• Experimenting with fun STEM kits at home
    Bandai STEM Ambassador - Crafts for kids - St George's Day crafts - STEM activity

    Experimenting with fun STEM kits at home

    June 9, 2019 - By 

    Over the last few weeks we have been kept busy reviewing some of the wonderful STEM kits from Bandai. At the start of half term we were gifted some STEM kits which required a little time and patience, so we set them up and waited. We had never seen the Blue Crystal Growing Lab from National Geographic or The Original Sea Monkeys Ocean-Zoo kit so were excited to try them out at home. Blue Crystal Growing Lab from National Geographic The first kit we tried was the Blue Crystal Growing Lab from National Geographic. Big Brother wanted to try this…

  • d and upset children. A stay at Centre Parcs Woburn Forest with tweens
    Bedfordshire - Family Life

    A stay at Centre Parcs Woburn Forest with tweens

    June 9, 2019 - By 

    Two weeks ago yesterday my 9 year old fractured his wrist in two places. He fell off his scooter as we were walking from our cabin, off to spend our first day exploring Centre Parcs Woburn Forest. Instead of swimming and trying all the activities we had booked, we spent the day at the local A&E, returning to Centre Parcs with two tired and upset children. A stay at Centre Parcs Woburn Forest with tweens We had been looking forward to our stay at Centre Parcs Woburn Forest for weeks. Many of our friends had stayed at the different Centre…

  • Hip Hip Hooray wooden banner embroidery kit
    Crafts for adults

    Hip Hip Hooray wooden banner embroidery kit

    June 7, 2019 - By 

    I couldn’t resist another craft kit. I have no patience for longer projects at the moment but when I saw an email from Cotton Clara I really couldn’t resist buying myself a cute Cotton Clara wooden banner embroidery kit. I went for one with the message Hip Hip Hooray and chose a mustard coloured thread to compliment our living room. Hip Hip Hooray wooden banner embroidery kit This was a simple kit but just what I needed. Inside the pack was the wooden laser cut banner, mustard coloured thread, a needle and string to hang up the completed banner. I…

  • Half term crafting with Aquabeads Box of Fun - Safari
    Aquabeaders - Crafts for kids

    Half term crafting with Aquabeads Box of Fun – Safari

    June 6, 2019 - By 

    Half term was a little dramatic with Big Brother falling over and breaking his wrist. Accidents do happen but I felt so sorry for Little Sis who had to spend a lot of her half term sitting around in Hospital waiting rooms whilst her brother got patched up. I was so grateful that we were gifted the new Aquabeads Box of Fun set. Thankfully this arrived during half term and Little Sis had a lovely time crafting and making animals. Half term crafting with Aquabeads Box of Fun Have you heard of Aquabeads before? They are a brilliant, creative toy…

  • How to decorate simple Graduation Pretzel Rods
    Crafts for kids - food crafts

    How to decorate simple Graduation Pretzel Rods

    June 5, 2019 - By 

    After a great half term we are looking forward to the end of term and our summer holiday adventures. There’s no doubt this will be a long term with 7 weeks until the start of the summer holidays but it will be a good term. We’ve already started to think about our end of year teacher gifts as well as graduation gifts for my daughter who will be finishing at Infant School. We’ve been playing around with our Graduation Pretzel Rods and can’t wait to show you how to make them and celebrate graduation! Graduation Pretzel Rods basic ingredients: Pretzel…

  • playing at the park
    Family Life - Monday Happy List

    Five Happy Things {Week 243}

    June 3, 2019 - By 

    I love to start the week by writing Five Happy Things. It’s a chance for me to sit down and reflect on the things that made me happy in the previous week, as well as to record some of our family adventures – it’s a post I always enjoy writing. Half term has felt super busy as we started with a weekend at Centre Parcs Woburn, visited Bletchley Park, visited my mum in Wiltshire, spent a day at Chiltern Open Air Museum, went to the cinema, as well as another visit to the hospital to sort my son’s cast out. Looking…

  • A visit to Bletchley Park with tweens
    Buckinghamshire - Family Life

    A visit to Bletchley Park with tweens

    June 2, 2019 - By 

    I still can’t write about our trip to Centre Parc Woburn just yet (there was just far too much sick and blood!). However on the way home we decided to stop off at Bletchley Park. We hadn’t visited in over 10 years and definitely not with tweens, so were long overdue a visit. A visit to Bletchley Park with tweens Bletchley Park near Milton Keynes is a lovely Victorian country house built in the Victorian Gothic, Tudor, and Dutch Baroque styles. During the Second World War it was the home of the British Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) and home…

  • How to make Galaxy Painted Rocks
    Crafts for kids - Painted rocks

    How to make Galaxy Painted Rocks

    May 31, 2019 - By 

    Have you tried making painted rocks with your children? They are so much fun to make and hide that it’s been a favourite craft of ours for the last few months. Being part of an active Facebook group definitely helps as people regularly post that they have found and re-hidden our painted rocks. We recently had fun decorating Galaxy Painted Rocks so I thought I would share how we made them. Supplies Bag of smooth pebbles or rocks (we like these – Amazon affiliate link) Black spray paint Blue, purple and white acrylic paint Varnish to seal the painted rocks (we…

  • Celebrate Season 2 of Vampirina and win a goody bag
    competition - Family Life

    Celebrate Season 2 of Vampirina and win a goody bag

    May 30, 2019 - By 

    My daughter loves watching the Disney Junior TV show Vampirina, which celebrates friendship and difference – with a spooktacular twist! The show is based on the Vampirina Ballerina series of books written by Anne Marie Pace and illustrated by LeUyen Pham. Vampirina follows the story of Vampirina “Vee” Hauntley who becomes the new kid on the block after she and her family move from Transylvania to Pennsylvania to open a local bed and breakfast called the Scare B&B for visiting ghouls and goblins. The show launched last year on Disney Junior and we have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of…