We've been reading this sweet Collection of Nursery Rhymes this week.  It's a lovely book with a variety of nursery rhymes that we're familiar with and ones that were new to the kids, we had a lot of fun discovering and talking about these new rhymes.  It's a really nicely bound and sturdy book that would make a great gift for a new baby or young child as well.

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Sometimes mornings are just too hectic to make a proper breakfast, so I do love when we've thought ahead and made overnight oats the day before.  And as it's coming up to autumn what better to have then some yummy apple and cinnamon oats for breakfast?



I always have Ethan help me when I prepare overnight oats as it's a fun activity for him, and it's something to keep him busy either as I'm making dinner or after dinner when he's always searching for things to do.  It's so easy for him to measure out the ingredients as it's all quite simple and he always loves to stir it all up!  We even get to make our own applesauce for this one, so I start by having Ethan help me to slice up the apples before I warm them on the stove in a bit of water until they're soft, then we mash them up using a potato masher.

Ethan's just finished up his time at his very first nursery to go on to preschool, a very emotional change for me but one that he is very ready for.  Of course we need to show our gratitude to his very first teachers, but on a very limited time schedule we had to come up with some simple gifts that we could make during a busy week.  Nothing shows gratitude better than flowers, so we went with a simple flower theme for our thankful crafts.

It is nearly time for the kids to go back to school and for some children it can be quite a stressful time if they don't feel confident in their abilities and their knowledge of the subjects that they're learning.  This is when having a tutor can really help to prepare your child and bring them up to the level of the rest of the children in their class, and make them feel much happier about going back to school.  If you are looking for a tutor but don't know where to start, there's a great website called Tutorfair which makes finding a suitable tutor quick and easy.

We are so very lucky to live in London as we get access to so many different activities and days out for the kids.  I actually still manage to miss out on loads, so I'm always reading about others suggested days out in London, but thought it was about time that we shared some of our favourite things to do in our favourite city.


Parks / Outdoor Activities



We love the London Wetland Centre there are so many different types of birds to see, as well as plenty of educational activities and a fantastic play area!

Often when we're in a different part of the city for a specific event we try to find something fun for the kids to do as well, so we were very excited to discover Spitalfields City Farm after a morning of grown up activities, as it gave Ethan a chance to really run around and explore.



Kew Gardens is one of those places that can often be overlooked, but it really is a fantastic place for kids as it's just massive and they really have lots of space to run freely.  There are also things like the treetop walkway that just can't be missed.



Another recent discovery we made on a busy day out is Coram's Fields.  It's a fabulous place for kids to play with playgrounds for different age groups, sand and water play areas, a few animals to look at and a cafe.  It's completely enclosed and safe and the perfect place to run around on a busy day.  Ethan absolutely loved the zip line!

Sights

We love to go to the Southbank and they've often got different art installations that you can take part in, like the Books About Town benches last summer and the Shaun the Sheep ones earlier this year.  There's also the London Eye, The London Dungeon, The SeaLife London Aquarium and Shrek's Adventure.  We've taken Ethan to the aquarium and he absolutely loved it!  The Eye and Dungeons are definitely for older kids, and Shrek's Adventure is for slightly older kids (they recommend for 6 and up) but I had the opportunity to have a sneak peek at a blogger event and it's so much fun, I can't wait to take the kids!



You can also take a Big Bus Tour to see the see on and open topped bus!  It's not just for tourists, all kids love buses and this way they can learn about the sights of the city as you travel around.  I went on one recently for a blogger event and can't wait to take the kids now!

Museums



Ethan absolutely loved the London Transport Museum and any little bus and tube fan would too!  We've also had a few fun days out at the Science Museum and Natural History Museum as they're so close to each other.  Who wouldn't love to do some scientific discovery and see dinosaurs on the same day!

Theme Parks / Fairs

Even though they are slightly outside of London, I can't help but mention Chessington World of Adventures and Legoland because we just love them so much!  But we also love a big London fair, and we go to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park each year.

Indoor Play / Soft Play

On a rainy day we love to make crafts at home or somewhere fun like The Pottery Cafe which has several locations around London.  We also go to soft play sometimes and are big fans of the big indoor play centres like Snakes and Ladders as we really can spend a whole day there.

Shows / Plays


Ethan loves to go to the theatre and we've been lucky enough to see quite a few shows, the most recent being The 3 Little Pigs which I'm still singing the songs from!  We've also loved The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Up and Down, Room on the Broom, The Gruffalo Live and In The Night Garden Live.  It's just such a fantastic experience to see our favourite stories come to life, and we're always looking for more productions to see.

There are just so many things to see and do in London that we just don't have enough days to do it all, so we're always open to suggestions.  What have we missed out on?

For a look at some of our favourite days out have a look at our Pinterest board:

Follow Play & Learn Everyday's board Days Out with the Kids on Pinterest.

* Some of the places included in this post were originally part of review posts, but all opinions are my own.*

I was lucky enough to go to The Handmade Fair last year and had a lovely time exploring all of the different craft stalls with a few other crafty bloggers and getting loads of inspiration for crafts to do myself.  I'm really looking forward to going again this year!


If you don't know about The Handmade Fair already, it's an event put on by Kirstie Allsopp that encompasses all different types of crafting.  It takes place from the 18th-20th September at Hampton Court Palace.  There are craft stalls selling all sorts of craft supplies as well as finished handmade items.  There are also skills workshops where you can make a selection of different crafts, from papercraft to sewing and everything in between.  You can also learn about a variety of crafty pursuits at a session in the super theatre, where you can hear from Kirstie herself as well as some other craft experts!

Image courtesy of The Handmade Fair

There is so much to do at The Handmade Fair that you really have to plan your day in advance to make sure that you get to see and do everything, so I highly suggest that you buy tickets early and pour over the website to plan your day.  And the best part is that I get to give you a discount code to buy tickets!  

Image courtesy of The Handmade Fair

Go to The Handmade Fair tickets page and enter the discount code PLED12 to get an entry only ticket for £12 (instead of £15) or enter the code PLED27 to get a full experience ticket for £27 (instead of £29) **booking fees apply

Image courtesy of The Handmade Fair

Please come back and leave me a message if you go, I can't wait to hear about all of the fabulous crafts that you've made!

* This is a collaborative post, The Handmade Fair have provided me with tickets to the event last year and this year, but all opinions are my own.*

We've been busy settling into our new home and making it a house to play in.  I've shown you Ivy's starry bedroom, Ethan's jungle bedroom and our playroom and now we get to give something fun away!



We've got this great playmat from WOW Toys that we use in the playroom and the kids rooms as it's so easy to move around the house and is so much fun to play with using all of our WOW vehicles.  Ethan can be using his diggers in one corner at the construction site and Ivy can be driving the school bus around the school in another corner.  It is such an easy way to keep them busy playing for ages and I love that it suits them both so well.  You can enter below to win one yourself and have as much fun as we're having in our house to play in!

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* This is a collaborative post, we were given a playmat from WOW Toys to review and one to give away.*

We've been in our new house for nearly three months now and we are absolutely loving it!  It's all coming together slowly and today I'm showing you our playroom area (the space between the kitchen and living room).



Of course we have the toy storage area, which even when I wanted to photograph it couldn't be quite tidy enough, but that is real life as it's the area that we play in the most!  The storage unit is from IKEA and is full of blocks, musical instruments, toy people and animals, puzzles, trains and toy food.  The top is just stacked with toys that make their way there throughout the day!  Above the toys is a washing line that the kids made which holds all of their recent artwork and Ethan's reward chart.  Beside it you can just see the children's table and chairs, also from IKEA.

I started by cutting out a large apple shape from construction paper (sugar paper).  Then I drew some different types of lines on the apple for Ethan to cut along.  I drew some straight lines, some zigzag and some wavy lines.  I was careful not to do too many to make the puzzle too difficult, but I also wanted it to be tricky enough to challenge him.  For children who are just learning to cut this could be done with just a couple of straight lines to follow.

On the hunt for even more apple themed activities for kids? Check out these fun ideas from some of my favorite kid bloggers.

I know that I probably shouldn't say it, but I love autumn!  Of course I'm sad that summer's over, but there's just something about all of those beautiful coloured crunchy leaves that I just can't get enough of.  And it just creates the best sensory materials for kids to really be able to explore and discover in so many different ways.  Here are the best ten ideas that I could find:



Last year we made these fun Autumn Discovery Bottles I made them with Ivy in mind as she was just 9 months old then, and she loved them!  But Ethan really enjoyed making them and playing with them too.


This Fall Leaves Soup from And Next Comes L is such a fantastic idea that I will definitely be trying, I'm sure that the leaves would be even more fun to play with in the water.  There is nothing more fun than playing with a big bin of crunchy leaves like they did with this Fall Sensory Bin: Squirrel Play from The Pleasantest Thing.  It just shows that you don't need to make things complicated to have a lot of fun and exploration.

We haven't tried having a sensory table that the kids can come and explore whenever they like, but this Autumn Sensory Table from The Imagination Tree looks like a great way to start.  We had so much fun collecting acorns the other day, so I'm sure that Ethan and Ivy would love to explore them more with these Fall Acorn Activities from Little Bins for Little Hands.  

This Autumn Sensory Play from Mama's Happy Hive takes more of a Montessori angle with these simple transfer activities for young children to explore.  And the Autumn Jello Sensory Bin from Learn Play Imagine is just way too fun to resist, those colours of jello look amazing together!

There are a variety of different sensory tubs that I love, including this Fall Farm Sensory Tub from No Time for Flash Cards with its corn base this Fall Sensory Bin from Fantastic Fun and Learning that uses a combination of natural and store bought materials and this Fall Sensory Bin from Happy Hooligans that is so gorgeously colourful and has a great variety of textures.

Now I can't wait for fall to collect leaves, acorns and conkers and get started with some more sensory activities!

This post is part of a blog hop with other creative bloggers listing a variety of different apple and fall activities that you've got to try, go take a look!