Yogurt pot Turtles

I saw on a website about how to make these cute turtles from tippy yogurt pots (fruit corners to everyone else!) So we had a go and I think they turned out really well. We extended the learning and read some books about turtles and find out where they live and what they like to eat. It's a good example of how any activity with children can always be an opportunity for wider learning and understanding. For example while we did this we talked about the colours of the paper, the sizes of the pieces and counting how many we needed. They also had the opportunity to practice fine motor skills through tearing the paper and picking up the little pieces. And the finished product was played with too!!

Bouncing is fun!

The mini trampoline is one of the best things we've got in the garden, it was a lucky find on freecycle and luckily 2 at once can have a go!

Testing the snow!

Sadly only a tiny bit of snow left on the table in the garden (where we tried to build a snowman at the weekend!) and small bits of ice around the grass. It was fun feeling how cold -and muddy it was and we had fun collecting bits of ice in our mini wheelbarrow! My oldest daughter is begging for more snow but who know if we will get more.....

Pretty cakes

As a WI member now for a while I have loved meeting new people as well as learning lots of new skills, especially arts and crafts such as jewellery making, paper crafts and of course baking. We did a session on piping icing which I have now done with the children lots of times. It's SUCH fun and anyone can make a cake look pretty as well as have a turn licking the scraper!!!

It must be my turn now!

Thank goodness for our local park, it's so near and the kids love having a good run around and taking turns on the swings. The older ones always seem to love helping the younger ones which is most definitely to be encouraged!

School run in the rain!

Well improvisation is the name of the game as a childminder and when we had a sudden rain storm just as we had to go out on the school run, one of the little ones didn't have any rain gear. So he wore mine and looked like a little Ewok-hilarious but at least he kept dry. I won't tell you how wet I got!!!! If you've ever tried you'll know it's almost impossible to hold a brolly and push a pram at the same time. Oh well, at least school is only a 5-10 minute walk, or 30 depending on how many interesting things there are to stop and look at on the way!!

Children soup!

How many kids can you get into a paddling pool? As many as you like!!! They love it and what a perfect way to cool my feet too when we have a heatwave. We come home from school as quickly as possible and have a picnic in the garden and get splashing, fantastic fun. The only problem is finding all the clothes after they've been chucked off all over the garden!