Dotty’s Teahouse in Carshalton is a lovely little café that is predominantly pink, with flowers, shabby chic decorations and delicious cupcakes – pretty much a little girl’s dream. They also offer afternoon tea but it isn’t cheap at £32.95 for adults and £19.95 for children. So I jumped at the chance to book a Halloween... Continue Reading →
Halloween pottery painting with children
Pottery painting is great fun to do with children and creates a lasting momento, whether it’s an ornament, a Christmas tree decoration or a gift for the grandparents. You can pick up sets very cheaply, at shops like The Works, or they often come attached to children’s magazines as the cover gift. These kind of... Continue Reading →
Thank you gift for teachers
What is a good gift for my child’s teachers? When my daughter left nursery we wanted to give three types of gift: something handmade for her key workers; something all members of staff could share; and a present for the nursery itself, I.e. a toy or book that the younger children and future children could... Continue Reading →
Crafting with Kids: Valentine’s Heart Suncatchers
Here’s a fun Valentine’s craft activity you can do with children where they will need adult help at the start and end but can go to town by themselves in the middle. And you have some pretty valentines decorations you can use again next year or something you can give away as a handmade gift.... Continue Reading →
How to make your own Story Spoons
This week is National Storytelling Week in the U.K. - I hadn’t heard of it until recently so if you are as unfamiliar with it as I was, there are some great resources here. The idea is to encourage and promote storytelling, whether that is folktales and fairytales or telling your own story. There are... Continue Reading →
Christmas Eve box for a three-year-old
Following on from previous blog posts about what you can put in a Christmas Eve box for a baby and ideas for a Christmas Eve box for a one or two-year-old, unsurprisingly perhaps I now bring you... what can you put in a Christmas Eve box for a three-year-old? Here’s what is in our Christmas... Continue Reading →
Halloween Party for Pre-schoolers and young children: Crafts, Games and Food
Happy Halloween! My daughter is three and a half and for the first time really excited about Halloween so I decided to throw a little party for a few of our friends. It was a nice opportunity to catch up with some mums I first met at a baby group when Sophie was only about... Continue Reading →
More Halloween toddler crafts – Pipe cleaner spiders and paper bat
Here are some ideas for easy Halloween crafts for toddlers that I made with my three year old last week. They use very cheap and fairly basic materials that you might have at home already or can pick up quite cheaply. Paper plate or paper/card bat We made this bat using black construction paper but... Continue Reading →
Paper Cup Animals – easy crafts with children
I’ve done lots of crafts with paper plates lately so why not branch out I thought… to paper cups! There are lots of crafts you can do with plastic or paper cups so if you’ve bought the disposable kind for a party for example and have some left over, this is a great way to... Continue Reading →
Pasta snails – Father’s Day craft for toddlers
These garden snails are super cute, easy to make with toddlers and would make a sweet little Father’s Day gift. They could find a home on Daddy’s desk, or in the garden - I’m planning to put mine in the garden but can’t vouch for how they will withstand the weather. I don’t expect they... Continue Reading →