Valentine Play - Little Love Armada

I have been wanting to make walnut boats for Goblin since I saw them on various Waldorf inspired blogs, but I haven't been able to find walnuts in shells anywhere. Then last week I stumbled on them at my local fruits stall. Just in time for Valentines day. 

I bought a big bag because I realised that it was going to be hard to split them accurately and I might have quite a few that failed. To split them I shoved a knife into the cross at the base of the walnut. Then tapped it deep into the nut and twisted. About 50% split straight down the middle. 

I have had a bag of cherry scented tea lights sitting in a craft draw since before Goblin was born. So I liberated a few from their metal holders and stuck them in a saucepan to melt. They melt really quickly. I fished out the wicks and poured the melted wax into a jug.

I stuck cocktail sticks into the bottom of the walnut shells using blue tac, and poured the wax in while still runny. At this point they looked more like Halloween crafts than Valentine!

I cut heart shaped sails out of paper (you could use craft foam if your little one is likely to sink the boats) and attached them to the cocktail sticks.

I don't have a beautiful bowl so I made do with a pyrex roasting dish! I filled it with water and added purple water beads and flat marbles for colour. Then I gently placed the boats on their new lake.

Goblin loved lying next to the bowl and blowing the boats gently so they floated around.

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