Autumn Snuggles and Fun

It’s never easy to wave goodbye to summer, however, autumn does a good job of making that task easier. There’s really nothing not to love about autumn; the sounds, the smells, and gorgeous colours are just a few examples of where we here at Dotty Hippo love this season.

Here are a few ways we may help you and your little ones get the most out of your autumn.

Get Out and About

From conker hunting to pine cone foraging to crunching through leaves, autumn, with her many colours can be a great time for outdoor adventuring. Make sure you take a backpack with you to store your autumn finds. Don’t forget to use some of the natural treasures you find for fun art and craft sessions.

Snuggle Up

There’s something lovely and cosy and about autumn and it offers the perfect excuse, now that the temperature has dropped, for you to break out the hot water bottles. YuYu “Warm Worms”, currently available in pink and orange are perfect for keeping warm day or night during the cooler autumn months.

Story Time

Snuggle up with a new book and a blanket for story time, whatever age your children are and enjoy being transported to another world for a little while. Ask at your local library for new book recommendations and explore new places and meet new characters.

Indoor Fun

While outdoor fun can be great during the autumn sometimes it may be too cold or too wet and so having some fab fun indoor activities at hand to help little ones use up their creative energy is a must. Our Micador range features a number of fun sensory-led activities which help develop and practice fine motor skills as well as keeping young minds and hands busy, as do these wonderful colourful toys and more from our new Small Foot range

Baking Fun
Who doesn’t love the smell of baking in the autumn? Spend an afternoon with your little ones making scones, fairy cakes, bread and biscuits. You can choose anything you like, as long as your little assistants are ready to help too. Extend the activity by giving the children icing pens (readily available from supermarkets) to decorate buns and biscuits with.

Theatre Time
What’s better than helping your little ones put together a special play to perform for you? Our Fiesta Crafts finger and hand puppets are available in so many characters! Once your stars have practiced their parts, switch off the lights, put on the cinema lights (pointed lamps or similar) and don’t forget the popcorn!

If you don’t fancy a play or mini-concert why not snuggle up and watch a family friendly movie instead? If your little ones are quite little it might be an idea to choose shorter movies or a series (if you have Netflix or similar this can be a great place to find entertaining shows).

How do you keep yourself busy and happy during the autumn season? We’d love to hear!

Top Tips for School Holiday Fun

Half term is fast approaching (with an extra day tagged on for some school for training) and already the longer summer holidays are in sight. We’re sure that like us, you love having the children at home, however, finding something to keep them occupied and happy can be a challenge at times, especially when their usual toys and games don’t seem to be doing to job.

We’ve put together some ideas for you to help you keep your little ones going!

Dens

There’s nothing quite like playing in your own special hideaway. We’re sure that you have memories of your own play tents and dens from when you were younger, we certainly do. Perfect for picnics, playdates, playing house, reading or just hanging out in. Curiously a game or toy that is “boring” one minute can turn into a great fun activity when it is enjoyed inside a special den. Just don’t forget the secret password or you won’t be allowed to go in!

Picnics

Indoor or out, a picnic can be a great fun activity. Cut up food into little bite size pieces, arrange them in a fun way, add napkins, straws and other fun bits to add to the adventure. Perhaps you could invite friends, teddy bears, dolls or even action figures to attend? Extend this fun activity by having your children help make the picnic food in advance. Baking and decorating little cakes often goes down very well.

Walks

The weather is rarely an obstacle when it comes to going for a wall, thanks to coats, welly boots and umbrellas. Rain or shine, enjoy the local area, jump in muddy puddles or enjoy local parks and walks. Why not do a little research about your town or city. There may be monuments or points of interest that you don’t know about and the children will enjoy. Remember, going for a walk is boring. Going for an adventure, well that’s completely different!

An “I’m Bored Jar”

Here’s a tried and tested top tip for you. Fill a jar or similar with a mix of quick activities and tasks. If children claim they are bored they can have a dig in the jar, pull a folded piece of paper out and see what they’ve got. It could be a bonus 20 minutes of digital time, matching up socks or something random like “how long can you hold your breath for?”. Try and be as inventive as you can.
*Two I’m bored jars can be helpful if you want to split activities into indoor and outdoor categories. That way you don’t run the risk of explaining why your children can’t go and play on the swings in a torrential downpour when the rules say you have to do what’s written on the paper.

Traditional Games

Board games, jigsaws and construction toys have been around for a very long time and the reason for this is that they appeal to children in a variety of ways. Basically, they never get old. With so many games and jigsaws to choose from you’ll be spoilt for choice.

Play Dates

All of these are great ways to keep little ones occupied during the school holiday. They would be even better if they could be shared with a special friend. If you want to make your child’s day arrange a surprise playdate.

When it comes to the holidays children do need down time. They are after all on a break from has probably been a very busy half term at school. As well as free play, sleep ins, family movies and similar it pays to have a variety of activities such as those above planned.

What are your “go to” activities for the school holidays?

Creative and Crafty Fun Inspiration

Art and craft is a favourite activity for the majority of children regardless of the weather. Indoors or out there is always somethig to make, to fix, to build and of course to get messy with.

Here we share some of our favourite creative or crafty projects for you to add to your collection. Don't forget to comment with yours so we may do the same!

Get Outside

Collect up seasonal treats such as pretty leaves, twigs and more to great a nature bowl, a collage or similar. Whether you want to take advantage of pinecones, conkers and colourful autumn leaves or fresh green grasses and wildflowers seen in spring and summer is up to you.

Fun with Magnets

For less messy play or for an activity you want your little ones to enjoy time and time again why not look at some of these fabulous Fiesta Crafts Magnetic Mosaics?

There are a number of different designs to try and all are perfect for whipping out when the rain arrives and you hear the dreaded words "I'm bored!".

Paper Craft

Paper Craft covers a wide range of fun activities. You can print out 3D shapes and models for older children, run origami challenges, make a collage.... the possibilities are endless! Try using chalks or a white pen on black paper for something different.

Beading

Colourful beads provide hours of colourful crafty fun making jewellery, snakes and more. What's more this type of activity also helps little ones to practice and develop their motor skills so is a winner all round.

Scrapbooking

This is an activity that children love. Collect together pieces of coloured paper, pictures, odds and ends, photographs and more and let the children fill their scrapbooks with memories of special days out, pages about their family or their friends, their favourite colour, animal, letter..... the possibilities are endless. Scrapbooking is not only great fun and offers a brilliant creative outlet, it also helps build some fabulous keepsakes for you to all look back on when they are older.

What have your favourite creative or crafty projects been? Which ones do your children ask to do again and again?