you gotta love days like these

Wednesday = Playcentre duty day, so we dress a little crazy, in our old clothes and days like today when it's beautiful we make the most of it. 

All my wee ones LOVE water, so we get wet and muddy. This morning we started in the sandpit coz SirTalksALot wanted to make a river. I wish I had got a pic coz we made a HUGE river wriggling it's way around and about, but I was too busy playing to stop and take photos.  I dug, SirTalks directed but also helped dig, Ninja came over with the hose to fill up the river, and a whole bunch more kids came to help too, including Monkey - who stepped in the river and was wet for the rest of the session. Altho this was probably because it's nigh on impossible to keep that kid out of water. He would play in puddles on the street if I let him. In fact he has tried to play in the gutter one morning when we were getting out of the car  *sigh* 

Monkey in his natural habitat

Ninja flooding the sandpit - every day!

So we used pipes and spades, and a rubbish bag to line a hole to make a lake (it wasn't as successful as I had hoped, but worked to some degree), old guttering, our hands, placing boats and cars in the river.......then had to rebuild and diverge the river as Ninja was experimenting with erosion and washed a bunch of silt (sand - we do learning as we play) into the river blocking it.  

Later in the session we were continuing an activity from last week - Making Potions!!  Last week I sat on the ground with the kids to do this, but somehow ended up sitting in a puddle of vinegar so big that I had to go home and change my pants. hrm, not so classy....   It's hard to see from the pic, but the whole back of my pants are wet... cool. I'm fairly sure it was Ninja who is mostly responsible as he was sitting behind me and kept tipping out his bowl then asking for more vinegar - thanks dude!

Collecting ingredients - kids helped but can't show pics cos they're not my kids!

SO!  This week we set things up on a table. Much smarter.  First things first tho, we gathered ingredients - thankfully the kids were keen to help! We set out magic water and powder (BS & vinegar); dragon's blood, frog pee & essence of sky (red, yellow & blue dye); flowers; ground worms (bark); pixie dust - made from crushed pixies don't cha know (glitter); and some crushed marshmallow clouds (cornflour).  From all this the kids picked what they wanted and mixed it all up - of course we had to fling our capes about, our heads back and laugh "AHAHAHA"  "abracadabra" then give it a big stir for the potions to work! 

Also the kids just went crazy, mixing like mad wee things and making one helluva mess. But that's the joy of Playcentre - none of it was a mess on my floor!  And we just hosed everything off onto the grass. My kinda magic  :OD


I love Playcentre sessions like this coz the sun is shining (I think I have Seasonal Affective Disorder I really do), and we have so much fun, the kids are engaged and so the time flies!  So I feel young again, which is always great, plus I feel like I've been a good parent. Even if only for that 2 1/2 hours.  And it gives me the energy to continue plodding on once we get home and things like the Dinner Hell Hour commences.  


Why do we call it that when it goes for 2 hours?


And how come when I'm driving over a narrow hill road I  breathe in hoping it will make the van fit thru the gap?!   Delusional, that's me!!   ;OD