DIY Play Gym for Parakeet or similar birds

We got a Parakeet in the month of Feb this year. It took a lot of convincing from my husband and my daughter to finally get one for our home. I was not sure if I will be able to take care of a bird. Both my husband and daughter are pet lovers. So after an Aquarium finally we had a Parakeet for our house. My daughter has lovingly named her Rainbow as at that time she recently discovered the beauty of Rainbow and she found this bird as beautiful and colorful as Rainbow. So, now she is Rainbow and we are not allowed to say that she is a bird. She is a part of our family and her name is Rainbow. My daughter can say her Birdie though from time to time.
We do keep Rainbow outside her cage for quite a while, she stays in her cage also for food and sleep.

We have been planning on buying a play gym kind of set up for her from long. We have added lot of toys but were not happy with the play gym kits which were available in the pet shops. More so because whatever we saw we thought we can make better than that ourselves and that too at a fraction of price. Well not so sure of the price part but, we took the plunge. The idea of making the play gym on or own was very exciting to both my daughter and crafty hubby (who hardly gets a chance to be crafty). This weekend we took the plunge and voila the colorful Play Gym is ready.

Supplies-
Wood tray
Wood dowels various sizes
Wood craft ready to paint house
Wood craft ready to paint Ladder
Acrylic Paint non-toxic
Wood glue
Wooden beads and string
Ready made Bird toys like mirror with bells etc.
Nail
Paint brushes

I am really happy with the result and so far this is the biggest wood craft project we ever did.It is a great example of a Family craft where you can involve a 3 year old too.


She did most of the painting, esp the bird house and the ladder.I have never seen so excited or involved for any craft as such.


The hard work paid off when our Rainbow also enjoyed and explored the Parakeet Play Gym.


Tips: All the wood craft ready to paint pieces were bought from Michaels and Joann.
It took a while to find non-toxic acrylic paint, but it is important to get this as it will be used by Parakeet. Other kinds might be harmful to the bird.
Be careful about using non-toxic glue too.

Personalised Frame Art and Tissue Paper Flowers

This summer creativity is in air. The summer craft classes are in full swing and I am glad I have such curious and amazing students.

The age range is 6 to 9 yrs and it is a great pleasure to share their lovely creations with all of you.

The above frame art was created by a brother and sister for their father.
The process of creating personaliazed pieces of art is very interesting.
For the same person, different people have different views. Like in this case for their Dad the kids have different opinions. They have different best memories with him.
At such a tender age they do have an opinion and know how to express it. One wants to call their father Dad and one Papa. The boy's memory of the best time he and his father spent together was when he played Cricket with him and the daughter's was when she went to Washington DC with him and she also said she loves it whenever they go outside together.

The picture frame project was designed to capture these special moments. Whenever they will look at the frame it will remind them about the wonderful time they spent together as well as the thought behind the project. Later they put their favorite picture with their father in the frame.

The best thing about the discussion was, it made them super excited about the project. Apart from learning expressing one's thoughts and feelings using craft projects, they learnt about template design, use of templates to cut various shapes,cutting intricate shapes using scissors, different kinds of glues, working with wood, working with self sticking foam and felt. The kids later told their Dad/Papa loved it.





During one of their classes they made tissue paper flowers. They made Fringed double color tissue paper flower and pleated multi-color paper flowers. They came out real well considering they made tissue paper flowers for the first time. Definitely this time the girl liked it more than the boy but I must say that the boy also tries his level best to attempt and enjoy all kinds of crafting challenges. As a teacher it is very fulfilling to see the students enjoy what they do.I wish them all the very best and many more hours of crafting fun.