8 Halloween Activities For Families

Wow half term really killed my the blogging roll I was on! I’ve got a few nearly finished posts so I’m hoping to get some more up this week so do keep checking back – or sign up for the RSS feed to never miss a post!

 

8 Easy Halloween Activities you can do at home.

I realised 2 days ago that E was imagining a fun halloween themed event! One of the things we love about him, and that we’re desperately trying to hold onto, is that he is super enthusiastic about everything – its a great contrast to Mr B. and my cynical selves!

Obviously I immediately started hunting on pinterest for ideas and got also got some great suggestions from my Facebook followers. I tried to keep it fairly simple – because there was no notice – plus it’s only us. I try (and sometimes succeed) to teach my children that you can make fun with what you have – that was definitely how I was raised.

Books

Twin Mummy Yummy shared this idea on Instagram so we gathered up the books we could find that were vaguely halloweeny and E sat and read them in full costume when he first got up.
Simple Halloween Activities - Books

Breakfast

E. apparently saw this idea in a supermarket somewhere! I managed to avoid ‘redoing it properly’ and he was pretty impressed with himself. It’s just plain yoghurt on a Weetabix with cheerios (supermarket’s own versions of both obviously 😉 )

Simple halloween activities - Breakfast

Spider sandwiches 

This was one of my pinterest finds.  They were really simple and E was really impressed! You make up a round of sandwiches (ours were peanut butter and jam). Cut them out with a circle cookie cutter and use pretzel sticks for legs. I dotted on jam for the eyes. (Here’s the original)

Simple Halloween Activities - Spider Sandwiches

 

Satsuma pumpkins

One of my friends suggested this. It’s great because there’s no food waste and is easy enough for children to do on their own. You have to play around with pens to find one that will work  – we found a thick permanent marker was the best. E is looking forward to having one in his lunchbox tomorrow!

Simple Halloween Activities - Satsuma Pumpkins

 

Apple Bobbing

I remember doing this as a child – I didn’t remember that it is basically impossible. Mr B. was the only one who actually succeeded! E. eventually managed it with a bit of help and Little Miss looked at us like we were crazy and kept putting her hands in the water to help us get them out.

Simple Halloween Activities - Apple Bobbing

 

Mystery food 

We did this as children too. In hindsight I didn’t need to look on pinterest I could have just phoned my mum! We blindfolded E and then told him a tale of finding a house in a forest full of witches’ remains! He said he was, “100% terrified”. This was the funniest thing we’ve done for a while. He hated it and loved it! We used this list for ideas. We had: spaghetti for brains, dried apricots for ears, peeled grapes for eye ball, pretzels for boney fingers, and sliced banana for tongues. We didn’t have any special boxes but a blindfold probably added to the scare factor.

Simple Halloween Activities - Mystery Food

 

Ghost Pizza

Simple Halloween Activities - Ghost Pizza

I’m so glad  E. helped make these because they looked better before we cooked them! Obviously they needed less cheese – but who wants less cheese on a pizza?!? If I was doing it again I’d make more spiders and bugs and not worry about the ghosts.  Inspiration here and here

Simple Halloween Activities - Ghost Pizza

Witches Brew (Jelly)

I made up a pack of green jelly and dropped  jelly worms and vampire teeth into it. It looked awesome! It turns out neither of my children actually like jelly but you can’t win them all.

Simple Halloween Activities - Witches Brew

 

I hope you’ve found some inspiration. It was all pretty straightforward and mainly used things I already had in the house. If you’ve got any other ideas do let me know – E is always happy to drag these things out!

 

Posted in Home, Life, Sensory play | Leave a comment

Six sensory boxes for preschoolers

6 sensory tubs for preschoolers
Have you used sensory tubs with your little ones? I think Little Miss is just about ready for me to start making some for her so here is a round up of tubs I made for big brother – for reference he was three when he used all of these.

I don’t think all of these are ‘officially’ sensory boxes – I use that term for anything that’s, ‘a load of stuff in a big tub.’

 

Construction

Construction sensory box

This is probably the simplest to set up of the boxes in this roundup. It’s a good place to start if you want to have a go. Details

 

Ice -cream

Ice-cream sensory box

This took a bit of effort to make but he continued to play with the set for a couple of years so it was well worth it. Details

 

Early maths

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I just gathered things I had around the house. Often I find both kids play with things differently if they are presented differently. Details

 

Zoo 

Sensory box zoo

He loved this one and I got to be seriously anal about tidying it up in the evening. Parenting tip – when cousins come to visit don’t leave 3 children alone with this tub!! (I can still remember the mess 😀 ) Details

 

Robot 

Robot sensory box

This was basically a themed craft box. Details 

 

The beach

Sensory box Beach

E. still talks about this one – I definitely intend to do it for both children next summer. Details

 

Have you used sensory tubs with your kids? I’d love some more ideas 🙂

 

My Random Musings
Two Tiny Hands
Posted in Pre-school, Sensory play | 12 Comments

Bullet Journalling – when you’re not artistic

Bullet Journalling - when you're not artistic
Have you seen pictures of bullet journals on pinterest or instagram? They are pictures of beautiful notebook pages with gorgeous handwriting and hand drawn doodles. To me they are equally inspiring and terrifying!

If I’d seen these first I wouldn’t have started. I’m a lefty and while I can write neatly it doesn’t come naturally, I can’t draw free hand, and to be honest I don’t really have time for another hobby!

The concept was developed by  Ryder Carroll and you can watch the get started video here. As a lifetime list maker and permanent diary failure I love the idea.

Since this is about bullet journalling I thought I’d use bullet points (original!)

Why it works for me

  • You start with a blank book – this means that I don’t have pages and pages of blank space when I’ve lost the book (and/or the plot) – I’ve got nothing for May, June or August but it doesn’t matter, with an actual diary this bothered me!
  • If your list for the day is really long it doesn’t matter – again I found this a problem with a dated diary.
  • General notes, to do lists, packing lists (current food Big Brother is prepared to have in his lunch box) all go in the same book with the day to day diary – and you don’t run out of space!
  • You can adapt the way you use it as you go – I started with monthly then daily lists – now I have a weekly section as well.
  • I can use up the pretty notebooks I’ve been hoarding – the advice is use an plain notebook that will fit in your bag and so on but mine mainly stays at home I’m fine with using pretty ones!
  • It really doesn’t matter if you don’t do it every day (or every month) Currently I have months where I’ve kept up with it for the whole month – I’m hopeful for October!!

What I do

I definitely advise you watch the video but here’s the basics of what I do

  • Keep an index – this is really important (I honestly can’t believe that I never thought of this before!)

Bullet Journalling - when you're not artistic

  • Give pages headings, number the pages and write them in the index
  • Future log – I have two double pages for the whole year – I haven’t found this overly useful but next year I’m going to remember to write birthdays in it!

Bullet Journalling - when you're not artistic

  • Monthly log – there are loads of fancy ways you can do this I just write the numbers and the days in the margin and then jot anything down. On the joining page I write a list of things to do – it really doesn’t take as long as you think it will

Bullet Journalling - when you're not artistic

  • Daily log – this is just a dated to do list I cross the bullets if they’re done. (You can also use this as a for Journal type entries but I’m not great at keeping up with those!)

Bullet Journalling - when you're not artistic

  • Any other lists I just pop on the next blank page and put in the title in the index

And there you have it – scribbly handwriting and all- it’s definitely not as pretty as lots you’ll see but really useful for a busy mum – and I definitely would have found it useful when I was teaching.

 

 

Posted in Home, Life | 2 Comments

Today

I sat down to try and write about Little Miss at 15 months and it turned into another poem! She is definitely our last child and I’ve tried (and manly succeeded) to enjoy the baby phase more than I did last time! I’ve been much more aware of how quickly it passes (Even when it absolutely doesn’t feel like it!!)

In the last week or so though I’ve felt like all of a sudden I’ve got this big girl living in my house!

 

Today

You demanded in the way only a toddler can,

That I removed your tee shirt so you could continue to dance,

and marvel at your own round belly.

 

You dripped water on the floor,

And stomped in it,

Giggling at the mess you created.

 

You pulled half of the books off the shelf,

In a crazed frenzy,

Until you found the one you wanted,

Then snuggled on my knee and fell asleep.

 

Today,

You are so little and yet so big,

And I can see glimpses of the wonder and terror that is to come.

 

But for now,

I’ll try to hold on to,

Today.

Today, You are so little and yet so big, And I can see glimpses of the wonder and terror that is to come.

 

If you like this you may also like: Just breathe

 

 

 

Posted in Words | 1 Comment

Homework

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Posted in Homework help, School | 7 Comments