Tuesday 17 December 2013

Christmas snacks for the birds..and dogs..and toddlers...

Tam's ArtyTots and ArtyKidz

 

Here's one for the birds...and dogs...and toddlers....




So, after bouts of throat infections etc. (in the middle of summer!), I've been struggling to get my toddler to eat anything...then comes our arty session for the birds today... M. ate two whole bread stars with peanut butter, so although you could use stale bread for this one, I recommend good bread and you might get a few bites into your tot too!

The background to our experimental bird treats for today was a "candy cane cereal decoration" that we made a few days ago (great fine motor skills development threading the holey cereal onto pipe cleaners!), that our birds still haven't touched.

Here in the Southern Hemisphere we have an abundance of fruit on the trees at this time of year and so our birds seem to be picky (it might also be due to the glitter pipe cleaners that I used, so I'll make a few more in plain colours to check in the next few days).

So, we tried a few different things - salt dough stars and worms, toilet rolls cut into spirals, paper plate wreaths and toast cut into star or angel shapes - all covered in peanut butter and honey with wild bird seed mix sprinkled on top!  The birds went CRAZY and nearly all the seed has been pecked off within a day!

Here's how we did it...

*mix of half peanut butter, half honey
*salt dough ornaments (already baked/hard) OR toilet roll spiral OR toast OR paper plate wreath

M. ate a few paint brush fulls of the peanut butter before we mixed it with honey and spread it onto the ornaments...he then really enjoyed sprinkling the seeds onto the sticky ornaments/toast/paper plate wreath with his hands (I thought this was great as he still doesn't like the feeling of Gloop (cornflour and water)!) We then chose our spots in the trees to hang our creations and waited for the fun to begin....

 



The dogs felt a bit left out (their favorite chew toys as puppies were peanut butter cow hooves, so the smell of peanut butter still drives them crazy), so we made them peanut butter biscuit treats! M. loves getting them to sit and then presenting them one at a time with the biscuits...

 

The scientist is me immediately starts comparing our experiments and wondering why some bird feeders were better than the others...situation, taste, reflective surfaces, bird species, time of year etc....but for today, we just had fun experimenting!!

 

Here's one for the birds...and dogs...and toddlers....


CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS FOR THE BIRDS (/dogs/toddler)!


So, after bouts of throat infections etc. (in the middle of summer!), I've been struggling to get my toddler to eat anything...then comes our arty session for the birds today... M. ate two whole bread stars with peanut butter, so although you could use stale bread for this one, I recommend good bread and you might get a few bites into your tot too!


The background to our experimental bird treats for today was a "candy cane cereal decoration" that we made a few days ago (great fine motor skills development threading the holey cereal onto pipe cleaners!), that our birds still haven't touched.

Here in the Southern Hemisphere we have an abundance of fruit on the trees at this time of year and so our birds seem to be picky (it might also be due to the glitter pipe cleaners that I used, so I'll make a few more in plain colours to check in the next few days).

So, we tried a few different things - salt dough stars and worms covered in a peanut butter and honey with wild bird seed mix sprinkled on top!  The birds went CRAZY and nearly all the seed has been pecked off within a day!


Here's how we did it...

*mix of half peanut butter, half honey
*salt dough ornaments (already baked/hard) OR toast OR paper plate wreath



M. ate a few paint brush fulls of the peanut butter before we mixed it with honey and spread it onto the ornaments...he then really enjoyed sprinkling the seeds onto the sticky ornaments/toast/paper plate wreath with his hands (I thought this was great as he still doesn't like the feeling of Gloop (cornflour and water)!) We then chose our spots in the trees to hang our creations and waited for the fun to begin....



The dogs felt a bit left out (their favorite chew toys as puppies were peanut butter cow hooves, so the smell of peanut butter still drives them crazy), so we made them peanut butter biscuit treats! M. loves getting them to sit and then presenting them one at a time with the biscuits...



The scientist is me immediately starts comparing our experiments and wondering why some bird feeders were better than the others...situation, taste, reflective surfaces, bird species, time of year etc....but for today, we just had fun experimenting!!

ArtyKidz Academy Christmas Holiday Workshop @ Fourways Gardens

We had so much fun at our first ArtyKidz Academy Christmas Holiday Workshop in the Fourways Gardens Park!  Here is a snapshot of the fun!  I was so impressed with all the artwork from the kids aged 4 to 10 years - particularly gorgeous thumbprint reindeer gift tags! Thanks to all the kids who joined us and particular thanks to mom, Carole, for all her help during the workshop (and for the great photos she took while my hands were full of salt dough and finger paint)!



Sunday 1 December 2013

ArtyTots @ Fourways Gardens Kids Christmas Party - Play dough and WaterPlay

We had so much fun at our first ArtyTots promo at the annual Fourways Gardens Kids Christmas Party!

Thanks to all the kiddies and moms/dads/grannies and nannies who joined us!  

We hope to see you again soon at our Christmas Workshops in Fourways Gardens Phase 1 Park...tots age 18 months to 4 years on Saturday 7 December from 9 to 10 am...Kids ages 4 upwards (and any crafty arty parents or grandparents) on Thursday 12 December from 9am till noon.  Booking essential and spaces are limited. Email us at ArtyTotsFourways@gmail.com by 5 December to secure your place and for more details.  Cost R100 per person. 

Here are a few pics of the messy blue soap putty (Acorn Kids),shaving cream and sparkling tinsel in the water play table and the ginger bread and candy cane scented play dough tables....the kids came up with such great ideas of their own with play dough cookies and gingerbread pictures!

 









Friday 15 November 2013

Painting on newspaper

Such fun painting on newspaper - and hands and feet and floor and glass doors! - was even more fun than painting on white paper as Matt could look for faces, hats, cars etc. to paint in the color of his choice!