Crafting the World

In the course of our adventures pretending to travel the world we have come up with some really special craft ideas, from making an edible pot of gold in pretend Ireland, to crafting African drums and painting Russian dolls. Craft items make great non-toy gift ideas, providing hours of fun. Here is a run down of some of our favourite projects and the links to our related adventures.

Painting Russian Dolls

These unpainted wooden Russian dolls can from eBay for just £5 and were a highlight of our Russian adventure. Both kids still have them in their room as a reminder of the day. I actually think they would be really nice to paint for a crafty adult too. We just painted them with normal kids paint and then varnished over with wood varnish we had in the shed. I think for older kids or adults then acrylics would probably work better.

Moroccan Glasses

When I was in Morocco I really wanted to buy some of their beautiful rainbow coloured glasses. In pretend Morocco, I bought a gold sharpie and some jewels so that we could create our own using plastic glasses which we already had. Unbelievably this was a year ago and they have survived the dishwasher several times! We made Moroccan mint tea from mint that grows in our garden to go in them. It was awesome.

African Drums

I do like making things for free and this activity was great for that. On an early African adventure of ours I went to a local coffee house and asked for four cups. We stuck them together with masking tape (because you can paint over it) and then taped baking paper to each side to make the drum. Finally we painted it brown and stuck tiny round stickers on it to decorate around the top. Total cost – nothing! And they lasted for weeks too!

An Irish Pot of Gold

On St Patrick’s Day, we bought a couple of plant pots and painted them gold and filled them with the chocolate coins I had left over from Christmas. Then in true leprechaun ? style we made a rainbow go put it at the end of. On a sunny day you could maybe make real rainbows instead with a plant spray and the sun! Either way this was a craft that the kids really enjoyed making and finding!

Making a Maasai Warrior

The was our most recent craft and I’m extra proud because I invented it myself for our pretend visit to Kenya. We painted peg dolls and then made them little robes out of the middle of an egg box and painted them red. We let it dry and then used sharpies for their faces and to decorate them. This is the first craft that Freddie fully got involved with which was so lovely and he was very proud of his warrior.

Japanese Origami

There are so many videos that you can access which show you how to do origami, but in the end we bought a book and also granny remembered how to make a boat! It was a lovely and very easy way to embrace pretend Japan and of course you can be as creative and complex as you want.

French Painting

I loved everything about this activity in pretend France! The day was gloriously sunny and Mark came up with the idea of being famous French artists. So we set the kids up with an easel and some paints and let them go for it! We loved Penny’s painting so much that it’s actually hanging in Freddies bedroom. One to try again when it’s not raining!

Making a Brazilian Carnival Mask

Our decision to visit Brazil was quite last minute and so I didn’t have time to buy any feathers. Despite that, I was pretty pleased with these simple carnival masks. I cut them out of paper with sticky backed plastic on the back (because I didn’t have any cardboard) and used kebab sticks with them. All very low budget and last minute; but both kids loved doing them and we enjoyed letting them have complete freedom with their designs. This was an easy one and we listened to Samba music while we did it!

Turkish Weaving

This weaving set cost me about £5 from eBay, but I believe that you can easily make your own our of a shoe box of similar. Penny learned to weave for our visit to pretend Turkey, but there are a number of countries that this would be great activity for – and Penny’s name (Penelope) even comes from he Greek for weaver. We made rugs for Freddie’s dollhouse.

Polish Marzanna Doll

This doll was a mistake! Researching pretend Poland I discovered the at the beginning of spring they would burn effigies of the winter witch Marzanna and throw her in the River as a throwback to their pagan days. Penny and I used Easter straw (99p from Home and Bargain) and hair bobbles to make a small doll (the Polish ones are much bigger I think). I deliberately kept the design quite plain so Penny didn’t get upset when we threw her in the river. She got upset anyway. She’s still upset. Still, if you child is less sensitive than mine, then this is a great way to embrace Polish culture at home!