Balloon Light Shade

I dont know what it is at the moment, maybe the fact that daylight saving has changed back, maybe it is that the days are getting shorter, the weather is cold and dark…  Whatever it is, I seem to be thinking up lots of different ways to make lights/lamps/light shades.

Today started at 630am (thanks Children!) so we had many hours to fill in before anything was to open today. We also had a few balloons laying around from our sons 1st birthday in the weekend.

Idea – Make a fabric mache light shade (for said sons bedroom light).

What you need:

• Fabric off cuts (we were given a whole bag from a friend)
• Scissors (to cut fabric)
• A balloon
• Glue – PVA (we used a kids craft bottle, with a squirt top.  I would recommend a pottle with a brush if you have access to that! would make things a LOT easier)

Cut up the fabric into small pieces, make squares if you what it uniform, or any shape you would like.  Use any colours you would like.  You could go for a theme – boy or girl, retro, classic etc.  You could use all the same fabric to make a nice shade for a room, or use a mish-mash of fabrics like I did – just cus!

I suggest using light weight / thin fabric so the light can shine through it better, also lighter colours will make the room brighter.

What to do:

With your small pieces of fabric on hand, smother the balloon in glue ( I started at the end where the balloon was tied, and worked my way around in a circle) then place on the fabric piece by piece.  You will get gluey hands!! But that is the fun of it! Make sure that you slightly over lap the pieces so that there is strength in the shade.  Once you have covered the whole balloon, put a thin layer of glue over the top.  This will help set it all hard (I hope).  Once dry, pop the balloon, and cut out a hole at the top to attach to the light (will let you know how I did this, when I work it out!) Also Cut a hole for the bottom of the light, this will make it easy to change the light bulb. 😉

The kids will love to do this too, so I suggest each having a balloon and your own pile of fabric (so there is no fighting over who uses which bits 😉  ) Also if you have little ones crawling around your feet, try doing this up on a table with some newspaper down, else they will try eating glue, or scissors, or stealing your fabric. Like mine did.

Have fun with it. Dont be too serious. 😉

No TV – Time to Get Creative

We are now 18 days down with no TV! And getting very creative.

A bit of background:  In the past year ( and a month) we moved into a new house and started renovating.  We also had a 2nd child, and started our oldest at Kindy.  All of this change and busyness meant that our now 3 and a half year old had been missing out on our attention.  We noticed her behaviour go “down hill”, we noticed the tantrums ramp up in frequency and power, we noticed we were sitting our child in front of the TV as a “baby sitter” so we could get things done.  And we realised that we didnt like any of these things – a TV baby sitter, or putting up with the tantrums.  We talked about what we through the cause was, and decided the behaviour was all just “attention seeking”.  So we needed to endeavor to give this attention. First step – bye bye TV.

It was decided that with 2 parents at home (when we were both at home, and not working) there was enough “hands” for one of us to look after both children and the other to get things done – cooking, cleaning, dishes, washing, tidying up (all those never ending tasks that go along with a house and 2 children!)  Instead of using the TV to baby sit, one of us, the ‘responsible’ parents, would look after and spend quality time with the kids.  We were trying to work to the theory I had heard about ‘filling up your children’s emotional tanks, so they can then feel comfortable spending time by themselves’.

Our TV used to stand on a coffee table in our lounge.  If we werent watching the TV, lets move it out of the room we thought, then it’s not a temptation.  Out of sight, out of mind.  And so the TV table then became the “drawing table”, or collage table/art and crafts table.  It is the perfect height for both our 3.5 year old and 1 year old to work at.  We have a small chair and stool for them to sit, and pens, glue, paper etc for them to create.

We try to keep it tidy, mostly, and restock things they need.  We have added more collage things as the weeks have gone by, and filled up with paper, or bits and pieces to draw/glue/paint on.

So has it helped you might be asking?…  YES.  the behavious has gotten a LOT better.  We are spending more time with the children, making sure we arnt so busy renovating and “being busy” and giving time to the children.  Dad with sit down and draw with the children while I wash the dishes in the next room, or I will do painting with the kids while Dad is at work, or weedeating in the garden. The children are calmer and they know they get to spend some quality time with us during the day. Our oldest loves to make new things and has come up with some awesome ideas of things to make (will talk about these in future posts).

This has been working well.  We need to remember under 3s shouldnt be having any screen time, but dont beat yourself up if they are.  Ours were watching a good 3+ hrs a day before!!  But there are other things you and they could be doing with out TV.  I know we have been getting more done around the house, as we havent been sitting down to watch TV in the evenings when the kids are in bed!  So even though it seemed like we had less time to get things done (with fully supervising the kids) it actually meant we had more time!! GO figure!

Why dont you try having a TV holiday in your house?! You have nothing to lose.