We were very excited this month when we received our #BostikBloggers box and found it full of space themed goodies. There’s something wonderfully imaginative about space, mesmerising even, and we were excited to make something a little different, so we made a night light, and I must admit I’m very happy with how it turned out!
Category: Projects & Series
Things I undertake for a short amount of time
Identifying Where Nature Can Improve Your Mental Health #30DaysWild
Well, the best laid plans, and all that! I’d intended to post every day for 30 days, sharing our #30dayswild journey, but yeah, life happens, doesn’t it. Never mind, new goal: post when I can! So far so good!
Last year the girls and I spent some time on Feelings And Emotions, learning about different emotions, what they feel like, how they make us act and so on. It was a very good series of activities, and they still refer back to it. I decided for one of last week’s #30dayswild activities to go back to one of those activities, a printout of leading questions I designed to make the girls identify how being in specific places makes them feel. (Find that activity and printout here.)
As they change and grow, I think it’s useful to revisit some activities because it shows them and me how much they have developed on the inside too.
The questions on this sheet of paper are leading questions, about how we feel in different places:
“On the beach, with the waves at my feet, my toes in the sand, I feel…. ”
“In the forest, with the trees overhead, and the birds chirping, I feel…”
and then there are questions about a shopping centre and their own bedroom.
(Words on the actual page vary a bit, but you get the idea.
Using these questions on the printed sheet gave us the opportunity for some quiet reflection. In the forest, for example, we closed our eyes, described what we could feel on our skins, smell in the air, taste on the air, hear… and the same on the beach.
I was pleased to find that Ameli’s questions have grown from ‘makes me want ice cream’ to something along the lines of “On the beach I feel refreshed and happy. Its a good place to come when I’m feeling blue”. Similarly, her response to the forest was “In the forest I feel at home.”
I think it’s really valuable to be able to identify how specific places feel, so that they can use their environment to help manage their emotions.
I know I’m feeling really irritable and ‘scratchy’ at the moment, so we’ve decided to camp at a local campsite this week. I know that waking under canvas for a few days will improve the way I feel. I hope that my children can identify where nature contributes to their general mental health too.
Flowery Encouragement Notes {BostikBloggers}
Sometimes your children do something completely of their own accord that makes you sit back and think ‘Wow! I’m actually raising a decent person here!” Yesterday, Ameli did just that. I was busy simultaneously preparing for lunch, washing dishes and getting ready for our camping trip, when I walked into the living room and found Ameli folding papers. I asked her what she was doing, and she said “Making encouraging messages for people”.
Her plan was to open the window and toss them out into the wind and let people pick them up. When I pointed out that people might consider them litter, she agreed, and then decided that she’d hand them out as we were walking through town.
I thought it was incredibly sweet, and generous. She went onto Google and searched for ‘encouraging phrases’, wrote them out and decorated each ‘note’. When she ran out and wanted to make more, I thought the Bostik Bloggers ‘Flowers’ theme would work really well, so gave her the craft box, and here’s what she came up with: 
Read more: Flowery Encouragement Notes {BostikBloggers}
Life Lessons Learned From Foraging For Elderflowers {30DaysWild}
Foraging with kids is always fun, and as far as I see it, always educational.
Today we went foraging for 20 Elderflower heads so that I can try to make some Elderflower champagne. I’ve meant to for years, even bought all the kit a few years ago, but I had to dig it out of the attic and give it a good wash today, as it’s never been used before. We’ll see how it goes!
But this post is about foraging, and why I take my children foraging when I know grownups who still won’t venture beyond blackberries, maybe, out of fear of picking something wrong and poisoning themselves and others.
There are two things that I believe foraging teaches children, beyond the obvious point of plant identification and learning what’s edible or not.
The first is risk management and the second is attention to detail. 
Read more: Life Lessons Learned From Foraging For Elderflowers {30DaysWild}
Going On An Adventure {#30DaysWild}
Today is the first day of the 30 Days Wild challenge, and while I’m not 100% sure what we’ll be doing every day, we are going to try to do something outdoors every day. This isn’t normally too hard for us as we’re out fairly frequently anyway, but I’m going to try to be focused with it, and throw out short little posts about it each day.
Today we visited the Garlic Farm on the Isle of Wight with friends who’ve come over for a little half term break. One of the things I love about going to the woods with the children is that there’s something freeing there for them. It’s why Aviya’s Trolls party was in the woods – they didn’t need any formal entertainers! It was the girls climbing trees at the Garlic Farm that inspired the post about Girls Who Climb Trees and also that led me to thinking about the value in climbing trees. 
Read more: Going On An Adventure {#30DaysWild}
Make Your Own Garden Fairies #BostikBloggers
My girls are all about the fairies, so we have a very random collection of different fairies around the house, but when we wanted some for our fairy gardens in the allotment, I didn’t want to use any of the beautiful fairy statues in case they go walkabout fly off in the middle of the night.
Fortunately the theme for April’s Bostik Bloggers was “wings” or “flying”, so a bag of fun coloured feathers seemed a perfect way to bring some fairies into our garden.
For this project, each fairy will require:
- A lollipop stick
- A mini cupcake case
- A pompop
- Two feathers
- Scissors
- Glue
You can be as decorative with these garden fairies as you like, and could incorporate pipe cleaners for arms, but we didn’t find that necessary this time round.
To start, glue the feathers half way down the lollipop stick. Turn the stick around and add a dollop of glue where the head would go and pop a pompom in place. 
Make a small cut in top of the cupcake case. Slide the lollipop stick through the case to two thirds down. (You can use a glue dot to fix it in place if it is too big or loose.)
Leave it all to dry, then find a spot in the garden!
Introduce your fairies to their new home, and enjoy how pretty it – and simple – it is.
Easter Decorations #BostikBloggers
You may remember how I turned our bean plant from last year’s allotment into a festive twig decoration back in December? Well, when I was thinking of how to bring a bit of Easter and a bit of spring into the house and thought of my twigs nestled away for next Christmas and decided to bring them out again. 
Read more: Easter Decorations #BostikBloggers
DIY Easter Bonnet #BostikBloggers
It’s that time of year where daffodils and dandelions abound, which means spring has sprung and summer is coming! But before blissful days on the beach – I’m an optimist – there are a few things to do first – like enjoy Easter! The Bostik Blogger box this month was a fairly simple one, with bold and beautiful colours, beads, ready made felt stickers and a few other springy and Easterish bits and bobs. It happens to also have been this week that Aviya popped dug out her sun hat, so it seemed fated, really, that we should be decorating Easter Bonnets this week. 
Read more: DIY Easter Bonnet #BostikBloggers
March Literary Days to Celebrate And Observe
March might be starting to smell a little like spring, but there are still a lot of indoors days for us, which means lots of time for reading and celebrating the voices that fill our book shelves.
The star of this month’s literary celebrations, of course, is Dr Seuss’ birthday, which happens on the 2nd of March. We always have lots of fun activities planned for Dr.Seuss’ birthday, because he’s such a fun person to celebrate. Read more: March Literary Days to Celebrate And Observe
February Literary Days To Celebrate And Observe
February Literary Celebrations:
The whole month might be about Haiku Writing, but the first week is about Storytelling – get everyone involved in making up and telling stories. For inspiration, make sure you pop into the library on ‘Take Your Child To The Library Day’ and find out if there are any events occurring in your area for Children’s Authors and Illustrator week (the 2nd week of Feb). Draw a hot bath and read in the bath tub on the 9th, and show your library some love on the 14th. And don’t forget to gift someone a book between all the chocolate and hearts too!
The end of the month sees World Read Aloud Day – grab a box and perform your favourite passages out loud. Great way to meet your neighbours!
Whether it’s winter’s nights in with Little House on the Prairie or a walk through old England with Charles Dickens, or a journey somewhere far away with Jules Verne, there’s so much amazing old literature to enjoy in February. Don’t forget to tweet John Grisham happy birthday on the 8th!
And celebrate the other Grimm brother’s birthday on the 24th with a fairy tale or two. Stretch it out to the 26th to Tell A Fairy Tale Day, and maybe even include the Tooth Fairy on the 28th. I’m sure the dentists won’t mind!
It’s a really exciting month in the world of literature, but do end it with a fortunate event, this time – Lemony Snicket’s birthday!
