Upcycled Craft for Kids

By Pam Thoday, Wartook, Tas.

It’s amazing what can be transformed by craft! here are some fun upcycles that featured at the local agricultural show.

These two craft entries for the local country show were made by my daughter. The first used a bulk ice cream tub donated by a shop that we use to store grains for muesli. She then added some pieces cut from hessian sacks that had been chewed by mice, fraying the edges. This was coated in a layer of PVA glue. While still wet, she added pictures from the newspaper, bows made from the frayed edge, pieces of oaten hay from the goat feed and a couple of heads of wheat. All of these were liberally coated in PVA glue.

The scoop is a little oversized for the container, but ideal in our big bins for mixing wheat and goat blend grains. It is a cut-down 3lt milk container, and was much easier to cut as it is more flexible than PET plastic.

Lay the bottle on its thinner edge with the handle facing upwards. Mark a diagonal line up both sides and join them across with a straight line on the upper and base planes. Pierce the plastic with the sharp point of scissors and cut, or use a craft knife.

She then bound the handle with bailing twine and covered it with silicone for a smooth finish.

Finally, her decorated bottle, inspired by a magic Persian lamp, was made by using clear craft glue to attach glitter, beads, diamontes, sequins and scrapbooking embellishments. This was a time-consuming process as each strand needed to dry with the bottle lying on its side before the next row was added, or the beads would slip along the glass.

Hope this inspires other GR readers to get crafting. T

Teddy Bears' Picnic

July 10 is Teddy Bears’ Picnic Day. If it’s raining outside, why not make a picnic in the lounge for your teddy bears. In fact, you could invite all your other stuffed or special toys as well. You will need: l picnic rug l pillows l stuffed toys and special toys l tea cup and saucer and side plate l snacks

Lay out the rug on the floor and set up the pillows around the edge. Allow toys to choose which pillow they want to lounge against. Give each teddy or toy a cup of tea and offer them sandwiches. If you want, you could look up the song Teddy Bears’ Picnic online and play it to the toys.

More fun for toys: they may also like to play board games, charades, have a rope tug of war or a ring or beanbag toss game.

Make a Picnic Basket

You will need: l 20cm square piece of paper l strip of paper for the handle l colouring pencils, textas or paint l scissors and stapler

First, decorate the square of paper and the handle however you would like, using pencils, textas or paint. Allow paper to dry if paint was used.

Next, carefully using scissors, cut 7cm into the centre of each corner. Now, pull the sides together, overlapping the corners in front of the centre. Staple. Repeat on all four sides. Staple on the handle. You now have a cute picnic basket.

Cucumber Sandwiches

Cucumber sandwiches are a very elegant snack to serve at a picnic, and apparently are much loved by royal types such as princes and princesses.

4 slices soft brown or wholemeal bread, thinly sliced

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp cream cheese

1 small cucumber salt & pepper

2 tbsp dill, chives or mint, chopped finely Spread butter on 2 slices of bread, and cream cheese on the other 2 slices.

Make a Tent

To make a tent you need a rug or two, a couch, a few hard backed chairs and some clothes pegs. Arrange the rug over the chairs and couch to make the tent and put another rug on the floor if you need to make it comfortable inside. Add cushions, pillows and a torch. If the weather is warmer you can also make a tent outside by tying a rope between two trees and laying a sheet or blanket across it.

Thinly slice the cucumber into rounds.

Lay the cucumber on the butter side of the 2 slices of bread. Add a little salt and pepper if you wish. Sprinkle over some dill, chives or mint. Top the sandwiches with the 2 cream cheese slices of bread. Cut into triangles. If you want, you could cut off the crusts, but be sure to give them to the chooks so you don’t waste them! Serve sandwiches on a fancy plate, with a doily if you have one.

Enjoy! T