My favourite paints for kids

I thought I would share some of my favourite art supplies for kids. I love these washable dot paint markers for kids. I can't find these particular ones online but I bought these in my local toy shop. I guess they are kind of like bingo pens but they come in an array of colours. We like to use them to decorate plain paper for personalised gift wrap. We have been using this set for over a year now and they are still going strong.

We also like the Faber-Castell Finger paints which come in a set of six. The small pots of colour are great, but only last a few sessions (if that).


I'm still looking for some good paint in tubes or large format. I did buy some large bottles at my local art shop, but the colours dry dull and are still potentially messy after they have supposedly "dried". They are so successfully washable that the paint will get wet again if you touch the work with slightly damp hands. Please note that my son is using the paint that I am not fond of. I put it in the little Faber-Castell pots.

What are your favourite paints for kids?

Toilet Roll People

Inspired by Playschool and Onegirl. Ok, I did most of them because we were using wood glue and scissors, so it wasn't quite as child involving as I'd hoped. But I'm sure it will work better when the Cat is a bit older. He and I had a ball anyway so that's the main thing. I may have spilt a whole lot of glue on my new jeans but thankfully I got it out in a hurry! Meanwhile the Cat was shouting at me to help him get the masking tape off his fingers.

How cool is "the Monster" that the Cat made!? Originally it had enormous eyes but they were falling off because the Cat kept touching it before it dried, so later he changed them for little eyes. Ok now go read this because Amber Dusick is awesome.




For this activity we used:
toilet rolls
other cardboard tubing
wood glue
fabric scraps
pipe cleaners
old bits of ribbon
googly eyes
felt pens
rope from bag handle
rick rack
masking tape
mesh from garlic packaging

Next time I would get some yarn for the hair.

Winter fun indoors

This winter has been particularly cold. I have been feeling it a lot especially considering that I was pregnant this time last year and I was feeling pretty toasty! So this winter the Cat and I have been enjoying some time indoors doing craft.

3rd Birthday Party

E's third birthday was last Sunday. We had a train party because trains are his current obsession. I had so much fun organizing this party, I think there is a frustrated party planner in me... what with the Wedding and High tea I planned last year for my sister. It is nice that he is a bit older now so they can play some party games. We did pass the parcel and some train craft activity. The train cake was the first cake I had made on my own. My mum made the cupcakes last year and for his first birthday mum helped me make the aeroplane cake.

Christmas wrapping paper

Star Wrap is white and blue stars drawn with crayon. Then painted over with my favourite kiddy craft supply - Dot paint dispensers!!

White, green and yellow Christmas trees with purple and green painted over it.


Gifts wrapped and under the tree. The wrapping paper was a big hit with the family.

Christmas activites

My friend from Mother's group held a Christmas craft party for the kids, so I decided to make some gingerbread men with E to take to the party. I must admit I find it hard to relax and let him get too messy while cooking and crafting, I am too much of a control freak and my husband hates mess too. The recipe is a great one from Donna Hay's Modern Classics 2. I want to use this recipe to make a gingerbread house because it made a nice sturdy gingerbread.



She read a book about the Christmas story, we sang Silent Night and we did some craft activities like these star pictures using bits of paper stuck on vellum with a star frame around it. When you stick it on the window it looks really pretty with the light shining through it.

Finger painting fun

We spent a few hours out the back with some fingerpaint. His favourite colours appear to be green and black at the moment!

Easter Craft

I wanted to do some Easter craft with E so I got some sheets of square paper (I think it is canson paper for scrapbooking) and cut out some egg shapes which he glued on the paper and we did some stamping with some of his bunny stamps. We made some cards out of these.


I also found some little chick chocolates which were flat on the back so I glued them onto cards that Ethan had drawn and stamped on. These were for his cousins!

Drawing with E