Djeco is a French based company who have been designing and manufacturing a range of beautiful educational toys, games and puzzles for the past 50 years. Just looking at a few of their range at Rudy And The Dodo inspires me to get cracking on our next craft project asap!

Here were just a few of my favourites –

one. join the dots – too cute $9.95
Perfect for the littlest family members, this kit contains five image cards to do the dot to dot, and then colour in.

two. paper toys – kokeshi dolls $12.95
Suitable for kids aged 7 to 15 years, these are amazing Japanese dolls that you can fold together

three. paper toys – woodland animals $12.95
Could these be any cuter? Fold and stick them together and you’ve got yourself a little woodland creature!

four. introduction to origami $14.95
A great way to introduce kids to origami (paper folding)

five. tissue paper flowers – eugenie $14.95
I love tissue paper flowers, so this pre-cut paper flower kit is high on my list. The box even turns into a vase!

six. paper toys – spacecraft $12.95
For something a little bit different, origami space ships!

For more great crafty kits, head on over to Rudy And The Dodo and browse through the Creative Stuff category
www.rudyandthedodo.com.au

I’ve picked 7 easy projects for kids of all ages – 7 projects that I’ve never done before and may just attempt these holidays too!

one. Spring Chick Cupcakes – a cute treat for Easter, they’re simple to make and oh so lovely!

two. Lolly Stick Lizard – fans of the tv show Mister Maker might recognise this one. After you’ve had an iceblock or icecream, keep the stick and turn it into a lizard!

three. Rock-a-bye Birdies – a really pretty way to decorate the table at Easter – find a suitable tree branch on your walk, and stick it in some sand in a vase. The little birdies will love their new home!

four. Row of Paper Flowers – if you’ve got some spare cupcake cases in the pantry and some paddle pop sticks, you can make them into some pretty cute flowers

five. Easter Lamingtons – super easy to make, and super easy to eat! Yum yum

six. Chocolate Krispie chick – why not make your own Easter eggs? We’ll be doing this next week, you can find the easter egg moulds at Kmart, The Reject Shop, Spotlight and other homewares stores in Australia for around $4.

seven. Make a Kid-Friendly Terrarium – this is definately on our to-do list! Make a beautiful terrarium as a present or as a new dining table centre piece. The kids can choose which of their tiny toys will live there and it will give them an opportunity to take care of something that is pretty low maintenance (in comparison to a new pet!).

I hope to show off more every now and then, but here are just a few that I would love to try:

one. Easter Chick Favor Bag Craft
Might be a great one to try this Easter, probably wouldn’t take long to make a bunch of them for playgroup or day care

two. Love Bugs
These little guys make great friends – you could even stick a magnet to them and keep them on the fridge

three. Glass Jar Lanterns
On their blog, they’ve made it as part of their Advent calender but you could do any kind of pattern you like

four. Cotton Ball Sheep
They look exactly like the sheep on Shaun The Sheep! Fun! I love their step by step pictures too – makes it easier for kids to follow

five. Paper City
Amazing FREE printable city buildings and people – there’s so much to print from Made By Joel, so make sure you browse through his website.

six. Popsicle Stick Choice Sticks
This is a fantastic idea, I can’t believe I didn’t think to do this with our collection of ice block sticks. Make it a reward, if they’ve done something good they get to choose a stick from the cup and do something fun!

seven. Tissue Paper Flowers
So simple to make, and not too messy!

eight. Egg Carton Caterpillar
An oldie but a goodie – use paints or textas to colour your caterpillar, but you could even get them to stick coloured tissue paper on top or use glitter glue to make them extra sparkly

nine. salt dough valentine heart necklaces
I have a salt dough heart Christmas tree ornament – and all these years I could not remember how to make them. Now that I’ve found these instructions, I know what I’ll be doing this Christmas with my kids….

Let me know if you’ve blogged about your craft project!

Our craft box has been a great way to encourage creativity while practising fine motor skills – you don’t need to buy a huge amount of things to use, but just enough so that there’s options for our budding artists to discover.

one. My First Brushes & Stampers $12.50 Having a few different types of brushes is a great idea – they can then easily make different patterns
two. Bostik Clag Paste 150ml $3.24 I remember using Clag when I was in school
three. Decorative Felt – 168 Pack $13.90
four. Crayola Desk Pack of 48 Colour Crayons $19.98 (might be a good idea to seperate them into 3 groups and bring out 1 group at a time so they’re not all lost in one week!)
five. MÅLA Drawing paper roll $7.99 or $4.99 for IKEA Family members
six. Starmaid 15L Set of 3 Storage Containers $23.94 Perfect for holding all your craft supplies in one place
seven. Early Learning Centre’s Ready Mix Paint 284ml Orange, Green, Purple and Yellow $5.00 each – I bought a few bottles maybe 2 years ago, and we are still finishing it off! It’s worth buying your favourite colours in slightly bigger bottles because a little paint goes along way!

Another great idea is to use a cheap, plastic/vinyl/pvc tablecloth on your table, even if you’re using old newspaper. If there’s a huge mess, or if paint or water seaps through the newspaper, the tablecloth is easy to pick up and wash in a bucket, ready for the next craft session.

Have fun crafting!

Print and Colour – ABC for Kids
Colouring-In Competition at ABC Kid
Free Printable Shapes Colouring Pages from Fisher Price
Free Printable Colouring Sheets at Bob The Builder
100+ Great Colouring Pages at KidSpot
Famous Characters and Cartoon Coloring Pages at About.com
Make & Colour at CBeebies Australia

Last week I talked about a craft box, and one of my favourites shops to go to (online and offline) is Kids Central because their range of ELC toys and supplies are fun and affordable. I recently had to restock our paints and found the ELC ready mix non-toxic paint that come in bright colours. They come in bottles, so all you need to do is squeeze out a small amount and store the rest away. I can tell it’s going to last us ages and I love that the colours are brighter (more neon) than the primary colours we usually get. And for $5 a bottle, it’s much cheaper than other brands

one. Mini Artist Patterned Rolling Pins $12.50 for 4 textured rolling pins
two. Ready Mix Paint 284ml – Pink, Green, Yellow and Blue – $5.00 (bargain!)
three. Paint Palette $10
four. My First Brushes & Stampers $12.50 for three brushes and three stampers with chunky handles.

ELC toys are available exclusively at ELC and Kids Central stores.

Early Learning Centre
www.elctoys.com.au

Kids Bits specialises in early childhood toys, but they also have a great section for craft supplies for kids available at great prices.

one. Painting Smock – $5.90
two. Eyes With Lashes – 100 Pack $7.50
three. Jumbo Fluoro Pavement Chalk – 12 Pack – $5.90
four. Alphabet Paint Stampers – $14.99
five. Glitter Paint – 500ML – $6.99

My tip? Get one of those big plastic boxes from the dollar shop, pop in some old newspaper and a roll of butchers paper – and then get a few key pieces like the glitter paint and googly eyes. Whether it’s a rainy day or if you feel like your next masterpiece is around the corner, a craft box is always handy to have around when you have kids!

Check out more craft supplies at Kids Bits
www.kidsbits.com.au

Stumbling upon Crayola Pip Squeaks – washable markers – has been a joy for those moments when my son suddenly runs off and decides to colour in his sister. The marker comes off with one swipe of the wash cloth, and we’re both happy!

I found Pip Squeaks at Kmart, but you can find them online at Officeworks and ToysOnline.com.au.

Do you have any toddler must haves?

homelife have posted up a great article about creating your own Alphabet Chart for your toddler!

Reading starts with your abc’s – formally known as letter recognition. Children are never too young to be surrounded by the tools of literacy. Make it fun with this alphabet chart.

To make your own, please visit How to make an alphabet chart on homelife.