Crafting by not a very crafty mum - Valentine's craft?

I've just come across Asia Citro. She has beautiful craft and sensory play ideas for children.

However, most the photos she seems to take involve nothing more than a towel protecting her white carpet from two paint splattered children.

Not in my house!

I believe strongly in messy play, but Little E can do that in nursery where they have wipe down floor, walls and ceiling!

Also, the few times I have made a big effort to get paint, etc, out, it's only interested Little E for a very short amount of time and then there is a big clear up session. It has been pretty exhausting for little gain.

However, I still want to do some of these types of activities, because I enjoy them even if Little E is not that bothered. I also want to have lots of ideas for each day I am alone with Little E. He is so much more fun now that he is a toddler, but sometimes a whole afternoon of trying to keep him entertained seems to loom in front of me. I wish I could explain it, but it actually makes me feel a bit scared. It probably stems from when he was tiny. He would be fussy and difficult in the afternoon and I'd feel overwhelmed with how alone and bored I felt. It wasn't unusual for Big E to come home and for me to simply hand Little E over, as I just couldn't bear it anymore.

This too shall pass...and it did. Big E most often comes home to a happy (if tired) mum and Little E.

I can't always be out and about, so having lots of craft ideas up my sleeve keeps me sane.

Asia Citro posted a blog with a link to all her "Valentine" ideas. Lots of cute heart activities. I came across one that sounded do-able with my limited skills, wouldn't wreck the house and would be fast to put together.

http://www.funathomewithkids.com/2014/01/easy-babytoddler-valentines-day-art.html

I get the feeling her kids are a little more artistic than my little guy, but we still made this:

My shopping list and how to:

Cereal box - cut up into two "frames" and then shapes cut out of the middle.

Sticky backed plastic - I always wondered what this stuff was! I think Asia calls it "contact paper". It's that plastic wrap stuff you used to cover your text books with. Cut out the desired amount. Stick to cereal boxes and done...you now have a sticky surface poking through your shape.

Stuff to decorate with - I got some glitter and feathers from Pen to Paper. I threw in some cotton wool balls I had lying around. Asia has a blog about sensory play with cotton wool, so I thought it would be a good idea.

I laid it all out in the sitting room with an old table cover on the floor. The only thing likely to get messy was the glitter, but  hoped I could just shake the cover out when we were done.

Little E came down from his nap and look very interested, but I think mainly in the bowls! At 16 months he loves pouring things and he immediately poured the glitter out of the bowl. Fortunately, some of it hit the sticky bits!

He then moved on to the feathers. Little E has been pretty fascinated by feathers in the park, so I thought he would enjoy them. He watched as I threw them in the air and then had a go himself. Essentially, our piece of art was made by accident by whatever happened to hit the heart on its way down.

However, he did enjoy sticking the cotton wool to the sticky backed plastic. At first he just enjoyed touching the wool. He stuck it to the plastic by accident and kept holding it up to me, as if to say, "Mum! It's sticky!" He seemed a little freaked out, but then began taking them off and sticking them back down again.

I don't think Little E played with this stuff for more than about 20 minutes. He wandered off, so I got the dust pan, brush and broom out. I didn't want him walking glitter everywhere. The nice thing was he then joined in with the tidying. He was giggling as he swept up. I sort of hoped that tidying up would be part of the fun.

I have kept the feathers out since. He has had some great fun throwing them around. I also tried showing him how some of the feathers were the same colours as the bowls and trying to make it I to a game, but I think he is still too young.

I was really pleased with this activity. It was easy, tidy and looks very effective hung up in our window. If you wanted even less mess, just don't use glitter. I think it will be a great craft idea to return to when he is older and even inspired me with some card ideas.