Activities to do with pre-school children - some recent activities

• Making butterfly biscuits - simple biscuit recipe, butterfly cookie cutters, coloured butter icing and sweeties to stick on.

• Family visit - lots of playing with family, cuddles and stories. 
• Large scale painting on the floor.  Big sheet of paper (from a roll of lining paper), sponges, rollers, paint, and other bits and pieces for printing and painting.  Just a couple of colours so that they can see what colour is made when they are mixed.

•  Dressing up - the dressing up box has been out a lot just lately, and I've now moved it so that they can access at any time.  This means that Bug almost permanently has an item of dressing-up clothing on - though this morning she disappeared into C's bedroom for a while and reappeared with two pairs of his pyjamas on, and a set of swimming trunks - she's very good at dressing herself!
• Visiting a castle (or two).  While I was busy Scouting on the weekend the family all went off to Doune Castle.  It's a fantastic castle, and best known for being used so much in the filming of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail".  Then this weekend we went just a few miles, to Kinross, where we have been neglecting to visit Loch Leven Castle.  You get a boat out across the Loch, which takes about ten minutes, to the island.  The castle was used to imprison Mary Queen of Scots for some time, and is a magical place, particularly on a blowy but sunny morning, when for the first half hour you have the island to yourselves!  We took a picnic which we enjoyed in a sheltered corner.  I also bought a plastic sword and helmet to add to the dressing-up box, so they were used a lot by the "King" exploring his castle.

• K'nex - a neighbour with grown up children appeared on the doorstep with a shoe-box full of this awesome construction material.  On establishing that Bug is unlikely to eat it, he was happy to pass on the box.  C and I have been having great fun with it.  I downloaded some instructions - a bit random since I don't know which number set I have - and have had a go at making a few things, and C is determined to make cars, motorbikes and more.  He definitely has a fascination for the wheels, but is also delighted with the ferris wheel that I made!