Jo, from South Wales, explains how she made a miniature garden for inside the house.
Thanks Jo!
What did you do?
I used the bottom of a cheese platter and filled it with some moss and soil. We made a little pond using an empty tea light candle and filled it with water and some blue food colouring.
We made a rockery and stepping stones using stones from outside and a little fence suing snapped up wooden BBQ skewers. My boys loved adding their Lego men to the garden!
What else have you been doing?
We then did Shadow drawing. On sunny days we get large toys and sit rehung them so they create a shadow on the paper, then draw around them. We found toy dinosaurs worked best.
We also got the boys doing some indoor exercise when the weather was bad on their bikes. We attached their old stabilisers and placed the stabilisers into my trainers. This lifted the bike slightly so the boys could peddle without moving. We then put some Virtual Cycling from YouTube so it looked like the boys were cycling through the French Alps! There are many to choose from.
We also made a birdhouse from an old orange juice carton and used PVA glue to stick small stones from outside onto it.
We are planning on doing some more water painting on our fence outside once the sun comes out again! The boys love writing their names and drawing star wars pictures! We are also making some more pebble cactus post, where we paint pebbles and place them in plant pots.
Tell us a bit about yourself…
My name is Jo and we have 6yr old twin boys. I’m a full-time maths teacher and have my own health and wellness business where I help women lose weight and regain their confidence. We live in South Wales in the UK.
We are very lucky to have a garden so we have spent a lot of time outside. I am loving spending so much time with my family but it can get tricky teaching online and having the boys to entertain.
Have you got any tips to help others in the community?
My advice for people during lockdown would be to plan your day and create a little timetable so the children know what to expect during the day. I think young people like routine and cope better knowing when craft/play/quiet/chore time is.
I’m loving the Housebound with Kids community and enjoy seeing what others are doing. I’ve learned a lot and it’s nice to see we are all in the same boat. Thanks for letting us be a part of it.
