Illustrated Colour Matching Printable - Balloon Heights Game

Earlier this week, I indicated on My Picture Garden that I was turning this illustration into a game for my daughter.  I had a similar game when I was a child but I've lost it so I decided to make my own. Well, I finished it fairly promptly and had it printed and laminated the next day. To my delight, Miss (almost) 3 thought it was 'lovely' and did not find this game too complex to play.

It is a simple game with a play mat, 12 coloured circles to match the balloons and a dice which is also laminated and then scored with a stanley knife to make folding easier. We split the circular cards between us so we each had one of each colour and then took turns rolling the dice and placing the corresponding coloured circle on its matching balloon. If we rolled a colour we had already put down, we had to wait until our next turn to try again. The first person to put all their circles down wins!

I am very excited to tell you that I have decided to turn this into a printable, which is available to everybody. I hope you like it. Now, this is my first time posting printables on my blog so please let me know if you have any problems with them.

Please click on each image below to display and print.

   

If you are interested in following me on my illustration journey, you can follow me over at my illustration blog, My Picture Garden or like my illustration facebook page for updates and new works.

Daddy's Birthday Chef Hat

I've spent so much tome busy baggin' and painting of late, I've neglected to blog about what we've been up to lately and the posts are piling up. I'm sure I'll get around to them but in the mean time I need to wish my husband a happy 29th birthday!

A 'birthday hat' making tradition has developed in our family and since Daddy loves cooking, we thought it fitting he that would have a chef hat. A yellow one at that! I found instructions The First Grade Parade.

True to tradition he received his gifts in bed (he actually had to get back into bed because the kids slept in).

Yesterday I found this old frame at an op-shop and decided that we could work with it.  Digby had his first,  albeit very short, encounter with paint.

A bit more paint, some handprints and a couple of photographs later we had a nice little keepsake that we could all admire.

First Busy Bag Swap Complete!

Back in February Rebekah from Just For Dasisy and myself announced that we were planning our first Australian Busy Bag Swap. Fast forward two months and here we are enjoying our fabulous busy bags! I have already made good use of ours on a long car trip, in a doctor's waiting room and just to keep Miss 2 busy while I tend to her brother.

We had a great response - 22 participants who made 11 busy bags each. Everyone did an amazing job. You can read the original post to find out all about the Busy Bag Swap. If you like the sound of it leave a comment as we're looking for expressions of interest to do another one in the near future.  It would seem some of our participants would like to do it all over again too! 

Busy Bags headed out in the post on Wednesday and will hopefully arrive at their new homes in no time! For those picking them up please check your email for details. 

We hope that these fabulous handmade activities created by our 22 participants are able to inspire others to create their own unique 'toys' without great expense and with a whole realm of successful teaching/learning opportunities through child centered play. 

1. Coloured Glasses made by Campbellova
2. Sea Creature Memory Colour Recognition (These cards can be found at 1+1+1=1)
3. Domino Stones
4. Car Mat Fun
5. Lacing Fun
6. Felt Clothes/Clothesline (inspiration)
7. Colour match made by Adventures at Home With Mum
8. Paddle Pop Puzzles/Colouring In  
9. Thread my Family 
10. Texture Book
11. Pipe Cleaner Threading
12. Magnetic Fishing Game (Printable from Criss-Cross Applesauce)
13. Nursery Rhyme Sequencing Cards made by Just For Daisy (inspiration) 
14. Magnetic Puzzle Play made by The Imperfect House Wife
15. Paddle Pop Puzzles
16. Memory Game/Colour & Shape Match
17. Felt Cupcake Creations (inspiration)
18. Loom/Sandpaper Play Board (This idea came from Modern Parents Messy Kids' Yarn and Sandpaper Loom)
19. Eye Spy Pillow
20. Felt Shape Board w/ pattern cards
21. Pom pom push
22. Baby Animal Match 

As mentioned above we are seeking expressions of interest for a second Australian Busy Bag Swap and would love to hear from interested blog writers, mums and dads, grandparents and anyone else who would like to participate. Please comment below or email us at:: justfordaisy11{at}gmail{dot}com to let us know you'd be interested! 

If you haven't done so already, please head over and 'like' our facebook pages: Just For Daisy and Paint On The Ceiling. That way you will stay up to date with our regular blog posts as well as any news on our next Busy Bag Swap.

Once again a very big thankyou to the ladies involved in our first Busy Bag Swap. We think that thanks to your involvement it has been a huge success. Enjoy keeping your little ones busy with your fabulous new bags!

Many of these activities would have been inspired from the internet and we unfortunately do not have source references for them all as they were made by others. Please comment below if you've made these before and would like to direct others to your blog/website for instructions! We’re happy to add a link to our image.

Crafty Fun With Friends and an Air-Dry Clay Game.

Earlier this week, two of Priya's favorite playmates came over and we decided to make use of an old receipt paper roll. I have eight of these rolls so I would love to hear any ideas you may have for what I could do with them. We decorated this one with textas, crayons, pencils, stamps and stickers.

They collaborated at times and found their own little section to work on at others. It was quite novel working on such a long and narrow piece of paper.

Afterwards, we broke out some air dry clay which I had been saving for such an occasion. They had some free play with it and then started a game. I made up some cards with a different creature feature on each one. There were eyes, spots, tails, legs, noses, mouths, teeth, spikes, wings and accessories. We all started with a body for our creature and added features each time we took a new card. We didn't take turns, just took a card when we had finished working on our previous feature. Miss 4 was very engaged in this game whereas the two younger girls lost interest. Definitely one to remember though.

Domino Stones - Dominoes for Toddlers

Choosing an activity for the busy bag swap was not an easy task but I finally settled on domino stones- a twist on the classic game. These dominoes are perfect for toddlers as they are durable and the bold symbols are easy for little hands and eyes to match end to end.

I made 11 sets as was required for the busy bag swap which meant painting 264 little symbols. I believe this took me about 4 hours. I began by dividing 132 stones into 11 groups of 12. I was careful to choose stones that I thought looked nice together. Each stone has a symbol on either end making 24 symbols in a set; six birds, six snails, six cats and six fish. Finally, I sprayed them with a coat of clear gloss enamel. Phew, I was glad to be done.

Miss 2 (almost 3) and I tried them out this morning. I was pleasantly surprised to find that she was up to the challenge and enjoyed exercising her problem solving skills. We played by taking turns putting stones down but there are other ways to play. Just matching end to end is fun. They can play alone or with a friend making up their own rules. 

I'm already thinking of more games that could be made with stones. They are so lovely and tactile, making them a joy to handle. I think they'd make a beautiful, inexpensive gift too.

Dramatic Play - Picnic set

We love picnics, especially pretend ones. I put this play picnic basket together using bits and pieces I found at op-shops. The basket is the perfect size for little hands to carry around the yard.