Our Adventures with a Recycled Tuff Tray

I love this Tuff Tray. Like, properly love. It saved my poor, abused carpet from more spills. It kept my crazy toddler's mess contained. Plus, it's made out of recycled plastic. SWOON.

We used it near-enough constantly. Indy is getting to the fiercely independent stage of wanting to feed himself. With the tray, no problem! Any spills were easily wipe-uppable, and no damage to my carpet.

Finger painting had always terrified me. We attempted it a couple of times on our dining room table, but things invariably got covered in the thick, staining goop. I was more than happy to strip Indy off and let him prod and poke the paint to his hearts content. I was able to just peeeeel it off the tray when it was dry. Obviously, after this activity, Indy himself was covered. I contemplated trying to take him upstairs and to stand perfectly still in the bathroom while I ran a bath, but realised that was silly talk. Find me a toddler who can stand still while covered in muck. (tip, you can't.) A flannel just wouldn't cut it, a baby wipe wouldn't cut it, visions of looping the hose into the house did flash across my mind (albeit very briefly) and then I had a flash of genius. Our old washing up bowl! It would fit into the tray, it would get him clean, he could play with the water and it would be fine! So, voila. A mini bath/water play.

Butter. Wouldn't. Melt.

I looked around for more ideas on what I could do with this magical tray. Then my mind flashed back to the kinetic play sand I had picked up at the pound shop. Indy had the HappyLands zoo set, and I thought it would be a great activity, to have the animals trampling in sand, mark making. I set up the blue and the stone coloured sand, and let him have at it. No sand got smooshed into my carpet, and it was so easy to put it all away afterwards!

In short, I really really recommend getting a tray. We used it in the garden when the grass was damp, we used it in the kitchen, we used it everywhere. It's perfect for when little hands get the colouring bug but can't quite stay on the pages. It's ideal for Play Doh and other slightly mucky activities. And snack times are super easy when you've got a lipped container for your child. Ha! The tray can be found here. Go get one!

Gelli-Baff

Yesterday, me and my mum (Indy's nanna) went out to do some lovely sunny bank holiday shopping, mostly for wedding things. We went to Dunelm to get some fabric for table cloths, and my mum spotted this awesome PVC!
http://www.dunelm-mill.com/shop/roadmap-pvc-fabric-453377

So naturally we bought a metre of it to use as a messy play mat. I had itchy fingers, so had to try it out this morning with the Gelli-Baff I've been hoarding since I found it in Pound World.

This is all you need to make this wonderfully gloopy stuff;  a nice big bowl, a litre of warm water, and the two packets in the box.

It tells you to add a little at a time as it all of a sudden thickens, and you have to keep stirring. It's a lot like jelly mix (hence Gelli...)

Luuuvly. Looks like a slush puppy. Then the fun begins!

Indy decided this wasn't enough goop and muck for one day, so wanted the Play Sand involved as well. Lots of 'wow' noises and squelching occured! He scooped and plopped and whisked.

All finished off with a great big cheesy grin, and a nap on the sofa :) A successful morning's play I think. Next time, I think I'll go for the green or the blue, and hide things in there like shells, toy animals, and foam letters.

Easter Weekend

So, I thought today was going to be a complete write-off. Indy's sleep was shockingly awful last night, he wakes up the second you attempt to extract yourself from his grasp, so one of us normally ends up sleeping in his bed all crumpled up with a cricked neck. He was waking pretty much every hour, and then had a lovely wakeful period of about 2 hours where all he wanted to do was bounce or have boob. Or bounce whilst on boob - never enjoyable.

I was pleasantly surprised when we all woke up for the day at almost 11, and then proceeded to have an accidentally productive day. You know the type, nothing in particular planned but all of a sudden you've fixed the drawer, mopped the bathroom, and hoovered the cat or something. Today I moved the furniture round in Indy's room, started tidying our laundry roo-- I mean bedroom, cooked a roast dinner, did some gardening, and finally got around to the packing paper nest.

We used a huge cardboard box, packing paper and bubble wrap, and hid little toy ducks (chicks as it's Easter) inside. I showed Indy where some were, and let him do the rest. Play lasted for 10-15 minutes and then turned into him running around shouting 'quack quack'. He liked looking through all the paper, scrunching it and rubbing it on his face. The noises were a combination of rustling paper and bubble wrap, both of which he enjoyed.

Gardening was great fun, spurred on by collecting a free compost bin!

Here it is, all up and running at the back of our garden. We decided to finally plant some vegetable seeds we'd bought from a pound shop last year, and included Indy as much as possible. He ran his fingers through the mud, felt and inspected the seeds, and even helped with watering and patting. Surprisingly, he didn't try eating any mud, I think he's possibly learnt from the last bajillion or so times he's tried it.

No, he's not wearing trousers. He decided against them for most of today. He also helped Daddy with weeding and tending to our very overgrown herb garden. This was an excellent sensory adventure, the feel of the earth and of the different types of plants, the smell of the herbs mingled in with damp soil, the taste of the herbs. I would definitely recommend having a herb garden to enjoy with your smalls, or a potted herb if you don't have access to a garden. There's so much to learn from gardening and cultivating your own food, it is a properly multi-sensory activity and is really enjoyable.