Happy Kids, Happy Mum!

As far as I can remember, I had never looked after someone else's child up until the other day. A friend of mine needed a carer for her daughter for a day and I put my hand up, even though I was a bit anxious about it. I know the little girl and my children love spending time with her. It definitely made it easier that they get along well.

Luckily, our little guest had great manners and her interests were similar to my children's. There were lots of reading, chatting, puzzles etc. during the day (actually, at some stage, my son was walking around with a crown on his head! Oh girls! They know how to make boys do things for sure). I didn't really need to come up with activity ideas for them most of the day but I did suggest a few little things which they happily accepted.

One of the favourites on the day was the outdoor painting activity. If you have been following my blog, you would know that we have been renovating since towards the end of last year. We have completed most of it but there are still some jobs to do before we can call it 'all done'. One advantage of this process is that we have got lots of cardboards around. We try to get rid of them slowly, putting them in our recycling bin whenever possible but we still have heaps. On the day, I basically cut one large piece nice and neatly and gave it to the kids to use as a canvas. They took one of their paint sets, took a paint brush each and simply got started.  They all had a great amount of space for their masterpieces.

This would make a perfect party activity and it won't even cost much. Just make sure you have got nice sized cardboards, enough paint brushes to avoid any tears and screaming; and an art smock each so that no-one ends up with a set of clothes covered in paint to go back home with. All you need after this is to sit back and enjoy the sound of laughter and the bright, proud eyes on the children's faces!

(Our little guest learning hand-embroidery)

(A snack platter from the day)

 Have a fantastic day!