Mandalay Park

With co-running our mums group comes some research into great places to visit in Brisbane. We like to live up to our name - Mums on the GO! If I see or hear about a great park in Brisbane I like to check it out for us to go to on one of our weekly outings. I recently drove past Mandalay Park and thought it would be the perfect place for our growing group. Today I took Miss M and Miss H there for a play.

Set in gorgeous surroundings overlooking the Brisbane River, this park has a fantastic playground created with a nautical theme. It has a tug boat, rocking boat for four, a fishing rod and tackle shop plus all the usual favourite park equipment. You can even watch the boats going down the river.

There's plenty of tables for eating at or just pull up under a tree. You can also enjoy a river walk or ride - Miss M had fun riding her scooter there. I loved this park. It really was a great set up to encourage little ones to stretch their imaginations and grow their gross motor skills at the same time.

Mandalay Park is found off Mandalay St and River Park Place at Fig Tree Pocket. Just turn left at the little round-a-bout.

Inspired Ideas

Well how did we go with our blank canvas week? Both girls ended up being sick at home but that didn't stop us from having a little bit of fun and our inspiration came from all kinds of places. We now have a few wonderful people and places to thank....

Tuesday - Thanks to SqiggleMum 's blog post 'Flat Out Flora' we were inspired to buy this cute little flower press back when we were on holidays. Tuesday seemed like a good day to open it up to find our flowers and leaves pressed and ready to make cards. So that's just what we did - we made cards! Phew, it was a long wait but what a special activity, one that I remember enjoying with my own press as a child. If you want to find out more about pressing flowers (even if you don't own a flower press) head over to SquiggleMum. Her lovely blog may inspire you to give it a go too!

Wednesday - No mums group for us on Wednesday but we can thank the ipswichartgallery for our fun instead. When we visited Wonderland in the school holidays the kids were given plasticine to make colourful art on cardboard. I thought this was a wonderful tactile experience! We found some plasticine while we were at the supermarket shopping (for more tissues!) so we bought a packet for $1 to make another piece of art at home.

Plasticine Art

You will need...

Plasticine

Cardboard

Using your thumbs press pieces of the plasticine onto the cardboard. You can make any kind of picture you like but be sure to smudge the plasticine till it's flat or it won't stick very well.

Thursday - It was hard to find Miss M amongst the pile of tissues but if you went looking for her on Thursday morning she was watching a little more tv than usual. Playschool was on and they were playing libraries. We've played this game plenty of times too and it's always fun. We decided to play it again all thanks to Playschool. We set up the library in Miss M's bedroom where the bookshelf of children's books are. We got the cash register out so it could be the computer and we found my old library card to play with. Milly, Olivia, Jessie and Sophie (Miss M and Miss H's dolls) were also invited to play the game which was so enjoyable. It was wonderful to see Miss M become the librarian. She ran the books and rhymes class for us all as well as checked the books in and out. Lots of fun together! Miss H especially loved being included and clapped along happily.

We can also thank my friend Cass who gives us such interesting crafts to do. We share craft packs and ideas with one another. On Thursday we tried the sun and rain drop collages which we've had sitting there just waiting to be done. Next week we'll have to do the umbrella and clouds from the same set.

Friday - No boredom here - we played board games today! Three is a great age as it opens up the opportunity to discover games. The Mr Potato Head Game is a firm favourite. (for us all!) We played a few rounds of this before enjoying Elefun and a Maisy Dominoes Matching Game. The thank you here goes to the local "treasure shop" (Op Shop) where I have been able to pick up many great games in fantastic condition for only a few dollars. The Maisy Game was found in a fill a bag for $2 stand. I was surprised when lunch time came around as we had been playing all morning. (usually I'm watching the clock wondering when lunch time will arrive!)

It's great to draw from those around you and the places you visit. Thanks to a little inspiration our blank canvas week turned into a brightly coloured canvas in the end.

I'm curious...where do you draw your inspiration for children's activities from?

NB Experiencing some problems with links so here are the addresses....

www.SquiggleMum.com
www.ipswichartgallery.qld.gov.au

Balloon Painting

Miss M and I have talked about trying this activity for a few days now and since we had a lovely big bag of balloons leftover from her party, balloon painting was definitely the thing to do today.

Balloon Painting

You will need....

Balloons

Water

Acrylic paint

Trays

Easel paper

Choose a few balloon to use - one for each paint colour works well.

Fill the balloons with a little bit of water to give them some weight.

Tie knots in the ends of the balloons.

Have paint set out in trays - we used paper plates and used two acrylic colours that mix well.

Use the balloons as paint brushes by holding them by the knot.

The effect on paper will be wonderful splodges all over the paper.

Just remember to handle the balloons carefully so they don't pop!

Both the girls had fun with this activity. Miss H being so little had quite a bit of help from me but it was fun for her to experiment too. It's good to substitute the old paintbrush for something a little bit different. Balloon painting is lots of fun - why not give it a go?

A Blank Canvas Week - Let's Get Creative!

Looking to the week ahead we have a blank canvas - not a play date or outing planned, except for our weekly Mums on the GO outing on Wednesday. I love being able to plan outings as well as allow us some time at home to play and enjoy our surroundings. What will this week hold? Time to look at what's on around Brisbane, maybe find a new or favourite park to ride the scooter and tune in to Miss M to see what interests she is following at the moment. This will give us some art/ craft or cooking ideas and other play activities we could do together. It should be a great week!

I'd love to hear your suggestions. Do you know of a great park in Brisbane or have a place you like to visit that is a good free or cheap outing for children? Even if you don't live in Brisbane what things do you like to get up to with your kids?

Eye Dropper Painting

If you're anything like our family you may have purchased a few bottles of baby Panadol for your kids to make it through the dreaded teething stage! Every time we pick up a bottle from the Chemist we get an eye dropper included in the packet. This is great because I have something fun to do with the eye dropper rather than using it to help numb the gums.

Eye Dropper Painting

You will need....

A few eye droppers - one for each paint colour works well

Water paint - mix food colouring or powder paint with water in separate pots - 2-3 colours is a good amount

Paper towel - good quality ones work best

Cloth or spare paper towel - to clean up paint spills

Show your child how to pick up a bit of water paint in the eye dropper by giving it a gentle squeeze then let the paint go over a sheet (square) of paper towel. It will give a wonderful splotchy effect and once you begin to add a few colours they will mix to make others. I find the best colours to use are the primary colours, red, yellow and blue but to find any colours that mix well makes a beautiful work of art. Just make sure not to use too much paint as the paper will become saturated and begin to tear. This is where a better quality paper towel is good. You'll know the brands from the ads!

After your paper towel square is covered in paint I'm sure you'll want to give it another try so hang that one out to dry and get ready to make another eye dropper masterpiece.

To extend the activity....

• talk about the colours your child is creating as they mix together
• once dry cut up the paper and use it for collage
• fold the paper up until it is a small square and cut pieces out to make a pattern (like a snowflake)
• try other colour mixing activities

A Picnic Made With Love

It's been a happy week trekking here and there to the Ipswich Art Gallery, Queen's Park and visiting friends. Today however needed to be a quiet home day so the morning was spent playing in the yard. (Lots of end of the week washing to be done!) Before we ventured down stairs I collected a few things to make and do and meanwhile Miss M kindly packed a morning tea picnic for us to enjoy. I gave her a little basket and she did the rest. There were 2 cups, two butterfly biscuits and two napkins. She also made sure to include some mushy food for Miss H. Maybe next time we can invite the teddies. I love having a 3 year old!

Butterfly Biscuits

Much of our weekend was spent baking cupcakes and biscuits for a Thailand Mission fundraiser so I guess I was on a roll when I asked Miss M if she would like to bake biscuits this morning. My little baker had been given the loveliest little bakers outfit for her birthday and so this was a chance to put it to use for the first time. So cute!

I have been told that the simple biscuit recipe I like to use (5 cups SR flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 tin condensed milk, 500g softened butter) could also be used with cookie cutters so I thought we'd give it a go. We had lots of smarties left over from the weekend's cooking frenzy so we made beautiful butterflies which Miss M was able to cut out and decorate herself. Lots of satisfaction for a new 3 year old in this activity!

They turned out well and we saved half of the mixture to put in the freezer for another baking morning. Thanks to Nardi for sharing this idea with me. I'm very keen to give it a go. We have a few special outings this week with our friends and mums group so these biscuits will be good to take and share around. I'm looking forward to eating one myself!

You could extend this activity by.....

• baking other shaped biscuits
• read 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'
• making butterfly stain glass for the windows
• collage butterfly cut-outs
• do a butterfly hunt
• play with play dough
• look at the life-cycle of a butterfly
• do the butterfly dance off 'Wiggles Safari' dvd
• dress up like a butterfly
• sing 'How does a caterpillar go?' + 'How does a butterfly go?'
• making biscuits to give to others as a gift

Creating With Collage

Today was the Mums on the GO play date at our house and we had a wonderful morning together. The kids were so busy playing with the activities set up. We did fence painting, bubbles, sand play, train set and construction play plus other fun activities. Just look at the kid's collage creations. I think they did a great job!



I like to keep collage items in a "party susan" tray ready to go for whenever I need them. The tray has a lid so it works well for storing away. I found it one day for around $2 at a discount store and thought it would be perfect for collage. Today was a great opportunity to get it out with the kids coming over. I had them do their collage art on cut-outs which I also like to keep a stock of in the craft cupboard.


The craft cupboard is where I store any interesting collage things I find. The items are separated in to snap-lock bags in a larger container and then I recycle the bags as I move them through to the tray. Here's a list of things I like to look out for to use in collage activities....

• cotton wool
• cellophane
• bubble wrap
• carboard
• sandpaper
• crepe paper
• cut up straws
• painted paper
• milk container lids
• coloured patty pans big or small
• egg shells washed + coloured
• Easter egg wrapping
• macaroni
• wrapping paper
• coloured feathers

It's fun to collect things to let kids be creative with - think texture, colour, patterns etc. Just remember that the heavier the item, the stronger the glue needs to be. Lids, egg shells and macaroni need a PVA glue while the other items would require Cel Mix paint or even a mixture of the two - 50/50. Paper and cardboard collage only requires a glue stick which also usually means less mess.

I'm interested to find out what things you might use for collage. Please share your ideas in the comments area below.

Open House!

It's taken me a while to get here after having Miss H but I'm back to feeling up to having friends over for regular play dates. I've had the odd one here and there however I must admit that they have seemed a little tricky with trying to care for all of Miss H's needs, keep an eye on food and of course Miss M and friends. Miss H is off and scooting round the floor so I can prepare lovely things to eat with a lot more ease as well as cater to the littlies.

This week we are hosting two play dates. Our lovely girlie friends came over this morning. There is a friend for each of us. Mrs C and I are old friend, Miss K and Miss M are good friends and our littlies are a day apart so here's hoping they will strike up a friendship as they grow up.

Wednesday's play date will be a little busier. Our Mums on the GO mums group will be heading our way for a play in the back yard. The thought of all those little people in the one space can seem quite overwhelming so the plan is to have stations of activities all around the yard. I just have to think back to my old days of working with large groups of littlies!!

When I host a play date of this size I like to keep the kids busy in play, not just finding all of Miss M and Miss H's toys. Here are a few ideas I like to do.....

• play dough play at a kid's table
• fence painting - hanging paintings on string along the side of the house
• chalk drawing on the paving
• bubble blowing on the grass
• a simple craft of some kind - collage on cut-outs is a good one (I always have some collage ready to go)
• sand play
• swings
• construction on a mat
• baby toys on a mat

Of course the list is endless, there are lots of ideas that can be done. This may sound quite structured but I think it's the organiser and children's worker still in me, even as a mum. We also live in a little house so to get the kids into the yard is a great idea. I really enjoyed this morning with our girlie friends and I am looking forward to Wednesday with anticipation. It is fun to be back into the swing of things.