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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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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…
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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. …
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(Books for Children) Oodles’ Book of the Week -“I Want My Mum!” by Tony Ross
Both of my children are mad about books. We have literally hundreds of books in our home. I have been collecting children’s books for years and years, long before we ever considered starting a family. My little boy Doodles will read absolutely anything but in particular loves fact based books. We’ll be taking a look at his book of the week tomorrow. Oodles, my little 2 year old girl, piles books up beside her bed each night. We only read 2 per night or we would be there til dawn! Often she takes a major liking to a particular book and when that happens, yes you’ve guessed it, that is…
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(Kids) Green Gloop Messy Play – St Patrick’s Day Fun
Messy Play Alert! Sticking with our St. Patrick’s Day theme we decided to enjoy some outdoor messy play with Green Gloop today! Spring has finally arrived after months of horrendous storms and we have been making the most of the good weather and getting out as much as possible. We even managed a trip to the beach yesterday. It was a gloriously sunny Spring day – cold(approx. 7 degrees Celcius) but calm and clear. Doodles (4 ½) and Oodles(2) had so much fun all wrapped up building sandcastles! So, today I decided that it was a perfect afternoon for some messy play. I cleaned out the sand and water tray…
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(Kids) Gloriously green play dough fun- St Patrick’s Day Festivities
St Patrick’s Day is Monday, 17th March. It’s our national day here in Ireland. It’s a weekend of fun and frolics and a celebration of all things Irish. It also means a day off school and work! In preparation for the weekend ahead we’ve been having a little fun with some St Patrick’s Day themed activities. Today’s fun included exploring with green home-made play dough and very messy outdoor antics with gloop! First thing on the agenda was to make the play dough. Usually I let the children make it themselves but we were a little short on time today as we had a trip to the library scheduled, so…
