Water Play

Is it just our kids? Or yours too?

Most play activities will hold their attention for no longer than 20 minutes. Some activities are much quicker (e.g. puzzle play - lasts as long as it takes to do one puzzle... don't even think about suggesting another one!).

But, as soon as we add water to an activity... voila... up to an hour of attention! Some examples:

1) Pretending to give dolly a bath (no water): 5 minute attention span

    Add water: 20+ minutes of play

2) General play in the cubby house (without me): about 15 minutes
    Paint the cubby house with water: 30 minutes+

3) Play with kitchen toys, or real kitchen utensils: 20 minutes
    Add water: Up to 1 hour

4) Build with blocks: 10-15 minutes
    Play with blocks/ stacking cups in water: 30 minutes

5) Pull weeds, dig in garden or sandpit, general "gardening": about 20 minutes
    Water the garden: until it gets so soggy you need to put a stop to it!

6)  Bubbles: (can't really do this without water): as long as mummy will keep blowing or until bubble soap runs out.

And, you can also:
* Wash the car
* Bath a pet
* Play in a paddle pool
* Go to the pool
* Run a warm bath (in winter), add toys, grab a magazine for mummy to read nearby, pop the kids in and play!
* Do the washing up
* Measure different containers (how much water will they hold?)
* "Clean up" with a spray bottle of water
* "Mop" the floor 

Do your kids love to play with water? Do you have any other water play ideas?

Wordless Wednesday: When it rains, it pours

A rainy weekend stuck inside is no fun.

But a rainy weekend, getting out and about, is:

Home for a warm bath, a hot dinner and a cosy bed.

Linking up with Aussie Wordless Wednesday

Weekend-ing

Swimming:

Car-racing:

Bushwalking:

Conquering the wide ladder at the park (Mr 2):

A pretty good weekend, even despite some solo child-wrangling on Friday night, Saturday and Saturday night, while my husband was at a Christian convention. Thanks Grandparents. Single mums (or mums who have husbands away regularly)... I salute you.

How was your weekend?

When is a stick not a stick?

When it is:

... an umbrella

... or a horse

... or a broom

... or a walking stick

... or a snake

... or a hose

... or a river...

I love watching my kids get creative. 

I am willing to allow a (small) level of risk to let creativity happen.  Some might disagree. 21st century health and safety regulators might prefer that I get rid of the stick and send my kids inside to watch Baby Einstein DVDs.

But then there would be no creativity to observe.

Do you let your children take risks for the sake of learning?

Wordless Wednesday: Paint with water

Painting without the mess and clean-up... 

A friend shared this idea with me over a year ago now, and I am so thankful for it. A jar or bucket of water and a paintbrush can can keep my big kids occupied for ages. The other day, they got busy 'painting' the cubby house. It was a very serious business.

 

Joining Aussie Wordless Wednesday

Someone lovely has nominated The Useful Box for the Circle of Moms' Top 25 Aussie Blogs list. I feel honoured to be nominated. If you would like to vote for The Useful Box, click on the button, scroll down the list until you find my blurb and click "vote". You can vote every 24 hours. I know I don't stand a chance, but it is a nice way for some new people to find their way here, and offer their insights, ideas and opinions too.

Wordless Wednesday: First Play at the Park

Joining My Little Drummer Boys for Aussie Wordless Wednesday

In the garden...

Late last week, I embarked on my first gardening project with Miss 3 and Mr 2 (and Miss 10 months 'helped' a little too). Up until now, the small amount of gardening I have done with the kids around has been maintenance (weeding, raking leaves, putting the dirt and mulch back into the garden beds after they pull it out...)

Remember the old stone laundry tub from here? We are putting it to use. Not as a herb garden, as was my original intention, but for some pretty flowers in front of the cubby house.

First we smoothed out the soil (and added some store-bought compost that I found in the shed):

We decided our ALDI sunflower seeds would be too big for the tub.

In rummaging through the shed, I found a pot with some old seeds in it. These marigolds will look great if they flower. (Don't you love the little hand at the top, helping me hold the seeds?)

The only problem is that the expiry date on the pack was 2002!! Any green thumbs out there know how important flower expiry dates are? Do these look okay?

We took a risk and sowed the seeds anyway

We may have been a little too enthusiatic with getting them to the correct depth.

Then, we watered...

These seeds will be the most loved we have ever had in our garden.Maybe a little too loved...

Apparently we get seedlings in 10-14 days, so we should know by the end of next week if our first gardening project is a fizzer.

Any garden experts out there? Any chance that 8 year old seeds could still work? Is it possible to drown the seeds?