Tag: painting

Cheap School Holiday Fun

Note: First published July 2014..although this is great no matter what year.

Have you wondered what to do with the kids these school holidays? Worried that if you take them somewhere or do anything it will cost you? Well, I have a list of fun things to do that will not break the bank. Yes, these fun things will keep the kids happy as well as your bank balance.

1. Playdough Fun

The night before I made a whole batch of playdough. I created multiple colours and also some had glitter in them as well. I added the food dye to each batch and made sure they were very bright vivid colours to make it even more fun. (Make sure you wear gloves as my hands were stained for a couple of days – yes I had green and red hands)

Playdough - In resealable bags so that the dough remains fresh and does not dry out. — Playdough – In resealable bags so that the dough remains fresh and does not dry out.

I gave the kids cookie cutters, rolling pins, toothpicks and more so they could make patterns and be as creative as they wished.

I made the playdough recipe from McKenzie’s Cream of Tartar for playdough as it gives a nice smooth fluffy feeling. If you use this way to make playdough it will come out so nice and soft, just like the ones at the store. Yes, you heard that right! Give it a go and see. Make a big batch and put it all in containers for a rainy day. The kids loved this and played with the dough and their creations for hours.

All the kids playdough creations drying. Once all done we can have them on our shelves to display. Don't they look amazing. — All the kid’s playdough creations drying. Once all is done we can have them on our shelves to display. Don’t they look amazing?

2. Baking Fun

My girls love to make cakes and of course, after the cake is in the oven, they love to lick the mixing bowl and spoon. I did that as a kid and it is the best as the mixture always tastes wonderful and is so chocolatey!

I created a marble cake and added a vanilla cake mix to a chocolate one that had chocolate bits added to it as well. Once mixed in it created a marvellous marble mixture and looked great once it was cut into. Sorry I did not get any other pictures than the one before it was all eaten. Yes, it was that good. Maybe I should be a Masterchef????

Yummy Marble Cake - Get your little chefs busy with this easy to make cake — Yummy Marble Cake – Get your little chefs busy with this easy-to-make cake

If you have a packet of cake mix this keeps things easy and all you need to do is add the eggs/egg and milk, stir and then put it in the oven. Simple cake made! You can ice it or add chocolate bits as we did, the choice is yours. Enjoy!

3. Painting Fun

I wanted to get the kids painting, and I did not want paint that causes issues with clothes or bad if you accidentally eat it. So I made my own paint. How do I hear you ask??

These are the ingredients I used:

Cornflour
Water
Food dye

I started with 1 cup of cornflour and enough water to make a paste. I created all the mixture before I added the colour as I wanted different colours that would allow the kids to paint a picture and not be restricted to two colours only. I added the mixture without the colour into a cupcake tin and then added the colour to each area of the tin.

I decided to make, yellow, purple, orange, blue, green and red. I ended up using more cornflour as it was not quite a paste consistency and I used more water than I should have as it was my first attempt at making this. To make each paint set I put it in the freezer to set. I am not sure if that is the done thing but it worked out quite well.

It might have been in the freezer for a bit long but after adding a bit of water with the paintbrush the colour melted a bit and it was just like real paints but with cornflour and water.

Having fun painting. Such creative artists.

Great paint mummy! What else can I paint?

4. Movie Fun

It is always fun to watch a film you have never seen before and to have lunch. I fed the kids some food while they all sat and watched Frozen. Yes, we are late to the party and have just seen Frozen.

Mesmorized watching Frozen — Mesmerized watching Frozen

Now all the kids are singing is, “I want to build a snowman!” AHHHHH Oh well, so glad they loved it and sat still to watch it. Winning I think!

So grab a film that no one has seen as it will capture their interest for longer. If you want why not make a bed on the floor of the living room and make a treat of the film. You can even popcorn if the kids like that.

5. Park Fun

Around the corner of the house is a park. So I walked the kids to the park and they all ran amok at the park. One went on the swing, the other on the monkey bars and one other was going down the slippery dip. Fresh air and exercise always help keep kids happy.

The park is free and if you are not near one you can drive to one and bring the bike/scooter the child can get more enjoyment out of playing with their toys.

Swinging is fun! I am doing it all by myself now mummy!

Look at me, I can do the monkey bars all by myself. How clever is she!

I hope this list of some fun things to do with kids helps while they are on school holidays or for the weekends. Enjoy!

Creative

Painting and tent building

Today it has not stopped raining, so another indoor craft day I think. What to do to keep the little monkeys busy? The fun for today was painting and tent building.

I set up the dining room for painting. Sheets of paper were organised as was the paint, water and brushes. To make it easier for each child I put the paint into muffin/cupcake tins. Lillian painted a great picture of a platypus and footprints, Julia painted a platypus and a jungle with footprints, very creative pictures indeed. This kept the girls entertained for a couple of hours, enough for me to tidy up the kitchen. A big mess was made, but it is all okay as it will wash off clothes and furniture. If you don’t use Crayola paint you should as it washes out and you can be confident that it will come out of clothes, walls and other things. Crayola have textas and other items that are washable and I have found these great as well, the girls tend to colour their faces, legs, and other body parts, so it is nice to know that it will all wash off.

After painting the kids hands, faces were washed. A change of clothes were needed for kids and also to mummy as I got dirty as well. Then daddy and the girls built a tent in the living room. The tent was a space for books to be read by daddy and puzzle making time. Tent was made with 3 dining chairs and a sheet.

As I write this the tent is still up and kids are busy creating more works of art using their pencils and textas, with Wallace and Gromit playing in the background. What have you been up to this long weekend. I know that hubby is a bit sad that it is raining and wet, he wanted to do some yard work. Maybe next weekend it will be sunnier.

Tags Crayola paint, Crayola textas, daddy, indoor craft, indoor fun, june long weekend, mommy, mummy, painting, rainy, tent building, washable paint and textas, wet

3 years and beyond Family

More sunny adventures

Yes another sunny wonderful day today, I am very proud of myself that I managed to do 2 loads of laundry before we left the house and nearly all was dry when we got home.

As it was sunny, we thought that we would take off to Australia Walkabout Park, we had a Cudo voucher that was going to expire. I bought it thinking that it would be great for the girls to see all different animals in their habitat. I am so glad that the weather was good and we were able to use the voucher before it expired. We raced around, got ready and packed our bag.

Julia was out of sorts all day, and we think it was due to the heat, she was moody, wanting cuddles and everything was an issue. Lillian seemed fine. My car has no air conditioning and we think it needs to be re gassed, it has to wait currently so we aired the car with the windows down. Not great, but it works, the only annoying part is when you have to stop it gets very hot.

We finally arrived to the wildlife park at about 1pm and all had some lunch. The girls saw an emu or two walking around the eating area, and they were amazed at them. Behind the cafe is the koala enclosure and the girls could not see them moving, as they were fast asleep. After lunch we all went to the talk about the diamond python, who is called Neil, (Neil Diamond, someone at this park has a sense of humour). The girls were not interested in touching the snake, petting it, or have it pretend you were a tree and lounge on you. I was not into it and was happy to look also. There were some brave kids and adults that allowed their body to be a tree for Neil the snake. I just could not do it. This idea got met with “NO, YUCK!” by both the girls. So I take it they feel the way I do and so does daddy about this. Happy to watch.

After this we all went off for a bit of a bush walk and ended up at the Tasmanian Devil talk. These creatures definitely should not be messed with, they have heaps of teeth that seriously could do you some damage. Since the weather was very hot, they were not that keen in coming out from their cool log. There was a brief moment when one came out with the coaxing from the ranger with meat and holding the devil in a position that was not cruel but would not allow the animal to eat the ranger either.

We saw koalas being fed, emus, the girls saw kangaroo’s eating and they patted them and were very taken with them. We made sure that they were safe and was around just in case. All in all it was a good day; it was long and a tiring day, the girls saw and animals and had a great experience. So glad it was hot, a taste of what summer should have been. I wonder if we will get more weather like this.

I have only now checked the weather for the week ahead. What a sad state of affairs, the follow is the predication for the week ahead (weather taken from Sydney Morning Herald Weather):

Monday
Late shower
Min: 15°C Max: 24°C
UV: Extreme

Tuesday
Possible shower
Min: 12°C Max: 18°C
UV: Extreme

Wednesday
Possible shower
Min: 12°C Max: 17°C
UV: Extreme

Thursday
Possible shower
Min: 12°C Max: 16°C
UV: Extreme

Friday
Showers
Min: 10°C Max: 16°C
UV: Extreme

Saturday
Showers
Min: 10°C Max: 16°C
UV:

Sunday
Possible shower
Min: 10°C Max: 17°C
UV: –

How disappointing that the weekend is probably the only sunny warm weather that we might have in a while. Let’s hope that the weather people have got it wrong.

When we came home from the wildlife park, I changed the sheets on our bed and the girls beds. Now the only washing I have to do is the sheets and some clothes from today. So that is good news. Aside from sorting, ironing and putting away.

There are 3 more days until the girls go to pre-school orientation; I am so excited that you would think it is me going to school. I hope it is a fun time at the school, not sure what will be discussed and shown for future students, but keen to find out. Now need to get my finger out and start the sewing project for their pants.

I hope you all had good adventures this weekend and that the weather was good. I hope that the weather is going to be sunny and warm tomorrow, I will hope for it. What did you all get up to this weekend? We managed to find some A3 paper from Officeworks this weekend for the kid’s art, so maybe tomorrow we will paint or draw. What have you got organised?