Lockdown his well and truly on us here in Victoria, which means that we’re all stuck inside for large amounts of time.

When I was working full time, we would have days where rain would keep us inside or it was too hot to go out and we’d have to make do with just being inside. Those days it was really easy to go stir crazy. No matter how many books you read, pictures you draw, board games you play, you’re always going to have those moments where the kids are bouncing off the walls and telling your that they’re bored.

Which is why I always tried to have some easy and fun activities to do to help get through the day. Most of these use items that most houses have all the time or are pretty easy to get your hands on or require nothing extra at all. The great thing is that they can all be done inside the house and may need a small amount of set up before you can get down to playing them.

Before we get into them, just be aware that some of these may require supervision, especially with young kids.

DIY Sensory Baby Painting

One of the best things about AJ now having a good grip on tummy time is that I can encourage it through a range of activities now. 

Normally the following activity is something that I do with toddlers when its a wet, rainy and day outside to minimise the amount of mess as I've always done painting as an outside activity. However, this is also great for babies. With both toddlers and babies it helps develop their fine motor skills and it's also a sensory activity for them. Plus at the end you get a beautiful artwork that you can hang on your fridge, send to someone they love or use it for other projects. 

EVERY DAY ITEMS FOR LEARNING UNO CARDS

Most people in their lives have played UNO. It’s a very easy card game and I often have a pack of card in my bag when I’m babysitting, out places with the kids or when I know it’s going to be a rainy day. It’s honestly been a great way to pass the time. UNO is also a great resource that you can use every day to help your kids learn from a young age.

Don’t believe me?

Well here are five ways that you can use the cards to help your child learn.  

5 Great YouTube Channels for Your Kids

YouTube has become one of the big entertainment centres for people, especially as it allows everyday people to be creative in a way that TV didn’t allow before it. Despite this, there have been a lot of channels and videos pretending to be for children when they’re actually not, making it hard for parents to be sure what is safe for their child to watch.

One of the things I try to make sure that I’m on top of is the current trends in regards to what kids are interested in or not. It makes it a lot easier to make sure that they are viewing things that are appropriate for their age and that they are protected from the dangers of everything being online these days. YouTube is thankfully one of those places that are very easy for me to keep an eye on because it’s just a matter of hearing about a channel or video and sitting down to look through it myself before letting the parents I work for know what is going on.

Believe it or not, that is actually how I found Tik Tok but that is a story for another day.

Since I’m on YouTube a bit for professional and personal reasons, I wanted to share five of my favourite channels that are aimed at children. Some of them focus on developing skills while others are just or fun or to learn something interesting.

GARDENING | Growing Tomatoes

One of my Nanny kids is a huge lover of cherry tomatoes. To the point that she will quite happily just much on a couple as a snack or have as a side with a sandwich. We've really been lucky with her as she has always been a good eater and is willing to give anything new a try. She does have her favourites (weetbix, vegemite on toast, peanut butter sandwiches, etc) but she also loves her fruit and veg. So naturally, I want to keep fostering this love for all kinds of food as do her parents.

BOOK REVIEW | Don't let the Pigeon Stay Up Late (with activity suggestions)

This post contains links to affiliates

Title: Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late
Author: Mo Williams
Summary: It's getting Dark, but the Pigeon won't go to bed! Will you let him stay up late?

5 Easy Activities For Your Toddler Using Things From An Easter Craft Tub

With Easter just around the corner, it means that the Easter Crafts are out in numbers. I'm sure that you have all seen the Easter Craft tubs that are out, you can usually find them at Kmart and Big W plus a few other places that I'm not thinking of as I write this. What is so great about them is that you can do a lot more than just do arts and crafts with the items that are inside.