Our Favourite Books for Inspiring Family Fun

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There is something truly magical about book stores. 

I love to visit Waterstones regularly with the Mini Mes to select something new to read. Opening the door you can almost smell the fresh pages longing to be read with the colourful covers and shelves stacked neatly. Maybe a flying rocket adventure, a mystery solving hardback or a fun filled book with jokes and interesting facts. We all have our own collection of favourite books to curl up with at home and enjoy too, especially on rainy days like today with a hot chocolate!

The great thing about books is that they can really inspire you and change your perspective on certain things. There are some that might get you cooking or crafting and others that encourage you to go out and try something new. 

This is our reading list for inspiring family fun!

What the Ladybird Heard - Julia Donaldson

With beautifully illustrated pages this book tells the story about a Ladybird that overhears the plans of two burgulars and then manages to save the day with the help of it's farmyard friends.

There is a great map within the book and it's a lovely idea to create your own with the kids and maybe hide some treasure in your home to discover! You might also want to play Chinese whispers and see what the last person thought they heard being said.

Funny Bones - Allan Ahlberg

This funny and not very frightening trio are keen to find someone to scare but as they leave their dark dark cellar they soon discover everyone is asleep! This is a lovely humourous tale and the language is quite repetitive which is great for little ones that want to read along with you. 

You could easily create your own glow in the dark pictures with paint, make skeletons from card and paper fasteners to play or just use the book as a way to discuss bones and how the body works.

Spy Dog - Andrew Cope
If you have the next Johnny English in the house the Spy Dog collection is definitely worth a read.
You and your secret agents could then visit Gullivers Spy Zone for some problem solving fun as a family. It's perfect for little ones that dream of becoming detectives with the code breaking tasks to complete.
We had a great time there last summer.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
 A quirky story packed with plenty of tasty treats and an important lesson about greed and honesty from a well known author. Taking a trip to Cadbury's World is a great day out where you can see how chocolate is made, pick up lots of goodies on the way round and visit the giant store filled with all of your favourites. Yummy.

We're Going on a Bear Hunt - Michael Rosen
You can follow a family as they explore grass, mud and caves in this book and then re-enact what you read!
Try creating your own bear hunt by popping some toys in the garden the kids can search for or take some bears with you on your travels to the park or wood. End it all with a delicious teddy bears picnic too.

Peter Pan - J M Barrie
A classic tale about a boy that doesn't want to grow up. I remember reading this as a child myself so it's lovely to now share it with own two! It has fast become another favourite having seen the Disney movie many times to match and we recently visited the theatre to see Wendy and Peter Pan as a family which was a great evening out.
I'd highly recommend a visit too for pirate swashbuckling fun and high-flying action!

The Girl Who Loved Wellies - Zehra Hicks
A easy to read story that is ideal for pre-schoolers and young readers. This book is about a wellie obsessed little girl who wheres her boots for everything from ballet to having a bath. Why not pop on your own shoes and go puddle jumping, squelching in mud and climbing trees.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle
I still read this to the Mini Mes aged 7 and 9 now and we all giggle away at just how much the caterpillar eats and sit in awe at such a beautiful transformation. This is the perfect book to teach about the life cycle and I think growing your own at home too is ideal for linking with this story.
You can watch them get bigger before releasing them as butterflies into the wild.

The Gruffalo - Julia Donaldson

This is an all time favourite which is very cleverly thought out and features some great poetry.

For some family fun you can head out to Thorndon Country Park in Essex where they have an amazing Gruffalo Trail! Complete with owl, fox, mouse and more it's certainly a great way to spend an afternoon - it's great exercise too!

Stick Man - Julia Donaldson

Speaking of trails, the Forestry Commission has 13 sites where you can have plenty of fun based around the Stick Man book. You can make your own character, build dens and spot hidden items or simply download and print a variety of activity sheets including quizzes and drawing from the website.

Which books inspire you?

Matchbox Stone Pets

This craft activity is part of a sponsored post for Collective Bias®

 

I regularly come up with my own ideas on things to make and bake with the Mini Mes but when I need inspiration Pinterest is the perfect place to find it!

I've made Rock Pets and Egg Box Bugs before and with a love of the great outdoors as a family this Stone Pet idea, complete with home and inspired by RedTed Art, looked like a simple yet fun craft to make.

Having checked what was required, and after a short trip to ELC to stock up on materials, we made this rather cute butterfly.

What you will need:

 

Smooth stone (that will fit inside a matchbox)

Matchbox

Felt

Wobbly/sticker eyes

Glue

Pen

(You can add pom poms, glitter, sequins etc if you wish to decorate)

• Attach felt to the outside of the matchbox using glue to create a home for the pet. We used green felt cut into points to represent grass and brown felt to represent mud. Allow to dry.

 

• Add eyes to your stone using the glue and attach felt for other body parts if you wish. We made wings from 4 small pieces of pink felt and antennae using red felt. Allow to dry.
• Draw on a mouth

 

You can now store your pet in its new home!

This is a very quick and easy craft and ideal for pre-schoolers. We had great fun creating it and using it to play - we intend to make some other creatures too over the summer.
 
 

You can find lots of great craft ideas on Pinterest here: http://www.pinterest.com
 
You can view our photo album relating to this craft idea here: Google Album

 

A Family Night In With Cadbury

For our family night, which is part of a sponsored post for Collective Bias®, we tried Cadbury Bite Size chocolates.

 

 

 

I'm not sure where the past few months have gone, everything seems to have flown by since Christmas! With school, work, clubs and other commitments, finding time to sit down and relax as a family can at times be a struggle, but we still like to make family nights in a regular occurrence.

 

When we pick an evening for a family night, usually a Friday or Saturday so the Mini Mes can stay up later, we like to have a dinner that is easy to sit in front of the TV with so we picked up some pizzas from Tesco. It means I don't spend the evening in the kitchen and can chill a little too.

We also grabbed some other nibbles, to enjoy while cuddled up on the sofas, which included crisps, coke and Cadbury's Bite Size bags which are ideal for sharing. They come with handy resealable labels although we demolish chocolate very quickly in this house - I definitely have a sweet tooth although I love my savoury snacks too!

 

We decided to watch Wreck it Ralph, a movie we all loved watching at the cinema as a family...

 

 

...and play Smashed Potatoes which the Mini Mes like as they get to chop and squish Play-Doh. Games are great for developing communication skills and we always end up using the play-doh to be creative with too.

...I'm not sure if Spartan wanted to play or if he was after the chocolate stash!

 

It's important to spend time as a family and I very much enjoy it. The Mini Mes like the treat of staying up later and eating some tasty food. We are all rather competitive and often play board and card games together too.

 

I'm a big lover of Cadbury chocolate and having tried the new bite size bags have decided a family trip back to Cadbury World is needed ASAP.

 

What makes the perfect family night in for you?

You can see more of our Tesco family night shop here: Google+ Photo Album

Find out more about Cadbury here: www.cadbury.co.uk

Banana fudge cake - with Flora Cuisine

For family baking fun and as part of a sponsored post for Collective Bias® I made this delicious banana fudge cake using Flora Cuisine.

We hadn't used banana while baking for some time so the Mini Mes helped me look online for the perfect recipe and they chose this one from the Flora website to try. The recipe included Flora Cuisine which I had heard of and seen in stores before but had never used - this was a great opportunity to do so.

 

 

Ingredients:

1 large ripe banana
1½ tbsps skimmed milk
70ml Flora Cuisine
90g self-raising flour
90g soft brown sugar
Pinch of salt
½ tsp baking powder
1 large egg, beaten
3 chocolate fudge bars diced into small pieces
50g dried banana chips, broken in half (reserve a few whole ones for decoration)
50g dark chocolate, broken into pieces, for decoration

 

Method

 

We preheated the oven to gas mark 3/170°C/150°C fan/325°F then mashed the banana with the milk in a bowl.

We added in the Flora Cuisine, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and egg then whisked it all together.

We folded in the Fudge and banana chips, saving some to one side ready for decorating at the end.

 

The mixture was poured into an ovenproof dish and cooked for about 45 minutes until it was springy to the touch and brown.

I allowed it to cool slightly then we melted the chocolate on the hob (we used milk instead of dark as our preference) and drizzled it on top before adding the remaining Fudge pieces.

 

It was then sliced to serve.

 

I was very pleased with the final result as the outside was firm yet the inside of the cake was soft, moist and full of flavour. Flora Cuisine has 45% less saturated fat than olive oil and is good for baking, frying and roasting. It has measurements on the side of the bottle which were really useful (and saved on the washing up!) so I think I'll have one stored away in the fridge for future cake baking!

 

 

 

You can view this recipe and others on the Flora website here:

http://www.flora.com/Flora/Tasty-and-healthy-recipes/