Favorite Things: Gears! Gears! Gears!

We have plenty of toys, but in our rearranging and decluttering I've found that there are just a few that we really couldn't do without.  Right at the top of this list is our set of gears.

The pieces are big enough that the littlest kiddio in our house doesn't risk choking, simple enough that our three-year-old can manipulate them easily, and versatile enough that the six-year-old and her thirty-something parents can build some really cool stuff out of them.
 

Like our little walking robot?  His arms rotate as he scoots along, lights flash, and his eyeballs wave in the air thanks to the little battery-powered unit (it was so popular that we had to pick up an extra set so everyone could make their gears go).  These pieces are from the Gears! Gears! Gears! Lights and Action Building Set, but there are a variety of fun ones to choose from (the crazy monkey set is next on Scout's list!)


What's the favorite plaything in your house? 

ribbon activities: links

The blog Unplug Your Kids posted a couple of fun ribbon bookmark ideas, one a wide ribbon with sequins and buttons glued on, the other woven with pipecleaners and ribbon, with beads on the end. (Josie, 5 has been into the weaving idea but most weaving projects are a little too big for her, so this will be a fun one to try!)


Also, Let's Explore posted about some ribbon collages her girls did. Very cute and interesting to see the approach each child took (and I liked her little ribbon caddy :)

Woven strawberry basket pendants: link

I'm still feeling really into Mother's Day, so I was excited to find this fun idea at Scrumdilly-do. I'm not nearly sure where I'm going to find strawberry baskets, but I love the idea of using them for weaving, and these turned into an absolutely charming necklace. I'll make sure to hang mine up with the colored macaroni shell and marker lid necklaces Josie's brought home from preschool!

more button, tissue paper, and crepe flowers for mother's day! : links

We've had so much fun making tissue paper flowers over the past few days that we've been looking for something to fill our bouquet out a bit!

Plum Pudding came up with a super-creative idea for some gorgeous button and cardboard flowers.






One More Moore has a nice tutorial for making a bouquet of simple button flowers a lot like these --->
Theirs add felt leaves to fill the bouquet out a bit. I can't wait to try these first two ideas...and hopefully deplete my button collection a little bit.

Two Straight Lines has a tutorial for a very simple crepe paper flower bouquet displayed in a paper-covered can. It's very cute and the 'vase' is a great canvas to decorate for an additional gift for your favorite mother. Martha Stewart also has a pattern for some GIANT crepe paper flowers for all the paper you'll have left over! It's odd...Martha Stewart also had a big article and templates for making old-fashioned crepe paper lilies, roses, and other flowers in her weddings magazine the summer I was married (2001), but I can't find any reference to it online. Crepe is very moldable and stretchy and you (probably not small children, but you!) can create some very realistic flowers with it.

Finally, I really like Klutz's Tissue Paper Flowers book for patterns to create specific types of flowers. They also have great suggestions for other types of paper to use (we like waxed paper lilies!) and it comes with a passel of tissue paper to get you started. I've had it for years and have yet to run through the whole thing.

Happy Mother's day, and happy crafting!

tissue paper flowers: link, mother's day gift idea

The Rowdy Pea has a tutorial for making tissue paper flowers up. We've made these a number of times on our own and as a playgroup activity and it is so fun! We cut different shapes of flowers out to make poppies, cornflowers, daisies, etc, or just layer them randomly to make a fun made-up blossom. I'd say it's suitable for kids starting around 3 if you were to cut out the flowers shapes and have them string them onto the chenille stem.