10 lockdown activities to inspire creativity

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Lockdown through the winter months has definitely been the hardest one for me as a mum. Alyssa struggled and got cabin fever and I struggled trying to home school her. I think there were so many parents feeling the same. 

But one thing that has surprised me during this lockdown is how creative we seem to have become. The time gave us both the opportunity to try lots of new and different things that we have always wanted to do but never seem to get around to.

And not only were they things for Alyssa but also for myself too!!

Here are 10 of my favourite creative things that  we got up to.

Potato printing. Alyssa really enjoyed potato printing and I think she thought I had gone slightly mad when I started carving up potatoes ready to make stamps to dip in the paint. It was messy but lots of fun and inexpensive which is always a bonus. When we had finished we used the last of the paint to make marble pictures. We did this by  drawing around a round cake tin cutting the paper to fit inside the tin. Then we dropped a marble in one of the colours of paint then put it in the cake tin and tilted the tin so the marble rolled around leaving a trail of colour. Then swapping it out to a different colour and building a beautiful and very colourful pictures.

Play dough. I found a recipe online to make our own play dough and it was so easy to do. I use food colouring to make different colours and Alyssa had great fun making things and actually so did I. When we had finished I just put it in a plastic bag and popped it in the fridge. It keeps really well and lasts for ages!

Salt dough. Once again I found an online recipe and we made the salt dough together. We dried our creations in the oven on parchment paper on very low heat  and then once they had dried out and cooled down, we painted them and coated them with a clear varnish.

Collage. While out on one of our country walks we decided see what we could collect to make a picture. We found leaves and twigs, dried grasses and some feathers. We went home and made collage. It was surprising how many different shapes and colours of leaves we had found. The end result was fabulous and Alyssa was really proud. So we decided to make another collage but this time by using things in the house. We used buttons, dried pasta, rice and lentils ribbons and string. Wool and colour paper that we cut from a glossy magazine. I had forgotten how much fun making a collage was. We then got some script fonts online and added some words she loved to the collage.

Stained glass window picture. We really enjoyed creating a stained glass window of our own. We make a frame by just cutting  a shape out of the centre of a piece of paper. I did a star and Alyssa wanted to do a heart shaped one. We started by tearing different colour tissue paper up and  then gluing them together overlapping some to make a kaleidoscope of colour inside the frame.

Tea light jar.  This idea came from making the stained glass window. Covering a jam jar in different colour tissue paper with pva glue and popping a tea light in made the most beautiful centerpiece on the table in the evenings.

Papier Mache piggy bank. This was quite a long project and we had to do a little bit each day. We started by blowing up a balloon then gradually covering it with papier mache. Where the balloon was tied was the snout and we used a Demijohn cork for the snout stopper and left a slit on the top to put money on and four little legs made of papier mache. Once dry we popped the balloon and pulled it out and then painted and varnished our piggy’s.

Teddy bears picnic. Taking a double sheet we made a fabulous den by draping the sheet over the back of the sofa. Then we got into the kitchen and made mini jam sandwiches just the right size for teddy bears to eat. Although Alyssa and I did help them a little.

Sewing. I have recently bought myself a sewing machine.  And my first project was to make a cover for the machine. I made a template out of paper and bought some cheap calico online. Stitched  it all together and it fits!  That will keep the dust off my lovely new machine.

Cross stitch. Alyssa wanted to learn to sew, but of course she’s not quite ready for the sewing machine. So I bought her some blinka. This is a fabric with holes in. And with a plastic needle and some wool for leftover knitting projects Alyssa was away. Although I tried to show her cross stitch she ended up making her own design. I would call it spaghetti stitch!

These are just a handful of things we did. We really enjoyed the quality time together making memories and keepsakes from our lockdown days.