Getting Crafty and Having Simple Fun

Monday 9th June 2014



Q. How much fun can you have with a bit of PVA glue and some tissue paper?
A. Quite a lot if you have young children and a spare half an hour!

I decided recently that I need to do more activities at home with the kids having seen how much fun they could have with a simple craft idea whilst at a festival last month (We spent two afternoons with Junkfish at Bristol Vegfest). As we're currently staying with my parents I've been reticent to make any mess crafting but the glue wipes up and off of most surfaces and really there's not much damage that can be done with tissue paper so I bit the bullet, put the housework to one side and sat down for a little bit of 'quality time' with my two and 4 year olds. The activity was such a success it inspired me to do it again and I've still more ideas for repeating the fun soon.







Our first time we made some beautiful butterfly suncatchers to hang in the window. They're so easy to make and give a beautiful stained glass effect.

For this you will need:
-some PVA glue,
-some cut up pieces of tissue paper or sweetie wrappers,
-a paintbrush or glue spreader,
-a clear plastic wallet,
-a butterfly outline drawn onto an A4 piece of paper,
-scissors.

Put the butterfly outline inside the clear plastic wallet then spread the glue onto the wallet and stick your tissue paper or sweetie wrappers on. You're trying to fill the area of the butterfly and the important thing to remember is that it doesn't matter if you go outside the lines but it will matter is there are any gaps inside. You will need to add more glue on top of the pieces you have stuck on for this to work well. Once you have finished the gluing and sticking put the wallet to one side to dry. Wash out your brushes immediately to prevent them being ruined. Once dry you can carefully peel your 'stained glass' off the clear wallet backing and trim it back into the original butterfly shape which can then be attached to your window however you see fit.







Having had so much fun making the butterfies we decided to extend our skills to decoupage, which is basically the same activity on a 3D rather than a 2D surface. Our local craft shop (Hobbycraft) has a great choice of shapes but we settled on a peacock for them to give to their great-grandfather, mainly because I felt it would suit the kids crazy mosaic style! We made this activity last a couple of sessions because of the size, shape and allowing it to dry without sticking to anything. We used tissue paper for our basic layer and added a layer of tinted film pieces over the tail to give it a bit of a shimmer but you could add glitter, sequins, wool, ribbons or any thing else that can be fixed in place with a little bit of glue.







The kids and I were really pleased with the outcome of our peacock model. We had a great time making it and our butterfly suncatcher. The children always love getting crafty and there are so many ways they can get involved with gluing and sticking. Other ideas for things for us to make in the future include turning jam jars into candle holders, a chocolate box into a jewellery box, or biscuit tins into toy storage. As they get older they can take on more of the jobs themselves (such as cutting the paper) and can make more complicated patterns and designs. There's a lot of legs for this activity to run and run!