Often when thinking of a British Summer you may be forgiven for thinking of your umbrella just as much as your sunglasses however the nice weather recently got us making some rather yummy drinks while we sat outside in the warmer weather.
Sun tea is exactly what it says 'on the tin', tea brewed in the sunshine! What to do: 1. Find a large jar/jug and put some tea into it (this can be some spoons of loose leaf or a couple of bags) 2. Fill up with cold water either from the tap or cooled boiled water 3. Seal the top with a lid/clingfilm 4. Place in a sunny spot (this could be in the garden or on a windowsill inside) 5. Leave for a few hours to brew (keep moving your jar/jug into the sun if it becomes shaded) 6. Once brewed, remove tea leaves/bags and stir in sugar to taste while it's warm (optional) 7. Either leave to cool in the fridge before serving or serve immediately on it's own or over ice We used Mango & Bergamot tea when we made ours but feel free to experiment and try out some other varieties as tea brewed using this method taste very different to when they are made with hot water.
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This activity is very quick to put together and you only need what's lying round you house (which is rather handy when some things are in short supply in the shops [e.g. flour for salt dough]) Grab a tray, or basket if you don't have one, and find about 10 to 15 objects round the house. Ensure they are fairly small as you need to be able to cover them up easily. Suggestions: - Pencil/Pen - Eraser - Torch - Finger Puppet - Baby Socks - Small Ornament - Watch - Thread Spool - Toy Car - Coin - Lego Figure - Tea Light Candle - Button Just the setting up for this activity by collecting various items for this definitely piqued the interest of my toddler! So although you can prepare it all beforehand, feel free to do it 'off-the-cuff' and build the interest (e.g. "We're going to do a special activity now, no peaking! Can you clear the table for us so we're ready?") Once you've got some items, make sure you have a tea towel or scarf handy to cover the items with. Place the tray on a table (or lay out the objects if you don't have one) and cover with the cloth. What to do (explain these steps to your child before you start so they know what they need to do): 1. Uncover the objects and have a good look at them. Take a few minutes to do this (but not too long) by pointing out each one and saying what it is (or get them to tell you). They can pick up the object at this point and have a good look at it but they must place it back onto the tray afterwards. 2. Cover the objects back up again so they can't be seen (cover those corners!) 3. Ask you child to name as many of the items they can without looking at under the cloth (You can either write down their answers or just remember what they guess). For this part I suggest putting a time limit on just so you're not stuck guessing for ages. 4. Uncover the objects again and see how many you remembered! If you want to you can cover the objects again and repeat the game to see if they can remember more this time. Or if you would like to play with different objects you could get your child to choose the objects and have the adults guess! Yesterday was a good time to get out of the house! I think we're all feeling the strain of not seeing family and friends and some fresh air was definitely needed. We have a small yard at the back of our house and after the wild windy weather we've been having this year it was looking in a sorry state with bits of rubbish strewn about and mounting leaf piles. So, it was time for a clean up! We popped on our wellies, gloves and coats and grabbed the broom. I started off but very soon my eldest wanted a turn and for a good hour or so we swept up all the leaves and used the outside water tap to splosh water on the floor and give it a bit of a wash down whilst we were there. Despite how we feel about these jobs as adults it has been my experience that children love to do tasks like this (which in turn has often helped me feel more enthusiastic in return), so try to feed off their enthusiasm when dong jobs you may not like. It's also worth noting that even if your yard/outdoor space is pristine, children will still be happy to sweep it, to be helpful as well as just for the fun of it. So even if you're not an 'outdoorsy' person, grab a broom and have a go! Many a happy afternoon was spent with my brother when we were younger building the biggest den we could! My mum would allow us to move all the sofas, steal all the spare bed sheets and completely take over the living room for the day. Some activities never get old and I think this is one of them! As my eldest is coming up to the age of 3 his love of building dens has increased massively over the past few months (currently have one set up as I write and we had one up yesterday too). He's not overly fussy and whilst loves having a big den set-up is equally happy to sit next to me with a blanket over our heads! So don't feel like it has to look like an instagram post in order to be fun! Ours never have twinkly fairy lights or perfect sitting cushions so don't feel like yours has to either! How to make one: 1. Clear a space in the living room 2. Arrange some chairs/tables* in a sort of circle 3. Find some spare sheets (We two set aside for this purpose, ones just a spare duvet cover and the other is a sheet that's sometimes used for when we do the decorating) 4. Arrange the sheets over the chairs/tables (Pull as straight as you can to avoid too much dipping of the sheets in the middle of the den) 5. Encourage your children to 'make it home' If you don't have the space in your living room then if you have a dining table or kitchen bar then just drape a sheet over and voila! *I've been using a nest of coffee tables in the last few days Now music is another large topic which we can only really scratch the surface on but hopefully I can give you a good place to start! We love a good sing-song in our house along with actions and instruments (check out about making instruments here) so I hope you can have lots of fun too. Children will love it if you get involved when singing/dancing so even if you're out of tune, get the words in the wrong order and point up instead of down, please don't give up, have a giggle and sing/dance some more! Nursery Rhymes Most people can sing you a nursery rhyme or two if you ask them however when I started to go along to playgroups after having my first son I hadn't realised how many I didn't know or I'd forgotten! So here's a little list to prompt you and get you started: - Twinkle Twinkle - Mary had a Little Lamb - Wind the Bobbin Up - Baa Baa Black Sheep - Row Row Row Your Boat - Itsy Bitsy Spider - Wheels on the Bus - Hickory Dickory Dock - Old MacDonald Had a Farm - The Grand Old Duke of York - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 - The Little Green Frog - Three Little Men in a Flying Saucer - Five Little Speckled Frogs There are many more so feel free to add your other favourites! Other Sing-along-Songs I'm sure there are many good albums of songs to sing with children but our favourite songs come from 'Piccolo' (https://www.piccolomusic.co.uk/). They're based in the North East (England) and have lots of fun and interesting songs to sing along with. My cousin, Michelle, told me about this activity which looks like great fun! Make sure you clear a space in your living room (or other suitable space) and take the cushions off and arrange them with two corners touching each so that they create a square space in between the cushions. Pour in some plastic balls and away you go! Now, if you don't have any of these plastic coloured balls then a great alternative is scrunched up paper (newspaper or tissue paper work well) or balloons (small ones would work best). This activity can be great for small babies (who can sit up) as they will love to look at all the colours and bat the balls around. Bigger children will love having a good thrash about in them so they go everywhere! When it comes to tidy-up, get the kids involved too so it's not left to you. The key is to make it a game (e.g. Put some music on and say 'Can you tidy all the balls up by the time this song finishes?') Image by Michelle R One fond memory at birthday parties was my one of my favourite games, the taste test challenge! My mum would fill up a cupcake baking tray with different things (e.g. salt, sugar, basil) and number them, then we would each be given a piece of paper and a pen and we would have to guess what was in each cupcake-space (by looking, smelling and tasting. The most correct guesses would win! Often I would be looking very carefully at the salt and sugar and doing my best to sneak as much sugar as I could because I needed more time to “work out” what it was! A very simple game but can be a lot of fun and a great way for children to try new tastes and textures! My eldest was pretty fussy about food when he was smaller but when playing this, although cautious at first, was pretty happy to have a try of a few once he realised the fun in the game. In the interests of not sharing germs, I would recommend either making up several trays so each child has their own or each child having their own plate and you give a bit on their plate and you could write down all their guesses before moving onto the next one. You can give them a spoon to taste and try them with but I would also encourage them to rub between their fingers (How does it feel? Grainy? Soft?), it becomes a very hands on experience and excites that fascination that children have with the world around them. God made a wonderful, varied and colourful world for us, so enjoy exploring all those tastes and textures together! Ideas for things to guess:
Remember, when doing that taste test they’re only doing a taste not eating spoonful’s of it so don’t give them too much in the first place (keep in mind all NHS recommendations for daily allowances, especially salt and sugar) *You can sterilise flour in the microwave beforehand if you like. Cook on high in a microwave for 1min15secs in total, pausing and stirring every 15secs Image by monicore from Pixabay |
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