Summer fun - week 2

Week 2 & my children havent uttered the B word yet (bored)!!! I think the main reason behind this for my eldest is .....
1. Decorating
... his own room. I let him have some imput in the colours etc (it was decided to have it white to make it look bright & big, with 1 pale grey wall, and have accesories to add colour that could change as he got older). & with a lot of guidance on how to paint, e.g sand first, clean up, paint thin layers allowing to dry properly imbetween etc. Even with as much covered as possible he is still managing to get paint everywhere, such as my step ladder ALL over his clothes etc, (luckily they are old clothes) but thats part of the fun & its not really hurting anything.

2. Paper shapes
While Zack paints I''ve been supervising Kai with scissors. They are specially developed for very young hands, with rounded edges etc, and as hes not usually allowed scissors so was very excited about this project. He's enjoyed cutting shapes out of coloured paper. We keep these in a tub and he now uses them to make pictures and colour on.

3. Playscheme - making a costume out of scraps
Zack has been going to play scheme for a couple of hours each day this week and the one day he came home looking like this...

They could help themselves to a large pile of off cut materials, cardboard and string to make a costume. He made himself a ninja turtle outfit. He enjoyed making it though was a little embarrassed walking home like it, but he couldnt undo the knots. Kai loves it though and keeps wearing it.

4.Borrowing Games
I dont like my children spending too much time glued infront of the box but I do think a limited amount of time playing video games can help with hand to eye coordination, strategies and problem solving - also keep fit if you have certain games on the wii.

We are very lucky that we have quite an extensive list of games we can borrow from various places including trusted family and friends. Zack also will take his games into Gamestation to trade in when hes bored of them (I'm not sure if you need an adult to do this, my OH works there so would act as Zacks adult accomplice)

5.Salt Dough
I made up some play dough for my children to play with, its as simple as

1 cup of salt (this can a cup of any size, not the american "cup" measurement)
3 cups of plain flour
1 cup of water.
Mix them all together until they form a ball, if too wet/sticky add more flour, if too dry add a little more water.
I have a draw full of cookie cutters, which you can see on the floor, which Kai had fun with, whereas Zack prefered to do his own model (based on the mario you can see)

When finished I put them in the oven on 160C for 30 mins (less for thinner designs), If you dont want them to get the odd crack on the surface you need to bake for longer at under 100C. You can also leave it to air dry but this does take a day or 2.

They are all ready for painting now

6.Baking
We made Blondies this week by following Karens recipe over at Country heart & home. I omitted the nuts due to having a child under 5, and didnt add raisins as OH doesnt like them. It looked a lil plain without these in so I decided to make it 2 layers high by adding a white chocolate ganache (melted white choc mixed with cream)

It was fairly simple for the children to make (Zack did the measuring and melting part, Kai helped with the mixing) and everyone thought it was delicious!!! I have to admit, with the children being kept so entertained, and having lost a bit of my crafting mojo at the moment its me whose feeling bored :-O

Thank you very much to Carmen & Nicky for adding their links to what they've been upto last week, how about you join in this week and share with us what you've been upto.