Sunday 26 January 2014

FELTING

So, my mum has loads of alpaca fleece which I have accumulated in the craft room.
Saw this on pinterest which inspired me...
http://kleas.typepad.com/kleas/2007/05/tutorialfelting.html

 
We used just natural colours and some coloured thread. 

For the 1st felt square A just grabbed as much fleece as she wanted and crammed it in to an Ikea freezer bag. She then put in some coloured thread.
We then filled the bag with warm soapy water until the fleece was completely soaked. We let out excess water then rolled the bag up as tight as possible to squeeze all remaining water. A then jumped and squeezed and rubbed at the bag for as long as she wanted, about 6 minutes, which I thought was impressive!


Then we took it out and dried it on the radiator. Eh Voila...
We made another one, but we used a roll of fleece as a background, like a piece of paper then put patches of other coloured fleece on top with some thread. It was easier to design that way, then slip in to the freezer bag.
Voila...
Because we just did it for as long as she could be bothered the felt isn't as 'felty' as it might with longer bashing and rolling. After speaking to my mum about it, she recommended rewetting and then rolling the bag with a rolling pin 200 times either side. I reckon A would like to roll with a rolling pin so we will do that another time. Also mum is sending some white fleece which we might try and dye then do a piece a bit more colourful , they might then make a nice gift. Also I thought about doing the squares in a triangle instead and making felt bunting! 
Cheerio!



Saturday 25 January 2014

So far in January:

SatARTday at Leeds Art Gallery - Free activity - 11 - 4pm on Saturdays in the ARTspace at the back of Leeds ART Gallery. 
http://www.leeds.gov.uk/Events/Pages/satartday-club.aspx 
This was from a couple of weeks ago,they were painting plastic bottles and writing messages to go inside then hanging the bottles up. The theme I think was 'the sea'. Generally, really good activity, staff really friendly and happy to help little ones as well as the older children. A participated more than she normally would. Sat for a good while painting her bottle blue. Then her hands and her arms. Washing her hands made the acrylic paint stick and she was a smurf for about 5 days! Hahaha.
H was more than happy to sit in the middle of the bottles and try to catch them.
We then played for ages in ARTspace whicgh is a terrific resource. Every few months the theme is changed and is linked in to the current themes of the exhibition. When we went though the exhibit was a bit tired, I think it's due to be changed imminently. There was plasticine modelling but plasticine had run out, paper flower making, water colour painting and theyan area with boats made out of cardboard boxes which A loved pretending to sail in.

I would definitely replicate this activity at home if I had more space. You could make the bottles in to discovery bottles and fill with different coloured liquids etc. This would be fun to crawl around in and explore from below.

OK so from the craft room... USING PLASTIC CONTAINERS:
I have so many number 5 plastic pots that aren't recyclable in the home recycling bins so I keep them in the 'craft' room. I will find at least 20 things to do with these bad boys!  So use No. 1 for plastic pots and containers... CONSTRUCTION!!! A enjoyed seeing how high a tower she could make but after about 20 minutes she preferred taking the pots to her toys and filling them full of pretend food and basically anything that would fit .
From the craft room...STICKY BACK PLASTIC / Contact Paper




So, we just did big dollops of paint on to half a sheet of contact paper then loosely folded it over so there were air bubbles. Then A pushed the paint around making worms that worked their way into around. It was a good mixing activity because the colours slowly mixed together. Also a good activity to really get her pressing down hard and moving her fingers round pushing the paint. Good for prewriting skills. Makes a nice window light catcher piece.

Lovely! So that's that for now. 

Mumaboutleeds
x

what's on in Leeds for children

This blog has come about from my 2 most frequent google searches...... what's on in leeds for children...and... what to do with (insert random craft material).

I have lived here a couple of years now and go to the old faithfuls museums and places in Leeds. My eldest is 2 and a half now and always up for an adventure so I think we need to stretch our wings especially as there are no more afternoon naps.

My aim is to explore and report on as many things on for kids in leeds as possible within 20 miles. I have called these our Adventure Fridays and will update regularly.

New Years resolution 2 - use all the random bits and pieces I have accumulated in the craft room.

Enough said!

Mumaboutleeds