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!

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!

Making Our Own Christmas Decorations

I love 'trying' to do crafts with Isla. I say trying because after about 15 minutes it does feel that way as more and more mess gets made and we're covered head to toe in glue, glitter and paint! It does feel like a major test of my patience but somehow I manage to pull it off and go with the flow!

A few weeks before I had a little look on eBay for some bits we could use for crafting and I was actually amazed by the stuff you can buy and also how cheap it is. I bought a mixed bag of buttons (£2.95 for approx 200 buttons) and lollisticks (£1.80 for 100 sticks) - we don't eat a lot of ice lollies in our house! I didn't really know what I was going to do with them at that point. Then I bought some silver and gold paint and it came to me to make a few Christmas decorations.

A rainy Sunday presented itself and so we cracked open the glue, paint and glitter. Isla loved the buttons. There were so many different ones and it really appealed to her 'magpie' nature as they were like little treasures - loads of sparkly ones, brightly coloured ones. She kept trying to secrete them in various pockets but I had to ask her to give them back as Noah is still of the age where he'll put stuff in his mouth and choke.

Yes, that is a Wigwam in the background in our living room and
Isla does have 'warpaint' on!

With the lollisticks I got her to paint them silver and then when they'd dried I dabbed glue on and she sprinkled on the glitter. We also added a few buttons and then I stuck them together like a snowflake. I also cut out some cardboard disks and she painted those with silver paint mixed with some glue and stuck the buttons on and sprinkled with glitter. All I need to do now is get some silvery string to attach to the 'snowflakes' and button baubles so that we can hang them on the tree.

I'm pretty pleased with our efforts and I look forward to putting them up. Isla really enjoyed making these and I can't wait to get the buttons out again to make some other cute crafty things!