Half term ideas

I'm pretty new to this half term lark, Bodhi only spends half the day at school in nursery the idea of spending the whole week together is at first a lovely one that soon turns into fear.... Bodhi is four and half and very active and always wanting to play/learn/make and do ! This is normally filled in his three hours while at school. So last night I came up with a few idea of things we could do together that one won't brake the bank and that also mean we spend some time together. ( also the weather is shocking this week so that's really rubbish as I had planed a week of playing in the garden ! )

Build a bed cave/den - this we have done this morning , we have had breakfast and read books under the covers of my bed
Play Lego/playdoh/etc - play like this is great for popping in and out so you can still do the house work and have a hot cuppa and play eith your child
Arts & craft - use what you already have in at home to save a few ££ make art work for local family then go visit them with said art work
Baking - again just have a look at what you have in and get making ( can always look on Pinterest for help )
Netflix / DVD - great way to get some cuddles and I have sometimes even grabbed a little power nap while the boy watches toy story 3 for the 1000 time
Library - most will having events/story telling on within the holidays best to check out and find out what's on
Leisure centers / soft play - great when the weather is rubbish but may be very busy with every other child from your area
Shopping - it's a weekly thing that we all need to do , if you are taking your child with you make it fun for them or you will both get stressed, shopping lists , I spy, etc and if all else fails a bribe of a treat at the end of the shop always works for me !!
Poundshop - give your child a few ££ and let them pick a few items I really do love the poundshop can pick up a new book , DVD , toy and a snack for under a £5 ! They have lots of garden play items in stock now always if the weather improves.


If the weather improves then get out and about while it's nice !! Trips to the park on scotter/bike walk in the woods just getting some fresh air will feel great after a few wet house days, pack a picnic and make a day of it.

Meeting up with friends is also a good idea, either having a play date or meeting up at a local farm or play place. Mums can have a grown up chat while the kids run wild.

What ever you do over half term , take a deep breathe and remember they will soon be back to school !!

All Things Crafty subscription box review

We have been sent an all things crafty box via the post and i was super impressed with first impression and the over all look of the box, i filmed a unboxing and first impression over on my youtube ( watch it now ) we have tried monthly craft boxes before this is the first one i would re-order

Each month is themed with may theme being sports and games, the six photos below are of the six different craft projects. i love how they came in different coloured bags with everything you needed inside. Bodhi couldn't wait to get crafting and one afternoon i had a horrid headache so it seemed like a perfect time to hand over to Daddy with the box in hand they spend well over an hour colouring / sticking and making the projects. 

The thing i loved the most about these little projects was the fact that they needed very little adult help, i left Bodhi making his football coaster while i started dinner and when i came back into the room he was done! he was so pleased with himself and i will be placing an order for another box for the up coming summer holidays. 

I also think these boxes would be great for a child who is poorly or in hospital as everything you need for the crafts are provided , also be ideal for holidays away/camping/visiting family or something to do on a wet dull afternoon. 

Boxes are £7.99 per month but this price does get lower if you buy in bigger volumes of boxes ( I.e for siblings or groups / school ) it is a monthly subcribion box but you can cancel when you like your not tied in on a contract. 

thank you once again All things crafty for gifting us this box we have very much enjoyed reviewing it ! 

worm world Review for interplay / my living world

When asked if Bodhi and myself would like to review a product from interplay's my living world range it really was a no brainier, Bodhi loves all things creepy and crawly , when i was a child i used to spend my summers filling empty ice cream tubs with lady birds and setting up snail farms ( we even held snail races in out back garden )

Now i knew i was being sent the worms with the worm world by post ( live worms are an add on of £3 ) it was still a little bit of a shock finding a tub of soil with live worms in and yes i did squeal just a little bit !

set up so very simple and Bodhi really enjoyed helping getting the worm world ready for the worms, the set comes with everything you need apart from soil ( no big deal ) we had fun digging in the garden for this part of set up

      

we have also enjoyed watching the worms before bed as this is when they are most active ( worms don't like bright lights so will stay hidden in the day time ) Bodhi is amazed at the tunnels and the disappearing leaves ( the worms drag them into the soil to eat them )

I am very impressed with the worm world , i feel it is something that could work well in a classroom or playgroup. Bodhi is loving having pet worms in his bedroom and has asked for a butterfly kit and the ant farm next !! ( maybe Christmas? ) the age range is just about right ( marked at 5+ ) this isn't something id have left Bodhi to do by himself but this would make a prefect gift for that hard to buy for age of child between 5-8 years

watch our youtube video of set up and unboxing of the worm world below




Thank you to Interplay for sending the worm world for review

#ToddlerApprovedTuesday painting with toys

sometimes its the most simple things that your child will enjoy the most, like playing in a cardboard box or playing in the dirt! Body loves to paint and get messy while doing it he is now 4 1/2 and as much as he loves painting with his hands i often get fed up of the clear up afterwards!

so we picked out some toys that would be great for mark making, Trucks with big wheels animals with different types of feet and dinosaurs! just place some paint onto a plate and let your child do what they like!

Bodhi really enjoyed the freedom of this craft and spend over an hour mark making with this different toys.

i am linking up with  #ToddlerApprovedTuesday this would also work well out in the garden now we are finally getting some better weather!

Grow your own with your kids

I have always dreamed of picking my fresh produce from my garden for cooking and the idea of a few chickens for eggs, when in reality it isn't going to happen, last year I grew tomatoes that didn't ripen and my raspberry plant produced seven ( yes seven ) berries so I am putting the veg patch space to better use this year and just sticking to my little herb garden.

The other reason I wanted to grow our own is for feed our pet tortoise Tuc he eats salad leaves and green, I also wanted to get Bodhi a little more green fingered so I popped to the shops and picked up some cress seeds and Cotten wool.

You can't get any simpler then growing cress !! I had saved and old plastic egg box and this was perfect, bodhi pretty much did it all him self, from ripping up the Cotten wool to sprinkling the cress seeds onto the Cotten wool and lastly giving it a good drink !

After only a few days we had fresh cress growing and I had one very happy four year old and a very happy tortoise , you can pick cress seeds up from garden centres/pound shops and most supermarkets I got our from wilkos 

Bloom & wild review

What kind of things does your postman bring you? .... Bills? junk mail? flowers??? well mine does! thanks to Bloom & Wild , They offer free next day delivery with Royal mail and beautiful bunches of flowers from £20 ( they also stock a range of other gifts such as candles/chocolates & even hand creams ) simply pick the bunch you would like to send, add a little note or leave blank ;) They will take care of the rest, they fit via your letter box and are very well packaged.

i was so excited to open the box to find out what flowers i had been sent, now i will admit i don't know a lot about flowers, but my for my wedding flowers i had a mix of whites & purples to match the colours of the day, so now when i do get flowers or i buy them for myself i do tend to lean towards purples with whites... 

So i was very placed when i opened the box to find it full of white & purple flowers, I was sent the Imogen bouquet ( the only thing i will say is that i wish they had added a little note telling me about my bunch ) The Imogen is £26 and contains :

white Asiatic lilies

purple lisianthus & alstroemeria

fluffy white clouds of stocks

pistache to enhance the twilight tones

I received my flowers a week ago, and the lilies have now fully opened and all of the other flowers have also fully opened , it really is a stunning bouquet of flowers and one i would be happy to send to friend or loved one, 

Thank you to the team at Bloom & wild for sending me out a box of flowers to review, they are taking pride of place in my hallway and as we are doing DIY in our living space its lovely to have these flowers to brighten the space.

Dino garden - perfect summer play idea - #ToddlerApprovedTuesday.

 #Toddler approved Tuesday for this weeks post i am keeping it REALLY simple. we are in the middle of decorating our living and play space so poor Bodhi hasn't had much space to play so when i saw that summer dry weather was on its way i dragged out this plastic dinosaurs and got making a small world space in the garden,

For this i used items we already had in our garden, i found a shaded spot by our shed and added rocks/sand/and bark chipping down for different zones for the dinosaurs to live and play, i also placed an empty seed tray for Bodhi to add water to for either a bath or lake, this was all done while Bodhi was at morning nursery , Once we got home we headed into the garden i didn't tell him about the Dinosaurs, didn't take him long to find them, he so really pleased to have a game to play out in the garden, for a little while we just lay in our long grass ( yes i know it needs cutting ) and watched the Dinosaurs pretending we was at a ( in Bodhi's words ) " Dinosaur Zoo " 

Bodhi spent well over an hour playing with this simple set up ( i know this as i got to put washing on and out on the line with out a little helper ) we stopped for lunch and then i let him play with the water, we don't have an outside tap , but we do have a water but, he loves nothing more then filling and pouring water soon all of the dinosaurs were all in the 'sea' having a lovely time! 

I have just ordered a kids Tuff spot tray from Amazon for £14.99 i am sure something like this would be a perfect play idea for a tray ( but doesn't have to be ) i am looking forward to spending many an afternoon out in our little garden having fun and playing pretend games together. 

Simple Bird feeder cups #kidsinthegarden

I am linking you with the lovely LarabeeUK for a blog hop with 13 other bloggers each sharing a great kids in the garden post, we love spending time in our garden and lets face it we could all do with a little less screen time and more fresh air time!

If you would like to read the other #kidsinthegarden blogs please pop over to LarabeeUK blog to check them all out, it kicks off with dinosaur plant markers and my blog is day 5 !

Bodhi has been asking me for a few weeks now to feed the birds in the garden as he often sees our next door putting out bread on her grass. i really don't like doing this as we have a lot of cats in our road and the often catch the birds when they are eating from the ground, so we came up with the idea of making bird feeder cups.

what you will need - 

paper cups

garden string 

lard ( yum )

bird seed 

nuts

dried worms 

jug

scissors

spoon 

Now i let Bodhi play and mix all of the dried parts together on our kitchen table but this is up to you and how OCD you are with cleaning and mess! Body loved this and really wanted to try a worm! ( crazy boy ) 

1 - get your paper cup and make a small hole on two sides, thread the garden string to form a handle and a stand for the birds. 
2 -  mix all the dried parts into your paper cups
3 - ( grown up help needed ) melt the lard in a jug ( I just put the while block in for 2 mins and it was melted, it will smell !! ) 
4 - pour the melted lard over the dry mix and stir well
5 - leave overnight to full set 
6 - hang in your garden and enjoy bird watching.