It’s so important to have a good list of rainy day activities, especially living in the UK where it rains a lot!
Over the last year we have had a huge toy clear out in our house. We’ve given bags and bags to the charity shop, Cherry loved getting involved and choosing to give away things that she didn’t want any longer.
I personally just don’t see the point in kids having too many toys, we had so many that had never been played with, they were just taking up valuable room in our very small house. I’ve also always found that both the kids like playing with things that aren’t even classed as toys like my make-up or a nappy bag full of ripped up paper and grass far more than any toy they’ve ever owned.
This is why I like making things they can play with, it saves money and when they get bored of it we can just make something else.
Yesterday I noticed that even the remaining toys hadn’t been played with for a long time so I decided to set up a play mat for them made out of ice-lolly sticks.
We always have loads of ice-lolly sticks lying around, they are so cheap and great for craft projects.
First of all I used some green ones to make a field for the tractor. I also cut up some green tissue paper for the grass.
Then we made a flower garden and Cherry wanted me to cut up some pink tissue paper to make pink grass, it’s her favorite color and everything has to be pink!
If you look closely then you will spot the DIY flowers we made recently.
We also made a train track and left enough space in-between the field and flower garden for the cars to drive around.
Cherry also enjoyed making a ‘dirty shoes’ room for Elsa, you can see her in the background making it.
It was so simple to make but the kids loved it and played with it all afternoon. It’s great as it’s the kind of thing you can set up then just leave the kids to play with.
Next time I am going to bring the cardboard box doll’s house we made downstairs and make a path and garden leading off from it. The possibilities are endless and when you’re done you can just pack all the sticks away until the next time.
