This visit we took our usual wander round the lake first, walking through puddles and stopping to look at the ducks, swans and geese.

Next it was time for an obligatory walk along some logs, well I say logs, but they’re not really, I have no idea what to call them, but the children always love walking along them every single time we pass. 

Whilst the girls were walking along the logs BB decided to climb the (again not sure what to call it) metal frame. Kids will climb anything! He was very pleased with himself sat on the top.

We found lots of mud which of course had to jumped in, squelched in, slid about and had fun with, nearly getting our boots stuck!

Once I could finally manage to persuade the children to come away from the mud, we headed off to the playground where they had fun climbing, balancing, swinging, running and playing. They particularly loved going down the big slide head first so they went extra fast, shrieking all the way. I managed to get a few pics of them coming out the other end, though Pinky looks a little unsure.

Lastly, we had some fun on the zip wire. 

We had a lovely afternoon in the gorgeous winter sun in a beautiful place, surrounded by nature, only five mins from the house. The children had loads of fun splashing, squelching, climbing, running, balancing, playing and screaming with delight, whilst mummy and daddy had a great time watching and walking in the fresh air and sunshine with our family. All this for free, what more could we ask for?

The post A muddy walk at the lake appeared first on Let Kids Be Kids.

I have recently been making a point of having more conversations. I deliberately ask my children about what they are looking forward to in their day ahead of them on the way to school (this has helped calm down many a school run). Through this I often discover their likes and dislikes at school, who’s friends with who as well as things they always forget to tell me, like tests or special events!

I am currently preparing for their birthday party in March, so we have been having lots of conversations this week about what sort of party and cake they would like and who to invite. Whilst discussing this with BB, he told me he has to invite V as she is his girlfriend! Yes, age 6 he says he has a girlfriend and he wants to marry her and apparently she wants to marry him!! He then added “she is desperate” “I am desperate to marry her”!!! Oh my goodness! I really didn’t know what to say. I realise he has absolutely no concept of this at this stage, so whilst laughing inside and just smiling on the outside we had a little conversation about marriage and I left it at that. What do you say??

Following this, marriage and babies have obviously been on BB’s mind as he has been asking questions like “how old were you when you got married?” and “how old were you when you had me”? These were ok and we discussed things, then he moved onto the question of “why can’t boys have babies?” Oh boy, another tricky question….I just said that boys are made differently to girls and boys don’t have room for babies. He didn’t question any further, but I think we may have to visit these type of questions again in the not so distant future.

This also reminded me of a conversation we had quite a while ago about how children are made. BB asked me if I gathered all his bones and bits and stuck him together? Er, no, I had to explain that babies grow, but unfortunately we never did get to finish that conversation as we arrived at school. I am not looking forward to the day he asks this again

It is so cute, the things children come out with, fascinating hearing the way they think, so literal sometimes, their logic often upside down. I am enjoying the little conversations we are having at bedtime during our quiet time routine. BB has been telling me all about the Titanic this week, he just loves facts. I am learning so much from him, both factual and insightful into his world.

It is so important to make time like this to connect and really listen to what children have to say, it is amazing what you might find out! I am loving it!

My word of the week is ‘conversations’

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Pinecone peanut butter bird feeders

We had lots of pinecones left over from our many outdoor adventures, so we decided to use them.

We tied some string round the pinecone so we could hang it up once finished.

We spread peanut butter all over each pinecone, then rolled them in bird seed.

Then it was done! It really is that simple!

I loved the way the children all helped each other to make them, as the string was getting in the way at times, they took in turns to hold the string out of the way while the other put the peanut butter on. Then they swapped. It’s lovely to see such team work between siblings.

Toilet roll bird feeders

We also decided to try making one from a toilet roll, again very simple.

We spread peanut butter all over the toilet roll tube, then rolled it in the bird seed until it was completely covered.

We headed outside to hang them up. The children were very proud of their bird feeders.

We hung ours on the bird feeder stand and the toilet roll tube on the top of it,  but you could also just hang it on the branch of a tree.

It took a while before the birds came for their dinner, but they did seem to enjoy it once they got started and the children loved seeing them in the garden eating what they had prepared for them. Every time there was a bird on their feeder, I would get called to come and look! It was lovely that the children took a great interest in the birds. We will have to make some more again soon.

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This linky is all about basic childhood fun in this modern world we live. I believe it is important for children to step away from technology and screens for a while and go have some basic fun……outdoors exploring, running around, cycling, crafting, playing, pretending and just experiencing life for themselves having loads of FUN!

Please come and link up any posts with basic childhood fun or parenting discussions, but no screens please.

Rules:

1. Link up any posts, new or old with basic childhood fun or parenting discussions.
2. Please have a read of some other posts and share the linky love.
3. Grab my badge if possible from my sidebar to help spread the word.
4. If you tweet me the link, I will happily retweet (@karenattwinlife)
5. Have FUN!

I love reading everyone’s posts, but here are three of my favourites from last week:

• The valentine tree over at Sunshine by Channon was lovely and creative.
• You really can’t beat a spot of cardboard box play for basic childhood fun at Loving life with little ones.
• There’s always something special about little ones exploring the snow for the first time at Little hearts, big love.

If you have any topical interesting posts you’d like shared on my Facebook page, please pop over and share.

Follow Let kids be kids’s board Let kids be kids linky on Pinterest.

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The post Let kids be kids linky 10/2/15 appeared first on Let Kids Be Kids.

Sight word bowling game

I selected all the words I wanted to help my girls learn from a pack of flashcards I had, but you could very easily write out your own on pieces of paper/card/postcards. Next I lined up five word cards, propping them up against some empty bottles.

Once the words were set up, I screwed up some pieces of paper into balls and stuck a bit of sellotape round them to make balls. Then we were ready to play.

The children sat on the floor behind a line, I said a word and they had to knock down the correct word with their ball. They had two chances each time. They took it in turns and we kept score. I changed the words as we played throughout the game.

Both Pinky and Boo absolutely loved this game. I cannot tell you how much excitement came from them, in fact much more delight than I had ever expected! Pinky even whispered to me “this is the best game ever!” Wow, I think it was definitely a hit then! As soon as they came out of school the next day, they asked if we could play this game again when we got home. We will be playing this a fair bit!

It is an excellent game for helping children remember those tricky words as they learn to recognise them in a fun way, they don’t even realise they are learning. It is also great at teaching some hand – eye coordination.

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As soon as we were there, they all charged off. It was difficult for me to keep up at first. Then they discovered there were lots of puddles and also plenty of mud! They had a whale of a time riding and scooting through some fab puddles.

BB then spotted a very inviting tree for a spot of climbing. Of course they had to have a go. It was a bit of a challenge and none of them managed to get too far, which they were a bit disappointed about, but I think when they are a little bigger in the not too distant future they’ll manage to get across the the horizontal branch.  They had a lot of fun trying though.

Once we had finished our tree climbing, the children were off again riding and scooting through all the fantastic puddles, they really did love it and I think Boo’s ‘off road’ type scooter was absolutely fantastic for it! Pinky did get stuck a couple of times, where I had to pull her out of the mud, but that’s all part of the fun.

Then there was extreme excitement at finding an enormous icy puddle, or I think pond may have been a more accurate description. They all tried riding though it, loving the crunching of the ice as they broke it. They were all so fascinated by the ice and making it crunch. Boo was first to decide, actually it would be best investigated on foot, then Pinky followed suit. I had just called to BB, suggesting it would be safer to get off his bike here, when of course the inevitable happened, yes…..he fell off, in the enormous and deepest part of the very icy puddle! Both his boots came off, he sat in the water, then ran to me leaving his bike hidden half under the water and his boots floating behind! He screamed and cried and shivered with cold! I rescued his boots and bike and we had to admit defeat and we headed for home, which was such a shame as we were all having a wonderful time!

BB was so cold and cried a fair bit, but even through the tears, he was saying what a good time he had had and could we come again…..well, that to me says the children must have loved it! I am very much looking forward to going back, though, maybe I will take a change of clothes with us next time

The post An icy ride appeared first on Let Kids Be Kids.

During this time I have photographs and keepsakes that I kept along the way. It is lovely to look back and remember how I felt and the good things I saw and places I visited, along with the amazing people I met. Photographs and keepsakes really help keep memories alive, they prompt feelings and emotions you have often forgotten about.

Recently my son found a box I have with many of these photographs and keepsakes in. My three children spent ages looking through everything, saying “is that you?” as obviously I was a lot younger. “Wow did you really see that (the ice cap in Greenland)?” It was so lovely to share some of my past experiences with my children and they were so interested in it all. Lots of memories were brought back to life.

After my twenties and lots of travelling, I settled down with hubby and we had our three children. Life changed. I was making different types of memories. These days I want to create memories for my children and of my children. I have hundreds of photographs of course, which I love and this blog is an amazing memory bank for us. However, this week I made an octopus from RedTed Art‘s book, out of my girls tights from when they were a baby crawling round.

My girls helped me make it by stuffing the tights with stuffing to make the legs. They enjoyed that, then I finished off the rest. I also added an old hat they used to wear and the ribbon they had on their birthday cakes last year. It was very easy and has brought back some lovely memories and emotions of watching those little legs in those little tights crawling around my floor. I love my little octopus (well it’s actually quite big really) and I shall treasure it as a wonderful keepsake from my girls baby days!

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Weekend box club is a box of activities delivered right to your door every fortnight or monthly for children aged 3-6. Each box contains 4 different activities, cooking, craft etc. It is a great way to enjoy time together creating and having fun without the hassle of thinking up ideas and setting up as it’s all done for you!

 The box we received was themed Chinese new year. There were four activities in our box: to make chinese lanterns, a chinese dragon, a paper plate drum and fortune cookies. In addition to the activities there was also a card with information on about chinese new year, which explained the dragon and lanterns etc. I thought this was a nice touch, children can learn from their activities and parents can enjoy talking to their kids about the topic.

We had fun with all of the activities. First BB made the paper plate drum. We followed the instructions together and created the drum. I did find the pieces of ribbon a little short which made it a bit fiddly to tie the knots and in the end they were too short to actually make a drum noise, but I could have replaced them with string and that would have worked. BB liked his creation.

Next we made some fortune cookies. Obviously we needed to get a few ingredients from the shop, but that was not a problem. BB absolutely loved writing out all the little messages to go in the cookies. We cut out the tortillas and made our cookies into the shape as per the instructions, however, our cookies for some reason didn’t stick together, but we carried on anyway and everyone enjoyed breaking them open to read their fortune message after dinner.

Pinky wanted to make the chinese dragon, so we sat down together and got stuck in. I was really impressed with how she managed to cut out the dragon by herself and painted the details on brilliantly. She did love her dragon and wanted to take it to school the next day to show it off! I thought it was fantastic!

Lastly, Pinky and Boo made a Chinese lantern. This was very easy for them as they just had to paint the toilet roll in red glittery paint (with glitter involved, it’s always a winner), then make a handle to stick on and mummy had to cut the slits in the side. The lanterns looked fab and they had lots of fun making them.

 Weekend boxes are great for children to have fun, get creative, to spend time with parents and learn. All this from a box delivered through your letter box with everything you need. If you click on the link below you can try it out with your first box free! (Affiliate link)

Disclosure: We were sent this weekend box for free for the purposes of this review, however, all opinions remain our own

The post Weekend box review – Chinese new year appeared first on Let Kids Be Kids.

My children were always over excited, jumping around, playing very silly noisy games which would mostly result in arguments and tears. Trying to get the children to calm down and get ready for bed was tough, then getting them to calm down to have a nice story together and sleep was even tougher! Sound familiar? I needed to try something new, as our routine was clearly not working anymore. Here’s what I did…..

Bedtime/quiet time box

I made up a bedtime/quiet time box containing things like puzzles, paper and pencils, colouring books, fuzzy felt, lacing and sticker books. I put it on the landing for all the children to access. I change the content of the box every so often so they don’t get bored of it.

Next we talked about a new routine together. After dinner was to be a no screen time, children go upstairs and play/ read in their rooms using anything from the bedtime box, or lego. During quiet time the children get ready for bed one by one, then we have story time. Pinky and Boo have lights out at 7pm, while BB has to be in bed by 7pm, but can read on his own until 7.30pm.

For us this new routine seems to be working really well. It has calmed the children down and we are not fighting nearly as much with them to get ready for bed. Daddy and I are now getting some lovely quality play time with them and everything feels so much calmer.

I am loving bedtime again, we get to play together, do lego, puzzles, colour and talk. We have much nicer reading/story time again, which is great for one to one time and BB is liking his half an hour of reading time too, it has really inspired him to enjoy his books.

Obviously it is not all perfect, the children still have their ups and downs, but it feels so much better and manageable, when there are issues, they get resolved quicker. I am loving our new bedtime routine!

The post Our new bedtime routine appeared first on Let Kids Be Kids.

This linky is all about basic childhood fun in this modern world we live. I believe it is important for children to step away from technology and screens for a while and go have some basic fun……outdoors exploring, running around, cycling, crafting, playing, pretending and just experiencing life for themselves having loads of FUN!

Please come and link up any posts with basic childhood fun or parenting discussions, but no screens please.

Rules:

1. Link up any posts, new or old with basic childhood fun or parenting discussions.
2. Please have a read of some other posts and share the linky love.
3. Grab my badge if possible from my sidebar to help spread the word.
4. If you tweet me the link, I will happily retweet (@karenattwinlife)
5. Have FUN!

I love reading everyone’s posts, but here are three of my favourites from last week:

• I loved this simple bird craft from Clare’s little tots.
• The hands on learning at Avoncroft via Redpeffer looked like a great day out.
• I love the idea of these boredom busting lego challenges from Muddling through, we really must try them.

If you have any topical interesting posts you’d like shared on my Facebook page, please pop over and share.

Follow Let kids be kids’s board Let kids be kids linky on Pinterest.

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The post Let kids be kids linky 3/2/15 appeared first on Let Kids Be Kids.

I always like to see my children get creative on their own, I love seeing what they will come up with and this time was just as fascinating.

All three children sat on the mat individually creating their ideas. They looked so engrossed in their activities together, yet quietly alone, working alongside each other.

BB set straight to work making a rocket. he got tubes and pots and stuck them together. He added some fire at the end and even added a seat for his playmobil to sit in which flaps open for it to go in and out, I thought that was inspiring! He was very proud of his rocket and so was I. 

Boo Made a birthday cake for me (no it’s not my birthday). It was a very strange creation, but Boo enjoyed cutting up lots of paper etc and sticking them on getting creative. 

Pinky was amusing herself just cutting things up and generally going mad with the scissors (all good scissor skills practice I suppose), but she was struggling with what to make. In the end she said she wanted to make a doll’s house, but didn’t know how, BB said he would help her. They all got quite excited about making a doll’s house together.

The set to work by finding a suitable box, sticking some paper in the bottom and Boo decorated it for the carpet/floor. Pinky and BB worked on the roof, however, they were struggling with how to get the roof (lid of the box) to balance and stick to the tube they wanted to put it on. It was lovely to see them trying to problem solve together without any arguments. Unfortunately it got the better of them and they admitted defeat, so they outsourced and asked daddy how they could solve their problem, which I thought was a genius idea…..ask the engineer!!

After some discussion, the problem was solved together and they completed their doll’s house! I think it is a very different kind of dolls house to what I would have made, but that’s exactly why I love it so much. The children worked together, they utilised all the resources they had to hand (including daddy) and built something very unique which fitted the doll’s house criteria! What a junk of inspiration!

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We headed out to find the best puddles we could. Admittedly I knew we would not find any amazing ones as we were only walking round the housing estate and through the park, but it was still an adventure to them. They love hunting for puddles and trying to be the first to find the biggest puddle!

The children ran up the road, hunting for puddles. I have to say, my children can get excited over the smallest of things and yes, this time was no different. Every puddle they found, they excitedly called to each other “here’s one….look, I’ve found one!” then I look and it’s the tiniest amount of water you could see, yet they still loved it!

On our walk we did find some bigger puddles to jump in and splash through. It was lovely to hear their squeals of delight with every puddle they found. We may not have been out for long, but it was great to get some fresh air and exercise whilst watching the children’s faces and fun with the simple, basic childhood pleasure of jumping in puddles.

The post Puddle walk appeared first on Let Kids Be Kids.

Glitterbelle is a new series of books starring Glitterbelle, a modern-day princess. She has two best friends Dazzlina and Angel, she loves her pet dog and enjoys climbing trees and scooting. The series is intended for children aged 6 yrs and up, but my nearly 5 yr old girls love them, though they do need a little more help with them than a 6 yr old would.

Glitterbelle doodle, dazzle, create, is an activity book to work through. Glitterbelle is hosting a slumber party at the palace and asks for your help creating outfits, invitations, decorations and fun. There are games to play, food to make/cook, puzzles to do and other things to make including a tiara. This should keep children amused for quite some time.

Glitterbelle dazzling dress up is a sticker activity book where Glitterbelle is having a fashion show at the palace and you are invited to help design lots of outfits using the 400 fashion stickers.

The illustrations throughout the books are lovely and appealing to children. 

As soon as my girls saw the books they wanted to get stuck in, of course they are very sparkly books, so what girls wouldn’t? Boo chose the doodle, dazzle, create book and started colouring in the tutus. Pinky chose the dazzling dress up and loved choosing the outfits for the Glitterbelle and her friends to wear.

We were going out for lunch with friends at the weekend, so we decided to take the activity books with us to keep the children amused. Boo enjoyed some colouring, we read the instructions and story together and she loved working through a few pages. I must admit it didn’t keep her entertained for as long as I thought it would, but that was probably just because we were out.

Pinky found her book easier and really loved creating outfits for each occasion using the stickers. She likes stickers and thinking about outfits, so this was great and she continued working through her book the whole time we were out (except when eating dinner of course). It was very easy for her, even though she was only 5. The book comes with 30 glittery nail stickers which we are going to use at her friends party next week.

We found these books fun, sparkly, pink and entertaining. The Glitterbelle doodle, dazzle, create would be best for age 6 and over as intended, but Glitterbelle dazzling dress up we found good for slightly younger too. I think any girls who love sparkle aged 6 and over would love these books. They are great to take out or have fun at home.

The post Glitterbelle activity books review appeared first on Let Kids Be Kids.

What’s on in Berkshire this February

February can be a difficult month, Christmas excitement is over and it’s still cold outside. However there are many great events happening throughout Berkshire to keep the whole family busy and entertained this month and over half term. Here is a selection of some events you could try…

• Arborfield REME museum will be running various activities throughout the museum, as well as a mini assault course during half term
 Wed 18 – Fri 20 Feb: 11 am – 3.30 pm. A change of clothes may be needed. Suitable for children aged 5-12. http://www.rememuseum.org.uk/whatson.aspx

• The lookout Bracknell are showing ‘Toys in trouble’ – 17 January to 4 May 2015. A fun show looking at the science behind toys. It runs at weekends and during Bracknell school holidays. The show is suitable for children who can sit down for up to half an hour. http://www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/thelookoutweekendandholidayshows

• Bracknell Forest – Make a bug at Jennett’s Park, Tues 17^th February, drop in between 10am-12pm. There’s an opportunity to make bouncy spiders, glass painted bugs from recycled material and discover mini beasts. Suitable for ages 5-11. http://www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/parksandcountrysidevents

• Or how about Bug Builders at Jocks Lane (Bracknell Forest) Thurs 19^th February 10am-12pm. You can build a stag beetle home, hunt for bugs & learn about mini beasts. http://www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/parksandcountrysidevents

• Basildon park have a valentines walk and nature walks between 2 – 27 Feb, 10am – 3pm. Great idea to get out for some fresh air and walk a trail to spot the valentines cards hidden around the garden. Suitable for all ages. http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/basildon-park/things-to-see-and-do/events/

• Thatcham nature discovery center has many events happening, from a wetland walk every Sunday throughout February to Crocodiles of the World, which is a conservation and education zoo or how about becoming a wildlife warrior and get hands on experience with wildlife conservation during half term? Take a look http://www.bbowt.org.uk/whats-on?keys=nature+discovery+centre

• If you love Julia Donaldson books, why not check out ‘The snail and the whale’ performance at Newbury Corn Exchange? http://www.cornexchangenew.com/events/info/the-snail-and-the-whale

• Alternatively, enjoy some family music time with Nick Cope also at Newbury Corn Exchange. Have a fun hour of songs about everything from counting and animals to how plants grow. Nick Cope writes and performs songs for children and their families. Saturday 14^th February at 10.30 http://www.cornexchangenew.com/events/info/nick-cope-early-years-music

• There are some fun events during half term 16-18^th February at Reading Museum where you could try some block printing, make a glittering rosette, get a Victorian schoolroom experience or have fun making a card rocking horse. Check it out for details of each event http://www.readingmuseum.org.uk/events/family-activities/14?page=2

I hope you find something you may like and manage to get out to have some fun.

Bella Kidz is looking for more local editors, so if you are interested, please get in touch. You can find Bella Kidz on twitter @bella_kidz

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BB loves spending time with his daddy and would choose to be with daddy all the time if he could. At bedtime, most often I read to Pinky and Boo while daddy reads to BB, this is just a pattern we seem to have fallen into. I have no problem with this, except, now I don’t get to spend much alone time with BB.

However, last weekend we made a cake together, just me and my son. We had a lovely time talking and creating our delicious lemon and apricot cake. After having such a wonderful time cooking together he thanked me and told me how great this had been and then wrote this poem…..

I maked a cake, it was yummy,

I hid it in my tummy, it was so scrummy,

I love my mummy,

it was delicious and scrummy!

Oh this was so heart melting! I am so proud of my son and his attitude as well as his thoughtful creativity! He kept asking me if I could put his poem on my blog, so of course I am proud of it and said yes.

In the week, Pinky and Boo went to play at a friend’s house after school for the first time. This meant I had a few hours with BB on my own. We made the chinese drum together from our weekend box I was sent to review, which I will write about when we have finished the other activities in the box too.

BB does really well at school, his best part is reading, followed by writing (no surprise there), but maths is different. He is not behind, but definitely does not find it easy. He has been asking me to help him with his times tables, however, I have a confession…..I never managed to learn my times tables! Yes, I know that’s bad, but I am just not a maths person and neither is BB, so during our alone time we worked on some times tables together and I (rather hastily I think) made a pact with him, that if he tries hard to learn his times tables, I will too!!! Argh! What have I done??!! I now have to get learning, as he liked that idea. If anyone has any suggestions on how to learn times tables PLEASE PLEASE SHARE!

I am very proud of my son, his kindness, his attitude and thoughtfulness. I loved spending time with him this week and look forward to (or not) learning those tables!

The post My son appeared first on Let Kids Be Kids.

Puffy picture disaster

At the beginning of term the children were all still very wired from christmas and I was struggling to calm them down. Craft can be a good way to engage children and help calm things, so I looked on pinterest for some art inspiration (always a great place to inspire). I decided some puffy snowflake picture painting from Inner child fun would be good as we had all the ‘ingredients’.

I mixed up the ingredients of equal parts salt and self-raising flour, then added enough water to make a pancake consistency. Well, I must admit I don’t often make pancakes, so I could have got the consistency wrong?? I put the mixture in a squirty drinks bottle.

I gave the children some coloured paper to draw their snowflakes on before putting them in the microwave. However, the children decided they didn’t want to do snowflakes, so they did other things and I’m afraid, I really couldn’t tell you what they were. I think BB told me his was a rocket and the girls did a flower, but I really don’t think any of the pictures were recognisable!

I have no problem with the children doing their own thing, being creative and using their own imagination, that’s great, however, for a good puffy picture they needed to use far less of the mixture. They got carried away and squirted so much on the paper it all just merged into one big blob! Hence when we put it in the microwave for 30 secs as you are supposed to, to dry and puff up, ours barely even dried.

Here are the pictures they made…..

I have called this a puffy picture disaster, but I actually don’t believe children can have real art disasters, as everything they do, every picture they make, they are exploring, learning, being creative and having fun. Yes, the outcome certainly was not as it should have been, but, it is more about the process of what they did and the enjoyment they had.

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