend just posted this wonderful video on Facebook and I've watched it about ten times already. It may not exactly be a 'how-to' demo - but it is totally inspiring. Who wouldn't be tempted into making a miniature glamorous outfit or two after seeing such a beautiful film? 

HOW CAN WE RECREATE THIS OPPORTUNITY FOR OUR CHILDREN?

It isn't impossible to achieve this kind of experience at home with the kids. I'm not promising the immaculately appointed, soft-focus studio of course but with just a bit of child-friendly kit and using this little Dior video for inspiration, it is possible to get children designing and making their own mini-outfits independently, without using any needles, pins or even scissors. Here's how:

THE KIT

Mini-mannequins:

I absolutely love these little mannequins from Harumika. They make dress-designing satisfyingly simple for the littlest of hands and the most creative of minds. This is due to the ingenious addition of a thin rubber-lined slit that runs down the back of each mannequin. Each kit comes with a little paddle that helps tuck in and secure materials into the slit, so there's no need for any cutting, pinning or stitching at all.

Fabrics:

Our local art, craft and fabric shop has a huge basket of handkerchief-sized (and smaller) off-cuts that cost between five and thirty pence. My children love rummaging through it and choosing a few pieces of material whenever we visit. Add to any fabric pieces you have, a few ribbons and sticky gems or sequins and that's really everything you'll need to get those couture creations off the ground.

THE EXPERIENCE

Creating the dresses: 

Arrange the fabrics, ribbons and any other little goodies you might have to hand on a clear and clean work surface along with a mini-mannequin or two, and let the making begin. If you lose your paddles, a lolly stick or the handle of a teaspoon work equally well. If your child is unsure about how to get started, try asking them to design something for themselves or someone they know well and suggest a few scenarios for which to design a costume. Perhaps they could make a dress for a wedding party, a special lunch, a red carpet event, a garden party, a book launch, a Halloween party, a winter ball, a job interview, a rock festival or a birthday bash, for example.

Keeping the creations:

Once an outfit has been made, your child will probably want to make another straight away - it is quite addictive. Be sure to take a photo (or even a little video) showing the outfit from a few angles before it's disassembled. This way there'll be a record of its unique design and if they want to make it again in the future the photograph can be used to jog their memory.

Enjoy the video and why not have a go at making some mini-couture outfits with your little ones. If Dior can do it, so can our kids, right?

Here are some of my children's couture creations made with our Harumika mannequins.

 
 

Dr Dog's Hospital

In our house the arrival of a cardboard box equals an opportunity to get creative; a large cardboard box has even more potential. So today I set up an invitation to create for the children - a big box, some card, some tape and scissors, and our box of fancy scrap paper.

I felt like making a dolls' house but when my daughter came home, nose in a book, she was quite clear on the box's destiny. She decided we would make it into a hospital for the main character of the story she was reading - Babette Cole's Dr Dog.

And that's how we came to make our box into a hospital for children. I was instructed to make it as white as possible - because that's how hospitals are, apparently. My job was to cover as much of it as I could in white paper. Meanwhile Daisy wanted the hospital to have an operating theatre, necessitating a curtain - so she concertina-folded a piece of paper, we punched holes in the top, threaded through some cotton and then secured the ends of the cotton to the walls with a little sticky tape. Then we made beds for the ward, and a playroom for those children who were well enough to be up and about, or who were waiting to see the doctor.

I love how Doctor Dog got a surgical mask, and how Daisy put everyone in the hospital to bed before she went up to hers - even the rabbit family, whose children just needed eye tests. They were all happy to stay overnight so they could collect the bunnies' glasses in the morning; what a hospitable hospital.

DIY Bakugan base

Meet Rex, Metal and Sky Raider - our first three Bakugan bought by my seven-year-old son with some of his birthday money. Apart from my friend mentioning she'd recently found an unwelcome and rather pointy Bakugan in her bed, I'd never heard of them before. But Buddy was adamant that this was what he wanted to buy.

Keen to be supportive, I attempted to help my children play Bakugan by reading out the game's rules which came with the set. We found them totally incomprehensible, and I felt rather grumpy about it; Bakugan seemed to be a bit rubbish - and quite possibly an utter plastic-tastic rip-off. I stepped away mumbling something like I think you roll them onto their cards and they pop open - and then my dears, your guess is as good as mine  - and left them to it.

Thankfully, five minutes later, my eavesdropping mummy-ears tuned into the most wonderful game being played - where each Bakugan had been named and where the Bakugan world (in the living room) revolved around their powers; rolling and popping open, swimming, battling and flying around - turning baddies into goodies. There were also parties, bedtimes and a wedding to attend - courtesy of Miss Daisy's input, I should think. What a fabulous way to play with them. Suddenly I didn't feel quite so grumpy.

The Bakugan base, pictured above, came about a little later when we were trying to think of something to make out of our newly empty cereal boxes. Daisy came up with the idea of a Summer box (pictured below) inspired by a new sun hat I'd bought her at the same time as the Bakugan purchase. As you can see it's full of summery things which she gleefully collected from around the house. It even has a mirrored lid so you can see if you've put the summer things on right. 

And Bud came up with the idea of the Bakugan base. We raided the recycling box for their bed, a transforming pad and an entrance tube and we made everything shiny - just as the Bakugan like it, apparently. So now they have somewhere to be stored and maybe, just maybe, I'll escape finding any of the pointy little fellows in my bed. 

Moonbeams in a jar

We've just had some lovely news from school; Buddy and Daisy have each been made class Star of the Week. I am so proud of them, and they have been on sparkling, star-like form ever since - rightly pleased with themselves. The news put us in mind of one of our favourite songs Swinging on a Star. We talked about the lyrics and how we especially love the line 'carry moonbeams home in a jar'. The children, rather practically, said they would like to work out exactly how to collect the moon's silvery glow and keep it. And I tried to explain, too metaphorically probably, how I want them to have all the glowing moonbeams they can comfortably carry, always...

In order to satisfy their want for the moon and my desire to reward them for being Stars of the Week I came up with the idea of a little prize; their very own jar of moonbeams. Here's how to make one:

1. Take a clean, empty glass jar (label removed) and apply a generous coat of PVA glue (thinned with a splash of water)

2. Cover the jar with small pieces of silver and white tissue paper just as you like

3. Apply one further coat of PVA glue to give a glossy hard-wearing finish

3. Add a few silver stars or sequins for a bit of daylight sparkle

4. Coat the jar's lid with PVA glue then cover it with kitchen foil

5. When the whole thing is dry, pop in a bicycle (white) light and screw on the lid

Now, how to get them swinging on a star?

Autumn art

Yesterday our Sunday stroll was enhanced by a simple game - collecting nature. The only rule was that we shouldn't pick anything that was still growing; it had to have already fallen to the ground.

It was wonderful how quickly our hands - and then my bag - filled with leaves of every shape and hue, jewel-like berries, patterned bark and lots of interesting seed cases. The range of colours was just amazing, and the children noted that you could really tell it was autumn now.

With so many fabulous colours and textures in our collection, there was really no need to do anything further with our bounty other than to simply look at it and enjoy it. However, having made summer nature-bangles just a few months ago, we thought we'd try making some more with our autumn collection.

So, using a strip of masking tape fixed in a loose loop around our wrists - sticky side out - we created gorgeous, decorative bands of autumnal colour by pressing some of our collected nature onto the tape. Easy, quick and beautiful outside art - we definitely made the best of that autumn sunshine yesterday.

Beach hut envy

[Southwold by Louise Braithwaite printed by Mad Lou Publishing Ltd]

Since admiring Southwold's cheerily painted beach huts last week, we've been yearning for one of our own. They are extremely difficult to buy - to be eligible you have to be related to the king of Suffolk, or something - so instead of pursuing that particular dream we are attempting to build ourselves a beach hut at home. Fortunately, Buddy and Daisy seem happy to realise this dream in miniature. At least for the moment.

We began our building project with the stickle brick beach hut pictured below. All Southwold beach huts have romantic, cool or quirky names - we came across The Chequered Flag, The Bucket & Spade and Topsy Turvy. The children called this one Rubber Duck.

Unfortunately, this hut didn't survive; it was too small for the dolls' house cooker, table and chairs and kept falling apart when Daisy tried to furnish it.

Our second effort has been more successful; I found a cardboard box that had beach hut written all over it. Actually, it had toypost.co.uk written on it - but its proportions were perfect.

With a doorway and window frames cut out and a pitched roof secured with sticky tape, the hut was ready to be painted. Daisy informed me that it had to be yellow and red. And it had to have stripes. I spent a few minutes marking out some for her but in the end she ignored them - there was a change in the design vision, apparently. Faint lines were still visible through the paint however, and gave a lovely, authentic wood panelling effect.

With the painting complete - the front face orange where the yellow and red got mixed, Daisy noted - the beach hut was finished. Except for one thing...

'It needs a name!' she announced, and was adamant we should use the box's original text as a sign. Fortunately I'd salvaged this when we cut away the doorway.

And so this is how we came to have a beach hut with the name toypost.co.uk. Now, if that's not quirky, I don't know what is - I hope you're not too envious.

Scented sock genies

We made these cute and useful little creatures today when I noticed just how many outgrown and threadbare socks were lurking in the children's not-so-fresh smelling drawers. I took the aforementioned socks and put them in a box on the kitchen table along with a mixture of dried mung beans and lavender, a selection of googly eyes, ribbon and metallic sticky tape, brightly coloured feathers, pipe cleaners and a few elastic bands.

There followed a fabulously fragrant hour as Buddy and Daisy made all the scented sock genie characters pictured above.

They half-filled each sock with the mung bean and dried lavender mix...

...then I helped tie an elastic band round the top of the sock to seal in the scented filling.

They stuck on eyes, added feathers, tape and pipe cleaners just as they wished and the whole kitchen filled with the relaxing scent of lavender. Bliss.

Daisy made a princess, a mermaid and two baby dinosaurs. Buddy made a pirate and two ninja-explorers.

The sock genies are now in residence in Buddy and Daisy's bedroom; scenting their drawers with the wonderful aroma of lavender. And they make me chuckle every time I see them; aren't they funny.

Mess and making

Here's an activity that never fails to get my reluctant artist Buddy straight to the making table. It's a sure-fire way of getting him cutting, sticking, colouring, glittering and designing. I sometimes sneak in new materials and techniques for him to try too - like printing and painting. These would usually be a big no-no for him; he's never been keen on the messy stuff.

It came about because I really like to keep all the birthday cards we receive. Instead of hoarding them though - and getting very sentimental and tearful over them as the years pass - I've stored them in a box for Buddy and Daisy to cut up and use to make personalised greetings cards for their friends. Of course, I have kept their first birthday cards out of the craft box, along with anything else particularly poignant.

While Daisy is very enthusiastic, diving into any art activity just for the fun of it, Bud seems to need the incentive of a cool outcome to entice him. Making birthday cards using images and motifs from the shop-bought variety to get him started works brilliantly for him.

So here's a selection of gorgeous cards made by Buddy and Daisy. They've used all kinds of techniques and it's just wonderful to watch them both get stuck in - really enjoying a creative session of mess and making.

And yesterday they made Thank You cards for their teachers...

Baby bunting

Last Saturday, on our literary river walk, we collected some beautiful swan feathers. After washing them in warm, soapy water I snipped their ends into points - et voila! - we had a set of authentic and beautiful quills. Dipping our pristine quill nibs into a pot of black 'ink' - actually washable black poster paint - we practised writing our signatures on plain postcards. It was all very Samuel Pepys. When we weren't using them we speared the quills into a pear as pictured below. I got this idea straight from the film Shakespeare in Love; I think it looks very Elizabethan.

Inspired by Modern Parents Messy Kids mention of black and white wedding bunting here we decided to make our own - but for babies. Amongst our friends we know of two new arrivals and this bunting would make a great gift.

So I asked Buddy and Daisy to draw black designs on their white postcards; patterns, shapes and faces - the things we know the newest of babies love. Brilliantly, this kind of simple mark-making was fun and achievable with the novel but somewhat unwieldy new writing tool.

When they were dry we used the hole-punch to make two holes in the top of each card and threaded silky ribbon in and out to finish the baby bunting.

TaDAH!

'Oh! I do like to be beside the seaside...'

'...I do like to be beside the sea.' So goes the popular music hall ditty by John A. Glover-Kind.

But if you don't like it, or can't easily get there, here are five ways to recreate a bit of British seaside magic in your own backyard.

1) Fill a bag ready for your beach trip.

I prepared one for my Under Fives group at the Geffrye Museum and we began the session by unpacking it together to establish our theme. At home I simply handed over the huge bag of goodies to very a excited Buddy and Daisy.

In our beach bag they found:

• beach towels
• sun-cream
• sunglasses
• sun-hats
• buckets and spades
• a fishing net
• toy binoculars (for spotting ships)
• a magnifying glass (for rock pool investigation)
• pots of seashells and pebbles
• a toy bristle worm and anenome
• bath-time toys; fishes, sea creatures and boats
• a mini home-made kite

When they announced 'Let's play seasides' I knew Buddy and Daisy would be occupied for a while. Using the paddling pool, already out in the garden, they became happily involved in creating their own imaginary world; they sunbathed, 'applied' sun-cream, and filled the pool with pebbles, sea creatures and fish - scooping them up with their nets and plopping them back in the water over and over again.

2) Make your own rock pool - a physical and musical activity.

At the museum, with about 15 children, we made our own huge imaginary rock pool. Sitting in a circle we threw in invisible pebbles, and pretended to be seaweed - waving our arms when underwater, and making crunchy, rigid shapes when exposed to the air. Then the children entered the rock pool like sea creatures; we had crabs, starfish, anenomes, jelly fish, bristle worms and there was even a shark in there - I told you it was a big rock pool. I played them Saint-Saens' Aquarium from The Carnival of the Animals and responding to the music they danced, swam, crawled and shimmied around. The water was provided by the grown-ups in attendance - they wafted a large piece of turquoise chiffon about a metre above the children. We also played a fun variation of Sleeping Bunnies (Sleeping Sea Creatures) - altering the lyrics slightly; all under the undulating blue fabric. It was all very under-the-sea; beautiful and magical.

[No photos of this, I was too busy playing...]

3) Read a story about a rock pool adventure.

We had the wonderful Julia Donaldson's Sharing A Shell - such a fun story starring a hermit crab, a bristle worm and a sea anenome. It has great glittery and shimmery rock pool pictures and plenty opportunities for counting and joining in.

'Three friends sharing a shell

happy as house-mates can be,

rocketing all round the rock pool

in their wonderful home for three.'

4) Make your own seaside souvenir; a paper plate rock pool.

We used:

• paper plates - we had blue plates, but of course watery paint colours could be added to create the background
• shredded paper seaweed - or use shredded leaves from your garden or local park
• pebble-printed paper - or use gravel mixed with PVA glue
• neoprene shells and sea creature pictures or stickers - or draw onto plain sticky labels
• pipe-cleaner bristle worms
• lots of silver glitter mixed with PVA glue to stick everything down and make your rock pool shimmer in the seaside sunlight

And after all that exertion...

5. Share some good old-fashioned Fish & Chips for tea.