Car Wash - thinking cap thursday

 How do you encourage a kid when its hot to play with water, when they don't want to?
My boys are no longer interested in playing in the paddle pool as we have been doing it so much at the moment that they need a little more encouragement to get wet. Its so hot they really need to play in the water lots! so we have discovered playing at washing cars.
 Flynns car wash is put together with 2 very large buckets of bubbley water different sponges floating in these buckets. The slip n'slide set up so he can roll the cars, bikes, wheelbarrow and so forth onto it and wash them. I also put the watering can nearby, he didn't use it today he went for the sponges but perhaps tomorrow he will.








Once finished he pushed them out into the sun to dry. I also had the paddle pool set up incase he wanted to submerge some things, his little brother was asleep so no submerging happened thats really eli's style. I think this activity is great because it gets my boy outside activly doing things even on a hot day, and it also encourages him to take care of his wheely toys, and he likes the role play aspect, he sees daddy washing the cars. He even told me he was polishing the dump truck!
i will have him washing my car next! love sassy

sassy scribbles friday

Put it all together for this little town



top left



top right




bottom left



bottom right



Play dough

See its squishy

Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
4 tbls cream of tartar
2 tbls oil
1 cup of salt
food colouring
2 cups of water if cooking, 1 cup if not cooking




warning cars get bogged


Cooking your play dough will make it last longer, especially in tropics. You can cook it in a saucepan on stove, or microwave for a min, stir and nuke for another min. I have found that cooking it intensifies the colour. Or you can use water from the kettle just use one cup, keep it in the fridge it will be fine. The non- cook form is often how I make it because I know the big boy will trash it fast, and that's great because it means hes enjoying it. You can jazz up your play dough by adding glitter, or fragrant oils, I tried adding mint leaves today but i didn't add enough to make the smell strong enough, I also grated the zest of a lemon into another batch and that worked really well. I think flower petals would work great too, especially if the child was helping to make the play dough.

Some play dough play tools
cookie cutters
plastic knives, forks
strips of cardboard (bend to make bridge)
garlic press
egg cartons
coloured or not match sticks (great 4 pretend birthday cake)
Popsicle sticks
stamps
corks
old toy cars and people
leaves, sticks flowers, seed pods and pebbles
googley eyes
feathers


I would love to get more play dough ideas so please comment if your kiddies have any fave ways to play with dough, have fun.

Cozy Car Caddie from blog Handmade by Jill

I made 2 of these car caddies I saw on Handmade by Jill, mine are not as accomplished sewing wise, but my boys LOVE them, Eli's only 1 and he is already a rev head so a perfect project for boys. Make your own by following her tutorial here. Eli's was a first birthday present and it's got a beach theme, Flynn’s was made to occupy him on a very long car trip from cairns to Rockhampton (we took 2 days). Today I updated Flynn's as it was a bit basic with just the roads a traffic light and a pond, now it has lift the flap buildings that are on fire (thanks to the hot glue gun). He has an obsession with all thing fire-fighter and rescue orientated. It was popular and useful when we went out before I think with the extra features it's going to be a massive hit, and definitely a sanity saver.

Check out the great blog handmade by Jill