Outdoor kitchen

Our temporary outdoor kitchen has been great fun.  I have been inspired by the sheer number of mud kitchens on pintrest  but haven't quite got round to doing the full on mud session yet.

We created a leafy, red dyed rice concoction that Chops loved stirring, spooning and generally dolloping everywhere.  The exciting thing was the next day it was full of snails who seemed to be feasting on the mixture, much to the delight of Chops.

I also put out a muffin tin, lots of smaller bowls and a sieve just to make it feel a bit more like a kitchen.

Going to work on a full on mud pie kitchen next - got to convince hubby its a brilliant idea though!!! (He mainly does bath time so he is on clean up duty after the mess).

Sand play

Well I have finally given in and bought a sand tray - I was reluctant as I didn't want a sandy house but sand is such a hit when we head down to the sandpit at the park that I just had to and £20 from Argos seemed cheap enough for lots of fun.

Its already a big hit, Chops has played with it loads and 5 of them were having great fun today - just got to crack the concept of keeping the sand on the decking!

I got my trusty tough tray out too so they could dig and make castles as well.  Adding in other objects such as shells and lolly sticks to make it more interesting (and not all about plastic).  Lots of birthday cakes were made!

Is it Spring

So I was trying to remember that it really is spring and looked at some of the photos of when we did manage to get out into the garden and have some fun digging and planting spring flowers (which are now under an inch of snow and probably not going to make it)!!!

This is such a great activity as we have given chops a patch of her own and she can dig away without worrying about the plants and we can plant some veg when the weather comes good again!

We also gathered stones, shells and pinecones from around the garden and decorated the border which was good fun too. (Who knew that the very annoying 50ft Christmas tree, planted over 50 years ago according to our neighbour, could be a source of fun and decoration rather than just piles of needles!)

Come back spring - pretty please.