Plans 3 and 4 for the mid term break: Playdates, creating and upcycling!

Too fast...definitely the week is passing too fast for me!  I have so many plans, and it's already Friday!!!!

I have to say I'm enjoying every minute of this mid term break and the boys are making it so easy to test my "plans" on them that I'm thrilled with the results.

Days 3 and 4 were also fantastic. More playdate-oriented in the mornings and challenge-oriented in the evenings... and I tried totally different challenges this time.

On Day 3, I tried a CRAFTY CHALLENGE: took a book we have (for those rainy days) about how to make monsters with different materials

So we gave them some paper, colour pens, some yarn and a straw and asked them to do a monster each following the instructions in the book and their imaginations (SPECIALLY their imaginations!)

Same rules as in the previous day: no help provided and no video games allowed if they did not pass the challenge.

No complaints this time, of course: they knew they would have what they wanted if they passed their challenge so they started working immediately. First drawing, then cutting, measuring the yarn and the straw and sticking everything together with sellotape.... amazing results!!!

We used the monsters to prepare a Get-well-soon card for a friend who's in hospital these days. The kids designed the card themselves; Dad and I just signed :-)

Day 4 was just as Day 3, but this time for the challenge we dived into the amazing world of UPCYCLING!

Some months ago we found a candle holder in the trash, it was lovely but in a very bad condition so Dad decided to save it from a terrible end and give it a second chance... well that second chance came on Day 4.

I prepared the table and gave my kids: the candle holder, some sanding paper, brushes and Annie Sloan chalk paint. If you do not know this paint, I recommend you try it - it's just fantastic for the kids! you do not need to prep the surface that you're going to paint, and it's odourless and non-toxic. In Ireland, there are many distributors, but I buy it in Dalkey, in a little shop called Upside Design

The chosen colour for the candle holder was.... Emperor's Silk (wow!!!!! what a name!)

So they started sanding,

then cleaning the little windows,

painting the upper parts of the holders and letting them dry

When it dried the colour looked great: it faded just a little bit and gave the holder a much more elegant look, don't you think?

In the evening they finished painting the lower part of the holders, and even though the project is still not finished, I let them play with the video games because they deserved the prize. We'll still have to paint the holder, but the work looks amazing and the colour is just perfect!!!! I'm loving their work! (but shhh... do not tell them!)