-
Easter Holiday Adventures Part 2 – Fun and Free Frolics!!!!
I haven’t had much time to blog this week. My son is on holidays from preschool so we have been havibng great fun getting out and about. The weather has also been amazing so we have been outdoors all day, everyday. We are all sleeping like logs and appetites have improved and everyone is in good humour – yaaaaay! Today I am sharing with you 3 fun and free activities from our adventures so far this week. 1. Splashy Fun at the Beach! We all put on our rain gear and welly boots and headed to the beach early one morning this week. We are very lucky to live about…
-
10 Fantastic Spring/Easter Books
There are so many beautiful children’s books with Spring themes available, we have so many of them I wasn’t sure where to start with this post. With the help of Oodles and Doodles, I have put together out top 10 Spring themed books! 1. The Velveteen Rabbit – not strictly about Spring but a gorgeous, timeless story . 2. That’s Not My Bunny – one of Oodles’ current bedtime touchy-feely favourites. 3. Spot’s First Easter – a fun, colourful, simple, lift-the-flap, Easter egg hunt book. 4. Emma’s Lamb – in true Kim Lewis style, a stunningly beautiful book about life on the farm in Spring time 5. Little Tail –…
-
Our Top 5 Spring Themed Paint Activities for Children
We’ve had a very busy day today. We decided to have a painting afternoon and try out a few different Spring ideas I had spotted on the net over the past few weeks. Before I share our top 5 Spring Painting Activities I like to let you know about one or two things that I have coming up on the blog later in the week. We are in the process of putting together a new playroom. We had a fantastic playroom, unfortunately it was on a different floor to the rest of the living areas in our home. While it was a gorgeous, large, light and airy space with the…
-
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…
-
Doodles’s Book of the Week – We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
Doodles’ is my 4 ½ year old boy and a serious book lover. His book of choice this week surprised me a little. Not that it’s not a great book as it truly is but because he loved this book when he was younger but seemed to have grown out of it. However, over the last week or so his preschool class have been working on this book, going on their own bear hunts, creating small worlds, painting and drawing their favourite parts of the story etc. So this probably explains his renewed interest in this book. I’m sure that you are familiar with this book but in case you…
-
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…
-
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…
-
5 Gorgeous Books to Celebrate Mother’s Day
It is Mother’s Day here in Ireland on Sunday 30th March. These are 5 beautiful children’s books for you to read with your children to celebrate Mothers everywhere! I Love my Mum – a gorgeous, simple little picture book about the bond between mum and child – Ollie the Zebra and his mummy, by Anna Walker. Mummy and Me – a colourfully illustrated story about Humber and his mum and all the fun things they do together by Emma Chichester Clark I Want My Mum – this was one of our books of the week recently. A funny, rhyming toddler friendly book about Little Princess and her mum, by Tony…
-
(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…
-
(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…
