Toucan Box

Some time last year I came across the Toucan box. It's a crafting box for kids ages 3-8. For a monthly fee, they'll send your kid a box with 2 craft projects: it includes instructions, all the materials, a little magazine with more ideas and games, sometimes they include stickers, or erasers and such. They always send more stuff than you actually need in case something goes wrong. The projects are always matched with the age of your child. Some projects require drying time, help from a parent, or are especially messy, but those things you're told in the instructions. It's usually one project that takes a little longer, and one that is done quite quickly.

My 4yo really enjoys getting mail and is always looking forward to getting his "blue box"!
The materials are of a really good quality. The ghost pinata we made for Halloween is still hanging in our living room. I was really looking forward to the Easter box, since it included either a bunny race car, or a wooden greenhouse to grow herbs in. Both would have been great for my son, but I was secretly rooting for the greenhouse, since I wanted to do some gardening with him anyway, and we were lucky!

The second project is a paper Easter egg chain to colour with watercolours and decorate with feathers. And since it includes paint, my little artist wanted to start with those.

The box is shipped from England, but I am not sure in which countries they ship. But if you use my discount link, you'll get 50% off of your first box. There is no minimum amount of boxes you have to order, you can just give the first one a try and then see if it is something you'd like to get more regularly: https://www.toucanbox.com/friends/mareike-fwy5

Spring time water colour

It's almost spring! We're spending time outside in the garden when we can to get my 4yo some fresh air and exercise. As art activity, I did a butterfly stamping picture with my students last year.

You need:

- white paper / weißes Papier

- water colours, brushes, water / Wasserfarben, Pinsel, Wasser

- wine cork / Weinkorken

- butterfly image / Schmetterlingsbild 

(- printer/Drucker)

The butterfly image I found for free in google image search. Of course you can choose any other animal or image your kid likes: How about a giraffe on a green background? Or a race car on a grey street?

Stamping takes a long time. I needed about 90 minutes to cover a sheet of A3 paper in colour. Using the cork from a sparkling wine bottle will safe you a little bit of time and is also more suitable for younger children. 

Use a brush to apply paint to the cork. Instead of water colours you can also use acrylic paint, that way your child can press the cork down into the paint to stamp. The younger your child is, the more help it will need. 

For 3yo-5yo I'd recommend a picture made just from stamping. You can make caterpillars, a flower field, or even a butterfly just by stamping the shapes in the colours you like.

Older kids can then fill the printed animal in the colours they like. The smaller the shapes are, the more they'll have to concentrate and train their fine motor skills and patience.

Here are some examples that my second-graders did.