Monthly Archives: January 2015

Encouraging learning at home for older children 28

 in parenting  tagged education / home / learning / parenting / play by

Both of my boys are at an age where they have a real thirst for knowledge and there are times when they want to continue that learning at home.  We were recently sent some Letts “Wild About” learning books. This got me thinking about when it is appropriate to use workbooks at home and how best to integrate them in to our home.  I am big on learning through play and this is something that we have always concentrated on, however with my boys getting older (they are currently nine and eight) they are also reaching the point that they want to start working on some other ways. Encouraging learning at more »

Salt dough jewellery 26

 in crafts / Polymer Clay / Valentines Crafts  tagged crafts / heart / kids crafts / valentine / valentine crafts by

We love salt dough.  It is a brilliant art and craft material and we love creating with it.  It is not just a kids craft material and to demonstrate that we wanted to share with you our heart-shaped salt dough jewellery which is the perfect craft for preschoolers through to teens. We used our go to salt dough recipe and the salt dough jewellery was made with half the recipe. We love salt dough.  It is a brilliant art and craft material and we love creating with it.  It is not just a kids craft material and to demonstrate that we wanted to share with you our heart-shaped salt dough jewellery which more »

How to make heart shaped sugar cubes 40

 in crafts  tagged craft / food / heart / heart craft / heart shaped / valentines by

One of the highlights of my days as the boys get older is afternoon tea.  Once they get home from school we sit down to after school snacks and a pot of tea.  I don’t take sugar, however, the MIL always sugared the boys tea and they love adding a sugar lump, so we have mad fun making our own heart shaped sugar cubes. Even better I love the fact that we have my mum’s sugar tongs and bowl and it makes it such an experience. How to make heart shaped sugar cubes

5 Things Pregnant Mothers Should Include in Their New Year’s Resolutions 22

 in parenting by

If you’re expecting a baby during the first few months of the New Year, you’ll need to negotiate all the excitement and temptation of the New Year celebrations. But rather than look upon this as a challenge, you could view it as an opportunity to make some lifestyle choices for a healthier pregnancy. These New Year’s resolutions should leave you feeling healthier and more optimistic about the year ahead – and about the arrival of your baby.

Salt dough valentine candle holders 34

 in crafts  tagged candle hilders / heart / heart activities / heart crafts / saltdough / valentine / valentine crafts by

Our solstice tealight holders were so much fun to make and we loved using them, that we decided to make some salt dough heart shaped candle holders for valentines day.  This recipe for salt dough will make about 10 candle holders. These are so much fun to make and  were so simple that the boys made them by themselves with only help lifting in and out of the oven.

Free kids coding lessons 19

 in mini mads  tagged coding / education / free coding by

Coding is now on the school curriculum, my boys really enjoy coding at school and when we were offered the chance to  try out a free kids coding lesson with Barclays code playground we jumped at it. Within two hours (one for Maxi) both of the boys had created a game with the help of the Digital Eagles.  The boys attended a 2 hour session with the Digital Eagles along with a group of around 10 other kids of varying ages and they had a blast.

How to make a family fingerprint relief heart art canvas 27

 in crafts  tagged art / canvas / crafts / heart / kids / valentines by

We love making pieces of art that we can display seasonally in The Mad House.  Last year we made a family fingerprint heart canvas and I have been thinking about making a family fingerprint relief heart art canvas since then.  We finally got round to making it and it was so much fun to make and perfect for displaying in our home.   How to make a family fingerprint relief heart art canvas

Weetabuddies – it is OK to play with your food! 21

 in fun with food  tagged breakfast / eating / food / fun by

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, yet one in six kids in the UK do not eat breakfast.  I have two very different kids in this house, Maxi will not leave the house without breakfast and Mini would skip it given the chance.  So we jumped at the chance to become representatives for Weetabix and help promote their Weetabuddies campaign and have a go at creating our own Weetabuddy. Weetabix have created the ‘Weetabuddies’ to encourage families to get creative at breakfast whilst having a healthy start to the day. So what is a Weetabuddy?  They are a range of characters to make breakfast a little more fun! You can meet all more »

Getting organised in the New Year with Journl and our Merlin Annual Pass 57

 in competition  tagged competition / jourln / merlin / York by

One of my intentions for 2015 is to be organised, but to also have less clutter in my life.  Now the boys are older, I no longer have to carry around a large bag with lots of paraphernalia, so I have gone back to a small bag and some days no bag at all and the only things that I carry around with me are my purse and my phone. So for the last couple of months I have been using an app called Journl to help me be more organised.  Since becoming a mum I went back to using a paper diary and notebook, but I realised that it made more »

Homemade thank you cards for kids to make 16

 in crafts  tagged crafts / envelopes / kid made cards / kids crafts / thank you cards by

I believe very strongly that children should be taught the importance of thank you cards, not just to keep up the tradition, but as a lesson in thankfulness and taking some time and effort to sit and think about the person who gave them the gift.  I find one of the best ways to do this is making homemade thank you cards with the boys and using the time to talk about why we are grateful for gifts we are given. We pulled this collection of homemade thank you cards together for everyone who would like some inspiration for cards that kids can actually make themselves.

Chaos cleaning for busy Mums 23

 in cleaning  tagged cleaning / home / organising by

Housework, cleaning and organisation, hate it or love it, the one constant is that it has to be done and seen as I can not afford a cleaner it mostly falls down to me.  In the past we have gone from control freaky clean, to total mess depending on my mental state!  Now we are somewhere in between.  The house is not always clean and tidy, but it is lived in and can be tidied in a flash. Want to know my secret? Today I am going to let you in to my tips for what I call a chaos clean.  You know the manic clean that you have to do more »

Fingerprint Monster thank you cards 24

 in crafts  tagged cards / childrens crafts / crafts / kid crafts / kid made cards / thank you cards by

Do your kids send thank you cards?  The MiniMad’s send thank you cards their have made every year.  Last year it was thumbprint Robin thank you cards, this year it is fingerprint monster thank you cards. We love giving fingerprint monster cards as they encourage people to get creative and add their own monsters to the blank fingerprints.  Plus these are easy to make, if you have smaller children they can just do the fingerprinting and you can add the rest. How to make fingerprint monster thankyou cards