An Adventure That's Just Right for Littlies

Last weekend was a long one and we were looking for some adventure that was big enough to call adventure but small enough that we could do with our littlies and one sore daddy (with a cracked rib!). We think we found the perfect thing to do.

Up Brisbane's Mt Nebo is Jolly's Lookout. We got in the car and trekked up the mountain to enjoy a picnic morning tea there, together with my parents before setting off to do a little bit of bush walking. We didn't get very far on the walk but plan to return for the full trip next time around. You just never know what to expect when you have littlies with you!

Jolly's Lookout is a top spot with a glorious view over the Samford Valley area. It is wheelchair and pram accessible which makes it great for young families and there are bbqs, plenty of seating and grassy areas to enjoy as well.

Jolly's Lookout is found by going out along Waterworks Rd, The Gap. Then keep heading up the mountain on the winding road until you reach the half way point. Jolly's Lookout has very clear signage so you can't miss it. If you're a Brissy family or just up our way for a visit do yourself a favour and make the winding trip up to this special part of the world. Don't forget to wear your walking shoes and enjoy the bushwalk nearby!

It's a great day with a littlies adventure packed in it!

Going on an Alphabet Sounds Hunt

A B C D E F

G H I J K
L M N O P
Q R S T U V

W X Y Z

Well so far we've been on an alphabet hunt, a treasure hunt and a numbers hunt while out walking. This time we went on an alphabet sounds hunt.

For this particular hunt we played the game of Eye Spy but with words that started with a particular sound. Miss M is not up to knowing what letters words begin with yet but she is interested in the sounds the letters make.

I would say to her, "Eye spy with my little eye, something that starts with the sound of eg: t" (making the sound of the letter). Miss M had to guess what it was that I could see. This hunt was the trickiest we have done but Miss M worked her way through it and we had fun playing together.

Neal Macrossan Park

A park with a fence around it always gets the big tick of approval from me. It's a great start to an outing knowing that your littlies will be a whole lot safer. Neal Macrossan Park is one of the best parks I've been to with the girls and it came highly recommended by a friend who also has two littlies. It is fenced right the way around with a few entry gates for different parking spots but I will say that it can be busy depending on when you go. I went with my mums group one Wednesday morning which seemed to coincide with a playgroup happening in the Communify Hall next door. Oh well, the more the merrier!

This park has three parts to it and they are linked by a few stairs in between. Right down the bottom of the park is a dog park for letting the dogs run free, then the next level up is a fantastic park filled with lots of things for all ages. The kids are immediately drawn to the helicopter and boat but they can also enjoy swings, the wobbly rope bridge, slippery slides off a fort and other great equipment.

super dooper obstacle course

The highest level of the park contains a super dooper obstacle course for older kids. Miss M spent most of her time there conquering each of the parts to the course. There are spider webs, hanging obstacles, chain ladders and other climbing activities all under the one roof.

Neal Macrossan Park is found on Moreton St, Paddington, in Brisbane. It's near the Suncorp Stadium so I would imagine that it wouldn't be a good park to go to if there was a game happening. Parking restrictions would most probably apply otherwise this park is one that everyone can enjoy. Why not take a look if you live in sunny Brisbane! We think it's great.

Playing Along - Baby Play

Today I'm playing along with everyone who has joined in 'We Play' over at Childhood 101. It was a home day play day for us. The girls played all day in various games, sometimes together, sometimes separate but this was one game I enjoyed being a fly on the wall for. Two mummies with their babies out for a walk to the park (our swing set). The littlest stroller is our latest treasure find - just right for a cute little mummy.

"Hello, how are you?

Do you want to come to the park with me?"

* * * * *

Come and play at the Childhood 101 We Play Link up

Farm Day Fun

Our week began with a trip down memory lane for me. Many of my holidays growing up were spent on my Uncle and Aunty's farm on the Darling Downs. It was there that we city kids got a wonderful taste of the country which to this day we are so thankful for. Going back to the farm on Sunday almost felt like going to my second home. Much has changed there but some things remain the same. I was so excited to be there to visit my relatives and I also wanted the girls to experience what I had those years ago, even if just for the day.

My Uncle and cousin are successful grain growers. I'm sure though that Miss M thought we were headed to an animal farm to see pigs, cows and other animals. She was a little surprised. It was good to show her that there are different types of farms and this one specialises in growing Sorghum, which is sold to chicken farms for feed.

Miss M and Miss H were shown around the farm. Miss M sat in some of the big farm machinery but knocked back a ride in a tractor. This seemed crazy to me as she spent the rest of the afternoon flying around the dirt tracks on the go kart with Daddy, going at quite a speed for a little person. She enjoyed it so much she asked for ride....

after ride....

after ride.

We did get to see some animals. My cousins saved a litter of kittens some time ago and three of them have grown to be lovely pets. The girls loved getting to know them however we're not so good with pets as we don't have any of our own. Miss M and Miss H had to learn to pat gently and not pull the tails.

The chickens had laid three lovely eggs so Madeline collected them with my cousin. What a great experience since we usually find our eggs at the supermarket! To follow this up we've spent the week doing a few egg-citing activities at home.

Together we made scrambled eggs for lunch. We used 3 eggs, some milk, a good pinch of salt and some dill. These ingredients were whisked up by my little masterchef and put in the fry pan to be mixed some more until scrambled. Yum!

We read 'The Egg' by Moonlight Publishing. This book, in an amazing way, details life inside an egg.

We read 'Oh Dear' by Rod Campbell. I like this easy to read book with flaps. Miss H (18mths) loves to read it.

After all the farm fun we had three tired (Yes I mean three!!) girls and one daddy on the trip home. It was a big day and one we'd like to do all over again! Thank you to my wonderful family for having us!

Our Corner of the World

I was encouraged this morning by http://www.teachmama.blogspot.com/ to do something for the Earth today. We kept our activity simple but it was lovely to care for our little corner of the World. It also felt lovely to be inspired by someone who lives in another corner, so far away from ours.



We purchased two seedlings, one an Opal Basil and the other Tarragon, to plant in our new veggie patch. I didn't even know purple basil existed and it smells the same too! We just had to put the new basil next to our happy tomoto plant. It's such a beautiful marriage when they're cooked together. Miss M, who now thinks she's experienced in all things gardening dug the holes, planted the plants and watered them all by herself....thank you very much!! (He he!!) Miss H also had to get in on the action and gave the plants a second little watering or should I say drenching.

We plan to read this book this afternoon - 'We Are Extremely Very Good Recyclers', a Charlie and Lola book by Lauren Child. We do ok with our home recycling but it would be so much better to get the girls more involved in it. Today Miss M can start to help throw the recycling items into the big yellow bin.

I've been encouraged and reminded today that we can think globally and act locally. Thanks teachmama!

Are you doing anything in your corner of the world to make our Earth a happy one?

Meet Our Little People

I thought I'd share with you some of the little people who have come to our house. Miss M (3.5) is into drawing people at the moment. Some of the extra features you might spot are foreheads, chins and cheeks. They always make me giggle on the inside. I just love meeting these super special people!

A lion

Our family + Miss M's swimming class

Self portrait

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I have a new love in my life - my veggie patch! It's like I've given birth to another child. I've never seemed to have had a green thumb before which is quite sad really when you look back at the family heritage I have. My Grandad was a farmer and in his retirement he kept one of the best veggie patches I've ever seen. He also had a gorgeous flower garden that grew the most beautiful array of coloured and perfumed flowers in Spring. On the other side of my family, my Grandma and Grandpa always had beautiful flower beds of roses, daisies, nasturtiums, hydrangeas and more. Where did my green thumb go?

I think I may have found it, at long last! I've been keen to have our very own veggie patch for a long time so the girls and I could work on it together during our outside play. Now we do because my lovely husband constructed a patch back in March for my birthday and my father who works in a landscaping supply business filled it with beautiful, rich with compost soil. We've begun the process of growing our own food to pick, cook and eat - hooray! We've started off small(ish) with our patch which we've filled with yummy herbs, fruits and veggies but if we get good at this my plan is to build another (and another) so we can plant more.

I am very excited! We have planted tomatoes of a few varieties, lemon grass, curry plant, rocket (my personal favourite), strawberries, corn, basil, chives, parsley, onion and some fancy lettuce but our most exciting plant has been our pumpkin which we grew from a seed we kept from a pumpkin we had eaten. Each day we check on it to see what is happening. This has been a wonderful project to work on from the planting to the watering to just watching day by day to see what is happening to our plants. We can't wait 'till we can pick our produce.

In the back of my mind I have a plan for our little garden. I would love to see the girls use it to give to others so we are calling it our 'Giving Garden'. Hopefully we will get some bountiful harvests so we can do just that. For now though we will just enjoy watching the plants grow.

So far this project has been great for....

• feeling the plants different textures
• smelling the plants different aromas - from the amazing curry plant to the lemon grass
• learning about how plants grow
• learning about sunshine and water working together
• learning about natural ways of deterring bugs, crawlies + night nibblers
• learning about what's good for the garden

Down the track we'd like to....

• make some jam + relishes
• use the rocket on lunch time sandwiches - yum!
• give away our extra herbs, fruits and veggies
• save our seeds for future planting
• use the leaves and veggies for art + craft - potato prints, leaf prints
• grow seedlings/ cuttings to share

I was so thrilled recently to be able to attend a free session at the local library. It was about starting an organic veggie patch with children - just what I needed! There is so much that we will continue to learn about keeping a veggie patch but this was a great start to set us up on our path to growing a garden.

Do you keep a veggie patch? What's in your garden at the moment? It's always a pleasure to hear what's going on in others gardens.

Going on a Treasure Hunt

With a list in hand and a bag in the pram we were off on Friday afternoon for another hunt on our walk. This time our hunt was a treasure hunt.

Earlier that day I made a simple list of items Miss M, Miss H (mostly Miss M) and I had to find. I kept it simple and honestly it was a little bit rigged (OK, a lot rigged!), since I wanted the items to be easily found this time around. I knew we had seen these items on our walks before.

This is another easy peasy idea which brings a lot of joy and a bit of a mix into walking time. Our only rule being that you couldn't pick anything off the local plants. It all had to be found lying on the ground.

To do a treasure hunt you need...

• a list - I used a permanent pen just in case it came into contact with water
• a bag for collecting things in
• you may also want a pencil for marking off your found treasures

I also added pictures to the list as well as a colour description for most items to help Miss M work out what each item was. Hidden in amongst all the fun was a great learning experience for the girls. It was great for...

• colour recognition
• early reading skills
• encouraging team work
• communication/ language skills

Next time the list will be bigger and harder and who knows, we may have to reward ourselves with a prize at the end. So did we find all the treasures? You'll have to take a look at our picture below and see.

YES!!

Where You Go, I'll Follow....

Why? is a question we get all day long from our Miss M (3.5). We get questions from the bizarre to the ridiculous and some are also quite serious but every question is important in her mind.

Why does it rain?
Why are they called Grandparents?
Why is it hot?
Why is it 8 o'clock?
Why do you have bones inside?
Why does the sun go down?

Why? Why? Why?

Even if it drives me a little crazy at times I've got to see this as great stuff because it feeds me with ideas for her creative activities, her play and of course learning. Much of Miss M's play and creativity is directed by her but from the many questions I get, I know that I can follow her lead by helping her find books at the library on the same topics or plan an art or play activity to extend her interest. Here's a snippet of what topics we've been learning about through play and reading...

dinosaurs
bones/ skeletons, parts of the body
counting
writing letters and words
gardening
recycling
a strange disliking to pandas (he he!!)

And here are some recent finds from the local library. These books have helped answer many a question and have grown Miss M's interests from something small to a real learning experience.

What are your children talking or asking about? What interests can you follow?

Recycled Art Container - Ready to Go Creative Fun

At long last we have our recycled art container in the playroom which is there for all sorts of creating fun. This is something I've wanted to put there since our move but the area is fairly small so I've had to come up with something big enough to store the items and small enough not to take up too much space. In keeping with the reduce, reuse and recycle theme I found the above pink container downstairs - it's my old work office bin. (Every groovy kids worker needs one of these!)

Miss M is at the stage where she is creating anything and everything so she really needs some materials at her disposal. Right now the container is filled with cylinders of all sizes, long boxes, thin boxes, plastic lids, yoghurt containers, paper plates and other interesting things but I also have plenty of other great items ready to go in when the stocks are low. (Thanks to our recent Mums on the GO Swap Party!)

Today Miss M (3.5) created a groovy pair of glasses. She came up with the idea as we had been given some bright purple cellophane at Easter and thought it would be great to use because she could see through it. She had some difficulty working out how to construct the glasses so help was needed from one mummy who was happy to oblige. Cutting out the holes was such a tricky thing to do for little hands! We also made a simple pair of binoculars together which she used for "rexploring" (exploring) in our outside play throughout the morning. Check out the pic complete with Easter Egg smoodge on the face!

Miss M is old enough to access sticky tape, glues, scissors and collage items however Miss H (17months) is definitely not there yet. She'd rather use them for teething!! Everything to help construct is kept up high in the playroom and is only a "please Mum" (or Dad) away. It will be great though when these items can also be made available at the girls level.

I wonder what creative thing/s will be next to come out of the container?

What interesting things would you put into a recycled art container/box? I'd love to hear your suggestions.

Collage All Wrapped Up!

If you're crazy about doing collages with kids or you'd like to be, don't forget to keep your Easter egg wrappers. They make a great addition to your collage items collection all year round. Simply collect and store them in a snap lock bag, jar or other storage solution......and do a lot of walking afterwards!

Now that's one collage item I'm personally happy to help collect!!! I hope you had a wonderful Easter break.

What could your kids create with colourful Easter egg wrappers?