Get crafty
Make a real difference this summer with hands-on treasures worthy of Blue Peter
YOU WILL NEED:
Glass jar (a large empty coffee jar will be perfect), activated charcoal, moss, pebbles, soil, small plants, a teaspoon or tweezers.
INSTRUCTIONS:
✤ Fill the bottom of your glass jar with a layer of pebbles. This will help with drainage and moisture.
Add a small handful of activated charcoal to help filter and purify the water and stop it from smelling.
Add some moss. This acts as a barrier to stop all the soil from going to the bottom of the jar.
✤ Add the soil on top of the moss. Make sure you have enough to cover the roots.
✤ Bury your plants into the soil. You may need to use some long tweezers to do this.
✤ Add water to keep the soil moist then seal the jar. As long as the jar is sealed tight, you won’t need to water it again because the terrarium creates a small enclosed water cycle. Both the plants and soil in the terrarium will release moisture and water vapour that condenses against the glass and falls back into the soil to be used again. Clever stuff!
When parents think about crafting with their kids, they almost certainly think back to watching Blue Peter.
The TV show is the longest running children’s programme in the world – and it’s still going strong today. Remember the most famous “make” of them all in 1993, when Anthea Turner created a Thunderbirds’ Tracy Island?
Plenty of parents across the country sweated and swore over that one.
Fortunately though, there are some
Blue Peter crafts your kids can actually manage without your help – and with barely any sticky back plastic in sight!
Here are a few of our favourites. Give yourself a Blue Peter badge if you complete them all…
YOU WILL NEED:
A clean glass jar, which you can decorate however you like, 300g of any kind of sugar, 100ml of olive, almond or coconut oil, few drops of peppermint extract or peppermint essential oil, few drops of green food colouring. INSTRUCTIONS:
✤ Put the sugar in a bowl and add the oil and peppermint extract/essential oil until your scrub is sticky, but not sloppy. If it’s too dry, add a little bit more oil. If it’s too wet, add a little bit more sugar.
✤ Add a couple of drops of green food colouring and mix well until it’s a pretty pastel green.
✤ Add your mixture to a decorated jam jar and screw the lid on tight.
✤ Give it to someone you love as a pressie.