Tag: Preschool Activities

Conker Creatures

One of our favourite autumn activities is making conker creatures. Like most families, we absolutely love collecting conkers (or horse chestnuts) in the autumn. There’s something so tactile about those smooth, shiny shells that’s just irresistible. A conker hunt means the thrill of finding a shiny conker hiding under crinkly leaves, or revealing hidden treasure by winkling them out from a spiky green casing. Just irresistible!

It takes the kids no time at all to amass a great big pile of them and, as they last for ages, they make a great material for some lovely autumn crafts. We’ve come up with lots of ideas on how to use them, and one activity we often do, is creating these cute Conker Creatures. 

A conker creature made with twigs and feathers.
A friendly conker creature!
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How to plan the best kids treasure hunt ever!

A kids treasure hunt is a great activity for mixed age groups, as even little ones can get involved.

But if you’ve ever been on a hunt where a few bolder and quicker kids scoop up all the loot, leaving the rest trailing behind in tears, then you’ll know that there’s a trick or two involved in keeping things fair and fun for everyone.

Want to know the secret? Read on to find out!

Kids treasure hunt in a fairy garden at Mannington Hall, Norfolk
How to make simple but bee-utiful bee pendants from air dry clay
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How to make custom DIY scratch art cards

The perfect DIY scratch art card

This home-made DIY scratch art card project is perfect for keeping the kids entertained over the summer.

You (and they) can make these scratch art cards out of ordinary arts and crafts supplies, and they’re really easy to make. Even my pre-schooler has done it! Read on to find out how.

pattern drawn on a diy scratch art card
Pattern-making becomes so much more fun with a home-made scratch art card.
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Best Ever Giant Bubble Mix Recipe

Home-made Bubble Mix Recipe for Long-Lasting, Super-Strong Bubbles

Our home-made bubble mix recipe comes in two flavours – quick and easy for bubbles ‘now, now, now!’, or (with just a few extra ingredients) frankly brilliant for the biggest, strongest, longest-lasting bubbles you’ve ever seen!

Together with our diy giant bubble wands, this bubble solution will help the kids make enormous bubbles all day long for some unforgettable summer fun. Read on to get the recipe!

Giant bubbles made with diy bubble mix recipe and wands
It’s kid’s play to make giant bubbles with our home-made bubble mix recipe and wands!
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Peaceable Kingdom Board Game – Co-operative Play

‘Race to the Treasure’ Board Game Review

Have you ever wondered why we get kids to play board games that pit them tooth and nail against one another, when we’re otherwise so keen for them to work and play together? I certainly have!

Often, playing board games with my kids makes me feel less like I’m raising the Brady Bunch, and more like I’ve birthed the next Addams Family. While the thrill of a win can raise one child up, inevitably another is cast down into deep disappointment and rage (oh my goodness, the rage!).

Thankfully the lovely One Hundred Toys has come to our rescue – sending us a game by the ‘Peaceable Kingdom’ board game company to review. Peaceable Kingdom create co-operative games requiring kids to work together, rather than competing against each other, to win.

Peaceable Kingdom board game 'Race to the Treasure'
No, you don’t get our big pile of treasure with this game (sorry!) but the kids do get to have lots of fun working together to win.

How intriguing – and possibly sanity-saving!

Perhaps with these games we could find that nirvana of family harmony I’ve heard so much about. Read on to find out what we thought, and if both siblings are still alive to tell the tale…

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No-Plastic Play Dough Play!

All-Natural Toys, Tools and Accessories for Play Dough

In our efforts to go plastic-free, we took a hard look at one of our favourite activities to see what it would take to have plastic-free play dough play-time.

It turns out this is really easy to do! We’ve found all sorts of alternatives to plastic right here in our own home, as well as out in the garden. And it is amazing what you can find in charity shops or thrift stores once you start looking.

Replacing our mountain of plastic play dough stuff with an all-natural kit was really easy, and what we’ve got now is far more open ended and even more fun to play with! So read on to see how we play with play dough without without a single bit of plastic…

Plastic-Free Playdough Play Kit
Playing with play dough needn’t mean getting out a pile of plastic toys!
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Winter Flower Craft – Snowdrop Bottles

The kids and I been talking about winter a lot lately. And it’s no wonder, given the grim, cold and grey weather, the bare branches and muddy fields.

But though we’re at the bleak midwinter stage of the year, there are still signs of life for the kids to find. Some of the prettiest are the early snowdrops that are just beginning to bloom – we’ve spotted the first few flowers, and many more green stalks with buds about to open.

We’ve used these lovely flowers as inspiration for some indoor crafting. And we also made a bunch of our own junk-model snowdrops out of a few empty bottles and some straws. Two simple and sweet little activities that are great for practicing fine motor skills.

Make snowdrops from paper or plastic bottles
Why do one snowdrop craft when you can do two?!
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Okido Children’s Arts and Science Magazine Subscription Review

​The Perfect Gift for Curious Kids

A magazine subscription can be the perfect gift for children who are otherwise drowning in heaps of new and old toys. My kids love magazines, but too often it’s the shiny (and short-lived) ‘free’ gift on the front cover that attracts them, rather than the content of the magazine. There are a couple of exceptions out there, and one of our favourites is the very brilliant Okido magazine, so we were thrilled when we were invited recently to become Okido Amabassadors.

Read on to find out what makes Okido so different, and why I think their Christmas Subscription Package this year is one of the best around.

Issues of kids' arts and science magazine - Okido
Okido is a gorgeously illustrated arts and science magazine for kids around 8 and under.
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DIY Sparkly Spiderweb Stamping!

This fun spiderweb activity combines two of our favourite things – threading and printing. Using homemade stampers, kids can make gorgeous sparkly spiderweb pictures. The stamps are simple and quick to make, and the best part is you can make them from bits and pieces that you will already have.

Read on to see how we did this fabulous spiderweb craft!

Sparkly spiderweb stamping
Use a simple, homemade stamp of a spiderweb to create glittery web art!
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How to Conquer Playing Conkers!

At this time of year, our local park is littered with conkers (otherwise known as horse chestnuts) – at times they are literally (and rather painfully!) raining down on us. Who can resist prising open spiky cases for that thrill of discovering shiny brown nuts inside?

My kids certainly can’t, and so over the first month of autumn we tend to accumulate a big pile. And what better way to make use of this autumn bounty than through a smashing game of conkers? We love it so much, I had to share it with you. So read on to discover all the do’s and don’ts, rules and the cheats, hows and whys of playing conkers!

Horse chestnuts threaded on butchers string for playing conkers
How to conquer playing the traditional childhood game of Conkers!
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