Origami Mommy

Tutorial: A doll's bike seat

I commute everywhere here with the girls on a bike with me, the way many moms do in Japan. The commuting bikes used here are called "mamachari" and they have child seats on the front and the back, so that you can put a baby or toddler in the front basket while your older child rides in back. There's a steep learning curve when you are commuting with two kids, as the bike is pretty heavy (I'll have to take a photo one day), but it's a lot easier to navigate the narrow streets here on that than in a car. 

Anyway, M really wanted to put a bike seat on the back of her own bike so she could pretend to do what I do, so we whipped one up pretty quickly. Here are basic instructions. We made it plain, because there just wasn't a lot of time to decorate, but you or your child can do whatever you want to spiff it up!

All you need are two pieces of rectangular cardboard, around 11 x 14 inches or so.

Fold one near the middle (I think I folded mine about 2/5s of the way down), and then use scissors to cut about two inches in on either side.

Fold up the sides

Fold it over as shown in the photo, and use staples or tape to secure. 

To attach it to your child's bike, take the other piece of cardboard, fold it into thirds and tape it so that it's firm,  and then attach this piece to the bottom of the seat you just made. Then tape the other end to the bottom of the bike's real seat. (I had to tape around the seat a few times for it to stay on there. I also cut a little notch in it so that it would fit snugly around the pole underneath the seat, but you can do what works for you.)

You can add on a seat belt, a bar, or whatever you want. We made a crude makeshift helmet out of leftover cardboard, as you can see on the bunny.

Let me know if you try this project! And don't forget to check out this giveaway (until Nov. 5) if you want a chance to win some Japanese stamps.

Creative toy play, part 1: building blocks

  

I have such a love-hate relationship with toys. I love watching children deeply engrossed in play  - play is, after all, the work of childhood. But I have a hard time with clutter, anguish over missing pieces, dislike toys that are meant to be played only in one specific way, and most of all, loathe the commercialization that seems to pervade modern childhood. I also think that when there's too much going on - too many toys, too much stuff - children play less well, and less creatively, with what they do have.

To try to avoid this, over the years, we've worked on building a small collection of good toys.  Most of what the kids are drawn to over and over again are simple open-ended classics such as wooden blocks and toys for pretend play - dolls, animals, kitchen items, vehicles, and little Lego or Playmobil figures. 

Kapla blocks are quite pricey, but they have lasted us nearly a decade so far and have been used in so many different ways. B, age 10, made this pretty cool maze with kaplas and a couple of other smaller colored blocks. I like how he wrote "Start" at the entrance of the maze.

Kaplas also become castles, like the one in the photo at the top of this post. The photo doesn't show this but the boys also cut up a bunch of felt to use in the castle as carpets and runners. Flags and banners are easy to make as well with a stick and a bit of glue and cloth.

Children love setting up scenes. In addition to building blocks, recyclables are useful too - this was made from a paper bag, paint, and milk cartons, plus origami for the boat. 

I try to get the children to put their own creative stamp on their play by showing them how to make or design their own props to stretch their play with store-bought toys. A milk carton ship to take Lego figures on adventures far and wide. Clothing designed for a beloved bear. A cape for a little boy made of a simple scarf. An impressive sword made of cardboard and foil. Pretty paper flowers for a flower shop or garden. I think it's nice for children to learn that you can always make what you need rather than buying it! 

Getting your children started on a more creative path to play can be as simple as collecting a small fabric stash just for the children and their projects, collecting buttons, stones, sticks, and shells as well as empty baskets and boxes, having yarn and ribbon, elastic and tape on hand, and keeping a bunch of recyclables for your children to use. By doing this, you will find yourself, and your children, cultivating an ability to spot potential in the most mundane things. Treasures from trash!

In the next two posts of this three-part series I'll be showing you a few things you and your children can do with these raw materials. In the meantime, I'd love to know what your children's favorite playthings are.

Tutorial: Water Fountain

I've been wanting to post this since last summer, when I learned it in a parent-child class, but then time went by and it didn't seem a very wintery sort of craft to post about. Now a year has passed and it's summer again. Where does the time go?!

 

 
All you need is a plastic water bottle and tape or markers to decorate it. The plastic bottle must have a cap. Oh and the grown up uses some sort of awl, nail/hammer, or something else to punch holes in the bottle. 

 

(Note: about plastic bottles, we try to avoid buying them, but if you do have any lying around or find any as trash, it feels better to give them a second life as a craft project before recycling them.)

Have your child decorate the bottle as s/he sees fit.

Then you, grown up, use an awl, or nail and hammer, to punch holes in it either at random or in a pattern. 

After that, fill the bottle with water and put the cap on. Take it outside. When your child starts to unscrew the cap, the water will flow out of the holes. This makes a great science experiment too for the little ones: what happens if you unscrew it part way? all the way? 

Such a simple quick project, but it provides a lot of fun on a summer day.

Tutorial - Jeweled shrink curls

I have a new, quick tutorial that is great for children. Like so many of the crafts we do, my sons taught me this one. They learned it at school. I'm not really sure what to call these but children see lots of possibility in them - they're just little treasures.  I'm going to call them "jeweled shrink curls" for lack of a more inspiring term.

They're made from plastic bottles - all you need is a plastic bottle, scissors, permanent markers, foil, and a toaster oven. 

 

Cut pieces out of the plastic bottle at random and give them to your children.

 

Have them scribble away and draw whatever they want on the plastic.

Then put the plastic pieces on a piece of foil and pop in a toaster oven. Watch them carefully. If the oven is preheated, they will start to curl up in about 30 seconds! Maybe even sooner - so keep an eye on them. Children love watching them transform.

Take them out and let them cool. Your children can play with them, string them like beads, or simply collect them like little jewels. I like this project because it is so fast and easy, yet really satisfying. 

Finding the time to craft

How do you all find the time to craft or indulge in other personal pursuits? That's been my challenge for the last few weeks since summer vacation started. The children are pretty used to doing their own crafts alongside me, but of course I am much more distracted than usual. I'm trying to keep my projects to small, manageable and simple things right now - dreams of dresses and other such things are put off till the fall. 

I started getting really excited about beading because I finally got a small kit of tools. I'd never realized before how accessible and easy professional-looking bead projects are to make if you just have a wire cutter, pliers, and the right little components. It is very quick, too. While I was doing it the boys were digging through all the beads themselves and looking for all sorts of treasure - they've always loved beads and beading but I never expected them to get excited about beads for "real" jewelry. 

This is one that I got started on - since it's a "floating" style necklace it is very fast; the only tricky part is making sure the beads are spaced equally apart.

While I worked on that, the boys were making their own things. B loves anything with gold in it. Daniel is into crystals.

Then I moved on to tiny sewing projects. I loved these tissue holders because they take 10 minutes, max, to make. 

They're both made of Japanese fabric. I want to get more of the polka dotted one by Lecien - I realize I don't have enough plainer fabric to use as lining when I make bags and pouches.

Speaking of which this is a bag I made yesterday. I made it very quickly because I just had to try a tote bag to see how it's done. You know? I wanted to get it out of my system. I was excited to try out the french seams mentioned on this tutorial at Sew, Mama, Sew. However, I learned that if the material I use is too heavy, it won't work well. Both the fabric and the lining were fairly thick and it was hard to make the corners as sharp as I'd like, plus I now have to handsew the top sides down because they wouldn't go through my machine.

Here's a closeup of the strap and lining. The strap is described in the Sew, Mama, Sew tutorial and I really like it. 

While I made that, the boys were seriously busy making a fleet of paper airplanes, because B had discovered a trick to make them fly far and fast. So I was sewing while paper airplanes were flying around my head! Kind of a typical moment in my life actually.

I finally finished my first needlework, about a week ago, using a Wee Wonderfuls pattern, and was waiting for some inspiring idea to come to mind about what to do with it. Frame it? put it in a hoop on the wall? Finally I decided to make a pillow out of it. Here it is and the blue is what I think I'll use for the back of the pillow. I am going to wait to finish it until I get a pillow form so I know how big to make it.

If you do needlework, what's your favorite way of showcasing it when you're done? I will add embroidery to little baby items (once I get or make little baby items!) but what do you do with larger projects? 

I also made a few baskets lately - again, to figure out how they're made. I am really happy with how this basket turned out. It's quite small and I think I will make a couple of these as gifts.

It gave me a chance to practice boxing the corners in. I also tried this basket, but it was larger, and ended up a little floppy, and handles this thin were hard. Mia loves carrying it around though. I also made the baby blocks inside but wasn't as pleased with them - it's hard to get them right with just batting, not foam blocks, which I'd rather not use. So I think I'm done making baby blocks!

One last basket photo - this one turned out okay. It was the first one I made. These handles were better, though too thick. One of these days I'll get them right! Though it shaves a lot of time off this project not to put any handles on at all.

If you want to make a basket of your own, the tutorial I used for basic reference is here.

Finally, the boys have been playing around with paper lately. We have a tiny little paper maker - just postcard sized - which Daniel really likes. I wish there were a way to make the pulp without using a blender - if anyone knows, please tell me! The original kit came with some pieces of dried pulp that kids could shake in a bottle with some water and marbles (to help agitate them). Maybe I could make a big batch in the blender and then divide it up and dry it. I think Daniel would make paper more often if it didn't involve having to ask an adult to blend the pulp first.

And a final paper project - both boys enjoyed this - just watercolor paints and salt. Here's a beautiful blog, Kleas, with a link. It's a very easy project - you should give it a try!

Recyclable craft quickies

Here are 2 super-quick craft projects you can do with your little ones.

First, a nice summery fish tank. I got the idea from my brother who made a fish tank with his little boy and even provided imaginary "fish food" (using an empty spice container). All this is is tissue paper inside a clear plastic container, and your child can create fish of different colors to put inside. Simple, but somehow incredibly delightful for little ones (especially toddlers).

This next project takes a bit more time, but is great for kids who love to paint. Cut up milk cartons to make bridges and highways, and arrange them on a painted roadway (or river, or both). Use toilet tissue rolls as columns to support the bridges. We used a cut up paper grocery bag to paint on. Connect several together and you could make something quite elaborate!

I love encouraging children to provide handmade props for their toys!

Tutorial: A bouquet of paper hyacinths

Daniel came home from school a few weeks ago clutching a little bouquet of flowers he proudly presented to me. They were super-easy to make, as he showed me, and you can make a lot of creative decisions to make this project your own - size, color, type of paper, etc. I tried lengthening the flowery part and they came out looking like hyacinths (or some other similar type flower - I'm not really good with flower names, so if you can help me out here please do!)

I love the possibilities here - made with construction paper, they have more structure and shape; made with tissue paper, they are airier and lighter. You can see examples of both in the first photo of this post. I'll demonstrate below with origami paper, but I love the look of tissue paper flowers too.

Begin with two pieces of paper, one for your flower and one for the stem. Any size, as long as it's roughly square.

Start rolling up the stem paper as tightly as you can into a little paper roll. Secure with tape. I cut my stems in half to get two stems out of one piece of paper, but you can leave it as is, of course.

Take your piece for the flower and fold it in half, then fold in half again, or else fold into thirds. Really, you can fold any way you like, as long as you have some closed-fold sides to cut into later.

Daniel folded his like the picture above, but to get the hyacinth look, I found it was helpful to fold like the picture below - into thirds, slightly uneven, with two closed folded edges on the same side. 

Begin cutting through those closed folds at intervals, but not all the way to the other side, just like the photo below. Keep on cutting till you reach the end.

Now, attach one end to your stem with some tape, and then begin rolling, moving ever so slightly down the stem as you do so. Secure the end with tape.

If you use tissue paper the petals will fall gracefully; depending on the thickness of the construction paper you use you might want to tease out some of the petal layers. Other than that, you're done. Make a whole bunch and put them together in a small vase by a window - so pretty!

This last photo is of the bouquet Daniel brought to me - I love how child-friendly and quick this project is.

A craft a day

Summer vacation has started at last. In Japan the school year begins in April and runs until March and summer vacation is typically only about 5-6 weeks long.  It's taking a bit of time to find our groove, but I made a list of daily goals and jobs. One of our goals is to do a daily craft. Here's some of what we've done so far.

Painted peg people, painted with paint markers and inspired by these darling dolls.

I was also enchanted by the spool dolls at Sweet Sweet Life. Perhaps a little house next?

and fabric covered rocks, inspired by Red Bird Craft's sweet story stones:

I have no mod podge or other decoupage materials here so these were just made with a wash of glue and water. Collecting the perfect rock for these was part of the fun. I think the peg people and rocks could do with a final coat of acrylic sealer but I'm a bit leery of using that while pregnant...

More crafts are in the works....origami flowers, embroidery and sewing, more recyclable crafts. I'll share our projects as we go along!