Pregnant Belly Painting - 31 weeks

We have continued to record this pregnancy by photographing Priya creating a master piece on my growing belly each month. Here is her latest work which was carried out on our kitchen table last week. We didn't have our usual photographer Aunty Rebekah handy so daddy filled in for her. Most of the photo's are a bit blurry and not really 'blog worthy' but we had a lovely and intimate time painting, cuddling and chatting about our new baby.

Imaginative Play Shopping List

Shopping is a highly organised expedition in our family. We plan our meals and all go together, but more importantly Daddy has 'his list'. This is a list he has compiled over the last 12 months which has every item that has ever made it's way into our pantry listed by isle at our local super market. We highlight anything we run out of during the week as well as the items from our meal plan before we leave. This is where it gets a little bit embarrassing, Daddy walks each isle with his list on a big clip board marking items off as we go while I lag behind hoping I don't get mistaken for an employee yet again. We even have a shopping 'theme song' but I won't go into that.



Imagine our daughter's delight earlier this week when I presented her with her very own shopping list, complete with pictures of all our play food and boxes to mark. We sat down and marked the list just like mummy and daddy do before she went 'shopping'. Priya wanted to colour in every box and buy the whole shop but that's okay, she still 'read' the list as she went and matched some of the items to their pictures too.

Displaying Children's Art on Fridge Magnets

I don't know about you but I am always looking for creative yet contained ways to display my daughters artwork. This week I made some of her recent painting into fridge magnets, killing two birds with one stone as I had a heap of business fridge magnets lying around.

I try to limit the amount of work we keep but the 'keepers' are accumulating at an alarming rate so I need to be ruthless. Anything I could bear to part with went into the 'okay to cut' pile and I began cutting up interesting sections of her paintings to fit my diversely shaped magnets.

I used double sided tape to attach magnet to paper and they were done. So quick and easy! Now everyone can admire Priya's artwork displayed neatly on our fridge.

And of course they are fun to play with too!

Bubble Wrap Prints

When Daddy recieved a package in the mail I just knew we had to make some bubble wrap prints. This has probably been done many times before but it was a first for me. I wasn't sure it would work out as all the bubbles were covered in a plastic film so they weren't separate but with a little bit of pressure they printed nicely.

I cut out some shapes which we then painted. Painting the bubble wrap was half the fun. Once our shapes were sufficiently covered with paint, we placed them bubble-side-down on paper, pressed down firmly and peeled them away again to reveal the print. I think bubble wrap prints could make some lovely card decorations.

Making a Nature Bracelet

We braved some cold weather this morning to lend a hand to our local Landcare group. Hoping to get some work done, I assigned Priya a task - I asked her to follow me around and make herself a nature bracelet. Before she began I wrapped a piece of masking tape around her wrist, sticky side out and showed her how she could attach found objects to it.

And what a success! I was pleasantly surprised to find that her treasures stayed fast to the masking tape and she was content to wonder about and add discoveries to the 'nature bracelet' for quite a long time. This is a great activity for young children as limited help is needed when it comes to decorating the bracelet. Priya receives a huge boost in confidence when she can do something all by herself so I think we may be taking a roll of masking tape on outings from now on.

Fruit and Vegetable Prints

Feeling inspired by Homemade Serenity's celery stamps, I decided to try some fruit and vegetable prints this morning. I had a celery stalk and decided we could afford to sacrifice an apple. We enjoyed printing so much my brain is spinning thinking about all the other foods we could print with. I think a cabbage stalk would work and perhaps some broccoli too?

My favorite part of making prints together is seeing the result when the print is revealed. Priya likes to smear the paint with her fingers when we are done and I don't stop her.  I feel that it's better to let her explore rather that get upset that the prints aren't perfect.

Feather Painting

I was planning a nature walk yesterday but the weather didn't agree with me so I had to think quick.  We ended up painting with feathers and created some beautiful effects.