Autumn Adventures

Don't you just love the sound of crunchy leaves underneath your feet and the change of colours autumn brings?

I've been so excited to do this blog knowing that it meant it would be October half term and I get to spend a week with my boys. We began our week with lots of walks through the leaves talking about the colours and sounds we could see and hear. Autumn is such an amazing season for your little one to explore their senses in so many ways. Oscar has loved climbing on stones, playing hide and seek behind trees and picking up lots of sticks...the bigger the better. 

 Every time we cross a bridge it has become the norm to say "Who's that trotting over my bridge?" after reading 'The Three Billy Goats' book. Not only has he learnt the trotting over the bridge phrase but every time I now say one, two he finishes off the counting with threeeeeeee.

Conker hunting 

I've never really been conker hunting before so after asking a few friends they told me maybe the beginning of October would have been better to go but with being so busy we decided to go on the hunt anyway. We went to Ashton park in Preston as it is only a short drive away from us. We found lots of horse chestnut trees :) after a bit of searching I found plenty. Oscar wasn't as interested as i'd hoped he would be but he had fun with his STICK moving the leaves around. However after a short amount of time this bench became his favorite thing. I can't blame him can you?

Sand Dunes in St Annes

It's been one of the coldest days so far today but we still decided to go on an adventure to the sand dunes. After taking some Year 3 children here years ago I thought I would take Oscar and my hubby for a different afternoon out. We wrapped up warm and set off. Oscar had so much fun playing in the sand, digging, mark making, throwing sand and following our footprints. 

Creative play

Conkers in old tins

Not only did Oscar love putting the conkers in and out of the tins he also threw them in the air using the lid, used the tin as a rattle and tried to balance the tins on top of each other. I love watching him being so imaginative with his play. Don't you wish sometimes you could jump into their little heads to see what they are really thinking?

Messy Play

I decided to set the garden up using the idea of Autumn 'things' and textures. Below is a list of things we used:

shaving foam on a tray

rice in his trailer

a tray of Autumn items - leaves, sticks, small pumpkins, acorns and conkers

his water and sand pit

play doh 

balls

plus anything else he has out in the garden

This was my favourite part when he picked up his pumpkin then rolled it in the shaving foam before covering it in rice and finally dunking it in the water. Imaginative play at its finest. 

A trip to a pumpkin farm to get us in the Halloween mood.

Oscar thought he was so strong bless him and tried to pick up this big pumpkins. 

Very excited Oscar sitting on the pumpkin. I think he preferred using it as a slide :) weeeeeeee.

We played a lot with the pumpkins this year....counting them, making proper pumpkins, feeling and talking about the textures and the most fun of all was hiding the pumpkins in different places, encouraging Oscar to look for them around the house. 

Thank you so much for taking time to read my blog. Please comment below if you have a blog or know of any blogs you would recommend me reading.

We haven't manged to do as many things colours to complete a blog on it so we combined colours in Autumn and my next blog coming up soon on mark making.

Thank you

Sam 

All things wheels

BOYS AND WHEELS

I don't know what it is about boys and cars or anything with wheels but don't they just love them? The smaller the better in Oscars case. 

I decided to do our next blog on something he loved - child led learning. Children seem to learn better when it is instigated by them or at least something they are interested in.

It was only when Oscar was about 1 he really began to play with cars, cars and more cars. We went to a wedding one weekend and there was a little boy playing with some 'hot wheels' aka tiny cars. Since then Oscar loves them even though they are aren't really for his age so you do need to watch them play with them. Bargin prices at Hawkins Bazaar or Wilkinsons

Books

We've read so many stories lately as that's all Oscar seems to want to do.

So to start our theme we took a trip to our local library and loved these Maisy shaped board books about tractors, trains and diggers by Lucy Cousins.

Pop up Tractor by DK

Adventures 

Every time we open the door Oscar races out to the car. I can't decide if he loves our adventures or is he just loves sitting in the 'front' of the car (when its parked). Have a look at our pictures below to see some of the exciting places we have been that have vehicles and fun things to ride on. 

Funtazia play centre in Blackburn - it's amazing. Check him out with his best friend Isaac.

Wild Boar Park in Bowland, Lancashire - Not only does it have tractors and more tractors it has amazing animals to see at the same time. 

Brockholes in Preston, Lancashire.

Local toddler and baby groups normally have plenty of ride ons.

Walks

 We went on lots of walks all around and found lots of vehicles on our way. Two of our favourites vehicles were the motorbikes and diggers especially as we have lots of new houses being built near us.

Talking to your children whilst on walks is so important, pointing out things that you see. Oscar has learnt lots of new words in this topic:

truck

tractor 

A car (2 words woop)

digger (in his own version) 

bus

Toys

There is no need to spend a fortune on toys. I found this packet of 5 vehicles in Wilkinsons last weekend for only £3. You should have seen his face when I brought them home. Hes played with them for hours already and can identify each one e.g. he points to the helicopter if I ask him where it is. 

Toot Toot track
This was another bargain from Sainsburys. When they have a percentage off check out the great toys you can get in there.

Puzzle also from Sainsburys only £3.

We also got some NUBY bath cars from ALDI baby event so we manged to bring our transport theme into bath time as well. 

Thank you for taking time to read my blog, I hope its given you some ideas to do with your little ones. As the summer holidays are now over I will try and put a blog up every month so please come back and visit to see what we have been up to.

Next blog will be all about COLOURS.

Thanks 

Samantha

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Taking a 1 year old abroad

This blog is a bit different to the rest. I have decided to share with you our first holiday away with a one year old. I'm hoping this will help any of you deciding to go away.

When we first started looking we weren't sure where to go and for how long so we came to a decision... 1 week in Majorca (Spain being one of the shortest flights from Manchester). Lots of people told us different opinions of when they thought we should fly... we decided a lunch time flight would be best for us and Oscar. Feed him when we get on the plane and then let him play/ watch the Twirlywoos on the ipad. Our little monkey doesn't like to sleep on our knees so we knew napping was out of the question. The plane journey was great... he was amazing. It was just the airport he struggled with but that doesn't surprise me as Oscar doesn't like shopping so i'm thinking they are similar in away...busy places. 

We booked Sea Club Mediteerian Resort in Alcudia - see the link below for more detail. It was perfect. 

https://www.seaclub.com/?lang=en

Swimming

2 packets of swimming nappies lasted us the week with a few to spare.

There were so many pools to choose from it was great but we mainly stayed around a pool that had a slide for Oscar and plenty of grass areas for him to play (see picture above). However sometimes we would have a stroll to the BABY pool where Oscar could walk in and out whenever he wanted. He seemed to like this one better. 

         

Don't you just love these little hooded towels? One of the best things we took with us. We would dry him in one of our towels and then put this on him and it would keep him all snuggly. Plus I think he looks adorable. 

Ice creams/ Food

Oscar has now become the biggest ice cream fan... what better way to cool you down. One day we had a stroll to a cafe and found this great ice cream bar. Oscar had the Spanish version of a mini milk. He loved it and especially liked feeding it to himself. Yes, ice cream was everywhere. 

Breakfast

Oscar had fruit and cheerios for breakfast with his bottle of milk but still enjoyed some of our toast or Full English Breakfast hehe. It was so cute watching his little hand sneak onto his Daddy's plate and steal some bacon or anything that was close to him. 

Lunch

Cheese chunks, ham, tomatoes, crunchy bread, crisps, yogurts and then one day he tried a gherkin and loved it. We would eat lunch back in our studio as we thought it was important for Oscar to be inside for a while and the air con helped cool us all down. 

Tea

I took some sachets over with us for his tea so I knew he was getting some kind of meal every night. He would have one of these plus anything else he fancied.

We would get ready to go out whilst he had his tea and then all go out together. Oscar loved to play on all the parks within the resort at this time especially the swings. A few nights we would walk down to the beach and have a play with the sand before getting him changed into his PJ's.

I just wanted to share a few more pictures of our night time fun below :)

Eating out at night time
All inclusive or self catering?
We went with self catering as this holiday was for us as well. We love to pick our meals and hunt down some quirky places. Before we went we borrowed a snooze shade  - they are amazing and a must have.
http://www.mothercare.com/parasols-and-canopies/snoozeshade---the-blackout-blind-for-prams-and-pushchairs-upf50/303869.html?CAGPSPN=pla&gclid=Cj0KEQjwo5--BRCS8ceLjv-XppUBEiQAGp15EGx7rUBj9Cb0E0aqJ_OT0uTe-Vov3dDlD86-_abMZUUaApZy8P8HAQ&CATCI=pla-215947675768&cm_mmc=Google-_-Pushchair%20Accessories-_-MC-UK-G-Shopping-Pushchairs-Accessories%2F%2F-_-%20-%20&utm_medium=CPC&CAAGID=37668367288&utm_source=Google

Once we had found a restaurant with a seat on the edge we would turn Oscar away from us with the snooze shade on and he would fall fast asleep. PERFECT.

Sun cream
Everyone has their own taste in sun cream etc but I just wanted to mention that we used this Malibu Scalp Protector. Before we went I was so worried about Oscars head burning as he won't wear a hat so I bought this protector and it was fab.
https://www.chemistdirect.co.uk/malibu-scalp-protector-spf30/prd-33l3?gclid=Cj0KEQjwo5--BRCS8ceLjv-XppUBEiQAGp15EAGMpIbX3GgN0XIl2GnNfH5dwHOgAoHPDNpKyZi_cEQaAkHB8P8HAQ


I hope this has helped anyone deciding to book a holiday with a one year old as its a very daunting thing when you haven't done it before. We absolutely loved every second and would love to do it again.

Thanks again

Sam
x

Woodland Week

Even though we have had so much rain this week it hasn't stopped us venturing out into the woodlands.

We haven't managed to go to the library this week so instead I have searched Percy the Park Keeper on youtube and played a few clips that retell his stories. See the link below 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W88CeDryevk

Oscar loves animals so these books by Nick Butterworth are great. Sometimes you can find the whole collection on offer through the Book People. They are out of stock at the moment but would be only £7.99 for 6 books. 

https://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_product_tbp?productId=583392

Songs we have sung:

• Fishes in the water - Oscar now knows all the actions from last week and loves it. 
• Humpty Dumpty 
• Its raining, its pouring
• Itsy Bitsy Spider - When we found a drain pipe on one of our walks

Places we have visited:

We live in Lancashire so:

Avenham Park

Local Woodlands around our house

Worden Park

I wanted to go to Beacon Fell but didn't get the chance as we are going on holiday so that has taken extra time up this week.

Our little explorer

Woodland Week has really allowed Oscar to be out in our gorgeous surroundings exploring everything in his way. Everyday his confidence is growing with his walking sometimes he speeds up and I feel like chasing after him (just incase he falls) but I know he will be ok. 

Don't you just love these little weaved tunnels? Oscar was having an 'off' day....but after a good hour sleep he woke up in a better mood. As soon as we came across this tunnel he go so excited especially as I chased behind him. Don't you just love the hands in the air walk as they steady themselves for balance?

 On our walks we have pointed out everything we have seen and heard. This is one of the best ways for children to broaden their language. Oscar words of the week are stick, tree, grass and fish. 

Lots of fun in the garden:

Oscar loves sitting on little stones and logs thinking he is the king... when we found this textured floor we had to stop and feel all the textures. Don't forget to talk to your little ones about how things feel as its one of their great senses. 

We found this amazing little courtyard at Worden Park... Don't you just love the colours of the flowers? We must have spent a good 20 minutes here whilst Oscar played. He loved climbing up onto the step and just sitting there between the gorgeous plant pots. We spoke about the bees, smells of the flowers and sang Humpty Dumpty. 

So this has to be the best part of the week. Seeing Oscar and his Daddy play and have so much fun. Their love for each other is endless. The giggles and screams of excitement melts my heart. With us both being Teachers we are so lucky to have these weeks to spend together as a family. We really do value every second we spend together. 

Thank you for spending time to read my blog and I will look forward to posting some more in the upcoming weeks. We are off to Spain tomorrow to my next blog will definitely be about what we get up to over there. 

Upcoming blogs:
Holiday
Animals

Sam

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