#Day one

Day one of our summer holidays.

I was treat to a lie in this morning… we got up at 7.23. Carl left for work, as quiet as a mouse so not to wake anyone up. 3 minutes later as he pulled away from our street, Nalah was wide wide awake!!

Breakfast went without hiccup, the usual mass crumb mess, soggy toast rubbed into clean hair and drinks flung across the room. But no real tales to tell.

Oscar spent his first morning of the summer holidays sanding down his bed.

Last night we discovered teeth marks all over his bed.  He was unable to tell us how they got there and insisted he must have been younger. Having only moved into that room a few months ago, I don’t belive that is the case.

This morning he informed he had in fact been trying to make his tooth fall out as his best friend had just had his first visit from the tooth fairy!!

After a talk of the health and safety risks of this and then a telling of talk for defacing furniture, Oscar was left with the task to think how to get rid all of these teeth marks. And there were a lot.

Oscar came to me with the idea he had spent the whole night thinking of, he would colour in some masking tape brown and stick it over the teeth marks. He thought this plan was solid, I wasn’t so sure.

I handed him some sand paper and instructed him how he could use it to get rid of the marks. So that his how he spent his first morning of the summer holdings.  Probably not his first idea to put on his holiday bucket list. But never the less the bed looks ten times better (slightly paler in parts) and I definatly don’t think he will be biting anymore furniture.

After he had finished I asked him to take off his bed sheet and put it in the wash as it was now covered in wood dust.

I then had to go see to Nalah, Oscar came bounding in pleased with himself for doing as I had asked.

Though I hadn’t thought the instruction through very well.

He had put his sheet in the washing machine as asked… the washing machine that had just finished it’s cycle full of my clean clothes…

We spent the afternoon at the zoo with my sister in law (soon to be) and the kid’s cousins who are 1 and 3 years.

Jokes…

We walked to pets at home. Which the kids absolutely love, the eldest two like to look at the rabbits, degus, rats and guinea pigs, whilst the babies happily stare at the fish swimming around, this trip enables a 10 minute uninterrupted adult conversation above the 2 prams.

This 30 minute trip took several hours due to extremely slow, tired, small legs and having to take shelter in b&m from the torrential rain that thundered above our heads.

Positives of the day.

• I managed to take the bin out in the nick of time, baby on hip, in my dressing gown, looking pretty pathetic so the bin man had to take over and pull it out of my yard.
• My wash basket is empty..and one wash has been washed twice!
• 1/6 of the 3 beds bedding has been washed.. better luck tomorrow with the other 5/6.
• Oscar had fun playing with his cousin and enjoyed a free trip out
• I spoke to an adult for over 10 minutes.
• Both kids were fed clean and in bed on time… despite Nalah still waking up at least 8 times throughout the night because she can now roll onto her belly..
• I managed 3 rounds of my Charlotte Crosby workout out dvd.. followed by 2 massive cheesy garlic stuffed mushrooms…mmm
• We didn’t spent a penny all day.

 

Soft play – rules of play

You survived a long 2 week holiday, thinking of things to keep your little delights entertained whilst trying not to lose your shit as you watch another episode of the mini dogs that keep saving the city and find yet another melted Easter egg down the side of the sofa. Only to realise today is an inset day!!!!

The rain is pouring and I literally have no energy left to think of something creative or fun, the batteries on the tablet are dead. So we have ventured out to the soft play… aka hell.

I am sat in said hell as I write this, the noise levels rapidly increasing at about the same rate as my stress levels.

Rules of play.

• Children must always be supervised

Translated too – the moment you hear crying and someone accurately describing your delight, “the boy with an orange t’shirt, glasses and blonde hair”  to their parent through sobs, quickly look alert and make your way to the exit swiftly. That or deny all knowledge of even having a child and make out you had just come out for a cup of coffee, whilst sighing to said parent, “people should really control their kids.”

• Height and age restrictions must be abided by in each play zone.

Translated to – could the two twelve-year-old rugby players who are currently throwing foam blocks at full pelt in the baby section where my 4 month is having a little roll around minding her own business, please kindly f off. After a few very obvious head shakes and tutting appear to make no difference. It’s then time to stand up with hands on hips (yes you have to turn into this parent, there is no option) looking for the parents of these juvenile delinquents, after catching eye contact and ensuring they know your cross, but still no f**ks from them are given. You then pick your child up and huff loudly muttering about the selfishness of people and your wasted £4.

• No jewellery, glasses or sharp objects in the play zones.

Translated to. If your delight wears glasses, mine does, a stylish pair of spiderman ones at that. Expect them not to remain intact throughout the play session.  Expect to return home with broken glasses that sit at a wonky angle on their face and a 2 hour wait in Specsavers.

Expect that if you are wearing any jewellery, especially bracelets, usually expensive Pandora ones, these too will not last the play session and you will spend the rest of your hour crawling around, no not after your child, after the 5 lost charms that are somewhere in the bottom of the pool.  Yak!!

• Ensure your child has used the toilet before entering the play zone.

Translated to – No child is going to want to visit a boring toilet when faced with an amazing, bright and colourful play structure. And this only ends in 2 ways – Your child comes toddling up to you with wet legs crying because they couldn’t get out of tunnel of doom fast enough, you then notice a hard lump in their pants and pray to god no Nuggets have fallen out on the way.

Anyone fancy a malteaster?

And the worst, your child comes up to you crying because their bum is wet, no fault of their own, they’ve happily sped down the slide unbeknown to them a puddle of piss lay at the bottom. But that’s fine, because you’ve packed spare clothes for your 5-year-old right? Oh…

Same applies for the rule of play

• Do not allow your child to enter the play zone if they are feeling unwell.

No we don’t want to be cleaning up the remainder of Mikey’s* up churned Easter egg he had for breakfast off our dear darlings new chinos, nor do we fancy dealing with 2 nights of puke patrol after they’ve caught the bloody bug!!

• Keep away from the slide exits and do not climb up the slides.

Translated to – all children are going to try this and your child will be either one of these two.

The teller – the one that is running back to you every 2 minutes giving you a running commentary on Fred’s* movements up the slide and how this isn’t fair and that he is a bully and no one is listening to you. You sigh and give up even attempting to scroll through Facebook and enjoy your cup of tea and nod in agreement with your child whilst squinting trying to see where they are pointing, not really listening you pat them on their back and say, “off you go just play somewhere else don’t play with him anymore, we are going soon so make the most of your time.”

Or the tryer- Fred* is your child and he’s already halfway to the top of the slide, shouting at the little girl who is trying to go down. You can hear parents muttering around you wondering who is responsible for this child. You will have to get up, leave that cup of tea and intervene.  “Fred what have I said about not listening you have one last chance, blow it and this will be the last soft play you’ll ever lay eyes on, do you understand. ” all eyes are now on you with 100s of disapproving glares that you dare raise your voice, so that’s this soft play centre crossed off your list.

Finally –

• No food or drink in the soft play zone and absolutely no consumption of alcohol.

So you have all this to deal with… and there is no alcohol to even soften the blow. *shudder*

Mummies Surviving Easter – Day 5

this is my final installment of Mummies surviving Easter. And I am not following trend in this one giving you happy clappy artsy activities you can do or give you fancy recipes or places to visit. Reason been? I literally have done bugger all to report.

So this final post will be Mummies (and daddies and all carers to be PC) guide to surviving the final week of the holidays – a step by step guide.

Hope it helps save some of you learn to embrace the half term and helps you get over the dreaded mummy guilt that seems to follow everyone around even more through the long days of the holidays!

Step 1 – Try not to be too optimistic and be realistic

Okay so you start the holidays feeling great. Your child is with you for two full weeks and you have a list as long as your arm with great Easter activities, petting farms, theme parks, zoos, aquariums and shows that you can experience together. You have missed your little angel so much and this is the time you are going to show them just how much.

Right now take a deep breath, look at your list, another breath. Scrumple the list.

It is not realistic that you will manage an activity or outing every day of the holiday unless you have obtained some amazing super power, (if that is the case please let us know your secret) You may manage 1, 2 or maybe even 3 but I would definitely limit yourself to that. While you love your children dearly you do not need to do ‘things’ to prove that. It took me a long time to realise that. Been a working mum definitely leaves you feeling the mummy guilt stronger than ever and feeling like you need to ‘make it up to them’ somehow.

Be realistic – you can make memories in many ways they do not have to expensive, exhausting and Eastery at all.

Be realistic – Everywhere on your list will be jam-packed with other mummies all thinking the same thing. You will be queuing for hour with grumpy children.

Be realistic – If you are counting on sunshine for these activities, then don’t you can guarantee that our lovely British weather won’t let you down and will be as consistent as ever with rain whenever you plan to do something fun.

Be realistic – a picnic on the carpet, stuffing your faces with Easter eggs whilst watching Hop sounds much more enjoyable, easy and well Eastery.

Step 2 – Lie ins are a thing

And they make everyone much much happier. Okay so I have a 4 month baby and a 5-year-old so normally lie ins don’t really exist. Though with no school run to complete, baby to feed and change, breakfast to make, teeth to brush, book bag to check all before 8:30 the morning is always much much calmer in the holidays. So while everyone may well still be awake, encouraging staying in bed, or even in their own bedrooms is such a life changer to make for a happier mum.

So how do I manage this?

So Oscar is the easier one because he is able to listen and follow and instruction – usually…

At bedtime I set him a challenge like: I bet you can’t build a bat cave for your Lego men, it would be really cool, why don’t you try in the morning.

Hint this also gives him something to think about in bed on a night avoided the 10000 questions, such as why do we have walls?

If this fails I charge his tablet (don’t sharpen your pitch forks just yet) and allow him to watch kids you tube until it is a reasonable hour. While I don’t encourage endless hours of screen time I think this chill time in the morning is a god send.

We are quite blessed with Nalah as she is happy to lay down with a toy and (usually – touch wood 20 million times) will lay and kick her legs screaming in delight without adult interaction for around 20 minutes. (God help me when she can crawl though),

That been said we are entering the dreaded teething stage, so she is not so happy playing with a toy if that said toy does not enter her mouth and soothe her gums as she hoped so at the moment she is a lot more grumpier.

So my magic trick that earns me a little time in bed is simply making all her toys super accessible. I attatch the links onto everything – see my instagram for pics! Ok so I didn’t promise you could sleep for longer but I can lay in bed, scroll Facebook and take silly selfies at my leisure for a little while longer.

Step 3 – TV is not the devil.

It is actually very factual and informative, Oscar has told me so many things he has learnt from the telly and roped me into watching a documentary about palm Sunday, wish was very dull (but managed to get a bit more of that lie in during it) but he was ecstatic to learn more and link it to the work they’re doing at school.

Nalah is fascinated by the colours on the T.V and when I pop into the kitchen to put the washer on I can hear Oscar teaching Nalah the names of characters and talk about the programmes, it really is the cutest.

If you can put up with Mr bloody Tumble on your T.V for a while, then enjoy the peace and let him take over for a while, you deserve a little break!

Step 4 – Meal times don’t exist.

So strictly speaking you can’t actually starve your children, but routines are so much more slacker during the holidays that you can relax, breakfast doesn’t have to be eaten a lightening speed, sometimes it can last until lunch and then its brunch. So effectively your only having to prepare 2 meals. rather than 3. You know when your child is hungry (I am sure they will let you know like mine does!) and you know that they are not starving. Grazing is the key to holiday mealtime success. When Oscar goes to Grandma and Grandad’s house they offer him a 4 course breakfast which he absolutely loves, they then don’t have to feed him again till tea time! After his 1000s of raisins, apples, bananas, porridges, corn flakes and crumpets!

And with all these Easter eggs we have accumulated no one is going to go hungry in our house for a very long time!

Step 5 – Try and escape.

Not the children, you’re not going to be able to do that unless you have very generous family nearby. No but try to escape the house for a little while. Take a trip to the park, to the pond to feed the ducks, even just a walk around your local supermarket, poundshop, or my favorite Pets at Home – (It is defiantly a great free alternative the zoo or a petting farm!)

Not only will you feel like you have done something with the day and feel a bit like supermum for a short while but it is also a opportunity to learn new things with the kids, talk to them about things you wouldn’t usually talk to them about and engage them in things you don’t usually do together – because lets face it you wouldn’t usually drag them around Tesco for a pint of milk midweek, you would definitely wait for them to be in school or nursery to do tasks like this. But you may be surprised that this free, simple day-to-day task might – just might be okay!

You will feel so much better for escaping the house and not having to look at yet another load of baby sick covered clothes piled up near the washer.

Good look Happy holidays – and don’t worry just 6 more days to go!

Mummies surviving Easter – day 4

Its day 4 guys.. your getting there!!

So far my Easter activity suggestions have all been arty or bakey. If the idea of getting paints, glue, feathers, glitter, flour, icing sugar and rice crispies all over your house, increases your heart rate, makes your palms sweaty and gets you reaching for a large glass of wine.

Then fear not, here is a mess free, simple and cheap lazy mums activity!

The Egg hunt!

Pack of 3 kinder eggs less than £2 in Aldi.

This definatly doesnt have to be limited to Easter. We quite often play pirates and have used this game to enhance it.

Its best played if your child is completely not expecting it, so when Oscar was busy drawing a picture I snuck upstairs and hit treats around the house. If your looking for a completely free activity these do not have to cost, we have played it before using pirate treausre and other finds in Oscar’s bedroom.

We have also used fruit items as the treasure if you are worried that their chocolate intake this Easter has hit its limit.

Happy with his orange prize, map in hand

Oscar is fascinated by maps of all sorts

 

First sneakily hide your treasures around the house, I usually do 3/4 but you can do as many or few as your house allows. Usually starting with a small prize such as small chocolate coin or a small pack of raisins.

We then move onto a larger item as we go along, these could include an orange, a cadburys cream egg or a kinder surprise egg. If you don’t want to use food items an idea of a larger price could be a small toy from the pound shop.

Now all the treasure is hidden it is time to draw the map. This bit is a little tricky and took me 3 attempts to get it easy to follow.  Draw a plan of your house downstairs and upstairs. Any rooms that are off limits put a cross through on your map.  You can either draw arrows, footsteps or simple lines of where they need to go. For the older children you could even just write how many steps they need to take. I then draw a cross where the treasure is numbering 1-3 (so they dont end up with the big prize first).

We have so much fun playing this, it also gives me a 10 minute breather while he is busy searching!!

Oscar has also made me maps to follow and hidden his toys around the house. Which was also fun, though his hiding places weren’t very unique!! 😂

Enjoy happy hunting!!

 

Britain’s Beautiful Coast

Yes, we would all love to be making our way down a white sandy beach with the warm breeze in our hair, the turquoise waves lapping at our feet and a Pina colada in our hand. Unfortunately for most of us we are not. We are here in England, half term is coming and instead of days of endless Sun, Sea and Sambuca its probably more realistic to think drizzle, bored kids and well… the Sambuca can stay, you’ll no doubt need it.

In the middle of the week when your sat in the corner rocking backwards and forwards, hands covering your ears (but you can still hear B I N G O and BINGO was his NAMEO ringing loud and clear from your child’s mouth)  You’ve endured the hot, sticky, sweaty soft play nightmare from hell, your child has been bouncing off the walls since Sunday night after all the Easter egg hunts you’ve sent them on, your sick of looking at your bank statement and feeling a little dead inside.

Then you have an idea, the beach! Let them run, be loud, be free, no having to tell them to slow down, watch out, don’t fall, look where your going, be quiet. Let them loose at the beach while you gather back some sanity to get through another week! (Yes I hate to be the one to tell you, there is 2 weeks Easter holidays!!! And then real soon there is the dare I say it…6 weeks holiday!!)

Redcar Beach

 

If you are fortunate enough to live anywhere near the East Coast or happen to be in the area, here are a few of the beaches you should really check out.

 

Staithes

My favourite seaside village… ever!

Staithes is a small fishing village that looks like something out of the history books, set down a steep (very very steep, don’t wear heels attempting to walk down, and go careful with a pram too!) hill, with rows of weird and wonderful cottages.

I was very fortunate as a child to grow up in Staithes and I am very lucky that Oscar and Nalah have the same opportunity to enjoy everything that is on offer. Oscar is already fascinated by the place, here a just a few things he loves to do:

• Rock pooling and fossiling amoungst the cliffs. We never really find anything but Oscar is fasinated by the shells and stones he can collect, then we get a bit silly and usually ends in a seaweed fight.

Tiny toes testing the water

 

• Walking along the pier. Two large breakwaters have been reinstated and made bigger and better than ever to keep the pesky sea away from harbour. After a few disastrous storms these breakwaters do a brillaint job of protecting the little village. They are great to walk out on to and get a whole different perspective of Staithes. Just careful to keep hold of of little hands up there because its a long drop into the open sea!

Staithes Harbour

 

• Crabbing, buy a cheap crabline, bucket and bacon as bait and you have hours of fun pulling in your crab line waiting see what has climbled on to the end. Of course we always throw them back in the sea where they belong. But it definitely brings a lot of smiles to this little boys face counting up how many he has managed to catch and listening to stories of me doing the same when I was little and grandad when he was a boy.

Oscar crabbing looking across to Staithes Studios

 

• Visiting the lifeboat station – you can read about all the amazing rescues and call out that have taken place over the years, take a close up look at the life saving boat and equipment, donate money for an amazing charity and for the kids there is a ride on lifeboat fully equpped woth a helmet and life jacket to make the experience that bit more exciting.

• The beach – set in the harbour is a small sandy beach ideal for the kids to run around, skim stones, build sandcastles, bury themselves and even have a paddle in the sea. The beach is pretty sheltered and in low season is fairly quiet so the kids can cause havoc running, skipping and jumping till their hearts are content. Better here than in your living room eh?
• Walking across the stepping stones to find another secret little beach and once there paddling in the beck at low tide.

 

These are just a few that Oscar talks about the most, and best of all they’re free.

There are plenty more things you can do in Staithes, like exploring the amazing art galleries, Staithes studios a dainty gallery built over three floors, right on the front of the harbour is filled with loads of intresting delights. Visiting the Captain cook museum and teaching the little ones a little bit of history, having fresh fish and chips and the local pubs, enjoying a mouth watering cinder toffee ice cream from the ice cream van.

Visit Staithes art and heritage festival (9th and 10th Sept this year) and the best day of the year (in my opinion) Lifeboat day (18th-20th August this year), when you can get involved in the daft raft race, fancy dress competition, I came 2nd place one year when I was 10 – dressed up as fish and chips! It was brilliant, we didn’t have anything in the way of fancy dress, resources or a shop so my mum worked with what we did have (loads of newspaper for the fire) and just wrapped me and my friend up! There is a nightie parade where the whole village is out in force dressed in their nightwear walking up the hill, a rubber duck race down the beck and you can watch the brilliant rescue displays from the local and neighbouring  lifeboats and helicopter and in the evening a fantastic firework display over the harbour and most importantly of all raise money for this amazing charity.

 

 

Claim to Fame –

Earn extra mummy points – Old Jacks boat from Cbeebies is filmed here and there are loads of places where you can buy Old Jacks postcards and you can even walk past Old Jack’s House!

Earn extra points with the teachers at school and teach them some history too.

Captain James Cook (the fella who discovered loads of the South Pacific) lived here when he was 16.

 

 

There are so many other great beaches in the local area to visit too.

If you want vast space and endless running area Saltburn is the place to be. Along with the amazing beach Saltburn has a miniature railway, a woodland walk which has a few fun kids play equipment including a water pump alongside the river and for a more relaxing stroll there is the Italian gardens you can walk through.

Running from the waves on a bitter cold day in winter

 

 

Bridlington Beach is a lovely open space and also has the added bonus with the kiddies of amusements, arcades, rides and plenty of ice cream shops.

A calm day at Bridlington

 

Scarborough Beach, one of the busiest and most popular beaches is known for its donkey rides, fair, amusement arcades, castle and surfing. There nothing you cannot do at Scarborough beach and although this is more of a penny spending day out it is really worth the trip.

Sunny Scarborough

 

And finally Runswick Bay, 3 miles from Staithes is another steep hill to an amazing little village and beach. This beach is a long stretch of sand and really is great to just take a picnic, a swimming costume (or wetsuit if your not so brave) though as a child was known to be swimming in there in November brr, and spend a full day. It really is a sun trap so don’t forget the cream if we get lucky this spring to see some sunshine finally.

And Finally Flamborough beach, surrounded by white cliffs is a small quaint beach, fabulous for rock and shell hunting. Famous for bird watching Flamborough’s white cliffs home gannets, gulls and even puffins.

So while yes, we all might rather be in the Bahamas, England is still pretty amazing and a damn sight cheaper. Have a brilliant Easter Holidays and please share your photos of you enjoying the East Coast as much as I have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 lazy and skint activities to keep the kiddies happy.

Here is my tried and tested list of 5 things to do with the kids when your feeling skint and really don’t want to leave the house… these don’t even require you getting dressed!

I don’t know about anyone else but when it comes to the half term or the (dreaded) 6 weeks holiday I want to cram it as full as possible. I don’t want my children to feel let down in anyway that we haven’t done as much as absolute possible. I also don’t want it to come September and when Oscar is asked to wrote about what he has done this summer that he can list the entire netflix shows.

But realistically we don’t want to be spending £40 a week on these trips. Don’t get me wrong they are fantastic and are worth every penny, if you manage to get some good photos and forget the tear fuelled 5 hour journey home ever happened.
So here is my tried and tested list of 5 things to do when lets be honest you just don’t want to pay!

⦁ Bin bag slide

What you need:

1. Slide (any size will do)
2. Bin bags
3. Washing up liquid
4. A fearless child
5. Cold glass of wine (that’s for you obviously)

This one is for a nice sunny day, when the kids want to be in the garden and you want nothing more than to sit back enjoy the sun and maybe a nice cold glass of white. This was far the best day we have had in the garden, I don’t know who laughed more.
So basically it is a DIY slip and slide, the only time you are needed it to set up the bin bags, fill a bowl of water (I used the washing up bowl) and occasionally take photos and laugh at the muddy wedgies your child may be getting! Water works fine but adding washing up liquid directly onto the slide makes for an extremely fast and hilarious ride. (small print always supervise your child on a slide especially when slippy)

Science Lab

What you need:

1. several empty plastic (or wine) bottles
2. a jug
3. bath bombs
4. bi carbonate soda
5. food colouring
6. water
7. doctor outfit (that’s optional)

This one doesn’t really require much adult input either, after you have set up the make shift chemistry lab you can sit back and enjoy, every so often make sure they’re not drinking the magic potions! I used old bath bombs that (lets be honest when do I ever have time to be in the bath long enough for a bath bomb) I had received at Christmas, we all have some lurking somewhere. These added to bowls of hot water filled Oscar with amazement for a long time. Let them explore what happens when you add different ingredients, we added food colouring, bi carb, vinegar, fizzy water. It was defiantly more fun then I’ve ever had in a science lesson. This game then progressed to playing doctors and Oscar pretended (I screwed the lids on tightly after the potions were poured) #noonewantsawetteddy. Lining all his teddies up and making them better. Simple free easy fun activity that he has asked to do every time he see a bath bomb!

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Cardboard box

What you need:

1. A box
2. A big imagination
3. Scissors

Everyone knows that you buy the most expensive present for your child’s birthday or Christmas and the one thing that they want to play with is the box. Well this has ran true in our family too. The best yet we have had was the pram box, it was massive, but I’ve heard washing machine boxes work amazingly too. Though even if you don’t have any massive deliveries making their way to you, you can make do with smaller boxes. We have had hours of fun with box play:
⦁ A boat/ submarine/ lifeboat is Oscar’s top favourite
⦁ Castle
⦁ Prison
⦁ House
⦁ Shop
⦁ A Ball pool
Obviously the more creative can really go to town on this decorating, painting and creating real works of art like I’ve seen on pintrest. But really all we needed was the box, lots of imagination and mummy with some scissors to cut some windows and a door.

⦁ Baking/ play dough

What you need:

1. Butter
2. Flour
3. Sugar
4. Mixing bowl
5. Licking spoon
6. Cutters
7. Icing and sprinkles
8. Rolling pin
   or
9. Salt
10. Flour
11. cutters

This one obviously requires slightly more adult input than the others so may be one to leave for when your feeling less tired/ hungover. You can go crazy on Pintrest searching all sorts of weird and wonderful and lets be honest really bloody difficult recipes and bakes. I am literally the crappest baker so we stick to really simple recipe.
100g soft butter (or margarine)
50g Caster sugar
150g Flour
Then we cut them out using gingerbread man cutter and then I give Oscar free reign to decorate as he wants, this keeps him occupied for ages!

 
12 Pieces Metal Cookie Cutters, 3 Stars Shape, 3 Flowers Shape, 3 Round Shape, 3 Hearts Shape (Assorted Sizes)

 

If your not feeling like baking, or arestressing because you have no icing sugar because you made the last batch far too watery and ended up having to use the whole pack to make it thicker! (we’ve all been there). Don’t stress. Playdough bakers is just as fun, a lot less messy, only down side not so tasty!

Simple playdough recipe – 2 cups of flour, 2 cups of salt, 1 cup of hot water mix into a dough adding more flour if it is too sticky. – Set your child up at the table with a rolling pin, cookie cutters, dough and leave them too it.

⦁ Playing Christmas/ birthday

what you need:

1. Wrapping paper
2. Cello tape/ masking tape (is easier because the child can rip it themselves)

This one is the easiest lazy parent game ever ranking alongside logs, sleeping lions and doctors (when you’re playing the patient in a coma). Its great to play after Christmas or the few months after when you still haven’t bothered to put away the presents or stockings and have surplus wrapping paper left over.
How to play: So your child is Santa, if you have a Santa hat this makes it more enjoyable I believe but isn’t a necessity! You go to sleep on the sofa or in bed for more realism. Your child then wraps any toy they can find (if you have no masking tape and they cannot cut the cello tape I would advice to cut lots of small pieces and stick them on the edge of a table so they can use them rather than asking you every 2 minutes to cut it/find the end for them. A few hours later when they have wrapped as many presents as they could they fill a stocking or pillowcase and then wake you up saying happy Christmas. You then open the presents with a big fake smile on your face (the one you practised for the pair of socks your great aunt got you last year) and once you have carried out your best fake excited act for about 5 minutes it is over. Or they can start again and you can have another nap.
Your welcome! Happy playing!