Glue gun, paints and glitter crafts with kids!

Painting at home with my kids used to scare the hell out of me! I used to be so uptight about mess and convinced my furniture would be ruined. My journey as a Little Learners Franchisee, as well as a mama of a kid who looooves Messy Play, has led me to the conclusion that life is just too short not to let your kids paint! Painting is SO theraputic too. My children adore painting and making things (as most children do) so I embrace it and we get paints and crafts out most weekends.

We make it a family activity when we paint too. Both me and their dad get a paintbrush and sit and paint with them. This shows them some modelled skills as well as being able to just enjoy it with them too.

Rainy day junk models

Now that the nights are drawing in and it’s cold and rainy outside, being able to keep them busy inside is really important. Painting, drawing, playdoh and board games are all fab ways to kill time and relieve bordom but if you’re looking for something that will capture them for a little longer, this could be it… One activity that my little boy loves, is junk modelling. He could spend hours cutting up cardboard and sticking things together to make trains, rockets or cars

Get yourself a glue gun!

He is able to cut cardboard and use plastic in his junk modelling now, therefore he needs a stronger glue than pritt stick. I decided a few weeks ago that it’s time for him to learn to use a glue gun! However, my glue gun is hot, so he now has his own cool glue gun. I don’t have to worry so much about him burning himself on this one and also they don’t drip half as much. Noah has only used it a handful of times this far, but he is very careful with it and constantly supervised of course. A glue gun means he can stick heavier plastic bottle lids (and playdoh lids that we collected) easily. He’s made lots of things with my help but now being able to do them more independently is really helping his self confidence and developing his problem solving skills! My glue guns are fairly cheap and from Amazon and ebay – don’t spend a fortune on them! And I definitely recommend getting a cooler one!

Painting and glitter art for bedroom walls!

My next recommendation for your rainy day box is an A4 picture frame! Get your little one to paint something special and add glitter, buttons, confetti, stickers.. whatever you have! Let it dry and then frame it for them for their bedroom wall! My little girl is frozen obsessed and recently painted Elsa’s castle. She sprinkled lots of glitter and white button ‘snowflakes’ on it. It has pride of place on her bedroom wall now and she is SO proud of it!

Teaching them to pinch and sprinkle glitter is a must. It will limit the inevitable glitter related mess that leaves you thinking it would be easier to move house than hoover all the glitter up! Marley has excellent fine motor skills from doing messy play with me for the past 2 years and is really careful with her crafts (mostly!) The more practice they get, the more careful they are and the more they love the pieces they create. Without knowing it Marley is developing SO many skills needed for writing too: strength, a pincer grasp, Hans eye coordination, concentration, imagination… letting them get a bit messy with more of a focus task is so beneficial for their early learning.

If you have a fab craft activity you love doing with your little ones then please tell me in the comments! My next activity to try is clay… just psyching myself up for it! :)

Holly, LL Southport & Preston xx

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