Mud Pie Kitchen

In a secret part of our garden- daily there is a lot of learning, experimenting and merrymaking going on.  

Recently we set up a mud pie kitchen for the kids (sourcing secondhand a TV cabinet, old pots, pans, metal teapots and spoons). They are usually happy playing with sand, dirt and a bucket of water. But today I added food colouring and cornflour to the fix. They had a lovely time creating slime pies. 

Nature Night Concert

Finn had a lovely idea to take some chairs outside and listen to the night noises. I asked him to identify as many different sounds as he could- dogs barking, crickets chirping, cars driving. It was a lovely experience for them.

Outdoor car tracks

It has beautiful summer weather lately, so today I brought outside a collection of matchbox cars and trucks for F & E to play with outside in the shade. They made tracks, jumps and holes for the cars in the dirt and grass.

A garden of their own

After being inspired by the wonderful community garden down the road, the kids and I spent a weekend in our own veggie patch. Planting, weeding, looking for worms and making 'compost soup'.

Finn had a great idea to make a scarecrow, so I found some fallen branches, an old work uniform and some winter gloves to make the body for our scarecrow. If I had stockings around the house I would have used that for making the head, but instead I cut and machine stitched a head shape out of skin coloured fabric, stuffed it with polyfil and drew a face on it.  The whole scarecrow making process took about 15 minutes, and Finn is very proud of his new garden friend.

neighbourhood adventures and outdoor drawing

This afternoon we went for a little explore around parts of our suburb that we hadn't been to before.

We discovered beautiful rainforest walking tracks, burbling creeks with wooden bridges, a 'secret' playground, some horses in a paddock and a wonderful community garden.

 

I took my uni notes with me hoping to get a chance to read while the children played (of course it didn't happen), and I brought along a clipboard, some paper and a crayon roll-up (instructions to make one here) full of  Stockmar beeswax stick crayons (they have such beautiful, rich colours and are smooth and easy for children to draw with). Finn did some gorgeous drawings in the fresh air.

  



  

We also made some clover chains which took me back to my own childhood. 

Hide and Seek- Botanical Gardens

Some photos from our lovely morning at the Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens, following the Hide and Seek Trail.

http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/facilities-recreation/parks-gardens/brisbane-botanic-gardens-mt-coot-tha/attractions/hide-n-seek-childrens-trail/index.htm

Mud and Slime Pies

I made a batch of cornflour 'slime' for Finn to play with in the garden, but then I thought I'd set up a little outdoor kitchen for him so he can create and make mess with other outdoor elements (dirt, sand, leaves, gum nuts). He had a wonderful morning inventing recipes for slime pies.

i love nature

I recently ordered a great book called 'I love Dirt', which I often refer to when thinking of ideas for outdoor activities with my children.