Take a few toilet rolls....

...an idea from Pinterest and you get a lovely day of crafting with the kids.

It's been so long since we all crafted together and we all enjoyed this idea.

Squash down some ear shapes, paint and add faces and hey presto, we have a family of cats and dogs for our family!

You can find loads of great ideas, not just things to do with the kids, on Pinterest, find me HERE

Playing Games

Happy Belated New Year!

Hope you've all greeted this New Year well and maybe made some plans for the coming year?

I thought I'd give details of the games we've spent a lot of time playing recently.
Last year we were introduced to UNO and loved it, even my 4-5 year old could play.

So we've tried to find more card games we can all learn, I've got a copy of 'Waddingtons Illustrated Card Games' which has a section on children's games but they can also be found online, this site has all our current favourites:http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/card_games_for_kids.htm

We like Old Maid, My Ship Sails, Snip Snap Snorem & Rolling Stone at the moment.

I got them some card holders to try to make the handling a bit simpler which seems to help.

For Christmas I made sure the girls got lots of board games, ones they could play together or for all of us as a family.

Guess Who Extra
KerPlunk
Mouse Trap
Hello Kitty The Game
Pop up Pirate

Game of Life, this has been recently updated and we enjoyed playing this as a family, the rules aren't too complicated & is a lot simpler than my '80's version thankfully!

 

Magic Cauldron Game, this is an Orchard game (love these!) for my 7 year old, it's a maths game where you have to find the correct sum that makes the number you have picked. The Magic part is that to find out if you're correct you have to rub the back of the sum card, which has a heat sensitive coating to reveal the answer.

Run,Run as Fast as You Can, another orchard game, this one for the 5 year old. You have to move round the board to get to the river, first to cross over wins, you have animals from the story who you use to try to stop your opponents & you have to use a spinner to try and get across the river first. A simple game that we all played as a family.

 

The girls also got a Wii game each, Scooby Doo First Frights which the eldest enjoys, you have to use the nunchuck (so 2-handed play) but it's not too tricky, a game for an older child who has had experience with a Wii controller.

The youngest got Barbie Jet Set & Style, which is a good simple game for her, previously she's only played the Peppa Pig game as she finds using the controller quite difficult but this is a excellent next step game, very basic controller use, rolling, swishing, simultaneous button pushing. Basically you style Barbies friends, doing hair, nails and clothes, which she loves!

Plastic Bunting

Last week provided an end to the 'heatwave' and brought a very welcome (for me!) rainy day!

I was actually looking forward to this as I had a project ready & waiting, the lovely Original Stitch had mentioned on her twitter feed about a recycling project to do with the kids: http://originalstitch.blogspot.com/2010/06/eco-tip-1-party-bunting-and-wood.html

The original tutorial was from Amelia's Magazine, which is very instructive.

 Basically you need to cut up some plastic bags, sandwich them between greaseproof paper and iron to create a thicker plastic material.

It's a case of trial and error, I've found that some of the ink's tend to get sticky and stick to the paper, so it's best to sandwich them with clearer plastic bags over the top.

The cheap supermarket bags need to be layered as they tend to get holes in if they're too thin.

It's best if you have nice carrier bags!

I got too hot doing the ironing but would have liked to spent longer making better collages with the prints or putting sequins/threads in the layers!

Iron lightly on each side and then leave for about 10 seconds, with some bags you'll hear the plastic crackling as it cools down and then it's easier to peel the paper away.

Once the grown-up job was done (and you could of course do it in advance if you're one of those organised mummy's!) it was time for the production line!

Cue music to work too, lots of drawing round a triangle template and then lots of scissor cutting out action! 

My girls loved this as we used 'grown-up' scissors as their kiddy ones weren't really up to the job.

Next job was to put holes in the top corners, my hole-punch didn't like it so instead we went all Blue Peter and used kebab sticks with blue-tack under the flags.

After hunting out the garden twine from the shed (in the pouring rain) both my youngest and me set about threading them up.  The Eldest had got bored by now and was back to her usual 'nose in a book' position!  I thought this would be too tedious for the 5 yo but she loved it and did great, by the time we'd finished the sun had come out so we were able to hang it out to see the fruits of our labours.

It's not the most prettiest or well designed but as a lovely project that we all did together I'm more than happy with it.  It also really cheers up the ugly wooden fence!

Clothkits Pinafore

You may remember back in March at the Sewing for Pleasure NEC show I purchased this Clothkits child's pinafore kit

Well, ta da....I finally got round to making it up!

It really shouldn't have taken me so long, as it was so easy, you just cut out the pieces from the pre-printed fabric and sew together!  The instructions were just right, perfect even for beginners and all the needed items are included such as thread, buttons, lining fabric and even a Clothkits label.  I cut out my fabric using my pinking shears as I thought this would make the seams less likely to fray and my basic sewing machine managed the button-holes (I practiced on a left-over scrap to get the size right first!)

I omited the front pocket as I loved the print so much I didn't want to hide it and also the adjustable button at the back as I didn't think it needed it but if you made the bigger size for a smaller girl it would be handy as then the dress could grow with her.

I wasn't sure my youngest would wear it, as she's so fussy with clothes, but after it was finished she declared that she loved it, which is high praise indeed!

Now the eldest daughter wants one though!

Fun in the Forest

It's a lovely sunny autumnal day, it's half-term and we need some fresh air and cheap entertainment....where shall we go?....oh of course, Harcourt Arboretum, or as we call it 'THE forest'.

We took some paper and crayons to do some bark rubbing and a plastic bag to collect leaves and other finds for future gluing/crafting.

We had a fair few grumbles along the way at times though.  Sometimes I wonder about my kids, you'd think that going for a walk is a punishment!  They do love being outdoors but I guess their stamina is set up for about an hour!  Is it because they're girls?  Do boys just automatically want to be outdoors and run around?!

You can't beat a sunny autumn day, I think I like them better than hot summer days.

And to finish off with, my WIP...

It should be a simple wristlet I hope, I'm not following a pattern (!) I just thought I'd do a long rectangle and leave a thumb-hole when seaming!
I'm using some Debbie Bliss Rialto 4ply in teal that was in my LYS in the reduced bucket and have cast on 60 stitches using 3.25mm needle.  I'm aiming for a length of about 8-9", but I have to say doing this much stocking stitch has quickly become a chore!  It's quite mind-numbing, I should be up for tackling some thing a bit more challenging afterwards!

Getting ready for Halloween

Bats and black paint, this year as I'm home more at the moment I thought we'd make more of an effort to have fun at Halloween, so I donwloaded a free bat template, cut them out of cereal boxes and got the kiddlies to paint! Kira ended up painting her hands and arms black, she looked like a coal miner!! Aeryn decorated her Halloween costume, which she decided is going to be a robot (!), so lots of gluing with foil.

And then off to the park for a pre-dinner play, then home for sausages for tea oh and a Dora episode!