Home » Posts tagged 'outdoor play'
Got a witty, profound or just plain silly caption for this picture? Then leave it in the comments below! Then click on the little boy’s head here & you will be magically transported to the funsome Mammasaurus’ blog for many more pictures crying out for a witty / pithy #satcap caption.
click to enlarge
Got a witty, profound or just plain silly caption for this picture? Then leave it in the comments below!
Then click on the little boy’s head here & you will be magically transported to the funsome Mammasaurus’ blog for many more pictures crying out for a witty / pithy #satcap caption.
I’m joining in with this week’s ‘The Gallery’ on Tara’s ‘Sticky Fingers’ blog, as well as Fiona’s ‘Country Kids at Coombe Mill’ blog-link. The Gallery’s theme is ‘The Weekend’: it was a long one, & we had an active one!
We’re quite an active family. When the twins aren’t at pre-school we try to get out & about to do something active at least once a day, & often on school days too.
This last weekend was of course a Bank Holiday Weekend. And just to make it more interesting we made it a 4-dayer, starting Friday!
We’d both managed to make ourselves available all day &, after a great Monkey Music class, took them off from their afternoon pre-school. Why? There’s a fantastic place in Cardiff called Techniquest: basically a 2-storey hangar-sized space full of fun, interactive science-based exhibits.
Once a month they have a Toddler Day, each with a different theme, where they also have arts & crafts play, water-play, story-telling & the like. They love it! There’s so much to see & do, so many buttons to press, dials to turn, balls to throw: it’s always a fight to get them go home! And this time we had another first: face-painting!
Ellie was very pleased
Jake however didn’t seem so sure
Saturday, the Mummy took them to the excellent nearby soft-play place. I was very pleased to hear that Jake had made friends with a couple of boys there; usually it’s Ellie who does that, often finding a little gang of girls to run around with.
click to enlarge
On Sunday, as the weather was getting progressively better, it was our favourite country park again. We went to a different part of it this time: past the 12th-century Monastery ruins & church & the 18th-century Orangery, & to the fairy-tale themed playground.
Throwing stones into a fountain by the Orangery
The playground not only has the usual swings & slides, but also little houses each with nursery-rhyme themed exhibits, plus a child-scaled castle – complete with secret passages, moat & drawbridge. Needless to say, they love it there!
Monday was almost a scorcher! In the morning I took them on their scooters to the local playground, & for the afternoon we had planned to go to an indoor swimming pool but ended up in a nearby water-fountain & adventure playground instead. It would have been a shame to waste all that lovely sunshine! It was great to be able to go there again for the first time since last summer & they had a great time, even though it was very crowded.
The weekend ended with big ice-creams all ’round, & with everyone going to bed having been stimulated & exercised, tired but happy.
And that’s what this parenting thing is all about really, isn’t it?
For more ‘Gallery’ or ‘Country Kids’ posts just click the pics:
click to enlarge
We’re so lucky here to be just a drive away from the most fantastic country park, which we love so much & which we’ve tried to visit weekly, all year round & in all sorts of weather.
The range of things to see & do is fantastic, & the twins love it. Not only that but entrance, along with most of the attractions, is free; you just pay for parking. We of course have a season ticket!
Now that it’s (allegedly) Spring & the train is up & running again we’ve settled back into our ‘warm weather’ (ha!) routine.
The little train runs from near the entrance & chugs past farmland; through woodlands where you can try to spot nesting birds; past farm animals; past a lake full of ducks, geese & swans and with wonderful vistas of fields, hills, the ‘castle’ & even an iron age fort emerging through the trees. It stops at the castle, then goes back.
If it’s the afternoon (meaning “after their nap”!) we’ll probably head to the cafe for lunch.
Then we’re off down the track to the lake to feed the birds. Jake & Ellie just love it. Yesterday there was a particularly aggressive & very noisy goose chasing off all the other birds, which Ellie was both frightened & fascinated by. They had a right old ding-dong of a shouting contest; & I’m pretty sure Ellie won!
There’s usually an activity on the lake: for instance remote-controlled model boats, swimming rescue dogs, canoes, barrel boat racing.
After that it’s down to the adventure playground: a great collection of stuff to climb in, up, down, through, over & around.
The last couple of times we’ve gone it’s been in the morning, & after they’re had a good play here they’re usually ready for their nap. Otherwise we’d head down to the farm trail to look at the farm animals: turkeys, chickens, rabbits, goats, including rare breeds. Then head back through the winding woodland trail with its weird & wonderful wood sculptures.
Instead we then head back up past the lake & take the short route back to the car: which is great for heroic scooting!
That’s if we can make it past the cafe…
You know, I think I could get used to this country living! How do you think I would look in tweed?
click me
From almost as soon as they could walk, and probably before, Jake & Ellie have loved playing with water.
This morning things were a bit strange outside. There seemed to be something there…let’s see if I can remember…called – that’s it! – ‘Sun’. A little bit, anyway. And it wasn’t too windy, or cold. I believe it may even possibly be something that might be called…(thinks)…(dare I say it?!): ‘Spring’.
They carried on this morning where they left off last night: mucking about with water!
I think they were trying to create a Muddy Puddle. So please note the footwear, because – as many parents will know – “If you want to jump in muddy puddles you must wear your boots”.
It’s not as straightforward here as it was in the old house. There we had an outside tap & a big hose. Here I have to fill up the watering can from the kitchen sink then carry it the length of the house into the garden. Admittedly that’s not very far! Still a hassle though. If we were staying here I’d probably run the hose through.
The Method then seems to be pouring the water from the watering can into little buckets, then pouring the water from there onto the grass & the compost-enhanced concrete. And they take turns, which is good. Co-operative play: what we parents like to see!
Then it’s time for some enjoyment of the fruits of their labour: jumping up & down in muddy puddles!
Oops: looks like Ellie’s got her top a bit wet! We did have to change all her clothes afterwards…
Jake decided the puddle just wasn’t muddy enough, & needed a bit more compost. After my pointing out that there was already a fair bit of dirt around in the grass he seemed to accept my suggestion that the compost should stay where it is…
Then: job done, muddy puddles made, it was time to celebrate on the trampoline!
And yes, I know: the garden is a mess. I promise to tidy it up a bit before we move!
I’m joining up with the Mummies & Daddies doing ’Messy Play for Matilda Mae’. It’s a blog-link, set up by the lovely Jennie in honour of her beautiful messy play loving baby girl who she so sadly lost to SIDS in February. Lots of us are making a mess for her! To see more messy play posts just click the pic:
Got a witty, profound or just plain silly caption for this picture? Then leave it in the comments below!
Then click on the little boy’s head here & you will be magically transported to the funsome Mammasaurus’ blog for many more pictures crying out for a witty / pithy #satcap caption.
Jake & Ellie were playing ‘shops’ yesterday.
They had a little counter with a food mixer toy on 1 side & little stools on the other. Jake was in charge, & taking orders.
He asked me what I wanted, I asked for coffee, so he went about frantically filling the bowl up, enthusiastically chattering away non-stop all the while, then working the mixer. He gave me a big bowlful of delicious pretend coffee & I slurped it up.
Ellie wanted dinner. “I want pasta and cheesy pasta and broccoli and carrots. And pasta, and cheesy pasta, and carrots, and broccoli. And cheesy pasta and pasta. And broccoli. And carrots”.
I think it’s probably her favourite meal: Cheesy pasta and broccoli and carrots. And pasta. And…
I think she was hungry.
MasterChef Jake somehow whipped it all up in seconds, & Ellie also managed to eat it all just as quickly.
And she also ate really well in the evening when she had her real dinner, so maybe she was hungry!
No pasta, though, or cheesy pasta. Or broccoli. Lasagne & garlic bread. But there were carrots!
Click me
Got a witty, profound or just plain silly caption for this picture? Then leave it in the comments below!
Then click on the little boy’s head here & you will be magically transported to the funsome Mammasaurus’ blog for many more pictures crying out for a witty / pithy #satcap caption.
