We’re lucky to have family to stay with in Wales when we visit, but check out these cottages in Wales if you don’t have a base.

And when you’re there this is what I recommend.

1. Dan yr Ogof Caves

We took Erin to the caves last year. The ticket includes a number of other attractions which includes a small petting off so a great place to take a picnic and stay all day.

2. LC2

LC2 is the newly refurbished leisure centre in Swansea. The waterpark is a must visit, you can learn to indoor surf! Perfect for a rainy day which you have plenty of in Wales!

3. Techniquest

I visted Techniquest when it was first opened, which was, ummm..well quite a lot of years ago. If you’re kids like science and pressing buttons and seeing how things work then definitely pay a visit.

4. Tenby

Tenby’s a lovely seaside town, perfect for a pub lunch and a wander.

5. Plantasia

I have fond memories of visiting Plantasia, which is an indoor botanical centre with plants from around the world. They also have fish, reptiles and insects.

6. Mumbles

You can’t beat a wander around the seaside town of Mumbles if the weather’s nice. Wander up to the pier past the crazy golf but don’t forget to walk all the way back and far enough to get a Joe’s ice cream. Delish!

7. See The Swans Play

Go and see the newly promoted premiership team play at their home ground The Liberty Stadium. Only premiership side in Wales, sorry Cardiff.

8. The Gower Heritage Centre

There’s always lots on to do at the Gower heritage centre including daily puppet shows, crafts and pottery.

9. Margam Park

If you’re into outdoor pursuits then visit Margam Park where they have tons of stuff including a Go Ape! Highwire Adventure

10. Treasure Trails

Never done this one but was recommended on Twitter – Treasure Trails – over 900 trails around the UK!

This post is brought to you by Owners Direct

Guest post by Antonia Chitty

We love to bake, so getting sent baking kits is a great bonus. It’s not that long since cupcake week, and now it is National Baking Week and we’ve been trying out some of the Home Baking range from Asda. D, 9, loves to bake, and is good at mixing and making, but often needs help with measuring. With this range she’s been able to come up with some great results without too much trouble and minimal input from me.

We started with the chocolate tray bake, which comes with its own card baking tray. Making the cake was simple, even though we made it by hand instead of using a mixer as advised on the back. It baked in exactly the time advised and we put the icing on quickly and everyone enjoyed the cake for pudding. It got great feedback from all the family!

Next, we made toffee cookies. These were super-simple to make: one packet plus a little butter and water. They baked in 12 minutes and had a great toffee taste and slightly chewy texture.”

The range costs between 48p and £1.87 which puts it in the realm of being cheaper than buying the individual ingredients, even if you have less control over artificial additives! Ideal if you’re not a baker and want to do some cooking with the kids this half term.

Sponsored post

It?s the summer holidays and your kids are bored, what do you do? Well, with football summer camps, cinema trips and amusement parks costing a small fortune, many parents are looking for cheaper alternatives in the form of online games and activities to keep their kids amused. So without further wait, here is a list of my top five favourite recommendations.

Educational Games, Videos and Activities for Kids

Education doesn?t need to consist of dull exercise books and stuffy classrooms. Thanks to the emergence of exciting, innovative video games and online educational packages, children are beginning to learn differently. Online educational games are a fun and a successful way of improving your child?s learning, without being boring! Your children will not believe their luck next time you tell them to play a video game come homework time and to make it even better, the majority of these sites are absolutely free.

Personalised Greeting Cards

Personalised greeting card sites are excellent platforms for your children to develop their hidden artistic skills! Your child can create thank you cards or greetings cards and even design cards with a bespoke message inside. Your child can even choose a picture of herself standing next to a birthday cake and upload it online. This website is highly recommended and a perfect platform for mother and child to develop their artistic skills!

Sell Old CDs and DVDs

CDs and DVDs can take up a lot of space in your home. If you have a selection of dodgy discc by Chesney Hawkes and Peter Andre (*cough* own up), then this great website is for you. Music Magpie lets you sell dvds, cds and video games online in exchange for instant cash. Turn this particular website into a fun game by collecting up all the unwanted video games , CDs and DVds you own. Use a web camera to scan their barcodes and you’ll receive a price for each one. A couple of hours work and you’ll have made enough money to treat yourselves to an ice cream!

Look After Your Own Online Pet

Erin loves going to the petting farm and we have our dog Daisy but there’s still a fascination with nurturing virtual pets. There are many online sites that allow you to do this. Erin was introduced to a great website while we were away called Moshi Monsters. Here, you can design your very own bespoke monster, name it, take it for walks and feed it buckets of bones! Mmmmm! I’m worried that I’ll never get my laptop back again!

Arts And Crafts For Kids

Erin loves art and my house is constantly full of finger paintings, crayon drawings and junk models. Recently, I found a great free and helpful art website that helps to develop your children?s artistic skills. With a private art lesson costing a small fortune these sites really helps frugal families like ours have the opportunity to develop our children?s artistic skills. Arts And Crafts For Kids provides helpful artistic advice for children of any ability and age group by giving them online tutorials and tips aimed at helping them develop their artistic side.

So, here you have it, my top five online activities your kids can enjoy in the safety and comfort of their homes. Whether they love art and design, educational games, or looking after their very own cyber-pet, they?re sure to be entertained for hours on end without costing you a penny!

I’m not sure if Erin had Halloween on her mind when she was making this one – it’s pretty evil looking..

Pasta faces are a simple and cheap activity requiring little effort and a lot of fun, I didn’t do this one with her, Daddy did, perhaps that’s how it’s taken on such a sinister look!

Update: I just showed Erin the picture of her plate on the ‘puter’, apparently the face is Daddy!

When choosing activities for a two and a half year old I find simplicity the key.? Any more than 3 steps and I’m afraid you’re asking for trouble, lucky this activity only has three steps then eh!? Seriously though, this activity was soooo age appropriate and Erin was thrilled with the result, definitely worth a blog…

You will need (for two caterpillars):

One egg carton

4 Straws

Green Paint and Brush

One Marker pen

Scissors

1.? Cut the egg carton until you’re left with two pieces, each with 3 ‘cups’, see picture(!)

2. Paint green and leave to dry.

3. Make two small holes, cut bendy part of straw and feed through. If you keep the hole small enough the straws should fit snugly. Finally, draw on some eyes and a nose.

Disclaimer: These caterpillars may not be anatomically correct, cuteness was the main aim!

1. Penny Toss

Provide pennies and bowls, mark a shooting spot on the grass, every penny in the pot wins a prize. [from Having Fun with Kids by Marilee LeBon]

2. Penny a Weed

We did something similar with snails when I was younger! Two pence for a snail though, it’s a dirty job.

3. Peanut Hunt

Buy a pack of monkey nuts, mark some ‘winning’ nuts, and then hide all the nuts. Give prizes to any kids who find winning nuts. [from Having Fun with Kids by Marilee LeBon]

4. Home-made Skittles

5. Face Painting

6. Bingo

7. Happy Sun Craft Project (Easy)

8. Short Tennis

You can buy children’s sets relatively cheaply. Get set up with some strawberries and cream and pretend you’re at Wimbledon.

9. Ripped Newspaper Art Project

10. Bike Rides

Pack a picnic and make it an all day outing.

11. Build Sandcastles

In a sandpit or on a beach, make flags from paper and straws for the top.

12. Make Homemade Birthday Cards

Most superstores have pre-packed sets for a few pounds/dollars, which usually include card, glue, stickers and glitter.

13. Make Chocolate Fondue

14. Day Camp

Set up a tent and provide picnic food, and have a day camp in the back garden

15. Karaoke Competition

Hold a karaoke competition, or go one further and host a ‘stars in their eyes’ final with all the kids imitating pop stars.

16. Blind Taste Test

Blindfold each child in turn and provide a few different foodstuffs, mark down which ones they get right. Provide a small prize for the winner.

17. Play Hide and Seek

18. Ice Cream Picture Activity

19. Egg and Spoon Races

Use the plastic eggs from the toy kitchen, if you have one.

20. Visit a Science Museum

21. Put on a Play

Provide a good story book and get the children to choose parts and act it out.

22. Read-athon

Hold a read-a-thon, see how many books they can read in an alotted time.

23. Play Marble Mania

24. Backyard Cookery Class

Hold a cookery class in your own back garden. Tailor recipes to the appropriate age, but perhaps homemade pizzas, fruit kebabs and fairy cakes would be a good place to start.

25. Visit a Farmers Market

Pick ingredients and make a homemade soup or ratatouille.

26. Sponge Painting

Provide a length of plain wallpaper, some sponges and some paint. Hey presto!

27. Sand Art

28. Colour-in Printouts

There are various sites to get print-outs, just search in google.

29. Stencilling with Doilies


30. Visit the Library

Try and arrange to go during story-telling time.

31. Model with Play-dough

32. Go Swimming

33. Make Chocolate Krispie Cakes

34. Build an Obstacle Course

Build an obstacle course in the back garden and time each other. Use and play equipment you have, ie tubes, climbing frame, bikes, hula hoops, skipping ropes with household items like sheets as scramble nets.

35. Chalk Drawing

Use white chalk on black paper, or the patio as a canvas!

36. Go Bark Rubbing

37. Build Cardboard Robots

38. Jigsaw Puzzles

Do jigsaw puzzles and then try and make your own from card.

39. Water Play

Fill water balloons and pistols for older kids.

40. Make Homemade Musical Instruments

41. Sticker Picture

Provide stickers and plain card, it’s that easy!

42. Make Sock Puppets

43. Fondant Icing Characters

Provide a few different colours of fondant icing (colour with food colouring) and let your children make animals and characters from cartoons.

44. Start a Herb Garden

45. Listen to a Story CD

You can usually borrow these from the library.

46. Make Painted Pasta Jewellery

47. Make an Alphabet Scrapbook

Use a page for each letter and find magazine cut outs of the letter to stick in, great activity for preschoolers.

48. Play Card Games

Uno, snap and pairs can provide a couple of hours of fun.

49. Photography

Buy them a disposable camera to practice taking photos of wildlife and scenery.

50. Summer Scrapbook

Make a scrapbook with photos, pictures and comments on everything you’ve done over the holidays.

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This activity in ‘Have Fun with Your Kids’ by Marilee LeBon reminded me of the several times we made these, except we pretended they were guitars.

How To Make a Homemade Banjo

You will need;

A Paper-Towel Tube

A Tissue Box (one of the rectangular ones)

Three Rubber Bands

Paint or other materials for decoration

1. Staple the paper towel tube to the back of the tissue box lengthways.

2. Cut three notches on each end of the tube. Stretch the rubber bands from one end of the tube to the other and let them rest in the notches.

3. Paint/decorate your banjo.

Hunt For Treasure

Party games as kids get older get a little more difficult. Here are three ideas for a pirate-themed party, although they can be easily adjusted for other themes. The first idea is probably better for younger children, perhaps aged 3-5, the second is most suitable for ages 5-8, and the third for kids 8 and upwards.

Sand-pit Style

Cut out prize discs from cardboard, paint and number them. Have each winning token correspond to a prize. Bury the ‘treasure’ in a large sandpit and send your mini pirates to work.

Scavenger Style

Hide chocolate gold coins around the house or garden. Have some gold coins marked out for a prize, the rest can be eaten. Let your medium sized pirates scavenge for treasure.

Treasure Hunt Style

Write clues to lead your pirates to each destination where they will find a penny. Pennies can be cashed in at the end for prizes. This style works well for teams.

More Pirate Stuff

Pirate Party Goods via Design Mom
Pirate Party Favor Kit via Amazon
Pirate Party Cookie Cutters via Amazon

Photo by flickr user Muffet

Heads ‘n’ Volleys is a football game, or soccer to my American readers.

Heads ‘n’ Volleys requires 3 people or more. One goal, which can be mocked up with jackets or trees as goal posts. One football.

One person is elected as goalkeeper, and the rest of the players play with each other. The aim of the game is to score a goal by heading it into the goal or volleying it. A volley is when a player passes the ball through the air to another player, and that player makes contact with the ball before it touches the ground. To make the game a little easier we would include half-volleys whereby the ball may bounce once before contact is made.

This game is more for fun, you can keep goal score but the real aim is to help other players (and for them to help you) make amazing pele-esque goals. Running around, celebrating the goal in star footballer fashion is mandatory!

Photo by flickr user fabbio

This quick activity idea comes from ‘Have Fun with Your Kids’ by Marilee LeBon.

You will need;

Marbles

Shoe Box

Markers (I heart sharpies)

1. Take your shoe box, and, on one of the longer sides cut out five doors of differing sizes.

2. Above each door give a points value, the smaller the door the higher the points value should be.

Playing the Game

1. Youngest player goes first (because that’s always what happens, right, pfff I was the eldest, not bitter….much)

2. Players take turns to roll a marble through the door, if a marble goes through the points value for that door is awarded.

3. Highest score wins (because it’s ok to have a winner !)

Photo by flickr user van Ort

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