So this page is dedicated to all things kids, some we have already blogged about and others are just things we do here at our place. Feel free to let us know of any extra ideas you have, we'd love to add them to our page.
Throughout these school holidays and the term before (Joe was on long service leave) we have been having a blast, here are some of the things we've been up to.
A Road trip.
We drove the kids from our place (Blue Mountains) to Queensland and back, stopping along the way at:
1. Kahrua (near Newcastle - the Kahrua motor inn is modest but very family friendly - and let's face it, all the kids really want on night 1 is to sleep in a bunk bed, that's not their own, be allowed to drink the tiny milk sachets from the mini bar fridge and tell anyone who will listen that they are on holidays). Short amounts of time in the car are best. We aimed for 3 hour blocks, broken up with stopping for the toilet, an ice-block or to grab 'road kill' skeletons. After this we'd have a big break for lunch with a park or a beach stop and then head off again.
2. We stayed in Byron Bay for a week, which was a big indulgence - (its not cheap) but lovely out of peak season time due its beaches and relaxed atmosphere. We spent our days doing walks to the light house, swimming, finding cool coffee shops, swimming, fishing, swimming and going for drives in the hinterland....so lovely (though do be warned, car sickness strikes after milkshakes in bangalow...those roads are very windy).
3. Then after a very abrupt exit from Byron (Jo got the day mixed up that we were supposed to leave and the owner called us saying she had just arrived with the new tenants only to find our things...EVERYWHERE!) We got out the map and pointed to Murwillumbah...we'll camp by the river we thought, it'll be idyllic we thought...well we thought wrong. Hours later after arriving at the Murwillumbah camping ground we nearly cried...it was a few sad looking caravans and tents that seemed to cry out "don't ya'll come near here"...but instead we sang..."Walk on by (thanks Dionne Warwick) and we drove off with a cloud of sad sorry Murwillumbah dust trailing behind us. One thing we learnt very quickly is you need to approach road trips with flexibility, for your sakes and the kids. There will always be another camp ground further on.
4. So we returned almost full circle and arrived at Brunswick Heads camp ground on dusk, a place we've loved for many years. After setting up the 10 man tent, reversing in the car and trailer and having take away for dinner we slept like babies...until...we learnt another lesson the hard way...queen sized air mattresses should not be jumped on by the kids prior to attempting to sleep on them...grrrrr ...I spent the night propping myself up with one arm against the port-a-cot so as not to roll off my side and Joe spent his night with one leg on the floor, trying to hold himself on his side...ahhhh the joys of camping! In the morning we learnt another very important camping lesson - any bad night, several bad nights, even the worse bad night in a tent can somehow be overlooked (at least til the caffeine wears off by lunchtime) with two strong, properly made coffees! Tea drinkers...you won't survive ;)
5. After a few nights here we went further north, to a camp ground in Coloundra called Dicky's Beach. By this time we were pros...that's right, rolling in with the car and trailer get up. Giving the kids their
Things to keep them occupied:
Rainy Days
- Make a cubby house under the kitchen table, give them a torch if you have a child-friendly one and a bowl of popcorn.
- hide and seek indoors
- 'washing up' all of the plastic ware
- make a crown or paper fancy hat. decorate with foil, old wrapping paper, cotton wool, what ever youve got.
- Pasta Jewelry. thread pasta onto string (you can dye the pasta the day before with food colouring)
- thread flower petals onto thin wire
- make a hand puppet using an old sock, buttons, string and anything else you can find
- read a story - as often as life allows.
- make some paddlepop stick people and get the put on a little puppet show
- Child labor - Why do the housework when they can do it for you. Its amazing how kids can think cleaning is fun if there's a lolly waiting for them as payment at the end.
- play dough - make it! 1 cup plain flour, 1/4 cup salt, 1 tbl spoon olive oil and food colouring.
- Play dough cafe - they use playdough in a cafe game, pretending to either be the customer and place the orders or be the chef and prepare the play dough food.
- Shopping from home - set up a shop, with a cash register, items from the pantry and shopping bags
- Make a picture book - staple some paper into a book and get them to draw 4 different pictures and then write a story with them about their pictures
- sticker books (we have some aside for rainy days...'osbourne' (publisher) sticker books are excellent, in particular the 'knights and castle' one (reusable) and the 'going to the...doctor' series.
- How long have you got? give them a measuring tape and get them to go around the house and measure things...sounds bizarre but they love it
- a warm bubble bath with food colouring in the water, N and G love nothing better then a red bath!
- Magnet people - Use spare floppy magnets from the fridge, cut them into ppl shapes and cover with paper. The kids fill in the face and colour in the clothes. Then they can play with their ppl on the fridge.
- Music - making music - rice shaker, glass bottle xylophone, pots and pan drum set, toilet roll trumpets.
- dancing to music - playing musical statues
- board games & card games - snakes and ladders - easy to make if you dont have it. SNAP!
- dress ups
- Dressing Dolly - pull out your box of baby clothes and give them 10 items to dress their teddies and dolls and then take a picture on the digital camera each time the costume is complete, they love seeing their fashion expertise.
- art and craft : a funny face/clock, using cupcake patties, a plastic plate etc
- a coloured bath: add food colouring to the bath water and let the kids mix it in, all of a sudden you have reinvented bath-time into a new exciting experience...and it doesn't even turn their skin a different colour.
- play Doctors - you will need one doctors outfit (of your making), several sick tedie bears, a medicine seringe, bandades, and a bandage- get them started then let them save many teddies from possibly incurable diseases.
- tents - even though its raining, this is a sure fire way to ge atleast 10 minutes of quiet on a rainy day. set up the 2 man tent in the back yard or their room for that matter. sleeping bags, a torch and some afternoon tea. tell them dinosaurs have been prowling outside and not to peek out or they may loose their heads. definately 20 minutes down time in that.
- Rain coats and gum boots - lastly, dont forget that the rain wont kill them. Send them out in gum boots, rain coats and a bucket to catch as many raindrops as they can.
- Hide and Seek outside
- water painting, water, a paintbrush and a surface like a b/board or concrete
- hanging with the chickens (or pet), usually N and G round up all the chickens and put them in their coup and then they use containers, straw, dirt and flower petals to make the chickens bday cakes, when they are ready they let them out to celebrate.
- Collecting interesting things in the yard and putting them in a 'special' plastic container with their name written on it. Sometimes we tell N and G to find anything that is orange, or smooth or living.
- A treasure hunt. Either you draw them a map and bury a treasure (lollies are a hit) at the end or get them to do the map and hide something for you to find. Eitherway this can involve dressing up as pirates or princesses, making a paper telescope or decorating a treasure chest.
- colour painting exhibited on the clothesline.
- chalk drawing, let the kids decorate the footpath, a tree trunk, steps or the outdoor table...it will all wash off with the next rain shower...
- In the Garden - gardening, planting, watering, weeding, picking grass to feed to the chooks etc. Often either N or G comes across a seed in something they are eating and ask if they can plant it. We always say yes, right then and there they can go off and plant their seed because we think it is really important that their gardening is an independence experience. One day we will probably have apple trees, watermelons and lychee trees all over the place, not that we mind.
- a bushwalk. On our local walk we have named our own special spots. Including 'secret fairy den', 'dinosaur rock' (which looks like a dinosaur head), 'the bridge of impending doom' and 'gold digger's gully'. When eating their picnic lunch on dinosaur rock, the kids always worry about whether or not the dinosaur will wake up before they finish their lunch...it makes the walk home much faster, "I think I can hear the dinosaur coming".
- digging in the dirt, old spoons make great scoops.
- making play lands for trucks and cars. N and G love to push sticks and twigs into the ground to make little trees, a tray of water for a lake, pieces of wood for bridges over dirt roads. Great fun!
- Make a kite - use ribbons, garbage bags or newspaper, sticks and string.
- obstacle course - We use stools and sheets to make tunnels, rope paths and a balancing beam with wood.
- water pistol fights. Water, pistols, hot day... and some water melon at the end to share war stories.
- Water...They love playing with it. G loves dipping paper strips in a bucket of water, and then laying them on a cardboard box... amazing what kids find fascinating.
- Making magic potions - all you need is a bucket of water and a wooden spoon. the kids will happily come up with the ingredients, such as dirt, petals, chook poo and an unlucky snail, to make the worlds first cure for parental hair loss.
- tree climbing - an oldy but a goody, bike helmets optional.
