craft ideas with leaves and flowers...

I am sure we all have seen, admired and marveled at the various patterns that our eyes have deciphered in the soft cottony clouds - a giant, a tiny baby, a strange animal, a ferocious monster or sometimes a scene of a big party going on in the sky. But are clouds the only ones which tempt us to see patterns in them, I think it is just extending the reigns of beautiful mind's imagination and voila we are called out by amazing ideas and patterns by almost everything surrounding us.

My son(when he was 2 yrs old) started recognizing the models of cars as 'happy faced', 'frowning', 'angry faced' or 'having a moustache' cars. And having the blessing of watching the world through his eyes, I am reminded of this fact every day - how enriching and exuberant this world is. The only gear we need to be equipped with is letting our mind, heart and senses lose on this track and explore as much as possible.

Here are some ideas for the craft activities that our little ones can do in their free time. I am sure, the temptation and lure of these wonderful craft ideas is such that even the grown ups will not be able to hold their imagination back for very long.

Here are some ideas:

Try creating different shapes, animals and plants with leaves, flowers and twigs...

Decorate greeting cards and envelopes with pressed leaves and flowers…

More animals with different leaves…

Lend a personal touch to your notebooks, journals and diaries with transparent pressed leaves and flowers…

How about a nice pond scene with leafy fish ….

Use the fine veins of leaves to good use too. They can work as your own blocks for block printing. So load them with colours and see the magic…

Enjoy the fun of using leaves in giving wings to your creativity :)

early science experiments...

Space is full of resplendent mysteries which have always caught the fancy of every thinking mind.

Here are a few ideas for craft activities on 'Space':

For Age : 1-3 years : I remember having tried looking for interesting ideas to teach my children new concepts in such a manner that the concepts stay with them. The written text does play a very significant role but there is no substitute to pictorial representation and live experiments. One of the first 'science' lessons that I taught my children was the - difference between day and night and no, not by showing a revolving globe in front of a light bulb (that came much later). I simply drew this kind of picture because that is what they were observing on their own, I just provided them the nomenclature. I remember it being stuck to the refrigerator for a long period.

For Age : 3-6yrs : Concept of expanding universe

Take a deflated balloon (preferably a black or dark coloured), assume it to be our universe. Mark small dots very close together on the balloon. These small dots are clusters of galaxies. Label one of the dots as MW (for Milky Way), our galaxy. Once you start inflating the balloon, you will see that the relative distance between milky way and other galaxies keeps increasing illustrating the point that the universe is expanding and so the galaxies are moving away from each other.

For Age 6-9 yrs : Rainbow Colours

We all have seen rainbows appearing in the sky from time to time but I am sure like me, everybody gets mesmerized by the sheer beauty and grandeur of this wonderful creation on the sky, every time it becomes visible. Rainbow colours - forming the acronym VIBGYOR - Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red - are called the spectrum and these seven colours combine to make white light. What better way to show this than to make a disc having all these spectrum colours and giving it a spin. When it rotates really fast, the colours do get mixed up and reflect white light.

How about making different planets of our solar system using balls and colours and then putting them all together for a solar system mobile.

Shell Art...

'Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water.'

Yes, through shell are we are trying to show our gratitude to WATER. Here are some ideas for shell art activities:

How about making some bracelets/friendship bands with assorted colourful shells?!

Make use of various shells to create different patterns and shapes - a clown, a butterfly, a turtle, an army of snails, a cat...

Decorate the picture frames for the personalized touch.

Create a tribal or village scene by using shells as dresses or ornaments of people.

Two different models of cars (complete initiative of two young minds in action at home)

Some more...

1. Small possession boxes can be decorated with the shells
2. Simply paint and colour the shells and keep them in the show case
3. Shells can be used in making wind chimes