Nature Nuts

Busy week this week!  Visited Coolings Green & Pleasant on Tuesday morning to take Erin to a Nature Nuts 'Beautiful Butterfly' session.

It was brilliant!  I love Coolings anyway, the nature trail is really good and well maintained with a lot of happy healthy animals (wallabies, goats, sheep, pigs and the biggest chicken ever!) and interesting things to see (bug hotels, wigwams, the conifer tunnel and a den).

Kirsty's nature nuts session was run in their outdoor classroom and was really well structured.  She has a really good rapport with the children, engaging all ages and involving them all in a structured way.  They played games, got up close with a butterfly, planted seeds, made a butterfly pot marker, read a story and then took on the nature trail challenge before heading to the cafe for lunch, face painting and drawing.

I can't quite believe we managed to fit all of that in in just 2 hours!

At £10 per child, it was amazing value.  Erin was totally engrossed and really enjoyed herself, getting properly involved in every activity.  I'm not sure if it was Kirsty's manner or the size of the group, but I haven't seen her ever get so much out of a play/learn session before.

Highly recommend Nature Nuts to other families - think Kirsty is planning some more sessions at Coolings and she advertises children's parties on her website.  Check it out.

Handmade is best!

Made the best part of a roman blind for Number 2's room yesterday.  Got to add the rings, cord and fix it all to the baton, but the main part of the sewing is done.  From measuring out to putting the machine away, I reckon 3 hours or so.  Used blackout lining leftover from Erin's curtains and some leftover fabric from another project.  Probably cost £35 in all, including all the hardware. 

It's amazing what you can do when you try!

First attempt at crochet

Not sure it's right!

Boppin Tots

Went to Boppin Tots at St John's church hall on Lynwood Grove in Orpington today.  £4 for a good 45 minutes worth of fun, toys, singing and dancing with Vicky, who must be the most energetic lady on the planet!

Erin loves it and all of the children there get totally into it, running around after Vicky shouting and laughing.

Vicky also very kindly let me hand out some WP flyers - top lady!

One of the best things I find about this group is that you don't have to book or sign up.  And the more children there are there, the better it is.

www.boppintots.co.uk

Mollie Makes

This is a gorgeous monthly magazine for crafty creative types, full of beautiful things to make and buy.  They've also got a £5 for 3 issues offer going on until 31st July so get in there quick.

Go to www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/MMS312 to get the offer

I am now going to learn crochet - I like the look of the little crochet flowers in this month's issue - would look lovely pinned to a WP pinafore...

Art Shack

A friend introduced me to this - good to support other local small businesses:

Calling all future Van Gogh’s, Da Vinci’s or Dali’s the Art Shack will be running a trial session Monday 25th July at 10.30 in the Poverest Coronation Hall, Bridge rd, Orpington BR5 2DA. The session is primarily for Pre-schoolers but older siblings are welcome.

The trail session will be based around the theme of space with 4 different areas:

Area 51: Build your own rocket with card, glitter, foam shapes and pom poms.

Area 52: Paint your own Alien mask

Area 53: Create your own night space picture with chalk and black paper

Area 54: for those who just want to play with some dough.

After you have created your own space art, the session will rap up with an interactive space story

Juice will be available but please bring your own cups.
 

The session shall run for approx 45mins to 1 hour and each activity should take a maximum 15 minutes.

And all this for a mere £3.00 per child.

Hobbycraft

A Hobbycraft store has opened up near me recently and I made it in there this morning for the first time.  I was really impressed with the range of stuff they have, although I did think it was rather expensive.  They had a great range of Tanya Whelan fabrics, sadly all at £12.99 a meter which put me off splurging.

Much better to get them online (www.gonetoearth.co.uk and www.cottonpatch.co.uk are two reasonably priced suppliers I have found so far) and save yourself at least £3 per meter.

But on first browse, a good local place to go for odds and ends.

First post

Being new to the blog world, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to say.  So, I'll just ramble on a bit and say that a friend recommended this magazine/website to me today and it looks very interesting.  Not too promising for the bank balance, but a trove of gorgeousness in terms of fabrics, yarns and all things haberdash:

Selvedge