Home sweet home!

Regular followers of my blog will know how happy I am and how much I love living where I do. It is genuinely one of my favourite places to be. I grew up in the city until mum and dad decided to move us all to the country (right by the beach!) here in beautiful Wales, UK. I now have a husband and two wonderful kids and still live very close to my parents (just five minutes drive away). I cannot imagine anywhere better to bring up our family. The beach is on our doorstep, woodland is everywhere and nature is all around us. Wales has some amazing scenery and people come from all over the world to visit and see it for themselves! I wrote on the blog a little while ago about a place called Blue Lake where we love going for regular walks. It is one of our favourite ways to spend family time!

I thought it would be nice to share with you a photo which I took whilst sitting in our back garden the other evening. You can see the beach wall from our home and on this particular night as I looked up I could see people walking along the wall enjoying the evening sunset. It made a beautiful picture so I quickly grabbed the camera! I hope this photo shows one of the reasons I feel so lucky to live in this beautiful country.

I want to be……

I really wanted to share with you our latest activity as the kids have loved it so much! They have enjoyed every part of this and I have loved watching them working on it too! They have each been busy making what we call an “I want to be….” self portrait.

You will need – large paper (old wallpaper or lining paper works really well), pencils and paint.

Begin by cutting a piece of large paper which is large enough for you to draw around your little one! We used old wallpaper. Lining paper works brilliantly too and it is super cheap! Next get your little one to lie down on the paper and carefully draw around them – be warned this usually results in fits of giggles and can take a while!!!

Once you have your outline discuss with your child what they would like to paint themselves as. This time we decided to think about what they would like to be when they grow up. My son chose a policeman and my daughter chose a vet (no surprise there)! The opportunities here are huge. You could think about jobs, storybook characters, imaginary people, superheroes etc!

Next draw the details they want to put on their outline. Younger kids will need extra help with this part. We looked on the internet for the different uniforms which their chosen vocations used. This also helped with colours needed. Next comes paint! We also used chalks, felts and crayons. Lots of different materials!

 

Once finished leave to dry and then cut out. My kids loved the fact that they had turned themselves into what they wanted to be! They now have pride of place on their bedroom walls!

We hope you like our “I want to be…..” portraits. I highly recommend giving them a go! Huge amounts of fun and giggles go into these portraits, not to mention the thought, creativity, imagination and fine motor skills!

A lovely activity to get their imaginations fired up!

 

 

 

 

 

To the Sea!

It was finally warm and sunny enough to head to the beach last weekend and spend an afternoon there (rather than a quick ten minutes blowing out the cobwebs in the sea breeze gales). We were so excited at the prospect of a sunny beach afternoon!

When we arrived I set up my place with the beach bag, toys, towels etc and my much longed for book! The kids straight away shook off their shoes and socks and literally ran……….. they ran and ran and did not pause until they reached the sea. I took a quick snap of them racing to the water and as I did it got me thinking…. When did I lose that sheer excitement of just splashing in the water? As a kid all I wanted was for mum to say we could go in the sea on our holiday beach days, as a mum now, all I wanted was a few minutes of peace and quiet on the sand. (Don’t get me wrong I love playing with my kids on the beach but getting into the water doesn’t hold as much appeal any-more)! The sea is kind of Daddy territory! I watched them for a little while then took off my shoes and headed over to them. What followed was a water splash battle which ended up with us all pretty drenched but incredibly happy! The joy on their faces was so cool to see. It reminded me that kids get such pleasure from the things that we probably don’t see as being huge or important, but are probably the things that form the best type of memories for them……

The voice of the sea speaks to the soul – Kate Chopin.

 

Oreo biscuit bakes!

My son loves Oreo’s! They are one of his favourite sweet treats so it was no surprise that he had an Oreo Easter egg for Easter. He kept one mini pack to one side as he wanted to make some of his favourite biscuits with them. We decided to make some the other day, so I thought I would share the recipe with you lovely people!  

Oreo biscuit bakes recipe – 110g butter, 55g sugar, 175g plain flour, 2 tablespoons of water, vanilla extract and mini Oreo’s (we use 1 snack pack – appx 150 g).

1 – Begin by preheating your oven to 160 c.

2 – Put the sugar and butter in a large bowl and mix until fluffy.

3 – Add a few drops of vanilla extract and the water and mix. Add the flour and Oreo’s and mix in well. (Break the Oreo’s up first into smaller pieces). Feel free to use your hands to form your biscuit dough!

4 – Roll out onto a floured surface and cut out your biscuits with a cutter. We used circle cutters this time but you can use whichever shape you like! Pop them onto a greased baking tray.

5 – Bake in the oven for approx 20 minutes or until golden.

 

These biscuits are super yummy and make a great simple treat to bake with the little ones at the weekend! For more kids baking ideas click here!

I hope you all have a super weekend!

Paper plate portholes!

Summer is finally on its way! The sunshine has been out and my daughter wanted to do a summer themed activity this weekend. One of her favourite  craft themes is the Ocean so she opted to make a paper plate porthole. Paper plate portholes are a lovely simple craft which look really effective, and can be adapted to make with a wide age range of children.

To make your paper plate porthole you will need – 2 paper plates, paint, glue, coloured paper and pens.

Begin by cutting out the centre of one of your paper plates.

Next paint the other (complete) paper plate blue – this will be your ocean water.

Now paint the back of the other plate (with the centre cut out). You can choose whichever colours you like. My daughter chose purple with gold and silver spots!

Pop the plates to one side to dry. Make your ocean creatures using paper and pens. We made fish, an octopus and seaweed.

When your plates are dry, glue down your ocean creatures where you would like them on the blue plate! You can add other features like air bubbles with a pen.

Finally stick down your top plate to finish off your porthole.

My daughter loved making her paper plate porthole! You can add whatever you like to your ocean scene – my little boy loves adding sharks to his ocean!

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!

 

Nature faces!

My daughter was off school sick the other day with a pretty nasty head cold. We decided to go out in the garden in the afternoon to get a little fresh air as she was starting to feel a little better. Whilst sitting there she decided she wanted to make a ‘nature face’.

Nature faces are a lovely simple activity to do outdoors. They are adapted from our nature pictures, and are a firm family favourite. They always produce individual unique results and you can make them as serious or silly as you like! All you need is a piece of paper and a pen…..everything else is found from Mother Nature!

Start by drawing a head and neck onto a piece of paper. Next go exploring to see what you can use for hair and facial features. Adult guidance will be needed to make sure everything is safe to pick up (and to stop anything being eaten)!

My daughter used grass and daisies for her nature girl’s hair, dandelion flowers for the eyes and mouth, and a leaf for the nose!

We had great fun making different faces and it certainly cheered up a poorly little girl for a while! You can use glue to stick the face down if you want to, or simply wipe everything off and make a new face!

I hope you all have a lovely Saturday!