Games with old calendars

This week we tried out another great activity idea from mama smiles and cut up an old calendar to make a matching game, matching the larger pictures with the smaller copies from the back of the calendar.









We also had another old calendar that didn't have smaller pictures so instead we cut the pictures in half to make a game of matching halves.





Sunnyboy enjoyed both these games and we're now hunting for more old calendars.

Click here to see the play, crafts and learning ideas blog link-ups we share at.

Snow - 7

Playing indoors

















It's been snowing here since Thursday evening but with the long winter nights there's not so much time to play outside in the daylight. We've been putting our baby bath to use again and bringing the snow indoors for the evenings.

While playing outdoors over the last few days, I've been putting newspaper and old towels on the floor in the house. I made a path across the living room with them so the carpet stays mostly dry and we don't have to take our boots off each time we go in and out to the garden again.

Click here to see the play, crafts and learning ideas blog link-ups we share at.

A make-do recipe and a baby bath

Every now and then I go through our kitchen cupboards to clear out the food that's hidden at the back and years past the 'best before' dates. This time Sunnyboy put it all to use.

Start with a baby bath, some organic crispbakes, mixed nuts and a pestle and mortar.


Add some spaghetti and some green china tea bags.


Grind well.


Rip open the tea bags and add contents to the mix, along with some dried oregano.


Stir in some weetabix minis and rice krispies multi-grain shapes (left over from breakfast).


Add water.


This is what you get.


We didn't have a baby bath when Sunnyboy was a baby because we used a Tummy Tub, but I came across this baby bath being thrown out with some cardboard boxes a couple of years ago and of course I took it home thinking it could be useful for something. Having a baby bath has ended up being so handy and it's regularly filled with water, mud, pasta, rice, oats, shaving cream and all kinds of other mixtures and make-do recipes.

Click here to see the play, crafts and learning ideas blog link-ups we share at.

A rubbish dump

Every so often our Housing Co-op hires a skip to take stuff to the tip and inevitably there'll be a pile of rubbish waiting to be taken away between skips so we end up with a mini rubbish dump behind the Co-op's meeting room. It looks untidy but the children love it.






















September 2009

See other people's worlds at My World Tuesday
See more outdoor pictures at Outdoor Wednesday
See more Make-Do Mondays at My Practically Perfect Life

Puzzle storage

Sunnyboy loves to do jigsaw puzzles. He has a bookcase in our hallway with shelves for puzzles,



and a homemade puzzle rack in a cupboard in our living room.



All of the puzzles we buy are secondhand and some of the boxes are old and falling apart, so I transfer the puzzles to new boxes and tins, with the pictures cut out and stuck on the outside. This means that I can often use smaller boxes to store the puzzles, taking up less storage space.



We also use bags to store puzzles and found some clear zippered bags so Sunnyboy can see which puzzles are inside.



Other secondhand puzzles we buy have boxes that are still in good condition but sometimes have more than one puzzle in a box. To make it easier to see which puzzle is which I put them in separate bags inside the box.



There are more ideas for toy storage in a small space in these posts:
Toy storage in a small space - Part 1
Toy storage in a small space - Part 2
An art easel in a small space
An art display in a small space
Frugal play kitchen
Folding trampoline

Click here to see the play, crafts and learning ideas blog link-ups we share at.

The toy shed

Our shared garden has a toy shed for all the neighbourhood children to use.



See more colourful pictures at Color Carnival
See more Make-Do Mondays at My Practically Perfect Life

Secondhand toys

Nearly everything we own (including furniture, furnishings, household utensils, clothes, books, etc.) is secondhand. Most of Sunnyboy's toys (he has a lot) are also secondhand and the majority of them we buy from the charity shop where we work. If we see something new in another shop that we can't afford at that time then Sunnyboy will say "We'll look for one in our shop" and very often the toy he is looking for will turn up in our shop within a few days or weeks. He also donates the toys he doesn't need anymore to our shop and on some occasions is right there when another child buys his old toy. He likes to show the younger customers how the toys work and then informs their parents, "You can buy that."

At work










Click here to see the play, crafts and learning ideas blog link-ups we share at.

Presents, a party hat and a cake

All of the presents I gave Sunnyboy for his birthday were secondhand from charity shops, except for the little red trolley which we bought from a community shop. I have a larger trolley that I use for grocery shopping and so Sunnyboy was delighted with his own child-sized trolley with an elephant picture. As we're usually together when shopping Sunnyboy had seen some of his presents before but had been quite happy for us to 'hide' them in the wardrobe until his birthday, and once we'd hidden them he forgot all about them. I wrapped his presents in reused wrapping paper and bags.



The day before his birthday Sunnyboy said he would like a party hat with a string to tie under his chin, so after he went to bed I made him a party hat and left it in the living room for him to find in the morning.



Because Sunnyboy had been given a birthday cake at work the day before his birthday I decided not to make another, and put his wooden cake out for him instead. On the morning of his birthday though two of our young neighbours came round to play and asked if he had a real cake, so I put together a make-do cake and Sunnyboy blew out the candles.



Walking home from the shop with both of our trolleys:
Me - "Your trolley's nicer than my trolley."
Sunnyboy - "Yes it is mama."

See more Make-Do Mondays at Ann Kroeker's blog
See more colourful pictures at Color Carnival

A new bookcase

This week we found this bookcase outside a house in our street with a note attached saying 'Free to a good home', so we took it home and put it in our hallway. Sunnyboy is really pleased with his new bookcase.





See more colourful pictures at Color Carnival
See more Make-Do Mondays at Ann Kroeker's blog
See more secondhand treasures at 2nd Time Around Tuesday
See more thrifty finds at Thrifty Thursday