A use for old baby socks.

A use for old baby socks - bean bags. Just fill them with dried beans and sew up the top. Then use them to play catch or get the older ones to aim at throwing them into a cardboard box through different holes worth differing points. Bob's your uncle, an afternoon filled.

Birthday year books

Not exactly an original idea to post about but the most recent ones arrived the other day and I was excited to see them.

So, I may come to regret this rod I have made for my back, but for each child, each year I am writing a photobook (on photobox in case you are interested which of the sites I use). I don't think I will regret it as, although they take time to make, it is lovely time spent and I think even if they don't value them, I will (my long-term memory is shocking)

Scarily, these books started out for Ollie's first 2 years as proper photo albums (he is that old!). And they have evolved each year. 

This year I included things other than just photos and captions. 

I scanned in some of my favourite drawings (I do this anyway to try and limit the amount of pictures I keep. I hate throwing them away). I used the notelets out of the 'Boys world view' jar of funny quotes from the year. I also wrote up the interviews we gave them on New Year's Eve. 

I always put start the book with a picture of their birthday cake, and this year I added pictures we took of their cards being read out on Cbeebies on the t.v!

The really great thing about the printed books is the boys can leaf through them as much as they like and they don't get too ruined, and if they do, I know it's safely stored at photobox and I can order another copy.

Saturday breakfast - fruit crunch

Simple but yummy this week. Yoghurt, fruit and crunch cereal, layer it how you like. Healthy and different.

Drawing frames

We made these ages ago, but a friend commented on how much she liked them the other day and that she was going to copy the idea, so it made me think it might be good to post about them to pass the idea on to others.

We made three (one each) and the picture of their choice goes in until they choose another one. It helps them make decisions about which of their work they are most proud of. 

It also keeps down the volume of pictures I need to keep. The ones they choose for the frames are the ones I then scan into the computer to save for prosperity (I have included a drawing section in their annual photo books - see here). I do love kids' drawings. It's not even that they are my kids' ones. There is something so wonderful and free about them. I love seeing how they see the world and the stories they make up within them are fabulous.

We made them with cardboard. Simply cutting out a frame shape and then layering up with twiddly bits to make it look a bit more like an ornate frame.

Then, on the back I stuck thin strips of card about 1-2cms wide, onto 3 of the 4 sides of the window, then stuck a full card rectangle on to this. This leaves a slot for the paper to fit into on one side There is a piece on the back and a slot to put the picture into. It is stuck to the wall with bluetack and so can be either way up. We painted them and then went crazy with the glitter to make them extra special. 

Addition: I saw this idea the other day on Pinterest. It is a company that turns children's drawings into soft toys. I love it. Maybe one day?

Bedtime Quiz or 'You've got to pick a pocket or two'

For a good year now, we have added Quiz-time to our bedtime routine. After bath, pyjamas, milk, reading stories, brushing teeth, tucking in, talking about our day we added 6 questions each before lights out!

The idea was to help Ollie with his mental arithmetic but it expanded out to all sorts of things; Adding, subtracting, counting backwards, forwards from higher number, tens and units, counting in multiples, reading a clock, days of the week, months, seasons, the words for specific baby animals, male and female animals, adding money, giving change, letters. Basically anything and everything just to keep variety and stop me going insane!
When Daddy is home in time for bedtime, the boys get very excited about Daddy doing their quiz. Unfortunately Daddy struggles to think of questions. So that got me thinking about making a hanging that will help us think up questions.
Daddy came home tonight and said "Oh look, Mummy has been at the felt again!" and I had!!!

I made a hanging with 9 pockets for pictures/things I had written on a word document, printed and then laminated (on my birthday laminator!). The pockets are animals, money, sums, time, words (flash cards & letters), numbers (so can do sums with bigger numbers), times tables, shapes and other.

It seems to work well. It certainly helps my brain when it stubbles around trying to think of new things at the end of the day!

The good thing about it is it can evolve as they get older and have different things to master.