Fish Activities #1

Every month, we'll be sending our subscribers some of the best children's books we can find. Not only that but we'll always send suggestions of what you could do with them. Every book and most activities (there are so many!) are tried and tested by our very own Happy Book Club member so we'll be sharing with you all the successes and failures along the way!

Although, as C.S. Lewis once said,

“Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.”

So first up, we thought Esme could try to fish things out of water. We got a bucket and threw lots of different things into it - plastic containers, cups, string etc -half filled it with water, added a splash of fairy liquid (obviously), and let her at it. Needless to say there was water almost everywhere so we recommend a play mat or to just do it outside. The transformation of mood was fascinating. She started off sceptical and cautious but then became fully engrossed.See below! The moral here: bring towels and let them get stuck in!

Next, we did a craft session! There are so many budget shops such as Poundland, The Range, Wilco etc. where you can pick up crafts at very affordable prices. I usually hate any sort of shopping but come on, 100 multi-coloured pipe cleaners for a quid? I may hate shopping but I do like a bargain.

Anyway, first up, we got Esme to colour some lollipop sticks. We used Crayola Stamper pens but anything will do (paint, crayons, leftover fruit puree). Then we PVA-glued them all together. At this point it's probably best to do this away from your child. When glue needs to set, there's nothing quite as annoying as a toddler pulling it apart for the fifth time in a minute. Bless 'em. Once set, you're just a goggle eye and a pipe cleaner away from making your very own hanging fish thing!

As you can see above we also made a fish out of the pipe cleaners by cutting out a cupboard template and wrapping them round. This activity was not quite as interactive for very little ones as pipe cleaners can be quite fiddly/sharp.

We tried lots of other things and we will share these with you too over the forthcoming few days. We hope to hear any ideas you have. Please feel free to post them on the comments section on our website, on Facebook or on Twitter. If you subscribe to our Pinterest board you will also be able to get our favourite activities at the beginning of every month.

We have lots to do this week so watch this space!

From us all x