OUTDOORS
Winter Scavenger Hunt - a fun outside activity
Here in the Northern Hemisphere, December means shorter, darker and often colder days, which can sometimes make getting outside feel difficult, especially in the late afternoons and early evenings after the sun has already set. If you're looking for an idea to help children run off that pre-dinner energy, let me suggest a winter scavenger ...
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OUTDOORS
Cider Making
Last week we added new activity to the ones we traditionally use to welcome and celebrate the autumn season, and I'd love to share a bit about it. For the first time, we attended a community cider pressing near our home in Maine, bringing apples from our trees to add to those picked and brought ...
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OUTDOORS
Ideas for a Super Simple DIY Fairy Garden
Here in North Carolina, the daylight hours have finally gifted us warm sunny days, and with that comes a renewed energy and longing to be outside as much as possible. I’ve noticed to get my kids outside, I have to give them a little nudge. I can’t just tell my nearly 3 and 4-year-old “why ...
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OUTDOORS
Our cubby house -- by Castle & Cubby
Last year, around this time, I met Kellie and Jonathan Stones at an event here in Byron. Kellie and Jonathan are the husband and wife team behind the family-run business, Castle & Cubby -- they design and create the coolest, eco-friendly cubby houses, tree houses, mud kitchens, sand pits, garden boxes and outside furniture! How ...
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OUTDOORS
Isamu Noguchi's Playscapes in Atlanta, Georgia
The way we travel has changed a bit since having children, and the single largest shift involves making time to find and explore new playgrounds. My husband grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and on a recent visit to spend time with his parents, who still live there, we spent a morning at Isamu Noguchi's Playscapes ...
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OUTDOORS
Weltevree (a swing in a tree without a branch)
One of the most romantic things I can imagine is a sweet little cottage with an orchard behind it, a few children running barefoot in the grass and a swing in one of the apple trees. An old table in the middle of the grass with a colourful table cloth and a jug of fresh ...
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OUTDOORS
Watercolour sidewalk chalk -- such a simple but genius idea!
I took this photo a few months ago here in Amsterdam on one of the last warm and sunny days of the year. This girl was drawing on the sidewalk with pavement chalk, and had the brilliant idea to add water and brushes to the fun -- resulting in deeper and brighter colours and a ...
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CHRISTMAS CRAFTS
Cranberry Garland -- a simple little Christmas craft and decoration
Growing up, we always made cranberry garlands for our Christmas tree at home, and after posting a photo of my daughter making them last year on Instagram, I was surprised to realise it is not common in Europe! People loved the idea, and kept asking me how to do it, so I thought I would ...
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TOYS & GAMES
Road building with Waytoplay, a flexible and waterproof toy road system
Waytoplay is a super fun Dutch Design toy existing of 100% child safe rubber road segments that can easily be put together like a puzzle. Unbreakable, suitable for any surface AND water/weatherproof, children can roll out roads wherever they feel like and start playing. Be it in the garden, on the beach, in the bath ...
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AUTUMN CRAFTS
Gilded Leaf Garland -- a craft for all of Autumn
Last year we went into Autumn leaf collection overdrive, so I needed to find some clever ways to embrace the collection (mountain!) of leaves and create something artful from them. So today I will share our Autumnal gilded garland with you, which was done in stages and was really a very relaxed craft, especially since ...
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PARENTING
Our Sunday constitutional
We have a routine in our house, which, until now, I hadn't even identified as as routine. On Sunday I drag everyone out of the house for a Sunday constitutional, as I like to call it: a Sunday stroll. We do this in most weather conditions and it is one of my favourite moments of ...
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TOYS & GAMES
The Best Sand Toy - a pail for the beach and beyond
This packable and very useful pail has become our number one toy on every holiday we have taken over the past year, and it is an essential anytime we go where water and play are the plan! We usually prefer natural baskets like this one for walks and collecting items. But, this pail is FDA food safe, BPA ...
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THE LITTLE THINGS
The Little Things: Apple picking and traditional Dutch apple pie
It's been over a year since our last The Little Things post! Maud had a little baby boy called Max in the meantime, and you know, life has been overall so very busy. But we both love these little projects of ours, so I'm super happy to finally share a new The Little Things story ...
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TEAM FAVOURITES
Team Favourites : Fifteen Best Rainwear Options
Rain, rain, go away... What do you and your family wear outdoors when the weather is wet and you don't want your clothes or spirits soaked. Rainwear is key! When Courtney and the family were in New Zealand, it basically rained for a month. You need really reliable rainwear so you can face the weather ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
A Perfect Summer Activity -- Solar Prints
Growing up I absolutely loved making solar prints, and now I get to create them with my daughter who loves them as well! Solar prints are also great to do with friends on weekends away, and has been a big hit. Solar prints, also known as cyanoprints, or sun prints, are made using photoreactive paper, ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
Fun Nature Hunt Memory Game
Last week, during a lazy afternoon in St James' park, the kids and I came up with a game to while away some time in the sunshine - we're calling it the Nature Hunt Memory Game. I actually remember playing something very similar to this at Brownies when I was younger and I'm sure it's ...
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EDUCATION
Biology and Beauty -- Hatching Butterflies at Home
While on holiday last month, we received the most exciting parcel in the mail. On the box, it said 'LIVE INSECTS, OPEN IMMEDIATELY!’ And sparked a lot of curiosity and excitement. We opened up the box, a gift sent from our very clever friends, and inside was a cup of caterpillars waiting to become butterflies! ...
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OUTDOORS
The Micro Beach Wagon -- an excellent companion, even in the city
One of the pesky little things of living in this beautiful city of mine is transport. All my friends who live outside of Paris own a car. The simplicity of jumping into a car and driving to a shop, loading the groceries or bigger items from the trolly to the boot of the car and ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
Painted Leaf Skeletons
Spring has definitely sprung here in London. The bare streets are now lined with billowing cherry blossom trees, daffodils are springing up in every park corner and the first of London's magnificent magnolias are starting to open up. I particularly love this change in season, it feels like the city is awakening after a long ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
Family walks and how to display collected treasures
What do you normally do with those little treasures that children find on family walks? The inside of many jacket pockets and the back of many drawers are often their final resting place. Such a sad end, considering how much excitement, enthusiasm and pride accompanied their discovery. So instead of losing these beloved little ...
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OUTDOORS
Sowing seeds and planting beans in pretty paper plant pots
Last weekend we went to an outdoor food and craft market here in Amsterdam, and we came across a beautiful stand full of bags filled with dried beans in every size and colour, coming from every corner of the world. The children were completely captivated by the beauty and origin of all of these beans, ...
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FOOD
The Little Things: bread on a stick!
We have seen the first signs of spring here in Amsterdam, but still, they say it's going to be the coldest week so far this winter. So a good time to celebrate a bit of outdoor coldness for this new The Little Things post! We got together with three families in our team member Nina's gorgeous country ...
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BIRTHDAY PARTIES
A dolls' garden party for Ava's 5th birthday!
Ava recently turned 5 -- the age where a birthday party really, really matters. We had family and friends over on the day of her birthday (the so-called 'family party'), but she was also really looking forward to the party for her little friends. I had been really, really busy with work and all sorts of ...
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