Oh, how I wish I found these awesome Geeky snow creatures while there was still snow! The snow has melted here in the Netherlands, but you might still have a chance to make these where you are. They are great inspiration for next year either way, and Prince sang we could have snow in April.. so who knows?

This R2-D2 is so cool, they even managed to include blue color! Adding color to snow or ice is easy to do (my neighbor told me how). Just add some water paint based dye. She did that to water, before it froze over, but it works just as well in snow.

Exterminate.. hibernate? This Dalek snowman doesn’t really strike fear in me, but it’s still cool. I love the creative way they created his weapon. She shape isn’t too hard, so this goes on my shortlist for next winter.. The Batman made out of snow is really a piece of art. It was made by students and just looks amazing. Maybe Robert Pattinson should go white it the next Batman movie? 😉

When you are looking for creative thing online it’s easy to get discouraged. There is always someone who can do it better than you.. like these Dutch siblings and their Lego snowman. He is over 3 meters tall and looks amazing. It started out as a joke, when the snow wouldn’t stick together well enough to create a regular snowman. The brother and sister started using a crate as a mold, and the resulting shape looked like a Lego brick. The idea for this sculpture was born. The snow is all but melted now, but I am sure that this snowman will last for a few more days!      

Avatar the Last Airbender is probably the best animated series ever, so I couldn't wait to introduce my girls to Aang and his team. We only had the finale to go, and I wanted to do something special. Corona leaves us with plenty of time, so we made a day out it: Avatar day.

Needless to say: Evy and Lise loved the idea of Avatar day. The day before I asked them which element they identified with, Evy loves Katara and chose water. Lise is our little rebel and wanted to be a firebender.

Decorations: It was clear that they saw Avatar day as a party (and it was!), so we couldn't do without garlands and balloons. I used the symbols for earth, water, air and fire to make paper garlands. I printed the symbols, cut them out and glued them to colored paper. I also drew the symbols on some balloons.

Gifts/apparel: I found some white shirts, and drew the symbols for water and fire on them with textile markers. I like to make jewelry too, so I printed the symbols and used resin to make pendants for a cute necklace. They LOVED both of them.

​Crafts/coloring pages: My eldest loves making things and drawing, so I really needed to print some coloring pages..
She is 5 years old, so needed help to make the Cubee papercraft figures, but cuting out the parts was good practice :-)
Making one Cubee takes a while, so we completed the whole team in the following week. You can download the Cubees here! 

ctivities/experiments: The four elements are mysterious and amazing to (young) Geeklings. A great way to combine fun with some education. My girls are very young, so I used some very simple experiments.

• Water: We put M&Ms on a plate, introduce water and you get a rainbow of colors..
• Water: rub your hair with a balloon to create static electricity, a small stream of water will now move when you out your hand next to it. You can bend water!
• Fire/air: Light a candle and put a glass over it, the fire will go out. Explain how air fuels water.
• Air: Blow bubbles outside, or make a kite and watch it fly like Aang does with his staff!
• Sight: Toph is blind, and 'sees' with her feet. Blindfold your child and let them find their way by sound, or (when a bit older) by vibrations.
• We also dyed some fabric in the right colors and attached  some sticks to them, so simulate bending. It was lovely to watch them dancing around :-)

Lunch: I wanted to make a fun lunch, so I dyed pudding in the colors of the four elements. Earth was imitated with some chocolate, and I used broccoli as trees. The colors of fire where present in cherry tomatoes, an snacksize bell peppers. Cheese straws represented the staff of Aang.

After lunch we watched the last three episodes. My eldest cried at the reunion of Zuko and uncle Iroh :-) Sometimes she hid her face in pillows when it was too excited. We had a great time and snacked on the cupcakes I made. I didn't have time for difficult decorations, so just used some butter cream in the elements colors.
After watching tv it was time to play outside. I made a plate with the face of firelord Sozin on it. My Geeklings attacted them their water pistols.. it might have been the favorite part of their day :-P

Place a rack on a bucket (or something similar) to collect the paint you spill. Then put the stones on this rack. Pour two different colors of paint in a cup. Don't stir! Then pour the paint over the stones, make sure to cover every part of them. My girls are 3 and 5 and could do this themselves. It made them really proud :-) The stones will take some time to dry, at least 24 hours.

I let my Geeklings pick the colors they wanted to use and was suprised by the combinations they chose. They worked really well, even if I didn't think they would. The result is a hand made treasure. 

After making the cardboard castle it was time to create a king and queen to live in it. I really like to use peg dolls, they can be anything and are very child friendly.

In this case I gave my Geeklings the chance to make a drawing, to show what the peg dolls should look like. This keeps children busy for a while longer ;-) You can decorate the wooden dolls with felt-tip pens, or with paint. The pens are easier to use for children.
​
In this case I was the one who made the dolls, with paint and felt for the clothes. And a royal family can't do without their crowns.. I had some gold paper, but used felt as a base for stability. How do you like the result?

I ordered two bracelet sets for my girls (5 and 3 years old). A lot of the products were already sold out, but I found designs I hoped they'd like. A jungle/Tropical Birds theme for my youngest and Funky Animals theme for my oldest. When they arrived I was a bit disappointed by the packaging, I know the sets are quite cheap, but I just like cardboard better than plastic.

Making your bracelet is very easy, just put the tiles on the bracelet. The bracelet itself is sturdy but flexible and fits on any wrists and closes easily, and the tiles really don't fall off. Even for my youngest it was easy to make the bracelet, despite the size of the tiles. Making the bracelet will keep children busy for some time, especially the perfectionists like my eldest. 
​
My girls and I love Lego Dots, but have one more criticism: Lego supplies more tiles than you need, even if you want to fill the whole bracelet. This is nice, and gives you the opportunity to change it if you like. But.. how to save these tiles from getting lost?? A resealable bag would be nice, but this is not included. I guess storage for Lego Dots will be available in time.. Check out all Lego Dots products here. 

Part two in the Corona Crafts series is a cardboard castle. It is easiest to use a box you already have, but you can also cut out squares and make a box that way. I love this craft, because it's inexpensive (you probably have all materials lying around), and most of them are waste. So recyling is another bonus! You can also take as much time as you like. Make this a afternoon project, or take several days to complete it.
 
This is what we did.

Step 1: Cut out squares to make a box, as small or big as you like. You'll need four to make one castle (walls and floor).

Step 2: Decorate! You can use paint (easy and quick), or use paper, textile, stickers and every other materials you have. We used wallpaper samples I still had and also some wrapping paper.

Step 3: Make a door, use stanley knife or hobby knife to do it. Try to make sure the doors can still open and close.

Step 4: If you are working from scratch, assemble the box. Use hot glue if you can, it's so much better than regular hobby glue!

Step 5: Make four castle towers out of toilet rolls. Decorate them and make 'hats' out of thicker paper, or (as we did) from felt. Cut slits in the underside add some glue and slide them on the corners of your castle.

Step 6: Ready to play! Have a look at the castles my Geeklings made, all girly for Evy, and a dinosaur theme for Lise ;-)
 
The next craft: making the king and queen and prince and princess to live in the casle.

If you are reading this then you are probably spending more time at home than usually. All schools are closed in the Netherlands and we are practicing social distancing. Hopefully this will flatten the curve! Our Geeklings are home 24/7, which is a challenge..  Time for crafts! It keeps us busy, is good for hand-eye coordination and also lots of fun. So this is part one of Corona crafts!

Creating designs with perler beads/iron beads is easy, time consuming, and good to practice fine motor skills. I was done with the regular shapes, so I spend some time online to find Geeky patterns to share with you! The unicorns are one of my favorites, not complex and very cute. In the end I made a unicorn and rabbit with and for Evy, and pikachu and Iron Man for Lise. I found out that Lise (four in June) is a bit to young for this craft. After playing with de beads for five minutes she just wanted to wrestle with her dad ;-)

Check out this instruction on perler beads, it's easy, but the ironing can take some tries to get it right. And please tag me in the results if you are making your own!

Wallpaper is a great way to create a nice atmosphere in a children's room. Especially now that it's easier than ever to apply. You only need to apply glue to the wall when you use non woven wallpaper, and it's very easy to remove.

Wallpaper is mostly available on rolls, but Rebel Walls makes custom made wallpaper. This means the murals are made to fit your wall, so you don't have any hassle with patterns that don't completely fit. More importantly, the designs are amazing and can help create the Geeky room your Geekling loves.

The designs House Warming, Swedish Forest and Woods of Wonder create the look of a enchanted forest. Filled with mushrooms, plants and owls. The Cliff Castle creates wonderfull mystery, who lives in this castle? In what mystical land was it build? If your Geekling loves sci-fi, or outerspace then you can't go wrong with Star Galaxy. R2D2 or the Enterprise would fit right in. We are Rots is also space themed, combined with robots.

Check all the designs out at ​www.rebelwalls.com

Lego releases two BrickHeadz, the Mandalorian and the Child, sold together for €18,95. You can strap a blaster rifle to The Mandalorian’s back and put a blaster pistol in this bounty hunter’s hand. Create a hoverpram for the Child and adjust its ears for happy and sad expressions.

​Hasbro's best is surely the animatronic, sold for a reasonable €69,99. He can move his head, eyes and ears and has a lot of sound effects, such as happy, excited, tired and sleeping sounds. He can even act like he uses the force, by lifting his hand, closing his eyes and sighing.  

​More merchandise can be found here on Zavvi, such as Funko's, pluches and shirts. 

Papercraft your own
But you don't need a lot of money, and don't have to wait to own your own baby Yoda.. you can also make cute baby Yoda (paper)crafts. Your Geeklings will love to make something with you. You can start with easier papercrafts such as this printable, or the cubee baby Yoda. A lot more complex is this 3D model, for older children or parents. And if you're not into papercraft, why not make this hot bead model I found on Instagram?