I've been lucky in the past - all three of my boys are big fans of bangers and have never been bothered by the noise, so we have always embraced Bonfire Night in all its glory.
This year we will be having a little fire and some sparklers in our garden, as we can't make it to any of the displays.
I will miss huddling together in our bobble hats munching hot dogs, but we will still be doing some of our favourite bonfire night activities.
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Luckily there are lots of ways for kids to celebrate at home without the displays. Here are some of our favourite firework-themed activities to give you some inspiration.
Fireworks playdough
We are playdough addicts and I've been known to make an invitation for pretty much everything under the sun, but this has to be one of our favourites! The glittery night sky playdough makes the perfect backdrop for pipe-cleaner catherine wheels and whizzing strings of beads.
We use this recipe for our playdough:
You will need
8 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp table salt
60ml warm water
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Method
1. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix together the water, a few drops of food colouring and the oil.
2. Pour the coloured water into the flour and mix together.
3. Dust a work surface with some flour and then knead together for a few minutes to form a smooth, pliable dough.
To make this playdough look like the night sky we have added some black colouring and lots of eco glitter.
It's really fun creating little displays and seeing what pretty prints you can make in the dough.
Homemade playdough lasts for a few weeks in an airtight jar or bag, so you can get lots of playtime out of this one.
Firework pompom push
A pompom push is basically anything with holes in that your child can push pompoms through. It's a really fun way to develop fine motor skills.
To make one, take a cardboard box and cut some holes in it using a craft knife - a box will collect any pompoms that are pushed through ready to be tipped out at the end.
To give ours a bonfire twist, I just drew some fireworks around the holes in felt tips and gave my youngest some pompoms in colours he could match to the holes.
He loved poking them through the holes and them tipping them all out.
Cupcake liner fireworks
This is a sweet craft that's perfect for even the littlest hands and it's so easy to make!
To make it you will need:
White cupcake liners
Scissors
Black card stock
PVA glue
Use your water colours to paint the liners - it doesn't have to be evenly painted, it actually looks better with some light and dark patches.
Once dry, cut about an inch in all around the outside of the liners (little ones will need some help with this).
You can then spread out your fireworks and glue them onto your cardstock 'night sky'.
Loose parts fireworks
We love tinkering with loose parts; anything colourful or sparkly is perfect for creating fireworks with - just grab a tray and a piece of black felt and have fun creating together!
Ideas for your loose parts tray:
Buttons
Beads
Coloured matchsticks
Pompoms
Gems
Ricrac
Sequins
Gemstones
Fuzzy felt fireworks
If you're a child of the eighties like me, you'll remember Fuzzy Felts - those little sets where you take felt shapes or pictures and create your own scene.
This is a great DIY version that is perfect for Bonfire Night and uses your black felt from the loose parts activity.
You just need to cut up some felt in various colours (we got our hands on some glitter felt too) and some sharp scissors.
Cut your coloured/glitter felt into different shapes and designs. We made the following to go with our black night sky:
Blue swirls for catherine wheels
White / red rectangles and triangles for rockets
Orange points for the sparks
Red, silver and gold star 'bursts'
The beauty of the felt is it slightly sticks together so the shapes hold in placem and the fireworks can be rolled up inside the black mat and played with time and time again!
Fireworks sensory tray
Sensory trays are a great way to keep a pre-schoolers entertained, and they are perfect for exploring textures and material properties.
To make ours we added black sand to a large deep tray and found some lovely shiny and glittery objects from around the home.
What you can include in your firework sensory tray:
Glitter pompoms
Metallic pipecleaners
Gift bows
Large sequins
Scrunched up foil
Coloured sillicone cupcases
Streamers
Anything sparkly or metallic will work, just make sure it's age appropriate and that you supervise younger children.
Have you tried any of our bonfire night activities? And do you have any suggestions of your own? Let me know!
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