Simple DIY Fairy Garden

I have been promising a fairy garden to the children for a while now, we'd seen them in the local garden centre so we decided to make our own using some simple bits and pieces from the shop.

So what do you need? Well it turns out not much, we bought a large terracotta plant pot holder, a little tiny one to put water in (fairies need a bath right) a succulent as they don't need much attention and then we succumbed to some little stepping stones and some mushrooms from the fairy garden section in the garden centre, you could however use some milk bottle lids for the stepping stones or make your own mushrooms out of some plasticine if you had the time. We also used some pebbles from our  rather over pebbly garden.

So we set to it. First, adding a little bit of compost to the bottom so we can add some more plants later on if we want, then we added in our succulent plant and the stones on top, along with some little tiny stepping stones.

We added the little mushrooms to the the plant and used a cute little windmill straw to set it off, then we added some water to our little pond and then, away we go. Putting the fairy garden in a container means we can move it if we need to and it isn't restricted to one place.

I also bought a small plant pot which I hand't really thought about what to do with, but a quick look on Pinterest soon solved that problem, we are going to turn it upside down and paint it, put a door on it and then add that. We also have a few shells we bought back from our holidays so we will be adding those too and may even make an adjoining garden

Pinterest is a really great resource for things like this, so do pop on over and have a look at my Fairy Garden Pinterest board for some ideas and if you've made one, i'd love to take a look for some more inspiration so feel free to leave your links in the comments.

Follow The Mummy Diary's board Fairy Garden Ideas on Pinterest.

Hey Time, Slow Down Please

Yesterday I dropped my son off at school and as my daughter and I walked back to the car, she asked me to sing a song, so I dutifully did, but as I sang Dingle Dangle Scarecrow it suddenly occurred to me that this won't happen for much longer.

Come September, I will be walking back to the car empty handed, no one to go off and spend the day with, at that moment my heart broke a little as i realised that my time with my baby is slowly rushing away from me.

Me and my daughter have a bucket list of things we want to do before she goes to school, we have painted a pot together, we have been to see Cinderella with her dressed in her Cinderella dress, we are going to build a bear and lots of other things.

You forget how precious those minutes, hours, days are and fill them with cleaning, shopping and moaning, when instead you should embrace every second, singing, dancing like a could of daft people in the kitchen (it's a regular thing in my house) and enjoying the moment.

So from now until my son breaks up, our three days together are going to be just that, no time constraints, just doing things that make us happy and making so many memories together.

Whats that saying...

"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait ‘til tomorrow For babies grow up we’ve learnt to our sorrow So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep" 

Easy to Decorate Gingerbread House

I recently saw this gingerbread house kit in the Aldi catalogue and after a nightmare trying to glue the pieces together on a kit we bought last year from Ikea, I decided to give this a try.

The kit comes with everything you need to decorate the house and as it is pre built, so if you are short on time you can get straight on to it.

Once you have squished the icing together for a few minutes it becomes soft enough to start icing the house, I did the icing and I let the kids decorate with the sweets. The box has a great detailed picture of what you can do with the included ingredients.

Although the bag of icing split whilst I was using it it tastes nice and was easy enough to ice the house with.

The house is already stuck to the board so you don't have to worry about it sliding off and even though we tipped it sidewards several times it stayed glued to the base.

Although not perfect the kids loved the sweets and covering the house in them and it looks pretty cute with some miniature presents and tree.

This set is the perfect way to get some yummy gingerbread goodness in to your home this Christmas without too much fuss, the kit costs £4.99.

Meet Finn, the Doll for Boys (or Girls)

I don't really like the idea of guns and things that shoot, my son loves Lego and Playmobil and using his imagination with castles, cars and similar toys, so when I was asked if he'd like to review the Finn doll from the makers of the fabulous Lottie dolls I knew he'd really enjoy it.

Arriving with everything you need to get started, Finn comes full clothed and a with rather lovely kite to fly, we were also sent an extra set with fishing gear.

I love that the outfits are fun and age appropriate, my son loves that he has a gilet on just like the one he has. The first thing he did was ask to me to get his Fisher Price house down, he then got to work putting the fishing rod in the garage and finding other things to play with alongside Finn.

The doll itself has posable arms and apart from the hair, which has a rather drastic haircut (the hair at the back is cut quite close to the head), it is well put together, his clothes withstood being taken on and off by a six year old boy.

I really like the idea behind the whole range of Lottie & Finn dolls, they allow children to be children and play with toys that don't promote violence or are overly sexualised as some dolls can be.

Finn is priced at £16.99 which I don't think it too overpriced, the Gone Fishing set is £7.99, it is suitable for ages three and up too so the perfect toddler present.

If you like what you see, then the lovely people over at Lottie are offering my readers 20% off purchases over £20 (Offer code is LOTTIE10 and works at the Amazon checkout only (not on the LOTTIE website cart) offer allows 20% off orders over £20 across entire range.  Offer ends Midnight on Sunday, 14 December 2014)

NB: I was sent the Finn doll for the purpose of the review, all opinions are my own.

Dinosaur Messy Play in the Garden

My daughter loves getting messy in the garden so last week when it was just too nice to be inside I got out the Tuff Spot and filled it with mud, sand, shells, leaves and dinosaurs and she got to get messy and play.

She absolutely love doing this and spent at least two hours getting in there with the dinos!

Not sure about getting in but soon getting down with the dinos...

Lots of fun, it didn't stay looking this near and tidy, by the end of it there was just a mass of sandy mud which I think means it was lots of fun.

It is the perfect activity for getting them to explore and learn about different textures.

Linking up to Magic Moments with The Olivers Madhouse

Black & White Photography Project Week 2

Fun with Fabric Pens

The weather has been great lately but with a little rain after school yesterday I decided to bring out an activity I had been saving for a while.

I bought these fabric pens from Ikea a few months back and I had put aside a couple of old white vests to use them on.

Really easy to use and bright colours I let them do what they like, my daughter needed a little help to complete hers but the as you can see she loves it.

This is a great way to spend an hour and the kids have something to wear and remember afterwards.

Linking up to Magic Moments on The Oliver's Madhouse

Snibston Discovery Museum

Yesterday we visited Snibston Discovery centre, a long standing museum that I remember visiting when I was younger. (Please note that sadly Snibston Discovery is now closed due to the council stopping their funding)

Located on the site of the former Snibston Colliery created by famous railway pioneer George Stephenson, it is an important piece of history.

We took a picnic which we sat and ate in a 1980's Finnish train carriage, now used as an indoor picnic area. The children enjoyed this as they both love trains.

Then we moved to the outside adventure play area, where there were lots of water activities. We got to learn about how we get water and use it to power things. They both enjoyed playing with the archimedes screw and pumps and then making the water wheels work.

The adventure playground is always a hit with my husband and son, this one had large and small activities, so there was something for most ages to enjoy. Next to this, there was a composting area where we got to see different ways of composting food, in various wormeries and compost machines.

There were lots of musical instruments to try and then these brilliant dishes, you speak into one end and you can hear the person very clearly at the other end, these were there when I went some 21 years ago and were still as intriguing now for my son.

Moving inside to the engineering and extractive industries galleries, we got to see many different machines from past to present, from the first bikes and busses to electric cars. Exhibits also showed how they used steam engines to power tools and machinery in the victorian era. Then we moved into the fashion gallery, which houses the largest collection of fashion outside of London. There are hands on exhibits for the children placed quite regularly around the entire museum, including in the fashion gallery, where we tried our hands at weaving.

Moving on to the science and technology areas, we all enjoyed learning about everything from wind power to tornadoes, magnets to vacuums. It was educational but fun and for a 6 year old and 3 year old this is key.

The 'how to make fire' exhibit was also a favourite, you first have to turn a stick, to make energy, then use bellows to add oxygen, then a real flames leap up in the centre of the exhibit! We also learned about reflection, how our body works and got to play with a large plasma ball.

Overall we spent nearly 5 hours at Snibston, including the picnic and two goes on the adventure playground, it offers all weather fun and is reasonably priced at just under £25 for a family of four.

There was something for everyone to engage with and enjoy. We all had a wonderful day out, learning about the world around us both past and present.

Linking up to Country Kids on Coombe Mill and Magic Moments on The Olivers Madhouse.

Princess Fairy Cakes - Toddler Fun

My daughter loves helping me to bake cakes, so when I spotted these princess cake cases and icing cake toppers I knew they would make it all the more enjoyable.

For this you'll need a basic Victoria sponge recipe, I use my old faithful Be-Ro recipe which I pop everything in the mixer and it never fails.

Once mixed, pop in to the cake cases and the once cooked we made pink icing, placed some super snazzy pink sprinkles on and then the cake toppers.

And voila, easy peasy pretty cakes that take about just the right amount of time for the attention span of a small child. They taste pretty nice too ;)

I love the time me and her spend baking, it is a great way to spend time together and always means we get to enjoy something afterwards.

Weekend Box Review

We were recently sent a Weekend Box to review, a life saver on a rainy afternoon.

The box comes addressed directly to the child, so it is an exciting bit of post especially for them to open.

Although I am not sure if it was just my ineptness but without ripping the box it was a little difficult to get into, maybe just ‘super’ glue.

However once in the box is an endless treasure trove which I can see a child looking forward to opening every month with something to something to Cook, something to Make, something to Explore and, something Green.

With stickers, pictures and activities all beautifully colour coded in paper bags (great as everything is recyclable) it is a wonderful box of fun for children of all ages (even us grown up children).

First of all we made the our rocking springy birds, we ended up using an extra piece of card to the one supplied in the box so the children could make one each, but with everything included even glue you don’t need to worry about making sure you have anything in (only slight issue was the glue had gone all jelly like and wouldn’t actually stick but this isn’t a problem with the Weekend Box more the supplier of the glue).

Simple and easy to follow instructions guided us through the making process, my son was able to follow them on his own and he is almost six.

I think you’ll agree these are rather cute…

Next up was the sound explorer activity, a fun activity getting the children to make sounds like animals and match the animal to the sound.

Next we attempted to make the Robot Voice box and with practice, I am sure we will get it to work but as the video states it does take a little practice, the video itself was really interesting and informative and was certainly great to find this, I have even made a note of it to pass on to school as it was so interesting.

The whole idea behind the box is great, although we like to get creative and craft it is sometimes difficult to think of things to do and to get the children interested in the actual craft at hand, however with the aid of the stickers and characters from the box it was much easier to get them to work through to the end.

Each activity has a card and a bag which is colour coded, perfect for older children who can work through the box themselves if they want.

A subscription would make a great gift for a child either at Easter, Birthday or Christmas and I am sure this would be appreciated by both child and parent.

It fits through the letter box so there is no need to worry about being out and the bright colourful packaging is easy to see and something for children to look forward too.

It only costs £7.50 (inc P&P) which I think for a weekend of activities I think this is reasonably priced, and it doesn't have to be limited to rainy days, get out in the garden with a blanket on the grass and make in the sunshine.

Best of all the lovely people at The Weekend Box are offering my readers their first box free with code ELLIE28 so what have you got to lose? Why not pop on over and try this fantastic box of activities, perfect for your own children, grandchildren or if you just fancy a treat for the children a month.

NB We were sent this box to review, however all opinions and pictures are my own.