This week, I joined https://www.activityvillage.co.uk/ for activities for the girls. They have so many materials to print off and so far, the girls have enjoyed doing all of them. I printed off some dress-up dolls and the girls had to cut the dolls and clothes out before dressing them. You have the option to print the activities out in black and white or colour too. My kids usually refuse to do colouring unless that is the sole aim of the activity 🙂 They cut out some animals to stick onto a field and it kept them occupied for a while 🙂
We decided to try making some fabergé eggs. I drew an egg-shaped outline on a piece of paper for each of the girls and then they tore up tin foil and covered the eggs in it. You could do it on card or with a 3D egg too- just using whatever you happen to have in the house. I gave the girls a box of sparkly confetti I got from the pound-shop, some sequins and beads and they covered their eggs with them. You could add gems too, googly eyes, glitter, or anything over the top and sparkly you have on hand 🙂 They really enjoyed the activity and I think the results are pretty to look at too 🙂
A friend of ours kindly lent us some puzzles. The girls really enjoyed the ones we completed together last week. They managed to do some of the new ones without any help 🙂 I think puzzles really slow everything down and teach kids patience too. It also gives them a sense of achievement when they finish them 🙂
I ordered some art books to look at for inspiration and just to educate myself more about various artists. A couple had appeared on a Youtube channel I like to watch and it inspired me to order some of my own 🙂 They were surprisingly cheap and I like having books you can easily dip into with kids around 🙂 The girls were interested in looking at some of the paintings too 🙂
The girls and I have got really into acrylic painting. I used to do it years ago, but was put off it because I’m so critical of everything I do. I’m trying to use it as a way to unwind and to stop judging everything I’m doing. I’m realising that painting makes me feel happy and it’s worth doing it for that reason alone, even if I’m not an expert, or even good at it 🙂 In the past, I gave up on things because I decided I wasn’t good enough at them, but I’m finding that there is a value in doing them, if only for the process. The girls like to join me at the table and paint their version of whatever I’m doing. My younger daughter used palette knives for the first time yesterday and loved layering the paint on 🙂
I decided to make some more bagels too. Kneading dough is so helpful when you’re feeling stressed or frustrated in Lockdown 🙂 It’s another form of escapism for me. Once you get your head around the process of making bagels, it’s actually quite simple and fun to do 🙂
This morning, the girls and I went for a walk and got some more donuts from Guilt Trip for our Friday treat 🙂 One of my daughters decided she needed to bring her umbrella, even though it wasn’t raining 🙂 The other one likes to carry the box of donuts home and serve them to everyone 🙂 I tried a vanilla glazed one and it was just as good as the espresso one 🙂
When we got home, after finishing homeschooling, I gathered some materials from Activity Village to make a Red Riding Hood Scene for the girls to play with. We used an empty box, added scrapbooking paper as wallpaper, made a cardboard bed and “wardrobe.” I glued the characters and the trees onto cardboard for reinforcement and cut them out. We made little loops for the back of them – if you glue them to the back, at the very bottom, it makes them stand up and you can also use them as finger puppets. We added some floral fabric as a bedspread for the granny 🙂 The girls got lots of entertainment out of the box and acting out Red Riding Hood-related scenes 🙂
We had a cleaning afternoon and the girls helped me with chores. I let them dust and mop and regretted handing over the furniture polish 🙂 It all got a bit out of hand, but they helped me to tidy up with the promise of another painting session at the end of it 🙂 We did some still life at the table and played around with colour-mixing. I’ve had to order more paints because we have used so many of them recently 🙂 That’s one good thing to come out of Lockdown – it encourages you to get round to all the neglected projects you have lying around the house and to rediscover things you’d forgotten you loved to do 🙂
The Funky Thrifter 