Keepin' 2 Boys Busy

Here comes the Big Bad Wolf!

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Tue, 29 Oct 2019 15:02:00 +0000

In Grade 7, Hasan had a Fairy Tale Monologue assignment. He chose to do the Big Bad Wolf from The Three Little Pigs story. He was supposed to be dressed as the character so the challenge for me had begun! I didn't want to spend any money on this project. There are wolf masks for sale online but they were pretty expensive for something that would be used only once and it wouldn't have arrived on time. After a lot of googling I came across a video from Scribble. The only thing I had to buy to make the mask was masking tape.

Work in progess

It took me an afternoon to make this and I loved the whole process. It's been a long time since I've done something like this. For the claws, we already had at home the claw gloves Hasan is wearing. We had bought them for Bilal from Ikea when he was in SK.

Overall, it turned out really good and Hasan did an amazing job on the monologue. It was hilarious and I couldn't stop watching it! His teacher loved it so much that she will be using it the following year to show the next class as an example.

Islamic Geometric Art

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Tue, 29 Oct 2019 14:48:00 +0000

It's been ages since I've posted here. I love the concept of this blog being a record of the arts and crafts my boys do but as they get older we haven't been doing much. Recently, Bilal had a project for Islamic Heritage Month. The project was very open ended and he was to explore Islamic Arts. We settled on geometric designs that could be found on Masjids. We both have been trying to draw different geometric designs using YouTube videos. The above is done by Bilal.

Ramadan Lapbook

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Thu, 07 Aug 2014 04:07:00 +0000

Left lapbook is Bilal's, Right Lapbook is Hasan's

A little while ago, Bilal made a Fireman Lapbook that he really enjoyed. Hasan was in school at the time and also showed interest in making lapbooks so I told him once summer started we would work on some. Since it was Ramadan when the summer began I thought it would be a great idea to make a Ramadan Lapbook. I found all the printables for making the Ramadan Lapbook over at Umm Abdul Basir's Sharing Our Homeschool Adventure.

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Bedsheet Fort

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Fri, 04 Jul 2014 20:02:00 +0000

Summer vacation has started which means the boys need things to keep themselves busy. The Wii has been shut off so I keep hearing "I'm bored". I think kids need to learn to deal with boredom and to find ways to entertain themselves. But sometimes they also need a little help in doing something with their imagination.

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Clothespin Airplane

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 03:07:00 +0000

When we moved into our home a few years ago, the previous owner left a bunch of clothespins. I've never used them but thought they could come in handy for some crafts. One day when my nephew was visiting, I had him and Hasan make some Clothespin Airplanes. The ones above are made by Hasan and Bilal. It was a very simple and quick craft to do. Out of all the things my boys have made, they played with these airplanes the most.

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Tying Knots

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 03:08:00 +0000

I had seen this activity on Teach Preschool a long time ago and initially wanted to get Hasan to do it.

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Fishing in the Backyard

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 16:04:00 +0000

With warmer weather the boys love playing outside. They were playing lots of soccer but now that the vegetables and flowers have been planted we want to give them some other activities outside so they don't destroy the garden.

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Fireman Lapbook

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Fri, 02 May 2014 22:33:00 +0000

Fireman Lapbook Cover

I find Bilal is very interested in doing school work so I've started to do more activities at home with him since he has a few months before he goes to school. He loves cutting, writing and doing worksheets. He is really good at keeping himself busy and loves to do things independently. I found the template for this Fireman Lapbook over at Homeschool Creations. Not only did we make the lapbook but we did some of the extra worksheets that can be found at Homeschool Creations.

Clothespin Caterpillar

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 03:15:00 +0000

We have a ton of clothespin that we never use so I thought they would be good to use in crafts for the boys. I saw this idea on Somewhere in the Middle. We made ours into magnets. We put 2 small pieces of magnets which have adhesive on the back. We should have used more magnets because they weren't very strong. We made this craft when my nephew was over visiting. The Clothespin Caterpillar pictured above was made by Hasan. Bilal was not feeling well at the time so opted out. I used this to hang Hasan's Napkin Man on the fridge.

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Paper Bag Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 01:00:00 +0000

Today Bilal made this Paper Bag Tree. I found this on Pikadilly Charm. It looked very simple to make. Bilal loved twisting the brown paper bag to make the branches. When he was done he wanted to add some red leaves to his tree.

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Q-Tip Apple Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Sun, 29 Dec 2013 04:54:00 +0000

It has been a long time since I posted something on this much neglected blog. Now that the winter holidays are here I need to keep the boys busy so I'm trying to get them to do some more arts and crafts.

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Button Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 03:47:00 +0000

Bilal's is on the left, Hasan's on the right.

While we were clearing out my parents place in March I came across my mom's tin box full of buttons...I knew they would be great for some crafts for the boys.

Toilet Paper Roll Snowman

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 15:12:00 +0000

Another snowman craft made my Hasan. I saw this idea on Crafts By Amanda. She also made children out of toilet paper rolls as well. They looked so cute I had to get Hasan to make one of them. I love her idea of how to make the earmuffs...very creative! This was the first time Hasan used the hot glue gun. Everything dried very quickly. We didn't paint the toilet paper roll because I wanted to finish this craft in one sitting.

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Styrofoam Snowman

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 15:49:00 +0000

Finally a post for this much neglected blog...I figure I'd better get this one up before winter is over. I have another snowman craft coming up after this too!

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Oil Pastel Butterfly

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 03:33:00 +0000

I bought Hasan some oil pastels a while ago and I've been lost on what to get him to do with them. I'm surprised that I even bought them because oil pastels were my least favorite thing to do in school...they were so messy. But now I have them so I should use them. After some googling I came across this idea on ehow.com.
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Creepy Crawlers

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 03:08:00 +0000

When we started this craft we were supposed to be making these ladybugs but I didn't exactly remember how they were after we started the project. So this is what we ended up. Bilal made the three on the left and Hasan's are on the right. Bilal loved dipping his brush in different colours and making each one very colourful. Hasan stuck to one colour for each one. They both needed some help sticking the pipe cleaner in for the antennas. After they were all done Bilal loved scratching the googly eyes off and pulling out the pipe cleaners. Hasan's are still intact and sitting on the TV with his butterfly and octopus.

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Colouring on Corrugated Cardboard

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 03:10:00 +0000

Bilal's on the left, Hasan's on the right.

Before Bilal was born I used to take Hasan to the Ontario Early Years Centre. We would go to a session called Messy Play which when I first read that title I thought this was not for Hasan. Hasan hates getting messy...as soon as something gets on his hands he has to clean it...finger painting was never his thing. But everything wasn't "messy" and he really enjoyed the time he spent there. Once when we were there they had corrugated cardboard laid out on a table. The activity was to dip a toy car in paint and run it back and forth on the corrugated cardboard to make tracks. Since I was having both the boys do this I had them use oil pastels.
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Toilet Paper Roll Octopus

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 02:50:00 +0000

I saw this craft a long time ago and thought it would be good to do with Hasan. It's pretty simple and I've seen it on numerous websites. The hardest thing for Hasan was waiting for the paint to dry. We completed it in two days because Bilal woke up early from his nap after Hasan was done painting.

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Scissors and Paper

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 23:54:00 +0000

I was very hesitant to put up this post. It seemed like a very obvious activity to do with kids but sometimes the most obvious things don't always come to mind. Also this blog is a record of the things my boys do as they grow up...and this is something they love to do. When Hasan was around 2 years old I had him start to use scissors. My cousin Sameena told me how her son loved to cut paper with scissors and it was great for developing motor skills. So I started having Hasan cut up paper into small bits. I got the scissors pictured above and was really disappointed. They are made by Melissa and Doug and their products are usually very good quality. Hasan always had trouble cutting with them. And now Bilal (pictured above) also has a tough time although he claims that he is doing everything just fine.

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Styrofoam Jellyfish

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 03:26:00 +0000

I saw this craft on Crafts by Amanda. Hasan made the ones pictured above and although they don't look as good as the ones Amanda made, he had a lot of fun making them which is the goal of any activity we do. In the original craft you are supposed to paint the styrofoam half which would look really good. I didn't do that because then I would have the boys start the craft and then have to make them wait for the paint to dry before they could continue. I wanted to complete this craft in one sitting. I was also lazy to get the googly eyes so Hasan just drew them on with a marker. Bilal had a hard time with this craft and in the end just played with the pipe cleaners.
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Tissue Paper Flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 04:45:00 +0000

It's been a long time since I posted anything on this blog. I've had a few posts to do but just never got around to doing them. I had Hasan make these flowers for my mom on Mother's Day. I had taken Bilal to the library one day and they had a program going on. One of the crafts they were making were these flowers. It was hard to get Bilal interested in it but I knew it was something perfect for Hasan to make. They are very simple to make.

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A Picture for Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:14:00 +0000

With spring here this is a great picture to make with your little one. I had Hasan make this picture but it was nowhere near spring when we made it. We used the method from the Cotton Ball Snowman to make the clouds. To make the petals on the flowers we used the method from the Scrunched Tissue Paper Flowers. Hasan used a dot marker to colour in the grass but you can use crayons or paint. I drew the picture with a pencil and had Hasan do the rest!

Making Mini Volcanos

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 17:30:00 +0000

Recently I saw this activity at Teach Preschool. When I saw this I knew it was something Hasan would love to do. It's very simple and uses household items. I used apple cider vinegar but I would recommend using white vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is pretty stinky. Hasan loved this activity and it kept him occupied for awhile. Near the end he was complaining that his eyes were burning. I waited for Bilal to go down for his nap so Hasan could play undisturbed.

Styrofoam Pounding

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 03:15:00 +0000

It's been a long time since I posted anything on this blog. Things over at Chocolate & Chillies have been keeping me busy. I wanted to share with you this activity I did with my boys. A while ago my friend was visiting from Louisiana and she had her kids doing this activity. It's very simple and kids love it. It is kids banging golf tees into a piece of styrofoam. I wouldn't do this with a large group of kids because it can get dangerous. I had trouble pulling out some of the pounded in golf tees.

Craft Stick Fish

noreply@blogger.com (Chocolate & Chillies) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 04:45:00 +0000

I saw this craft in Easy Fun Crafts with Everyday Items. I have a bunch of craft sticks and it looked very simple. In the book they used bigger sticks...mine were the size of Popsicle stick. I didn't have enough of one colour so I mixed it up. I let Hasan pick the colours. We glued a couple of magnets on the back and Hasan gave it to his Nani (maternal grandmother).