There were dogs, frogs, circus acts and superheroes in the backyard this afternoon.  Before the rumpus, I put easy-to-find materials down in the backyard to create a temporary obstacle course.  It’s something I’ve been meaning to do with the kids for a while now (wish I had done it earlier!).  It took me all of 5 minutes to set up and the only things I needed to buy was the wood planks and the hula hoops. Best $20 I spent this week.

Note: I put this together keeping in mind the ages and capabilities of my own children plus provided guidelines to ensure their safety.

Below are some material ideas that can be used for a backyard obstacle course:

• Witches hats
• Cone markers
• Plank of wood on the ground (different size and thicknesses)
• Large stepping stones
• Old tyres
• Hula hoops laid on the ground
• Door mats or foam squares
• Large saucepans
• Browse a second hand shop for useful items

Our Backyard Obstacle Course

At the last tyre change, I asked the mechanic if I could keep the tyres so I already had them in the shed (they just needed a bit of a hose down), the foam mats we use for camping, and I bought a few different pieces of wood from Bunnings.

Seriously, it’s amazing how much fun an ordinary plank of wood on the grass is! I think if I only put that down, the kids still would have a ball.  That’s the beauty of this: it acts like a temporary outdoor activity that I can pull out in part (for example just the foam mat or the hula hoops) or in full.  The kids played in the backyard for about an hour and a half before dinner. Was. Awesome.

Backyard fun

Circus act

Frogs jumping on lily-pads

Wide (and long) piece of wood on the grass

Smaller pieces of wood.

Foam mats and cone markers

Next up: we are going to decorate the wood planks with texters.

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Favourite Play Spaces

The team at MILO approached me earlier this year about  the MILO Play Movement, a fabulous project designed to help parents and children get active and play every day.  I enjoy working with the team over at MILO as one of their Mum Ambassadors because I believe in the power of play, and I love talking about it.

Listed below is a snapshot of survey results of Australian and New Zealand families.  For for more information, watch this short video.

In a nutshell

The Milo Play Movement team surveyed of almost 1400 children, parents and grandparents in 2011 to explore the state of play in Australia.  Not surprisingly, the survey shows spontaneous healthy outdoor play is feeling the pinch due to our ever busy family lives and is at risk of being suffocated by electronic games.  According to the survey, outdoor play is important to both parents and children, however, 45% of Aussie kids are not playing everyday.  The three main barriers to play were identified as:

1. Time

Who wouldn’t want more of this commodity every day!  Amongst homework, chores and family life, play is often pushed down the list of priorities.

2. Technology

When I was growing up, computer games were in their infancy and in no way detracted from playing outside.  Now it’s possible to immerse yourself in a virtual world that seems to know no bounds.  I believe there are some advantages with electronic play but like anything, moderation is important.

3. Inspiration

An interesting point the study brings out is many parents and grandparents think children show a lack of inspiration when it comes to creating play.  There may be a number of reasons for this but in this electronic age, where entertainment is served up, creativity and spontaneity can be stifled.  Play, like all things in life, improves when actively cultivated.

Outdoor play and our family

The way I encourage outdoor activity play with my kids is to designate a period of time everyday, usually between 4:00 and 5:30 pm for this type of play.  I’m pretty blunt about it, it’s “Play outside or come inside to do jobs.” Ha! The kids don’t need much persuading.

The beauty of outdoor play is there are many games that instigate almost instantly and with very little planning.  For example, tying streamers in a tree, jumping on the trampoline, putting cone markers out and riding scooters around them, tag, hide and go seek, creating a back yard obstacle course or even doing some of the 105 Ways to Enjoy Nature together.

We have a soccer goal set up on our small lawn, and if Dad gets home during daylight, he often throws himself into a quick game of soccer; the kids love it (I’m giving one of these soccer nets away at the end of the post with some other goodies).

Giveaway: FUN Outdoor Kit

I’m giving away this awesome, awesome kit to one Be A Fun Mum Reader.  Thanks SquiggleMum for providing a pic of the kit.

Fun outdoor kit: The kit contains a free standing soccer net, cones, a selection of different balls a ball pump and a couple of tins of MILO.

To Enter

Entering is really easy. Just leave a comment below about a fun game you or your kids play and your response could be featured in the Play-O-Pedia App, an easy tool you can search on for games to play (give it a try).

Terms

1. Australian residents only 2. Winner will be drawn randomly  3. Winner will be notified by email and if no response is received within 48 hours, a new winner will be drawn  4. Answers could be used in the Milo Play-O-Pedia App. 5. Giveaway open from 12.01 am 21 May to 12.01 am 25 May 2012. 6. This competition is no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with facebook.

Disclaimer: I receive payment for consulting services as a MILO Mum Ambassador for the MILO Play Movement, and received a MILO Play Kit free of charge for my own kids to play with.

Links

Milo on Facebook

Play-O-Pedia Facebook App

SquiggleMum: Fun you can have with a tin can

Disclosure

Today on the blog, I’m welcoming Dirt Girl from the hit children’s series Dirtgirlworld, to guest post especially for Be A Fun Mum.  Dirtgirlworld is a celebration of life outside, taking children to a world where the real and unreal collide.  I love the show’s focus on loving the outdoors and environmental sustainability.

So, get grubby this winter with 10 gardening tips for kids from Dirt Girl.

Great fun winter gardening ideas

1. Compost

Gather up all the autumn leaves that have fallen and jump in it! I mean, make a big compost pile. Add some manure (sheep, cow, horse or chicken poo), some water and let it heat up! Or add them to the compost pile you already have. You can also use your autumn leaves to mulch your garden beds to help keep your plants’ roots extra warm over the chilly winter. As the leaves rot down they become food for the soil.

2. Garden

Winter is a great time to plant lettuce, beetroot and broccoli. Savoy cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, radish, rocket, rainbow chard, spring onions and turnips can be planted now too. If you plant them at every two weeks, you will get a nice crop all the way through winter. It’s hard to eat 10 heads of broccoli if they all come on at once! Believe me I’ve tried!

Plant in winter garden:

• lettuce
• beetroot
• broccoli
• savoy cabbage
• carrots
• cauliflower
• radish
• rocket
• rainbow chard
• spring onions
• turnips

3. Collect & Paint Pots

Start collecting conatiners & pots for your container garden now. Paint some personalized garden pots that will be used in the spring. Or you can use them now to plant some coriander, rocket, perpetual spinach, and silver beet.

Look at these cute rainbow painted pots from Whimsical Kids Canvas. Click the picture to read the post.

4. Herbs in Pots

You could try some lovely smelling herb pots too with thyme, rosemary and ‘winter savoury’. These herbs are tough and only need watering about every second or third week but the leafy greens will need watering every 4 to 6 days. To pick the herbs for the kitchen simply pinch off the tips with your fingers – doing this also prunes them which will encourage bushier, faster growing plants.

Plant in pots during winter:

• coriander
• rocket
• perpetual spinach
• silver beet
• thyme
• rosemary

5.Window Garden

Try growing an indoor window sill garden with mini flowers.

6.Grow Bags

If planting out in the garden make the most of cool season sun by planting vegies in grow bags which can be moved to where the sun is at any time of day.

7. Make a Bird Feeder

Winter is a great time for helping the birds in your backyard.  You can build a birdhouse from scraps like timber, plastic drain pipes, PVC pipe. With very little alteration, you can repurpose well-cleaned 3.8-litre paint cans, washed plastic milk cartons, coffee cans or the newer plastic containers, old boots, stiff hats, faded wreaths, and fallen branches into bird houses. Even materials that will only last for one season, like cardboard milk cartons, make good shelters for some birds.

You could even use a gourd! All that you need is a gourd and some wire. Find out how to make this on Family Fun Go.

Painted gourds can be used to decorate the garden too.

Materials you can build bird houses from:

• timber
• plastic drain pipes
• PVC pipe
• well-cleaned 3.8-litre paint cans
• washed plastic milk cartons
• coffee cans
• plastic containers
• old boots
• stiff hats
• faded wreaths
• fallen branches
• cardboard milk cartons
• gourds

For more some recycled birdhouse ideas go to Recycled Bird Houses or here: Bird Feeder from Recycled Materials

8. Bird Diary

Set up bird feeders and keep them full. Provide a daily clean water source. Keep a record of all the species of birds that come to the feeder and what date each first was spotted.

9. Plant Bulbs

Plant bulbs in a pot, in a good soil mixture with drainage material in the bottom like broken old bits of terracotta pot. Daffodil bulbs are easy peasy to grow in a pot. Most bulbs can be planted twice as deeply as they are high, and about the same distance apart. Bulbs are usually planted with the pointy end upwards, except ranunculi. If you are unsure, plant the bulb sideways and it will turn the correct way up as it emerges. Place pots outdoors, protected from strong winds and frosts, in a position where they will receive natural rainfalls as much as possible. Bring pots indoors to enjoy when flowering begins.

10. Visit a Garden

Make a day of it and visit a local community garden or even a nursery to see what’s growing.

Now let’s get grubby!  Love dirtgirl!

More

Dirt Girl Word — The Website

Rock Garden

105 Ways to Enjoy Nature With Kids

When I do craft with my kids, I like for it to be an extension of another outing or activity.  For example, making potpourri bags for the drawers was coupled with a trip to the shops, collecting shells at the beach turned into a wall feature and a fun addition to a country drive was to stop and make wild flower wreaths. For me, craft is about connection rather than just something to do.

When the children and I explored a local stream recently, we collected rocks to make rock footprints.

It’s not craft, it’s connection.

Materials

Piece of wood (or use a canvas)

2 x Screw eyes

Rocks (1 sole of foot size and 5 for toes)

Gem glue, like 330 Epoxy (a hot glue gun works too but for best results use expoxy glue)

Instructions

1. Sort, clean and move the rocks around until you get the best foot shape.

2. Lightly sand the piece of wood to help the glue stick. Canvas can also be used instead of the wood.

3. Arrange the rocks on your piece of wood or canvas using gem glue or hot glue gun (the gluing should be done by an adult).

4. Allow to dry as per packet instructions.

5. Press screw eyes and twist on either side of wood to allow for hanging.

6. Hang with a piece of twine or rope.

The Rock Footprint sign hangs on the outdoor cubby. We might add some words to the sign when we think of a good name. I’ll keep you posted.

Connections.

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Nature Craft

Health and fitness is important to me but it’s a challenge to prioritise amongst the pressures and busyness of parenting.  Fitting it all in is less about time management and more of a journey for me, and I’ve written about this in the posts below.

1. The first step was to make the conscious decision to do something about my health. I wrote about it here: Feeling Fat and Ugly.

2. Secondly, I had to embrace who I was and the changes in my body. I wrote about it here: Weight Gain and Post Baby Body Issues.

3. I jumped those hurdles, and now I have the freedom to work out what fitness/health routine works for me. I shared my fitness routine here: Finding time to excercise.

I’ve achieved so much in terms of health — I’m an active sort of person and I enjoy eating healthy foods — but there is something I really struggle with. It turns my steady healthy life plan in to absolute turmoil…every month.  It’s PMS (Pre-Menstrual Syndrome).

I asked experts in nutrition and exercise from Weight Watchersto answer some questions specific to this topic for me, and the interview is below.  It’s filled with tips and advice about how to utilise diet and exercise in conjunction with family life and lifestyle, to achieve the best health outcome.

Oh, and BONUS!  I have a hamper full of goodies to giveaway from Weight Watchers at the end of the post too.

Interview With

Emma Stirling: Weight Watchers Nutrition Advisor and Nutrition Editor of Weight Watchers Magazine.

Martha Lourey-Bird: Exercise Scientist at Weight Watchers.

Kelly: Why is there a compulsion to eat more right before the menstrual cycle?

Emma Stirling: Pre-Menstrual Syndrome or PMS is a complex condition involving emotional, physical, hormonal and environmental factors, but we certainly know from research that appetite and cravings can increase in the days leading up to a woman’s period with a preference for sweet treats like chocolate topping the list time and time again.

The available studies show that cravings tend to occur more often in women with PMS and that the cravings increase as symptoms worsen. While more research is needed to understand food cravings, the good news is that they do not appear to translate into large increases in kilojoule intake and subsequent weight gain.

Kelly: What are three ways to combat monthly cycle mood swings that can affect food and eating plans?

Emma Stirling: It’s not surprising to hear that an overall healthy lifestyle is more likely to reduce your symptoms of PMS or help you ride the wave of symptoms like mood swings better.

1. As a Dietitian I recommend regularly including mood boosting foods and nutrients in your eating plan, like omega-3 fatty acids in oily fish with 2-3 fish meals a week a good tally.

2. The second thing you can do during the premenstrual days is to include low glycemic index, nutrient rich carbohydrate foods like oats at breakfast, to maintain steady blood glucose, insulin and energy levels.

3. My last tip would be to see an Accredited Practising Dietitian for advice. There are certain foods and potentially dietary supplements that may help balance your eating plan and relieve symptoms, but it is important to have expert advice.

Kelly: How is it best to utilise diet and exercise in conjunction with family life and lifestyle, to achieve the best health outcome.

Diet

Emma Stirling: This tends to be especially tricky for mums. Striking a healthy balance with a busy family life is sometimes difficult, and made even more complicated if weight loss is a goal. Unfortunately we are very good at looking after other people and multi-tasking, but often fail at looking after our own needs first. The bottom line is that you need to take care of yourself and make sure you are getting the nutrition you need. If a mum is healthy and happy, the whole family will be too. When it comes to health, I’m very pleased to recommend Weight Watchers as their Nutrition Advisor. A comprehensive program that combines healthy eating, activity, behaviour change and a supportive environment is key to long term success. There are some fabulous element to the new ProPoints 2012 like an iphone app and zero ProPoints fruit and most vegetables.

Exercise

Martha Lourey-Bird: Exercise can provide natural pain relief by stimulating a combination of pain-fighting endorphins and increased blood flow which reduces cramping and various other symptoms of PMT.

Although at the time of PMS, you probably don’t feel like exercising at all but it’s likely to make you feel a whole lot better! Exercise releases feel good hormones that lift your mood as well as help reduce that bloated tummy feeling. It doesn’t need to be anything strenuous at all, and can always involve your children – try taking them to the park while making sure that you are active too and don’t spend the whole time just sitting down watching them play, if it is too hard to get out of the house or too cold, simply lay on the floor and do a series of exercises or some gentle stretching (depending on how bad your PMS is) as the kids will love joining in too. Sometimes it can also be a good idea to park your car up the road when you go to pick them up from school, this will not only help you feel better, but will also help them wind down at the end of the day.

Giveaway

**Giveaway ended: Congratulations Gemma!**

I’m giving away this fabulous hamper from Weight Watchers to one reader. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below.

Hamper

The hamper contains Weight Watchers food products like nut and muesli bars, fruit packs, jelly, gravy, Belgian chocolate brownies, delicious chocolate scrolls and mixed forest berry jam. There is also a Weight Watchers cook book, magazine, beach towel and mini speaker phones.

Terms: 1. Australian residents only.  2. Winner will be notified by email.  If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be drawn.  3. Not associated, administered or sponsored by facebook.   4. Winner drawn randomly.

This is a healthy and delicious afternoon tea I made with the children this week. They monstered it!

Ingredients

150 mls mild salsa

1/2 cup tin corn

1/2 cup kidney beans

3-4 wholemeal pitta breads (toasted wholemeal pitta bread tastes the same as white)

Olive oil spray

Method

1. Cut the Pitta bread into bite sizes and place on a tray covered in baking paper.

2. Spray with olive oil.

3. Put in a 200C oven for about 7 minutes until the bread starts to brown slightly.

4. In a bowl, mix together the salsa, beans and corn.  I like  dip chunky so my measurements reflect that. Just adjust the quantities until the consistency is as you like.

5. Serve.

Heathy, easy and yummy.  A great snack for afternoon tea on a winter day. Good for the lunch box too.

More

Lunch Box Ideas