scraps and coffee grounds

DIY cardboard daffodils

DIY cardboard daffodils: our new craft to welcome spring! Although the weather feels more like winter,we have been crafting lots of spring crafts and learn more about spring and flowers.

These were actually easy to make and the result is pretty good, plus it’s another zero waste activity because we used egg cardboards and drawings of the girls (I am keeping them all and it’s taking so much room?so we will reuse them for other crafts).

How to create handmade daffodils

We have used paper and egg cardboards. Painted them with watercolors (yellow and orange shades). We should draw 6 petals but decided to draw two layers of 4 petals,to give more depth to the flowers.

We took a paper band and cut the stigmas. Also cut the egg cardboards to create the corona.

Then cut some petals (painted with green watercolors) and glued all the parts.

The bouquet was ready ?. Here is a short video (sorry for the bad quality) with a few steps:

It was lovely to create them and learn more about their anatomy, petals,bud, stigma,corona, leaves,stem,bulb,roots etc….

It’s not the first time that we craft paper flowers but these DIY cardboard daffodils were probably our favorites and we are looking forward creating different ones, which ones we should try next Time? Suscribe to my blog and you won’t miss any of the DIY ideas, you will also receive a monthly newsletter with a surprise for you ?.

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I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed’and gazed’but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
William Wordsworth

Color hunt for kids

Color hunt with a Nature color wheel: our new favorite tool for walks!

Spring is coming and we can feel it,the days are warmer and lots of wildflowers and blossoms are starting to pop everywhere. The perfect occasion to enjoy an outdoor activity,and also find different fun ways to make our youngest enjoy these walks! Because she loves outdoors but she still struggling with follow a specific path or walking longer distances.

With these nature color wheels the walk was a success: no moaning, just fun! And obviously enjoyed a lot learning through nature without even notice it. With that color hunt, we took our wheels and look for nature elements with similar colors to add to your wheel.

That activity is perfect for color sorting,fine motor skins, solving problems and much more.

How I made these nature color wheels:

I just recycled 2 cardboards and cut them creating 2 cardboard discs (a dish as pattern). Then I draw 4lines and made six smaller parts that we colored (kids can participate during the entire process). Scroll down if you just want to download the template that I made for you ??

Then we used clothespins and that’s it,went outside to start our color hunting.

I added colors that we can easily find on our walks,no need to add light pinks because I know we won’t find any nature elements of that color,but we do have violets, different leaves so lots of different browns and greens.

Loving the fact that we can still use them and it’s definitely a lifesaver for toddlers that struggle with walks. It was also really fast to make , so you won’t make your kids wait too long for a fun walk. ?

Did you like it? I leave here a video:

And here is the free template:

Color wheel Descarga

Cardboard harlequin masks

Cardboard Harlequin masks: our new seasonal craft is ready! Shrove Tuesday is almost here and this week we focused on #diy costumes, carnival masks and harlequins.

I must say,I have never been a big fan of harlequins…I remember one that my mom has when we were little and it was so beautiful,but the other ones usually make me uncomfortable. Despite this fact, I wanted to create something really typical so we took some cardboards to upcycle into masks and crowns, but harlequin style!

For my little one we choose a crown, I cut a cardboard 45×10 cm and let her paint it. Then three triangles that we painted with three primary colors. We let them dry and glued the different parts. She decided to add some pearls too.

For my big girl I used one of the printables that I shared last year (you can find it here: https://test.scrapsandcoffeegrounds.comshrove-tuesday/?preview=true&frame-nonce=53cc47519a&amp=1 ). I chose the simple mask,used it as a pattern to cut the cardboard and then cut two horns. We painted the mask black,and then cut some white rhombuses that we glued to the mask. That wasn’t planned but the activity turned into the perfect shape study, learning more about squares, triangles, rhombuses etc.

The girls enjoyed every single part of these cardboard harlequin masks crafts, we added some face makeup to finish the outfits and took some photos. We are ready to celebrate carnival now! Hope you like these!

Kindness books for kids and parents

Kindness books for kids and parents: with last things occuring in Europe this month, I thought that it could be important to check our Kid’s library and their books to help them become kind adults.

February is the black story month and we haven’t forgotten what happened to George Floyd. At that time we muted our voices for a month and after that I decided to write a blog post about books for kids that could help. You can find the link here: https://test.scrapsandcoffeegrounds.com2020/06/02/raising-tolerance/?preview=true&frame-nonce=22e1f918f6&amp=1

Sometimes we can feel useless facing these events and also don’t want to share fake news or mute other important voices. But there is also a way to help and sometimes we don’t even need to leave the house. You can find some useful posts that talk about easy ways to help Ukraine right now:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CaUwXf7uNKO/?utm_medium=copy_link

You can also sign petitions like that one:

https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/es/stop_the_war_loc/?tbBNwmb&signup=1&cl=19134221347&v=502140284&_checksum=5e6e97bc7d12dc536304c4e683591dab98a9ef407010524c524655de0ead8766

And you can also create a better society being an adult humanKIND or raising your little ones as emphatic and kinds future adults.

Obviously books can help you so you can find below links to adults tools to raise kind people and kindness books for kids. .

Adult books to raise kind kids

Kindness books for babies and toddlers

Hope you liked that list of kindness books for kids and parents.

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.*

Upcycled cupid custome

Upcycled cupid costume: valentine’s day is here and I wanted to share with you these projects that I made last year for the girls! Cardboard wings and upcycled bow and arrows! ?

They are really easy and you just need cardboards and a wooden hanger!

That project actually started because my older was obsessed with Merida’s character from “rebel”, and she started to ask for a bow and arrow to play her character. It was the start of the year and valentine’s day was approaching so I thought that we could also use it to play cupidon and celebrate “love day”! So I looked for cardboards big enough to make the wings.

DIY cupidon accessories:

To create the upcycled cupidon wings you just need to draw them on the cardboard and cut them. Add elastics and paint some “feathers” if you want!

For the bow we took a wooden hanger and remove the straight stick, you’ll use it as an arrow! Then replace it with an elastic and it’ll be done!

The girls are still playing with it! And it’s a cute prop for Valentine’s day ? What do you think about it? Hope you like it! xoxo

Stay tuned for more upcycling and DIY projects! And please subscribe to my newsletter and you won’t be disappointed! See you soon!And happy valentine’s day!??

Valentine’s glasses template

Valentine’s glasses template! Create heart glasses for love day with that free printable?.

Last year I shared with you my very first freebie, a valentine’s guide with handmade gifts ideas ( you can find it here ). If you haven’t already, take a look of it! You’ll find there from simple handmade cards to homemade gifts to offer to your loved ones.

This year I tried something different for the girls, creating two templates: “hearts” and “xoxo” glasses for kids. It was pretty easy and they fit really good!

How to:

Scroll down and download the free template.

Print it and cut the eye’s holes.

Add pink/red cellophane paper (optional)

Laminated it and cut the shapes.

Glue the sticks.

It’s done!

You can also add elastics instead of the stick. It’s also the perfect prop for Valentine’s day photos and cards!

It’s a quick template that I made to start homeschooling crafts about valentine’s day but I decided to share it because it’s really easy to make! Hope you like it as well! Xoxo

Valentine’s glasses Descarga

Vegan frozen clementine sorbet

Vegan frozen clementine sorbet! The perfect winter treat!

How good are clementines? It’s one of our favorite winter fruits. I remember when I was little and some times we had frozen oranges,it was delicious! I’d love to eat one of those again, it’s some of these childhood savours that you never forget!

So I tried to make something similar: a super easy and vegan sorbet. But with mandarines instead of oranges ?

The trickiest part for this recipe is to use the peels as containers: if you use ripe fruits it’ll be easier to peel.

Recipe

For that first time I used 5 clementines, peeled them and mix the clementine segments with 2 coconut yaourts. Fill the small empty clementines with the mixture and freeze for one hour. The perfect dessert for little (and no so little) ones, no sugar and so tasty?

You can use that recipe for all kind of fruits,we usually do sorbets like this but with cantaloupes during summer, refreshing! You can use oranges, melon, strawberries(all kind of berries actually).

And something that help us to eat fruits all year long,no matter their season,is to freeze them in order to make smoothies,sorbets,cakes etc. I freeze them in segments and we can enjoy them no matter the season ?

Be sure to stay tuned on my Instagram for more recipes and behind the scenes, I usually share them small tutorials of the recipes too!Hope to see you there!xoxo Sara

Hope you liked that vegan sorbet, we love sorbets and ice creams all year long so we are definitely going to make more of them!

1.Find all my DIY ideas and crafts classed by themes on my “about me” page
https://test.scrapsandcoffeegrounds.coma-propos/?preview=true&preview_id=1&preview_nonce=b6a95f434e&frame-nonce=d2ac28a990&amp=1
2.Follow for more on my Instagram https://instagram.com/scraps.and.coffee.grounds?utm_medium=copy_link
3.And you can support my work https://ko-fi.com/scrapsandcoffeegrounds

–Scraps and coffee grounds–

Phenology wheels

Phenology wheels: A great Nature journaling prompt for kids!

Nature journaling is a simple and creative way for kids to learn about nature and themselves. And they can do it just about anywhere,you don’t need a huge garden,just use your walks to observe the nature around if you don’t have a backyard! It’s a great way to keep the focus small and notice details around ourselves.

Nature journals reinforce scientific language, descriptive language, and general vocabulary and spelling. Nature journal pages don’t always have to have writing on them, but it’s easy to naturally expect children to label sketches and/or write descriptions.

This coloring fun nature exploration activity creates a simple foundation for year-long nature study with just one activity. It will take just a few minutes each day,or you can do it a weekly activity.

You can start it at any time of the year but for me January is the best month to create a new one?.

Learn more about phenology wheels:

What is a phenology wheel? A Phenology Wheel is a circular journal or calendar that encourages a routine of Earth observation where you live. Single observations of what is happening in the lives of plants and animals made over time begin to tell a compelling story about your surroundings

How to make a phenology wheel? First draw a large circle. Next now draw a smaller circle inside your first circle close to the outer edge. Divide the circle into 12 parts (each month) You can find a pattern that I made to make it easier (scroll down) and we recycle cardboards to create ours. You can make a title with the four seasons regrouping their months.

How do you use phenology wheels? Spending some time each month drawing or painting your observations from that month. You may focus on flowers, weather or animals. Alternatively, we also focus on one main holiday of each month that we draw in the smaller circle. This way we help our kids to have a better notion of time and seasons.

We usually also note family member’s birthdays on the back! I made one with watercolors and another one that my 5yo can draw by herself now,but she started to participate with it already last year,you can easily adjust it to the age of your kid (that’s what I am going to try this year with our 2yo)

Hope you like this and see you soon!

Christmas crafts from toilet paper rolls

Christmas crafts from toilet paper rolls: here’s a list of paper rolls crafts that we have been doing last month! Christmas holidays have been really productive as we made lots of crafts, this time we used a lot of paper rolls and egg cardboards: the possibilities are endless!

So I today I am going to share the ones we made to give you some ideas, I hope you like them! The best part is that they are #zerowaste , so you can reuse materials and reduce plastic waste.

Forest decor with egg cardboards

For our Christmas log cake we cut and painted some egg cardboards and made trees and mushrooms to create a forest ambiance.

Christmas crafts from toilet paper rolls

Diy confetti poppers from toilet paper rolls

A fun one! The girls had such a blast with these poppers! You just need washi tape ( I use washi tape because it’s a sustainable alternative to plastic tape),an old balloon (cutting the top and glue it to the roll) and paint if you want to decorate it. We also reused old paper sheets to make confetti!

Three wise men characters from toilet paper rolls

An easy one to decorate your epiphany table, making your own recycled crowns and Three kings characters,we also made some camels and the girls still playing with them ?

I don’t know what other people think about crafts from toilet paper rolls but for me it’s a great item to reuse, I didn’t know how to create camels but finally it was pretty easy without any tutorial, I just added a small cardboard to the roll and shaped it. The egg cardboards boxes are a bit harder just because we try to reuse them for groceries but when they are a bit old we use them for crafts, and I love the result, we’ll slowly share more of them !

Hope you enjoyed these Christmas crafts from toilet paper rolls and egg boxes, see you soon!xx

Vegan polvorones

Vegan polvorones: Today I am going to share these delicious vegan polvorones!

“Nights are getting shorter now

Hot chocolate fills the air and Christmas cheer does too
Picking out your Christmas tree, so lovely
The joy this time it brings to you

SANTA’S COMING TO TOWN”

And we made vegan polvorones instead of cookies?

Polvorones are a must in Spain during holidays,they are made with lard but there is a vegan recipe with olive oil,flour, almonds and cinnamon,and it’s delish?

Recipe

For that recipe you’ll need:
150 gr raw almonds
245 gr flour
130 gr olive oil
50 gr nut butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Lemon zest
Sesame seed for styling

You just need to mix all the ingredients,put the dough in the fridge for one hour, prebake the oven and create small round cookies with the dough ( 2cm thick) bake for 15min 180° and they will be ready!

In Spain you’ll find polvorones, mantecados (with different flavors) and turrones for Christmas. The main ingredients are almonds and peanuts, and of course there is turrón de chocolate which is so good!

Here in France my favorite Christmas dessert is the Christmas log, I will try to cook a chocolate one and try to share the recipe here,it will be also sugar free so stay tuned!

I hope that you liked today’s recipe and see you after Christmas! Have a great one!

Thanks for following along! Sara

I shared that same photo on Instagram, happy to make part of a creative Christmas calendar where 25 creative have been sharing their art with carolling songs (I chose Santa’s coming for us, Sia) and I thought that it would be nice to try a Santa photo like this, hope you like it!xx