Create Your Own Olympic Fun with Games of Old

One of our Friday Fun Facts was that Tug of War used to be an olympic sport.

This got me to thinking what did I do as a child at school sports days or just in the backyard with the neighbours we used to always be having friendly competitions in our neighbourhood.

So this post will give you ideas on how to put together some of these old fashioned games and let your children create their own Olympics over the coming two weeks but they are great for summer time fun at anytime!

What is great about these games is they promote exercise, co-ordination and teamwork in some cases.

Egg and Spoon Race

See who can get across the line without dropping the egg

What You Need

- Spoons

- Eggs (Hard Boiled so it is not to messy)

- Something to mark out the start and finish line (Bin, Rope anything really…)

Line the children up and give them a spoon and let them get the egg balanced.

Start the race and the children have to cross the finish line as fast as they can without dropping the egg – if they do they go back to the start line and try again.

Three Legged Race

Pair up the children and have them use teamwork to balance and complete the race together.

What You Need

-Scarf or Rope to tie the legs together

-Something to mark out the start and finish line (Bin, Rope anything really…)

Place the children side by side and tie the ankles together

The children then walk or run (this may make them tumble) the whole point is for them to work out the most effective way to get to the finish line together.

Mark out the distance and begin the race

Tug of War

A show of strength and tactics this is a fun competitive game for all. Even get Mum and Dad involved to even it up.

What You Need

-A Rope

-A marker in the middle of the rope

Place an even number of children on each side

Mark a line on the gorund

The team achieves success when they pull all team members across the line marked

I hope you and your family have much fun with these fun old fashioned games.

Happy Play Times :-)   

Book of the Moment - Little Quack Loves Colors

This is a bright fun story that follows the two little ducklings, Little Quack and Piddle.

It is entertainingly written and takes children into the colorful world of little quack loving the bright blue sky and piddle loving sparkly white sand…. The illustrations are bright and gorgeous.

These two little ducks are my personal favorite characters – I get as much fun reading the book as the children do listening.

The target is really for newborns to about one year/eighteen months.

I have so loved this book that I personally wrote a review on Amazon, the first time I have ever done so.

If you have youngsters I highly recommend having them fall in love with Little Quack.

Happy Play Times :-)

Weekend Watching - Outdoor Games for Kids

Join the team at http://www.preschoollearningonline.com for this weekend's watching as they show you how to create your own game of bowling.


Love this I had never thought of it before.


Happy Play Times :-)

Friday Fun Facts - Olympic Special

This week in keeping with what all the world will be watching and talking about in the next 2 weeks we are dedicating this Friday’s Fun Facts to the ‘Olympics’

- The early Olympics ran from 776BC to 393AD

- They were then returned in 1896  by French educator 

- Good Old Fashioned “Tug of War” was once an Olympic sport

- The US have won the most medals overall in the modern Olympics BUT in the first Olympics Greece

- The continents of South America, Africa and Antartica have never played host to an Olympics

- A gold medal is not solid gold, the last of the solid gold medals were at the 1912 games

Happy Play Times :-)

Let your Kids Get Muddy with Mud Pies

When I say mud pies what do you think of???

The delicious chocolate goodies OR the fun and imagination of children baking mud pies in the backyard.

For me it is the latter and one of my favorite childhood memories.

At my grandparents house be it summer or winter (we lived in Australia no snow) my grandma would give us some old plastic mixing bowls, utensils to mix and saved icecream containers/egg cartons to set about making our gooey, messy, muddy creations.

Into the garden we would go to dig up the dirt, turn on the taps (in summer really splash about) until we had the right consistency, mix it up and mold away.

We would then put them into our pretend oven, which was an old stone BBQ and move onto to our next adventure in the garden. We would return an hour or so later to un-mold and set up a bake sale. Which was an old wooden bench but we would decorate and make festive while dragging, Pop, Grandma, Mum, Dad whoever would indulge us as we tried out our sale pitch – needless to say we always sold a good amount (perhaps that’s why I went into sales ;-) 

What I love about this is it is good old fashioned, use your imagination child play – it gets kids outside away from the TV & Computer screens and participating in the world around them.

How about following the tips of old here and let your kids get muddy, messy and baking today it really does pass the time in a fun and creative way best of all they are doing it in the fresh air and it isn’t so hard to clean up when you can hose the paths and the children down (in the summertime of course).

Happy Play Times :-)

Fun Outside

My daughters Annabelle and Scarlett had some fresh air fun Friday play time today.


That was unfortunately until it started raining - wow the disappointment on their faces as I bundled them inside, I think they were quite fascinated with the drops of rain coming down. When your a baby everything is wonderful and new.


My babies play with toys and crawl around the grass exploring their surroundings it gives them the air, exercise and stimulates their mind through exploration.


This doesn't just apply to babies all children can gain these benefits - so we will be posting on activities to get children outside and enjoying what the outdoors has to offer in the very near future.


In the mean time I thought I would share some photo's of the fun.


Happy Play Times :-)

Friday Fun Facts

This weeks fun facts to share with your family are in the big black sky – outer space! Enjoy


- When man lands on the moon the footprints are forever engraved because no wind exists there to blow them away
- The moon is 4.5 billion years old (Is there even a card for that ;-)
-Thought you’ve had a long night try living on Uranus a single night lasts for 21 years hmmm….
-How about a long day on Pluto that be 6 days, 9 hours to us
-There is an estimated 2 x 1023 stars in space. In English, this is: 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000! 


And on that mind boggling number…


Happy Play Times :-)