After the success of our peruvian drums, we built a colourful xylophone with some old pencils, polystyrene and cardboard.  It is very easy to make and you can easily find all you need for this project in your crafts box.

1. Cut a piece of cardboard 24 cm long, with 14 cm width at one end 9 cm at the opposite end.

2. Cut two strips of polystyrene (height 18 cm – width 3 cm – depth 1cm).

3. Attach the polystyrene strips to the cardboard with glue.

4. Dig 8 grooves in the polystyrene with the scalpel leaving regular spaces in between. The grooves on one strip need to correspond exactly to the groves on the other polystyrene strip as the pencil will need to slot in.

5. Paint the polystyrene strips and the base and let I dry before moving on to the next step.

6. Make sure your pencils are different in colour and size; then start slotting them in the polystyrene grooves from the longest to shortest alternating the pointed side.

7. Once you are happy with the positioning of the pencils attach them with glue.

8. Put a heavy book over the top to help the pencils to stick better to the glue in the polystyrene grooves.

9. Make two playing drums with two wooden kebab sticks and two wooden beads.

The ice cream we like comes in plastic tabs, which are quite resistant and could simply be reused just as they are for storing food. I like to get creative with them and turn them into prettier versions so this time I decorated them with old brown paper and glue.

The supplies you need for this project are: empty ice cream tubs (plastic ones), vinyl glue, a paint brush, labels, scissors, a pointed tool, brown paper, water based varnish.

1. Wash the ice cream pots – lids included – and dry them.

2. Make some holes at the bottom of the pot with the pointed tool. They will let the excess water out of the vase when the plants are watered.

3. Cut the brown paper in different shapes and sizes by just using your hands.

4. Prepare your mix of vinyl glue and water (75% glue and 25% water)

5. Apply the glue mix onto the outside of the box and start laying the pieces of paper. The order is not important; in fact the effect of paper on top of other paper gives a nice consistency and texture. Leave to dry.

6. Cover the lids with the paper too; they will work as trays to catch the excess water from the pots.

7. When the pots are dry you may want to add labels, which I made with white paper.

8. Finish with water based varnish to seal the pots and trays.

9. Plant your herbs.

 I particularly like their Home Sweet Home cushions and the kids gardening tools, which are perfect as a spring gift and encourage outdoor play.  With the convenient parcel delivery to the UK you can easily shop for lovely items from the comfort of your computer desk.

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Here are some delicious ideas from the web to celebrate
Easter.  The Easter chick muffins by Birds
on a Cake are almost too cute to eat! The vanilla sugar cakes by Nish Whips up
a dish are as cute as they are inviting, it would be fun to make them with kids
(the full recipe is on the site). The butterfly and flower cookies by Mrs Fox’s
Sweets are a work of art and we could not leave out a few creations by Martha Stuart.
I love the chocolate eggs inside real eggs, the cereal crunchy critters and
these fabulous carrot parcels filled with jelly beans.

These custom made soaps for kids from Soapsational Favors are only an example of the amazing soap shapes available from this interesting Etsy shop. These glycerin soaps are colourful and fun, but they could be easily mistaken for sweets so very young children should not be left unsupervised with them.