Learning About Time

 

My daughter is really struggling with learning about time and how to tell time on a clock.  So, I decided to make a clock that we could play with to try to reinforce the concepts I've been trying to teach.

I had all the supplies I needed in my craft stash (I'll provide a supply list at the end of this post for those of you interested in knowing exactly what I used).  The clock face is an image from The Graphics Fairy that I printed out on cardstock.  I went over the hour numbers with a red marker and coloured the minute marks with a blue marker (I also added in the minutes in 5 minute increments around the outside edge).  After trimming the paper a little, I put some self adhesive magnet sheets on the back.  I drew a minute hand and an hour hand on scraps of cardstock and cut them out.  I added some scraps of the magnetic sheet on the back of the hands so they would stick to the clock.  I used some leftover bits of cardstock with a little piece of magnet on the back to make schedule cards.  These have a time and an event written on them (for example - in the photo below, the card says 7.30 Breakfast and I have the hands of the clock placed correctly to show that time). 

I'm hoping to use this as a schedule reminder as well as a teaching tool to help Lass grasp the concept of time.

Thanks for visiting today!

Supplies used

(2) 6" x 9 " self adhesive magnet sheets - Dollar store

(1) 8 1/2" x 11" sheet tan cardstock - Recollections brand from Michaels

Sharp pair of scissors (DO NOT use your best scissors because the magnet sheets make them really gummy)

Scraps of red, blue, and cream cardstock

Red and blue markers - I used Crayola  SuperTips

Time from start to finish

30 minutes

Another Project From the Stash

As long as my kids are entertaining themselves, I can get a second post up.  This project was actually for my kids.  I guess you could call them "Personalised Notebooks".  This is a pretty simple idea but they really liked them.

We had picked up a bunch of these little notebooks at the dollar store because they reminded my husband of these notebooks which he loves:

The Moleskine notebook is about $12 - the dollar store version is $2.  I appreciate the quality of the real Moleskine but the price is a bit steep.  (I just realised the Moleskine books are slightly smaller than the dollar store ones as well.)  

So, we had quite a few of these notebooks lying around.  My kids are always asking for paper to draw on, so I decided to make them some "fancy" notebooks.

My son loves zebras so I used this vintage picture from The Graphics Fairy for his book.  Print out, cut, glue on the book with double sided glue tape.  Simple.

Here are the finished products.  Really simple but I could hardly keep my kids away from them long enough to glue the pictures on!  I'm not sure where I got the roses from but it may have been The Graphics Fairy as well.  These pictures were both in my digital stash!  I thought about putting some more decorations on the books but the kids wouldn't let me.  They were so anxious to get them.  A quick and easy project!  I'm thinking it might be fun to do up a bunch of these to keep on hand to use as gifts.

Thanks again for dropping by!

"Free" Projects - Part 1

So, now that April is over, I'm going to show you a couple of projects I made using items from my crafting stash!

This is an old leather Bible case I had - pretty worn looking.  I was thinking of cutting it up and keeping the best pieces for some sort of craft project.  While I was mulling this over, my husband happened to remark he wanted some sort of container for his collection of tin whistles.  The light bulb came on over my head and I started thinking of how we could transform this into what he had in mind.

This is what the inside looked like before we started working.










The first thing I did was freshen it up a bit and change the colour slightly.  The leather was kind of dry looking in spots and it was burgundy.  I wanted it to look a little more masculine.  So, I turned to shoe polish.

This is what my husband uses on his brown dress shoes.  I simply applied it to the case the same way you would use it on a pair of shoes.  This is what I came up with after it had dried.

                                                    

It's a little hard to see from the photos but the leather turned a nice rich brown.  The shoe polish also covered up the worn spots.  On to the next step...

After hemming and hawing for several minutes about what to use to hold the whistles in, we decided on some wide elastic I had (I think it may have come out of an old pair of pajamas).  This is where my husband took over as I couldn't force a needle and thread through the leather.  He sewed the elastic to the edges of the case and then we added some adhesive backed velcro to create some "loops" for the whistles to slide into.

  The finished product!  Cost - $0.  Time start to finish - about an hour.  Below is a a "real" whistle carry bag. It costs $24.95 plus shipping and handling.  Our version might not be fancy but it works!

Thanks for visiting today!