Roll Up! roll Up! Watch the daring death defying mice jump through the ring of fire!
Celebrating all things circus the girls have asked me to create something for the Maileg mice whilst they await the arrival of their circus tent and circus troupe.
A little rummage around in our crafts cupboard found some wooden cotton reels, pipe cleaners and red felt to create a ring of fire for the most daring of mice.
Here's what you'll need:
a pipe cleaner
cotton reel
red felt
colouring pens or paints
fabric glue
scissors
Here's how:
Cut a strip of felt 3cm smaller than the length of your pipe cleaner and about 5cm wide
Using fabric glue, glue the pipe cleaner to the felt so that it sits in the centre and has 1.5cm free at either end, fold over the felt and press firmly
Now cut into the fabric to create very rough triangles of various sizes to give a flaming appearance.
Decorate your cotton reel.
Bend the flaming pipe cleaner into a hoop shape and push the two ends together inside the hole of the cotton reel.
you're now ready to perform your daring ring of fire act.
with 25% OFF the Dressing Up Box where will your imagination take you today?
A tea party with garden fairies, a forest where all the wild things are, a ship set sail to a land where monkeys rule and music plays or join the circus and be back in time for supper! The dressing up box awaits with a magical 25% OFF everything inside. An invitation to furnish your imaginings; discovering animal masks and capes, tutu's, caplets, treasure chest capes, sparkling centre stage onesies and much more as dreams become play and you enter a world of make believe.
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enter code 'BECOME' at the checkout
Great for games of espionage and its clandestine intelligence operations, playing private eye with its hush hush hidden covert messages, for secretly marking the X on a treasure map, magic shows, wizardry and even little love notes passed between one another.
Here's what you'll need:
lemon
q-tip
paper
a secret message
Here's how:
Squeeze the juice of a lemon into a bowl or cup
dip the q-tip into the juice and use it as 'ink' to write your message, a fine paintbrush would work too.
To see the message hold the paper agianst a heat source.
Here's why:
Lemon juice is acidic, the acid in the juice weakens paper and stays there when it dries. When the paper is held near a heat source the acid will burn faster than the paper and as it heats up it turns brown enabling you to see the message that has been written.
Milk, white wine, apple juice and orange juice work too, why not try other things; see what else you could use to make invisible ink.
Alternative:
Great for younger children; use a white crayon or even a candle on white paper to draw a picture or write a message and have your child discover the hidden picture using coloured crayons or paint.
Discover more fun things to make in our Monday Makeries here
With wonderful pop out cards, totem books of animals, people and figurines as well as play houses, trojan horses with a little secret bell hidden tinkling inside, lucky swallow mobiles, trees full of birds and the new collection of magnetic shapes for endless creations. There's countless ways to play, genius gifts to give, pieces to inspire within the home and lots of ideas to spark children's imagination.
A wonderful world of cardboard creativity awaits.
kidsonroof = creativity + imagination + sustainable approach + great to play with - / - visual pollution for the grown ups!
The dual designed Qubis Haus is a multifunctional piece for the home. Part coffee table part dolls house its a piece that will be played with and around and used by all the family. The transformational design invites play; with sliding walls made from wood and perspex the 'designer' can arrange the rooms and alternate the layout. The house itself with its beautiful simple lines is made with solid birch ply wood lending itself to a sleek and contemporary aesthetic.
It is a beautiful piece that invites both a pot of tea shared with friends as much as the curious child who's imagination can play amidst the conversations around them, bringing family together in a creatively shared space.
Collections of magnetic furniture that click together to create tables, beds chairs and lamps and much more have been made from locally grown sustainable oak and cleverly hand crafted into varying shapes and sizes, they snap together with the help of embedded magnets magically transforming them into piecs of furniture. There are suggestions for designing the furniture though there really is no limit to the ways in which you could create different pieces and design your own arrangements.
Amy Whitworth's designs are a welcome addition into the boutique. Rocking to the rooftops with possibilities for play Amy has joined child's play with something a little more grown up, and we love it!
image credits: bicycle & mt collage via pinterest, Jenna Templetons studio space (discovered here) discover Jenna's inspiring blog here, cardboard mt castle, bus decorated with MT, cardboard forts.
With daughters who want to join the circus, who love nothing more than acrobatics and daring feats; walking imaginary tightropes dressed in tutus and striped tights, jumping hoops, stilt walking, grand introductory speeches standing high on stools, and hilarious attempts at juggling, it was obviously going to become the theme for next birthday. So, in preparation for Oona's 4th Birthday we got busy creating a circus....all whilst she was sleeping.
With balloons, a tightrope, a balance board, dressing up box, a flaming ring of fire and strongman weights it's all the daring fun of the fair with its vibrant colours and promise of performance. The girls woke up, ran away with the circus and were back in time for birthday cake!
Tightrope Walk
Imagine you're far up in the sky walking the wire as you navigate the tightrope.
Decorate the large piece of wood using MT tapemaking sure you cover all the corners. Create a stripe down the middle of the length of wood to give it the illusion of the tightrope.
Decorate the 2 blocks with matching contrasting colours.
Set the blocks under each end of the board and you're ready to go!
Use props, like an umbrella held high for theatrical effect!
Balance Board
How long can you balance for. Try to keep the edges from touching the floor as you thrill the audience and challenge others to do the same with the daredevil balance board.
wooden pole / heavy duty cardboard roll: 60cm L, Diameter 6.5cm
Here's how:
Decorate your wooden board with strips of MT tape.
Measure 2 lengths of foam to match the width of the board and cut into it giving a slot of about an inch deep.
Slide on the foam to the edges of the board.
decorate the wooden / cardboard pole
set the board onto the centre of the pole and be ready to keep your cool as you try to stay balanced.
Strongman Weight Lifting
Who is the strongest of them all. Can you lift the wight above your head and prove to all that you've got the strength of a lion.
Here's what you'll need:
wooden pole / length of bamboo 90cm L, 2.5cm diameter
2 balloons
marker pen
Here's how:
decorate a thin wooden pole or length of bamboo with decorative tape.
adhere a balloon either end
using the marker pen write the weight of each balloon....... can you lift 50kg?
Ring of Fire
Would you dare take the leap with this death defying act and jump through a ring of burning fire. Roly-poly through the ring of flames and gracefully land upon a cushioned floor.
Here's what you'll need:
Hula hoop; the bigger the better, ours has a diameter of 94cm.
red tissue paper
Here's how:
Layer several sheets of tissue paper one on top of the other and fold in half.
Cutting away from the folded edge, cut out a flame shape (a wriggly triangle). Repeat along the folded line until you have as many as you need.
Open up each doubled flame, fold over the edge of the hula hoop and use double sided sticky tape (or fold over ordinary sticky tape to create doubled sided) and tape the inside of the flames together securing it to the hoop.
Hang by attaching a length of strong string to either side to a high point on either side of the room, or if you're unable to hang have someone hold it an inch or two off the floor.
This weekend we've needed some quick, surefire and silly fun. These paper cup shooters are the closest thing to instant gratification of the diy craft variety.
Pinging mini marshmallows and later, once those were either lost or eaten, screwed up secret messages (I know where mum keeps the chocolate biscuits), and woollen pom pons we made on a fork.
These would make great party games, silly afternoon fun and as they're super easy to make you'll be playing a game of sitting room ping-pong in minutes.
Here's what you'll need:
paper cups (plastic ones will crinkle and crush)
balloon
scissors
here's how:
cut the bottom of the paper cup out.
cut the rounded end of a balloon off.
tie a knot in the end of the balloon, as you would if it were blown up.
stretch the balloon over the open bottom of the paper cup.
To shoot: hold the cup, pull back the balloon and release!
*caution* this shooter can be pretty powerful. NEVER shoot towards people's faces, bottoms I feel are fine, but NEVER faces!
