Tag: farm

Family

How to Have Fun with Your Family This Summer

JayneLeave a comment

Summer is the perfect time to be outdoors with your children. There can be so many different things to do. Having an appreciation of the great outdoors is important to instil in our children. It helps them to learn, as well as help them to stay active. If we only encourage them to be inside playing on the computer, then they aren’t going to argue with that! Encouraging play outdoors is fun for all ages and all members of the family to get involved in too. Here are some ideas for what you could do with the family.

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Days at the Beach

If  you live closeby to the coast, then you have the perfect playground on your doorstep. Luckily here in the UK, we are only ever a small drive from a beach of some form. So it might be an idea to plan a trip if you don’t live too close by. Children can skim rocks, build sandcastles and have a little paddle. It is a good idea to take some deckchairs with you to stay comfortable. When you have reached a certain age, you don’t want to get a back injury! You can’t go wrong with looking for fish or crabs either. Then finishing off the ice cream or fish and chips is a pretty perfect trip.

 Woodland Walks

Not all of us live close to the beach, but more of us will have some woodland area nearer to us. These are great to explore over summer. You can build dens or teepees out of sticks and logs. You can do rubbings on tree bark and even look for mini-beasts. You could do a scavenger hunt for certain leaves or see what nature and birds they can see. There are lots of options in the woods, as well as just enjoying a nice family walk.

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City Trips

A trip into town might not be a great idea with the most little of one’s. Having a pushchair with you isn’t the most fun. But if your children are a little older then it is a great idea for a trip out. There are different walks that you could do, as well as lots of different historical sites. It can be a busy day so make sure that it is all planned out well.

Farm Trips

I don’t think that there are many things better than a trip to the farm with your kids. It works well for children of all ages. It is a relatively cheap option for a day out too. So pack up a picnic and head to your local farm. They can pet the animals and learn all about them. It is so fun seeing little ones making all of the animal noises at the farm.

Are there any favourite things that you all like to do as a family? It would be nice to share some hints and tips for days out with our little ones. I hope that you have a great summer holiday with your children.

Review

Schleich Farm Life

Jayne5 Comments

When Sausage got to a certain age, she started to really get into animals and was keen to learn everything she could about them. My little sister is 8 1/2 years younger than me and I remembered that when she was about Sausage’s age, she too was mad about animals and collected miniature rubbery plastic models of them from a particular childrens toy shop. She’d go in there once a week and get a new species for her collection and it was the highlight of her week.

This shop is still around so I went to see if I could find the same toys, and the toys were still there but the range was hugely diminished and seemed poor quality.

A few weeks ago, I was asked if Sausage would be interested in receiving some toy animals from Schleich, a German company who specialise in animal toys and action figures, so of course we agreed.

We were sent a selection of farm animals including a couple of horses, a cow, some bunnies, a puppy, a sheepdog and a giraffe. I’m not sure how the last one works on a farm, but nevertheless we were happy to receive it! We also received a water trough.

One thing that struck us about every single one of these toys is that the attention to detail is superb. The animals look almost lifelike, the painting is beautifully done and the toys have a certain heavy quality to them that makes you think that these toys will last for many lifetimes. I certainly intend to save them and give them to Sausage’s children, in a couple of decades time!

One thing that I didn’t realise until I started looking for pictures to go with this post is just how  extensive the range of toys really is. There are no less than 34 breeds of horses available, with several models within each breed, and that’s not to mention the dozens of different dogs, humans, vehicles, buildings and hundreds of animals available. I’m impressed and overwhelmed by the amount of choice available and recommend these toys to just about anyone.

Go over to the Schleich site and have a butchers at wants on offer, I can guarantee you’ll be as impressed as I am. Sausage, of course, loves the toys and has set up a farm on her bedroom floor that no one is allowed to move! I think we can safely say that these toys are a hit with us.