• Summer painted bee and ladybird rocks
    Crafts for kids - Painted rocks - Summer - World Bee Day

    Summer painted bee and ladybird rocks

    May 14, 2020 - By 

    With this lovely warm weather we are out and about a lot more. Being outside is good for the whole family and helps the kids to run off some of their endless energy. We’ve been decorating and hiding rocks for a while now and wanted to make some summer painted rocks. We used: Bag of smooth pebbles or rocks Selection of chalk pens Varnish to seal the painted rocks (we use Wilko Gloss Yacht Varnish) How to make painted bee and ladybird rocks: We always wash and dry our rocks before painting them, this makes sure there’s no dirt left…

  • 4 ways to play with pebbles at the beach
    Crafts for kids - Family Life - Nature crafts - Summer

    4 ways to play with pebbles at the beach

    August 27, 2018 - By 

    We’ve been fortunate to spend a few days at the beach over the summer holidays. The children just love the beach, much more than I do! They are happy to play and don’t really need anything special such as swimming clothes or toys. They seem happy with the sand, sea and stones – as long as I have a towel to dry off wet hands and feet. Over the weekend we visited the beautiful beach at Dawlish in Devon. We’ve holidayed there a lot and love to scour Dawlish Town beach for sea glass, shells and smooth pebbles. It’s become…

  • Summer Reading Challenge
    Family Life - Summer

    Free Summer activities with the kids – Summer Reading Challenge

    July 15, 2018 - By 

    I think you can always tell when the Summer holiday has started because we’ve signed up for the Summer Reading Challenge at our local library! Have you heard of the Summer Reading Challenge? It’s the UK’s biggest reading promotion for children aged four to eleven and runs over the summer holidays. It’s completely free to sign up, although you will need to be a member of the library first (which is also free!). Free Summer activities with the kids – Summer Reading Challenge As a bit of a bookworm myself, both my children were signed up to the library within…

  • Mini Bakers Club
    Kids crafts - subscription box - Summer

    Mini Bakers Club review – children’s baking subscription box

    July 5, 2018 - By 

    There’s nothing better than a homemade treat. Both my children enjoy baking but I admit we don’t do it nearly often enough. We love crafting after school and were overjoyed to be sent a Mini Bakers Box from BKD to try at home. My children love subscription boxes and we’ve tried a lot of crafty ones. The Mini Bakers Box contains a baking and craft treat in a box every month, delivered to your door. Mini Bakers Club review – children’s baking subscription box It’s not hard to see why subscription boxes are so successful. They allow you to try…

  • Cardboard tube sea anemones
    Crafts for kids - Recycled crafts - Summer - Toilet roll crafts

    Cardboard tube sea anemones

    June 29, 2018 - By 

    During half term we went rock pooling at the beach. This is something I did as a child and something my children now enjoy. It is so easy as you don’t really need anything, just a rocky beach with the tide out! When we were in Devon we visited a lovely beach where we watched the Torbay Airshow. Whilst my husband was watching the planes the children and I explored the beach. It was a pebbly beach, perfect to discover lots of little sea creatures hiding in the shallow pools of water. Although we weren’t brave enough to pick up…

  • Low-cost Summer activities for kids - i-SPY books
    Crafts for kids - Summer

    Low-cost Summer activities for kids – i-SPY books

    June 13, 2018 - By 

    Over the next few weeks I’m going to be sharing some low-cost ideas for keeping the kids busy over the Summer holidays. I’ve already written posts about painting and hiding painted rocks, and playing with bubbles. Today I wanted to share our love for i-SPY books! Do you remember them from when you were growing up? They are A6 pocket sized books, each one on a different subject. Pick a topic and I bet you will find a book for it. Then find the objects and tick them off as you go along. You score points for each spot and…

  • Summer activities for kids - painted rocks
    Crafts for kids - Painted rocks - Summer

    Summer activities for kids – painted rocks

    May 8, 2018 - By 

    We’re huge fans of painting and hiding rocks. Over the Bank Holiday weekend we hid a lot of painted rocks. Both my children have been decorating a lot so recently I varnished everything so we could take them out with us whilst we were away. I think that painted rocks make a great low-cost activity that will keep any child busy over the holidays. What equipment do you need to decorate painted rocks? Making and decorating painted rocks is relatively low-cost but you will need to invest in a few thing. We buy bags of smooth rocks from the garden centre.…

  • Win a teapigs last days of summer prize
    competition - homestyle - Summer

    Win a teapigs last days of summer prize

    September 6, 2017 - By 

    My children were both happy to go back to school today. Yesterday there were a few nerves but today they were both happy and relaxed, and there were no tears from me either! Although they are back at school I’m hoping we’ll have a warm September. I’m not quite ready to pack away all our Summer clothes. Over the summer I made quite a few iced teas. I find them lovely and refreshing and my children do too. They make a great alternative to fizzy drinks and you can make a batch and keep it in the fridge to last…

  • SUMMER HOLIDAYS WEEK 5
    homestyle - Monday Happy List - Summer

    Monday happy things {Week 152}

    August 28, 2017 - By 

    I love a sunny Bank Holiday weekend! I hope the sun is shining wherever you are. It’s time for my weekly Monday happy things post, today is {Week 152}. The start of the week was lovely and peaceful at home. We enjoyed being at home, the kids played with their toys whilst I caught up on washing and cleaning. The children have been taking part in the Summer Reading Challenge so we made sure we fitted in a trip to the library, I can’t believe our next visit will be our last. On Thursday we headed off to Bristol. We…