My 7 yr old daughter loves cooking and baking. She looks into American youtube channels and finds fun instruction videos she could do in the Netherlands. The video she found the other day was easy to try at home so we did the Pancake Art!

You need;

• Dutch “Pannekoeken” mix
• Eggs and milk (if required)
• Food coloring
• 6 Squeez bottles

Follow the instructions on your Pannekoeken mix and add an extra 1/4 cup of milk so that it is slightly runnier than normal. When mixed well, pass the batter through a sieve to remove lumps. Devide the batter into 6 smaller bowls and add food coloring in each of them. Mix the color well and fill in the squeeze bottle.

I found 6 colors (pink, yellow, blue, green, gray, white as non colored) is enough.

Turn the burners on ‘LOW’ to heat up the pan and give the surface a wipe with some vegetable oil on a paper towel. Then it’s ready to PLAY!

My daughter’s panckaes.

My Whinny the poo pancake and my daughter’s figet spinner. It doesn’t matter if it looks like what you wanted to draw. It’s fun and yummy!

Our stove has a large pan in the middle. It is recommended to graze the pan each time you make a new panckae.

Have a fun Sunday morning!

Thanks to Simone from Jacaranda Tree Montessori , our ‘Summer Craft festival’ became bigger ever. We prepared 6 craft tables with Hiyoko, Flatto 81 and Yuliya, whose ideas are fun and artistic!

Kyoko Kinder Kunst Klas prepared spinning tops with paper plates and marbles. Children decorate the spinning top with prepared stickers and finger stamps.

I had many free space stickers from Albert Heijn so I cut them out in simple forms. Together with bright round stickers and alphabet stickers there were enough stickers for my sticker pool. The children may take 8 stickers from the pool, which could be a counting practice for little kids 😉

Pity things are that finger stamp pads came off easily while the children were working. I did’t bring covers to protect tables from the ink so I had to stop using finger stamps…should forecast happenings like that.

It was very nice to see parents engaged in the craft as well as the children. Here are some pictures of the festival. Thank you to those who came to join us, Hiyoko, Emi&Chika, Yuliya and Simone for the nice experiences.

Summer journal and streamer making table by Flatto81

Hiyoko’s paper beads making corner

A boy choosing stickers from a sticker pool

make your own fruits table by Yuliya

Little artist giving me a sticker 🙂

I realized now it should be “SPINNING” 😦

Photo booth with color sun glasses by Hiyoko

Simone’s sea world collage

Thanks to Simone of Jacaranda Tree Montessori playgroup, our annual Summer Craft Festival will be held on Saturday 1 July. The tickets are now on sale so be quick!

It’s going to be bigger and better than ever. This time we will have even more space for our crafty fun as we take over the gym space in the building on the ground floor. Joining artists are: Hiyoko, Emi and Chika of Flatto81, and Yuliya of yufrukt.

Join us for lots of summer fun! The kids will make their own spinning top, summer journal, decorative streamer and paper bead necklaces. And much more…

Kyoko Kinder Kunst Klas was on Sunday Market in Amsterdam for the first time! It must have been the first kids craft stall ever in the market. My stall was quiet at the beginning but gradually some kids came to play. I could give all my attention to each child and had nice interactions between them. I prepared Sushi making with play dough and carp streamer making but many kids chose to make sushi. I guess that’s because sushi is so popular in the Netherlands that kids feel familiar with the activity.

I hope there are more craft opportunities in the daily life because I believe kids can learn following;

• Crafting Helps Kids Communicate Their Feelings; One of the strong reasons why I give kids art workshop is to support kids to discover themselves. There’s no rules for your work here.
• Kids Enjoy Seeing That They Can Improve; I noticed many kids wanted to make panda and flower sushi in the example pictures. They spent quite some time to achieve their ideas. It was also nice to see their parents patiently waiting for them or even crafting together with them.
• Crafting Improves Fine Motor Skills;  sticking, colouring, glueing, cutting and keeping within lines or patterns…all these can assist fine motor skill development, and improve hand eye co-ordination in kids.

I’m hoping to continue kids art workshops in different occasions. If you need craft ideas or kids craft workshops in your event, please contact Kyoko.

panda-face-cucumber-sushi

cake-sushi

kyoko-kinder-kunst-klas-table

kyoko-kinder-kunst-klas-table

I’m excited to announce that Kyoko Kinder Kunst Klas is joining Sunday Market at Westerpark on 7 May! Sunday Market is a fun, yummy and creative market held all over the city in Amsterdam. Especially one in Westerpark is kids friendly. There are a couple of playgrounds and water play spots in the park as well as cafes and restaurants. Also BBQ and picnic are allowed in the field. You have many things to do in the park besides the market!

I’m preparing two kids activities; fish streamer making and play dough sushi making both inspired by Japanese culture. These activities are cheap (only €5 for both) and easy for young children too.

I hope you come and enjoy the last day of May vacation with my activities and the market!

Kyoko Kinder Kunst Klas will be in Kanaalpromenade West

2017 is the year in which my family moves to a new home in Amsterdam. To hold our sweet memories of the current house my son modeled the house with my husband’s old Lego pieces, which were not stacking well anymore but shame to throw away. We could frame it or glue them together. We’re happy to find the best way to up-cycle our old Lego pieces. Starting with the Lego I’ll be busy up-cycling to fit old stuff in the current house into a new house. Hope I can share many fun ideas on this blog.

Here are some pics of our creativity with the kids around old/new year. Hope you all a creative and fun year 2017!!!

Do you know you can replace the cream of tar tar with lemon juice in making a home made play dough? So you can buy all ingredients at any supermarket in your neighborhood!

*This recipe uses hot water. It’s not suitable to make with your little one*

You need;

• 1 cup (200ml measuring cup) flour
• 1/4 cup salt
• 3/4 cup (or 150ml ) water
• 3 table spoons of lemon juice
• 1 table spoon of vegetable oil
• food coloring (optional)
• a drop of scent oil (optional)

Method;

• Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl
• Mix the water, oil, lemon juice, food coloring and a drop of scent oil in a saucepan and heat until almost boiling
• Remove the saucepan from stove and add the flour mixture
• Stir continuously until it becomes a sticky, combined dough. Heat in the pan will cook the dough slowly. You will see the dough becomes some more translucent.
• Leave the dough on a cooking sheet to cool down. Sometimes flip the dough over to prevent from getting dried.
• After it’s cooled, knead the dough until it becomes smooth.
• You can play immediately or store it in a ziploc.

I had a great and fun time again at the Festive Craft Extravaganza! This year I prepared a station for making mini candle holders using some play dough, leaves, mini ornaments and mini berries. I also made himmeli with straws to decorate the room. You can see in the album below the candle holders and the himmeli placed in my house. Love the festive feeling!

Together with Simone of Jacaranda tree Montessori Amsterdam, we are having a craft workshop for winter! Kyoko KInder Kunst Klas , Flatto 81 and Hiyoko Imai will prepare fun craft tables. 2nd session is sold out but we have some places left for the 1st session of 9-10:30. Please pay in the link below. Also this time Malicafe is taking pre orders for vegan bento box. Please check it out!

The link to sign up is here

The link to pre-order a bento box is here

We had a fun craft workshop again with Simone, Flatto81 and Hiyoko Imai. To fit our theme ‘Summer Fun’ I prepared summer like craft, wind chimes in Japanese style. Japanese wind chimes “Furin” are typically made of thin glass to give refreshing sound. I chose clear plastic cups to look like glass. I also made wind catchers of summer icons, dyed wood beads and designed own stickers. You can see the resulting works in the photo gallery below.

Thank you very much to Simone from Jacaranda Tree Montessori Amsterdam for organizing such a fun event. Also than you to all who joined our workshop. I hope you have a nice summer holiday with your ‘Furin’.

My tables to make wind chimes “Furin”.

Take a plastic cup and wood beads.

” I did it all by myself! “

Peeling a sticker is fun!

Free craft tables

Fan making table by Hiyoko Imai

Play dough making table by Simone

Building structure making table by Flatto81

Fun goods by Roppongi

Photo booth designed by Hiyoko Imai

Finished works