Salt Dough Aliens

Well today is UFO Day....But of course you knew that ;-) and what better way to celebrate those visitors from afar than making our very own Salt Dough Aliens!

You Will Need:

1 Cup Plain Flour,

1/2 Cup Salt,

1 Cup Water,

Few Drops Food Colouring

Random pieces of foam, sequins, pom pom's... whatever's in the craft cupboard.

To make a basic salt dough mix a cup of plain flour with half a cup of salt, a few drops of green food colouring then add water until it blends nicely I usually chuck in half a cup then add till its a good play dough texture. Knead for a while until mixes nicely.

I set out a tray with a bundle of exciting little pieces and let lil dude take the lead.

Shockingly the diggers got in on the action that's when he started to bore slightly so mummy jumped in and suggested we make aliens!

That idea was a hit we were soon rolling and making little faces and curling hair....what you don think aliens have hair weeeell this one does!

This one was lil dudes own creation.

I wish this were a video as during this picture he was squeezing his mouth making the alien say "hello I'm an alien" very cute moment!

This was such a low budget easy activity and was great fun once we got into it. I love the activity's that are left a bit open as its great to see lil dudes imagination run with it!

Hidden Art Station

You will need-

Lining Paper,
Masking Tape &
Crayons

This one is especially good if you have laminate or tiled floor as can just be left and pulled out when required. As you can see I have the perfect setting for it, I could just pull the sofa back then replace over the top but this can be done anywhere and is easily removed so dosn't have to be left out.

All you need to do is lay some lining paper down and use masking tape to secure the edges and let their imagination run riot. On its first day this was hand... and head prints. Lil dude had us all lying on our backs drawing round our heads.

I then pulled the sofa back over it and forgot it was there.

Untill today when lil dude was climbing the walls a bit so it turned into a train track with a road beside it.

I wont win any points for artistic talent but we had fun and its a great one to work together as he tells mummy what to draw while he gets the trains and helps colour.

The Chalktastic Play Table

Hard night trying to get lil dude to sleep lead to pinterest overtime and me in high hopes of creating an upcycled masterpiece....Ta Daaaaaaa

Yes ladies and gentlemen I actually completed a project and yes it "worked"!!!

So this was a £5 coffee table of facebook sales pages and a can of blackboard paint. My hansome assistants joined me and sanded the tabletop lil dude was very impressed with this and this was an activity in itself. I'm a firm believer that the extra time and effort spent to let lil dude join in no matter how little the contribution are so worth the effort. His face lights up and he gets to be like mummy and daddy its such a boost to his little confidence. I the masked off the edges and sprayed the top a few times. All the while lil dude kept skipping to the end of the garden to see if "his" table was done.

This table has been in the house 2 days and has been used non stop we have had dinosaurs drawn repeatedly (the above is a diplodocus with an apatasaurus i'm told). Today I left him to lead the play and he asked for a zoo I gave him his animals and his Lincoln Logs (great great toy) we created cages for the animals once we used all the logs we had to add a road for his tractor which used the chalkboard a treat. The road then (after a lion with an attitude problem cleared the table very loudly lol) turned into a racetrack which then somehow got attacked by dinosaurs and ended in tricereatops racing bmw's and merc's! The day ended in me having to draw dinoland on the table with volcanos, sea and tar pits. I can see this table being a great base for the sensory ideas I have as can be adapted to so much I feel you'll see this one a lot in the future!!!

Our Rainbow Rice

Today’s entertainment has been the fantastic rainbow rice and boy was it a hit I have seen this all over blog land but the recipe came from one of my fav blogs happy hooligans. If you haven’t come across it yet it’s a must just fantastic!!!
The rice was sooooooo simple took a zip lock bag half filled with rice then put a tbs of vinegar and a few drops of food colouring. I mixed it well by shaking and mushing (wow can’t you tell I spend most of my time with a two year old lol). Some like the blue I had to add more colouring than the others too so would advise you to mix and then add more as required. I was heavy handed with the yellow and that took a long while to dry plus has a vinegar scent to it. It’s not off putting but would recommend you don’t copy that mistake. Once all mixed I popped onto a baking tray to dry and returned a few times to mix. They clumped a bit at first which worried me but after the first couple of stirs they were perfectly separated.
I placed the baking trays on a towel with a tray in the middle and gave him spoons, bottles, funnels, pans etc… He had a great time scooping crunching and pouring them mixing the colours as we went. This activity lead to so many play opportunities’ he was a fountain of ideas which made my day! The following he came up with in one morning:
Pouring colours in bottles through funnels making patterns (like coloured sand ones this looks amazing and I’m deffo on the lookout for an unusual vase that we can fill together in the future for the dining room!)

Making shakers by putting a few bits of rice in little plastic pots.
Dinoland he started sorting dinos at first green for herbivores blue for swimmers red for carnivores etc. which was great then it all got a bit chaotic (as it usually does with lil dude) and ended up in a dinosaur war zone resulting in several poor souls getting buried by the remaining colours being chucked in all together. The days entertainment ended up in him requesting we make a movie so I dug out the phone and recorded lil dude acting out a mini story I read aloud. The movie will win no awards but lil dude loves watching it over and over.
A quick tidy up later leading me to a piece of advice…. A towel is not big enough protection would advise a double duvet laid out or a messy mat. It wasn’t a big clean up but to save the hovering the mats are ace plus can scoop it and reuse.
I’ve kept the rice and will use again and again this is a cheap days activity for us and I’m sure will be used again and again