This is the second handmade Christmas Gift I have made with the kids for Christmas 2010. The first one was a simple softie. If you are looking for more inspiration check out my posts with other ideas on Handmade Christmas Gifts.

Earlier this year for the school fair craft stall, I made some simple chalkboards gift sets to sell. I painted the boards myself, put together some brightly coloured chalk, wrapped with cellophane and ribbon – and they sold out quickly.

I thought this would be a perfect handmade Christmas gift idea, but wanted to tweak it so the gift could be for adults, so I came up with these chalkboard paint ideas!

Chalkboard Notice Boards

My daughter made the chalkboard notice board in the photo above with only a little help from dad. We have made these for one of the ladies who runs an outside school hours activity that she does.

Materials:

• Chalkboard Paint – purchased from a local hardware store for $16.95. I have already made over 12 boards and still have 2/3 left in the tin.
• Newspaper – to protect household surfaces.
• Paintbrushes – go for good quality. Ours were from the $2 shop and they were a little streaky.
• Mineral Turpentine – washing brushes afterwards.
• Boards – The ones we used were from the Kaisercraft range and cost between $2 -3. Coasters were less. Available from most craft stores.
• Hammer and nail.
• Drill – low power drill is okay.
• Block of spare wood – to place underneath chalkboard when drilling.
• Colourful ribbon of choice.

Instructions:

1. Make sure your chosen wood surface is clean and dust free.
2. Arrange thick covering of newspaper on the surface where the children are to paint.
3. Recommended that kids wear smocks as the paint will stain clothes.
4. Show the children how to dip brush in, remove excess and paint on the board in the same direction.
5. Once first coat is completed allow to dry for about an hour and then apply second coat.
6. Allow to dry for 24 hours.
7. Find the place where you would like make the whole for the ribbon to go through and hammer nail in a short distance. This small hole allows the drill to have traction on the board and not slip around when the kids are using it.
8. Have the kids place the spare piece of wood under the chalkboard where they want to drill a whole.
9. Help them drill the hole completely through the wood.
10. If the hole edges are rough, turn the chalkboard over and drill from the other side to smooth it out.
11. Thread the ribbon through the whole and you have finished!

Chalkboard Coasters

My preschooler made these lovely coasters. Materials required and instructions are as above with the exception of the drilling bits! We have tied these together with some ribbon and they will be Christmas gifts for his preschool teachers this year.

Children’s Homemade Chalkboards

Well these were supposed to be gifts for family friends, but we will have to make another batch as once they were dry all the kids wanted to draw on them! When we make the new batch, I intend to put them in calico drawstring bags (might make them if I have time!) with chalk and a duster.

Chalkboard Message Board

We haven’t done this as Mr I is not in agreement that it is a good idea, but I would love to paint a large rectangular size patch of wall near our phone with chalkboard paint – instant message board!

Would love to hear of any other chalkboard paint ideas you have!

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Review Of Key Tasks For August

The last month of winter has seen lots of illness at our house. All seven of us had time where we were unwell, thankfully nothing serious, but enough sickness to see me get a little behind on things! Next month will see tasks that are going to be a continuation of the tasks from last month.

1. Implement Key Learnings From Problogger Conference.

I have written an action plan of what I would like to achieve from my learnings at the Problogger event. I have been working slowly on them, without bringing anything to completion yet. This will be my focus for September – fingers crossed we don’t have so many germs this month.

2. More Handmade Christmas Gifts

I am yet to post the blackboard tutorial, but that should be up by the end of this week! We have made some items out of resin and just need to finish them off, so that tutorial will also be posted this month, so I feel I do have this task under control.

3. Spend time on other projects.

I still am falling into the trap of doing the urgent not the important, but I am getting better! Improvement has to be a good thing! I can often spend too much time fussing over things that won’t add a lot of value, my husband has a rude phrase for this, he calls it “polishing a terd”! I am going to focus on not doing that this month!

4. Prepare For Garage Sale

We have been collecting items for the garage sale and storing then in every nook and cranny in the house! We are due to have the sale in late September.

Key Tasks For September

I am trying to keep myself focused, so the goals for September are very similar to last month.

1. Implement Key Learnings From Problogger Conference.

I want to follow up on my action plan and make sure that I have started to implement some of my ideas.

2. More Handmade Christmas Gifts

Start one new gift for Christmas and post two new tutorials.

3. Spend time on other projects.

I have a new blog that I want to launch in September. Putting that out here, really holds me accountable!

4. Garage Sale

Hold a garage sale and get rid of heaps of our junk! Yay!

How was August for you and what are your plans for lovely September?

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I was so happy to write this post! September is coming. Spring is coming!!! I love the September school holidays, the sun is usually just starting to come out and it is such a lovely time to have a break from the school routine.

As always heaps of fun kids activities to do in Melbourne this September school holidays. If you are interested in any of them and they require bookings, I would recommend doing it soon as many of these events often book out.

1. Lego Workshops

LEGO Educational Centre (Moore Educational) is running a LEGO school holiday program. The details of which you can see above. You can check out their website for further information on exactly what each session entails.

The sessions are 45 minutes and book your child for a full morning or afternoon session (3 workshops) and your child receives free morning/afternoon tea and a free LEGO name badge.

Date and Time: From Mon 20th September- Fri 1st October, 2010
Location: LEGO Educational Centre, 37 Hall Street, Moonee Ponds, VIC
Cost: $12
Bookings: Phone bookings required
Ages: From 4 – 12 years old

2. National Sports Museum

We went to the National Sports Museum last holidays and had a fantastic time. It is an attraction that blends passive activities looking at the memorabilia and watching the holograms with full on physical activity in the Game On area. For more tips on getting the best out of your visit to the NSM, please see my post Review: National Sports Museum.

Date and Time: Monday September 20 – Friday September 24 and Monday September 27 – Friday October 1 2010. From 10.00am-5.00pm on all days.
Location:The National Sports Museum is located at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, on Brunton Avenue in Richmond within the confines of Yarra Park. (You need to enter near Gate 3.)
Cost: Adults $15, Children (5 – 15) $8, Children under 5 free. Family (2 adults and 4 children) $50. These are for admission only. If you wish do the tour, there is an additional cost.
Bookings: Not required.
Ages: While the preschooler did enjoy looking around, his participation was limited in the Game On area. I would recommend it for school age children.

3. Family Art

September holidays last year the children and I went to Box Hill Community Arts Centre (BHCAC) and painted a family canvas (as seen above!). We had a great time and it was really lovely to work together with the kids to produce a family piece of art. This September as part of their School Holiday Program they have Family Clay sessions! I have listed the family clay sessions below, but if you are after individual kids activities head to their website for more info.
Date and Time:Family Clay-Birdbath is on Monday 20th September from 9.30am – 11.30am and Family Clay- Family Of Ducks is on Thursday 30th September from 9.30am – 11.30am
Location: 470 Station Street, Box Hill
Cost: $32 per family (1 child and 1 adult) additional children are $13 each.
Bookings: Required on bhcac@whitehorse.vic.gov.au or call 9895 8888
Ages: Family

4. Wave Pools

Most indoor aquatic centres run school holiday programs that are relatively inexpensive and lots of fun. My kids love Wave Pools and this can be an enjoyable and active way to spend a number of hours during the holidays. As I mention in my post Review Melbourne Sports And Aquatic Centre Wave Pool (MSAC) if you are taking multiple children under the age 10 it is a good idea to have more than one adult as they must be accompanied, in the water, by a parent or guardian over the age of 16 while the waves are running.

During the school holidays MSAC runs SplashOut which on top of the wave sessions, includes things like water slide, water rock climbing wall and inflatables.

Date and Time: Weekdays through out school holidays. Please note that not all activities are available every day. Activities will be opened based upon availability which varies on a daily basis.
Location:Access to MSAC is either from Aughtie Drive or the Albert Road/ Cecil Street entrance in Albert Park.
Cost: Child Single Visit (3-15 years) $4.95, Family: 1 Adult, 2 Children $14.50, Family: 2 Adults, 2 Children $18.15, Additional Child $2.80
Bookings: Not Required
Ages: Family

5. European Masters: Städel Museum, 19th–20th Century – Kids Activities

August MACKE
German 1887–1914
Little Walter’s toys 1912
(Walterchens Spielsachen)
oil on canvas
50.0 x 60.0 cm
Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
Acquired in 1959

European Masters: Städel Museum, 19th–20th Century is currently showing at NGV International. It brings together a remarkable collection of masterpieces from the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, one of the finest collections in Europe. Exhibition entry fees into European Masters apply (Adult $23 / Concession $18 / Child (ages 5 – 11) $11 / Family (2 adults, 3 children) $60) but there are many fantastic kids activities associated with the exhibition that you can participate in free:

Art Sparks: Städel Kids – Kids can join in special art activities. Parent/carer supervision required
Age: 3+
Date: Weekends Saturday 19 June – Sunday 10 October and school holidays Monday 20 September – Friday 1 October
Time: 10.30am-4.00pm
Where: Federation Court, Ground Level, NGV International
Cost: Free

Film: The Frog Princess (Muppets) (1972, 60mins, G)
When: Wed 22 September
Time: 10.30am
Cost: Free
Venue: Clemenger BBDO Auditorium, NGV International, 180 St Kilda Road, Melbourne

Film: Cinderella (1950, 74mins, G)
When: Wed 29 Sept
Time: 10.30am
Cost: Free
Venue: Clemenger BBDO Auditorium, NGV International, 180 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne

Städel Kids: Das Puzzle Haus – Solve the problems and put the masterpieces back together
Age: 3+
Date: Daily, Saturday 19 June – Sun 10 October
Time: 10.00am-5.00pm
Where: Federation Court, Ground Level, NGV International
Cost: Free

Städel Kids: Where is the ABC in Städel?
It’s as easy as ABC. Kids can have fun discovering and learning about masterpieces in the exhibition, when they find the alphabet wall labels written just for them!
When: Daily, Sat 19 Jun – Sun 10 Oct
Time: 10.00am – 5.00pm
Cost:Activity is free but exhibition entry fees into European Masters apply.
Venue: Ground Level, NGV International, 180 St Kilda Road, Melbourne

6. Sciencecworks

I find Scienceworks is always a hit with the kids and with new exhibitions and displays all the time, you can visit often and still have new things to explore. When we were last at Scienceworks we saw the fantastic Trekking Towards Tomorrow which ends in September.

Highlights to see during school holidays include Going Places: The Technology of Transport, where the kids can do things like ride a mini hovercraft, guide a blimp and land an aeroplane on the flight simulator and Humanoid Discovery where they can investigate the different layers within the skin, look at how long your intestines are and how food is digested.
Date and Time: All school holidays from 10am – 4:30pm.
Location: 2 Booker St, Spotswood
Cost: Adult $8, Concession* and Child (3–16 years) free entry. (Additional charges may apply for temporary exhibitions.) To ensure free-flowing access for all our visitors, prams and strollers are not permitted within the Planetarium and Lightning Room. A pram parking area is provided.
Bookings: Not required.
Ages: This is a family activity, but I think school age children are most suited to it.

7. The Gruffalo

A mouse took a stroll through the deep, dark wood… Who doesn’t love the story of The Gruffalo by JUlia Donaldson. My daughter saw this production with her school earlier this term and she just loved it! Head along for some school holiday pantomime action!

Date and Time: Monday 20th September, shows at 12pm and 2pm.
Location: Whitehorse Centre, 397 Whitehorse Road, (Maroondah Highway) Nunawading
Cost: $15 for single tickets, $13 for 4 or more tickets.
Bookings: Required online here
Ages: 3+

8. Calling All Rockstars

A hands on activity for older kids who love music at the Arts Centre in Melbourne.

“This workshop, designed to create and record your own song, will kickstart your music future. You will be introduced to ACID Pro 7, Sony’s easy to use music software, access our massive sample library, discover the art of mixing and record your own voice (if you like!).

At the end of the workshop you’ll burn your new track to CD to take home. The perfect launch pad for your music career!”

Date and Time: 23 September and 24 September 2010 at 10.30am (Runs for 90 minutes.)
Location: Digital Learning Hub at the Arts Cengtre. The Arts Centre is a couple of minutes walk from Flinders Street Station or take any tram (except tram no.1) along St Kilda Road and disembark at the Arts Centre. Stop number 14.
Cost: $18 (accompanying adult free). All kids must be accompanied by an adult for the duration of the workshop.
Bookings: Can be made online here or by phone on 1300 182 183
Ages: 8+

9. Make your own mini drought resistant garden

A super spring activity provided by Parks Victoria.

“Learn how to make a drought resistant garden with a minimum of fuss – and water! Join our gardening gurus Greg and Helen and discover a fun and healthy way to plant a garden that suits our warm Australian climate. Every child will take home their own mini drought resistant garden, presented in a garden pot, courtesy of Parks Victoria. No tools, gloves or equipment necessary, just don’t forget to bring your green thumb!”

Date and Time: Tuesday 21 September, Thursday 23 September, Tuesday 28 September and Thursday 30 September.
Location: Werribee Park, K Road (Gate 2), Werribee (Melway Map 201 D1)
Cost: Free
Bookings: Required on 13 1963 or bookingswerribee@parks.vic.gov.au
Ages: 5 – 12 years old

10. Honouring our Ancestors: Remembering Timor Leste

Another fantastic exhibition coming up at the Immigration Museum in Melbourne.

An exhibition about the rituals practised by the East Timorese community in Victoria.

This exhibition explores a ritual called Se Matebian, which takes place each year on All Souls Day and honours East Timorese ancestors. It looks at how the East Timorese community in Australia continues to practise this ritual today.

The school holiday program activities focus on this exhibition with weaving, story time and East Timor Kites.

Date and Time:
Daily, 18 September – 3 October 2010 from 10am – 5pm. Story time is only on at these times: Weekdays, 18 Sep – 3 Oct 2010 from 11.30am – 12.00pm and
1:30pm – 2:00pm.
Location: 400 Flinders Street, Melbourne
Cost: Adult $8 and Child (3–16 years) free entry.
Bookings: Not required
Ages: Family

PS. Of course the Royal Melbourne Show and the AFL Finals are on during September as well, but I am guessing everyone knows about that! The Melbourne Fringe Festival is also on, but at the time of writing their program wasn’t available.

What do you have planned for the September School Holidays?

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Last school holidays, I took the kids into the National Sports Museum (NSM) located at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Before I went, I asked on facebook for any tips on making the most of our visit to the NSM, a lovely reader Lyndelle gave me the tip to make sure we allowed ourselves plenty of time and her tip was spot on. We spent over 3 hours there! The video below captures just some of the fun we had:

Each school holidays the NSM runs a series of school holiday activities. So on top of all the usual things to see and do, the kids also had the opportunity to kick some goals and play some foosball with players from the Melbourne Storm.

Highlights for the kids were:

• Playing foosball with the Melbourne Storm guys.
• Being able to watch video footage of the tied grand final in 1977 between Collingwood and North Melbourne.
• The Shane Warne Hologram – to my surprise this was very entertaining. The older boys loved it because it was so “blokey” and was probably the thing they talked about most afterwards.
• The James Hird Hologram – I only saw half of this as the toddler didn’t feel like being quiet. The older boys enjoyed this as well.
• Game On – Once we made our way to this interactive area, I knew I was going to have to go and put more money in the parking meter! Such a great way to end our time at the NSM, by getting hands on.

National Sports Museum – The Details

Opening Hours: Opening hours can vary due to activities on at the MCG, but are generally 10am – 5pm through out the school holidays, with last admission at 4.00pm. (They recommend you allocate at least 90 minutes to fully experience the National Sports Museum and I would say that would be the absolute minimum time you needed). Be sure to check out their website for more info before you head in.

Location: The National Sports Museum is located at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, on Brunton Avenue in Richmond within the confines of Yarra Park. (You need to enter from Gate 3 in the Olympic Stand.)

Parking: We parked closer in Jolimont Tce. Parking there is only for 2 hours and is twice as much as the parking only a short distance further in Wellington Pde, South. This parking is also for 4 hours which is a much better length of time for your visit.

Cost: Adults $15, Children (5 – 15) $8, Children under 5 free. Family (2 adults and 4 children) $50. These are for admission only. If you wish do the tour, there is an additional cost.

Age: While the preschooler did enjoy looking around, his participation was limited in the Game On area. I would highly recommend it for school age children.

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Back in January this year at the request of the kids I took them along to the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre School Holiday Activities. The main attraction for the kids was the wave pool. We had been a few years ago and had a great time, so I didn’t think much about taking the 5 kids on my own.

SplashOUT days run over the school holidays and on most weekends at MSAC. Although we had a great time, I wish that I had checked their website before I went and read this:

Please note that whilst the waves are running, all children under the age of 10 must be accompanied, in the water, by a parent or guardian over the age of 16. While the waves are not running, all children must be actively supervised by a parent or guardian.

MSAC take this point very seriously. One wave session was stopped early as there were too many children without supervising adults. Another session started late because again there weren’t enough adults in the water with children.

As 4 out of my 5 kids are under 10, this did place me in quite a predicament. With my best persuasion skills, I managed to work it so I was in the water with the toddler on my hip and one other child. There was then one older child sitting down on a seat having a snack with a younger child for the session and then we would swap. (Wave sessions are about 30 minutes apart.) Far from optimum, but the kids new that there wasn’t really anything else that I could do.

This situation was made easier by the fact that there was also a host of other activities on around the pool. The day we were there the kids could also:

• Dive from a platform
• Climb the monster inflatable
• Line up for their turn on the water slide
• Test their skills on the aqua climbing wall.

Again due to my kids age, with the exception of the water slide, I needed to be present at these activities. The younger ones (3 and 6) were quite happy to watch, but at times it was a struggle to keep the toddler from joining in!

The toddler pool, complete with beach entry (pictured above) is great and has lots of interactive water fun for the little ones. Our problem was that with only one adult and lots of bigger kids, the toddler didn’t get to play there too much.

The activities during the school holidays are excellent and perfect for school age kids. Next time we go, I will arrange to go with other families, so that the adults can take different age groups to activities suited to their ages.

MSAC Wave Pool – The Details

Opening Hours: SplashOut Activities are held every Saturday from (02 Jan – 25 Dec) from 11:00am to 4:00pm. For session times during school holidays check their website.

Location: MSAC is in Albert Park, less than 3km from Melbourne’s CBD. Access is either from Aughtie Drive or the Albert Road/ Cecil Street entrance.

Parking: We found a park easily behind the centre, but this parking is more expensive than that further away and across the road (I would recommend parking there).

Cost: Child Single Visit (3-15 years) $4.95, Family: 1 Adult, 2 Children $14.50, Family: 2 Adults, 2 Children $18.15, Additional Child $2.80

Age: Family. But if you intend to use the wave pool, the more children under 10 you have, the more adults you will need.

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A few weeks back my lovely friend Cath had a fab guest post here on Planning With Kids – Slow Cooked Roast Lamb. In this recipe Cath cooked the roast lamb slowly using a french oven. I unfortunately do not own one of them (but to my family reading this, I would be super happy to get one as a present!!!) but really wanted to try and cook this dish myself.

Then my mother in law (who regularly reads my blog – thanks!) turned up last week end with a leg of lamb for us. She had noted that there hadn’t been much in the way of roasts in my menu plan recently. And she was right. I am not a regular roast cooker. I know everyone says they are easy, but personally I have struggled with timing everything and I also find it such a messy meal to make, so many dishes etc.

Well now that I had this large leg of lamb, I needed to cook it, so I decided to experiment with Cath’s recipe in the slow cooker and the result was fantastic. I am now converted to cooking more roasts this way. It was so easy and as Cath said it would, the meat literally just falls of the bone and is so tender and tasty.

I have written out the method that I used for the slow cooker below – if you want to use a french cooker or tangine, check out Cath’s post here.

Slow Cooker Roast Lamb

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• Leg of lamb (ours was 2kgs)
• 2 x Onions, sliced thinly
• 810 grams Can of Tomato soup
• 4 -5 carrots, peeled, top and tailed and cut to the same size.
• Chosen vegetables for sides – we just had potatoes carrots and peas.

Instructions:
Using the slow cooker, this recipe took about 8 hours to cook.

1. Make sure that the leg will fit into your slow cooker. Ours was a little too big, so the ingenious Mr I went and grabbed his hacksaw and took the end off, so it would fit in!
2. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a heavy based fry pan.
3. Brown / sear the leg of lamb in the oil for about 10-15 minutes.
4. Add your onions here if you are having any and let them sauté around the meat for a couple of minutes.
5. Transfer the leg of lamb and onions to the slow cooker. Add tomato soup to the meat making sure that it has a complete covering of the soup. Put the lid on and cook on high for 4 hours.
6. Turn the leg over, mix the soup and onions, pouring the liquid over the top of the lamb and cook for another hour.
7. Add carrots, cook for a further 2 – 3 hours.
8. I cook our chopped up potatoes in the oven with just a little bit of oil. It is the same method as these homemade star chips, but without the pretty shapes! They take an hour to cook.
9. I steam any other vegetables which take about 10 – 20 minutes depending on what they are.
10. As Cath directed, I peeled back some meat to check if it’s ready. “it should come away easily. The meat just starting to fall off the shank is a good indicator the lamb should be tender.” And it did exactly that!
11. Once cooked, remove from the slow cooker and let rest.
12. Carve lamb, add carrots and vegetables.
13. The kids preferred the tomato gravy on the side of the plate, I loved it poured directly over my lamb!
14. Thanks Cath this is such a winner recipe .

The Family Menu Plan For This Week

Baking: Rice Bubble Slice

Monday: Pumpkin Soup (My parents have visited and brought with them a massive sack of pumpkins – I think we will be having pumpkin soup weekly for a while!)

Tuesday: Beef Stroganoff (carry over from last week)

Wednesday: Left Overs

Thursday: Spaghetti Bolognaise

Friday: Pasta With Chicken And Spinach

Saturday: Souvlaki

Sunday: Eating Out!

If you are looking for further recipe inspiration, check out my complete list of Family Friendly Recipes. All of these recipes are in the database of the Planning With Kids Free Menu Planner. You can use the menu planner to plan a week of meals for your family and then print out the associated shopping list.

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This post is sponsored by Nuffnang.

I have tried putting cheese in my kids lunch boxes a lot and the majority of times it has come home returned from the child who needs it most. One of my children unfortunately suffers from tooth enamel defects – basically a weakness and discolouring of the enamel coat of his teeth. The issue with the enamel on his teeth was caused in the first two years of his life. He had many ear infections and associated high temperatures in the first couple of years, until we realised he had fluid on the ears and had grommets placed in both ears to remedy the situation. High fevers and middle ear infections are directly linked to enamel defects in children.

So as a consequence his teeth are far more prone to tooth decay. I have known for some time that cheese has been found to prevent tooth decay:

“Casein, a special ingredient in cheese, can actually help counter the effects of corrosive plaque acids,” Dr Wilson said.

“The casein protein and minerals such as calcium and phosphorus that are found in cheese help prevent tooth decay and also help remineralise (repair) teeth that have early decay.

“Casein leaves a film on the teeth that counters the effects of the acids created when children eat sugary foods.

“Combine this with the calcium and phosphorus in cheese which actually work to rebuild damaged tooth enamel and you’ve got a dental dream food.” From Australian Dental Association

The problem for me has been getting him to eat it! Particularly to eat it at school as the last thing he has at recess or lunch time, so his teeth have the protection that cheese offers. Although he doesn’t have sweets in his lunchbox, he loves his fruit and while I don’t want him to stop eating fruit, I am conscious that fruits contain natural acids, that can also be harmful to teeth. Eating cheese after fruit can help decrease the damage.

So this is where the new Bega range of kids cheese comes into play! Recently we had the opportunity to sample the Bega Shapers Puzzlers cheese and I had instant success! No cheese was returned in anyone’s lunchbox! The Bega Shapers Puzzlers are made from 100% natural Bega Cheddar Cheese, have no artificial flavours or colours and with each serve containing 23% of the recommended daily intake of calcium for kids, it is a great healthy snack to have in the lunch box.

I also really liked that they came in a resealable ziplock bag, so helping to reduce the rubbish in the kids lunch boxes. The kids really liked how the pieces fitted together – like a puzzle!

We also sampled Bega Junior and by far these were the biggest hit with the toddler. They are made from natural Bega Colby cheese, which is why I think he liked it so much. Colby cheese is a softer and milder version of Cheddar cheese. Coming in single serves they have been wonderfully handy to grab from the fridge and take with me for the toddler to have as we do some waiting at an after school activity.

How do you get your kids to eat enough cheese?

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As I mentioned in an earlier post, Kidspot are running a competition which gives the Top 50 bloggers a chance to win a trip to Dunk Island for 7 days. The trip is for two adults and two children though – our family rarely fits into the standard family packages, but we have grown pretty used to that!!! When I told the kids about this opportunity and assured that them that if we won no one would be left behind, I also asked them for their help with this post.

We are not the regular out of state holidayers. I have family in Mildura and we drive there regularly for our holidays. We have had a trip to the snow and to Sydney in the last year, which is the most travel we have done for quite a long time. But as I found out when I asked the kids what does a holiday mean to them, it is not always about the fancy places you go. It is about the people you visit, it is about a change of scenery and it is about being together as a family.

With three children in primary school, the acrostic poem is quite popular in our house . When we worked out that holiday had seven letters – just like the number of people in our family, it was obvious to the kids that to explain what a family holiday means to us, that we should do it via an acrostic poem.

For us writing the poem symbolised how we approach family holidays, everyone contributes, we work together to make it happen and we share the joy!

Do you get the chance to have regular holidays with your family? Does this mean traveling far or like us do you make the most of visiting family and friends within driving distance?

This post is my entry to the Kidspot Top 50 Blog Your Way To Dunk Island. If you haven’t had the opportunity to vote yet, I would really appreciate it if you could click through here and vote. It is just a one click process once your there – you don’t have to register or vote in any other categories, just one click and you are done! (It will probably take less than 20 seconds but it depends on your internet access!) ~ Thank You!!!

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I was actually suprised how long it took me to work out that there are some excellent iPhone apps for kids of an educational nature! I find that the iPhone comes in handy at times when you have to wait unexpectedly with the kids or need a distraction under duress! Here are 10 of our favourite iPhone apps for the kids at the moment:

1. Live Mathletics

Cost: $2.49
Age: Primary school age
Pros: Great for reinforcing basic number facts. Easy to use even for those in the first year of school with limited reading ability. As it has levels, kids can continue to be challenged.
Cons: If you enter a wrong answer, you can’t correct it (frustrating!). You can’t choose whether you want to do addition or subtraction. Edit – I was wrong! You can correct a mistake. Thanks to Yvonne from Mathletics who said “If you make a mistake typing in the answer in the Live Mathletics app – just gently shake the iPhone – it acts like delete! (click on the i for instructions) “
iTunes Link: Live Mathletics

2. Chess

Cost: Free (There is a premium version without ads for $1.19)
Age: 4+
Pros: Chess is a fabulous game for kids to learn and if like me you don’t play so well, this game can help challenge them in their play. There are lots of options in this game. You can have either one or two player games, timing options and the ability to adjust the difficulty of the game.
Cons: No rules or help section for beginners (like me!)
iTunes Link: Chess

3. I Know Phonics

Cost: Free
Age: 4- 5 year olds
Pros: Three different games to play. They use lower case letters. Simple enough for children who are beginning to identify their letters.
Cons: Sound and graphics are pretty basic. To play again you have to exit one game and then re-enter from the main menu.
iTunes Link: I Know Phonics

4. Super Why

Cost: $3.99
Age: 4 – 5 year olds
Pros: Although it seems expensive at $3.99 there are actually 4 solid games within this app and the sound and graphics are much better than most games. The games look at basic concepts like alphabet, rhyming, spelling, writing and early reading. The games require the children to listen and then respond. The games also continue to offer new options without having to go back to the main menu.
Cons: All the games are in capitals – all advice I have had from school teachers is to expose children to lower case first.
iTunes Link: Super Why

5. Arithmaroo

Cost: $2.49
Age: 4+
Pros: Excellent for kids to practice one to one matching with numbers. The children also have to earn their levels and can’t simply choose which level they want to play. You can have up to four players listed and can save their times and scores.
Cons: It can get slightly repetitive.
iTunes Link: Arithmaroo

6. Dot To Dot Number Whiz Lite

Cost: Free
Age: 4+ ( They need to be able to recognise numbers between 1 and 25.)
Pros: Kids have to master each puzzle before moving on to the next one. The game can still be challenging for older kids as they may have to count in 2s, 4s or 7s or know the order of the alphabet.
Cons: Make sure you turn training mode off, otherwise you keep doing the same puzzle all the time!
iTunes Link: Dot To Dot Number Whiz Lite

7. Learn To Tell Time

Cost: $1.19
Age: 6+
Pros: It has a mix of games that the kids can play: Tell Time, Elapsed Time, Time After, and Time Before, Set Time, and Mixed Mode. They also have the option of choosing to just do 10 questions with no time restraints or choose 1 minute to complete as many answers as they can. Once they are finding the questions easy at one level, they can then choose to move up a level to harder questions.
Cons: I think sometimes it is easy for the children to guess the answer as it the options are so distinct eg 12 o’clock and 2.30.
iTunes Link: Learn To Tell Time

8. Toddler Teaser Shapes

Cost: Free
Age: 3+
Pros: Very simple for child to use. They can start with the basic shapes and the move on to more complex shapes like an equilateral triangle and heptagon! The children have to listen and then choose the right shape.
Cons: No function to repeat what the shape is that they are looking for. (It does repeat though if they get it wrong.)
iTunes Link: Toddler Teaser Shapes

9. abc PocketPhonics

Cost: Free for Lite, but you only have a selection of letters. To have all letters of the alphabet and letter blends you can upgrade for $1.19, which we did.
Age: 4+
Pros: Excellent game to help preschoolers learn the sounds of the letters and letter blends. They can also practice writing the letters by tracing over them. The font that they use is very similar to the Victorian Modern Cursive that is used in my home state.
Cons: It would be good if there was some way of tracking what letters the child has completed, so they can easily work their way through all the letters.
iTunes Link: abc PocketPhonics

10. Spell Blocks with Sight Words

Cost: $2.49
Age: 4+
Pros: One of the better sight words iPhone Apps that I have tried (and I have tried lots of them!). It has a repeat function if the child does not hear the word clearly that they need to spell. The word lists go from pre primer to grade 3.
Cons: There doesn’t seem to be an “end” to the levels. Well at least not that we have found when playing it. I think kids need to know that there is an end line that they are heading to.
iTunes Link: Spell Blocks with Sight Words

Do you have some favourite edcuational iPhone apps for kids that you can add to this list?

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In Australia, Father’s Day is only a couple of weeks away on Sunday September 5. When I stumbled across this post from Smitten Kitten, I thought this Practical Gift Guide would be a great reference list for those of us who have a foodie in the family or who are wanting to encourage the cooking skills of the dad of the house . It is a very useful list and in the words of the post’s writer:

So why do these fairly basic things make great gifts? Because I think the best presents are the things that you either might not think of or might not want to shell out for but end up making your life easier, everyday.

So head on over and check out the Practical Gift Guide. Other kitchen based ideas are:

• Cook books – so many available, you are bound to find one that meets his skill level and interests.
• BBQ Accessories – a pretty tried and true gift for Dad.
• Pizzamaker – Make dad the resident pizza expert!
• Coffee Accessories – It doesn’t have to be the full blown expresso machine, it could be a plunger or Stovetop Coffee Percolator, or a coffee bean grinder and some gourmet coffee beans.

What else would you add to this list, that could make a great gift for dad for father’s day?

The Family Menu Plan For This Week

Baking: 100s of biscuits

Monday: Chicken Noodle Soup

Tuesday: Beef Stroganoff

Wednesday: Left Overs

Thursday: Zucchini Slice

Friday: Fried Rice

Saturday: Tacos

Sunday: Slow Roasted Lamb

If you are looking for further recipe inspiration, check out my complete list of Family Friendly Recipes. All of these recipes are in the database of the Planning With Kids Free Menu Planner. You can use the menu planner to plan a week of meals for your family and then print out the associated shopping list.

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• Jackobindi - Self Cover Buttons and Accessories
• Arteater - Saving kid's art, one BITE at a time