kids Archives - Twins And A Blog

Slime Putty and Bath Time!

Slime Putty Day!!

Today I made the boys my 2 Ingredient Slime Putty! Best thing about getting gross and sticky from the slime putty is that I chuck the boys into the bath with their trays full of slime putty and bits & pieces to wash themselves (as it’s made with kids shampoo!)! So that’s craft time, clean up and bathtime all-in-1!!

I made 2 batches and added a tablespoon of glitter in each batch. I added pink/blue food colouring in 1 batch to make purple putty (Harley’s fave colour) and an extra squirt of kids shampoo to make it slimier (so they had 2 diff textures to play with). The girls joined in with the excitement and got to watch the boys get their slime on!

Very quick & easy 2 ingredient recipe *Thermomix & Regular Methods* CLICK HERE for the recipe!

June 1, 2018 By Sophia Brown

Craft/ Parenting

Town Planning for Kids

The boys love learning new things and are absorbing information like sponges.

I’m a town planner by profession, so I thought they were finally old enough to learn the basics of Town Planning – the main types of residential dwellings:

Single storey house
Two storey house
Duplex (dual occupancy) – 2 dwellings on 1 lot
Townhouse (multi dwelling housing) – 3 or more dwellings on 1 lot with each dwelling having access from the ground floor
Apartment building (residential flat building) – 3 or more dwellings (I say to the boys – lots and lots of units in 1 big building)

I used basic shapes – rectangles (buildings, doors), squares (windows), triangles (roof) to make up the buildings with A4 and A5 coloured paper from Kmart.

I cut out the shapes and the boys helped me to stick them onto the wall with sticky tape. For older kids could cut out the shapes themselves.

It’s a great way to count, use basic shapes, and learn the different types of houses as we live in an area with lots of different types of housing which the boys can see as real life examples.

February 26, 2018 By Sophia Brown

Christmas

Elfie Antics 2017 – Elf on the Shelf Ideas

I’ll miss all the Elfie fun from this year, but I’m glad to get my nights back for Netflix…and sleep!! I posted each day of Elfie on my social media pages, but here the highlight reel of Elfie’s antics for 2017!

Day #1 – Hi Elfie!

Look who’s back from the North Pole!! There are going to be 2 very excited boys in the morning!! We started this tradition last year but they were still a little young to appreciate it, this year will be the first time they will truly enjoy the spirit and magic of Christmas!

Day #2 – Elfie’s Shrinking Machine

Day #3 – Elfie’s Ball Pit (I was out all day/night so this was an easy one to put together!)

Day #4 – Crossfit Elfie

Day #5 – May the force be with you (the boys LOVE Star Wars!)

Day #6 – Skittle Rainbow (before and after pic)

I did a trial run before the boys got to do this in the morning! (I removed the ‘after’ example so it took them by suprise)

Tips:

Make sure all the Skittles are touching
Use warm water and add just enough water for it to touch the Skittles (don’t add too much water or the colours will run into each other and goes brown in a few minutes)

Day #7 – Teenage Mutant Ninja Elfie

Day #8 – Elfie’s Ginger Bread House

Day #9 & #10 – Elfie’s Magic Eggs

Elfie’s magic dust is made of rainbow sprinkles and glitter. I was going to use the standard Kinder Suprise eggs which are the same size as a normal egg but I couldn’t resist these huge Christmas Kinder Suprise ones! It is an easy one to switch over the next night!

Day #11 – Meet Frosty!

Craft paper cutouts and tissue paper for the scarf/hat. The hardest part of this was cleaning all the magnets/coupons/letters/photos/cards off the fridge!

Day #12 – Day Spa

All these magic tricks topped with Frosty appearing the night before was hard work! Time for Elfie to relax in a nice bubble bath, complete with Elfie sized body wash, candle, shot of milk and mini oreos.

Day #13 – Wrecking Ball 2.0

This was an encore from my 2016 fave! Last year I used a clear bauble filled with M & M’s. This year I used a Cadbury Snowbites ball. The boys had so much fun with this wrecking ball! See wrecking ball video HERE.

Day #14 & #15 – Elfie’s Magic Seeds

The soil was made of white sugar topped with sprinkles. I put it in cups for some depth so the Candy Canes can stay upright when ‘planted’. The Tic Tac’s are Candy Cane flavoured ones (but you could use red or white ones). I love these 2 day things as the 2nd night you just need to plant the Candy Canes!

Day #16 – Toilet Paper Tree

Day #17 – Do you want to build a snowman?

This was one of the boys’ FAVOURITE Elfie moments with this sensory play complete with Play Snow! It looks like snow, and can be moulded into fun little shapes! CLICK HERE for the easy Play Snow recipe!

Day #18 – Game of Thrones

Have you G.O.T the Christmas spirit?

Day #19 – Hammock Life

Elfie needs a lie down and cocktail with all this flying to and from Santa every night!

Day #20 – Elfie the Magician – the ‘cutting Hulk in half’ trick!

No sawing or cutting involved, just pure Elf *magic*!

Day #21 – Where’s Elfie?

Day #22 – Elfie vs Spiderman

NOTE: This is what a whole packet of dental floss looks like!! (this took about an hour to do!)

Day #23 – Transformers: Elfie in Disguise

This was a combined daddy and mummy effort and was one of the boys’ fave Elfie moments!!

Day #24 – Elfie’s last day before Santa arrives!

‘Hi Ethan and Harley!

Today is our last day together before I fly back with Santa to the North Pole.
Let’s have cuddles and take photos together – here is some magic dust to sprinkle on me so I can fly back home with Santa.

I have given your mummy the recipe for Santa’s favourite cookies for you to bake today to put out for Santa tonight.

Before you go to bed tonight, here is some reindeer food to sprinkle on the grass outside and a tray to fill with milk and cookies for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph!

Get excited, because Santa is coming tonight and you both have been good boys this year, and good boys get presents from Santa!

Love Elfie xoxo‘

Note: Reindeer food is oats, Magic Elf dust is glitter, and Santa Snacks board is from Thermoart.

Day #25 – Farewell Elfie!

December 26, 2017 By Sophia Brown

Christmas/ Craft/ Non Thermomix/ Thermomix

Play Snow

This is an easy sensory play snow which looks like snow but can also be moulded and shaped! PERFECT for when you want to build a snowman…and you live in stinking hot Australia!!! (and perfect for an Elf on the Shelf activity!!)

Play Snow

Print Recipe

Ingredients

400 grams baking soda (bicarb soda)
50 grams conditioner

Instructions

METHOD (Thermomix):

Place all ingredients in bowl - mix 10 seconds/Speed 4.

METHOD (regular):

Place all ingredients in medium sized bowl. Mix through with your fingers or a spoon until all ingredients are combined and a 'snow' like texture.

Notes

You can use any type of conditioner - I use whatever's cheapest in my house ie. Herbal Essence.

December 16, 2017 By Sophia Brown

Christmas/ Craft/ Twins

Christmas Paddlepop Stick Ornaments

I LOVE craft and I LOVE Christmas! It’s exciting that the boys are at an age where they can enjoy craft! The boys really enjoyed making these and it was the first time they used PVA glue to stick things on!

This is an easy Christmas ornament which I have been giving as presents to my friends and family. The size of the loop is a perfect size for the boys to be able to place the ornaments easily and proudly onto the tree themselves. 🙂 🙂

YOU NEED:

Paddlepop sticks (coloured or plain)
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
String (cut into the length of a paddlepop stick)
Scissors (to cut the string ^^)
PVA glue (for the kids to use)
Buttons, wooden shapes and pom poms to decorate

ASSEMBLY:

Adults/older kids

Stick together 3 x paddlepop sticks with a hot glue gun to form a triangle shape.
Loop the string together and stick on both ends of the string to one of the corners of the triangle.

Kids

Use a paddlepop stick to dip into PVA glue and spread onto the paddlepop stick triangle.
Decorate with buttons, wooden shapes and pom poms.

Note: I found the pom poms a little harder to stick on, so I had to restick a few with the hot glue gun.

December 12, 2016 By Sophia Brown

Baby Food/ Dessert/ Thermomix

Apple and Maple Custard

This is a beautiful twist on the usual custard recipe, adding apples throughout the custard. Great for when you feel like custard, but you really should eat your fruit – so why not combine the two!? This has beautiful small pieces of apple which creates a beautiful texture with the smooth creamy custard, and it pairs really well with maple syrup. This is perfect for toddlers/kids especially in reusable food pouches, or you can puree it for baby food (also this is great for older babies when introducing textures).

Add apples to bowl.

Blitz 3 seconds/Speed 5. Scrape down.

Add maple syrup, milk, cornflour and eggs.

Cook 6 minutes/90 degrees/Speed 3.