Our First Sandbox

More than a month ago, I saved this draft in my iPhone during that sleep deprived night.

If not for their “Keeping Cool” May 2014 box, I will certainly miss posting this.  Anyway, for those who don’t know what exploresandbox is, it’s a monthly crafts box for kids.  They have different and appropriate themes every month with complete materials (which I really appreciate) and instructions on how to do it.  It’s not just arts and crafts, but it’s also loaded with science facts. 🙂 (check out their official website) 

The first box I ordered from them was their Christmas box last December 2013 and that’s what I almost forgot to post. hehe (If my previous post is late, I don’t know what to call this then, hehe) 

The Christmas box contained 5 activities – DIY Christmas stockings, DIY Christmas ball, snow like mixture to build a snowman, a science project behind Santa and the chimney, and last was the good deed list. 

For this box, we were only able to make 2 out of the 5,  for some reason the snowy substance won’t form and i feel it’s a little messy to play with. I also noted to myself to ask Leslie of exploresandbox how it should work, well obviously I forgot doing it. Haaay…

Here’s Liam with his Christmas projects.. 🙂

Here’s our December box .. All excited to start! 🙂

First project that we did was the Christmas Ball.  Excited mommy that I am, I did not read the instruction and put the glitters outside the ball.. The daddy noticed and asked why am putting it outside when instruction said inside.. Sorry naman.. hahaha.. nevertheless, we enjoyed doing it together and this was one of our Christmas ornament in the tree. 🙂

Materials for our first project – glue, glitters, plastic ball, ribbon and Japanese paper

Liam really into the crumpling…

and he’s really enjoying it.. 🙂

our finish product.. 🙂

The other project that we were able to make is the Christmas stockings!  Liam enjoyed putting on the buttons and for added work, I gave him some cotton balls to glue on top of the stocking.  Of course, mommy was the one who sew the socks together.

next stop.. our Christmas Stocking!

Is it that obvious that he likes what he’s doing?

one down.. one more to go

busy gluing the cotton balls.. 🙂

Mas busy removing the cotton fiber from his fingers.. 🙂

Now, our stocking is complete! TADA!

As for the other projects, I felt Liam was too young for them pa and we ran out of time na since we went home to Manila for the holidays. Nevertheless, we both enjoyed our project time.

Ask if I will order again?  Wait for my future posts for my answer. 😉

 

 

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Handy Lolo

Liam has been fascinated with cars (read: real cars) as early as he was 6 mos old.  His curiosity started with the stirring wheel, then moved to the gear, then to the pedals. Now, he can distinguish automatic cars from manual cars by looking at the gear and pedals. Anyway, supporting his love for cars, his Lolo made cars (driver’s seat only) with wood, PVC pipes and old toys.

Introducing Liam’s ride V1 (drum roll please)

V1 – using Liam’s kick board, pipes, stirring wheel from his Ninang and some straws

After a few weeks, Lolo got so hooked with the project and gifted his beloved apogi with a better version.  He gave it to Liam when we went home for Christmas.  My son was so ecstatic when he saw this.

V2 (manual car) – bigger and better, complete with pedal (mind you, the pedal springs back when stepped on), gear, chair, stirring wheel and a logo.

Due to insistent public (read: apogi) demand, V2 was updated with a gas tank and foot rest before we went back to Cebu.  Since V2 is bulky, we can’t pack it to bring back to Cebu.  So, on Lolo’s next visit to Cebu which was only a week later after our holiday vacay in Kumati, he made Liam another one – this time it’s an automatic version.

Liam helping his Lolo fix the car – now with 4×4 gear.

 

A funny side story, while fixing V3, Lolo asked ate Donna to give him the screw driver. Donna passed the tool to Liam and asked him to give it to Lolo.  Who can guess what Liam did?  He gave Lolo his toy screw driver and used the real screw driver himself.  Kulit lang talaga.  Good thing, we have a spare driver, thus the photo above. 🙂

 

PS.  I just realized now, where my other chair had been. hahahaha.. 🙂

 

Christmas Balls Project

Am really not a crafty woman.  One of my least favorite is art class.  I remember my uncle telling my cousins to help me with my projects when I was still in elementary.  Naawa ata sya saken at hating gabi na di pa ko nangangalahati sa project ko.  When I was in high school naman, I always make it a point to team up with someone who’s good in drawing and in crafts. hehehe..

Liam is the opposite of me when it comes to art, he likes art.  He likes painting and all those crafty stuffs.  I think this is another de Leon side of him.  Dino is artistic in his own way.  He is good in drawing and not to mention he is good photographer.  May it be SLR or a simple point and shoot, he is really good.  We always say that he has an eye for it.  His Lolo and his Ninang is also very crafty.

Am also so lucky that Ninang Tita (my SIL, Leah of The Bright Spot) is very resourceful and never fails to update with anything and everything under the sun.  She posted this site on my FB page, telling me it’s a good Christmas project for Liam.  Tama nga sya, Liam did enjoy it.

This project is very easy, you only need Christmas balls, white acrylic paint, paint brush, markers and egg tray (for drying).

Mommy helping Liam paint his hand with white acrylic paint

White palm.. 🙂

After the first ball, Liam went to the sink to wash his hands.  Eto mahirap sa batang to, he don’t want his hands dirty or sticky.  Wash agad yan.  hehehe.. So he washed his hands and told me he’ll do it by himself na.  After the Second time he washed  his hands, it’s my turn naman daw.

Liam: Don’t teach me na, I can do it myself…

Liam’s turn to help me paint my hand.

after he got tired of painting and washing his hands, he decided to paint the balls directly instead. 🙂

And here are our finish products!!

My finished ball

Liam’s finished ball

Easy and fun project!! Thanks again to Ninang Tita for the suggestion!! 🙂

Vacation Projects

As the whole world may know, er encountered 2 major calamities here in the Visayas.  It’s really scary and I was out of my wits for a few days. Kayo ba naman yanigin (at patuloy na yanigin) at bagyuhin ng bongang bonga…

But despite all these, we are still thankful that we are all safe. No damage was encountered naman. As for our sraffs in Tacloban, all were accounted for and were safely tranaferred here in Cebu.

During the hype of the dubious earthquake, all schools here in Cebu were suspended until after the holidays (all saint’s day).  It was 2 weeks of no school for Liam.  I was worried he might get bored at home or he might enjoyed free play so much that he might get lazy when it comes to school stuffs. So I instructed Ate Donna to still read, sing and count with Liam and do new projects at home. 🙂

Mr. Bee project
With the use of a tissue roll core, they paint it yellow and pasted black stripe on it.  Ate donna even cut out small feelers for the bees.  Liam’s favorite part is putting the googly eyes. (source here)

Mr. Bee

In the sea project
Another thing I like about Ate Donna is that she is matyaga. This project was her idea and she cut everything out night before.

In the Sea (Can’t say under the sea since we don’t like the boat sinking, right?)

Balloon project
Another one of Donna’s bright ideas.  She cut out the balloons using construction papers and used the excess strings Ninang Tita used during Liam’s Ice cream party. They first paint the paper blue so it will look like the sky.  During these times, Liam loves singing “Ako ay may Lobo”.  Maybe that’s how Ate Donna thought about this project.

Ako ay may lobo, lumipad sa langit.. 🙂

Rubber Ducky
Remember the Chinese lantern project we made? We had lots of gold sequins left and Ate Donna thought of doing this with Liam… Cute no?

Rubber Ducky Project

Ladybag project
I got this inspiration from this post and thought that Liam would love this since he’s into bugs.

Instead of using a paper plate, they cut out red construction paper and used black markers to give it shape and feet.  Donna also punched holes on a black paper and use it as the bug’s spots and don’t forget the googly eyes.

Mrs. Ladybug

Playhouse project
I bought Liam some popsicle sticks to make the popsicle sticks with velcro (I don’t know what’s the right term for it, kung meron man).  I saw it online (clikc here for the source) and wanted Liam to have some.   but I cant find any pre-cut velcro, so this is what Ate Donna thought of doing instead.

Playhouse

Handprints
After Liam got tired of squirting his sticky glue and tap tapping with all the projects, he requested for a paint project and here’s what they did.

Print hands – as Liam calls it.

This is another reason why we love Ate Donna.  She is very resourceful, matyaga and ma-abilidad.  We just tell her what we want Liam to learn or do, she follows and does it more than what we requested and expected her to do.

Liam’s vacation was not boring and unfruitful after all. 🙂

Project Time

Am really thankful to the person who invented Vacation Leaves! hehehe.. I was able to take a leave of work last week and made sure Liam and I have something to do together.  His favorite right now, aside from tablet and TV, is Project Time! Though his not yet after the finish product, he’s having lots of fun during the process.

FIZZY PAINTING

Who knows simple kitchen ingredients would bring so much fun. I got this idea from Pinterest.  Just put Baking soda on a rectangular dish and use old vitamin droppers to to squirt some tinted vinegar (I used McCormick food coloring) and VOILA! colorful fizziness!! This project kept Liam busy for more than an hour. He likes the fizzy sounds and bubbles the chemical reaction makes.. 🙂

my little busy bee

 

 

WOW!! 🙂

smile muna for the cam..

our finish product.. OK, this was the third finish product. as the first 2 were so gooey..i can’t stand taking pic of it.. hehehe

 

THE ROBOT AND THE HOUSE

Another project we made together is creating pictures from art paper cut outs.

meet Mr. Blue robot

our little house.. with lots of love..

More project time to come. Got lots of ideas from Pinterest and hope to do it with Liam soon. 🙂

Chinese Lanterns

Kiong Hee Huat Chai!
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Kung Hei Fat Choi!
Congratulations to a prosperous Year!

Positive! That’s how Chinese are.  Always positive that we will have a brighter and more prosperous New Year.  Anyway, in celebration of the Chinese New Year, I wanted to have a family activity na Chinese and since Liam likes his project time in school, decided to do some crafts for the New Year.

At first, I wanted us to make 3D Fireworks, but I don’t like Liam to use that much glitters yet.  I can’t handle that pa ata, ung kalat, ung takot na mapunta sa mata.. so I looked for something else and found Chinese Lanterns.   Not so tricky yet oh so Chinese..  🙂

Materials: Red Specialty Paper, Scissors, Glue, Ruler, Pencil and Gold Sequins

I have to pre-cut the papers lang, since I don’t want Liam to hold scissors yet.  So all they have to do is add the Gold sequins and put it together.

Here I am helping Liam with his tap tap sequins…

Here he is hoarding the glue, so daddy has to get a new tube for himself..

Here’s daddy busy with his project. 🙂

TADA!!! our Chinese Lanterns!!

 

Never thought craft projects can be oh so easy. Need to be patient lang looking for the perfect project for us.

Stay tuned for our Chinese New Year Pictorial.. Happy Heart’s day!! 🙂

Liam’s Projects

Hay naku!! Dino is scratching his head last Saturday.  We went to National Bookstore kasi to buy Liam’s required supplies in school. Grabe! Ang dami! to think that he is barely 2. Ang laki ng difference from our time. Some friends even commented in FB na during their kid’s time, baunan lang ang bitbit. haha

Though, naisip ko din, better din ganitong set up ng school, they ask for all the supplies the student will need for the whole year to safe parents the trouble visiting bookstores every now and then. Isang bilihan nalang lahat.

Pero still, kalowka!!

Liam’s supplies. 1 ream of Long bond paper not yet shown there.. hehehe. Dino took this photo while am processing my Laking National Card. Sayang ang Points!

O, diba!? Am not joking when I said madami!? hehe..

Pero, eto ka naman… You’ll agree with me when I say that all these is sulit na… After you see these..

Liam’s Fruit and Veggie Crown.

The Fruit and Veggie Crown is his first take home project. They did this in school last two Fridays ago.  Donna told me that he was so excited to wear the crown in school. Na kahit basa pa ang glue, he worn it na.  When he got home he was wearing it all the time.  Teacher Marj also told me that Liam is attentive especially during their activity / art class time.

Liam’s Paper Pillow.

This one naman, they made last Friday.  Paper Pillows.  He was holding and showing it to us when he got home.  Pero un lng, that night, we need to throw the paper pillow na, kasi nagkapunit punit na sya.

Buti na lang, Dino is masunurin, when I asked him to take photo of this. kundi, la na remembrance. hehe..

Mental Note: ALWAYS ask Dino to take picture. Bahala nang makulitan sya saken. 🙂

O diba!? So sulit na our National Bookstore trip and all the supplies. 🙂 Can’t wait for his future projects. 🙂

More Project Posts to come.. 🙂