Monthly Archives: January 2013

Creating Art with Coloured Ice Cubes

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Ice Creating Art with Coloured Ice Cubes with Mudpies and Sunshine

Playing with ice cubes is a perfect craft for the warm weather or for a themed winter activity. For us, it was the warm weather type.

The girls have been doing lots of chores and doing them well so I wanted to give them their chore money in a slightly fun, unconventional way.  All kids like something hidden and my two are no exception. They love hide and seek, hidden notes and generally anything involving hiding or a surprise.

So I hid some coins in the ice cubes. Oh the anticipation, it was almost too much for me. Anyway, let me back up a minute.

First things first. To make your coloured ice cubes (and it couldn’t be any easier) – pour food colouring and water in your choice of ice-cube tray. I placed the money in first and then added the water and colouring.

Creating Coloured Ice Cubes with Mudpies and Sunshine

I didn’t really have a “craft result” in mind with this activity. I just wanted the girls to choose how they wanted to play with the ice – that way they would get the most enjoyment out of it.

I supplied paper and two bowls – and the whole of the backyard. I said they could experiment on the deck (the part that gets rained on to help with the cleaning!).  I bought thin gloves as I knew Ebony doesn’t like getting food colouring on her hands. So both the girls wore the gloves, Zoe wore an old dress and Ebony wore one of our ‘art’ shirts.

I popped the ice cubes into a bowl before starting.

Coloured Ice Cube Fun with Mudpies and Sunshine

Straight away there were lots of “ooh sooo cold” and “look at this colour” and “mine is melting faster than yours”. So there was lots of experimenting and discovering. And dripping…

Coloured Ice Cube with Mudpies and Sunshine

With time ticking, they quickly got absorbed in the activity.

Ice Cube Painting with Mudpies and Sunshine

The bright colours were a delight.

Painting with Coloured Ice Cubes with Mudpies and Sunshine

Yay for finding money!

Finding Money With Ice Cube Art with Mudpies and Sunshine'

The girls also enjoyed playing with colour on the deck.  Zoe quickly discarded her gloves – red hands are all part of the ahem fun.

Painting with Ice Cubes with Mudpies and Sunshine

Ebony found ALL the money – then it was redistributed fairly :)

Painting with Ice Cubes with Mudpies and Sunshine (2)

The food colouring does stain clothes and skin. However it does fade from the skin after a few washes.

Painting with Ice Cube Fun with Mudpies and Sunshine

Once the ice cubes in the bowl were almost liquid, the girls started experimenting by painting with rocks, leaves and their own hands.

Coloured Ice Cube Painting with Mudpies and Sunshine

Ice Cube Painting Station with Mudpies and Sunshine

This is such an easy activity to set up that we will have to do it again soon. The girls were fascinated by the melting, the colours and the new ways of creating art at each stage of the completely frozen to totally melted process.

The dried sheets of paper will make cute wrapping paper for little gifts too. With birthday season coming in this house we will definitely need them.

Thanks so much for dropping by!

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Valentine’s Sensory Bin

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Valentines Day Sensory Bin with Mudpies and Sunshine

Until I started blogging I had never come across a sensory bin or even heard of one. The best way to describe a sensory bin is – into a suitable container themed items are added to create a stimulating, learning, play-inviting micro-environment for children. Not too wordy a description? A delight for the senses is another way of putting it :)

I thought that my girls would probably be too old for a sensory bin. But then I decided to colour some rice – just for fun – and before I knew it I was compiling a sensory bin. A valentines, love-hearty sensory bin.

First up :

How to colour rice

4 cups of rice

2 tablespoons of food colouring

3 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol (look for the green bottle with the crocodile on it at the supermarket)

Method:

Put the rice in a sturdy, large plastic bag and mix in the other two ingredients. Rub it all together and very quickly the rice will become your colour of choice.

Lay the wet, coloured rice out on a baking tray covered in baking paper.

Place the baking tray out in the direct sun.

It was a warm day here when I made it. Even so I was still surprised when it was fully dry in less than 2 hours.

Colouring Rice for Sensory Play with Mudpies and Sunshine

I added the following items to our sensory bin:

  • pink, red and white pom poms
  • pink and red patty pans
  • one pink silicone patty pan
  • small metal kitchen utensils
  • a white plastic scoop
  • a small pewter tea pot
  • a small metal milk jug
  • small red and pink lovehearts made from padded fabric and felt
  • a tea leaf strainer
  • white plastic funnel
  • red and white pipe cleaners

Valentine's Day Sensory Bin with Mudpies and Sunshine

I set the bin up outside and thought I would add our little loveheart rugs to define the activity space a bit more.

Valentine's Day Sensory Bin Set Up with Mudpies and Sunshine

Ebony wanted to have a play first, and by herself :) By all means I thought. I was really interested to see how she would approach the activity and how long she would find  it appealing. Well I can report two big ticks on both counts. From a purely economical standpoint – it was totally worth the effort!

Valentine's Sensory Bin with Mudpies and Sunshine 192

Lots of love for the rice…

Valentine's Sensory Bin with Mudpies and Sunshine - Pouring

…and the patty pans. The pom poms and love hearts became icing and decorations for red rice cupcakes.

Valentines Sensory Bin Fun with Mudpies and Sunshine

We also had a bit of a fun photo session while we were sitting outside too…

Gorgeous Girl with Mudpies and Sunshine

The pouring, the colours, the cupcakes, the decorating – guess what? I had to join in for a few minutes too! No photos of that though (the readers sigh with the relief). Don’t blame you :)

Valentine Day Sensory Bin Fun with Mudpies and Sunshine

Yummy cupcakes.

Decorated Cupcakes Valentines Sensory Bin with Mudpies and Sunshine

A boat with a mast and sail (of course you didn’t need telling!).

Valentine's Day Boat in a Sensory Bin with Mudpies and Sunshine

Well then Zoe needed to have a turn – she wanted to play inside and she got herself a muffin tray as well. Zoe had a definite plan for her sensory bin items.

valentine's day sensory bin with Mudpies and Sunshine (2)

More cupcakes!

Valentines Cupcakes Sensory Bin with Mudpies and Sunshine

Oh what fun we had! Seriously good for the senses. I’m already planning the next sensory bin… talk about a bandwagon hopper-onner-er.

I hope you enjoyed all the bright colours and pretend making and creating. Red is such a powerful colour, so fabulous to craft with.

Thanks so much for popping by and joining in on our activities :)

Write a little comment to let me know you’ve been. I would love to hear from you!

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Other Valentine’s themed posts you might like:

Love Heart Wrapping Paper with a Cardboard Tube

Easy Love Heart Card

Message in a Basket

Australia Day Craft Ideas

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Image

Happy Australia Day everyone! We’re looking forward to a warm day crafting and relaxing before going to see the fireworks display this evening :)

Are you looking for craft activities to do with your kids today?

Then look no further than my pinterest board with over 40 Australia Day craft ideas to inspire you to get crafty.

All of the ideas below you can find on my pinterest board.

Today we will doing this simple map of Australia sticker dot activity :-

aboriginal_dot_art

We will be eating lamingtons:-

lamingtons

The girls will be getting busy with some Australian themed worksheets :-

Australia Day word search

I also love this boomerang collage idea :-

boomerang

We’re going to be using foam and foam stickers for the boomerang – easy and fun!

More foam is being used to make these koala masks right this minute! You can get the free printable here.

Australia Day with Mudpies and Sunshine 012

Ebony is super keen to make a cork hat today so we will be attemping to make something that looks like this (what are the corks for? keeping the flies away from your face!) :-

cotton slouch hat aussie-500x500

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Thanks for dropping by :)

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Garden Bells

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Garden Bells with Mudpies and Sunshine

We made our own bells! And this post will show you how we made them, just as I promised to do in my previous post about our tin can percussion set.  The tin can music machine is outside in our mudpie corner as are two of the garden bells we made.

First up – here is what we used to make them:-

Making Bells with Mudpies and Sunshine

I had seen this post about Making Bells over at Happy Whimsical Hearts and I knew we had to make them too. The idea stayed in the back of my mind until I saw these three mini terracotta pots for 50c each at a local op shop.

We also used:

  • paint
  • mod podge (sealant)
  • tough string
  • colourful beads

Zoe volunteered to be the bell decorator.

Musical Garden Bells with Mudpies and Sunshine

Zoe was enjoying making new colours in the paint tray. Actually she got very excited about a new purple she had ‘invented’.

Musical Garden with Mudpies and Sunshine - Painting

Once the artwork was completed we had to give the bells a coat of sealant – we use Mod Podge – to protect the paint from the weather. Then once the sealant is dry it was time to add the string and the beads.

Musical Bells with Mudpies and Sunshine

The beads are used to keep the string in place by blocking the hole on the inside. Start with this bead and knot first.

Musical Bells in the Garden with Mudpies and Sunshine

I also used them as the noise maker for the bell ringing and as a place to hold on to when ringing the bell. Lots of knots required :) The large yellow, small pink and small orange beads in the middle below are for noise making. The big purple and small pink on the end are for grabbing ono (like an indicative handle).

Musical Garden Bells with Mudpies and Sunshine - Knots and Beads

I asked the girls where they would like the bells to be. They decided they wanted two at the mudpie corner – one for ringing on entry and one for ringing on exiting the mudpie corner. The other one was up to me!

Zoe was so excited when I told her that the bells were ready for ringing :)

Searching for Bells in a Musical Garden with Mudpies and Sunshine

We’ve got bells!

Musical Garden with Mudpies and Sunshine 114

The bell you ring on the way out of the mudpie corner.

Musical Garden with Mudpies and Sunshine - Ring on Leaving

Musical Garden with Mudpies and Sunshine = Bells and Tin cans

I cannot help but ring a bell every time I go past one. They are adding a little bit of ‘sunshine’ to our garden.  We had a visitor who learnt which bell was for what and quickly reminded me as I entered the mudpie corner which bell to ring on my way out. These bells are being taken seriously! Respect for the bells :)

Garden Bells with Mudpies and Sunshine

Thanks so much for dropping by!

Tin Can Percussion Set

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Tin Can Percussion Set with Mudpies and Sunshine

I have been meaning to make something musical from our recycled tin cans and finally it happened!

We decided on 5 tin cans and Zoe chose the colours.

Tin Can Percussion Set with Mudpies and Sunshine

Zoe was also the master of the paint application. One coat of each was the preferred design.

Tin Can Music Garden with Mudpies and Sunshine

Then before we knew it, the painting job was done!

Painting Tin Cans for Music Garden - Mudpies and Sunshine

We wanted to add this tin can percussion set to our mudpie corner. In the last week we added a sheet of lattice, a grape-vine and mulch. The percussion set will be right next to that.

Once the paint had dried, I applied Mod Podge (sealant) to the cans so the rain won’t wash away all our lovely paint.

Musical Garden with Mudpies and Sunshine 064

The next day, armed with my trusty tools of the trade…

Musical Garden with Mudpies and Sunshine

…I set to work. I pulled five wooden stakes out of the garden from plants and shrubs that no longer needed the assistance. So this creation is true recycling :)

Musical Garden with Mudpies and Sunshine 075

I love how they are all at different heights.

Musical Garden with Mudpies and Sunshine 079

If you’re in the mood for music after baking a few mudpies, then grab a spoon and a mini whisk…

Tin Can Musical Garden with Mudpies and Sunshine

…and have yourself some fun with recycled tin cans!

Zoe discovered that each of the cans sounds different when they’re hit. Making music becomes so much more enjoyable when there are different “notes” to use.  Zoe is making up her own song here…

Singing a Song in a Musical Garden with Mudpies and Sunshine

Seeing how much Zoe is enjoying it makes me wish I’d made it sooner.

Musical Garden with Mudpies and Sunshine 132

Coming up next on the blog is the next addition to our mudpie corner. More music making!

Thanks so much for dropping by!

Message in a Basket

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Message in a Basket with Mudpies and Sunshine

Do your kids just love secret messages? My girls have loved them before they could read or even write properly. A love heart can speak volumes. So can a picture of an ice cream. :)

These holidays we have made a couple of visits to a local charity shop and found some very cute little cane baskets. With handles. All three of the lady folk in this house love them.

So with a new basket in hand and Zoe conveniently tucked away in the mudpie corner, I wrote a quick note, placed it in the basket and hung it in the tree right next to where Zoe was playing. Message in a Basket with Mudpies and Sunshine (2)

Here’s what it said…

Message in a Basket Fun with Mudpies and Sunshine

We had lots of fun with the basket. The magic is in the anticipation!

The basket came inside too. When the girls were in their bedrooms I would write a note and hang it on the door knob on the inside of the room. The girls would gasp and rush for the door as soon as I closed it. Even if the note was mundane…

Little Messages in a Basket with Mudpies and Sunshine 003

…they still loved it. I loved it too :)

Little Messages in a Basket with Mudpies and Sunshine 001

They say ‘the best things in life are free’. Sometimes they cost 99 cents from the Salvos. ;)

Do you like finding gems in op shops and charity stores?

Do you think messages in baskets is a sensible way to communicate with children?

Please let me know in the comments below :)

Thanks so much for dropping by.

Learning about Streets and Suburbs

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After trying (unsuccessfully) to explain to Zoe (who is 6) why her grandparents live in a particular suburb which isn’t the same name as the city they live in….I changed tactics.

I decided to use visual aids instead. Pictures tell a thousand words while Mums just keep on talkin’.

So we started on the computer. Kids love computers so this helps makes the learning FUN.

First up, for some context, we looked at a map of Australia.

Learning about Streets and Suburbs with Mudpies and Sunshine

Then onto a map of New South Wales, which is a large state on the eastern side of the country. We talked about all the big roads we could see and the large towns. Then as we zoomed in we talked about the smaller roads and towns. It was a good way for Zoe to establish just how many towns there are in just one state. And don’t underestimate how fun it is to zoom in :)

Learning about strees and suburbs - Mudpies and Sunshine

So the big streets on the map let people get places faster. Smaller streets are for houses and smaller shops and offices. Cars need to drive slower on the smaller streets because they are much busier with people coming and going onto the roads. We kept it general – no need to get caught up in exceptions just yet! Also it doesn’t address the “why suburbs” issue – just that in our world, there is a road hierarchy!

Now we were ready for the why do the grandparents live in a suburb which is different to the city they live in (ie. why do we say they live in Sydney when their address is Surrey Hills?).

The point of the following exercise is to establish that there are a multiple number of streets with the same name.

So we looked up “Brown” as a street name to see what would happen.

Learning about suburbs and streets - Mudpies and Sunshine

Whoa! Lots of ‘Brown Roads’! I said that two of those Brown Roads were in Sydney (not 100% sure if that’s true but work with me people). How would we know which Brown Road to go to if we wanted to visit people?

Zoe didn’t answer the question. Instead she said “Or what if you were the postlady and you had to deliver a package to Brown Road and they both said Sydney. You wouldn’t know which one it was” (said with huge emphasis).

The penny dropped. Zoe was so excited that she had nailed the concept. Phew.

The next part of the activity I highly recommend. Especially if you need to keep the fun alive. I let Zoe google any street name she liked. And she liked! I think the pictures will help tell the story here.

Zoe Learning Streets and Suburbs with Mudpies and Sunshine

Next logical street search name..

Ebony Learning Street and Suburbs with Mudpies and Sunshine

And one more (after we had Mum Street, Dad Street, Road Road and now)..

Learning about streets and suburbs with Mudpies and Sunshine (2)

Next I wanted to look at the first step in street finding from a real street guide/map.

I wrote down the name of a street and the suburb on a note pad and showed it to Zoe. I showed her where in the directory to find the street index. Then I let her have a go at finding the street name.

Learning about streets and suburbs with Mudpies and Sunshine (3)

I used the street name “Hovea” for two reasons:

  1. There will be quite a list of them and this will help Zoe find it.
  2. It will reinforce for Zoe the reason why the world needs suburbs.

To get started Zoe needed to find H. Which she did on her own, laboriously starting at A!

Then we hit a hurdle. The alphabetical order of the word,  by each letter is harder to explain. As in Ha comes before He and Hand comes before Hat. I decided that this was best saved until another day/year (when I can do a better job of explaining it and Zoe will comprehend it much more easily).

So to ease the frustration we employed the magnifying glass to make it more fun!

Looking for Street Names with Mudpies and Sunshine

So I just let Zoe know which page of H’s Hovea was on and then it essentially became a word hunt. Luckily Zoe loves word searches and is also a big Where’s Wally fan. Zoe agreed that if people were going to keep using the same street names over and over then we are lucky to have suburb names.

Looking Up Street Names with Mudpies and Sunshine

Finding the street on a map from the coordinates listed to the right is another post altogether.

In conclusion, I recommend a magnifying glass for any age group and to make this age appropriate. We all know how frustrated kids can get when we extend them unknowingly (and unsuccessfully). If Ebony was doing this task we would have moved through to the map and used the magnifying glass to help there as well.

After finding Hovea in the index Zoe wanted to go back onto the computer to look up more crazy street names around the world and then zoom in on them. So this bit I highly recommend. We found ourselves talking about the wilds of Canada and the changing borders of the old Soviet Union (and how country borders are just for maps, you can’t see them on the ground). Zooming in on Disneyland would be cool if you could pre-arrange that with a bit of research.

If you have a computer and a street map, you are set to go.

Thanks so much for dropping by:)

15 Kid Friendly Tourist Activities To Do In Sydney

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15 Sydney Kids Activities with Mudpie and Sunshine

We recently took ourselves and the kids, for the first time, to Sydney for a week’s holiday. It was wonderful. And it was so good I thought it was worth sharing some of the amah-zing places to go and things to do that our kids LOVED.

1. Having a milkshake near the Sydney Opera House – The WOW factor at seeing the Opera House for real (aka not on TV) was really exciting for them. Going in and looking around the Opera House, not so much. Having a HUGE milkshake and garlic bread while the lights came on all around them? That rocks!!

Sydney 2012 770

2. Luna Park - it’s an iconic fun park right across the Harbour from the Opera House. It is also located right near the other end of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The views from Luna Park are worth the visit alone. I’m not kidding, just breathtaking. Walking through the big mouth was the first thrill for the girls and then there were many more to come!

Luna Park wirh Mudpies and Sunshine

I will never forget how much fun Zoe had on the small people’s rides.

Luna Park Rides with Mudpies and Sunshine

3. The Aquarium - Ebony is a huge sea creature fan so we went to the aquarium on our first day. You won’t be disappointed. The penguins are incredibly cute and the displays are amazing.

Mudpies and Sunshine at the Sydney Aquarium

4. A Ferry Ride – the Sydney ferries are another of the great city’s icons. Such a novelty for us all. The girls loved them. A gorgeous boat ride for the price of a bus ticket AND around the most beautiful harbour in the world. What’s not to love? I tried to fit at least one ferry ride in every day we were there.

Sydney Ferry with Mudpies and Sunshine

Beautiful day for a ferry ride!

Sydney 2012 182

5. Taronga Zoo - what an amazing zoo. This zoo is situated up a hillside adjacent to Sydney Harbour. As you wander around the zoo the views are incredible (running out of adjectives here!!). Big big love for the cable car ride! Bird’s eye view on elephants and the harbour. Paradise for kids and grown ups :)

Taronga Zoo cable car with Mudpies and Sunshine

We have so many great photos from our time at the zoo – it was soooo hard to choose just one more. But choose I must and I couldn’t go past the girls snake handling adventure :) Why are they both smiling???

Snake Handling - Taronga Zoo - Mudpies and Sunshine

6. Manly and Manly Beach - another great excuse for a long ferry ride! A beautiful suburb of Sydney with the harbour’s edge and the beach within walking distance of each other. Take a ferry across the harbour, enjoy the harbour views from Manly’s cafes, grassed playground areas or walk 300m to the ‘other side’ of Manly and do the same in the ocean proper! Here’s the family on the beach side. Can you tell Zoe is hungry?

Manly Beach with Mudpies and Sunshine

Below the girls are playing on the harbour side. To get between the two is a pedestrian friendly mall and main street filled with plenty of cool things to buy and great places to eat and drink. Zoe was fed and turned that frown upside down! Mr Sunshine and I sat on the grass, under some large pine trees whilst watching the girls playing in and around the water. Very relaxing.

Manly harbour with Mudpies and Sunshine

7. Sydney Olympic Park – the home of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. We were in Sydney not long after the 2012 London Games had concluded so the girls were very interested in the olympic event and were keen to see the Sydney site. You can catch a ferry to the site or the train. The train takes you right there, the ferry takes you to a place about 6 kms away. There is a bus service to the Olympic Park during the week from the ferry stop – however not much to get you there on the weekends. Though you can call a taxi from the ferry terminus and get transferred that way on a weekend.

Near the ferry stop is this playground  where even Mums can go on a flying fox!

High-5 Zoe!! It’s worth a visit.

Sydney Playground with Mudpies and Sunshine

Once at the olympic park we visited the Sydney Aquatic Centre. Two gold medal winners? Come on! They were tired and we were on holidays!

Sydney Aquatic Centre with Mudpies and Sunshine

After the girls had a great big swim we walked around to the olympic stadium - these venues are about 150m apart. The train station is another minute’s walk away. The stadium was closed but we were happy looking at all the names on the poles. I recommend going there on the way to the train station just so your kids can find poles to climb on before falling asleep in the train on the way home…

Sydney Olympic Park with Mudpies and Sunshine

8. Sydney Tower Eye - fabulous, must do. The tower eye is the tallest building in Sydney and has a 360 degree enclosed viewing platform at the top. It also has an external viewing platform “the Skywalk”. We didn’t take the kids out there (it costs more) plus the views from the inside are amazing without needing air on your face. There is an age and height limit on the Skywalk too.

Sydney Tower Eye with Mudpies and Sunshine

9. Max Brenner Chocolate Cafe

We went to Max Brenner straight after the Tower Eye – it is about 3 minutes to walk between the two. My girls were so EXCITED about the visit to the cafe. Look at the YUMMY choices they made!! Strawberries with a chocolate dip and waffles drowning in more chocolate. Mr Sunshine and I also had the best hot chocolate we have ever tasted. I need to go back there.

Sydney 2012 250

10. Powerhouse Museum - the Powerhouse Museum is a powerhouse of cool for all ages and it is even more amazing for kids. You have to take your kids there. Okay? The museum website has a section especially devoted to children and what they can expect from the museum. The Museum is so FUN and INTERESTING and has lots of interactive exhibits for all ages. Mr Sunshine and I could have spent hours there. Zoe could have spent hours there playing the old sit down video games (how cool are they?).

Powerhouse Museum Video Games with Mudpies and Sunshine

Just a few pictures to follow of the girls enjoying the interactive stuff.

Powerhouse Museum Sydney with Mudpies and Sunshine

Lots of fun with science.

Powerhouse Museum Science Fun with Mudpies and Sunshine

More energetic type science :)

Powerhouse Museum with Mudpies and Sunshine in Sydney

Here you choose different chemical ingredients (in a fun high tech way) and then create a visual explosion. Zoe loved it!

At the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney with Mudpies and Sunshine

11. The Australian Museum - another world class museum with exhibits to interest every age group. I hope the images to follow inspire you to make a trip there. We all had a wonderful time and I still felt like I didn’t see everything. Kids just love skeletons don’t they?

Australian Museum with Mudpies and Sunshine

This table had a video display of a wetland and as your hand passes over the table, the water ripples and sometimes…you will meet a crocodile (if you look closely)!

Australian Museum with Mudpies and Sunshine (2)

Dinosaurs. ‘Nuff said.

Australia Museum - Dinosaurs - with Mudpies and Sunshine

12. Chinatown - is a pedestrianised street in the city full of colour and activity. The girls love chinese food and are learning mandarin at school so it was a given that we would have dinner in chinatown one night.. The girls haven’t been to places or countries where people come out of their shops and restaurants and invite you in. So it was great for them to see me and Mr Sunshine handling all the people politely with smiles and thank yous. After we had walked the full length of Chinatown we went back and ate dinner at a restaurant owned by two very savvy chinese business women. We were eating for $15 a head for  three of us (even though there were 4 of us). The Irish tourists who popped by paid $18 a head. It took a bit of explaining to the girls why the prices were different for the same food (we were offered the discount price as we walked away the first time). Heaps of fun, delicious food and friendly people.

Chinatown in Sydney with Mudpies and Sunshine

13. Monorail - the monorail is a single train system that does a loop around inner Sydney and lots of it’s popular tourist destinations. For us it was a destination of it’s own. The views are great as it is raised mid building height for the majority of it’s route. Sadly it is being decommissioned in approximately 6 months time (June 2013). On the monorail website is a list of 25 reasons why anyone should ride the monorail before it closes. It’s a good list and adds to this list quite nicely! We met a really lovely American couple in our compartment. The compartments fit around 6 people comfortably so it encourages interaction with new people. It was fun – the Americans were from Las Vegas – how cool is that??

Sydney-Monorail

14. Darling Harbour Quarter - the quarter is a large semi-enclosed area just around the corner from the water’s edge at Darling Harbour. It is a large area of cafes and restaurants overlooking a very large and brilliant free kids playground. There is lots of grass and shade and an amenities bl0ck. The aquarium, the marine museum and other large tourist attractions are a few minutes walk away. The day we went to the quarter it was raining non-stop so the kids didn’t get to play on it (we went around to the Aquarium instead). Beforehand we sat in McDonald’s and looked at the playground ;)

The Darling Quarter with Mudpies and Sunshine

15. Sydney’s Beautiful Parks - Sydney is home to many beautiful open spaces and gorgeous parklands. The city has so many it would be a difficult task to see them all. The Royal Botanic Gardens in the city are huge and lead down the harbour’s edge right next to the Opera House. If you are in Sydney during school holidays the Royal Botanic Gardens has a special activities program for kids. Right now (Jan 2012) the play of Wind in the Willows is being performed in the gardens.

Here we are the very bottom of the Royal Botanic Gardens. The beautiful trees on the left are indicative of the maturity and beauty of the gardens.

Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney with Mudpies and Sunshine

There is something for the kids to find and be fascinated with in all the gardens. There is a little fairies house in one of the gardens that we just stumbled across. So sweet! The girls played for ages with this large chess set.

Playing Chess in the Park with Mudpies and Sunshine

We have come to the end of the list. There are SO MANY MORE things to do and see in Sydney for kids. On this list are our personal recommendations based on what we decided to see in the time we had available.

(I also recommend a visit to the Chinese Friendship Garden which is near the Darling Quarter. There is a cafe overlooking a peaceful pond covered in water lillies. It is a peaceful, completely walled and utterly charming garden. A great escape from the hustle and bustle. Just be very careful if you have small children!).

The girls are still talking about their trip to Sydney and remember vividly each of the 15 places listed here. I hope you find the list useful if you are heading to Sydney soon or thinking about a visit one day. Sydney is a beautiful city :)

Please let me know how you go! 

Thanks so much for dropping by and visiting my blog.