Days 230-236 of Project 365

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230-236 of 365

230. Plopping (Following on from my brother's goodbye before he emigrates to Australia, I phoned my eldest brother to ask if he'd like to do something. We went to Southerndown beach further long the coast, which is one of my favourite beaches in Wales. The Boy and his Fiery Cousin plunged straight into the enormous rockpool splashing about, followed by a brief picnic and a quick departure from the beach as the tide was rapidly coming in; thank goodness for the RNLI warning klaxon. We then explored the ruined castle on the cliffs before plopping some stones into the tumultuous waves. One sibling may be moving to the other side of the world, but I still have two here to appreciate.)

231. The End Is In Sight (We went to Longleat for a Jungle Dogs event, and although we didn't venture into the safari, we did decided to have a go at the hedge maze. Big mistake. It's supposed to take 45 minutes, but after 55 minutes we were losing the will to live I was beginning to feel tetchy and claustrophobic, when fortunately The Boy found the 'This Way Out' sign. We finally crossed the final bridge to freedom!)

232. Small World (Tuesday was a quiet day after the frantic weekend travelling around the country, involving lots of outdoor play with The Boy's Playmobil pirates and the tuff spot. I love the reflection in this photo.)

233. Full (I decided to finally try out my hand at taking a photograph of the full moon using my tripod and the long – 55-250mm – lens that my husband bought me for my birthday. I'm quite pleased with the clarity of it, what do you think?)

234. Grip (We had a go at decorating a t-shirt for a review and I had to hold the fabric down and stretch it out to make it possible for The Boy to draw on. I like this photo for a few reasons; his pencil grip is cute, and I love the way he's holding my hand, his hand looks so small against mine.)

235. Manual (That photo there of The Boy balancing on a blue pole? I took than on manual settings. Fully manual. Not TV or AV or P. But M. For manual. Me.)

236. Drill (We've been doing a craft activity today which involves The Boy using a hand drill for the first time. I was stretched upwards with my camera pointing down to take an overhead view, and hadn't realised that he was so curious about it coming through the underneath, he'd ducked down. I like his inquisitive nature.)

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TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky

Days 104-110 of Project 365

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104-110 of 365

104. Two Years On (I'm a little bit of an Instagram addict and follow the actual Instagram's feed with interest. Every weekend they have a challenge called the Weekend Hashtag Project and last weekend's emulated the photography style of the blog Dear Photograph. As we were heading to Porthcawl anyway for the Chris & Pui Show, I dug out a photo of The Boy on the beach there from Father's Day 2010. A very windy day made it tricky to get an exact line up but I'm really chuffed with this photograph.)

105. Bubble Monster (Monday was absolutely beautiful and we played out in the garden for nearly three hours, most of that without a coat on. The Boy filled the garden with bubbles from his bubble blower that we'd bought him in Butlin's.)

106. Plopping (After dropping my car off to the garage to work out where a slightly alarming oil leak was coming from, we walked up to town for our second breakfast, then through the park and down to the beach. A quick scoot along the pier and the beach front, then down the lifeboat ramp to plop some pebbles into the sea, before walking home through the tree-lined Victorian avenues where The Boy promptly fell asleep. I collapsed on the sofa for half an hour having just completed a six mile round walk, before having to walk two miles back to the garage to pick my car up.)

107. Snuggle Down, Sleepyhead (It's a Wednesday – work day – and therefore it's a bed photo!)

108. Masterchef 2013 (On Thursdays I get home earlier from work and so we have time to play. I gave The Boy various ingredients and he decided to 'bake' us a ginger cake with his 'cooker'.)

109. Through The Kitchen Window (When we bought this house and did all the work on it, we had the kitchen window made bigger. I dreamed about the day that I'd see my child/ren playing in the garden while I cooked their dinner, etc. Today that came true, and I just stood and watched him for ten minutes as he repeatedly rolled his hoops down the slide, retrieved them, climbed up the side of the slide and started again. I love him.)

110. Reflections (We met up with my brother and his family in Roath Park today on a very sunny afternoon. One of his favourite places is the hothouse and so we spent a pleasantly sticky forty-five minutes watching the koi carp and terrapins in the pool before sauntering around the lake and feeding the swans. Life doesn't get much better!)

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How To Have A Pirate Treasure Hunt

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That Peppa Pig has got a lot to answer for you know! Thanks to her and her friends on Pirate Island, we've had to hold a treasure hunt, although I have managed to stop short of making a metal detector to find treasure in the garden. (Maybe we could pretend there's treasure in the defunct vegetable patch which might convince Mr. TBaM to dig it over?)

If you want to have a treasure hunt, you'll need:

pirate craft

a map, a telescope and a treasure chest…

pirate craft

We used these pirate masks which are pre-cut, pre-strung and adhesive.

pirate craft

We used tea bags onto a picture of our garden I'd drawn and The Boy had coloured in. Torn edges make it look more authentic.

pirate craft

And of course, no treasure hunt is complete without a treasure chest and a spyglass to help find the secret stash.

pirate craft

And the reward? The best chocolate coins that mummy can find in August!

I was provided with the linked items by Yellow Moon to see what I could do with them. The ideas and activities are my own.

Create-A-World (Review)

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When I was a little girl, one of the must-have toys at the time was Fuzzy Felts. I was absolutely desperate to have a set, but never managed it because they were quite pricey at the time.I'm 34 now and have always had a little part of me that wants a Fuzzy Felts set, even though in all honesty I know they were never quite as good as I anticipated.

Before Christmas, Whitestep heard my call and sent me a Fuzzy Felts set to play with and all was right with the world.

Ok, so a few things aren't strictly true about that statement.

  1. It's not a Fuzzy Felts set, it's something even better called Create  a World.
  2. They sent it to The Boy, dammit!

Create A World is a fantastic tool which helps to develop creative play. Like the classic 1980s toy, the pieces are made out of felt and are in the shape of people, animals, cars, the natural and manmade world, etc. but with the added and improved twist that they are much bigger and also printed on.

The playmat is designed to either go on the floor or fixed to a wall (velcro adhesive pads would be good for this) and is large measuring 90cm by 130cm. There are ninety printed and cut-out pieces to play with on the mat, creating worlds as varied as the beach, a mountain range, the moon, a swamp, an inner cityand fairy-tale castles. There are a wide selection of animals, people, vehicles and objects to help build up the worlds and develop story-telling. All the pieces are stored in a handy zipped pouch, and this pouch and the (folded) mat have a storage bag with handles.

I've given The Boy imaginative toys to role-play before and depending upon what they are, he either ignores them or enjoys them immensely. His PlayMobil house is one of the most successful toys ever, but his Happyland toys may as well not exist to be honest. Therefore when I presented him with the Create a World set, I had no idea how he would react.

He loves it!

The Create a World set helps to develop:

  • Imaginative play
  • Social skills and collaborative play when used by several children
  • Language skills through discussion, story-telling, nursery rhymes and acting out
  • Knowledge of their environment and the 'Wider World'

As a trained nursery nurse and teacher who studied the importance of play as a part of a child's development, I cannot rate this highly enough. If you're looking for a special birthday present, I'd seriously suggest investing in this toy which will be used in a variety of situations for years to come!

Create A World is available from Whitestep directly and is priced at £49.95.

I was sent this product for the purpose of the review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

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