Dinosaur fun
During half-term we went to the Natural History Museum for the day with Grandmama. The dinosaur exhibition was wonderful, despite being incredibly over-crowded. Zebra-girl was a little disappointed that it wasn't equipped with an arts & crafts table, as the exhibits had been at the London Aquarium, so I promised her that the next morning we would do our own dinosaur-themed sticking and gluing. My mother believes that the reason I have supplied my children with industrial quantities of sellotape is so that the absence of large quantities of glue from their childhoods might go unnoticed. I decided that I must make small (very small) inroads to remedy this situation and so wrapped the entire breakfast bar and surrounding area in swathes of plastic and then let them dive in to the glue pot for one day only!
I gave them each a bowl filled with little squares of fabric. Blues and browns for Dinosaur-boy and pinks and greens for Zebra-girl. It was only after I'd given them to them that I realised how very odd that felt - I'm not normally aware of purposefully steering them towards boysy or girly colours.Dinosaur-boy wanted to make a meat-eating dinosaur, and Zebra-girl, a plant-eater. I drew dinosaur silhouettes onto some card and then cut around them about 1cm wide of the template, so that they could glue on the other side and afterwards I could then trim them so that they didn't get bits of overhanging material around the edges.
And this is what they made. They took a long time positioning the woogly eyes to give just the right expression. I'm not sure whether Dinosaur-boy's dinosaur is in love or just hungry...
And Zebra-girl enjoyed doing hers so much that she went on to make a baby dinosaur. Here they are as a family - now framed and hung in the playroom.
On Saturday Mr Teacakes carved them some dinosaur toast for breakfast.
The speed with which the children ate suggested that it tastes much better that way.Postscript: Lisa has very sweetly linked to this post (thank you x) ~ so warm hellos and welcome to anyone new visiting from U-handblog....or indeed anyone new visiting from anywhere.
How lovely ! My daughter and I are planning on doing something similar, but with a horsey theme.
ReplyDeleteI've recently done a collage piece for a swap and Tilly is desperate to have a go at collage herself.
Great idea to have them framed.
x
How cool is that toast! Breaffast is fun at your house.
ReplyDeleteAnd their collages are gorgeous. The sign of a half term well spent!
Sooo cute (and I'm with you on the glue!) xx
ReplyDeletehey, ace dino's, and the toast too : )
ReplyDeleteHow fab! the dinosaurs look great - what is it about boys and eating/killing things? My son's 7 and I swear I've never let him play with a gun or watch anything particularly violent on TV - yet he was pretending to gun down innocent shoppers in our local Tesco on Saturday with a french stick! I think girls and boys just find their own way. Love the toast too!
ReplyDeletewhat a fab idea!! They look great too, what creative children you have, and how lucky they are to have mum like you spending time creative time with them - oh so rare these days.
ReplyDeleteJust don't let them get to attached tot he glue pot lol!:)
The dinosaurs are just too cute (including the toast)! Sounds like the kids and the adults had a lot of fun.
ReplyDeletethe dinosaur collages are gorgeous, you are generous to give them fabric, it would have been torn up magazines here! we often find the glue is "missing" and have to use glue sticks - less mess!
ReplyDeletethat toast is great, I love the 3dimensional legs!
Hi Florence, these are brilliant, great idea and next time we are home, can we come around for breakfast??
ReplyDeleteTalk again soon
Love Hazel
xxx
I love these collages. You and your husband are the best parents. I love the dinosaur shaped french toast. Fabulou.
ReplyDeleteDinosaur toast and wonderful dino collage too, so much fun!
ReplyDeleteMr Teacakes...
ReplyDeleteThe thought of your stylish, musician husband being Mr Teacakes is just too funny.That has just made my day.
I'm with Alice on Mr Teacakes! Is he aware of this name?? Love the toast by the way...
ReplyDeletexx
The childrens dinosaurs are great but to be fair Mt Teacakes toast made me laugh! How long did it take to make that creation?
ReplyDeleteDinosaur toast - fab!
ReplyDeleteLove all the dinosaurs but especially the toast. I'd eat mine if it looked like that too. Crusts and all!
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful dinos!
ReplyDeletegreat dinos! both fabric and edible ones
ReplyDeletedefinitely go the glue sticks route - I have them in practically every corner of our home - they are perfect
The toast and collages are awesome. You are wonderful parents.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great craft activity!! And it's nice to know I am not the only parent who carves elaborate shapes out of toast for their kids (with us, it's usually trains and coal tenders). And it's true - toast always tastes better this way :)
ReplyDeleteMy, what a creative family you are! Dino toast rocks.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute idea. Love the fabric combos, and especially the toast!
ReplyDeleteOh, how cute is that. I want dinosaur toast for breakfast too. I wonder if Mr Teacakes would like a trip to Australia to carve some?
ReplyDeleteHey again! I'm just popping back in to let you know I have tagged you on my site for the 7 Random Things meme that's going around, if you are interested (I imagine your seven things could be very interesting). Please feel free to ignore though if you're not interested. Cheers, Bec.
ReplyDeleteThose dinosaurs are brilliant. I won't be letting my children see the dino toast or they will all want it like that. What a creative family!
ReplyDeleteThese are fantastic!! Thanks for such a lovely idea - I shall pull that one out for the school hols. The toast is just brilliant and of course would be waaay yummier than normal toast!
ReplyDeleteLove the collages! I miss dinosaurs! There have been times in my house when all talk was of dinosaurs! No2 has outgrown them really, now, unless they're rampaging around a PS2 game...
ReplyDeleteOh these dinasaurs are just so inspiring. Reminds me of the people in the Caroline Zoob book, but they are much nicer than people. I want to do them now. I use pictures of nice fabric out of Country living magazines.
ReplyDeletejust fantastic. On my list to do with oliver and martha after school. well done they are inspired.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely! Great idea for a children's craft project. Anything involving copious amounts of glue is always popular in my house!
ReplyDeleteWhat a neat idea for using up fabric scraps and to have the framed is such a lovely thing - makes children's artwork more special and longer lasting. And I love the dinosaur toast! That must have taken some time.
ReplyDelete