Pom Pom Sorting!

This is one is so simple but really fun.
All you'll need is some coloured pom poms and some coloured cups.

Throw them all in a bowl and let your toddler go crazy, sorting them into the right cups, we had lots of fun putting the wrong colours in the wrong cups, Little Badger thought this was hilarious and took great delight in showing silly Mama where they were really supposed to go!
This is great from colour recognition and fine motor skill.

Big Art! Wallpaper Drawing.

Today is rainy and dreary, we've spent the last few days puddle splashing and Mama Badger would really like to stay dry this morning before we visit the Grandbadgers this afternoon.
Little Badger loves to draw, he's really getting the hang of colouring but once he's finished a picture he wants more paper, this means he gets very bored, very quickly. I recently saw a post somewhere about getting your child to lie down on some left over wallpaper so you could draw around them, well this didn't go down very well, he wanted to look at every line I drew and got a bit stressed out so our person ended up with a massive head, weird feet and no hands, luckily this didn't bother Little Badger, I taped it to the door and let him colour it in, he took great delight in announcing that he'd drawn Tree Fu Tom!

This kept him occupied for a good 30 mins before he'd finished colouring, We also drew some little ladybirds and caterpillars on a length of paper and taped it to the floor, he had so much fun colouring, it's definitely something we'll do again!

We've Been on Holiday!

And it didn't cost a fortune!

In the last few years, we just haven't had the money to go on holiday, we'd decided we'd like to go on our first family holiday this year so started looking around, I was gutted when I realised just how much it would be for a short break in the UK, it wasn't till a friend mentioned they were going on a "sun" holiday, you've all seen them advertised, you collect the vouchers each week from various papers and get a heavily discounted holiday.

We really wanted to go to Cornwall so picked a caravan holiday at Parkdean in St Minver, the online prices were around £300 for a 4 night stay, our stay cost us £70, we saved a little bit of money by taking our own bed linen. I knew we would have to stop at the services on the way there but wanted to avoid the steep prices they charge for food so we made a bunch of sandwiches, squash and a flash of coffee, we travelled down early and reached the beach for 8am, the weather wasn't great but we went for a nice walk and just sat and watched the waves.

There was lots of things we wanted to do but we didn't bank on Little Badger getting so tired. A lot of the time we needed to come back pretty early for a nap and sometimes he'd need one before we even got out! We made the most of the small soft play on site and the amusements.

Keeping this holiday low cost has been far easier than I thought, we did a full shop the day we arrived so we wouldn't be tempted to order takeaway or eat out, checking the weather forecast for the next day was essential, we didn't want to stay stuck inside so the days it rained we took advantage of the swimming pool or the local villages with lots of shops to duck in and out of, on the sunny days we went for long walks, hit the beach or took advantage of free attractions.




I was just so lovely to get away and spend some proper time together after how crappy the beginning of the year has been, we all feel lovely and recharged.

Cost breakdown:
Accommodation: £70
Fuel: £100
Food: £60
=£230*
*plus £200 spending money.

We did splash out a little and came back with no spare spending money though, the thing that caught us out the most was change for parking, we ended up getting cash back quite a few times because we'd not stopped to get change which soon added up, but all in all we managed to have a break away for under £500 which is fab. We will definitely be doing the same next year!

Easy Playdough Recipe.

Here is a fab little recipe for playdough that you can make in just minutes with things you will find in your store cupboard. It's super cheap to make and makes about 2 large playdough tubs worth, you could even make it as gifts for friends' children if you can find some nice storage pots. It's so much cheaper than shop bought dough, you can add herbs or spices like cinnamon, or even glitter to make it even more sensory.

You'll Need:

1/4 cup of salt
1 cup of plain flour

1/4 cup of water

Food colouring (optional)

NOTE: If you don't have a cup measure, you can just do what I did and use a mug, the ratios will me the same.

Put all your ingredients into a bowl and mix well with a fork.
Turn out onto a floured surface and kneed until you have a smooth dough.
If your dough is too soft, just add more flour until it has reached the desired consistency.

Wrap it in cling film and store in a cool place in between uses.

 And there you go, super quick and super cheap playdough that will keep your little ones occupied for hours.