Soapy Slide

Another lovely day in Edinburgh, the boys came home from school a bit hot and grumpy, the best thing to fix them was a soapy slide.

We filled a paddling pool with water and put Seth's little slide in the pool. Next Tyler put some washing up liquid down the slide and the fun began.

 Ethan had to try it first.

Seth was very cautious.

Tyler got some air.

 

Ethan was in his element.

Soap and water is a great sunny day activity, the boys had a great time.

Have fun!

Beach boules

Today was a beautiful day in Edinburgh, we needed to make the most of the sun while it was here so we had a little trip down to our local beach. A game Seth loves at the beach is our version of beach boules.

I drew a circle in the sand with a stick, then stuck the stick in the middle of the circle.

Then Seth threw a rock at the stick to try and knock it over.

He loved stabbing the stick back into the sand.

After a while there was a little bit of cheating as Seth crossed over the line.

It was a great afternoon doing something active. You don't have to be at the beach for this game, a chalk circle on the driveway with a drink bottle in the middle would do the trick.

Have fun!



Marble racer

The day after a birthday can be a bit of a let down, after all the excitement and spoiling the day before reality can hit hard the next day. So I wanted to keep the boys busy without too much fuss.

We decided to recycle the tube from the wrapping paper from Tyler's presents and make a marble racer.

The boys coloured in the tube.

Tyler got creative drawing fire for the marbles to race through.

We cut the tube in half length ways and lent it against the back of the sofa. The boys raced the marbles down.



 Tyler made a lava pond and put obstacles for the marbles to fight through.

After all the toys Tyler got yesterday he was still happy to play with some cardboard (don't get me wrong, he still loves his new toys), it just goes to show, you really don't need to spend a lot of money on kids entertainment at all.

Have fun.

Museum day

Today was Tyler's birthday, after getting over the shock of him now being eight, we set off to the National Museum of Scotland. Museums are great for entertaining the kids and are usually free and I love a free day out with the boys.

It is very hard to get them all to stand still at the same time.

Jack couldn't miss out on a photo opportunity by the aligator.

 

The dressing up was fantastic, I love it when there are hands on activities for the kids.

Museums are so often overlooked, I recommend that you check out your local ones, what a great day out.

Have fun.

NZ lolly cake

Food Fun Friday!

Lolly cake is something that every child should get a chance to try. It is so simple to make and amazingly good to eat.  As always the recipe is at the bottom. I recomend you give it a try.


 In NZ I would use malt biscuits, but in the UK I use the malted milk biscuit with a dessert spoon of cocoa. It is not quite the same, but a jolly good compromise.

Seth loves helping in the kitchen.  

Time to enjoy our sugary treat.

Ingredients:

Servings Size

• 125 g butter
• 180 g fruit puffs ( I got some value fun fruits from tesco)
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 250 g malt biscuits, crushed  (or malted milk biscuits with 1 dessert spoon cocoa)
• coconut

Directions:

1. Melt butter, stir in condensed milk, cool.
2. Stir in Fruit Puffs (cut into four) and crushed biscuits.
3. Shape into log and cover with coconut
4. Refrigerate.
5. Cut into slices.

Give these a try and tell me how they went down in your family, we love them.

Have fun.

P.S - I have decided to put away the camera and take Saturdays and Sundays off, so see you all on Monday, have a good weekend (try some lolly cake).

Finding tracks

We had a bit of rain last night, so this morning we went for a walk in the woods to splash in puddles. Seth was interested in all the tracks and footprints so we stopped to look at how many we could find.

We saw dog and some bird prints.

There were also lots of shoe prints, this was good to teach Seth about big and small, he loved standing in my foot print.



Making your own tracks is always lots of fun.........

of course Jack made his own.

When we got home we continued to make tracks with playdough and lots of different vehicles, the tractor was our favourite.

Have fun.

Boat making

We had such a good idea today, Seth wanted to make a boat, so I fashioned this little boat out of paper, a straw, milk lid and playdough.

We thought it looked pretty cool.

Seth was so excited to try it out in his little 'pond'.

Sadly my boat making skills were not up to scratch and the boat sunk like a stone.

So we got some a lid from a peanut butter jar, which Seth wanted to sail some toy soldiers (or marines) on.

We had to get a bigger bucket to float Seth's army. This activty kept him entertained with little mess to clean up at the end and we got to enjoy the sunshine.

Have fun.

Funny faces

This is something my dad used to do with me when I was younger and I loved it, so today while waiting for Tyler and Ethan to get home from school I drew on Seth's face to make some funny faces. I think Seth loved it as much as I did.

Glasses made Seth laugh.

He also loved his moustache and goatee.

Jack watched with confusion.

Seth also loved drawing on my face. Remember to use non-permanent markers!

Have fun.

Balancing bridge

Jack has outgrown his moses basket, while we were getting his cot ready Seth wanted to build a bridge out of some of the wood.

So we put some books underneath the wood and Seth walked across.

Seth was not very adventurous with his balancing, but you could try walking across with a book on your head or with your eyes closed.

In the end Seth just wanted to drive trucks across his bridge....

and of course the dinosaur had to walk across too.

Have fun.



Plastic bag 'kites'

Today was a bit windy in Edinburgh so we decided to get a kite out, we were all ready to go, unfortunately when we finally got the kite up it got stuck in a tree. We didn't want to waste the windy day, so we got some plastic bags to run around with.

A very disapointing start to our fun.

Kids love a windy day.

The boys are entertained with the simplist of things.

Ethan tied strings onto his bag to make his own kite.

Trying to get his kite to fly.

It is amazing what will keep the boys happy sometimes, this activity kept them entertained for about an hour, just enough time for me to sneak off to get a cuppa.

Have fun.

Straw planes

These little planes are not much to look at, however they seem to fly much better than a normal paper plane and my boys have had so much fun with them. 

All you need is some drinking straws, tape, scissors and two A4 pieces of card.

Cut a strip down the length of one of the pieces of card about 3cm thick, do the same on the other piece of card but cut across the width (hopefully that makes sense).

Tape the two strips into circles.

Tape the two circles onto opposite ends of the straw.

It should look like this, like I said, nothing amazing looking, but throw it like you would a paper plane and you will see why it is worth the extra little bit of effort.

Seth loved his so much he took it to bed.

Have fun.

Jam tarts

Food Fun Friday! Jam tarts are so easy to do and the kids can really get involved.

Putting in the ingredients for the pastry.

Mixing.

Rolling.

Cutting.

 

Ready for the oven.

All ready for four hungry tums!

 

Ingredients:

• 8 oz/250g plain flour
• Pinch of salt
• 4oz/ 100g butter, cubed
• 2-3 tbsp cold water
• Strawberry or any fruit jam or lemon curd
• A little extra butter for greasing

Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C/Gas 4. Lightly grease a 12 hole tart mould with a little butter.

         Make the Pastry

• Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean bowl.
• Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, working as quickly as possible to prevent the dough becoming warm.
• Add the water to the mixture and using a cold knife stir until the dough binds together, add more cold water a teaspoon at a time if the mixture is too dry.
• Wrap the dough in Saran wrap/Clingfilm and chill for a minimum of 15 minutes, up to 30 minutes.
  
  Assemble the Tarts
• Unwrap the pastry onto a lightly floured work surface and roll to a ¼" /0.5cm thickness. Using a tart cutter or cup, cut circles from the pastry just slightly bigger than the holes in the prepared tart mould. Gently press one disc into each hole.
• Place a heaped teaspoon of jam or lemon curd into the pastry lined tins. Be careful not to overfill as the jam will spill out when hot and burn.
• Repeat until all the pastry is used up - you can squish the pastry trimmings back together and reroll several times, so don't worry, just make sure you rest the pastry circles before cooking.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 mins or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely, do not eat while hot or you may burn your your mouth, the jam stays hot for a long time.