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With it now being spring and Easter just around the corner, here are a handful of Easter activity and craft ideas to enjoy in the lead up to Easter and over the school holidays. Easter tree  - To get you in the Easter spirit buy an Easter tree or go scavenging for a large branch to decorate with eggs, and Easter themed decorations. You could even make your own decorations - see salt dough decorations further down. Easter bonnet hats - For a fun and creative activity you could make an Easter bonnet hat for your child to enjoy over the Easter period. You need a plain bonnet base and then decorations such a pipe cleaners, spring embellishments etc. We’ve created this blog post as a guide to making a bonnet hat. Chick process art - Using anything from a basting brush, cork, sponge, to a fork paint the body of a yellow chick. Then add eyes, a beak and some craft feathers. Garden games - Play some fun games that all the family can join in on. For example, race with a plastic egg between your legs (use a balloon if you don't have any plastic eggs) and play toss the plastic or chocolate eggs into a basket. Spring pasta art - Fusilli, spaghetti, farfalle…find a variety of pasta and some PVA glue and create a flower spring pasta picture. For the finishing touches add poster paint and some glitter. Kitchen roll bunny printing - Using a used cardboard kitchen roll, cut it to make the shape of a bunny - a circle for the face and then two squashed circles for the ears. Glue together and add paint to then stamp away on card. Add the face with a pen afterwards. Easter cards - Make some personalised Easter cards for family and friends with some card, crayons and Easter stickers. Or, alternatively use paints and turn a footprint into a carrot and a hand print into a chick for example. Playdoh eggs - Make some egg shapes out of playdoh and then decorate with gems, buttons and large sequins for example. Salt dough decorations - Make some Easter decorations to hang on a tree or to decorate the house with, using a simple salt dough recipe. Divide the mixture and add different food colourings dependent on desired colours, or leave white if you would prefer to decorate with poster paint once baked. Don’t forget to add a hole (I used a straw) and then add ribbon to hang. Recipe: I used one-third of:- - 500g plain flour - 250g table salt - 125ml warm water + a few drops of food colouring It made approx. 30 decorations that were approx. 7cm. Bake at 150 degrees for ~1 hour. Easter garden - For a traditional Christian celebration craft make an Easter garden to retell the Easter story in a hands on way. Read our blog post on how to make an Easter garden. Easter cookies - Using Easter themed cookie cutters you could make some delicious treats to be enjoyed over the Easter weekend. You could decorate with icing sugar and Easter sprinkles from Dr. Oetker. Recipe: - 200g butter at room temperature - 100g soft brown sugar/golden caster sugar - 300g plain flour Bake for 10-12 mins at 175°C Easter stories - Discover the Easter story with a range of Christian books from Eden.co.uk, or non religious picture books such as Paddington's Easter Egg Hunt and The Dinosaur the Pooped Easter! Dice games - You can play roll a chick where the different number on the dice corresponds to a different part of the chick. You could even have a race to see who could build their chick first. Alternatively, for something to get your little ones moving and burning off some energy, each number could correspond to an Easter/spring related action. For example, hop like a bunny, peck like a chicken, roll like an egg, flutter like a butterfly, grow like a flower, buzz like a bee etc. Potato stamping - Cut a potato in half and then cut an egg shape into the open side. You can add further designs such as stripes, dots and zig zags. Add paint and stamp away.  We hope that you all have a fabulous Easter weekend and that some of the suggestions above come in handy!

With Easter just around the corner, we have started preparations and talking about why we celebrate it in our household. Making an Easter (resurrection) garden is a wonderful way to think about, and explore, the Easter story. Before we made our garden we read “The Story of Easter’ by Fiona Boon, which is a great book to introduce Jesus’ death and resurrection to young children. This was the first time that I had made an Easter garden with the children, and they were so engaged and proud of their creation that I felt it deserved its very own blog post. We will definitely be making this a tradition each year. What we used: Terracotta saucer and plant pot Potting soil A big rock Small sticks Twine Moss Grass seeds (optional) Wildflower seeds (optional) Decorative white pebbles (optional) Small watering can (optional) Steps: Place the plant pot on its side in the saucer. The plant pot will act as the tomb. Add soil to the saucer and on top of the pot, then compact the soil (that’s on the top of the pot) to create a mound. Position the large rock to the side of the tomb (pot) entrance. Sprinkle grass seeds over the soil, and wildflower seeds if you wish. Water the soil with a small watering can if seeds have been added. Add moss over the rim of the pot for decoration. Use two sticks and twine to create a large cross. Then use smaller sticks to make two other crosses. Position the larger cross in the middle of the mound, and then add the smaller crosses either side. Add decorative pebbles if you wish. Leave the Easter garden in a warm sunny spot to encourage germination of the seeds if added. Our Easter garden is now proudly sitting on our kitchen table and has been shown off to every visitor we’ve had! Excitement levels were high when the grass and wildflower seeds started sprouting, and they love monitoring their growth. I think the scissors will need to make an appearance now though! We will be revisiting our garden again over the Easter weekend, and linking it back to the story and its significance.

Research suggests that saying positive statements about yourself causes the reward centres in our brains to light up. Affirmations are therefore a fantastic way to create and nurture self-worth and confidence in your child, equipping them with the skills and confidence to tackle challenges and seize opportunities throughout life. Why are positive affirmations important? It is believed that our self-beliefs are formed in childhood from our experiences and the beliefs of the adults around us. So, it is during this time that a child can develop a positive self-image and self-love. Using positive affirmations with your child is a powerful way to wire in those positive beliefs about themselves that will serve them into adulthood. Other benefits of positive affirmations: A decrease in stress Reduced negative thinking and self-criticism Increases motivation Builds confidence Helps to cope with strong emotions and challenges Cultivates a growth mindset Examples of positive affirmations: I am strong I am brave I am kind I am enough I am important I am smart I am beautiful Some examples of how to use positive affirmations with your child: Saying them together: Practise saying positive affirmations with your child in front of the mirror each morning or evening as part of their daily routine. You could come up with a family song of affirmations specific to your child and add actions for each to make it fun and memorable. Arts and craft: Encourage your child to create a piece of artwork with their affirmations written down. This could be as simple as drawing around their hand and filling it in with their self affirmations and decorating it. Superpowers: You could pick an affirmation of the day and focus on it throughout. It could be their superpower for the day and they can put on their 'brave' superhero cloak in the morning. Listening to music: Some examples are... This is Me - The Greatest Showman A firm favourite in our household and sure to get everyone showing off their 'power dance' moves. It's a positive song about being proud of who you are, ignoring other people's opinions of you and celebrating being unique. Roar - Katy Perry A song about bravery, standing up for yourself and expressing your voice. Love My Life - Robbie Williams This is a song full of affirmations - "I love my life. I am wonderful. I am magical. I am wonderful. I love my life. I am powerful. I am beautiful. I am free." Breathing exercises: Combining breathing techniques and positive affirmations you can help support your child in reframing their outlook, for example overcoming a fear they may, and bringing about a sense of calm and a focus on their wellbeing. Before each deep breath they say their positive statement out loud e.g. I am brave. Family dinner time: If you are able to have a family meal together, then you could make it a tradition to take it in turns to say what qualities each person posses that you love. Eg. I love how kind/resilient/brave you are. You demonstrated this when... Little notes: Leave a note or a post-it note in their school rucksack, on their pillow for when they go to bed, by their breakfast etc. affirming their qualities. Remember, the more your child practises using positive affirmations about themselves then the more natural those thoughts will become. Repetition is key! References: Self-affirmation activates brain systems associated with self-related processing and reward and is reinforced by future orientation. Christoper N. Cascio et al. 2015 Cohen GL, Sherman DK. The psychology of change: self-affirmation and social psychological intervention. Annu Rev Psychol. 2014 Steele, C.M. (1998). The psychology of self-affirmation:Sustaining the integrity of the self.

Christmas songs have started on the radio, shops are smelling of cinnamon, the supermarket Christmas ad competition has officially began…Christmas is officially only 33 sleeps away. We’ve decided to start a little tradition this year of giving ‘1st December sacks’. It includes everything that you might want your children to wear or use in the lead up to Christmas Day. Ours will contain what I have traditionally given them over the month of December, but this year I wanted to sprinkle some extra magic and get them in a festive mood at the beginning of the month. I’m also hoping that it will help encourage Big Bee to get through those last few weeks of her first term at school. Firstly, I have ordered them a cream sack off Etsy with their first initial embroidered onto the bag in a Liberty festive print. But, if you didn’t want to do this then you, or your child, could perhaps decorate a canvas bag. Alternatively, you could use a cardboard box and wrap it with Christmas wrapping paper, or a wicker basket or crate that you can pick up from a charity shop. Below are a range of ideas that you could include in your sack or box: Colouring/Activity Book - Colouring books are a great activity to do during a very stimulating and busy period. If you want to add a mindful activity to your sack then, The Works and The Range are good places to get affordable Christmas colouring and activity books from. Window Stickers - You could pick up some window gel stickers or stickers e.g. 'Santa, please stop here' from a variety of places including Amazon, Ginger Ray, The Works, The Range, and The Card Factory. PJs - Gifting Christmas pyjamas at the beginning of the month makes a lot more sense to me, so that they get more wear out of them over the festive period. You can chose some wonderful designs from a whole host of places in the UK e.g. Next, ASDA, H&M, M&S and Sainsbury's. Outfits - Whether it's a Christmas jumper, leggings or a top that you would typically buy during this period then it would be a great addition to the sack. Socks - Fluffy and cosy Christmas socks are sure to go down a treat, or some animal themed welly socks for the winter months. Accessories - Christmas themed hair accessories or a novelty headband are a fun way to get into the festive spirit. Stickers - The Bees love using stickers for their Christmas crafting sessions and for making cards, so Christmas stickers are a must in our household. Art and Craft Kit - The Bees were bought a craft kit last year and they absolutely loved it. I have found something similar to what they were gifted here. Otherwise, you could pick up some craft supplies from a store like Poundland or Hobbycraft to then create your own cards or decorations with. Sticker Book - You could pick something traditional like the Usborne Nativity book to reinforce the meaning of Christmas or a Christmas sticker book. Advent Calendar - A classic tradition of marking down the days until Christmas where the joy builds and builds! No 1st December sack/bag would be complete without one. However, if you have decided to go down the road of a homemade calendar with little treats each day, then you could always put the first treat of advent in their 1st of December sack. Magazine - If your child loves magazines (or the free gifts!) as much as mine do then adding one to their sack as a special treat is sure to be well received. Sweet Treats - You could add some hot chocolate, marshmallows, a gingerbread man or some chocolate coins. Event tickets - Have you booked a pantomime, light show, or Father Christmas visit this year? To show what you have in store for them then you could include a homemade personalised ticket. Board Game - Add to your board game collection and spend some quality time together during the Christmas period. If you wanted the game to be festive themed, then Orchard Toys do a range of Christmas games. Cookie Cutters - Baking cookies together is a fun Christmas activity to do with your children. So, you could include a Christmas related cookie cutter in their sack, or one that matches their current favourite topic e.g dinosaurs. Christmas Book - This year we have bought Big Bee a book from the 'Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam' series - 'Santa's Stolen Sleigh', and Little Bee 'The Christmasaurus' by Tom Fletcher. If you are not looking for a specific Christmas book then I would highly recommend visiting a local charity shop for some second hand Christmas books. Christmas Bauble - Adding a new decoration to the Christmas tree each year is a great tradition to start. If you wanted a unique personalised one then there are many on Etsy or Not On The Highstreet, or local garden centres often have personalised Christmas decorations.

I'm still here! How is it November already, and how is the big 'C' just around the corner? Needless to say, Big Bee's first half-term of school has absolutely flown by, but it's certainly taken some adjusting for us to settle into a new way of life and routine. However, Big Bee is doing us proud and she’s settling in well at school. I really hope that all the other little ones who started this September are taking their new chapter in their stride and enjoying their school journey. Anyway, onto things all conker related. As usual, we have gone bonkers for conkers this year, and we went on a little adventure in pursuit of these shiny brown balls. If you also went conker collecting then you may find this blog comes in handy for some extra ideas of what to do with your stash for the rest of autumn. Treasure Hunt – Using an acrylic pen draw some autumnal objects onto conkers and then hide them in the house or garden (weather dependent) for them to find and tick off a crib sheet. Counting – Do some learning through play with conkers and numbers. Two examples are: - Draw a tree and for the number that was rolled on the die (or dice) add the corresponding number of conkers to the tree. - Draw a caterpillars head on a piece of paper and pick a number from a tub and then add the corresponding number of conkers to create the caterpillars body. Necklace/Bracelets - Use a screwdriver or drill to make holes in the conkers and then get your little ones to thread the conkers onto some string (we like using pipe cleaners for the bracelets) to convert into jewellery. Caterpillar/Worm – Prep the conkers again by making a hole through them and then thread them onto a pipe cleaner. Stick some goggly eyes on the head and then you could decorate them with some acrylic pens. You could even make a little caterpillar or worm family! Alphabet – To help reinforce letter recognition draw some letters on paper, or mark out on the floor using masking tape, and then using the conkers create the letter shape. Emotions – Use the conkers to create faces expressing different emotions, and then use it as an opportunity to discuss each emotion. Pairs – We found a lot of flat conkers this year and so naturally a game of pairs was the perfect way to use them. Draw some matching pair images on the flat side of each conker, turn them over, mix them up, and let the matching commence. Colours – If your child is learning colours add some colour dot stickers or acrylic pen marks to your conkers. Then either draw a picture for them to match up, or for them to sort into coloured pots, or onto coloured pieces of paper. If you have some empty bottles like milk cartons you could mark them with a coloured pen and then get them to post them into the matching bottle colour. Ramps/Tunnels – Roll the conkers down a ramp or down a cardboard tube. If you don’t have a long one then you could use smaller kitchen rolls and tape them to either a big piece of cardboard, or another appropriate surface like a kitchen cabinet. Mud Kitchen/Water Play – Add the conkers to a water play or mud kitchen set-up for them to scoop, pour and plop around. Decorate – Use some acrylic paint pens and decorate your conkers. Magnetic Tiles – Build different houses out of magnetic tiles for the conkers, ramps for them to roll down or magnetic vehicles for them to go into. Rice Play – Add the conkers to your rice play and move them around with construction vehicles or perhaps make conker and rice cupcakes – delicious! Play-Doh – Incorporate the conkers in your Play-Doh play to make different structures, snails, caterpillars, etc. Small World Play – Include them in your small world play. We found them to be a perfect addition to our fairy house set-up. Painting – Find a cardboard box or tray and place a piece of paper in it and some different dots of paint. Add your conkers and roll them around to create your masterpiece.

For those of you who also have a little one starting primary school in September you may have already got their school uniform and shoes, and with the start of term fast approaching the realities of them heading into school for their first day are probably dawning on you. Big Bee is our eldest and therefore we are soon to be stepping into unchartered territory, but I've been thinking how best we can support her in the lead up to starting in September. I've listed some ideas below and hope that they come in handy for you and your child. Infographic - Some schools may provide parents with a 'transition booklet' for them to share with their child containing information about who their teacher is etc. In addition, you could always create a page with images, lots of colour and short sentences for your child containing details about their new school that you could like to share with the (as shown above), for example the type of food they will eat at lunch, the name of their class, the activities they will do etc. This could open up a conversation about what they are excited, concerned or anxious about. School website - You could show your child the school website and any images of the school or children doing activities on the website. The school may also have a video on there that you could watch with them. Family photos - Do you have a photo of yourself, your partner, any grandparents, uncles or aunts from their first day of school dressed up in their uniform that you could share with your child, and then talk about any positive memories from school e.g. what did you enjoy doing/learning, funny experiences, a teacher who left a lasting impression? Starting school gift - You could purchase a little gift before the big day for them to enjoy when they come back from school e.g. a book, or a Tonies audio character to listen to, or something for them to use at school such as some hair ties. School preparations - Giving your child some control before the big day can aid with the excitement of starting (or so we have found) e.g. picking from a selection of school shoes, trainers, or hair ties. School run - Doing the route to school just before you start in September to help familiarise (if not already) them with the journey could help reduce any pre-school anxiety. Playdates - If some class park dates have not already been organised, do you know any other families starting at the same school/class in September that you could meet up with before term starts? If not, could you ask your nursery or network with neighbours to find some? Nurturing previous relations or meeting new faces before starting the school year could be really beneficial for your child (and you). There is still time! Hug button - We have bought a little wooden disc off Etsy (shown above) inscribed with 'A little pocket hug. Love Mummy and Daddy x' to give to Big Bee on her first day. So if she feels sad, lonely or worried for example, then she can pick it up and rub it to know that we will be hugging her from afar. You can purchase brave buttons too. Books - There are a variety of books on the market that would be ideal to help with the primary school transition. We have picked two for Big Bee to read at bedtime - Tilda Tries Again, Tom Percival and The Colour Monster Goes to School, Anna Llenas. Tilda Tries Again is about a little girl whose life changes and she then finds that she can't do things that she was able to do before the change. She finds that she needs to keep trying in order to do them and not give up. With the big upcoming change for 'big school' and the new skills that Big Bee will be learning, we thought it important to encourage resilience and a 'can do' attitude to new situations. The Colour Monster Goes to School is a fun book and follows a girl and her Colour Monster friend on the first day of school. It goes through things that they will need take with them and what activities they will do at school. It's a positive and easy story to follow with bright illustrations. Role play - You could use little Happyland people, peg dolls, teddies for example to role play with your child different scenarios from school such as, playing on the playground, doing some art, phonics, numbers in the classroom with the teacher, eating lunch etc. Uniform - Show your child their new school uniform and practise trying it on. You could talk about the positives of everyone wearing a school uniform and link it back to what your school uniform looked like when you went to primary school. First day of school sign - This is another item I've purchased off Etsy (shown above). They can be used before each year of school and taking a photo of your child in their uniform with it could become a tradition. I'm hoping Big Bee will really buy into it and get excited to fill in the information on the board with me. Wishing all those families starting reception in September the best of luck. I hope that everyone settles in well and enjoys it.

With Summer having arrived with a 'bang' recently I thought a post on beach games and activities to do with the kids was rather apt. We've just come back from the coast and spent much time building sandcastles and forts, so if you are heading off to the seaside then hopefully some of my other suggestions below will come in use. Collecting treasure (loose parts) with buckets - What sorts of treasures can you find on the beach - shells, rocks, sticks, feathers etc. When you've finished collecting you could encourage creativity by asking questions like "What is your most precious treasure?", "Why is this your most valuable treasure?", ""How much would it cost to buy your treasure?", "What do you use this treasure for?" etc. If you come across any plastic on the beach this would be a good opportunity to discuss the impact this has on the environment and animals, and discuss how we can reduce this. In the spirit of this, I would also recommend these books 'Clean Up!' and 'Somebody Swallowed Stanley' that introduce plastic pollution in the sea to young children. Sand people - Using sticks/shells/pebbles/rocks/seaweed etc. make your family into sand people. Become a mermaid/merman - A classic for the beach, and one that is guaranteed to get some smiles. You can then decorate with shells and other treasures found on the beach. Our little mermaid Musical towels - Clear the lungs and sing some of your children's favourite songs whilst they dance around a beach towel. The last one to sit when the music stops is out. If you are at the beach with a big group then use more towels (one less than the number of kids) and just remove a towel after each round. Scavenger hunt - You could prepare a list before you head to the beach to include items like umbrella, windbreak, seaweed, beach ball, kite etc. or you could create a list with drawings in the sand and then work together to tick off the items. Letter/numbers practise in the sand - Where is better to incorporate some fun letter recognition and mark making? When they identify the letter then could then jump on it and rub it out with their feet. Writing letters with stones Hopscotch - Draw out the frame into the sand and locate a rock to use. It's a great one for pre-schoolers to develop hand-eye coordination and gross motor skills. It also supports number recognition and counting. Relay race - Place the buckets whatever distance you want to run from the sea. Each team has a cup and has to run to the sea, fill up their cup with water, and then run back to the bucket to fill it up. The first team to fill up the bucket wins. Shell shop - Go hunting for the best shells to set-up a shell shop, and then let their imaginations take over. The shell shop trading Wave chasing - Run in and out with the tide, but who can stay dry the longest? Concentric circles - Draw a large circle and allocate it a number of points, then draw a smaller one inside it with more points, and keep going until you draw the smallest circle with the most points in it. Then take it in turns to throw either a shell/rock/ball into one of the circles. The person with the most points wins. Fly a kite - One of my favourite things to do on the beach with the children. We had a kite with tassels on it and they loved chasing them in the wind and running through them when it was at their level. Not only fun to fly, but also a perfect shadow chasing game! Chasing shadows instead of waterfalls :) Shadows - Whilst on the theme of shadows, an alternative game would be to try and step on each other's shadows. Frisbee - Either play between two people, make targets using things like towels and bags, or draw targets into the sand and allocate points if you hit them. Sand moulds - Take some different shaped moulds e.g. turtle, shell, crab, and then make up some stories that involve them and/or smash them up. Pebble throwing - A simple, but fun activity. Can you skim it? How far can you get it? Can you make the biggest 'plop'/splash? Pebble throwing Burying/digging up treasure - Turn full pirate and bury and/or dig up your precious treasures. Football - Make goals with bags/towels, or draw them onto the sand and enjoy a good kick about. Sticky catch pad and ball game - This game conjures up many memories from my childhood in the garden and on the beach, and we recently played it with the children and it was a big hit! Construction work - Take some toy diggers and get creative with rocks and shells to make roads. You could also add sandcastles along the roads and enjoy smashing them up during the demolition stage. Construction of a new town in the early stages Read some beach themed books - Take your favourite beach themed books to the beach for some chilled reading time. Tic-tac-toe - You could either play by marking the sand or use shells and rocks. Bubble wands - Wind and bubbles what could be more fun? Holes - Make it a game to see how deep you can dig the hole and then climb on into it to cool the legs off! Having a casual chat whilst buried in the sand! For any seasoned beach goers out there I would love to hear if I've missed anything that you think should make the list. Enjoy your visit to the beach!

Kitchen roll - readily available at home and reasonably affordable, so what could be more perfect than to use it for a science experiment, crafting, magic and fun? Here are some paper towel activities that the kids have been doing recently and really enjoyed, so I thought it was worth sharing with you all. 1. Colourful caterpillars: x3 of our colourful caterpillars You'll need: - A piece of kitchen roll paper for each caterpillar - Felt tip pens - Pencil - Large dish - Pipettes - Water Steps: - Have your child(ren) draw a design on the piece of paper. - Roll it around a pencil and scrunch it up (the 'scrunchier' the better). - Remove the pencil by sliding it out. - Place your caterpillar(s) in a dish next to one another with space between. - Using a pipette add droplets of water onto the caterpillar (one at a time is best) and watch it wiggle and squirm. 2. Grow a Rainbow: The steps to growing our kitchen paper roll rainbow You'll need: - A piece of kitchen roll paper cut length ways - x2 glasses with water in the bottom - Felt tip pens Steps: - On each end of the piece of kitchen roll paper draw the rainbow in blocks of colour next to each other - purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Make sure to use lots of ink and try and line up the colours either side. - Place the glasses with the water in them next to one another. - Tell your child(ren) that you are going to put each end of the paper in the glasses of water. You could ask - What do you think will happen to the water? What do you think will happen to the ink? - Then place each rainbow end into the water. Ensure you don't fully submerge the whole rainbow into the water, otherwise it will wash out into the water. We had just under half of the rainbow in the water. - Then watch the colours move up the paper to create the rainbow. It won't happen immediately. Ours took about ~10-15 minutes. Times will vary depending on the absorbency of your paper. - Whilst watching you could ask - What do you notice? You can talk about how the water is absorbed through the kitchen roll and drawn up by a process called capillary action. It's never too early to learn scientific words! - Relating it to real life - You could also give a real life example of capillary action in nature, as it's the way that plants bring up water through the roots and stem to the branches and leaves. It is also important for moving water in and out of the cells in our bodies! 3. Rainbow Artwork: Creating our rainbow artwork You'll need: - Kitchen roll sheets - Felt tip pens - A dish of water - Pipette - Glue stick - Scissors - Card Steps: - Decorate a piece of kitchen roll paper with felt tip pens (we did x3 pieces). - Using a pipette add drops of water to the paper and enjoy watching the colours spread. - Let the paper dry. - Then cut out the shapes that you want to create your artwork. - Stick the shapes onto card and display. Or you could use your artwork as a storyboard. 4. Drawing Magic Trick: Some of our magic trick art You'll need: - x1 piece of kitchen roll paper for each magic trick - Felt tip pens - Dish/tray - Water Steps: - This one requires a little bit of prep depending on how many magic tricks you want to perform. - Fold the piece of paper in half and position it so that you could open it like a book. - On the front of the paper draw what you want your child(ren) to see initially with the felt tip pen. Press hard so that it goes through underneath. - Open the paper and draw over the outline of what was drawn on the front. Then colour it in and add anything else that you want to appear once it is wet. - For example, you may want to draw the outline of a flower and then on the inside colour in the petals so when wet it shows a colourful flower. Alternatively, you could do what I did above and draw the outline of one object and then when wet it will reveal a picture with lots of different objects and colours. - Once you are ready to perform the trick, fill up a dish or tray with a small amount of water (just covering the surface area) and gently place the paper in the water. - Warning: it is highly likely that your child(ren) will want to see more than one trick! 5. Dancing Paper: Our two little people having an afternoon boogie You'll need: - Kitchen roll paper - Scissors - Cellotape - Balloon Steps: - This will work best if the paper is really thin (with the paper that we were using you could tease apart the two layers on a sheet to make a thinner piece). - Cut out a shape in the kitchen paper of whatever it is that you would like to dance - a person, butterfly, ghost etc. - Cellotape the bottom of the shape to the table. - Rub a balloon on hair or a jumper to make it static, and then hold it above the paper to lift it off the table. Moving the balloon will lead to the shapes moving too.

Over the holidays we did a long car journey down to the south-west. It ended up being considerably longer due to traffic delays, and felt much longer when our youngest only slept for a generous 10 minutes the whole way there! I prepared some activities suitable for our pre-schooler and toddler, which kept them entertained on the drive. I’ve shared them below for anyone else who is planning on a long road trip in the future and might be looking for some inspiration - I hope they come in handy. You may recall that I did a blog back in the summer about 'TIPS ON HOW TO ENTERTAIN YOUR TODDLER WHILST TRAVELLING ABROAD' and some of these I packed for our Easter car journey too. However, I guess the beauty of travelling in the car is that you can pack a lot more than you can when travelling on a plane and train, so I definitely took advantage of this. Audiobooks - Both the Bees really enjoy listening to audiobooks, particularly Big Bee. We downloaded Paddington Bear, Winnie-the-Pooh and Mary Poppins for the journey there and back. There are so many benefits of audiobooks from developing imagination and vocabulary, to enhancing their listening skills. Complaints were made when we thought they weren't listening and turned it off... Object scavenger hunt - Such a fun activity to play throughout the journey. In the 'Resource Library' (you can join for free!) I have created a two page worksheet with a variety of objects to find on your travels. We did one page on the way there and the other on the way back. Big Bee in the midst of her scavenger hunt Post-it/sticky notes - Big Bee is really into scribble writing little messages with her tiny pencil in her tiny notebook at home, so I thought she would really enjoy doing the same on some small post it notes that I had in my cavern of stationary wonders. Needless to say, the sticky factor was a hit and the car door had a glamorous make over. Books - We have a basket of books in the car that the children can access (this is rotated regularly) and before the journey I made sure that they had a fresh batch to look at. Make sure there are lots of interesting illustrations for them to look at in the selection you choose. Storytelling - A fun activity to do as a family where you can take it in turns or build on a story together. Who knows, you may end up with next 'The Gruffalo'... Hidden object bottle - I have always wanted to create one of these for a longer journey, so I finally made one for this recent trip. I used a recycled water bottle, trinkets and some of our coloured rice from our rice sensory box. For the trinkets I just collected items from around the house, for example mini toys, pom poms, beads, balls, gems and dice. I sealed it with some tape. For older children you could write a list of what they have to find, and for younger some drawings. In our instance I made a note of what I had added and then asked them to find it. It was a big hit and doubled up as a wonderful shaker instrument! Little Bee enjoying searching for the trinkets Alphabet scavenger hunt - There can never be too much scavenging on one road trip! If your pre-schooler is really into recognising letters then you could print off the 'Road Trip Letters' sheets in the 'Resource Library' for them to keep a look out for, and when they spot a letter then they circle it. There are uppercase and lowercase sheets available. Magnets/Magnatiles and a baking tray - Find a variety of magnets that you have lying around the house, and an old baking tray for some magnet fun and/or storytelling. Zoo magnet play on an old baking tray Music - Ensure you have access to your children's favourite tunes (and yours) for the journey. Have a Spotify account? Why not prepare a 'Road Trip Playlist'? Otherwise, make sure you have your best singing voice and a repertoire of nursery rhymes to tap into. I spy road trip sheet - In the 'Resource Library' you can find the 'Road Trip I Spy' sheet (with answers) that has lots of hidden object within for your child to search for a tick off. Stickers - Either take a pad of paper and some stickers, or even better take some reusable stickers. GALT do a travel friendly book, or for a bigger sticker book try these Melissa and Doug books. Colouring books and crayons - A classic activity that is sure to keep them occupied. If you don't have a colouring book that you can take then you'll be able to find some colouring sheets online to print off. Water magic - We are such big fans of these books and have found them invaluable for travelling. A firm favourite is a recent gift for Little Bee's birthday - 'WOW Water!', and he gets so engrossed when colouring it in! A must have for any journey with young children. A water colouring adventure to space Flash cards - For younger children they may enjoy looking through object flashcards and the illustrations on them, and then putting them in places that are hard for you to reach when you are later tidying up! Or letter and number flashcards for recognition. For older children you can purchase flashcards like "X things to do on a car journey/plane journey". Magazines - As a special treat we took the Bees to our local shop to purchase a magazine each. To say that the excitement levels were sky high would be an understatement. This definitely made up for the shock of discovering how much children's magazines cost nowadays! Nevertheless, a worthwhile investment as they thoroughly enjoyed reading them, the stickers included and the little accompanying gifts. Just a spot of light magazine reading and flicking Activity books - When we travelled abroad last year the children picked out an activity book to do on the plane together. Although it's not possible to do an activity book with your younger child in the car unless your sat next to them, they could still enjoy the graphics, colouring in pages and stickers. You could then support them on the activities at your final destination. Bag of toys - We encourage the Bees to pack a little rucksack of their favourite toys to enjoy on the journey (if they wish) and at their destination. They then keep them in the back next to them, so that they can access their selection whenever they want. Ipad/tablet and headphones - If your children watch TV in the car then make sure you've charged their devices up and download their favourite shows onto it! Where’s Wally? (or the Queen) - Who doesn't love searching for Wally? An activity that's sure to keep the little ones entertained and engaged with lots of amazing illustrations to enjoy. Little Bee searching for and spotting the Queen Counting game - A fun family game whereby you pick an object and colour to count in a certain time frame e.g. how many blue cars can we see in a minute, or how many green lorries/trucks in a minute. Object I spy and colour eye spy - Play the class i spy game as a family, or for younger children you could play the colour version whereby you say a colour and they have to spot an object in that colour. Travel etch-a-sketch/scribbler pad - For a different drawing and stamping medium that creates no mess then a scribbler pad is a must. Other tips to remember for a long journey: Lots of snacks and water Ensure you have easy access to a travel potty/loo roll A change of clothes First aid kit - plasters, calpol, antiseptic wipes etc. Baby wipes Plastic bag for rubbish Don't forget your own snacks, water and a thermos of tea/coffee! If you have any recommendations that you couldn't do a long car journey without then please send them over. I'm always looking for more ideas to share. Happy travels :)

With Easter just around the corner I have been focusing my energy on getting excited about Spring (and vocally wishing away the cold and ill ridden months of winter) and the upcoming celebrations. Easter bonnet hats are rather nostalgic for me, and take me back to being a little girl proudly wearing mine. Both Bees will be wearing them to do their nursery Easter bonnet parade, and then the family Easter egg hunts at home. Below I have detailed how I made each one for the children. (L): 'The Picket Fence' Bonnet Hat, (R): 'The Meadow' Bonnet Hat I got all of my supplies from Hobbycraft (except for the sheep and chicks, which were from Poundland). Both of the hats that I purchased from Hobbycraft were too large for their heads. Therefore, using a needle and thread you can pinch together some of the material at the back, and then sew it together to tighten it. The Picket Fence Bonnet Hat Materials: Boater hat White wooden fence Faux grass roll Yellow shredded paper x3 yellow pipe cleaners Felt decorations Sheep decorations Scissors Glue gun Steps: Measuring the height of the hat I cut two strips of the faux grass so that it was slightly above. Using the glue gun I then affixed the strips around the hat and made sure the two pieces met at each side rather than at the front. I then measured the fence around the grass and using wire cutters removed the excess fence. Using the glue gun I then glued this on top of the faux grass and made sure the ends met at the back of the hat. Then I cut different lengths of the pipe cleaners and curled them around my finger. I then made sure that the sharp end of each that was being glued onto the hat was bent flat. I used the glue gun to affix the pipe cleaners to the top of the hat. I held each in place whilst the glue hardened. Using the yellow shredded paper I filled in the top of the hat. I glued down small handfuls at at time until I reached the look I wanted. Little Bee then came and gave some direction on the final design. I followed his instructions and glued the decorations onto the hat, and onto the end of the pipe cleaners. To ensure the bonnet hat stay in place on Little Bee's head I glued a piece of ribbon on inside of the hat in line with where his ear would be. I then repeated this on the other side in the same colour ribbon. I can now tie a bow under his chin using the ribbons. Both Bees parading their Easter bonnet hats The Meadow Bonnet Hat Materials: Boater hat x2 green foam A4 sheets Flower decorations Green shredded paper Felt decorations Mini bird nests Sheep and chick decorations Small plastic pastel eggs Pencil Scissors Glue gun Steps: I cut both pieces of foam in half along its length. You will now have x4 pieces of foam. Using a pencil then draw out the grass blades onto each piece of foam making sure you leave about 1cm gap along the bottom. Then cut along the pencil marks for each, and you will be left with your grass blades. You will use x2 grass lengths to act as the back blades and x2 grass lengths will act as the front blades - so that the heights look staggered. Using the glue gun stick one of the foam grass sheets onto the hat making sure the middle lines up with the front of the hat. Also, make sure that it is glued a little higher off the base (as the back blades will be higher). Glue the second back strip of grass on. The front and back strips will meet at the side. Then stick on the first front grass strip and position it so that it is sitting flush on the hat. Line up the centre of the strip with the front of the hat. If step 4-6 have been followed correctly then it will be lower than the back blades already in place. Glue on the last strip of grass around the back. The ends of each will meet at the side of the hat. Add glue to a small area on the top of the hat and place a small handful of green shredded paper. Do this until all of the hat is covered. Glue the desired number of chicks and pastel plastic eggs to each nest. Then glue the nests onto the green shredded paper. Decorate the rest of the hat with felt decorations, flowers, sheep and chicks. As with the other bonnet hat, I glued pieces of matching ribbon in the inside of the hat (on each side) so to keep the hat in place on Big Bee's head. I had lots of different pieces of ribbon in different colours and I wanted to make a feature at the back, so I glued these in place and then glued x2 flowers on the top to tidy it up. Hopefully, you find the steps above easy to follow. If you decide to give one of the designs above a go, then I hope that you are you and your little one are happy with the final masterpiece. Wishing you all a wonderful Easter - may it be filled with much love, light and hope.

When our eldest started showing an interest in letters we seized the opportunity to gently encourage letter recognition and lowercase sounds through a variety of playful activities. Although I appreciate she is going to be learning phonics from a professional when she starts reception this year (cue the uncontrollable sobbing coming from the grown adult!) we didn't want to simply ignore her interest. There are endless opportunities to incorporate it in play, but below I have documented some of ways we have experimented at home. Hopefully, you will find some of them useful for your child(ren). Understandably, recognising letters is a fundamental part of learning how to read. So, on our journey to help Big Bee learn the alphabet in general we first started with teaching her the letters of her name, because we knew that would hold a lot of value for her. This then lead onto her wanting to know the letters in her brother's name, mine and her daddy's. As mentioned in the blog post 'THE BEST WAYS TO PREPARE YOUR CHILD FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL - INTERVIEW WITH TEACHER, LUCY OLDMAN' - "By the time a child starts in Reception I would expect the majority of children to be recognising their name and be able to make some attempts at writing it." Naturally, we have then introduced the other letters in the alphabet. We have focused out attention on the lower case letters because most letters in written words are lowercase, not uppercase, and therefore the visual recognition of lowercase letters will be more useful. However, we have taught her to recognise the uppercase for the first letter in her name. With the different letter activities we have done my main emphasis has been on making it enjoyable through play and exploration. It's all on her terms, because learning HAS to be fun! So, here is what we have been up to: Object hunt - A game focusing on the sounds of lowercase letters, and involves finding different items from their toy collection/around the house that begin with a chosen letter. For example, 't' for train, tiger, troll, toast, tomato. Hunting for letters beginning with s, d and c Letters in the everyday - Encouraging your child to spot different letters on containers, packaging, boxes, road signs, shop fronts, car number plates for example. You could also adapt a game of I-spy to be about letters when on a walk. Roll and dab - I stuck white stickers and wrote the letters that we were focusing on onto each side of the dice. I then wrote these letters randomly on a piece of cereal cardboard. Big Bee then had to roll the dice, find the matching letter, and mark it with the paint. Rolling the dice and then finding the letter to dab with paint Mark making - Using a tray filled with either salt, flour, sand or shaving foam your child can practise making letters with their index finger. A great one for developing fine motor skills and getting a little messy. Alternatively, you could mark out letters and they have to rub out the letters (you could use a paintbrush if you have one to hand) that you give the sounds for, or that they have to recognise from a flashcard, magnetic/foam/resin letter. Alphabet post box - This was a big hit with both Bees! Using a recycled tub or cardboard box, cut a hole in the lid and add a simple decoration on the outside if you wish. Then by either making the letter sounds or presenting a letter on a flashcard, they have to find the matching letter and post it in the post box. Letter posting Matching up - A simple activity of matching the magnet/foam letters to the letters on the paper. If you felt that your child was able to, you could also do this where they match the lowercase letter to the uppercase letter. I have created a free simple letter matching sheet that you can print off to use (as shown in the image below), which can be found in the Resource Library. In the document is also a sheet with letters in hives, and on the next sheet are some bees that you can cut out and place on the hive when you have found the letter. Lucky dip and stick - With the magnetic, foam or resin letters in a box or sack your child can pull out a letter. They then have to find this letter on a piece of paper/card with all the letters of the alphabet on and cover it with a sticker. Matching letters up Puzzles - We have an alphabet Melissa and Doug puzzle that we bought where you have to match up the letters to a picture of something beginning with that letter. Although there are a couple of American objects, I like how both the lowercase and uppercase letters are shown (for when that becomes relevant) and it's nice to have a different resource to add variety. Bee and hive activity - You can print off the 'Letter Matching' document in the Resource Library and on page 2-3 (titled Letter Recognition) you will see some hives with a-z written on each one, and a page of bees that need to be cut out. You can then make the letter sounds of each letter e.g. ah for Annie Apple, b for Bouncing Ben, k for Clever Cat, and when your child matches the sound to the correct letter then they place a bee on the hive. Can they fill all of the letter hives? Books - Books are a wonderful tool for pretty much everything and there are lots on the market for introducing the alphabet. We have an old version of 'ABC Letterland' that I picked up at a jumble sale and I remember reading it when I was a child - A for Annie Apple, B for Bouncing Ben, C for Clever Cat and so on. Needless to say Big Bee is a big fan of it and the colourful illustrations are beautiful and captivating. Not only this, but if you read to your children day-to-day they will come to recognise that the print in the story contains letters, and you can begin to point out certain letters that you may have been learning about that day. Alphabet puzzles Playdoh smash - If your children love Play-doh as much as mine do then this will no doubt go down well with your little ones. You just need something to smash the Play-doh e.g. a wooden mallet. We then put balls of Play-doh next to different letter magnets and Big Bee had to either smash the correct ball based on the letter sound I made, or if recognising a letter when I showed it to her on a flashcard. Letter tracing - You can either write out the letters on paper, or mark them out with masking tape on the floor and have your child follow the shape of the letters with anything for example, pom poms, buttons, beads, gems or conkers. Tracing letters with buttons Bubble wrap popping - Using a black marker pen write the letters on the bubble wrap, and once they have found the letter that they need to find they then pop the bubble. We found that the bigger the bubble wrap, the more fun! Sounds of fruit and vegetables - Something a little different - Big Bee had to find the piece of fruit or vegetable that I had made the first letter sound for. We then matched the correct foam letter to each. It was a great opportunity to talk about each vegetable and fruit too, and how they are good for us. Spotting the 'b' for butternut squash Dot stickers - A fun game of find and stick. Write some letters on a piece of paper or card, and then the same letters on numerous dot stickers. Your child then has to peel off the stickers and match them to the same letter. A good activity when teaching your child the letters in their name and for fine motor development. 'Splat' - We placed foam letters on the grass in the garden and we played two versions of this game. 1) Big Bee had to 'splat' (with the fly swat) the letters of the sounds that I was making. 2) She had to do a lucky dip and pull out a foam letter from a bag and then find the matching letter on the grass and 'splat' it. These foam letters are also great fun to play with in the bath. Letter 'splat' Counters - Big Bee is a fan of technology, so I decided to make her some different pages with items beginning with each letter of the alphabet mixed with some items that didn't begin with that letter. She had to then use our counters and place them on the items that began with the letter by sounding out the words. She really enjoyed this activity and became more confident as it went on. I have uploaded the document for all 26 letters of the alphabet onto the Resource Library for subscribers to access for free. Paint tracing - Draw a letter on a piece of paper and then using a paint dabber your child can trace it with a paint dabber. This will encourage recognition and fine motor skills. Placing counters on the items beginning with 't' Salt painting - Using some PVA glue you can write lowercase letters and something beginning with that letter on cardboard. Then sprinkle some table salt over it and leave it to dry. Liquid watercolours are best for this, but we didn't have any so we just had to make sure that we used enough water with our palette watercolours. Make sure to gently apply the colour to the salt and watch it spread. You could also use pipettes and food colouring/water mix. A fun and different medium to paint on. Letter salt painting Magnetic sensory bin - Create a sensory bin with anything from rice, sand to cereals in it and scattered magnetic letters in it to fish out with a fishing rod. You could use a chalkboard for them to match the letters in a word like in the image below, or you could use flashcards for individual letters or all the letters in the alphabet written out. Alternatively, they might have to match lowercase letters with uppercase letters (if you are at that stage). There are many different options to explore! Magnetic letter fishing Play-doh stamping - We used our homemade Play-doh for this activity as we found it smoother to imprint, and after finding that our letter stamps didn't leave very good marks we opted for our magnets instead. Big Bee would ask for words she wanted and then copy the letters onto the Play-doh. Play-doh stamping Alphablocks - A children's TV programme on BBC iplayer under the 'Love to Learn' section. Described as "a show that’s helped millions of children learn to read through adventures, songs and laughter. It’s a ton of fun with letters and words – all built on a firm foundation of key phonics skills". Letter treasure hunt - Hide some foam letters around the garden or a room in your house, and let your child go on the hunt to find them and sound out the letter when they have found it. To subscribe please sign up on the 'Home page', and to access any of the free resources mentioned above then you can click the button below to go straight to the 'Resource Library'.

With the recent weather in the UK having resembled that of the arctic or monsoon season, I thought that some indoor play suggestions for your children might be well received. So, here's our list of ideas to keep you and your little ones from climbing up the walls if you are staying in. I hope that it comes in use! A very belated Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a very enjoyable and restful Christmas break and getting through the grind of January. This blog has come out a bit later than I had anticipated, but with Little Bee's 2nd birthday, his party, some illness, and then with Little Bee starting nursery it's been a little hectic, as I'm sure you can understand. I also underestimated how long it would take me to write a list of 40+ suggestions! But without further ado here is our list of things to do with a toddler/pre-schooler at home when it's raining or seriously cold outside. Magnetic-tiles - We are big fans in our house and if you are too then you'll know that the opportunities are endless with them. You could make shapes with masking tape on the floor and fill them (as shown in '30+ FUN CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES TO ENTERTAIN THE KIDS' blog), make a maze for a 'Hexbug' (if you have one at home), build houses, make an obstacle course and blow a ball around it with a straw, develop a board game with them, create different coloured boxes for a colour sort, garages for cars, create silly faces with them, to name a few. Make a magazine collage - If you have any read magazines or newspapers around the house then you could recycle them, and cut them up to create a new image. You will need some scissors, paper and glue. Build a den - Another firm wet weather favourite in our household. We either use a pop up tent that we have, or some chairs and old sheets designated specifically for den building, and the children stuff it full of blankets, cushions and teddies. The last time we made a den we used some glow sticks too (did you know that you can store your glow sticks in the freezer to prolong their life?). Make jewellery - You'll need some beads and you could use with a pipe cleaner to twist into a bracelet for example, some jewellery laces or some elastic. A great activity for encouraging those fine motor skills. Don't have any beads? Why not use penne or macaroni pasta and some string or wool. Big Bee in the thick of using her beads from Father Christmas to make a bracelet Have a disco - Put on some tunes, a disco/sensory light if you have one, maybe some fancy dress clothes and glow sticks if you have them to hand, and throw some shapes. You could play musical bumps, statues or chairs too. Movement cube - If you want to burn some energy then this is a fun and different option. Print off our movement cube here from the Resource Library, preferably onto card, cut, and stick together to make a cube. Then take it in turns to roll the cube and act out the different animals. Play balloon tennis - If you have x2 paper plates, tape, x2 lollipop sticks and a balloon then you will be able to play a game of balloon tennis. You could also see how long you can keep the ballon bouncing without it hitting the floor, or bounce it whilst the music is playing and then try and balance it on the plate when the music stops. Play-Doh cakes - You'll need some Play-Doh, candles, gems, glitter, sprinkles, small bits of pipe cleaner bent into different shapes and any other small bits that can be added to their cakes. You could even use their play kitchen or a recycled cardboard box to act as their oven. Sure to be a hit! Anyone fancy a Play-Doh cake slice...? Rice/bean play - You don't have to have an all singing, all dancing rice play set-up to enjoy some sensory pay. Just get some dried rice or dried beans and a container that is large enough for scooping and pouring into. Then get some little pot and scoops or spoons and let your little ones enjoy. You could always add some little toys, like mini diggers or excavators to add to the fun. Vegetable and fruit printing - If you have some fruit or vegetables in the fridge that are on the turn then why not use them for printing. You will need some paper, paint and foods like apples, pear, celery base, onions or broccoli. Texture rubbings - Go on the hunt around the house for items that you could use, such as coins, a grater and comb. Then using wax crayons make a rubbings onto paper. Shadow play - You could either use your hands to make different animal shapes and a torch or use different animal figurines you have at home. To begin, you could encourage your little ones to guess the animal and then make the sounds that they make, discuss some facts about each one and then create a storyline including a few of the animals. Alternatively, you could make some shadow puppets using card or cardboard from a cereal box, lollysticks/skewers, Sellotape and scissors. When Nelly the elephant met Gerry the giraffe during our shadow play Marble maze - On a baking tray use some playdoh to make a maze and then run a marble through the maze. You can then re-mould the playdoh and make a different maze. Do a scavenger hunt in the house - For younger children you could write a list of items for them to collect or draw a little map of where they can find their treasures. Alternatively, you could do an alphabet hunt with some foam letters that they have to find to make up a word on a flashcard/written on paper. For older children you could write clues for the items they need to find that have been hidden. For multiple children you could time them and turn it into a race. Baking - Whilst on the theme of baking, why not actually bake a real cake, cookies or muffins with staples that you have in the cupboard? Check out the recipe we used for some vegan cookies at Christmas in our blog post '30+ FUN CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES TO ENTERTAIN THE KIDS'. Big Bee in the process of making some chocolate banana bread during a baking session Vet play - A fun activity to encourage role play and the important values of caring for others including animals. You could use animal figurines or cuddly toys and if you don't have any medical toys then you could either use your house thermometer and a Calpol syringe for example, or make some out of recycled cardboard and use loo roll as bandages. Make an obstacle course - I mentioned our carnival set in 'THE 3RD BIRTHDAY GIFT GUIDE THAT YOU NEED TO READ' blog post, which we use for setting up mini obstacle courses and a pop up tunnel. If you don't have anything like this in your home then why not use cushions, chairs and sheet for a tunnel, empty bottles, pool noodles and rings to make a DIY one. Children's yoga - A great way to get your little ones moving and doing something a bit different, and not to mention the plethora of other benefits from helping to manage anxiety to developing their flexibility. Cosmic Kids Yoga on Youtube is accessible and fun for children. Jump in muddy puddles - No rain day play would be complete without playing outside in the actual rain. As long as there is no thunder, storm or lightening, and you have the right rain gear for both your children and yourself then splashing in and out of puddles will no doubt be enjoyed. You can't beat fresh air! Visit the library - One for outside the house, but this list wouldn't feel right without it. Allow your children to explore their local library and immerse themselves in the wonder of books. Getting children interested in reading at a young age is important to encourage positive reading habits later on in life. You could also check to see if there are any story times or activities being hosted at the library that you could attend. Making ourselves VERY at home at our local library Portrait paintings - Using mirrors you could get your child to paint themselves, or if you have more than one child you could suggest that they paint one another. Alternatively, if you don't have any paint you could make some portraits out of loose parts like bottle lids, stones and beads. Teddy bear tea party - Collect all the teddies who want to attend a tea party and then serve them a cup of tea and slice of cake. If you don't have any tea cups and play cake, then you could use recycled bottles and some cardboard to make some delicious treats. Salt painting - Draw a pattern or image on some card stock using PVA glue and then pour some salt over it. Then tip off the excess salt. Using some liquid watercolour paints dip your paintbrush and then dab it onto the salt and watch it spread. If you don't have any watercolours then you can use some food colouring and water. Then leave it to dry for a day or two. Painting with household items - Bored of using a paintbrush? Then why not try something a little different and find some household items to paint, for example, a comb, old toothbrush, sponge, bristle brush. Make a fairy house - Do you have a small cardboard box that could be converted into a fairy house? If so, decorate with tissue paper, card, stickers, paint. We also used some recycled faux flowers for the top of the house. Cut a door out and if you have more cardboard going spare then you could use it to make little beds for the fairies. We then added some items like battery operated tea lights, conkers, gems and real flowers and the fairies of course. The Bees then enjoyed playing with their creation and immersed themselves in a magical world. Introducing our magical fairy land and house Read books together - Cosy up underneath a blanket on the sofa and read your favourite books together. If you have been to the library to collect some new books then this would be a perfect time to read them at home together. Fancy dress - Not that your little ones need an excuse to dress up, but a grey and rainy day is a perfect reason to open up the fancy dress box. Don't have any fancy dress items? You could play dress up with some of your clothes, or make hats from newspaper. Puppet show - If you don't have any puppets at home then it's a perfect excuse to make some with lolly sticks and felt, old socks, wooden spoons etc. In a past blog post we made some space and under the sea puppets - WOODEN LOLLIPOP STICK PUPPET CRAFT. Play a board game - If you have any board games in the cupboard then it's the perfect time to get them out and play with together. You could also get your favourite teddy bears involved. Memory games are the top of our list in our household, particularly our latest purchase 'Shopping List' by Orchard Toys. Big Bee teaching Teddy the rules for the 'Shopping List' game Make a rain cloud mobile - Using half of a paper plate create holes at the top (curved side) to thread some string through to hang it up at the end. Then spread some glue over it and stick on some cotton wool balls. Then on the back of the plate add some different lengths of blue thread across the length of the flat side, ~ 5-6 of them. Cut out some raindrops from some blue card (a mixture of light and dark would be ideal) and then stick them along the length of the pieces of thread. Add the string at the top to hang. Complete a puzzle - This would be a firm favourite for Little Bee at the moment as he is obsessed with completing them! If you don't have any puzzles then why not make one? You could also add a challenge to get your child moving and hide the puzzle pieces for a game of 'hide, seek and complete'. Learn about where rain comes from - For slightly older children - why not learn about where rain is from and then do a rain experiment. It could be as simple as seeing what volume of rain you collect; to collecting rain water to watering some seedlings, and then comparing how well they grow compared to those grown using tap water (remember to make it a fair test e.g same type of seeds, same amount of sunlight to same volume of soil etc.); or illustrating rainfall through a demonstration using a jar filled with water and then putting shaving foam on the top to illustrate the cloud, and then using liquid food colouring and pipetting it on top of the foam and seeing it fall through into the water. Make houses for animals - Using recycling, Magnetic Tiles, Lego or Mega Bloks you could make little houses for any toy animals that you have around the house. This will then open up other opportunities for role play. Little Bee in the building stage of these animal's houses Ooblek (cornflour goop) messy play - An entertaining activity that the adults can enjoy just as much! It's affordable and easy to make too and it's likely that you will have the main component in your store cupboard. For a small quality for x1 child, use approximately 75g of cornflour and 50ml of cold water and mix together. If the mixture seems too dry then add a few drops more of water. You could also add a few drops of food colouring if you would like to make the mixture a certain colour. Prepare to get messy playing with it and enjoy something that is both a solid and a liquid! Bowling - Have any empty cartons or plastic bottles then why not use them as bowling pins? You could then use either a ball or an orange/satsuma as the ball. Do a science experiment - There are so many fun science experiments you can do at home with your children using common household products, from the milk, food colouring and dish soap experiment; the bicarbonate of soda and vinegar experiment; to demonstrating diffusion with skittles and water. Do a little research beforehand into what is needed and what science is going on in order to answer any questions they may have, and to help with your explanation. I do plan on doing a blog post on some different experiment you can enjoy at home with your pre-schooler. But most importantly encourage your children to tell you what they notice and nurture the excitement of doing experiments at home, in the hope that this will carry on through the years. The fun and easy skittle experiment Felt shape pictures - Using different coloured felt sheets and scissors cut out different geometric shapes, and make different pictures with them. You could either place them on another piece of felt sheet for a background and take photos of the different scenes you create, or for something more permanent you could glue them down onto some card. Simon Says - An easy and fun game that children love (and will no doubt bring back some nostalgia to your childhood). You can give commands such as "Simon says, hop, crawl, jump, dance, fly like a butterfly" etc. and watch out for when Simon doesn't say a command! Play hide and seek - A classic game that should never be underestimated! Need I say anymore? Bean bag toss game - Use a recycled delivery box, and either draw straight onto it the image you want or onto paper that you have stuck onto it, and then cut a hole (adults should do this step!) for the bean bags to go through. If you don't want to do the first activity step of creating an image then you could just skip it and make the hole. If you have a big enough box then you could add multiple holes for a different value of points. If you don't have a box then use a laundry basket. If you don't have any bean bags then you could make your own with rice, some scrap fabric and needle and thread, or use scrunched up newspaper or recycled paper. For Little Bee's Thomas the Tank Engine themed birthday I made a bean bag toss from a recycled Amazon box Junk modelling - Have some rolls, boxes, jars, lids, bottles, cardboard boxes laying around then why not use them for junk modelling and made some different objects out of them e.g. a train. Sticky picture - Cut out a rectangle (or your preferred shape) out of some coloured card so that you are left with a border onto some recycled cardboard e.g. a flower, and then clover it with clear contact paper (the stuff you use to cover your text books with) and then add some loose craft bits such as, button, coloured lolly sticks, tissue paper, sequins, wool, felt etc. to make a picture. To access any of the free HOTH resources, simply subscribe and then click on the link below.