Decorated Eco Pencil Holder

Does your little monkey love scribbling and crafting with his friends? How about you help him make a lovely eco decorated pencil holder, which he could give as a present to a friend? Making a pencil holder could be very easy and great fun, and more importantly – using eco ingredients makes it safe for your kid and Earth-friendly.

We will be making the pencil holder using playdough, which we will then decorate and bake a bit in the oven to make it hard and steady. So… let’s get started!

What you would need

For the playdough:

1 cup of water
1 cup of plain flour
½ cup of salt
2 tbsps cream of tartar
2 tbsps vegetable oil

Wooden rolling-pin

For the decoration:

A selection of food colourings –
1/2tbs. turmeric powder (yellow)
A few drops of beetroot juice (pink)
A few drops of carrot juice (orange)
A few drops of blueberries juice (purple-blue)
A few drops of parsley and spinach juice (green)

First we need to make the playdough. You will need a saucepan, and mix in the flour, salt and cream of tartar together. Make a small hole well in the middle of the dry ingredients, and then carefully pour in the water, mixing in to create a smooth consistency. Now add the 2 tablespoons of oil, making sure that all ingredients are consistently combined.

The mixture will then need to be transferred onto a medium heat, during which time it will require constant stirring. It’s now time for mummy to take over the kiddie and make sure the child stays away from the hot-plate. Be careful – if you don’t stir the mixture enough or have the temperature up too high, the dough will burn easily.

You will notice that the dough eventually starts to ‘ball’, although it may be a bit sticky. However, once the dough has contracted from the sides of the pan and balled, you can then remove it from the heat and leave to cool for up to half an hour.

Once the playdough is ready, split it into two halves. Take one half and split it again into five equal batches of dough. Using your palms, make them look like balls – nice and round. You can now add your chosen food colouring to the three little balls, so you can have different-coloured balls – yellow, orange, pink, blue, and green.

Then take the other (uncoloured) half of the playdough. Using a rolling-pin, make it a bit flat, but make sure you don’t press too hard. We will need it to be around 1cm thick. Now mummy can take over the child again and using a knife, cut the dough, aiming for a (as perfect, as possible) square. Help your kid then fold the end, making the square a box-shaped – this is going to be your pencil holder. There is another option – you could make it round instead. Going back to the uncoloured part of the dough, take one small part of it away, and then make the rest of it round like a ball. Then using your fingers, start pressing it, so you make a “hole” in the middle. It will look like a tunnel you can see mummy through. Take the outstanding small bit of the playdough and using the rolling-pin, make it flat and 1cm thick. You can use a small glass to cut a round shape, which will be the bottom of your pencil-holder. Stick it to one side of the “tunnel”, making sure the bottom fits the tunnel size.

Now how about decorating it? – Using the coloured playdough and cookie shapes, make star, flower heart-shaped bits. Stick them to the sides of the pencil holder, but don’t press too hard. You could also use make your own natural paints from beetroot juice or mixing some turmeric powder with a few drops of water. Using your fingers or a brush, either colour the outer side of the pencil holder, or draw something. How about a Christmas tree or a star, so you give is a Christmas twist?

Once decorated according to your taste, give it to mummy to bring it back to the oven and bake it on a very slow power for at around 1 hour. Leave to cool and… voila! – You now have a very special home-made eco pencil holder, which you could give as a present to your friend!

If you have eco Christmas toddlers-crafts ideas, please email them to info@greenkiddie.co.uk for a chance to be featured on the website along with a link to your website/blog and a short bio.

Leave a Comment November 8, 2009

How Aloe Vera Can Help Treating Baby and Toddler’s Eczema

Aloe Vera has a long association with herbal medicine, although it is not known when its medical applications were first discovered. Aloe vera extracts have antibacterial and antifungal activities. It, actually, has got many properties, and to relieve eczema symptoms by moisturising and reducing the itchiness is just one of them.

In today’s days eczema in babies and small children is extremely common. It worries us as parents, but in many cases we feel unable to help much. The child’s skin gets inflamed and itchy, which makes the poor thing so miserable! The common mistake many parents make while trying to cure baby eczema is that they rely mainly on prescribed medications that only suppress the symptoms but won’t eliminate the underlying cause. There is always a lying problem underneath, no matter food allergy or other external or internal trigger. And infants are most prone to eczema because their immune system and digestive system are still developing. It is difficult to find out the reason usually, but what we can do is to try to avoid medicines fill of chemicals, which may trigger even more severe allergies, eczema and even asthma, and to find a natural treatment for the little sunshine.

It is true that skin care is an essential part in baby eczema treatment, but proper nutrition (baby’s and mother’s if breastfeeding) is also important as this is the only way to naturally strengthen the skin barrier, eliminate allergies and boost the immune system.

So How to Use Aloe Vera to Treat your Child’s Eczema

Aloe Vera is a miracle plant – it can sooth itching, moisturize skin, and reduce inflammation, associated with eczema.

As far as possible, you should use Aloe fresh from the plant, but remember it oxidises quickly upon exposure to air. If you cannot get Aloe fresh but only as a product, then be sure you get one that is as close to the natural plant as possible. Research or organic and 100% natural products online or check at your local health store.

If you apply Aloe topically, the fluids in Aloe Vera form a thin film on the surface of your baby’s skin. The juice will hydrate and moisture the skin. It will also help prevent from bacterial infection – common in cracked and dry eczema skin – due to its antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. Aloe Vera has the ability to penetrate to the inner layers of the skin, supplying moisture directly to the underlying tissue.

Another way to benefit from Aloe Vera properties is to be taken internally. So you can give it to your child (6 months +) as a juice – either before breakfast or before going to bed. Dr. Peter Atherton in one of his studies revealed that Aloe Vera works wonders on boosting child’s immune system. And by doing that it heals eczema.

Find other ways to treat eczema naturally.

Leave a Comment October 19, 2009