Wax crayon sun catchers

Over the past two weeks J and I have been doing quite a few different Autumnal activities which have either consisted of things we have done previously, or have been similar to things that we have done previously.  I like to try new things with the children, and generally they enjoy doing new activities too, so with that in mind I decided that we would have a go at making wax crayon sun catchers.

J and I chose some crayons in Autumnal colours and then after a brief explanation as to why we have to be careful, J set about grating the crayons onto a sheet of greaseproof paper.  This took a while!

Once we had enough grated wax I put a second sheet of greaseproof paper over the wax and with the iron on the lowest setting (and with J removed from the very immediate vicinity) I ironed the wax gratings until they melted.  J was amazed at the blob that we created!  I however wasn't - I had hoped for something pretty, but we had used far too much dark coloured wax and it just looked horrid!  So we tried again with much brighter colours which produced a much nicer melted blob!

We covered the wax to clear contact paper on both sides, I punched two holes and J helped me to thread a ribbon through the holes so that he could hang his sun catcher up - all we need now is some sun!

Pumpkin Gloop

We carved our pumpkins on Tuesday, it seemed a shame to throw away the slimy, stringy insides of the pumpkins, so I gave it to M to explore!

After a while I added some cornflour, and Albie poured in some orange coloured water to mix together to make 'gloop'.  M wasn't so sure about the cornflour in its powdered form, but he loved it once the water was added!  H couldn't resist and had to join in too!

M got quite messy, but it was worth it for the enjoyment factor!

Autumn Owls

Are owls Autumnal?  I'm not sure!  Oh well!


We made these lovely owls on Thursday...

Each child painted their toilet roll....

(yes it was 100% necessary for Albie to be dressed as a spaceman for this activity!)

Then came the hardest bit, we had to let our 'owls' dry.  Although M filled his time by painting the newspaper covering the table!

Once the paint was dry we glued on the eyes, beak and wings.

And here are our finished masterpieces.....

 Albie's owl

 J's owl

M's owl

Pumpkin decorating part 1

I bought a small cooking pumpkin during a late night visit to the supermarket on Monday.  On Tuesday morning Albie was very interested in the pumpkin.  When T came to my house, he too was interested in the pumpkin.


I asked the boys if they would like to decorate it for me - they said they would!  So I gave them some permanent marker pens, and a strict explanation as to why they had to be very careful with the pens!

The finished pumpkin looks lovely!

Apple play dough

We inherited lots of scrummy apples from Albie's Auntie Chelle, we have been eating lots of them and there are lots more left to eat.  If the apples become a bit past their best we may do some apple printing with them - watch this space.  In keeping with the Autumnal theme I made a batch of apple play dough using my usual recipe but switching apple juice instead of water, and adding a sprinkling of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg - it smells delicious!


The children had lots of fun playing with it....