• painted stone fairy door
    crafts - Crafts for kids - Fairy garden crafts - Kids crafts - Nature crafts - Painted rocks - tutorial

    Painted stone fairy door

    June 25, 2014 - By 

    Little Sis loves princesses and fairies. As the children are spending so much time out doors at the moment I thought we could make a magical door so the fairies could come and visit us. This is a great nature craft. I don’t know about you but we seem to pick up flat stones where ever we go. I love to re-use them rather than let them sit around in glass jars. We’ve already used some to make Gruffalo story stones and we have a few more crafty projects up our sleeves. Painted stone fairy door materials: smooth, flat stones…

  • book review - crafts - handmade - Kids crafts - Paper craft - What I'm reading

    Win a copy of Petit Collage by Lorena Siminovich

    June 24, 2014 - By 

    Petit Collage is a collection of 25 vintage modern handcrafted designs for children and families, from award-winning designer Lorena Siminovich. The fun, imaginative projects range from a paper toy dollhouse and personalised baby blocks to an adorable bunny clock and Petit Collage’s signature name plaque, growth chart and paper mobiles. Many can be made with the help of your children and there are ideas throughout to make them ‘kid fun’. The book also contains gorgeous photography, step by step instructions and additional tips for each project. Petit Collage will help parents create handmade items for kids that adults will also…

  • crafts - kawaii - sewing

    Wild Olive’s Spring Stitching Club

    June 22, 2014 - By 

    I like nothing more than having a couple of sewing projects on the go. I’ve been working on Wild Olive’s Spring Stitching Club for a while and thought I’d write about my progress to spur me on to finish it. The Stitching Club in a Seasonal sewing club where you receive a weekly email with an embroidery pattern. Over the weeks the individual pieces are made into something bigger, such as a doll quilt or cushion cover. So far I’ve only completed the Summer Stitching Club but I have the Autumn and Winter patterns too which I will get round…

  • playing - toy review

    Meadow Kids

    June 21, 2014 - By 

    Every afternoon Big Brother attends nursery at the local Primary School. Little Sis and I love our time together and we can usually be found watching Frozen doing puzzles together, painting or playdough. She loves to be busy which is why we were excited to be sent some products from Meadow Kids who are an international toy brand from the UK. All of their creations are designed to enhance family interaction and stimulate cognitive development. We were sent a copy of The Hungry Duck puppet book and Train & Truck Pop and Play bath toy to review. The Hungry Duck…

  • competition - Kids crafts - tutorial

    15 Gruffalo activities for kids (and a $500 giveaway)

    June 20, 2014 - By 

    You know that our family are huge fans of the author Julia Donaldson. My children have nearly all of her books, especially those illustrated with Axel Scheffler, but their favourite is easily The Gruffalo. We’ve had great fun exploring the themes of the book and wanted to share some great Gruffalo crafts with you today. Take a look at my list of 15 brilliant Gruffalo activities for kids: Ways to explore the story: Gruffalo Story Stones from the gingerbread house and Gruffalo Story Sack from the fairy and the frog, perfect for encouraging little story tellers. Or how about making…

  • playing - toy review

    Peppa Pig Colorino

    June 19, 2014 - By 

    This week Little Sis has been having fun with a brand new product from Ravensburger called Peppa Pig Colorino. It is aimed at children aged 2+ and involves children learning about colours through matching coloured pegs onto a variety of Peppa pictures. Peppa Pig Colorino contains 4 colour pictures, 4 black and white pictures, 24 coloured pegs in 6 colours and a clear plastic board. The idea is you choose a picture to play with, slide it behind the plastic board and then ‘colour’ in with the pegs. It’s great for children learning their primary colours and Little Sis has…

  • competition - playing - toy review

    Win a Leapfrog Creativity Camera

    June 18, 2014 - By 

    I’m always keen to encourage my children’s learning so was delighted to be sent some Leapfrog products to try with them. Leapfrog sell a huge range of learning toys which range from tablets to gaming systems, reading and writing toys. Both my children already have a My Pal Violet and  My Pal Scout and Big Brother has a Read with Me Scout too which he loves. They both love technology and are completely happy to have an iPhone or iPad to play with but I prefer them to play with age suitable toys. Big Brother was very happy to receive…

  • crafts - days out - handmade - Kids crafts

    The Creation Station!

    June 17, 2014 - By 

    A couple of weeks ago I saw a poster advertising the Creation Station, educational creative fun. As soon as I saw it I knew it would be perfect for my 4 year old. Since Little Sis has come along we’ve found it really hard to find an organised activity they can both do but with her attending nursery two mornings a week we now have a little more time. The idea of the activity is to stimulate your child’s senses through the medium of art, craft, music and movement. My son was a little shy to begin with but as…

  • gruffalo story stones - the gingerbread house
    crafts - Kids crafts - playing - tutorial

    Gruffalo Story Stones

    June 15, 2014 - By 

    You may have noticed we’ve been a little obsessed with the Gruffalo lately. We recently spent a lovely time in the deep dark wood hunting for the Gruffalo and friends on a Gruffalo activity trail. My children also enjoyed a fun Gruffalo-themed bento box for their lunch. I thought I would keep the theme going with some Gruffalo Story Stones. Gruffalo Story Stone materials: Smooth stones Decopatch glue Colour images of the Gruffalo, Snake, Owl, Fox and Mouse How to make Gruffalo Story Stones: First I chose some smooth stones from our stash, every time we visit the beach we…