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50 Journaling prompts for Mums of Teens who want to enhance their connection with their children
Hi there, fabulous mums of teens! Grab your cosy blanket, a cup of your favourite brew (coffee, tea, or a little bit of both – no judgement here!), and get ready to dive into the wonderful world of journaling. Yep, you heard that right – we’re about to embark on a journey that’s all about enhancing those special connections with our oh-so-unique, eye-rolling experts we lovingly call our teenagers. Buckle up, because we’re about to discover the magic of journaling together – the kind that’s equal parts heartfelt, hilarious, and downright helpful. So, if you’ve ever wondered how to decode those mysterious grunts, survive those epic eye rolls, and maybe…
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Family Autumn / Fall Bucket List
Our Family Bucket List for Autumn 2014! Autumn is one of my favourite times of year and I often find that it provides lots of opportunities for family activities and fun times together! Below you will find our bucket list of 15 things we hope to do in the coming months! What’s on your Fall Bucket List for 2014? Let us know if you have anything planned or special family traditions for this time of year! Have fun! Ciara x For lots and lots of activities, ideas, crafts, decor ideas etc take a look at our Autumn themed Pinterest boards, a full list list can be found here!
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Fizzy Glittery Playdough / Gloop – Super Sensory Fun!
A group of fantastic bloggers from the Kid Blogger Network (of which I am a member) are running a year long linky called “12 Months of Sensory Dough”. Each month there is a theme for the dough and bloggers are encouraged to experiment with the theme and share their experiences (good and bad). We love sensory play and make a lot of playdough and love to experiment with new recipes. So, as it was raining heavily this morning I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to experiment with fizzy dough, this months theme!!!! The Bloggers hosting this fantastic project are: Lemon Lime Adventures Look! We’re Learning! Glittering Muffins…
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How to Make a Fairy Tale Castle – Outdoor Summer Fun for Kids!
I don’t know about you, but when I was a child I absolutely loved to build houses, tents, dens, castles, clubhouses etc. My two monkeys are exactly the same and when our chickens and their coop arrived last Sunday (more about that later!) they were far more excited about the two huge cardboard boxes the flat pack chicken coop came in than their 3 new feathered friends! Honestly, so was I! I immediately started to conjure up all sorts of ideas for what we could create with the cardboard – I probably should have been more interested in Mr G as he expertly constructed the chicken coop – good job…
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Displaying Children’s Books -Encouraging Young Readers
We are book lovers here at Our Little House in the Country. Our home is full to the brim with books. I recently donated about 10 large boxes of books, mostly novels, in order to make room for the rest. I have been collecting children’s books for over 15 years and we have hundreds. We have picture books, board books, children’s novels, non-fiction books, story anthologies, pop-up books, lift and flap books, you name it we probably have it! Both of my children love to read and look through their books. I have tried to encourage this by displaying the books in a way that is child friendly and accessible…
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Our Big Blue Activity Box, aka “The What To Do When I’m Bored Box” – 15 activity ideas
Today, I have decided to share the contents of our “Big Blue Activity Box”. Back in early January I found that both of my children were grouchy and irritable and weren’t playing with toys or anything for that matter. They would not play independently and I was completely worn out plus we were battling colds and sore throats etc. I think they were “hung-over” after the festivities of the Christmas season – toys, gifts, sweets, lots of time with both Mr G and I. At the time I felt that I was spending my days separating the two of them, listening to howls and whinging, dealing with silly behaviour. Off…
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Our Top 5 Messy Play Ideas from Pinterest
When it comes to play in this house, the messier the better! I am constantly for new, fun and MESSY ideas for Doodles and Oodles to try. These are 5 of our favourite most recent finds from Pinterest! Check out my group board – Outdoor Fun and Messy Play ideas on Pinterest, follow it and I’ll send you an invite to pin on it if you want! Baking Soda and Vinegar Eruptions – this is a real favourite with Doodles. He never tires of creating these mini volcanic-like eruptions, great fun, easy to do, requires very little preparation. We got this idea from Live, Play, Imagine, a really brilliant…
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(Books for Children) Oodles’ Book of the Week – My Mummy by Paula Metcalf & Lucy Barnard
This week’s book is My Mummy, written by Paula Metcalf and illustrated by Lucy Barnard. I know this book inside out and off by heart. This is by far Oodles’ favourite book! I if you look closely at the photos you will see the tell-tale signs of a well-loved, well read, well-worn book – crinkly pages, dog eared cover, little milk stains, etc. Every night for almost 3 months solid I read this book to her. My hubby Mr G, used to laugh at me, “reading” this book in the pitch dark at 3am if she woke and needed help getting back to sleep– I know every last word of…
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(Kids) Rainy Day Survival Plan (and a little moan!)
Just when I thought Spring was well and truly under way, the storms returned. It is dark and dreary, very wet and windy outside! We got soaked running from the house to the car and car to school on the school run this morning! Doodles and Oodles were delighted as they got to use their Mickey Mouse and Peppa Pig umbrellas! I am dreading going out again shortly to take O to her “Mummy and Me” music class, but she loves it and I know that I’ll enjoy it too once we get there. To top it all off, I’m tired, very, very tired this week. All my plans to…
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(Books for Children) Our Top 5 “Story” Board Books for Toddlers
Board books are such an amazing way to introduce little ones to books. We have lots of them, I keep them in little baskets in each room for easy access as well as displaying some on our kitchen book rack and the book rack made from an old cot side in O’s room. Board books are so much easier for little hands to manipulate, allowing toddlers to turn pages with ease. Of course they are also so much more durable!!!! There is such a huge variety of board books available that I wasn’t sure which type to begin with. I decided to take a look at story books this week. …
