Keeping Busy

With a week of being sick, I just had to make the most of the time and have some fun amusing Lucy, and myself! I've been following Megan's wonderful blog, mousehouse She has so many neat ideas for things to do with her kids, her blog is just full of inspiration and great ideas. A couple of weeks ago she made some sensory playdough with her children. I had made our playcentre playdough a few times so thought this would be something different. Lucy had so much fun adding in the ingredients and helping with the mixing. She especially loved adding the colour and then investigating the different smells for each one. The dough has kept really well. Megan's recipe for the playdough: For the playdough you will need... 1 and a half cups of salt 3 cups flour 6 tbsp Cream of Tartar 3 cups boiling water 3 tbsp oil Mix all ingredients together... Then divide the mixture into however many different colours/scents you are going to make. Carefully add your colour and essential oils and kneed in. (You might need to add a little more flour if your dough is a little sticky). We've also had a few really wintery days here and looking out our lounge windows we can watch the birds in the trees. Wendyl Nissen's weekly newsletter had a recipe for bird feed and a link to some cotton string bags which would be perfect for this (even though they are for when you buy fresh produce at the supermarket rather than plastic bags). Lucy and I went out and found the Wild Bird Seed and lard. Then we just melted half the lard, added the bird seed, some broken up old Weetbix and a few cornflakes, then left it to harden. Together we went out and looked for a spot where the birds would find it, but where the neighbourhood cats wouldn't and where we could watch from our lounge. I also climbed up and nailed on a flat board that the birds could sit on and where I could put out our old bread. It's all been there for a few days but we haven't seen a single bird so anywhere near it - plenty in the trees though ... THEN, I SAW THIS! I couldn't believe my eyes, our neighbours cat!! Sorry, the photo was taken through the glass doors on a cold morning. I'm out there tomorrow moving that table!