Tag Archives: colors

Handprints and footprints for Christmas keepsakes

Posted on December 14, 2017 | 5 comments

Before having kids, Christmas was that glamorous night full of festivities and gifts, delicious food and lots of booze, and back home for the family gathering.

Now, with my boys (nady 5 and joud 2) are here, Christmas is not just that night, it is 24 days and 24 nights to it. Beautiful decorations can’t be those expensive intact objects, they are keepsakes done with tiny hands and big love. Red or green are not just ordinary colors. Santa becomes mom’s best friend and chocolate can replace a meal . . . Yes i turn into an elf to be able to communicate with santa and change the letters (toys) many times!

Christmas is more than just this night or day, it’s the anticipation to it that makes you live the season beaming with excitement and joy. Against all odds, my Christmas is not a classic one, the star is not anymore on top of the tree, it fell from the summit to spark in their eyes and Jesus left his crib to be born in their heart. My Christmas is THEM!

Christmas Keepsakes, kids will love doing their footprint and handprint as christmas tree, snowman, santa and rudolph.

Very easy and fun project to keep for the life. We spent a joyful time together doing them. Wish you lots of laughters as much and more than we had. And let the magic of the season start!

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come. Ho Ho Ho!

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Posted in design, DIY, way to play

Tagged blog, blogger, christmas, christmas tree, colors, craft, creative kids, creativity, footprint, handmade, handprint, jaymmy, keepsake, kids activity, lebanon, marmite et ponpon, qatar, rudolph, santa, snowman, way to play

Easter tree decoration – homemade clay recipe for kids

Posted on March 28, 2017 | Leave a comment

Hop in Easter mood with us and let’s start the decoration with this beautiful tree. Let your kids DIY the ornaments with a homemade clay recipe, ready in less than 10 minutes and with only 3 ingredients:

1 cup cornstarch (cornflour)
2 cups baking soda
1 1/2 cup water

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to medium heat. Whisk continually until it starts to thicken. It will take couple of minutes to look like mashed potato in consistency, remove it immediately from the heat. Place it in a bowl and cover it with damp cloth until it’s cool.

Knead it on a smooth surface, adding cornstarch if it feels a bit sticky, hand it to your kids and let the fun begin!

Cut out eggs and bunnies, using the cookie cutters and let them dry overnight. I am sure not all kids will have this patience, you can dry it in the oven for couple of hours on very low, so your kids can color them in the same day.

Don’t forget to make small holes (with a straw) before they dry, to be able later to insert a thread and hang it on the tree.

This year the fun is double, i am crafting with my two boys! Let me be honest and say it’s beautifully insane 🙂 i need to tame my 19 months old boy excitement who is still discovering, exploring and creating that artistic mess, so overwhelmed with colors and beauty, he doesn’t believe rules exist and everything for him is edible! While my 4 years old boy, my charming little artist, who’s been doing this for a quite time, doesn’t fail to show me his passion and innate artistic skills. They both have it actually and i am so happy about it!

Back to our decoration, and while the paint is drying, get some dry branches and fix them in a pot (fill it with sand or pebbles not to fall) to have a tree like shape. And let the kid enjoy hanging up their handmade deco when they are completely dry.

By the way, we prepared a lot more ornaments, but before having our final tree up, my little monkey dropped it 3 times and broke some! Well let me tell you this is part of the game, part of the fun and part of the learning. The most important is to be patient, and try to enjoy with them!

easter tree decoration | marmite et ponpon

Those cracks make it more beautiful and real, and they will tell you later million story and laugh. Crafting with kids is not about the final outcome, the least you care about is working for the end result, let them enjoy the creative process, be patient again and enjoy as much as you can those priceless moments.

If those bunnies and chick are striking your attention, they were made last year by my eldest son. You can check the link to that post.

If you like this post give it many likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.

Finger paint – fun sensory experience

Posted on April 13, 2016 | Leave a comment

This interactive finger paint activity will teach your baby about his senses. The more he explores, the faster his cognitive skills will develop.

As explained before, sensory play includes any activity that stimulates your baby’s senses: touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing. When babies first interact with the world, they don’t have words to describe what they encounter, but they do absorb information through their senses, build vocabulary and understand language. It’s your turn to articulate his sensory experience by using descriptive words to explain your baby’s experience and help solidify the meanings of these words in a young child’s mind.

This activity is definitely meant for sensory exploration more than art. Don’t expect masterpieces from the first experience, but expect lots of fun and discoveries. Enjoy the process rather than the final product at this age. You can start this activity from age of 7 months, it’s a taste safe paint, don’t worry.

It’s basically 1 part flour, 1 part water and food coloring. I did 2 cups flour and two cups water to make these 7 colors, and i added 3-4 drops of vanilla extract for a nice odour to stimulate his smell. And here is my little artist, ready to go!

I was handing him the colors one after the other to stretch the activity the longest possible but wasn’t expecting to stay one hour, Joud was really enjoying.

1-finger paint - sensory play|marmite et ponpon

2-finger paint - sensory play|marmite et ponpon

6-finger paint - sensory play|marmite et ponpon

4-finger paint - sensory play|marmite et ponpon

5-finger paint - sensory play|marmite et ponpon

3-finger paint - sensory play|marmite et ponpon

He was curious touching the paint and feeling the texture but mostly pouring it. And as you noticed in the pictures he tasted it as well. We will definitely do more of this activity.

As for the cleaning, don’t worry at all, it’s the easiest part since all the mess is contained in the bathtub. I wiped it away with only water. No food coloring stains. I always recommend wilton coloring gel.

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.

Process art – Spinning for spring

Posted on March 4, 2016 | 3 comments

Process art is when you’re enjoying the creative process, trying or inventing new techniques, introducing new elements from daily life, and the least you care about is working for the end result. In few words, process art is when the process of creating matters more than the result product.

Kids love process art, naturally they enjoy the journey more than the delivered product. They unleash their creativity, being all messy and mostly happy. Discovering and experiencing is the key! I was searching for a fun way of painting to start the spring/Easter decoration. I wanted Nady to be excited about the activity and enjoy the preparations. I came across the spin art paint.

Without thinking twice i knew this is the type of activity that Nady will love. I got a

salad spinner
vibrant colors paint
card boards (cut in 18x18cm square)

… and here we go!

Put the paper inside the salad spinner, squirt some paint and spin!

We repeated many times with different colors combination and each time was more beautiful. In spin art paint we didn’t just enjoy the process but we were in love with the end product as well! Nady didn’t want to stop.

We kept them overnight to dry before mounting them on foam boards.

Nady was so happy he couldn’t wait to hang them on the wall. We both enjoyed this process art and the surprise effect with each time we open the salad spinner to discover a new painting. We decided to do all our decorations this way!

The next day we repeated the same process with smaller pieces of paper to create a spring garland!

That’s it for now but it’s not all. Wait for more posts of spin art process, we still have almost 3 weeks to Easter and a lot to do. Stay tuned!

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.

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Posted in design, DIY, way to play

Tagged art, colors, creative kids, easter, handmade decoration, jaymmy, kids craft, marmite et ponpon, process art, spin art. spring, way to play

Endless ways i love you

Posted on February 10, 2016 | 1 comment

After the success of last year’s wheel of love i found an urge to revisit this activity, to express my endless reasons i love my family especially my family has grown since then.

As said before, telling your children “I love you” more often and expressing it for every occasion develops their secure attachment to you, knowing that they are loved unconditionally. Strong closeness to the family will lead no doubt to positive relationships in adulthood and high self esteem.

I still have faith in celebrating love if done in deep and expressive ways. Lot of you including me, find Valentines day becoming very shallow and commercial. Lets not go this path and teach our children the true meaning of love, the way of Valentinus the patron saint of lovers.

I used an old wood tray; i gave it some festive bright look by painting it with vivid colors.

I prepared our homemade clay dough, and hand it to Nady to cut out heart shapes and color them.

A quick reminder on how to do the dough:

You will need:

1 cup cornstarch (cornflour)
2 cups baking soda
1 1/2 cup water

Stick the hearts on the tray:

Enjoy writing on the hearts the many and endless reasons why you love your children and husband/wife too 😉 It’s not just for kids! Do it to your significant other and let love flourishes in your hearts and homes!

Hang it on the wall as a frame, and if your children are old enough to write, you can get them involved in the game and stretch it for a longer time. Ask them to write the reasons they love you too and play this mutual love game starting a week ahead, hanging everyday one heart from each, until valentines day when you have filled all the hearts.

My boys are still too small to be able to read, Antoun and I filled all the hearts and read them to Nady. Joud (6months) was enjoying the colors and kisses!

I wasn’t surprised with my Nady who visually memorized them and was telling me each heart is saying what! This is a reason why i love my smart boy.

Don’t forget that love is not only words, it should be followed by actions, and the most important the presence. Be present for your kids, in love, protection and service. Happy love xxx

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.