Dinosaur fossils

Dinosaur fossils are great fun and  simple to make. They can be used to entertain in so many different ways. Hide them around the garden or sand pit for little explorers to find. Crafty kids can paint and decorate their fossils and make gifts, garden ornaments or jewellery out of them. You could even make a puzzle game and get the kids to match the dinosaur figures to the correct fossil.


We made our Dinosaur fossils using this simple Salt Dough recipe.

1 cup of plain flour
1/2  cup of salt
1/2 cup of water

Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl

Add the water a little at a time until the mixture starts clumping together like the picture above. You may not use the whole amount. (the mixture should not be soggy)

Squish the mixture into a ball the same as you would when making cookies. The dough should not be sticky. If it is add a little more flour.

Flatten a bit of dough with a rolling pin or your hand.

Use some toy dinosaurs and squish them into the dough to make a imprint.

Put your fossils onto a try and bake in a oven at the lowest temperature for 3 hours. Alternatively pop them in the microwave for 3 minutes. If they are still soft pop them in for anouth 30 seconds and repeat until ready. For best results I would recommend using the oven.

Hand print fish

Hand print pictures are adorable and make lovely little keepsakes. We made some bubble print backgrounds and stamped some little hand print fishes,

Bubble Printing 

Bubble printing is a really fun technique using materials you will probably have around the house. 

Using a small container we filled 1/3 of the tub with water and added a blob of paint and washing up liquid. We then blew through a straw to create lots of bubbles/

Next  we placed a sheet of paper over the top to create our bubble piece of art.

Cardboard princess shoes

My daughter like any little princess loves clip clopping about in her play shoes and was mortified to find that her beloved shoe collection were getting too tight. To turn her frown upside down we grabbed the craft box and set about making her some new shoes.


First of all I drew round her feet on a bit of cardboard and cut them out slightly larger.

She then mixed some paint colours and painted them.

Once the base colour was dry she added polka dots :)

We then cut out some straps by placing a strip of card over her feet and cutting it so there was a cm extra at either side to tape underneath.

She then decorated them with foam shapes and feathers.

Exploring track marks

My children love exploring track marks, it really appeals to there inquisitive minds. I was hoping to do this outdoors today so we could get a bit messier but the weather was a bit of a let down. Instead we taped brown paper to the top of the dining room table.

We then rolled the cars through the paint and pushed them across the paper to discover what kind of track they left.

When we do this outdoors we usually sent up a car wash using a tray of shaving foam, a ramp, a bucket of water, and a few plastic cups and funnels. Next time we get to do this outdoors I will share pics.

Sometimes we play detectives. I tell them a little story about a robbery or crime  that took place and the only clue is this track mark I found outside. I show them a picture of the track mark and their job is to find out who committed the crime by finding out which car has a track that matches the one from the scene of the crime.

Easter Potato Stamps

I was cutting potatoes for tea last night and clicked that a potato chopped in half would make a perfect Easter egg stamper. Today we put it to the test :)

Once the paint has dried you could decorate with pens and glitter :)

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Easter Bobble Chick

This was a lovely simple little activity but my little man loved it.  He thought it was hilarious watching the chick bounce around.

First of all we made a orange hand print on a piece of card for the chicks feet. Then I cut a slit in the center half the width of the card like shown above.

Next we blew up a yellow blown and slotted it into the slit in the card. Little man finished it off by gluing  on the beak, wings, eyes, and a few little feathers on top.

Finally place it on a flat surface and give it a little prod. The children will watch in delight as your chick wobbles around.

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Hanging Easter Chicks

I had some party plates that have been sat in my cupboard for a few months so I decided to get them out in our arts and crafts session this afternoon. My children wanted to do something for Easter so we made some hanging chicks.

I cut the plates in half and they painted them yellow.

We then cut a triangle out of some foam to make a beak.

They used a pompom for an eye and stuck lots of feathers on its back.

I then folded a piece of ribbon in half, tied the two loose ends together and sellotaped it to the back of the plate.

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Fly swatting games

I was doing a spot of shopping today and spotted these funky fly swatters in the pound shop. I thought they would be fab for the kids to play with

Once we got back home I got the pompoms out to use as little flies.

We bounced the flies up and down on our swatters and had a competition to see who could do it the longest without letting the fly fall to the ground.

We also used them to flick flies into a bucket and as indoor tennis sets bouncing the fly to one another. This was quite difficult with the small pompoms so I plan on making some larger pompoms out of wool later.

Unfortunatley I was too busy running around playing to take pics so I will try add more pics later.

I am sure we will find many more ways to use our swatters. They could be used to balance things on  or to play tig. We could have a egg and spoon style race. We could use them in arts and craft and make paint prints. The only limit is our imagination :)

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