Easter Messy Play & Crafting

We have been having a great Easter holidays so far, its been so nice having the nice dry weather. We have held 2 group messy play sessions, been catching up with friends and attended a Gromit model making session. The boys had great fun learning to make a Gromit, with George from Ardman animations. I was hoping that Joseph (5) would be able to make his own but he did need lots of help, so I ended up making most of both!

On Monday we held an Easter themed group messy play session, where we made bunny grass cups, and Easter bonnets/hats. To make the hats cut a strip of card to fit your child's head then cut out and staple on some bunny ears on top.

I didn't get chance to share the Easter bonnets I made the boys last year, I was inspired to make Joseph's angry bird hat by this chick hat I found on pintrest.

Back to the messy play session.... We had an easter sensory box with rainbow rice in the base, & in the other box I used cooked seed pearl tapioca. I was hoping the tapioca would be like water beads but its more sticky, but still lots of fun.

In one of our pools we had cornflakes and fake flowers. In the other pool we had lots of pom poms and we painted and labeled egg boxes so the children could match the colours, they also had the option to use child's chopsticks for some fine motor practice.

We also had a table set out with Easter colouring sheets (lots on my easter pintrest board) and play dough and laminated play dough mats.The kids had lots of my funky crayon miss-shapes to colour with...

On the floor we had a large sheet of paper for painting, using brushes & stamps. We also used a potato masher as i'd seen on pinteset it maks a great egg shape! The other tip I found on pintrest is to use a sponge in the bowl it applies an even coat of paint to the stamp to make it easier to get a good print.

It was a very busy and fun session, so much so I didn't get chance to take many pictures!

If your looking for more Easter fun take a look at these posts from last year...

E is for Easter... Last years Easter round up!

Easter Chick Farm Sensory Box

Paper Plate Lamb/Sheep (pic is right at the bottom of the post)

The second messy play session we held was Lego Movie themed & I promise to share all the details soon. We are going away for the second week of the holidays, down in Dorset, fossil hunting. So I will apologise now if I go AWOL until after The Easter weekend & hope you all have a lovely Easter whatever your up to. 

x Jo x

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Beach Fun, Driftwood & A Dinosaur Small World.

While Nanny was up staying with us we decided to check out another small local beach. I really love that on a small quite beach like this Joseph(5) and Daniel (3.5) are now old enough to explore a bit on their own.  We had lots of fun finding sea glass, interesting rocks and driftwood. There was still quite a bit of water draining off the land so there were a few streams under the rocks. Daniel found one that went between some larger rocks that he was using to sail some driftwood.

Sprouting seeds

 While we were at Nanny's house the boys started some seeds sprouting. Nanny had done this before & thought it would be fun for the boys to watch their seeds growing. They used a mixed pack of sprouting seeds/beans from a health food shop, & chose which seeds they wanted to put in their jars. We then covered the jar using net from a new bath puff, but you can use muslin or similar & held it on with an elastic band. 

 

We soaked the seeds over night & drained them off in the morning. We put them in a warm place on their sides dark is not necessary but not in direct sun light.They then needed rinsing twice a day, lots of fun! 

We started to see shoots while we were still at Nanny's house & then packed them up & brought them home to grow some more. Within 5 days the seeds had filled the jars & were ready. We tried some raw & weren't impressed however our rats loved them! We will grow some again & might try them stir-fried with some soy sauce.

For more detailed sprouting info take a look at this site.

x Jo x

Spring is finally here...

The boys were thrilled to see that the Daffodils that we planted in the Autumn were finally in flower. They have been checking them for months & they have been on the point of flower for the last couple of weeks, & finally opened at the weekend when the weather warmed up a little :-) 

Loving Joseph's sunglasses & wellies combo!

I thought I would also share a picture of my orchid (with some shop daff's), this is the first Orchid that I have kept happy long enough to flower again!

Now the weather is getting a little better we are looking forward to spending lots more time outside & will hopefully be sharing some fun ideas soon.

Happy Spring

x Jo x