Minieco

DIY Hexbug Draw-Bot

September 22, 2015August 25, 2017 Kate 4 Comments

Hello! I saw this lovely post by hello wonderful and really wanted to make a draw-bot but the vibration motor and coin battery holder were expensive and not available in the UK. My sons and I had a big think and came up with the idea of using a hexbug instead.

DIY Hexbug Draw-Bot

Most of the materials you need for this project may already be laying around at home – a small drinky yoghurt pot, small felt-tips, tape & elastic bands (loom bands work well). We had some hexbugs already but you can pick up non-branded versions from pound shops making this a really affordable experiment.

DIY Hexbug Draw-Bot

The yoghurt pot version goes slower and is more stable, you can also attach your pens straight onto your hexbugs and let them roam.

DIY Hexbug Draw-Bot

When you have finished drawing don’t forget to set your hexbug free! You can also use your designs for wrapping paper.

DIY Hexbug Draw-Bot

Papercut butterfly

September 15, 2015August 25, 2017 Kate 21 Comments

Hello there. I hope you all had a lovely summer. My children are back at school and I returned to work a few weeks ago so summer seems like a distant memory – I even had to dig my winter coat out yesterday 🙁

Papercut butterfly // free template

This butterfly suncatcher tutorial is one of the most popular posts I’ve written for this site so I thought it was time to do another butterfly related project. These papercut butterflies are very cute – and versatile too. They make fab gift toppers, garlands and decorations and look great in a range of colours. All you need to make them is a reasonable craft knife and a steady hand.

Papercut butterfly // free template

YOU WILL NEED:
– – – – – – – – – –
+ A4 paper
+ Scissors
+ Glue or sticky tape
+ Craft knife
+ Cutting mat (optional)

HOW TO
– – – – – – –

1. Print out the template (the pdf is at the foot of the post). Set your printing preferences to ‘photo’ or ‘text and image’. Using a pair of scissors cut along the outside of the butterflies.
2. Using a craft knife cut out the interior shapes.
3. Fold the wings as shown and them glue the back sheet to the front. If you are making a garland you can sandwich a piece of thread in between the two shapes before sticking together.
4. Using a pencil curl the antennae.

Ta-da…job done!

TEMPLATES
– – – – – – –
You can print out the template here.

Papercut butterfly

Scissor skills / Straight lines / Mr Octopus

August 7, 2015August 25, 2017 Kate 10 Comments

Hello there. I hope you are all enjoying your summer (or winter if you are south of the equator!). I saw this toilet roll octopus and it inspired me to put together this quick paper craft. It’s perfect for small children and gives them a great opportunity to practise their scissor skills.

Scissor skills / Straight lines / Mr Octopus

I’ve tried this craft out on a class of 4 and 5 year olds. They all really enjoyed it and everyone chose to make one. Hurray! The printable contains 2 octopuses so it’s also very economical if you are working with larger groups of children.

Scissor skills / Straight lines / Mr Octopus

YOU WILL NEED:
– – – – – – – – – –
+ A4 paper
+ Scissors
+ Glue or sticky tape
+ Wobbly eyes (you could use white stickers instead)
+ Hole punch

HOW TO
– – – – – – –

1. Print out the template (the pdfs are at the foot of the post). Set your printing preferences to ‘photo’ or ‘text and image’. Using a pair of scissors cut along all the dotted lines. If you printed the blank template then draw on suckers and a mouth.
2. Punch two holes in your octopus so that it can be hung when complete.
3. Glue or tape the tab into place
4. Curl the legs (most of the children I worked with needed a hand with this stage)
5. Stick eyes on your octopus. You can use wobbly eyes or white stickers.

TEMPLATES
– – – – – – –

Blank octopus template

Octopus template for blue paper

Octopus template for green paper

Octopus template for purple paper

Scissor skills / Straight lines / Mr Octopus

Confetti wrap // fruity edition

July 12, 2015August 25, 2017 Kate 7 Comments

Hello! I’ve just revamped my confetti wrap for Paperchase and have come up with this fruity version – perfect for summer. Nip over if you want to get the templates and read the how-to.

We’re counting down for the summer holidays at the moment. I think when they finally arrive we are all going to collapse in a heap! I hope you have got lovely summer plans ahead of you.

Confetti wrap // fruity edition