We Made Muddy Puddles!

A Fun Activity for Pre-Schoolers

Freddy loves getting messy in the kitchen!  He also loves eating yummy things.  At his nursery, Freddy had made pirate coins using melted chocolate and was so enthusiastic telling me all about it that we adapted the activity to make our own choccy treats.

So we got busy and made Muddy Puddles!  The mud is made of molten chocolate with dried fruit as the rocks and stones.  This is a super easy activity for pre-schoolers who will be able to decorate the Muddy Puddles all on their own.

You need:

1 bar of milk chocolate
An assortment of dried fruit (we used raisins, sultanas and chopped apricots.)

What you do:

Melt the chocolate in the microwave and pour puddles onto a silicone baking tray or onto greaseproof paper. (This is obviously a job for the grown-ups, but after this little ones can take over!)
Use a spoon to swirl the melted chocolate to the required shapes.
Then decorate with dried fruit. (You could also use cake sprinkles or cereals like Rice Krispies too.)
Pop in the fridge to set, them remove from the silicone to enjoy.

This is such a quick and easy activity to do with your children.  It gives you the opportunity to talk about the science of melting the chocolate, changing its state from solid to liquid when heated.  It's never too young to learn about science!

Freddy loved arranging his dried fruit on top of his Muddy Puddles.  We used a healthy topping to offset the fact that it was on a chocolate base!

Freddy loved eating a Muddy Puddle after his lunch and said it was 'delicious'!  He also had a lot of fun getting busy in the kitchen with me.

Let Your Children Create-A-World

Creative Play For Boys and Girls with Create-a-World

As a child, one of my favourite toys was Fuzzy Felt which consisted of a board onto which cut-out felt shapes could be stuck.  I used to get a new one every Christmas and excitedly waited for the newest themed set to add to my collection.  I have very fond memories of my Fuzzy Felt.  I was therefore very excited to see that the concept has been brought bang up to date in the exciting soft imagination game Create-a-World  from Simply Good.

Freddy was a very eager and willing volunteer to have a play with the Create-a-World set with an additional ABC kit  sent to us from White Step....and I was equally eager and willing to join him in a fun creative play session!

The large felt board can be wall mounted or used on the floor or on a table as a base for your child's creativity.  Colourful, hand-made felt pieces can be easily stuck, removed and moved around to create a unique scene.  Animals, fairy tale characters, bugs, vehicles, roads and people are among the 60+ playing pieces, which allow the child's imagination to run wild.  The additional ABC set includes 51 colourful handmade letters, each featuring an object or animal that begins with the letter it is printed on.  This creates an even richer creative experience, allowing young children to discover the alphabet and spell out simple words.

Create a World

Lovely Letters

Playing with the set encourages children to express themselves in many different ways with art, storytelling and imaginative role play.  Language, problem solving and number skills can be developed.  The letters allow  early phonics and letter recognition.  Concentration levels can be improved. And all this learning is cunningly disguised as play!!

The best way to demonstrate the Create-A-World playset with the additional ABC kit is in a video.   So here is Freddy playing with his new favourite toy!

Other noteable features are that the Create-a-World set comes in a handy bag making it easy to tidy away and perfect for taking on holiday.  It is a mess free creative activity...no scissors, glue or paint required.  Everything can be packed away quickly and cleanly.  So it can really be played with anywhere and anytime. It is all beautifully made and will grow with your child.  Older children can use the pieces to play out stories or could even use them in stop-animation.  They are a great educational resource.

The Create-a-World with the ABC set is available from whitestep.co.uk for £58.95.

Getting Messy with Moon Dough

Moon Dough Fun Pack

Moon Dough by Spinmaster is marketed as a magical, less mess dough that never dries out.  Sounds good!  We were sent a Moon Dough Fun Pack to try out to see what we thought.  Tiny Tester Freddy put it to the test.

The carry case comes with a piece of red, blue and yellow dough along with a selection of moulds and tools.  A removable section of lid has ten moulds of party related items such as food, cake and presents.  There are two dog moulds, a 3D apple mould, a birthday cake and potato mould, curly cutter, pie cutter and a dough flattener.

The dough itself is strangely textured like a dense foam or compacted powder.  When you squish it together it becomes manageable and easily goes into the moulds.  It is very dry to touch and doesn't stick, so it drops out of the moulds shaped with good detail, making modelling very easy, even for Freddy who is nearly three years old. The models hold their shape really well so little ones can indulge in some pretend play with the characters, animals or food they create.

Freddy was really engaged with this activity.  It did get messy with little bits all over the floor, but they were easy to pick up using a big blob of moon dough.  The bits didn't stick onto the laminate or into the carpet which was a real plus when it came to tidying up.  A quick once over with a hoover cleaned up the bits I'd missed.  By far his favourite activity was using the curly cutter to chop everything up into tiny pieces!

After Freddy played with it we ended up with mix and match rainbow dough with the colours all mixed together.  It actually looked quite pretty!  

Everything fits neatly back into the case and the dough doesn't go hard.  You just squeeze it and it regains its durable texture.  

The Moon Dough Fun Pack is a good activity for kids aged 3 and up.  The different shaped moulds give scope for discussions about  the objects and colours aiding language development.  The textured dough is a great medium for sensory play.  It seems more durable and less messy than play-doh or plasticine, and works better with moulds.  It also stays much cleaner too.  However, this is still a relatively messy activity so don't be lulled into a false sense of security...have your Hoover at the ready!

My only real irk with this product is the packaging which depicts children creating amazingly coloured models using way more dough than is included in the packaging.  I always find that kind of marketing a bit misleading...just show us what we're getting please manufacturers!  

The Moon Dough Fun Pack retails for £12.99 RRP which is a good price considering all the accessories including the storage case that it comes with.  Other playsets are available with different tools so you can add to your collection.  Moon Dough sets are available from Argos, Asda, The Entertainer, Amazon and Play.

This review has been done on behalf of  blogmatch.com who sent Freddy the Moon Dough.

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Get Creative with the Kids and CubbyKit

Kids love getting messy with a fun art activity.  Nothing beats glue, glitter, crayons and play dough to spark a child's creativity and keep them entertained for hours. 

CubbyKit is the new subscription based service offering creative crafts delivered directly to your door.  Each box is themed with subjects such as Spring, Outer Space or Music.  They contain full instructions and supplies for several activities, as well as suggestions for ways to explore further.

CubbyKits allow busy parents to have one on one time with their children, whilst getting creative with exciting arts activities.  The kits are entertaining, inspiring and educational, designed by experts and suitable for children aged 3-6 years old.

We were lucky enough to be asked to test out a CubbyKit for 3-4 year olds.  The big box arrived and we were excited to open it up and find out what was inside.  It was well packaged with tissue paper and stickers.

The CubbyKit was Outer Space themed with the supplies required to make Mushy Martians,  A Star Constellation Chart and a 3D Rocket Picture.

We decided to get stuck in with the Mushy Martians which is a great fun activity involving DIY playdough.  The ingredients were all ready weighed up in labelled pots ready to combine into the dough.  The instructions were very clear and well illustrated.  Fun facts add to the educational value and offer useful prompts to talk about the theme with your child.

The green dough was so tactile and Freddy loved rolling it, squishing it and shaping it.  He popped on the eyes and pipe cleaner antennae helped by big sister Kizzy who loved getting involved in the arts activities.

It was great fun to watch him making his own Mushy Martian although he was adamant that it was a bumble bee!  The instructions included some space facts and further ideas for play dough creations.

Mushy Martian...or Bumble Bee???

Many of the pieces of equipment are re-usable such as the scissors, glue scraper, crayons and colouring pencils, so you can add to your own craft kit for future projects.

Freddy thoroughly enjoyed his other two space related arts activities too.  He made a lovely Star Constellation Chart with gold glitter splodges and his 3D Rocket Ship Picture was beautifully crayoned!! He loved the space theme and chatted about rockets and stars which is great for extending his vocabulary.

Splodging the Glitter Glue Stars

Sticking with Kizzy

3D Rocket Ships

 I really think the Cubby Kits are a great idea.  As parents, it is sometimes too easy to put off doing arts and crafts activities with our little ones. Having a themed box full of activities delivered to your door gives you a focus to have some real fun and create some great art projects.  Having everything provided means there is no excuse to not get crafting.  All the ideas are there on the easy to follow instructional cards which are really inspiring, even for the least creative among us!!

We had great fun.  Kizzy loved helping Freddy with any tricky bits and it was lovely to see them working together.  She learned lots of great space facts too.  The kits are really well put together and although aimed at younger children held great appeal with her too.

The CubbyKit subscription would make a fabulous gift for a child and is available to order both monthly or annually.  All you need to do is roll up your sleeves and get stuck in with your little one!

**Since doing this review Cubby Kit has gone under new management, so please research the new company independently before making any decisions.**