Slacklines - Outdoor adventure play

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What is a slackline?  It's basically a strap / rope (I believe it's officially called webbing) that you set up between two trees (or anything else that won't move!).  At the first tree you loop the strap round the tree then at the second you ratchet it tight and basically create a tightrope.  Very good fun for adventurous kids and HAS to be done outdoors.

Animation for Kids (& Hue Animation Review)

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Bud has been getting interested in animation recently ever since we had a discussion about how some of his favourite cartoons were made.  He was particularly intrigued by how the stop motion ones (think Wallace and Gromit) were made when I told him they filmed them with tiny movements, so I was thrilled when we were given the chance to review the Hue Animation Moshi Movies kit.  

Not only did we end up making our own movie (Hollywood here we come!), but it turned out to be a great opportunity to encourage Bud's creativity, planning and oh yes - patience!!

We received the Hue Animation Moshi Monsters kit for free, but all opinions included in this review are our own.

Worm Hunting (& Outdoor Play Party)

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Welcome back to another Outdoor Play Party!  Slightly later than usual due to pregnancy brain and chickenpox (the boys not me!).  But, we've been outside!

In an attempt to collect some of the leaves covering our garden Dude and I ventured outside the other day, but instead of helping me with the leaves he got way too distracted by a worm!!

Treasure Hunt in the Dark! (& Outdoor Play Party)

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Welcome back to another Outdoor Play Party!  If you've been outside with kids this week then why not link up what you've been up to?  Our Winter so far has been very mild, but very wet and it gets dark by about 4.30pm, so its not my ideal outdoor play environment to say the least!  But, today I was determined to get outside rain or shine and enjoy the darker evenings.

Leaf Collection and Collage (& Outdoor Play Party)

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Welcome to another Outdoor Play Party!  If you've been outdoors playing with kids then please do link up.  This week we did a bit of leaf collecting in the garden, plenty of leaves to choose from as you can't actually see the grass for leaves at the moment!  But, Little Dude who had been ill early in the week seemed to enjoy the opportunity to be outdoors.

Treasure Hunting (& Outdoor Play Party)

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Welcome to another Outdoor Play Party!  If you've played outside with kids this week then please do link up.  This week we've been treasure hunting, we walk a lot and this activity is guaranteed to keep our Pre-schooler walking!

Leaf Play (& Outdoor Play Party)

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Welcome back to another Outdoor Play Party!  If you've been playing outdoors with kids this week then don't forget to link up your ideas below.  This week we've been playing with leaves!

Kids Outside (& Outdoor Play Party)

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Welcome back to another Outdoor Play Party.  If you've been outdoors this week then please do link up your post below.  We've been outside loads this summer, but I've not been so great at posting about it, so here are a few of the things the boys got up to during a recent trip to the park, all their own ideas.....

5 fun ways to play outdoors (& Outdoor Play Party)

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Welcome back to another Outdoor Play Party!  We've been doing heaps of Outdoor Play, but as there were so many great ideas from last link up I thought I'd share a few of my favourites!

Marble Chutes (& Outdoor Play Party)

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Welcome to another Outdoor Play Party!  I hope you've had the opportunity to play outdoors this week, if you have then I'd love to see you link up below.  Looking for more outdoor ideas?  Then you've come to the right place, check out all our ideas here.

Last Outdoor Play Party the boys played with marbles and mud this time we made some super simple marble chutes.  Here's how we got on...

Outdoor Styrofoam Art (& Outdoor Play Party)

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Yey for another Outdoor Play Party!  For regular readers apologises for my absence, but we've been moving house.  We have however managed to slot in a bit of outdoor play, including this outdoor styrofoam art.  If you've been playing outdoors with kids then please share, and enjoy our outdoor art.

Matching Shoes

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Some super quick fun today.  When Bud gets home from school, the boys can be a bit excitable so one day in desperate need of some distraction we started playing with the shoes by the door.  Next thing I know we have a whole game of matching pairs on our hands.

Busy Bags with Magnets

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I love, love, love busy bags!  No word of exaggeration they have been an absolute life saver on many an occasions.  We regularly take them to restaurants, Doctor's appointments etc and they are perfect for keeping little (and not so little) people busy in quiet time.

If you're not familiar with busy bags the idea is to have a self contained kids activity in a bag that you can grab and go with no replenishing needed.  Perfect for busy parents.  

So, I'm delighted to be taking part in the Busy Bag of the month series.  Each month myself and several other bloggers will be bringing you our latest busy bag ideas.  This month we've been playing with busy bags with magnets.

Kid made flower planting kit

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In May we have lots of family birthday's and this year I'm trying to make as many homemade presents as possible.  What can be better than a handmade present from your Grandchild / nephew.  As we are big on gardening at the moment we thought we'd try our hand at making some flower kits that I'd seen in a kids activity book we have.  Here's how they turned out....

10 Super Simple Ways to Play Outdoors (& Outdoor Play Party)

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Another great Outdoor Play Party today, if you've been outdoors with kids then please link up below or read on to find out my 10 ten simple things to do with kids outside.

We try to get outside everyday, but sometimes I get stuck for things to do.  On those days its always worth remembering that kids love the simple stuff so here's my top ten super, unbelievably, incredibly simple things to do with kids outside!

Tinkering (& 100 Days of Play)

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We are delighted to be taking part in '100 days of Play' today, every day for more than 100 days different Kids bloggers are sharing their play ideas.  You can check out the list of great bloggers below.

We've been on a bit of an experimenting kick recently following our DIY Water Wheel and Simple Circuits so we continued our play the other day by letting the boys tinker with and explore an everyday object - in our case an old remote control.

Marshmallow People

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The other day I prepped some Marshmallow people for a Sunday School class and as they were a huge success with the older kids I thought I'd try them out at home with our boys for a bit of 'no bake' cooking.

Real Life Reading

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Bud has been learning to read for a little while, but enthusiasm is starting to slide so when he showed interest in something I was reading I was delighted!  This gave us an opportunity to read something 'real'.

Simple Circuits for Kids

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Recently the boys have been showing an interest in how things work so I thought we'd test out making some simple circuits with them and whilst we were at it learn a bit about what materials conduct electricity.  This is what we did....

Cotton Ball Quick Fun

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In need of a quick activity for the boys and having a few cotton balls lying around from our Spiders web game, cotton ball painting and cotton ball land I grabbed some drinking straws and set the boys up for some quick cotton ball fun.