This activity in ‘Have Fun with Your Kids’ by Marilee LeBon reminded me of the several times we made these, except we pretended they were guitars.
How To Make a Homemade Banjo
You will need;
A Paper-Towel Tube
A Tissue Box (one of the rectangular ones)
Three Rubber Bands
Paint or other materials for decoration
1. Staple the paper towel tube to the back of the tissue box lengthways.
2. Cut three notches on each end of the tube. Stretch the rubber bands from one end of the tube to the other and let them rest in the notches.
3. Paint/decorate your banjo.
I found this idea in a very old book by Juliet Moxley. Erin’s too young for it yet, but it seems so simple, and ideal for mums and dads that aren’t that great with more in-depth projects.
All you need is some newspaper, a large piece of paper (wallpaper will do), masking tape, paint and a paintbrush.
Prep: Cover the work surface with newspaper.
1. Tear strips of newspaper and lay them across the paper, don’t be too tidy, the more raggedy (is that a word?!) the more interesting a pattern you will create, don’t forget to leave gaps in the paper where you can paint.
2. Once you are happy with the pattern tape the newspaper ends to the work surface (which should also be covered with newspaper!).
3. Paint the whole picture, before removing the strips one by one to reveal the pattern.
*Tip This would work great with zebra or tiger colours. For a jungle/zoo display use huge pieces of wallpaper using the pattern as a background.
Photo by flickr user Lorna is copyrighted.
This is a nursery favourite, especially with younger children who get impatient with longer baking projects.
If you don’t fancy baking or think your kids would lose interest too quickly, simply ice rich tea biscuits and decorate with hundreds and thousands, jelly sweets etc… The other advantage, is that you get to see (and eat) the finished product very quickly.
Have fun!
A littlemummy reader gave me the idea for this activity. Simply mix cornflour and water to make the weirdest substance ever, you need to try it to see 
We had an absolute blast (as you can see!). In fact it’s probably the best activity we’ve done so far. It’s a little messy, but easy to clean up because it’s only flour and water.
If anyone has any suggestions for activities for us to try please get in touch 
We had fun yesterday with our first foray into the world of play dough. With only one attempt at ingestion I thought it went pretty well.
Erin enjoyed investigating, throwing it on the floor (!) and ripping it into small pieces.
The guide on the tub said two years upwards but having worked at a nursery prior to having Erin, I felt confident she would be fine with my full attention
Buy play dough supplies
We made these art work cards over a couple of days, if your kids are older they should manage them in an afternoon.
I gathered together the supplies. A piece of card, paint, brush, water and wipes (for the hands afterwards).
I painted Erin’s hands and let her loose on the card. She didn’t manage complete prints but that doesn’t really matter
I cut out the ‘prints’ and glued to some cards, you can see above that I added some embellishments in the way of glitter, stickers etc… If you have older kids they’ll love this bit.
We were both really proud of the finished article
I came up with this idea when I was staring at the piles of old birthday cards I am (supposed to be) scrapbooking.
1. Take all the cards and cut them in half, keep the picture bit and throw away the writing side.
2. Cut the cards into one inch squares (larger or smaller if you want). All the squares must be the same size so mark it out with a ruler or use a template.
3. Take a large piece of card and glue the squares on to make a colourful mosaic. The mosaic can be framed as a birthday keepsake (birthday cards) or as a classy christmas decoration (old christmas cards).
*Tip* Use family pictures to make a mosaic gift for an anniversary or someonelse’s birthday.
Photo by flickr user Today is a Good Day
Erin and I made this crown.
We used some card from a box, paint, glitter glue and star stickers.
I cut the shape from the box. Erin helped paint the crown purple. We decorated it with glitter glue in green, gold and red and added the final touch with gold star stickers.
It was a lot of fun, Erin particularly enjoyed the glitter glue part
You will need;
Tin Foil
and that’s it!!!
Provide your kid/s with a length of tin foil and get them to make sculptures of animals, people, buildings, or anything they want!!
(bet you can sense the possibility of a quiet five minutes with this one!)
This is a quick, cheap and easy activity to occupy kids for a while
You will need;
Thick Paper/Card
Glue
Sand
1. Draw a picture with glue on the card.
2. Dust picture with sand, remove excess.
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Activities
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activity, banjo, craft 
I've been blogging for four years and write about anything and everything that takes my fancy.
Above is me with my beloved Ernie in Port Aventura and left with our love child in Florida.
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