Making: Easy Festive Wreath

A really easy-to-make festive wreath. Which as E.M demonstrates, is so easy to make it can even be made by a 2 year old.

You will need: 1 paper plate, some white paper, green paint, PVA glue, red tissue paper and scissors.

Draw some leaves on the white paper, paint them green and leave them to dry.

Cut the centre from a paper plate - this forms the base of your wreath shape. (Of course the adult has to do this.)

When the 'leaves' are completely dry, cut them out and glue them to the paper plate base.

Tear up the red tissue paper and scrunch into little balls for berries.

Glue the 'berries' to the wreath. Messy this bit.

And there you have it - Easy Festive Wreath! My E.M is so proud of hers...i've put it on the wall and she returns to admire it every once in a while :)

I Confess...

J.R and I sat up til almost 11 o'clock last night watching a very interesting documentary on a certain undercover healthcare scandal that took place a couple of years ago...

Oh, alright. I was trying desperately to bore the child to sleep because she WOULD NOT GIVE UP.

It was just one of those days when she was going 90 mph with no signs of stopping, and i'd run out of ideas.

Can you blame me?

The House Is A Tip! But For A Good Reason...

I'm having a HUGE clearout of Baby items, from toys to clothes and even buggies - it's all going. I've already found a home for the pink Bumbo babyseat we had sitting in the girls' bedroom cupboard...and that's been there for eons! But it's in vgc and it's original box and is making me a tidy £20 tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile i've sorted all the baby clothes into age groups and labeled/bagged them up accordingly. But all this work still wont have made it any tidier in here by the time Daddy gets home!

It's Music Time!

Isn't it great how something so simple can make children so happy?

Today at school, J.R made a shaker from two coffee cups, some macaroni and sticky tape. She absolutely loves it, so I thought we'd make some more instruments using bits and pieces we've kept in our craft boxes.

We got our ideas from 9 Easy To Make Musical Instruments For Kids.

A page from Kinderart.com, which is essentially a website for teachers and homeschoolers in the US, but is packed to the brim with good ideas for filling your child's day with educational activities!

And for the pre-schoolers - like my girls - there's KinderArt Littles. You can find both websites in my new Links section to the left.

Online Games For Pre-Schoolers

The internet is no longer just for the grown ups. Now even young ones can learn and have fun on the internet with these online games for pre-schoolers!

Here are some websites recommended by us :)

Nick Jr. Online

Click on Nick Jr. Playtime and let your kids learn and play with their favourite Nick Jr. characters like Dora and Blues Clues. Click on the Games & Activities box to browse all the activities on the site.

Fisher Price Online Games

Fun and educational games for toddlers and pre-schoolers. The Fisher Price games are a great way to teach your kids the basic skills and let them learn at their own pace. One of our favourites on this site is the Learn Your ABC's game.

Sesame Street Online

This site has great graphics, a welcoming layout and most importantly, tonnes of games! Each one centering on a particular subject eg. counting, alphabet...

(Remember never to leave your children unattended on the computer. They could click on inappropriate pop-ups or even cause your computer to crash)

Another beautiful day...

and endless fun for just 59p!

Making: Peppermint Creams

Recipe:

500g icing sugar

5 tbsp condensed milk

peppermint oil

food colouring (optional)

Mix ingredients together using a spoon (or hands!) until a dough-like consistency is formed, use as much or as little peppermint oil as you like. If you want to colour the mints like we did, seperate the dough into equal amounts depending on how many colours you're using. Knead colour evenly into the mixture. Roll out small balls of mint paste or flatten on a board dusted with icing sugar and cut with a cookie cutter into bitesized rounds. Leave to dry out.

Making: Flower Collage

I was about to throw out a big ol' cardboard box when I looked at the size of it and thought: surely there's something we can do with that!

So here it is, I call it...Flower Collage

We went on a bit of a walkabout in the back garden, gathered some interesting leaves, different flowers, grasses, nuts etc. Painted the length of the cardboard blue like the sky, and went mad with some glue! J.R enjoyed herself, and the finished product was quite nice too :)

Talk To The Hand - Literally

I drew one of those faces on my hand where you move your thumb up and down to make it "talk". The girls were amazed. They were shoving each other out of the way to talk to Mr Hand, and J.R made polite conversation with him. They shrieked with laughter when Mr Hand ate several small items like pens, and freaked out when it kissed them. Thing is now they wont leave me alone... J.R has shouted at me "No Mummy not you! Wanna talk to Mister Hand!"

I'ma go scrub this damn thing off.

Making: A Charlie & Lola picnic!

We love Charlie & Lola on dvd, and one of J.R's fave episodes at the moment is "The most wonderfullest picnic in the whole wide world"

So since today was looking to turn out another rainy sunday, I decided to put together a Charlie & Lola style picnic for the girls! Sausage rolls, sandwiches of ham and shredded cheese, carrots, cheese straws and a few extra goodies...

It kept them occupied for hours (no lie!) and J.R insisited on watching the picnic episode over and over just so she could see that the food she had in front of her was the same :)

It was a brilliant afternoon, and knackered them both out - with little effort!

So, as they used to say on Art Attack:

Try it yourself, a Charlie & Lola picnic.

Taking Photos Of Your Little'Uns

Have you ever rooted around in the photo box trying to find some 'good shots' of your children?

Only to find you have lots of duplicates of the same pose but none that actually capture the real spirit of your little one?

If you have you'll know how frustrating it can be to just not have the 'perfect' picture. Ok, ok, so i'm not claiming to be a top photographer here, but here's a few tips on taking some really good shots.

I take photos more-or-less everyday and this works for me.

• Make sure you're in good light. I know you've probably heard this hundreds of times, but it's true.

• Get down to your childs level and see the world from their point of view. This may mean getting down on your knees or even laying front-first on the carpet.

• Don't call your child to get him/her to look at the camera. Constantly calling their name just confuses them, remember they don't understand the importance in what you're trying to do!

• Take multiple shots, even if they don't seem to be going the way you want, review them later, you'd be surprised how much better photos look when they're blown up on the computer screen.

Get Busy This Bank Holiday...

You and I both know that bank holiday weather hardly ever turns out great, so here's a few ideas for things to do indoors if the rain does start to fall...

• Hide & Seek: Don't be afraid to turn the living room into a playground! Remember it's only for an hour or two and the kids love it. Stack cushions and drape sheets to create places to hide.

• Chase-a-light: Draw the curtains and get your child to chase the light from a torch. Stop moving it once in a while so they think they can catch it. Shine it on various objects in the room and ask them to name what they see.

• Fun With Paper: Bring out the craft paper, or some old newspaper if you don't have enough. Tear, cut, curl and scrunch paper to your hearts content. My E.D loves this and will happily sit at the table cutting paper with her toddler scissors for hours!

• Kids In The Kitchen: Children love to help out in the kitchen 'cos it makes them feel involved. Ask them to help you prepare the ingredients for a cake or even something simpler like putting a salad together.

• Wacky Workout: Great for getting rid of energy! Ask your child to copy your movements as you put your hands on your head, touch the floor, shake your hands, or sweep your arms over your head. Then let her lead you through her own series of "exercises."