How to spend your last few months in London...

So I've just got a new job and will be relocating the family out of London (home for over 10 years) and into a more leafy countryside environment. Exciting, scary, all number of emotions spring to mind - especially terrified at the thought of moving the kids out of their current nursery which they TOTALLY love.

But anyway, we are moving. And have less than 3 months left of living in London. 

So what is on your "must do" list for London-based activities? This is what I've got so far - some things we've done lots of times but just love doing, some of them I've been meaning to do for ages but haven't got round to yet.

Any other ideas or suggestions very gratefully received!

******

V&A museum
I'm a bit embarrassed that in 10 years I have only been here twice and both for fleeting visits. 

Science museum
Not been here for ages but really want to take D. Apparently they've got loads of great stuff for toddlers including water and bubble shows.

Kings cross fountains
These look awesome - how much fun to be a child again and just feel uninhibited running through these?! The next hot day that I have off work we are definitely hitting this - Iz will be in her element!

(image from www.urbanpixxels.com)

Diana fountain
D and I went here just before Iz was born and he loved it. Perfect way to cool down on a hot summer day. 

Diana playground
Ditto above. D has been there but Iz never had. His favourite bit was the water play area so I guess it's lucky we are coming into summer!

 

Vertigo
Awesome super high up bar with views across London. I went there on one of my first dates with Mr MFDS so would love to go again before we move.

Aquarium with new penguins
The London aquarium is a firm favourite (unlimited entry all year thanks to my Merlin annual pass) but they've just revamped the penguin area (to make it much nicer for the penguins) so we can't wait to see that.

 

Theatre
Not sure what I want to see but would love to go again whilst it's still very easy to just "pop in" to the West End.

Musical
I really want to see Mamma Mia. Mr MFDS does not. We'll see who gives in first... ;)

London eye
Another attraction I get unlimited access to with my Merlin pass so it seems rude to not go on it when we visit the aquarium ;) both kids love it, especially spotting all the tiny boats and trains when we're near the top.

 

Camley Street Nature Park
We've never been here but I've heard it's a lovely secluded park where kids can go pond dipping etc. It's also near Kings Cross (so perfect to combine with the fountains above!).

Certain restaurants
Bluebird cafe - we had our post-registry office wedding celebratory lunch here 4 years ago and I would love to go back there one date night with Mr MFDS.
Annie's - love this place, lovely memories of family meals out
Riccardo's opposite the Marsden - slightly random but this was one of my mum's favourite places to eat and they used to really look after my dad when she was having treatments

Heathrow gym
If you are local to west London (or are going anywhere near Heathrow during the daytime) then this is such a great place to take kids. Massive soft play, loads of trampolines, 2 sensory rooms and a massive foam pit that you can slide or swing into! And all for £2 - bargain!

South bank
I know some people think it's touristy etc but I love just wandering down the South Bank. Before kids I used to go there quite a lot with Mr MFDS so it would be nice to have another walk along the river there.

Trampolining park
This place in Acton is amazing. I've been there twice with friends (sooo much fun for a work night out!) but haven't taken the kids yet. They have dedicated toddler sessions on weekday mornings so we're hoping to get to one of those.

Kew Gardens
My mum gave me an annual pass for Kew for my birthday 2 years ago and it's great. It's only a 20 minute bus ride for us and so lovely to have such massive open areas for the kids to explore. The daffodils were especially beautiful this year and the kids also love when the old-school fair comes to the gardens. We'll definitely visit a few times before we move.

Richmond Park
Beautiful place to spend an afternoon walking/picnicking/playing/snoozing. And you can also see bonus deer if you keep your eyes open.

******

So those are the top 17 things I want to do over the next 3 months. Have I missed any of your favourites out? Let me know and we'll try to do them all!

Rainbow pasta

This is a great thing to make once and then keep in a jar and bring out whenever the kids are bored or want something slightly different to do. Because the pasta is not cooked it will keep for ages - we've had ours well over a year now.

To make it, use a similar process to the rainbow rice (see here). Put the pasta in a ziploc bag, add some food colouring and a small bit of vinegar and shake like crazy until the colour is evenly distributed. Then spread out on a covered baking tray to dry and make the next colour. 

So how do we play with it? There are so many things you can do (and your kids will probably invent a few games of their own!) but here are a few things we've enjoyed doing over the last year:

Counting

Super simple but a nice way to practice counting. D tends to count a pile out to Iz, who then counts it back to him :)

Making necklaces (or other miscellaneous objects!)

Add some pipe cleaners or ribbon and you can make bracelets, necklaces, crowns, belts... Good for manual dexterity/manipulation as well as dressing up fun!

I think Mr MFDS had a lot of fun making this creation!

Threading on spaghetti

Use a lump of playdough as the stand and get threading. D made a rainbow tower, Iz kept breaking her spaghetti as she was too rough with it and so ended up improvising and making a hedgehog!

Sorting colours

This was great for D last year and Iz is now the perfect age. You can get them to sort the colours, identify the colours or pick ones based on what colour you say.

Building towers freestyle

Self-explanatory. The highest we've managed to build so far is 12 pieces high :)

******

What's nice about this toy is that I'm happy for them to get the bottle out by themselves and they feel so grown up unscrewing the lid and deciding how many pieces to take out (although who am I kidding - if it's Iz in charge then it's usually the whole lot!). Definitely worth the initial 20 minutes prep time!

Rainbow ball stacker (or how to wow a YouTube-pro toddler)

So... I really hope I'm not alone here but D used to be addicted to those egg opening videos on YouTube. Don't know what I mean? Search "kinder eggs" on YouTube, show it to a nearby toddler and marvel at  just how fascinating they find it watching someone else open eggs to see what toys are inside...

Anyway, D used to love them. He still does but he doesn't watch them much anymore. They were definitely my guilty must-go-to though when I was stuck breastfeeding Iz and wanted a quick way to entertain D. He always used to ask me to make him a big bucket of eggs but the cost (accompanied by the thought of sugar-driven energy buzz that would follow) always acted as a pretty powerful dissuader... But I thought it might be fun to come up with some sort of surprise for him, so this is what I did:

Basically it's a very cheap to make, completely reusable ball of fun! The whole thing cost me less than £3 and it provides hours of entertainment.

What you need:

Plastic cups

Stapler

Selection of small toys 

"Ball pool" balls

Toys I used - selection from previous Kinder eggs and anything small we had lying around!

How to make it:

1. Lay some cups on the floor and staple the sides together. Because the cups are tapered (ie cup shaped!) a circle will automatically form. The size/shape of your cups pretty much dictates the size of the final product. 

2. Then add a second layer - again the cups should naturally taper downwards at their bases due to their shape and so this layer will be smaller and slightly more vertical

3. Continue building layers, stapling each cup in place, until your dome is complete!

4. Next gather your collection of toys and put one in each cup. Don't worry if you don't think your toys are very exciting, or that they are things your toddler plays with every day. I ran low of items and even included some single Lego blocks which D still thought were the best thing ever! I only included 3 new toys in the whole thing - all Lego minifigures which D loves. You can also leave some cups empty so it's a surprise if there is anything need the ball or not. 

5. Put a ball in the mouth of each cup. If you don't have any balls you could use silver foil to cover each hole (although that would be pretty time consuming!) or a scrumpled up tissue. But we love our balls - perfect for so many things (yoghurt painting and outside coloured water fun to name just two) and you can get 100 for about £3 in most big stores.

I left the dome in the middle of the floor so D and Iz would see it when they woke up the next morning. Initially curious and slightly unsure whether they were allowed to touch it, once they realised they could and it was just for them they were so excited.

It was easily big enough for them to play together whilst having their own little area to explore.

Good fine motor practice removing the balls (my big adult fingers actually found it much harder than they did!) and using a pincer grip to remove the toys. Then language skills trying to describe what they found in each cup. Iz was so excited to play with all her "new" toys!

D played with it about 45 minutes the first day (he only stopped because it was nursery time) and in the evening he played with it as soon as he got home. Once he'd taken all the toys out, he then sorted them and then put them all back into the cups, replaced the balls and then started all over again!

They played with the dome every day for just over a week - until it succumbed to the general forces of play and the cups started to break. I suspect if I'd used plastic cups from somewhere other than Poundland it would've lasted a lot longer though!!

Definitely a very good make :)

Rainbow bubbles

I first saw a similar idea on Fun At Home With Kids (an awesome blog) and just knew we had to try it. It basically combines my two most favourite things - bubbles and rainbows... And on top of that the kids get clean. What's not to love?! 

What you need:

Washing up liquid

Water

Liquid watercolours (or food colouring but this might stain clothes so beware!)

An electric mixer (the faster the better!)

How to make it:

1. Mix 2 tablespoons of washing up liquid and about 50ml water in a bowl (might need to alter water punt depending on hardness of water)

2. Add a few drops of liquid watercolour

3. Mix on highest speed with electric mixer for a few minutes until all the liquid has become foam

4. Scoop out into container

5. Repeat with different colours as desired

Almost looks good enough to eat!

She was so excited when she first saw it

It probably took me about 20 minutes to make this and that's mainly because we have a rubbish mixer that does not mix very fast!!

Iz loved exploring the foam, clapping her hands in it, watching her fingers disappear, mixing the colours up with a spoon and then giving some of her animals a bath afterwards :)

We've also done a variation on it where I tilted the tray and left the bubbles for an hour to settle. This results in much finer bubbles (rather than foam) which I then scooped out and put in another tray. Iz then did bubble prints using kitchen roll and enjoyed feeling the different texture. 

******

Let me know if you try it - other variations you could try are just dark blue/purple bubbles with glitter (outer space/galaxy sensory bin) or green and blue bubbles with some plastic animals (Land and sea sensory bin) - super simple but super fun!

Rainbow pancakes

I shared a few of these pictures on my facebook page a few weeks ago but here's a quick "how to" guide if anyone wants a very simple way to brighten up teatime...

What you need:

Pancake mix (bottle or homemade)

Food colours - I used neon gels

Squeezy bottles

Frying pan

Oil

Pastry brush

What you do:

1. Make up the pancake mix as usual

2. Fill each squeezy bottle with mix and add a few drops of food colouring

3. Brush a thin layer of oil on the bottom of a pancake or frying pan

4. Warm the pan over a low heat

5. Make whatever pattern you like with your different coloured squeezy bottles

6. Gently turn the pancake over when ready and cook on the other side

The trick is to keep the heat low - then you have time to make a multi-coloured pancake and cook it evenly without browning the colours :)

See how much fun you can have - definitely worth the tiny bit of extra effort!

Taste test approved!

A novel way to teach them the alphabet?!