Tag Archives: salt dough

Chicks garland – Spring/Easter tiny hands crafts

Posted on April 3, 2017 | Leave a comment

Simple ideas come out the best when done with big love and tiny hands. As i always say, the most meaningful things are the ones that have your personal touch.

You are the ultimate plaything, and any activity will seem more fun if your child can share it with you. Sit down with your kids for joint creativity and fun to celebrate spring|Easter season.

Chicks garland, made with just flour, salt and water.

Mix:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water

Knead until smooth. If your dough is still crumbly you can add more water, or if it’s sticky you can add flour, you can always correct flour and water to get the consistency you want. Add yellow coloring gel to the dough and let your kids cut out circles.

You can bake it for 15-20 mns on 200ºC or leave it to air dry for 2 days, if you are using decorations that can’t be baked. If you are leaving it to air dry i suggest to flip it after one day. And let the fun begin; I am sure the kids will enjoy sticking the wiggling eyes, feathers and beak made with orange triangle cut out of felt.

And here it is!

The boys had so much fun crafting and playing together. Brothers are a treasure ❤

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How to reward instead of punishing your kids

Posted on February 29, 2016 | 2 comments

I know how hard to always act calmly, not to yell and keep a positive and wise attitude around kids, especially when they provoke you with an unacceptable behavior.

All parents see their kids as perfect as they wish them to be. It’s so frustrating when they start acting stubborn or refuse to eat or do their homework…. there are many behaviors that make you disappointed to a point you might loose it on them. Here comes the easiest solution: punishment!

Have you ever tried to reward and praise instead of penalizing? Because our kids learn better with love, punishment was never the ultimate solution. In contrary, punishments push your kids to be more stubborn and aggressive. Instead of telling your kid: “if you don’t finish your plate the ball will be confiscated for 3 days” get closer to give a hug and kiss and tell him”my big boy, if you finish your plate you will stay up one extra hour watching your favorite program”.

Rewards help to keep children motivated. You give them a choice and let them be the decision makers. You develop their logic and reason to know how to choose what’s best for them and push them to be responsible for their choices.

But between reward and blackmail there is a thin line. You should be careful not to let your kids manipulate you and put conditions to do things. For example he could tell you, if you buy me this toy i do my homework! This is the trap that you might fall in. To keep the game on the safe side, It’s the other way round; you suggest and not the kids. You explain that this is a reward and nice gesture from you to appreciate the efforts and not a condition to do their duties.

For that reason i came up with a way to reward Nady showing love and appreciation without opening his eyes to the blackmailing thing. We cut out together colorful hearts and stars (made with a homemade salt dough) and told him that each time i see that he deserves a gesture of kindness i will offer a heart/star, he will collect them and by the end of the week, we count how many he has to replace them with a reward. The more he has the bigger the reward is.

Rewards can be privileges, things or activities;

Going to the park
crafting together
going for a bicycle ride
going out for ice cream
extra tv hour
sleeping an hour late
buying a toy of his choice

You know what your kids fancy and make them look forward to! But don’t forget along with the rewards should offer hugs and kisses to remind them how dear and precious they are, and no matter what they will remain the biggest love.

Actually i am thinking to give my son some hearts and stars and ask him to reward me too when he thinks i deserve it. I like this game 🙂

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2 Comments

Posted in way to play

Tagged gesture of love, hearts and stars, jaymmy, love rules, marmite et ponpon, praise your kids, raise a healthy child, reward, salt dough, say no to punishment, way to play

Handmade Christmas tree ornaments- crafts for tiny hands

Posted on November 24, 2014 | 5 comments

Christmas is my favorite holiday; so joyful, festive and special for what it represents. When you say Christmas you immediately think of the decorated trees, shopping for gifts, lights, beautiful decorations, happy family gatherings, jingle bells, yummy food, midnight mass, visiting friends and family, kids waiting for Santa… and by the way my husband proposed to me on the Christmas eve! I always thought it can’t get better until my love Nady was born, he became the Christmas and the joy of the family! I admit that kids take Christmas to another level of feelings to discover that happiness is a small word to what you actually feel. He changed the whole concept and added more magic and excitement to this season. This year, we are decorating the house together, and specifically the tree. Handmade ornaments with salt dough! I love when he is involved in the crafts, it’s a quality and fun time together! Mon amour d’artiste! Very simple craft, doesn’t require a lot of ingredients and the outcome is wow! With just flour, salt and water you can do these beautiful ornaments! Mix:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water

and knead until smooth. If your dough is still crumbly you can add more water, or if it’s sticky you can add flour, you can always correct flour and water to get the consistency you want. Add coloring gel to the dough or paint it later if your kids are old enough to create designs on them. I love working with this dough, it’s so versatile; you can bake it for 15-20 mns on 200ºC or leave it to air dry for 2 days, if you are using decorations that can’t be baked. If you are leaving it to air dry i suggest to flip it after one day. For instance, we used colorful plastic pieces to decorate the tree shape ornament, and kept it to dry without baking. Nady was so happy rolling the dough, cutting, and poking the colored plastic bits. Grand garcon (big boy). He got so excited, he sat on the table! This is how they look on the tree after they dry! The sky is the limit, you can do any Christmas related shape you want! We used a straw to make the small hole, where we inserted a golden thread to be able to hang it on the tree. After baking these stars, i brushed them with little oil for a shiny look! We used the whole set of Christmas cookies cutters, so we did many shapes! And finally the colorful Christmas balls! I loved the outcome, the color blend makes you happy 🙂 You can be as much creative as you want, all depending on the material you have and the age of your kids. You can paint, use glitter, beads, pompoms……Let them unleash the artist inside them! These ornaments last for years if well stored in a dry container and not exposed to moisture in any way. Et voila our beautiful Christmas tree for the year 2014, done by Nady and the help of maman. 3a2bel kel seneh! This is how we wish you (in arabic) a long life to celebrate more christmases in the coming years. One month until Christmas, it’s never early to start celebrating, We did! What about you, did we put you in the mood?! 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. More posts yet to come, stay tuned!