DIY Christmas Baubles-How to make step by step

 1. Gather all your bits and pieces to make your baubles.

 2. Attach main item into the bottom of the bauble.  I used blue tack but double sided tape would be good also.

 3.Tip some fake snow and glitter in to one half of the bauble and attach the other half of it together.  shake it gently to mix everything together.

4. Use festive ribbon to make a pretty tie or to stick around the seam of the bauble. I advise you use superglue or double sided tape as mine kept falling off.


I hope you enjoyed this blog.  Everything I used was from the Christmas craft section at Hobbycraft where most things were under £5.  Ill leave the link below to take you to the shop page.

http://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/christmas/christmas-decorations/fillable-baubles

Stocking Fillers for Older Children Under £20

Today's blog is going to hopefully give you all some inspiration when buying stocking fillers for older children when maybe they are not necessarily into toys anymore.  I have included ideas for boys, girls and some are unisex.

                             

Oxford United Football £17.50

Small Emma Bridgewater mug-£19 John Lewis 

Christmas pjs from Asda £9

zoella warm and toasty gift set- £18 Boots
http://www.boots.com/zoella-warm-and-toasty-10234860

Football merchandise(generic)-lunch boss, bags, stationary etc

Phone mini speakers-    Amazon 

Lush bath bombs-£4.50

https://uk.lush.com/products/bath-bombs/luxury-lush-pud

Need

Warwick Castle day trip-October 17

Last weekend I had a really fun day trip with my parents to Warwick Castle in Warwickshire.  It's been a place on my list to go for a while and as the parents were visiting we decided to go.

It's quite expensive I'll be honest especially if you don't book in advance or don't have a merlin pass/annual pass holder. Details below on pricing but I would recommend booking in advance online as you save a lot of money.
https://www.warwick-castle.com/booking/day-tickets.aspx
That being said you can definitely make a day of it and there is lots going on in the holidays with special events.

We paid for the dungeon experience as extra and oh migod it was so scary.  I think they advise that children to be 10 or over and I would  agree with this as it's full of people jumping out at you, loud noises, spooky music and very dark rooms! We were taking the mickey out of my mother but actually I think she had the last laugh.  I won't say anymore to ruin it but if you like scary thrills definitely do it.

The castle grounds and inside have lots of interesting artefacts and things to learn to hold your little ones interest but without being to long winded. I loved how they had lots of pumpkins dotted around the grounds to be very seasonal.





You have a small choice on food and drink stalls and there is a restaurant.  I didn't go in so can not comment on the food quality but had snack and a nice donut from one of the outside stalls.  As I always say you can always save money on taking your lunch which I would always do with young children as they can be a little fussy at times can't they?

Accessibility is good in the grounds for all needs and abilities as its flat with disabled access.  You don't have to walk far between things. We botched up on going to the right car park though and had to walk for about ten minutes so bare that in mind.

Also to note we spotted that you can stay onsite in log cabins.  These looked really cool so would love to maybe do this at some point in the future.

Important info
https://www.warwick-castle.com
Warick Castle Twitter
facebook link

Best advent calendars for children 2017

Cadbury chocolate calendar , widely available 

Tesco free from chocolate advent calendar 

Crayola Advent calendar, widely available

There is a wide range of advent calendars available these days and it's not just about the chocolate. This post will include some different ideas for younger and older children. I have included a few faves that are available to buy this year. Check out my Nov 16 blog on DIY calendar ideas.

Zoella lifestyle calendar £50 Boots

Playmobil calendar, around £20 and widely available

2017 Half term Halloween Activities

Half term is nearly upon us so I thought I would look at what there is to do in Oxfordshire and beyond to keep the kids entertained (don't worry its only a week!).

Stowe Landscape a Gardens Halloween Trail
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/events/8ef4cbcd-3b5b-4f94-85c6-c69f139fbadd/pages/details
National trust venues all over the country will be hosting their own half term events so go check out their website for more information. I love a good trail as it really engages children in their surroundings and the activity.

Have you read any of my mini blog series? Over the last couple of weeks I have posted 6 different Autumn activites to do. These would be great to do in half term and are not costly to do. Follow the links below to explore.
Leaf Printing Pumpkin Picking Conkers Autumn Treasure Basket

Warrick castle Halloween events
https://www.warwick-castle.com/explore/halloween-haunted-castle.aspx
Warrick castle are putting on some Halloween events this half term that I thought looked good.I am going here hopefully on Saturday so expect a review blog soon.

Prepare and carve those pumpkins! If you have been pumpkin picking you now need to do something with it. Carve them, use the seeds for messy play and use the insides for pumpkin soup.

Trick or treating- now I do understand that most children will be back at school for Halloween but some have two week half terms so didn't want to miss it out of this post. Who doesn't love a chance to dress up and use some face paint.

Just a few ideas to get you started hope you have a fantastic half term.

Autumn Activities 6- Leaf Puppets

I found a great idea on Pinterest for another Autumn based activity and that's Leaf puppets.

Here's some images I found to give you an idea of how they could look.

Ideas on you will need to create your leaf puppet;

• Selection of leaves
• Lollipop sticks
• Wobbly stick on eyes
• Felt tip pens
• Glitter
• Paint
• Glue/sellotape
• Buttons
• Glitter

Hope you have enjoyed my Autumn activity blogs mini series. This will be my last one as I'm going to be writing some Halloween based blogs.

Autumn Activities 5- Make your own bird feeder

Today we are doing another craft activity, Bird feeders.
Now you could go and buy a bird feeder and the bird seed but I was looking on Pinterest and saw so many ideas on how to make your own in a creative way so may do a Pinterest board tagging different ideas.

You will need;

• Small plastic bottle
• 2 cheap wooden spoons
• Something to punch holes in bottle
• String to tie bottle to tree
• Bird feed

Recipe for bird feed;

• 1 cup of lard
• 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup of unsalted peanuts
• 1/2 cup of dried fruit

Mix altogether and leave overnight. Put into bottle and do up lid. Punch some holes randomly three or four times on bottle. Stick the wooden spoons through the holes so it looks how it does in photo. Then tie up in the garden on a tree or branch.

Hopefully you will attract lots of different birds.

Autumn Activites 4- Autumn treasure baskets

Welcome back to Autumn Activites mini series. Today we are going to talk about creating Autumn themed treasure baskets. Previously I have done a activity of the week on treasure baskets and have linked this below.
https://nannybicester.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/activity-of-week-treasure-baskets.html

To make a treasure basket more topical and reverent to Autumn you could add the following;

• Conkers
• Different shape and coloured leaves
• Pine cones
• Any other items you find in the outdoors
• Winter vegetables such as squash and pumpkins

Autumn Activities 3-Conkers

For Autumn activities 3 we are going to go old school and collect some conkers.  To play the game you will need to collect some conkers and drill a hole in them so you can thread them onto a shoe lace.  The game requires two people and the point of the game is to take it in turns to hit the other persons conker. The winner is the first person to smash the other persons conker off.

You will need:

• Some conkers
• 2 shoe laces or string
• Drill to create holes in centre of conkers

Autumn Activites 2-Pumpkin Picking

Welcome back to blog 2 of my Autumn mini blog series. Today I'm going to talk about Pumpkin picking.

With Halloween fast approaching it would be so easy to just pop to your local supermarket and pick up a small £1 pumpkin. There is certainly nothing wrong with that and great if you need to buy a few pumpkins however why not find your local pick your own farm and choose your own?

Great to get out in the outdoors at this time of year and I'm sure the children will get so much more from doing this as they can see the origins of where pumpkins come from. Once you take your pumpkin home the possibilities are endless. Make soup or simply do some pumpkin carving(post coming later on in October).

Autumn activities 1- Leaf printing

Hi everybody it's been a while since I've posted and Autumn is now upon us so I thought I would post a mini series over the next few weeks with some ideas on what to do with your little people.

To kick it all off I am going to start with Leaf printing.
Such an easy one to do really as we all have access to the outdoors and it's an age old yet simple activity to do at home.






You will need:

• Various sized leaves
• Paint
• Brush
• Cover/table cloth to paint on
• Large paper

Method:

1. Paint one side of the leaf.
2. Press down onto paper
3. Remove to see finished result
4. Repeat.

Hope you will enjoy my mini blog series and see you next time.

Back to school

Sounds of parents rejoicing around the country as this week the kids are finally going back to school. Hope you have all enjoyed your summer break and the kids have had lots of fun. I can't believe how quick its gone and despite some questionable weather at times we have all survived.  On the approach to going back to school everybody needs to be prepared mentally and physically so here is a few tips to be on your best form.

1. Make sure the week before children resume their school bedtime routine as everything becomes more relaxed when nobody has to get up early.
2.repack school bags,check name labels etc so you can get any last min bits
3.keep the first few days back at school calm with lots of free evenings as they are going to be really tired.
4. Night before lay out school uniforms, prepare any pack lunches and put out school bags
5.Set an alarm to make sure everyone has the time they need
6.enforce a no screentime rule an hour before bedtime to enable a more restful nights sleep.




Hope everybody has a great first week back!
Nanny Bicester x

Summer fun ideas 2-Bean bag toss

You will need the following

• A ladder
• Bean bags/small balls
• Cards to write point numbers on

Hope this photo explains what it should look like but it's very simple concept. Take turns to throw bean bags or small balls and add up points. Great for a set of challenges game.

Summer Fun ideas- most likely to game

I had a brainwave today to do a short mini blog series on ideas to do in the Summer hols but just to post an idea at a time.

Today at work we did a game of most likely to as inspired by my new found love of YouTube stars. For any of you don't know what this game is you tend to do it in pairs and each person has two cards with each of their names on it. You then ask a set of questions to the pair and they have to holdup the card of the person most likely to. Example of the questions we used....

1.whos the most organised?
2.who takes longer to get ready?
3.whos more laid back?
4. Who takes longer in the toilet?

These are a few we did lots and swapped around between the three of us. Some were very silly questions haha but we had fun and it was a short game. Just to note I did this with older children and it's only a game you can do with older.

Beale Park, Near Reading Berkshire

This week I have been out and about as I've had some annual leave so had the perfect opportunity to catch up with some uni friends and their little one.

We decided to visit Beale Park as it was kind of a halfway point for all of us and their was enough to entertain a 1 year old also.

As I am the worst blogger ever I didn't take any photos myself which I really need to get better at.  So I will insert some photos within the blog that I will find.

What's there?

• outdoor play areas
• little tikes play area for younger children
• train ride
• the gardens
• animals
• small pool

We had a leisurely stroll around looking at the gardens and animals before stopping for a very extended picnic lunch.

I thought the outdoor play areas for the little ones were really good although my friend did comment that they had gotten really hot (plastic equipment) as it was a sunny day and there was no shade covering.  We didn't use the pool but it was definitely warm enough for older children so if your going on a warm day take some swimwear for your little ones.

There was a variety of animals including squirrel monkeys, peacock, meerkats and tortoises however we expected to seem some more.  They have the space at Beale Park for more animals so maybe that's what I would to see more of.

Eating facilities

We decided to take our own picnic food as it was going to be a gorgeous day and plenty of space outside to do this.  There is a restaurant at the park if you don't want to take your own though.  Later in the afternoon we went in to get an ice cream and they had a few varietys to choose from.  Side note there was a minimum card payment of £10 unless you pay 45p.

Value for money

£10 for adults and under 2s free so I think that's not too bad.  As a family you can definitely make a day out of it and you get a free train ride with the price of your ticket.

This I definitely would say is a good weather day venue as there is not a lot to do inside so save it for then. You can then get the most of your day out.  This is quite a short blog hope you have found it useful.

Useful info
http://www.bealepark.org.uk/