{Simple Paper Doll Craft}

When I was a little girl, my absolute favourite toy was my paper dolls. I spent hours engaged in elaborate imaginative play with them, changing their clothes for balls, for tea parties, for swimming lessons, and so on. My mum and I used to spend quiet afternoons making our own clothes for them; cutting and drawing and colouring them just the way we wanted. I even remember that in the summer I turned 5, we made a whole wardrobe of brown and yellow clothes, as my mum was trying to convince me that brown and yellow were such pretty colours together - since those were the colours of my upcoming school uniform! (She never did quite convince me on that!)

Anyway, the girls and I made these cute paper dolls a while back that I've been meaning to share with you. They were super easy to make and kept the girls busy for ages.

Simply cut out a human-ish shape from thick paper or cardboard (or print from a template), then draw around the shape to make whatever clothes you like. Remember to leave tabs around the shoulders, waist, hips, and legs to hold the clothes on. Then cut out the clothes from patterned papers or use plain paper and have the kids design and decorate the clothes themselves. Or if you prefer, you could use felt and fabric scraps to decorate the clothes. You could add some yarn for the doll's hair, or even have your children design their dolls to look like themselves, as I remember doing at school when we were 6.

This is an easy multi-age activity to do, as older children can do all the cutting themselves, while younger ones can do the colouring of the clothes to suit their tastes. It's also great for fine motor skills development - careful cutting for the older ones, drawing and colouring, and working with the tabs to attach the clothes to the dolls.

Did you make paper dolls as a child, too?

{Pumpkin Fairy World}

We started carving our pumpkin the other day and created this cozy fairy garden out of it, inspired by this pumpkin diorama.

First we cut the top - the girls were delighted by the sight of all the stringy, seedy insides!

It took some convincing, but I finally managed to get the girls involved in scooping out the insides (granted, they were a bit cold inside since the pumpkin had been sitting outdoors). Princess Pea isn't really a fan of slime, so she used a spoon and bowed out at the first possible escape window, but once Sweet Pea got started, she really enjoyed the sensory experience and helped me sort through the goop to collect all the seeds for roasting.

I cut a huge 'door' in the front (which fits back on), and we gathered bits and pieces from the garden and house to create this comfy spot for a fairy to sit and reflect.

We had found this 'fairy chair' piece of wood in the forest a couple of weeks ago and brought it home for our outdoor fairy garden. We added a few sprigs of lavender, some bark chips, and painted pebbles and snail shells from around the garden. Then we added a fake flower, a plastic salamander, a small wooden apple, a felted owl, and, of course, a fairy.

I think it's really sweet, and the girls are quite taken by it! We have it set up on the upstairs balcony, facing in towards the window so it can be seen from indoors as well as played with outdoors under the cover of the balcony roof.

I think it's not how we'll use it on Halloween night, as we'll need light in it, but it's a fun way to use it for now. When Halloween comes, I'll fit the door back on, and either carve a face in the other side, or perhaps drill some holes to make a lovely luminary like the one Taming the Goblin made.

What did you do with your pumpkin this year?

You might also like to see our 'mummykin' pumpkin from last year, or see more pumpkin ideas here. And there are lots more seasonal ideas on my Halloween and Fall pin board.

{Pretty Peacock Easy DIY Tutu Costume}

This year, for the first time ever, I sewed my kids' Halloween costumes - All. By. Myself! Yes, that's right - it's that big of a deal! I have never completed a sewing project before in my entire life. Home Economics was the one subject at school that I failed miserably at! Last year Daddy Pea (at my request) bought me a sewing machine for Christmas - and it sat in the box until this October!

So, all of this is just to let you know how truly easy this costume is to make! Really - you can take it from me!

I found this beautiful pin on Pinterest last year and knew that I just had to make one sometime! I won't give you a full tutorial here because if you follow the pin link, it will take you to the original one. However, there are a few things I would do differently next time.

In the directions, you sew the green felt onto the brown felt, then hot glue the light blue and dark blue pieces on top. After that, you attach the feathers to a ribbon. But I found that it was tricky to attach them to the ribbon nicely, being a terrible hand stitcher, so if they flip over (which they are sure to do at some point), the backs look terrible. On the second one I made (I made one for each of the girls), I didn't sew the feathers onto the ribbon, I just used the hot-glue to attach them. The backs look much nicer; however, I worry that they are not as well attached as if they had been sewn on. If I were doing it again, I would recommend machine-sewing the feathers onto the ribbon after sewing just the green and brown felt pieces together. Then hot-glue the blue pieces afterwards. That way the feathers will be securely attached, but the stitching at the back will be less ugly.

I also had a hard time deciding whether it would be better to make the tutu first and then attach the ribbons with the feathers, or attach the ribbons first, and then add the tulle to make the tutu afterwards. I tried both ways and I'm still not sure which is better. If you have the answer, let me know!

I should also mention that the only actual sewing involved is in making the feathers (although I also stitched the ribbon to the waistband, but if I'd planned it better I would have cut the ribbon a bit longer and just tied it). So even if you're sewing-averse, there's really very little sewing to be done. The rest of the costume is hot-glued or just tied on.

Unfortunately, at the time of picture-taking, Sweet Pea was in a bit of a mood and refused to model hers for the pictures, and Princess Pea was out shopping with Daddy Pea. Luckily, Brown Bear was ready and willing to step in as a model! This one is Sweet Pea's, which is a bit less full than Princess Pea's as she doesn't really love dress-up or party dresses, so I used less tulle on hers to try to avoid it bothering her. Princess Pea's, on the other hand, has more tulle so is fuller and pouffier - just the way she likes it to be!

And there you have it! A pretty peacock costume for Halloween or just everyday dress-up imaginary play!

Be sure to see our other Halloween Fun posts before you go, and then hop over to my Halloween and Fall pin board for even more inspiration.



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{Playing With Symmetry - Preschool Math Game}

Princess Pea and I have been playing with blocks and learning about symmetry in the process, with some super simple shape symmetry play.

We each build one side of a castle. I build my side first, then she has to copy it exactly on her side, matching up the shapes to make a symmetrical structure. It's great for shape recognition, problem-solving, and learning about geometry. As you can see, we didn't worry about matching the colours, just the shapes, but you could do that, too, if you liked.

I was impressed with how well she did with it, and she was very proud of herself, too! 

Fun, play-based math learning, just the way we like it!

This post was originally written last summer as a guest post for Mom to 2 Posh L'il Divas. You can find loads more preschool-friendly math play ideas under her Preschool Math tab.

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