Scrap books

When I worked in early years one of the things we always used to do was keep scrapbooks of the kids work that would go home with them at the end of the term. I thought it was a lovely idea and a nice way to document their progress. I decided to do one at home with Joshua and thought I would share it with you. I intend to make many more in the future.

E is for Easter so more to follow soon !!

lots of love
Ellie xxxx



NCT Nearly New Sale Madness

Oh my gosh I can't feel my legs after helping out at the NCT nearly new sale yesterday. What a fun day! I arrived at 8.15 to find an event run by military precision. I was very impressed! As a non member I had to pay £3 which I think was very reasonable and was given a limit of 50 items to sell (if you are a memeber you are allowed unlimited items!!). The day before I was given 50 labels to price everything up! phew that was a task and a half! I was up until midnight doing that. As an avid charity shop bargain hunter and car boot sale lover it was very hard indeed to know how much to price stuff at! I had been told that large toys can go from anything up to £20 but for me, who is used to buying things at £2.50 at charity shops that was a hard task! but I got there in the end!! The other hard part was managing to take JUST 50 items!! My house is beginning to look like a nursery these days with the amount of toys we own! (this didnt however stop me from buying at the sale!!)
anyway once I had lugged my million boxes out of the car and into the sale, then came the mamouth task of sorting through everyone elses stuff. Now bearing in mind 80 non members had 50 items each and about 40 members had 150 items, that's a LOT of stuff!! The clothes tables were piled high!! and the toys were buried under hundreds of other toys!
I was selling a high chair and there were 5 others priced much lower than mine so I wasnt very hopeful that it would sell! That is the only critcism I have of the sale in that you couldnt change the prices, as some of my stuff I would rather have sold than brought back home as it was priced too high!
anyway after sorting the mountains of stuff we got given half an hour to have a look round and buy stuff before the sale started! this bit I have to say was the most fun part of the day! There was so much stuff but no rush to look through it, just a leisurely browse! I recommend volunteering to help if only for this reason!
Well I was very impressed with myself too as I only spent £16.50!!! I think I bagged some bargains too. I picked up this little wooden fort for £3.50, Joshua loves it!

I also picked up a Leap frog leap pad, complete with 5 books!!! including Joshua's favourite Thomas!! for £5. Very reasonable I say!

Anyway after the doors opened at 10.30 I was on the till for the whole time of the sale. It was brilliant fun! Met some lovely mums, and some expectant mums! Hop I will see some of you at my baby massage classes as my flyers were in the goodie bags.
Anyway once the sale was over we had the mamouth task of sorting everything ba#g out again into bags to give back to the sellers! I have to say it was very deflating seeing some of my stuff come back. I really had hoped to sell more than I did but I did sell my high chair and a few other high priced items so I came home with a nice amount of money!
I highly recommend going to one of these events as the quality of the stuff was very good and a lot of it was very reasonably priced.  The next one is on the 17th November where I suspect I will be again! (it might take me that long to get over it and be able to feel my legs again!)
watch this space!
I'm off to sleep now!

lots of love
Ellie xxxx

Making porridge for the three bears!

Daddy bear's porridge was too hot, mummy bear's porridge was too cold, baby bear's porridge was just right so she gobbled it all up!
Joshua absolutely loved this activity and I nearly ( I say nearly!!) got him to eat some porridge too!

We started by reading through the story of Goldilocks and the three bears, and talking mostly about the porridge. Then I asked him if he would like to make some and he yelped with delight!! yes please mummy!

I grabbed the Largest bowl I could find in the kitchen and filled it with porridge oats. I then filled a jug with water.
First I let Joshua play with the dry oats, run his fingers through it, stir it with a spoon and generally try to throw it everywhere. I then gave him the jug and told him to pour slowly (which he didnt so we ended up with runny porridge so I poured some out!) but he got the idea and then stirred it up until it was stiff. I then seperated it into a couple of bowls and left one cold and put the other in the microwave for a few minutes.

I then showed him the difference between hot and cold porridge. He loved it, although couldnt be enticed to eat any!

a very good activity! and much fun had by all!

Here are some other ideas for activities related to the three bears:

You will need the following:
3 spoons of varying size
3 bowls of varying size
3 beds of varying size
3 chairs of varying size
teddy bear masks
A story book (picture books are best)
bear puppets
a goldilocks soft doll or puppet

1. Teddy bears tea party
2. matching bowls, to spoons, to beds for size
3. dress up as bears and move around the room like bears
4. set up a bears house and roll play (older children can act out the story, younger children can just play with the bowls, spoons, beds and chairs)
5. Read the story (ovious one...sorry)
6. Draw a story board of the story...younger children just do free drawing
7. Visit some local woods and go on a bear hunt
I will return to this post and add some more as I think of them!!

have fun
lots of love
Ellie xxxx

Pizza making

If you are short of ideas of things to do when it's raining outside I highly recommend this activity (especially for picky eaters!). Not many children wont eat what they have made themselves and they can have a lot of fun too!

I started with a ready made pizza base but I guess you could go the whole hog and make your own with your little ones, they will have lots of fun rolling out the dough! In my experience shop bought bases do taste better and you are more likely to get a pizza that the whole family can share for dinner if you use a ready made one!

I layed out in bowls different toppings for Joshua to add to the base and a bowl of tomato ketchup. You could use puree or passata, or make your own sauce, but as my Joshua is a ketchup monster I decided he would be more likely to eat it when made with ketchup. I had a bowl of cut up red onion, red peppers, yellow, peppers, sweetcorn and a bowl of grated cheese. You could use mushrooms too and grated carrot etc but I didnt have any one the day!

The concentration on his face was delightful!!

He didn't quite get the idea of adding a little at a time and spreading it round but sweetcorn is one of his favourite things!!!

This is how it looked before it went in the oven! I was quite inpressed (ok so I helped him a bit!)

He helped me put it in the oven (well watched) and went off to play waiting for it to be ready. His face was a picture he was so excited and he couldnt wait to eat it! He ate three whole slices (and has always said no to pizza in the past!) so mummy was very pleased indeed! and it took up a couple of hours in the afternoon!!!

Lots of love

Ellie xxxx

Sensory boxes

If ever I am bored and cant think of an activity to do with Joshua I always set up a sensory box. I dont have any pictures of my own as i always forget to take them!! (doh!) The beauty of them is that you can have one set up in 5 mins flat and it can be on any theme imaginable, from a favourite story to a TV programme, to a favourite game etc

here are a few that I have found on people's blogs. some are very creative and some are simple, others are complicated, but all I'm sure you will agree are inspired!

the beach

 

Construction with popcorn

ice cream with pom poms and pie cases

Ships Ahoy!

Autumn

Cars in the sand

In outer space

The weather

A forest and stream

a river?

it is amazing how much fun you can have with some sand and water! Give them a try and send me some photos of your own and I can add them to my blog!

Have fun making them!

Lots of love

Ellie xxxx



Find it!!

Im so glad I managed to find this at a charity shop!!! the game find it! All the things you have to find are listed on the lid and it takes days (even months- as an adult) to find them all so its a great tool for time out or just to keep the kids entertained on a rainy day!!

or you could make your own (which is what I was about to do before I found 'Find it'!)

taken from http://meetthedubiens.blogspot.com

lots of love
Ellie xxxx

Texture boards

texture boards are dead easy to make and babies and children have a lot of fun playing with them.
For joshua I used to have a texture box, full of lots of different materials. I also made a texture glove (sorry I dont have a photo), for me to wear and put a different textured material on each finger of the glove. This was really good when he had tiny fingers!!

anyway here I have selected a few of my favourites that I have seen on the blogs I read

Pieces of cardboard with different materials stuck on
taken from http://thefeltmouse.blogspot.com/2008/12/for-kids.html



taken from http://engagingtoddleractivities.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/homemade-toys-texture-cards/



texture boards made from wood
taken from http://kreativeactivities.blogspot.com/2011/05/texture-boards.html



texture sticks
taken from http://preschoolteacher81.blogspot.com/2011/09/texture-sequencing-sticks.html



One size fits all type of board
taken from http://shareandremember.blogspot.com/p/featured.html



and how gorgeous is this?? a little texture garden plant! love it! might make one myself!
taken from http://alittlelearningfortwo.blogspot.com/2010/10/texture-garden.html

have fun

lots of love
Ellie xxxx

Toddler Lunches

After stressing every lunch time over what to give Joshua for lunch I decided to brainstorm and create a table for inspiration. Here it is. Please feel free to copy it!!

Main bit	Fruit and Veg	Calcium builder	Treat
Cheese on toast	Grapes	Egg slices	Fruit bar
Beans on toast	Clementine	Cottage cheese	Fruit pouch
Eggy bread	Kiwi	Fromage frais	Cake
Egg and soldiers	Blueberries	Yoghurt	Nuts
Egg sandwich	Banana	Drinking yoghurt	Seeds
Peanut butter on toast	Pear	Glass of milk	Rice cakes
Hummous on toast	Peach/plum	Flavoured milk	Biscuit
Fish fingers	Tinned peach	Cheese cubes	Fig roll
Breadsticks and Hummous	Tinned pineapple	Cheese strings	Muffin
Jacket potato	Dried apricots	Babybell	Popcorn
Ham roll	Raisins		Malt loaf
Toast pizza	Carrot sticks		Fruit loaf
Soft cheese on toast/grated apple or carrot	Cucumber sticks		Chocolate
Pesto pasta	Sweetcorn		Gingerbread man
Veg and ham pasta	Babycorn		Yoghurt covered raisins
Cous cous salad	Cherry tomatoes		Crisps
Tuna wrap	Pepper slices		Cheerios
	Beans		Shreddies

I just look at this for inspiration now!!
One day I will make one for his dinners, when I get the time...phew

Or alternatively you could try what this lady has done!! I love it



taken from http://twiddlerhouse.blogspot.com/2011/08/whats-for-lunch.html

I might get round to doing it myself one day!

Lots of love
Ellie xxxx

sorting trays

Sorting trays are a lovely idea and incredibly easy to make. I made this one out of an old jewellery storage box. You can use anything from cardboard boxes, to lap trays, to the plastic insert from a box of chocolates! You can also use them to sort a number of things from numbers, to colours, to shapes etc

I have used those three things so far but I intend to maybe add opposites too.

you dont need to spend money on counters etc as they are easy to make out of paper, laminated or card or use coins. (it is safest to use big coins like 2 pence pieces for children under 3)

I will post again once I have fully finished the box.

lots of love
Ellie xxxx

Story Sacks

After a visit to my local toy library and seeing one at my friends house I discovered story sacks!!! we used to have them at the schools I worked in but I didnt know what to call them then and most of the time we made our own! The ones at the toy library seem to be branded and there are a lot for sale on the internet, some for a lot of money!!!

it is dead easy to make your own though!
start by getting a bag, case, folder, take your child's favourite book, find copies of it at charity shops, or photocopy/scan pages. Cut them out, laminate, find objects around the house, make puppets, felt versions of the things in the book. Find activites on www.pinterest.com and add them to your sack.

here are two that I have done so far:

there was an old lady who swallowed a fly:

by some amazement I found the lady in a charity shop! she has an enourmous space inside her mouth that goes down to her feet so you can fit all the creatures inside her! I then looked (again in a charity shop) for some animals to put inside! It was a fluke that I found such a realistic fly and spider! the others all dont really match and are a mixture of wood, soft material and plastic toys. (this doesn't seem to matter as long as it is a representation somehow- even pictures would do)
and there you have it!!!

the second one was the hungry caterpillar:

I got several copies of the book. I cut one up and cut out all the fruit and the food and laminated it. I  took photos of the pages that had pictures on both sides so could only use one side and laminated these instead. I gathered as many fruit and food items as I could find from plastic to wood to material and added them to the sack. I also found some lovely resources on www.pinterest.com but I cant recall what blog they were from so dont want to post them on here so as not to offend!

However, these two blogs have some nice ideas about making the food though:

http://sewmamsew.com



http://yellowmums.blogspot.com

Have fun making them! I did!

lots of love

Ellie xxxx



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Colour flash cards

I found these fanastic colour matching flash cards on http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com and cut them out and laminated them! Joshua has really enjoyed matching the objects to the colours. I will get round to taking my own photos and making a set of my own one day but in the meantime these are perfect. (please only use these for personal use as they are not mine and were created by someone else for personal use and I dont want to step on any toes! thank you!)

lots of love
Ellie xxx

yet another muffin tin lunch

As the title says, here I share yet another of my successful muffin tin lunches

1. coloured yoghurt coated raisins in a trophy cup
2. water
3. Yoghurt covered in hundreds and thousands
4. Mini breadsticks
5. Toast and cheese cut to the shape of a truck
6. veg sticks

enjoy!

lots of love
Ellie xxx

smell's nice

When Joshua was really little I made him these little smelling pouches out of squares of muslin and elastic bands. His face was a picture when I put them near his nose!!

they were filled with:
1. cinnamon
2. lavender
3. mixed herbs
4. Lemon peel
5. Vanilla extract

I also found these on http://shareandremember.blogspot.com

these would defo be better for older children.

I made my own recently in tiny little bottles. I soaked a cotton pad in each smell and stuffed it in the bottle

I used:
1. cinnamon and water
2. lemon juice  (dont use- it went mouldy)
3. orange essence
4. banana flavouring
5. peppermint essence

the only thing I will say about this is that if you store them all in the same place they all end up smelling of the same thing, or a mixture of all and the smells fade quite quickly so they need replacing or topping up regularly!

Have a go, and please share any that you find go down well!!!

Lots of love
Ellie xxx