Fun in a DIY Teepee

We have loads of toys in our garden (ok, lots of them are from the pound shop, but still loads!) But still they want more, more, more! Every time they look at the Early Learning centre catalogue they spot about 20 things they fancy. But apart from not having an endless money supply, I don't want them growing up spoilt and always needing 'things' to make them happy.

So this weekend, inspired by here come the girls, we made this teepee and it was pretty easy to make. Start with 4 beanpoles and push them into the ground in a sqare shape. How far apart you put them will depend on how big you want your teepee to be.

Then tie the tops together with some string or ribbon if you happen to have some (we didn't so garden twine it was).

Next comes the walls. We used a blanket, which gave the teepee a cozy private feel, but sheet would work well too, and that is what we will be trying next. Wrap the blanket or sheet around the poles and use pegs to hold it in place. Depending on how you peg it and the size of your sheet you could have flaps for a door or leave one side open, or what we have which is half a door leaving a crawl-in entrance.

And that is it, hours of teepee fun created in about 5 minutes and without buying anything new! Perfect for hiding in, curling up with a pile of books, peekaboo or just having some quiet time. And when the girls are not using it, the cat has taken to hiding in it too! 

Fun in the sun

The rain has finally stopped and the sun made an appearance this weekend. It was the perfect time to get out in the garden and reclaim our outsise space after the winter. To be honest, we have hardly ventured out in the garden for months, our grass was so muddy and boggy and slippery that it was easier to go to the park for our outside time.

But this weekend the sun was shining, the birds were singing and we started getting the garden ready for play. We cleared the trampoline of leaves and puddles, so the girls could have a good jump. Princess had forgotten how much she loved the trampoline, she jumps on her bed every day but after going on the trampoline, she said to me later, "mummy, my bed isn't very bouncy, is it?"

We cut the grass so it can start to dry up quicker, and cleaned out the sandpit, ready for some fresh sand. This year, I would love to get a water table for the girls to play with out there. Also this summer I want to build some raised beds to plant vegetables in, so we can grass over our abandoned vegetable patch that has become one big raspberry bush! 

Its amazing what a difference a bit of bright weather makes, let's hope the rain holds off for a little bit longer so we can have some more fun! 

Quick no cook play dough-A lifesaver!

So, we were having a bit of a grumpy day, everyone was tired due to Grapie's nocturnal antics. Everything I suggested was met with a sulky NO, until I suggested play doh. That got a great response.

Until we got it out and discovered it had gone all yucky. Mini tantrum. No problem, we will make some, hooray! Look up recipie and get out ingredients to discover weare missing one. Cream of Tatar. Not sure what it does and have only ever used it in play dough, but it must have sat in the cupboard long enough to get thrown out. Cue another tantrum and an emergency search on Pintrest for an alternative. Luckily Squidoo had one. So this is what we did.

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup hot water
food colouring

Mix the salt and the flour in a bowl. Mix the food colouring with the hot water so the colour disperses better.

Put the liquid into the bowl and mix with a spoon.

Once it is all mixed well, take it out and give it a good knead. Ours was a bit sticky at this point, think my measuring of the water was a bit out, but in my defence I did have a second helper, Grapie, who I was wearing in a sling trying to grab everything! Anyway, we just put some extra flour down on the mat and princess kneaded it for me. Apparently this is good for developing her hand muscles in preparation for writing.

That is it, job done. No cooking needed, a couple of minutes to make and I had a happy girl. Well 2 happy girls, Grapie had fallen asleep in the sling so was happy too! 

Growing Avocados

Avocados. Grapie loves them, princess won't try them, and I must be the only adult in the world to hate them. But the big seed inside is pretty cool and this week, princess decided she would like to plant one.

I had a funny feeling that there might be a specific way to do this, and thanks to the magic of pintrest we discovered that I was right. So this is what we did.

I gave the seed a good wash, to get rid of any flesh clinging to it.

We took 4 cocktail sticks and poked one in each side to look like a cross, about halfway down.

Fill a glass with water and put the seed in, flatter side down, to balance on the cocktail sticks.

Put the glass on a windowsill and wait. I would probably recommend having a few activities lined up while you wait as it might take a month to start growing! Top up the water regularly. Apparently the shell will crack open and the roots will grow downwards into the water, then shoots will grow upwards. Once both of these have happened it is time to plant it in earth. Watch this space, we will let you know how our little seed get on.

Elfwatch week 1

We have a guest for the summer. She is an elf from Santa's workshop, on her summer holidays. This is what she has been up to during her first week.

She has been very generous this week and has brought Princess lots of little presents in, all with an alphabet theme to help Princess with her summer challenge of learning the letters in her name. She left some sensory glitter letters for princess to trace, set up lots of ways of writing letters using different materials and senses, and an ice cream creamletter matching game.

She also took Daddy's car out for a drive (she was found in the drivers seat), she got out all Grapie's toys one night, then had a sleep in Grapie's baby sling. She went for a sleepover at Grandma's house with Princess and stayed up late looking at baby pictures of Princess, as she wanted to get to know her.

She used balloons (and magic) to float up to the celing and today she set up a reading nook in Princesses room while we were all out at a playgroup.

Having a summer elf has been a big hit so far, princess looks forward to finding Sunshine the elf every morning and I love seeing the look of amazement on Princess's face, as well as the complete complete belief in the magic of the elf.

Elfwatch- The magic begins

A special guest arrived at our house this morning. Her name is Sunshine and she is an elf, all the way from Santa's workshop, come to spend the summer with us. We are very lucky to have been chosen to have an elf, as summer elves are much less common than the Christmas elves that come to stay in December. In fact, you may have never even heard of them before!

The elf has set both Princess and Grapie a summer challenge and she will be providing them with plenty of opportunities to practice. Princess has been set the challenge of learning to write her name,, which will involve lots of fun alphabet and letter games, like these from ready-set-read.

Grapie's challenge is to learn to walk which will involve, well being a baby and learning in her own sweet time, she is almost there (and maybe her first pair of shoes!)

Sunshine the elf also has plans for some themed days, piate day, olympics day and of course princess day, and some fun experiments and crafts. Princess was ever so excited this morning when an elf was discovered on the trampoline with a letter from the big man himself, Father Christmas and hopefully this will be the start of a magical summer- watch this space for regular updates.