There is nothing more precious than spending time with your children – for both them and you. Half term was a marvellous opportunity to do this and it need not be expensive. We spent quality time together playing Superheroes (and Villains) and Lego, inspired by watching The Lego Movie. I am currently planning a Superheroes party for my youngest son’s 5th birthday and so it was a great time to test a few things out. We made dens, home-made Superheroes villains costumes from our normal clothes, and built a Batcave.
We started by building the den. Really simply we just turned the corner sofa so it was back to back, got some old quilt covers and pegged them across it. To make it a bit more comfortable we put cushions inside. My youngest was the only one awake when I helped him build it and he thought it was amazing. But when the next son came down (aged 6) the beauty of parenting was even more magical as he excitedly told me it was the Batcave (his younger brother LOVES Batman). With that my youngest proceeded to get changed into one of his Batman costumes.
Somewhere along the line there was talk of the Green Lantern (who I must not confuse with the Green Goblin, this Marvels Vs DC is taking some getting used to). Suddenly we were raiding the dressing up to see if we could do home-made superheroes villains costumes of The Green Lantern and Cyborg.. The Green Lantern is really simple in that it is basically a green top and black trousers. We then made a medallion and cuffs using toilet roll holders and a bit of card.
Later on I went a bit further and ordered a plain green t-shirt from E-bay and bought some white paint from Hobbycraft to paint the Green Lantern emblem onto the top (it looked simple enough). From previously painting a Halloween t-shirt I knew what to do. However, we did not have the right fabric to use as a barrier. I *thought* that the cardboard would do the job.
Needless to say I never considered how hard painting over dark green with white would be! Several coats later I left it to dry overnight. Unfortunately, the paint had run underneath the cardboard and the paint had glued itself to the t-shirt. The final result really wasn’t what I had hoped for, but guess what?, my little boy was over the moon!!!
We also got out the face paints and I quite simply painted a Green Lantern mask on. I’m not expert on face painting, and really cannot draw, but again my son was delighted! Next was the turn of my 6 year old. He decided to be Cyborg. I had never heard of him (if I’m honest) and together we figured out how you spelt it so I could Google him. My son decided that he needed just to wear all white clothes, and that his face should be painted so that one side was like a robot. The other important point, he explained carefully, was that the eye should be red – for his laser.
Not only did the children enjoy playing (and spending time with me), but their ability to explain to me about the characters I feel really helped them in so many ways (including language, self-esteem and self-confidence).
They enjoyed it so much that we did it again – but with their Dad too J
Excellent! Love the faces
Utterly briiliant love that mirror pic
Loving the idea of making a bat cave. We must do some den building at home soon.
I love this! So creative ☺️ I can’t wait for my little one to be older so I can make dens with them!
My daughters always loved to dress up when they were little & were never happier when we made dens & things out of cardboard boxes. The boys obviously had a fantastic time & loved every minute.
What a great idea and I totally agree with you about it being a wonderful learning experience too. You learn best when you’re engaged and having fun. I think I’ve managed to get myself into organising a ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ treasure hunt for my daughter, as you do! I may need help 🙂
My boys would adore you! Mine are only 2 and 4 but I can;t wait for days like these!
Such a fun thing to do! Makes me think we should do some den-building this week… thanks x
Oh, i LOVE this. We are seeing the lego movie next week for my nieces birthday and we cannot wait x
Loving the scary face paints!!!
Honey i am in awe your den building skill are far far superior than mine!! i fail to get them to stay up!! I think he will have an amazing birthday if this was only a dry run honey!
thanks for linking up with #MagicMoments x
That looks like so much fun together. Love the face painting!
It is amazing how children love superheroes isn’t it! Looks like you have been having lots of superhero (and villan!) fun over half term!
Fantastic face painting!!
Looks like everyone had great fun x
Wow! Could I come to your house to play please? That looks like so much fun and the face paints are really impressive!
Love the face painted and the T shirt too. It might not have lived up to your expectations, but often our children just love that we tried.
LOVE the face painting, and indoor dens are so much fun! The t-shirt designs are brilliant!
Looks like they have had a lovely time there creating their own superhero outfits. Great use of a half term day
Great linky, I’ve joined in for the first time 🙂 fab post too! Will add your linky badge to my linky page later 🙂 😀 x
That’s great. It’s amazing how much fun we can have at home isn’t it
Looks like they are having a great time, love the face painting xx
Can I come live at your house?
I am LOVING The Joker! Your boys look positively thrilled. I would hire you as party entertainer!
Oh wow, the face paint job looks fantastic!
Fab post and what a great idea for a birthday party (patent it quick – I may be stealing it!) I took half term off and I loved it – being a mum and doing the day to day things was so much fun. FYI – get an encyclopedia re Marvel v’s every other Superhero – it gets VERY complicated. This would also be an awesome linkup for our #minicreations linky on Wednesday via KidGLloves – hope to see you there. Loved reading this and the photos were great x #magicmoments
That looks like so much fun! A super hero’s party sounds so much fun. I am currently planning Baby an Alice in Wonderland party for her 1st x
Very nice! exquisite funny faces!
Very nice! exquisite funny faces!
They look amazing x great fun #magicmoments
Wow, those costumes are amazing! My two love dressing up too – it’s helped pass many a rainy afternoon in our house.
Great linky. I am sorry I haven’t had a chance to join in. But I do read your post. I am loving your blog and glad I found it!!! Looks like a lot of fun was had by all! Great faces and pictures.
Fab facepaints and costumes! Looks like they had a brilliant time.
Wow what a fun jam packed time you guys had and I must say how cool are you for all the effort you went too! Superhero fun rocks!
Katie x
There is some serious fun going on in your house!
And you are an arty mummy!
Great times x
What great fun! The boys looked like they had a fantastic time and I’m sure the party is going to be just brilliant!
I think you did a fantastic job – and the tops and faces are amazing! Looks like you had very happy superheroes 🙂
Aw they look like they had an awesome time! the face paint it fab
What a fantastic party! The face painting is amazing, I’m so impressed!
What a great thing to do, you are such a cool mum! Love super heroes but my little boy isn’t into them at all yet. One day….
Oh wow what a brilliant thing to do Joy, you are awesome. They look absolutely amazing 🙂
the face painting is excellent! they all look so good!
you are such a great Mum and do all these amazing (and messy) craft activities !! No wonder your boys look so happy 🙂 i love the idea of a super heroes thrmed party that is awesome!!! x x
They look so cool – I’m surprised they didn’t want mummys Mr Blobby costume – after all that was worn by a hero!
The superhero activities look like so much fun!
Some good old fashioned fun! The boys look great! You are so talented! I’m sure that was lots of fun!
Wow it looks like you’ve been having lots of fun! Love the face paints.
Popping back from #LetKidsBeKids linky, I love this super hero fun! Thanks for linking x
Fab ideas! Your little ones look like they had such a great time!
What a lot of fun. Love when they pick one theme and it promps so many other activities. Love the face painting. The mouth of the two face is brilliant! I was going to suggest a bleach pen for the tshirts, but I’ve not used it with my children, so your method is probably better/safer. Have you tried freezer paper? It stops the paint seeping.
BRILLIANT face painting! I’m going to order some now – Mark is good at that sort of thing and I want to see what he can come up with 😀
What a fab post, I miss mine being little as I used to love making fancy dress costumes. Not sure it would go down to well now with 2 Teenagers xxx
This looks amazing – you’re a fab mum x x
This looks amazing – you’re a fab mum x x
The face painting looks like great fun x #LetKidsBeKids
It sounded and looked liked u had so much fun at very little expense popping over from #letkidsbekids
That looks like brilliant fun and making your own costumes is so much nicer (and cheaper) than buying them.
Oh that looks like fun – I love the den, and making it into the bat cave is just genius!
My son adores superheroes! He would dress as Superman, Spiderman or Batman every day of the week if he could as well as going to bed dressed as them too! What is it about boys and superheroes! Looks like you had a lot of fun! 🙂