What floats my boat – a Center Parcs family post

This year we are a Center Parcs family. What that means is that me and the Bug bang on and on and on about “when are we going back to Center Parcs, Mummy?” while Mummy daydreams about the 3 blissful hours she spent in the Aqua Sana spa there, not having to listen to such stuff. It also means that we get to feature Center Parcs on our blog, whilst having a go at the fun challenges that they set us. All good so far. However, several of the challenges this year for the Center Parcs family team have revolved …

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Valentines Day crafts for kids

"pink fudge hearts for Valentine's day"

Are you the parent who gets up early on the morning of Valentine’s Day to post an ‘anonymous’ card through the door addressed to your child?  It’s a harmless activity and makes them feel good about themselves. But this year the Bug and I have made our own Valentines, and so can you. From full-blown candy-crush to simple Valentine’s card, kids can make it themselves, or with minimal adult support. Obviously you can’t spoil the dream by asking them to write a card to themselves (you can’t opt out completely parents!), but you can help out if they want to …

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How to get your Mum to do Christmas craft: Wot So Funee?

“Bleurumph!” I stated, quite categorically, as Daddy blundered into my room and banged on the lights yesterday morning. Normally I would have been up at least 40 minutes earlier, pretending not to read the book I had surreptitiously stashed under my feet the night before. Without going into distasteful detail, let’s say I was off school with a tummy bug. I languished in bed listening to 1D whilst the Bug reluctantly donned his uniform and attempted to resist the inevitable school-run. I was still drowsing and disgruntled in my bed, so I received a Powerade and a cuddle, and was …

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How to tie dye with natural colours

Tie dye done with natural colours

Our school is twinned with a school in the African town of Kano. Often during learning we talk about Kano, and the things that children learn there. Sometimes we look at photos of life there and the things which are typical of people in the town. Our teacher is quite spontaneous and loves to craft (once she filled an entire table with school glue and got us all to throw glitter at it to see if we could make a clear collage!) so when we got talking about photos we had of the people in Kano sitting around pits in …

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How to do Valentine’s with kids

"Chocolate Hearts"

Valentine’s with kids Convert this: To this: Like this: Melt a bar of white chocolate and colour some of it pink: Half fill a silicone mould with white, and top up with pink. Chill. You will get these: Which you should place in boxes made by your children, using a downloadable template: As for dinner for Valentine’s with kids: Provide pink champagne: And a great dessert: Then send your other half to put the kids to bed while you make this: Cook anything, it really doesn’t matter. Sigh with satisfaction when you uncork this: Job done: kids and adults happy …

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Yummy Dough

Father Christmas never fails to bring something to displease Mummy. Last year it was Whoopee Cushions and Noisy Putty. This year, with the aid of Tired Mummy of Two‘s Christmas list, he brought Yummy Dough. Mummy muttered a square-word and hid it behind the craft (read Yellow Moon) box. Requests to use it were countered with the observation that we still had lots of Christmas chocolate to get through before baking activity could resume. We finally wore her down this week, and the innocuous-looking powder was duly mixed with water to create biscuit dough of such primary colours that just …

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366 Sunday Week 3

Well it’s week 3 and I’m still going – just! There was a moment when Mummy thought we were going to have to use the reserve pictures and theme a post around them, but we miraculously smashed a bottle of dessert sauce which has already fuelled debate in the #satcap community over horror scenes in our kitchen! This week, as we have done some (admittedly random) crafting, I am also linking this post up to Red Ted Art’s Kids Crafts. Anyway, here it is (albeit late, on a Monday – are we going to pull this off?): Day 1 The …

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366 Sunday Week 2

Time for my diary of the week in photos: Day 1 I finally got my full Brownie uniform. I just joined recently and my 6 is Leprechauns, which Daddy says is entirely appropriate – can’t think why. I am super-enjoying it, despite not knowing anyone there! ♥♥♥   Day 2 We are twinned at school with the African town of Kano, and we are learning about traditional african food, music, dancing and textiles. We used beetroot and turmeric to make dyes and then experimented with different ways of tying the fabrics. Waiting for them to dry now. Day 3 An …

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Reasons to be Cheerful & I am Grateful for…

There are so many this week I can hardly choose, so I’ll make it brief and list the ones that come into my mind first: 1. My Birthday: That’s just about the most cheerful I can possibly get! In fact I was so cheerful that I forgot to have a tantrum for the whole day! The same cannot be said for the Bug, who whined all day that he just wanted one more present…..! 2. Craft: To keep me busy! My friends all bought me craft for my birthday. I love this kind of thing! And the really great thing is that I am …

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