November 06, 2017

bouncing balloons, fizzing sidewalk paint, milk explosions—3 down, 98 to go. We LOVE this activities book!

November 06, 2017/ Samantha Gilkes-Fulcher

As you can probably tell from some of my other posts, we LOVE making/creating/experimenting at home. Besides being great fun, our crafty times educate, strengthen relationships and encourage communication and vocabulary—plus they're great for fine motor skills.

I’m always on the lookout for new inspiration and, although there are millions of activities on offer on the internet, I prefer to use books. ..... this one is chock full of boredom busters, crafts, games and simple science—there's no end of inspiration

October 23, 2017

a simple and colourful yarn web + 4 magical books to keep the mood going

October 23, 2017/ Samantha Gilkes-Fulcher

ages 3 to 12 years
We have a wonderful old lemon tree in the back yard. It needed some pruning and love when we first moved in but it was worth it—not because of the lemons but because Ivy loves playing in and with it so much. It's just the right size for a 4-year-old to test her limits, and has been a castle, a boat, a unicorn, a great friend and unlimited food for the imagination.

Ivy decided that her friend the tree needed decorating, so we made a colourful spider web for it

October 09, 2017

a craft-y morning making music + 4 books we love: the beauty of music translated to words

October 09, 2017/ Samantha Gilkes-Fulcher

ages 2 to 6 years, up to pre-teen for the books
Ivy and Angus love making music and even though it can get loud—overwhelmingly loud—I love it too, because I know it makes them happy. They do have some simple percussion toys, but they prefer to pull out all the pots and pans or make random objects into drums.

On a recent rainy day, we decided to use some of our unlimited collection of cardboard tubes to make music shakers. If you're looking for an activity that's interesting, fun and

September 18, 2017

a stereotype-smashing story + Ivy & Angus in their Book Week costumes

September 18, 2017/ Samantha Gilkes-Fulcher

ages 2 to 7 years
We recently went through all our books trying to find the perfect costume for our playgroup's Book Week parade. There were many contenders, but in the end Ivy chose A Proper Little Lady.

She saw it and proclaimed "This will be the perfect book, I’m so excited!". I was pretty excited too and not just because it was a costume that required no sewing! This was one of my favourite books when I was Ivy's age and I feel a special kind of closeness in sharing and enjoying

September 11, 2017

an edible (ish) mud farm + a few fave books make for a perfect spring day

September 11, 2017/ Samantha Gilkes-Fulcher

ages 0 - 6 years
Spring is finally here and while it's still quite cold in Tasmania, the sun is out and we're loving being outside. I'm always on the lookout for new ways to make mess and have fun with the kids, especially outdoors, and found a bit of inspiration while spring cleaning the shed—a shallow plastic container that looked like the perfect size for a mud farm.

I'd had my eye on a muddy farm sensory play activity from The Imagination Tree for a while, so thought I'd give it a try, with minor adjustments to this original recipe:

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