Easter Egg Trail at National Trust Polesden Lacey

This weekend has been a bit, how can I put it? Rubbish. Noah has been a bit poorly for a few days (as in constant calpol and really not his usual fun self) and the OH also seems to have a milder version of what Noah has. We also had a situation with the car which has now been resolved. We had lots of plans for this weekend which included a big family get together at our house and seeing loads of friends that have had to be cancelled. So today I decided that there was no reason why Isla and I couldn't get out and have some fun, so we headed over to my parents first for a bit of lunch, a few puzzles for Isla with Nanny and car advice for me from my Dad and then we went to National Trust Polesden Lacey for a Cadbury Easter Egg Trail. It was great. We've done one for the past 2 years and the weather has been blazing, so this year was a slight let down on that front but no less fun as the lure of a chocolate egg had Isla running round the whole trail. It was great to see her really running and balancing on logs, collecting sticks and having a go at climbing trees. She also loved the binoculars that you can borrow:

The idea with the trail isn't that you collect eggs all the way round (as obviously there would be none left within an hour of the trail opening!), instead you spot letters of the alphabet on your way round, note them down, then unravel them to make a word and collect a Cadbury's egg at the end. What I liked this year was that the letters were on papier mache eggs that were hanging in the trees and if I read rightly the eggs were made by local school children (couldn't stop to read it properly as Isla was already running off to find the next one! Previously it was just a letter pinned on a tree or a clue. 

Isla literally ran the whole way round. I mostly had this view:

There is a cool little woodland playground in the middle of the trail which she loved:

We noted down all the letters, great alphabet practise for her and then we climbed a couple of trees:

After that we collected our egg and queued up for the face painting. And I think that was my only gripe. We waited half and hour for face painting. She was really good at waiting but it did feel like a long time. It is included in the price of the trail though (£2.50) so I wouldn't complain at all. There were 3 face painters and think if this had been doubled it would have been better but the queue did became outraged when an adult emerged from the tent with his face painted as it was felt that he had taken up time that could have been given to one of the kids and I can't help agreeing really. However - that is a really small thing and Isla loved the result of her face painting:

All in all, we really needed that time in the fresh air today and when we got home it seemed that Noah and Daddy were on the road to recovery, far less Calpol and Nurofen had been administered today and more food had been eaten. So here's hoping that everyone is on the road to recovery!

How to Make the 'Alternative' Easter Bonnet!

Now I have two children in nursery I have to make two Easter Bonnets! I was really prepared with Isla's one - we started it weeks ago and finished it at the weekend, she did all the painting and I just did all the putting together. I love crafting with her - she gets so into it. However I wasn't as prepared with Noah's but when my work colleague Tim showed me what he'd made for his son, I just knew I wanted to do the same for Noah and share this really simple but fun idea with you. I said it was an 'alternative' Easter Bonnet and what I mean by that is it's a HOT CROSS BUN! Which is really appropriate for Noah at the moment as he won't stop eating the things! Here's how I made it:

You will need

Ideally Brown wrapping paper or I used 2 large brown envelopes stuck together 
White Card
Black Card
Stuffing to pad out the 'hot cross bun' - I used a load of carrier bags/ you could use bubble wrap
Glue/ Sellotape
Card to make the hat go round your child's head - I used card from a cereal box

How to make your Hot Cross Bun Easter Hat

Take the envelopes and make them into a square.

Stuff with carrier bags to pad out your bun

Fold the corners of your 'square' shape so that you make a more rounded bun shape.

Cut two lengths of white card and stick these to your 'bun' in a cross

Cut a few circles from your black card and stick these on to your 'bun' - these are your currants

Obviously this has to sit on your child's head so I cut the top off a cereal box and sized it to Noah's head and stuck it on to the bottom of the bun and voila you have your Hot Cross Bun Easter Hat! 

Isla also had to give it a try:

Happy Easter Everyone!

National Trust is THE Best Place For Family Fun

I recently posted about the Cadbury Easter Egg Trails at National Trust. They're in full swing already and we went on one at the weekend. We went to Nymans House and Gardens and it's our brilliant day there that has made me want to share with you how a day out at a National Trust property is bloody brilliant for families. We have a family membership and it's been such good value. We always take a picnic (sometimes planned with all the trimmings, and other times just stuff cobbled together from the fridge and cupboard), we always try to remember a ball and for me I always have to have some method of capturing the day be it my iPhone or camera.

We went to Nymans on Sunday and we had fantastic weather, a lovely picnic, a good stroll around the grounds (thanks to being on the Egg trail!) and on the way home a super sleep out of the baby! Here are a few of our snaps:

There are so many properties up and down the country. I tend to use the National Trust app on my iPhone to see how close we are to places. When we go on our long weekend to Yorkshire in July I think we will also stop by an NT place as a rest stop, which will mean we'll get to see places that are beyond our own area too!

This is not a sponsored post, it's just me saying what a great organisation The National Trust is and what a great investment an annual membership is.

How to Make an Easter Bonnet

Recently we were lucky enough to visit Maggie & Rose family members club in Kensington for a baby event and Isla and I had a fab time, she got her face painted and made some cookies and generally had a lovely time. We don't have anything like that in our area and it was really fun, so when I was contacted by the people at Walker Books about a new Maggie and Rose Eco Friendly Activity Book for Isla and I to try out at home I accepted immediately.  We were sent the 'This Book is Totally Rubbish' Activity Book which is bursting with brilliant ideas for games and things to make and do - all based around the subject of art and recycling

Just before Easter I found the perfect opportunity to use the book when Isla and I got stuck into making an Easter Bonnet for her Nursery Tea Party. Since having a little girl I've always felt like I can't wait till we can do craft type activities together and this was our first go at a bit of messy creativity at home. I decided that we would make her Easter Bonnet using the instructions on how to do Paper Mache from the book - a great way to use up old newspapers. See below all the photos from our creative journey making an Easter Bonnet that eventually earned Isla an Easter Egg prize from the nursery for best Bonnet (not blowing my own trumpet at all......!!)

As you can see she loved the finished result and I'm really looking forward to making more things using this book - Eco Moulding Clay is our next project I think.

So following on from our fun using this book I have one copy of 'This Book is Totally Rubbish' to give away to one lucky person to have fun with! All you need to do to enter is:

Compulsory entry: comment below telling me your child's favourite craft activity or if too young something you look forward to doing with your child when they're old enough

Extra entry: Tweet the URL of this Giveaway post including twitter IDs @iheartmuthahood & @WalkerBooksUK and leave a separate comment below that you have done this.

UK Entrants only
Good luck and the competition closes midnight, Friday 20th May!