outdoor play

When Messy Play goes wrong…

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I love a bit of messy play with Monkey, it is usually great fun and also a great way for him to learn. It is one of my favourite things, as a SAHM to be able to do these things with him. Sometimes though…. it really doesn’t go as well as I would hope. Last week is a good example of this.

I read a great post a couple of weeks ago about playing with coloured foam. It wasn’t something I had seen before so we definitely hadn’t tried it. It looked great, the blogger’s little one loved it and all went well. So, one afternoon last week I decided we should give it a go. It did not go quite so well for us.

coloured foam

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Impromptu Nature Hunt

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One day, a week or so back, Daddy forgot his lunch. Monkey and I wandered over after we had eaten ours to take him something. Can’t have Daddy starving and luckily he only works a few minutes walk away. We stayed for a natter and a play and then headed home again. Monkey decided he wanted to walk rather than buggy it home, and I have no problem with that, although it took a little longer than normal, as he also decided it was time for a bit of a nature hunt!

It started off by looking at the flowers, then he decided he wanted to keep the pretty yellow flowers (aka weeds but who cares) so they got popped in his pocket. It was one of the wet cooler days so he had on his little raincoat and needed a bit of help opening the velcro pockets (especially when also clutching a stick in his other hand) but he very much liked patting them down again once they were safely inside.

Then he spotted some daisies, and well he has always loved daises, so a few of those got popped in his pocket too. As we wandered more and more got popped in his little pockets, including pine cones and twigs, and pretty soon we had quite a haul!

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Just a cute little habit or the beginning of kleptomania? 😉 I’m only kidding.

We have done nature hints before but they very much led by me, so it was lovely to see him taking an interest himself. Plus it was a nice way to occupy him for a while!

Do your little ones like nature hunts?

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

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#BabyBabble

Our Mini Helper – 26 months

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I’m not sure if it is toddlers in general or just him, but Monkey loves helping. He can be getting in the way and under my feet but if I give him a job to do, he is so excited. He doesn’t always actually help that much but it certainly keeps him busy while I am getting something done, and he does look cute while he is helping! Plus I figure it helps him learn life skills. For example he likes cleaning up after himself when he has spilt something on the floor or on the table.

So anyway we were doing some tidying in the front garden last weekend, which involved a bit of chopping but mainly weeding. Rather than Daddy doing it all and me trying to entertain Monkey elsewhere, we figured we could get Monkey involved. His Granny & Granddad bought him some gardening bits for his birthday, which have mainly been used in the sand pit so far, and it felt like the perfect opportunity to do some gardening with them!

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A visit to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew

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Last weekend we visited my Auntie Maggie, who lives in SW London, for the weekend. Both of my parents grew up in that area and we visited fairly regularly as kids and had lots of days out and things, so there is a lot of memories there from my childhood, and I look forward to sharing some of those places, and memories with Hubby & Monkey over the years.

On Sunday we visited the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. We always drove past the entrance to Kew on our route through London so I have a lot of memories related to it, and the last time I had been was many years ago with my Granddad, when he was in the early stages of Alzheimers. Quite a while ago. It is somewhere we talk about a lot as a family though as my Aunt actually volunteers there!

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Playing with Granny

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A few weeks ago we had a little impromptu family BBQ. It was partly to christen out new garden furniture, but mainly just an excuse to have a get together. Not everyone could make it but it was only informal so no big deal.

Monkey always loves having his family around and he always gets loads of attention from his aunts, uncles and grandparents. They all love him to bits and he is so lucky to have that. He had lots of fun with everyone there but I just wanted to share this lovely little moment of fun he had with his Granny. Running around the garden doing aeroplane arms. He loved every second of it and it was very lovely to watch.

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Visiting Friends and Family #GetGoodSummer Wk 2

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One of the 5 goals that I set myself as part of #GetGoodSummer, hosted by Claire at Clarina’s Contemplations, was to make sure we visit lots of friends and family this summer, while we still can before baby no.2 comes. (You can read more about my goals here, and see how I have got on so far with some other goals, here.) We have really made a start on that over the last week and so far it has been lovely.

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Outdoor Painting on Cardboard

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outdoor painting this one

With the weather getting warmer there has been one activity I have been really keen to have a go at with Monkey – outdoor painting! Obviously with it being outdoors, the idea is that kiddies can be a bit freer to get really messy, but in all honesty I was still a bit worried about the mess! With all of the hard work that has gone into making our garden a much nicer place to be, I wasn’t particularly keen on paint going all over our lovely new patio. Even though the paint is supposedly washable, I was concerned about stains – as I know some of Monkey’s clothes have ended up a little stained from them!

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Bretton Water Park, Peterborough

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There is a little outdoor water park in Peterborough (Bretton Water Park) that I have heard about a few times, but not been to before. It doesn’t really have much information online about where it is or how to get there but in photos I had seen on Facebook etc. it looked great, so I decided to give it a go.

Bretton Water Park

 

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Cardboard Tunnel Fun

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Last weekend, we did something very grown up. We *gasp* bought some garden furniture! The set we had previously hubby had inherited from a friend and it was very weather beaten and wobbly. It didn’t really match our lovely new garden. We have had in mind we wanted some for a while but they have all been so expensive. On a trip to our local garden centre however we found a lovely set, heavily reduced in the sale and, well, we snapped it up!

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It took a couple of trips to get it home in the car, and hubby had to tie the table in on the last leg as it didn’t quite fit, but we managed and it is now set up and looking lovely in the back garden. I’m not sure why, I mean we have a house, a toddler and a baby on the way, but for some weird reason, buying garden furniture feels like a very grown up thing to do. And I really don’t feel like a grown up!

Anyway, immaturity was soon restored!

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Re-creating the beach at home

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We spent a lot of time enjoying the beach while we were on holiday, and I was loving how much Monkey was enjoying it, and how occupied he was with building in the sand. Now we are home and the nearest beach is over an hour away and too far to go for a day other than as a special event really! So with the sun shining last week I decided to re-create the beach feeling at home.

We got the paddling pool out and filled early in the morning in the hopes it would warm up. Last time we tried the paddling pool the water was just too chilly for Monkey and he didn’t like it. I thought it was worth a try though. I then got out his sand table, which he does love but is a bit small for making castles etc in, and then decided to use our Tuff Spot for added beach style fun.

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