Sticky Pics

On one of our many rainy days recently, I blindly (and with no small amount of desperation) plunged my hand into a tub of craft supplies and pulled out a packet of coloured matchsticks. This sort of lucky dip is not uncommon for me, because otherwise my head spins with ideas of things to do with my kids (thank you Pinterest!) and it takes me ages to choose one! My strategy in this situation is to do a lucky dip and we then have to do some sort of activity/game/craft with whatever I pull out.
So, coloured matchsticks...
Um...
Don't you just love it when your mind, which was previously jammed full of ideas, suddenly empties out completely leaving you totally blank? What was I going to do with matchsticks?


Eden solved it for me: "Mum, let's make some sticky pictures!" (meaning pictures with sticks).
We grabbed some construction paper as it's sturdier than normal paper, some PVA glue, and a texta and got to work. I drew some simple shapes under the direction of my daughters, and they outlined the shapes with PVA. Then it was a simple matter of filling the lines in with the matchsticks.

Rainy Day Play: Kiddie Yoga

  

Unless you are blessed with an outdoor undercover area, or unlimited access to a playcentre (or the dosh to go to one a few times a week) keeping active kids ... um, active ... in wet weather can be quite a task. Normally, a few hours at the park or going for a walk with the kids is just the ticket, and a bit of drizzle is no barrier to those activities either, but a downpour? Oy vay. 

Today, I decided to try kids yoga with my girls. In theory, it should stretch their muscles and give them some physical activity in a calming way (instead of an excitable way - like trampolines, or running, etc), and be indoors-friendly. In practice, it was a success! 

Everyday Play

 

When the weather gets bleak and your tots venture outdoors less regularly, it can become quite a task to keep the days interesting without reverting to activities which eat into your purse; playcentres, shopping centres, movies, cafes... I'm talking to y'all! So to spread some thrifty fun, here are a few things we did last week to keep cabin fever at bay.

Rainy Day Play Series: Pumpkin Exploration

            

Winter is well and truly upon us here in the Land Down Under! Which, roughly translated for our outside-of-Aus friends, means that when it rains, it rains constantly. Con-stant-ly.

For those of us with young kids, this can potentially spell disaster. Unless you have pumpkins. Naturally.