Bumper Book of Summer by Sainsbury's

It’s the LOOOOONG Summer holidays. This fact is something that up till now has rather passed me by as Isla isn’t at school yet, but in September school is going to become a reality for us, and the holidays are going to become part of our routine. In order to make sure the kids don’t utter the mantra “I’m bored” all summer long Sainsbury’s have released ‘The Bumper Book of Summer’ with over 60 boredom busting ideas for action-packed days. There are ideas and activities for children aged 3 – 12 years and they cover things from active days to crafting and also some great tasty recipes to help replenish some of the energy the kids have burnt off. They are also budget conscious which is key when there is a whole 6 weeks to fill.

We were lucky enough to be invited to the press day for the launch of the book and we went as a family to London to experience some of the activities. Here’s what we did:

Face Painting!

Making Photo Frames

Cardboard Car Races

Making a Monster

Becoming Pirates! Shiver Me Timbers!

A lot of the activities can be done using things that you have lying around the house, boxes, toilet rolls, silver foil, glue and paints. And for anything that you may not have, Sainsbury's also have a really great 'Get Creative' range including everything kids need to have fun with crafting, including pom poms, googly eyes, friendship bracelet kits. They are all reasonably priced and would really supplement the book.

I love the book for the reason that it's really clearly set out, the activities give guidance for the age they are best suited to, the time it should take to complete and lists all the required items for the activity. Isla and Noah had such fun at the event. Noah had his face painted for the first time and he loved it. They particularly liked being pirates, and the pirate ship made from a cardboard box was genius! They also did a nature hunt which is something I'd like to do more of to help them get over little fears of spiders and beasties. All in all it was a big hit and we can't wait to get going with some of the ideas.

Bumper Book of Summer is available from Sainsbury’s priced at a really reasonable £5. It comes with scrapbook to keep a record of all the fun you’ve had, over 100 stickers, a wall poster to plan activities and a DVD with step by step guides.

You can add your boredom busting successes to the Sainsbury’s Facebook page here: http://app.facebook.com/boredom-busters/

We were invited to this fun event to help publicise the book and we were given a goodie bag including the Bumper Book of Summer!

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!