Friday 31 August 2012

Big and Little – Ballet School


Did you see Jillian's wonderful BIG pretend play ballet yesterday over at A Mom with a Lesson Plan? I can't wait to try it out with my girls. And now it is time for our LITTLE Ballet School. We had such fun making our ballet school... in fact we made two, one for Cakey and one for Boo.

Cakey's ballet school

We used a couple of empty nappy (diaper) boxes to make the ballet school studios. Cakey worked on her own, deciding to glue all the cardboard flaps down. She created a performance platform for the ballerinas inside her box.


Boo and I took a different tack and turned the box on its side. I taped our box closed, leaving one of the long cardboard flaps free. I wanted to make a mirror for the dance school studio. I taped down wooden paddle pop sticks to make the cardboard flap stand up. I then covered it with silver foil. We all decorated our ballet school studios by gluing down sheets of metallic card.... and then we left our schools to dry.

Paddle pop sticks holding up the ballet school studio mirror

The following morning we tackled the ballerinas. I got together everything we needed:
  • wooden peg dolls
  • cupcake patty pans for tutus
  • pipe-cleaners for arms
  • little flower felt pieces for hats
  • markers to draw faces
Ballet teacher
    The girls drew faces on the wooden peg dolls. I cut a cross in each of the cupcake patty tutus. Cakey and I poked the peg dolls through the holes and secured them with a little bit of sticky tape. Then we twisted the pipe-cleaners around for arms. I used the hot glue gun to secure the hats. While the hot glue gun was in action we decided to make the ballerinas a ballet bar from pipe-cleaners.


    Using a sharp knife I cut some holes in the cardboard boxes for the ballerinas to 'stand' in. Boo loved pulling them out and putting them back in again... they looked a little worse for wear after she played with them.

    I cut holes just the right size for a wooden peg doll

    Long after Boo and I had discarded our ballerinas, Cakey was still decorating and playing with her ballerinas. She turned her ballet school studio into a theatre and added a tissue paper curtain.


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    I hope you have enjoyed this month's BIG and LITTLE, it will be back again next month. If this is your first visit to at home with Ali – welcome. If you like it, you can follow along through our facebook page or subscribe via email or RSS. Cheers Ali


    Linked to Kids Get Crafty, It's Playtime and Kids Co-op
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    24 comments:

    1. Jackie@My Little Bookcase31 August 2012 at 21:46

      I just think this idea is so adorable. I love the use of the pretty cupcake liners.

      I also love the idea of the ballerinas twirling around on their stage.

      My Cam will love this.

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Unknown3 September 2012 at 22:15

        Thank you Jackie,they make so many cute cupcake liners these days - they make perfect tutus.

        Delete
    2. Cathy @ Nurturestore1 September 2012 at 05:34

      Oh my! My daughter is going to love this idea!

      ReplyDelete
    3. Jelli1 September 2012 at 06:30

      Love this. What a wonderful alternative to an expensive puppet theatre. Thanks for sharing.

      ReplyDelete
    4. hron1 September 2012 at 11:30

      Fabulous!!!! I can hardly wait to make these with my grand girls!!!! Thanks so much!

      ReplyDelete
    5. Unknown3 September 2012 at 22:57

      This is just such a gorgeous activity Ali! What joy shines through and yet there are some wonderful learning concepts too! Can't wait to get busy on something like this!Pinning to the Co-Op board for you now!

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Unknown6 September 2012 at 10:04

        Thanks Jode, as your girls get older they will hopefully love this. Thanks for pinning.

        Delete
    6. Megan @ CoffeeCupsandCrayons4 September 2012 at 00:21

      Those ballerinas are gorgeous! You can see how much fun they had with them!

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Unknown6 September 2012 at 10:05

        Ahh, we did, they are looking very crumpled now.

        Delete
    7. GianneCurry5 September 2012 at 06:36

      I love this!! My girly girls would get a kick out of this!! I enjoyed your cascading waters too and I wanted to share our pics. Thanks for the memories!!

      Gianne at cowsgomooandducksgoquack.blogspot.com

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Unknown6 September 2012 at 10:05

        Thanks so much. Can't wait to pop over and have a look at your pics.

        Delete
    8. Ness @ One Perfect Day5 September 2012 at 22:10

      This is just adorable. So so sweet. I'm featuring this on my blog on Friday as one of my faves from last week's Weekly Kids Co-op. I've shared it on the Co-op's FB wall as well.

      ReplyDelete
    9. Kimira6 September 2012 at 11:47

      Nice one. Its one of those spontaneous cardboard creation that we love to do at home. Reminds me of our hogwarts castle
      http://anjalicuric.blogspot.sg/2012/08/welcome-to-hogwarts.html

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Unknown8 September 2012 at 21:45

        Thanks for leaving the link to your blog, can't wait to check it out.

        Delete
    10. RedTedArt7 September 2012 at 03:14

      You know I love love love these ballerina's, don't you? How fabulous, that you made them a ballet school too. Adorable.

      Thanks for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!

      Maggy

      ReplyDelete
    11. Carrie7 September 2012 at 04:44

      These are so cute!! We will definitely be giving these a try next week after our first dance class!

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Unknown8 September 2012 at 21:46

        I hope you and your kids enjoy their first dance class and enjoy making ballerinas too.

        Delete
    12. Ellie8 September 2012 at 06:36

      These are amazing - so creative - love it!

      ReplyDelete

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