Outdoor Balancing Course

Posted on April 12, 2013 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

Doesn’t this look like fun?

Mr Sunshine is building a chook house with unwanted wood from local building sites – meaning totally free The wood he had gathered was piled high under our patio until Zoe decided to drag some if it out onto the lawn and make her own obstacle course.

The girls have brainstormed lots of different games and created rules like you wouldn’t believe. Lots of negotiation…and then lots of fun. Their favourite way to play is to create a complete loop and set a target number of laps to complete…whilst setting a maximum number of times you can fall off/touch the ground before you have start all over again. Once they were out there in complete darkness until bedtime completing a gazillion laps for just one game.

Zoe is a big fan of “free-range” play on the obstacle course. And yes, they are in their pajamas! Outside first thing in the morning for some balancing course ACTION…

Zoe just loved being able to design her own course (which she did on another day – see…different pajamas!). Competence competence competence – something that girls (and boys) thrive on when they get the chance to feel it.

Won’t it be sad when Mr Sunshine finishes the chook house and the balancing fun is gone? We may have to head out to the building sites again and see what we will find (in our pajamas).

Thanks for dropping by!

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Camping and Making Friends

Posted on February 18, 2013 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

It’s been quiet on the blog because we have been away camping and having a lovely relaxing time.

I’m not sure how relaxing it was for the kids. They played hard all day, they made friends and ran with the crowd, they swam, bounced, rode, chatted, shouted and laughed. They had a ball but they weren’t relaxing!

We stayed at a caravan park that had a bouncy pillow, swimming pool and water playground. Just perfect for the remaining hot days of summer.

What I found interesting was how in the freedom and relative safety of a caravan park, at early evening time, kids of all ages would come together. They would congregate at the bouncy pillow and play game after game together. There were no fights, arguments, tears or tantrums. There were also no parents involved. The kids negotiated, gave their opinions, considered the capabilities of the little ones and in general acted as one cohesive group. Ages ranged from 4 years old – 16 years old.

Zoe loved playing with the little Irish boy who was in the campsite next to us. Isn’t it great when you have the whole bouncy pillow to yourselves?

It was also Mr Sunshine’s birthday – so we went all out for his birthday cake. Took me hours to make

Whenever the water playground was “on”, Ebony was there.

One time I went underneath the buckets with her and the anticipation is palpable. Screaming is compulsory under the buckets. Zoe loved them too!

I love this pic of Zoe taking a break against the tent whilst watching the other kids on the bouncy pillow. Yep we were right next the bouncy pillow. Kids thought it was christmas!

So we had fun. Mr Sunshine had a relaxing birthday. The kids got to enjoy bonding with new kids and playing on amazing equipment. And we all can’t wait to pitch the tent again. But reality is good too – this morning Zoe asked if there would a craft waiting for her when she got home from school. Yes! Paint and celery here we come

Have you been camping lately? Do your kids enjoy it? I would love to hear your experiences.

Thanks for dropping by!

Creating Art with Coloured Ice Cubes

Posted on January 31, 2013 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

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.

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.

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…

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

The bright colours were a delight.

Yay for finding money!

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

Ebony found ALL the money – then it was redistributed fairly

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

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

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!

Valentine’s Sensory Bin

Posted on January 29, 2013 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

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.

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

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

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!

Lots of love for the rice…

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

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

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

Yummy cupcakes.

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

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.

More cupcakes!

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

Garden Bells

Posted on January 24, 2013 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

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:-

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.

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

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.

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

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).

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

We’ve got bells!

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

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

Thanks so much for dropping by!

Tin Can Percussion Set

Posted on January 23, 2013 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

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.

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

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

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.

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

…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

I love how they are all at different heights.

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

…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…

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

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

Posted on January 20, 2013 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

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.

Here’s what it said…

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…

…they still loved it. I loved it too

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.

Backyard Camping

Posted on January 6, 2013 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

As most will know, kids are on school holidays and there is alot of free time available. It’s during these times I love to see what the kids will turn their hands and their imaginations to.

Last week I was asked “Mu-um, can we please go camping in the backyard, ple-eease?”.

And here they are – my intrepid little munchkins.

They have slept in the tent overnight twice already. Help I can feel the apron strings loosening… Nope it’s not about me. Good for them. They are having a ball in the tent – so far hours and hours of outdoors fun. In such a small space

Do your children like camping in your backyard? Or setting up camp in your lounge room?

Thanks so much for dropping by!

Super Sunday

Posted on December 9, 2012 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

Riding bikes around a cool bike track…

…and making crazy faces in the middle of the skate park…

…all make for a Super Sunday.

Hope your Sunday was too

Friday Afternoon Fun – Taking Christmas Outside

Posted on December 7, 2012 by MudpiesandSunshine.com

What a lot of fun we have had during this series of Friday Afternoon Fun activities. It is all about banishing the friday afternoon grumpy gremlins and putting the sparkle back in.

We have:

and my favourite – hidden notes. Don’t tell the girls but I might do this again on the last day of school this year.

This time, as the title suggests – we took christmas outside. And we gave it a good talking to Bad jokes aside, what I actually did was meet the girls half way. They have been begging us to put up some Christmas lights outside. It hasn’t happened to date so instead I bought some tinsel and baubles (marked down, yay) and hid these lovelies in a basket until the girls came home from school.

Big reveal time!

The girls just had to play dress-ups with the tinsel before it was going to see the light of day. I forgot how tactile and imaginative children are for a minute

When we did get outside at last – the girls approached the job fairly – ‘this half of the shrub is mine, that’s yours’ – ‘how do you want to split up the baubles?’. Once the agreements had been made, they got on with it and had an absolute ball.

There was clapping involved.

And lots of concentrating with placement and colour.

Happy girls on a Friday Afternoon!

I hope you’ve been enjoying the series and thanks so much for dropping by!

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Mudpies & Sunshine

Category Archives: Outside

Outdoor Balancing Course

Camping and Making Friends

Creating Art with Coloured Ice Cubes

Valentine’s Sensory Bin

Garden Bells

Tin Can Percussion Set

Message in a Basket

Backyard Camping

Super Sunday

Friday Afternoon Fun – Taking Christmas Outside

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