Bunchland

Cool terrarium themes to add some untamed fun to your kid’s natural habitat

A terrarium is a sweet way to add some living charm to your kid’s space, and they can personalize it however they want.  Keeping a little eco-system alive can also be pretty empowering for a kid. Get ready for Earth day with these five recipes for magical mini gardens.

You’ll need:

• A wide, clear lidded glass container (a cookie jar, apothecary jar, pickle jar, round vase, or a glass or plastic cake dome)
• Pebbles
• Activated carbon
• Soil
• Your choice of plant (here are some ideal terrarium plants)
• Your choice of decor

Here’s how:  Read more...

1. Cover the bottom of the container with an inch of pebbles for drainage.
2. Top pebbles with a layer of activated carbon to absorb any earthy odors. Now, add 7-8 cm of potting soil. Create hill and valleys to accommodate plant roots.

Krista Rao blogs about crafty adventures with her kids

My little Ava is 5-years-old and just learning to spell and write notes. This exciting time in her life has resulted in a house full of pieces of intricately folded paper with three letter words written on them. In  order to mix it up a little I showed her how to make secret messages for us.

Step 1 (fyi…this is the only step!): Write your secret message with white crayon on a white piece of paper. Make sure to press hard with the crayon.

Voila! That is all there is to creating the message. To reveal the message just paint over it with any colour of watercolour paint. The paint will not adhere to the crayon and reveal your secret  message.

 Read more...

Krista Rao blogs about crafty adventures with her kids

A super busy schedule around here the last couple of weeks hasnʼt really left us with any substantial time for crafting. Never fear, I have found pockets of time in which to dream, plan and bookmark crafting ideas that I am interested in doing. I have put together an Easter craft roundup of some of my favourite ideas and tutorials. Hopefully we can get some of these done before Easter!

1. I can imagine Ava cuddled up reading with one of these, these or these adorable bunnies!

2. Check out these Birdʼs Nest Cookies– they look super easy and delicious.

3. Cadbury Creme Egg cupcakes! I have a sister who would just go crazy over these cupcakes from My Baking Addiction… hmm, but does she deserve them?

4. Silk tie dyed eggs, chalkboard eggs and cross-stitched eggs. Yup! All on my list!  Read more...

Robyn Knickle shares stories from Hamilton, Ontario

One of the things I love most about living with two pre-schoolers is how pumped they get about holidays.  It doesn’t matter what the holiday is for, they just love to celebrate!  Our kids were so excited when we told them that Mommy and Daddy were staying home from work and that they were staying home from daycare to celebrate Family Day.  I must admit, we were pretty thrilled about it, too.  It’s so nice to do weekend things on a Monday!

We decided to take a walk just a few blocks away to spend our day at the Hamilton Children’s Museum.

We were greeted at the door by a turtle, whom my 3-year old named Peaches.

Next, we met a gecko, (also named Peaches).

We turned plain old pinecones into bird feeders,  Read more...

Make new Lego sets from other sets

If you love both Harry Potter and Lego, there’s a good chance you own a Harry Potter Lego building set. Likewise Star Wars. Or maybe you’re just a Lego fan who’s crazy about building cars and houses and other worlds and such. But what do you build after you’ve built a Lego Death Star from the Death Star kit? Rebrickable lets you plug in the kit numbers you already have and tells you which other kits you unofficially have by combining the others.

Excellent idea, but it’s not quite as cool as it could be since it’s probably still works best with the special branded Lego kits. We plugged in a basic brick kit, the Burrow from Harry Potter and the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars. Rebrickable told us we then had all the parts that make up some random basic brick kits as well as all the bricks to make the South African flag.  Read more...

Look! We’re experts!

Eye Weekly, Toronto’s alternative weekly magazine, interviewed Bunch’s Rebecca Brown and consulted us when coming up with its foolproof March Break Guide. We think you might recognize some of the ideas found therein. Eye Weekly is also home to Superdad Chris Shulgan’s excellent columns.

Photo by Be Nice to Mommy via Flickr

Your Sunday Morning plan:

EAT:

These Cardamom-scented oatmeal pancakes in the New York Times sound far too good to pass up.

You’ll need:

• 1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/3 cup chopped almonds
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups cooked oatmeal
• 1/3 cup chopped dried apricots
• Vegetable or olive oil, for frying
• Honey, for serving

Combine flours, oats, almonds, baking powder, cardamom and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk the egg and milk together, then stir in the cooked oatmeal and apricots. Add this to the dry mixture. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and add a thin layer of vegetable oil. Spoon on the pancake batter and flip pancakes after 2-3 minutes. Keep cooked pancakes warm in a 200 degree oven while you cook the rest. Serve with honey.  Read more...