Tag: garden
Dressing Up in Fairy Wings
I simply couldn’t resist these fairy wings when I saw them. As soon as Imogen spied them it was love at first sight and she was dressing up in fairy wings with her purple wellies.
Toddlers and children have great fun dressing up and role playing. It encourages children to use their imaginations, develop vocabulary skills and build confidence.
Often your children have the most fun dressing up when they’re making use of clothes and items you already have in your home. Check your wardrobe and cupboards for:
- towels and sheets (these make great capes)
- a plastic colander (can become a helmet)
- belts
- scarves
- shawls
- gloves of all lengths
- old bags
- aprons
- tutus
- dance costumes
- hats
- glasses with the lenses removed
- costume jewellery (make sure it’s safe for the age of your child)
There’s no end to what your toddler or child can dress up in and pretend to be so update and add new items to your child’s dressing up box as often as you like.
If you’re looking for fairy wings for your toddler to play dress up in there’s a beautiful set including a Tutu, Butterfly Wings and a Wand at John Lewis.
What does your toddler enjoy dressing up in?
Grilled Fish with Lemon
One of the great pleasures of summer is cooking and eating outside. Celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of River Cottage each have their own take on summer recipes and eating al fresco.
My favourite way to enjoy summer fare is to eat fresh, organic and home grown food when possible. Nothing tastes better than fruit or veg plucked straight from the garden. Today we enjoyed grilled fish cooked in the garden with organic home grown sugar snap peas and runner beans, freshly picked lemons, organic brown rice and avocado.
It’s so simple to put these ingredients together to create a healthy, quick and nutritious meal for the family to enjoy at lunch or dinner time.
Do you grow your own potatoes? These would taste delicious with the fish as an alternative to brown rice. And if you’re cutting back on the carbs a green salad would be a perfect accompaniment for the grilled fish with lemon.
What’s your favourite summer recipe?
Outside Garden
I can’t stop Imogen from venturing into the garden and I don’t want to, although she would be out at all hours if she had the chance and was allowed to stay up throughout the night.
It’s absolutely wonderful she has green fingers at such a young age. Hubby and I are keen nature lovers and Imogen’s been watching. She’s heard us talk about birds, flowers, fauna, insects and wildlife since she was a tiny baby and we had our first family holiday in Orford.
Every morning as soon as she wakes we look outside and assess the weather with Imogen giving me the lowdown. Windy trees, misty, sun, rain or fuffa for cloudy. And then it’s shouts of Outside Garden. This is what Imogen’s named my parent’s garden in New Zealand. It’s not an inside garden is it?
I love being outside and in the garden. My dreams are to landscape our 2.5 acres of land in Brittany, France. It’s in a state at present given that we can’t be there enough to keep on top of the weeding, manage the brambles or prune the trees. But when we are there it’s all hands to the deck and what we achieve is nothing short of a miracle in such a short time.
Whilst we’re not working on our garden in France I love to use any spare time I have learning about gardening online. There are some amazing resources and very inspiring gardeners who give me lots of ideas and helpful hints for the near future.
Two of my favourite Gardening Blogs are The Enduring Gardener with all sorts of helpful tips and facts on gardening whilst being a thoroughly great read and My Tiny Plot a blog about vegetable gardening, seasonal cooking and family life in Portland Oregon.
And if you’re after some quick and purse friendly recipes then head over to Love and Olive Oil which is one of my favourite food blogs. When my vegetables are growing in my garden this blog will provide me with the inspiration for some delicious family meals.
What’s your best gardening tip?
