MishMash Monday - Springtime

Todays MishMash play session was Spring themed. Im posting this photo as i rather enjoyed my spring field scene. Lambs frolicking! Obviously it only looked like this for a matter of moments before the little MishMash messers got their hands on it!

Today was VERY messy! To see photos visit our facebook page "Mishmash Play". There you can see our mishmash master in all his messy wonder. He went all out today!!
We decide on a mishmash master each week. Its usually the most messy child, although sometimes it's for other reasons. For example trying the mess when they were nervous about it. Today however, it was down to mess. This little boy's Mummy is really up for it and really gets what we are trying to achieve and how it benefits him. She has been coming from the very beginning and it's been amazing to see how he has grown and developed over the months. And mummy too! Shes utterly  blossomed in her mummydom, its lovely to witness.

It's one of the reasons we started MishMash. To give the children wonderful fun learning experiences. And to hopefully give mums a friendly, supportive group to come to, where you get to drink your tea while its still hot, eat cake and chat. Or just have a little rant or hug if you're tired or frazzled. I hope that's what we are achieving.

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Rock and roll Saturday night!

What a rock and roll Saturday night I had! Was I out on the proseco? Dancing the night away?

Nope. I can't remember the last time I did that, probably someone's hen party. I don't mind, i actually can't stand nightclubs these days. I've left that back in my uni days.
This Saturday night was happily spent on the living room floor painting a cardboard box!! Waaahooo!!
We have recently decorated our bedroom and had quite a lot of paint left. Plus we had new bedside cabinets delivered in a perfect sized cardboard box.

So, I painted the box, sealed up the top and bottom, cut a hole and drew on all the buttons, knobs and the drawer. I'm really not the greatest artist but I'm pretty proud of my efforts!

I showed E her new washing machine this morning and she was over the moon. It must look alright because she instantly knew what it was and we had to find some washing to put in.

Now I need to work out how to fashion a dishwasher!! Trickier! Any ideas anyone??

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Porridge and parties

Lots of happy moments today as we have had a great day! We went to E's friends birthday party where there was messy play set up. (Because the birthday boys's mummy is also my MishMash messy play partner). As you can see there was more focus on pouring. Much concentration went into pouring coloured porridge oats from jug to jug and she spent ages at this station.

Coloured oats are actually the first messy play thing that we tried when she was really little. We loved it then and still love it now. Its a great texture and not only that, but it makes your skin super duper soft! (See below for instructions)
Before she was old enough to get too messy (as in couldn't even do much tummy time) we did a lot of non messy, but sensory activities. Hairgel ina sandwich bag is a great one. You can add sparkle or googly eyes and all sorts to the bag. Make it a fantastic sensprt experience of both sight and touch.

Anyway after the lovely party we came home and played in the garden with our neighbours for aaaaaages! We have a tired lady!! (And mummy)

How to make coloured oats

Ingredients
3 cups porridge oats
1/4 - 1/2 cup water
Food colouring

Add the porridge to a reasonably sized sandwich bag.
Pour a small amount of water in, start with a little you can always add more.
Add your chosen food colouring. I use gel ones as i find them much better in terms of ease of use and they result in great colours.
Scrunch the bag up lots to mix all the ingredients up. You may find you need to add a little more water or food colouring. Just make sure the oats dont start to go mushy and aren't too wet.
Once you are happy with the colour pour them out onto some baking paper or paper towel, spread them out and leave them to dry. I usually make them after E has gone to bed and they are ready for the morning.
You can speed the process up a bit by gently drying them in the oven on a low heat.
Then #PLAY !!

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