Autumn jigsaw puzzle tree and sensory tub (and more autumn crafts)

Summer is at an end, the leaves are starting to change colour and we've been preparing for the autumn days to come.

Inspired by i {heart} crafty things we used an old, incomplete 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle to make an autumn tree picture. We chose autumn coloured puzzle pieces for the leaves and used an old brown envelope for the trunk.



With the puzzle box and leftover puzzle pieces we made an autumn sensory tub.





We made a new autumn window display (with clear plastic coverfilm) using leaves, sunflower petals and sunflower seeds,



and a leaves poster (with a page from a sticker book).



We've also started an autumn fairy garden.





If you have a post about an autumn craft or activity, or any post with an autumn theme, we'd love you to link up at our All Year Round Blog Carnival: Autumn, which is open for new links until December.



Click here to see the play, crafts and learning ideas blog link-ups we share at.

Homemade wooden Angry Birds game

Recently Sunnyboy saw an Angry Birds 'Knock On Wood Game' commercial on TV and designed his own version. He dictated instructions for me to write so we could make it.

Angry Birds Game
Make round wooden Angry Birds, Pigs and King Pig.
Make a castle but not put nails in it.
Make a little hide-out but not put nails in it.
Make precious eggs.

We had three wooden balls and used marker pens to draw an Angry Bird, King Pig and another pig to be the guard.





We used the wooden pieces from an old Jenga set and each time Sunnyboy plays the game he creates different castles, forts and hide-outs for the pigs.





For the precious eggs we used marbles.



To play the game Sunnyboy rolls the Angry Bird down the sloping paving slabs outside our back door to knock over the castle and rescue the precious eggs. He took this photograph to show the view as the Angry Bird rolls towards the castle.



If you have a post about a summer craft, game or activity, or any post with a summer theme, we'd love you to link up at our All Year Round Blog Carnival: Summer, which is open for new links until 7th September.



You may also like:

Pirate boat (and a treasure map)


Science experiments with plastic bottles


Hunt the fossilised dinosaur poo


How to mummify Action Man


Lego inspiration


Making a mini pond


Click here to see the play, crafts and learning ideas blog link-ups we share at.

PLAY on Sunny Days Pinterest.

Paper patchwork summer wall display

I've posted before about making games with old calendars and more games with old calendars, and since then we've been collecting more calendars. Last weekend we decided to use one for a paper-weaving craft and make a summer wall display. We chose a calendar with flower pictures.

First we cut the pages into strips and wove them  to make squares.



Then we used the squares (taped together on the back) to make a patchwork picture.



We had one page leftover so we also made a sunflower flag.



If you have a post about a summer craft or any post with a summer theme, we'd love you to link up at our All Year Round Blog Carnival: Summer, which is open for new links until 31st August.



Click here to see the play, crafts and learning ideas blog link-ups we share at.

A new use for an old globe

We get a lot of great ideas from Pinterest and I especially love finding new uses for old and broken things. We had a globe that had broken in half so this idea for a globe centrepiece was perfect! I glued on a plastic milk bottle top to make the stand. Now we have a bowl to display the dandelions we've picked from our garden.



Here's the globe from Better Homes and Gardens that was pinned on Pinterest.




#Pinaddicts Challenge no.4 at "But why Mummy, why?"

If you have a post with a spring theme, we'd love you to link up at our All Year Round Blog Carnival: Spring, which is open for new links until 14th May.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar project (and caterpillar/butterfly links)

This year we've been making a spring project book which includes spring stories, gardening, weather and nature study, as well as other spring projects.



One of our favourite spring books is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and we decided to do a project based on the book.

We played games,



we made a butterfly collage using Roses chocolate wrappers,



we used a page from an old copy of the book to make a clothes peg butterfly, inspired by Smiling like Sunshine,



and we cut up the rest of the old book to make more homemade bunting for the play house.





We've also been watching videos and reading about caterpillars and butterflies,

Usborne First Book of Nature by Rosamund Kidman Cox, Barbara Cork and Ruth Thomson


Lifecycle of the Holly Blue butterfly on the cemetery noticeboard


and we found a fun caterpillar, cocoon and butterfly game on Boowa & Kwala.

Official Eric Carle Web Site

Caterpillar and Butterfly links from the Spring Carnival:

Caterpillar to Butterfly Craft at Mama Smiles
Bursting the cocoon! Caterpillar Fun at Science Sparks
Bright butterfly window decorations at Sun Hats & Wellie Boots
Butterfly Foot Prints at We-Made-That.com
Handprint Butterflies at LLM Calling
Clothespin Butterfly at Smiling like Sunshine
Stained Glass Butterflies at Mama of Many Blessings
Lots of Butterfly Work at Mama of Many Blessings
Butterflies and Books at  Doodles and Jots



If your post is featured today you're very welcome to get a "Featured On" button for your blog.

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If you have a post about a spring project or any post with a spring theme, we'd love you to link up at our All Year Round Blog Carnival: Spring, which is open for new links until 14th May.



More Nature Study inspiration on Pinterest.


Click here to see the play, crafts and learning ideas blog link-ups we share at.