{The powerhouse & the FLU monster!}

At the end of last week I took my big boy on a surprise adventure trip. He didn't know where we were going and all he knew was that we were catching a train (which is a huge novelty). It was just my big boy and I and Jr was at preschool (strategical choice of days for this outing).

I put together a folder of fun little puzzles, games and activities for the train trip. Some of these were a HUGE hit and will have to share soon!

The Powerhouse Museum is located in Ultimo Sydney {click here for details}. We took a train to central and then walked there slowly enjoying the beautiful weather and sights along the way.

Then we arrived at our destination and he was excited to explore. My big Kindy boy is always very hungry to discover new things and this has mainly been in the area of books and reading so far. However, he is quickly becoming fascinated with all things science, space, transport and experiments. The powerhouse was a great choice for a school holiday outing.

The current wiggles exhibition is (like everything else they do) incredibly well put together! It is very interactive, houses memorabilia from their vast 20 years of contributions to the Aussie music landscape. There is something for all ages in there. My big boy will say he doesn't like wiggles anymore, but this was one of his favourite parts of the day! 

Towards the end of the trip I saw an exhibition called love lace that I will write about separately {click here} that I wish I had more energy to see, but I was feeling quite sore and tired. I didn't understand it until I got home and it turns out I was hit with a massive flu that lasted for days. This is why I haven't posted this yet. 

After the museum I picked up Jr from preschool, got home and collected eggs from the chickens, hopped in the shower while the boys were in the bath and soothed the muscles. The I hung out on the couch as the temperature rose and the chills multiplied. Until hubby could rescue me from doing dinner and let me sleep. Jr fixed himself a nutritious dinner of marshmallows and chips whilst Mr 5 was in control of the movie remote. Jr covered my feet in "bend-ends" (baind-aids) which are his thing at the moment. As he (sat but naked) emptied multiple dollars of them onto us both, I seriously didn't care as it was the closest thing I got to a foot rub which I needed. Thank goodness I am feeling better now! THE. FLU. SUXXX! 

I seriously recommend the POWERHOUSE for school kids, especially if you want to encourage or inspire a love of all things science, environment, wiggles or whatever other cool exhibitions are on (narnia coming soon - your welcome ;)

Lauren x

Did you do anything fun these school holidays???   

{School Holidays Ideas : Photo Chase/ Nature Walk}

Well, in NSW we are about to embark on a few weeks of school holidays. I love holidays! I love getting to hang out with my big boy, I miss him so much at school and I love not having to have the 'leave the house by 8' deadline for a change and planning fun activities. The special thing about this year is that it is my first year of 'official' school holidays and I also get two days a week just with my big boy.

Here are two things I have planned for the next few weeks.

{Pasta Play : And Other Cheap Toddler Fun}

All this funny Sydney weather has left me many times with a very active toddler at home whilst it's raining outside. Here are SOME of the ways I have kept him amused lately. I have had to get creative as he is a smart kid, but needs to burn energy and get creative and change activities frequently!

1. Pasta Play:
I started simply by putting 5 pasta noodles on one plate, handing him another empty plate and some mini tongs. No instructions, just let him play and count.


2. Spaghetti Tower: Then I blu-taked a spaghetti strand to a plate and he started building them up counting as he went. He was enjoying this more than I thought.





Of course my son found a way to make a mess (he is an expert there) and do we turned cleaning into another game (I know I may have a shelf life for this lol)!



Then we got s break in the sun so we decided to try car painting. Combining cars and mess = BIG hit for my little one.

1. Find old or cheap cars you don't mind getting painted.
2. Let them paint the wheels and watch on some paper as the tyres make rainbow tracks.
3. Then put done warm soapy water in a bucket and have a "car wash" to clean up ;)


There are a few other things I will share soon that don't cost the earth. If you have any other ideas - feel free to share them here or on facebook or twitter :)

Lauren x




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{Toddler / Pre-schoolers Quiet Book}

I was browsing on pinterest the other day and came across a few quiet book ideas for toddler/ preschoolers. Most of them were hand sewn and beautiful. I was in craft heaven!

However, with a family lunch on later that day, i didn't have much time. So I came up with this in the morning (nothing like leaving yourself a few hours to complete a project).
Armed with my mac book, a laminator and some blue-tak (will replace with velcro dots asap) I got to work.
I would format it properly if i gave myself more than 20 mins to design the pages.

So, here is what I came up with on the rush and it was SUCH a hit for my VERY busy and inquisitive 2 year old. The beauty is you can just add pages as you want to and personalise as interests and skills grow and change.

The cars being different colours and sizes makes a great talking and learning point "Show me the yellow cars" "where are the big cars?" "can you show me the little red car?"


The colours are printed on the page and cut out and laminated also, it helps the little ones know where to put them.

I hope you enjoyed this idea and I now have an order for a 5 year old in the house!

Lauren x

{12 Days of Christmas::: Day 7} Kids Craft Ideas

Well there is one week to go. Kids are on holidays. Want to get festive and keep them occupied at the same time???? Here are some great ideas for some craft activities (Via Martha Stewart) that you can do together. Definitley some of these will be activities to do in the next few days :)

Enjoy;
Lauren X

(click on image for link to more info)

Cherish the Moment

This weekend we took our kids to a park by a beautiful river and shared a lovely sunny winters afternoon. My darling Hubby caught this picture and I love it. It just reminded me how special my family is to me and that in our busy lives, it is so important to take time out and have a 'go fly a kite' moment with your loved ones!

Rainy Day Activity - Paper City

There are just some things that are perfect rainy day activities.....we have done two of these today. Playdough and a paper city inspired by a favourite blog of mine 'Made by Joel'.
Joel has putup on his blog, different printable components for his paper city. The best thing about this is it is a cheap activity and we were at it for hours!!! We did something similar ages ago and these are great activities that store well and entertain for hours....the options are endless.