Paper Craft: Big Ben

A has been studying buildings at school and brought home this model to make.  It is free to download here from papertoys.com.

The original is in colour or black and white but the copy supplied by the school was A3 and black and white so we ended up with a rainbow coloured "Big Ben".  It was not that easy for a 7 year old to make (lots of fiddly cutting and sticking tabs) but with mum and dads help he did it, I'm impressed that it stands up so well when it is just printer paper.

BTW Big Ben is actually the name of the bell inside the clock tower - not the tower itself which is called St Stephens tower and is part of the Palace of Westminster which houses the Houses of Parliament but round the world it is known as Big Ben so we will call it that too:)

Paper Craft: Fashion Flip Flaps

Most little girls fancy themselves as a fashion designer at some point - usually round about the time that you are standing in the clothes shop and suddenly everything is "Yuck!"
If your own little miss wants a fashionista moment as R did recently this is the ideal make to keep them happy without hitting the clothes shops;

courtesy of "Art Attack".

Here is R's version...

Cutting and sticking:"Stained glass windows"

Age range: 2 and over with adult help
This one is an oldy but easy to adapt to a wide age range!
You will need:

Thick coloured paper or card (we used black and dark grey)
Cellophane or tissue paper
Scissors or craft knife
Pencil
Glue
First decide on the design for your window. We used our names (we are trying to get our youngest to recognise his written name) but it could be any pattern or theme. Draw the design on the paper making sure that there are "bridges" to stop areas like the inside of the capital "A" falling out. Older children can draw their own design or use stencils to create your pattern. Cut out the areas you want to be coloured, if it is a simple design you can get away with scissors but you may need to use a craft knife.
Turn the paper over.
Get your child to cut strips of cellophane or tissue paper using the scissors (doesn't have to be neat) for younger children tear tissue paper.
Glue the strips over the paper so that all the holes are covered.
Stick on a window and let the light shine in!