This week, we painted apples. For no other reason than - we were out walking in a local orchard, my daughter found a few slightly manky apples on the ground, and asked if we could paint them. Who am I to argue with a 3 year old? We don't do painting too often, as it takes so long to set up, protect the dining table, get all the paints ready, etc. We tend to stick to creative activities that cause less mess, like using chalk or paint sticks. But when she's really excited about something, I try not to quash that, so painting it was! This time,…

*This post contains affiliate links* If you haven't yet discovered paint sticks, get some now! They're truly amazing, and so much fun. Paint sticks are basically a thick poster paint, squished into a stick. They're easy to use and don't create any mess, so if you're like me, and the amount of faff puts you off painting too often, paint sticks are perfect for you! No need to wear an apron. No need to protect your table (if your child can use pens and crayons without making too much mess, they'll be able to use paint sticks!). No need to wash any brushes afterwards. It's painting, without…

This is a craft that I've been wanting to do with my girls for ages now - handprint paintings! The girls are currently 9 months old and nearly 3 years old, so this seemed like the perfect time to do this sisters' craft. The baby is old enough that she can make paint handprints (with an awful lot of help, of course!), but still young enough that she has cute baby hands, and you can easily see the size difference between the two girls' handprints. Although it looks like this handprint painting was done on one day, we actually did each girl's handprints separately - it seemed…