Water play!

Summer if finally here in abundance!! If you're family is anything like mine you will have had lots of water play over the last few days. We have a big saucepan sitting in our kitchen sink saving water, and the girls used it this week to do apple bobbing - they totally enjoyed get their heads soaked!!! I have been a little sentimental these last few days remembering my own childhood when we could run under the sprinkler and summer days just seemed to go on and on forever! While we can't indulge in sprinkler play anymore, there's still plenty of ways to cool down with water play. How about testing the loading capacity of these little boats. In order to do this, first step was to collect everything, that can be loaded onto the ships (stones, shells, coins,...) and drop it into the water (saved from the shower of course). Taking turns, everyone now has to take something out of the water and load it onto the boat. The one, at whose turn the boat will overbalance will loose the game. Lots of fun on a sunny afternoon.

Little walnut boats are fun to make too. Take half a walnut shell for the full, a toothpick for your mast, a small piece of modelling wax or clay to attach the mast to the hull, and colored paper for the sail. We've found some great ideas like this one in The Big Summer Activity Book by Anne and Peter Thomas available at our stores - it's a great investment and inlcludes tips on watching the constellations, bush walking and orientation, as well as heaps of inspiration for the beach and summer art and craft!