Tuesday 1 February 2011

Snowdrops and rainbow rice...

At last the garden is waking up, not exactly springing into action but definitely rousing from the long winter...
Its been too miserable to explore the garden much so it was a nice surprise to find these waiting to greet us today!

Meanwhile we've been busying ourselves indoors finding 101 ways to entertain children on rainy days, of which there are many here in Gods Own Country! I found the 'recipe' for Rainbow Rice'  at Homemade Serenity - a way with rice that involves no cooking, or eating but did keep the little freerangers occupied for ages! All it took were some squidges of watercolour paint into freezer bags of uncooked rice and a splash of water. We gave it a good mix and shake and left it to dry. The results were almost too pretty to play with...

 Well okay, not quite too pretty to play with...
 Unbelievable, but some leftover paint and a bag of value rice kept them busy for a couple of hours...
Beat that Nintendo!

We'll definitely do it again, maybe making some Diwali patterns later in the year and by then we'll hopefully have hoovered all the bits that these pictures don't show falling off the table!

9 comments:

  1. That's a lovely idea, such fun for them. Love the snowdrops too.

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  2. Can't wait for our snowdrops to flower they are still small buds enclosed by leaves. I think ours must be a later variety as they always seem later than everyone elses - we have some native primroses on flower though!

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  3. What a great activity. How I miss being able to entertain my kids with something so simple, it all changes when they get older. Believe it or not, I haven't seen any snowdrops yet this year. Perhaps I aren't looking hard enough.

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  4. Looks like fun!!

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  5. Here in Utah we are still so far away from having anything bloom! Love the rice activity. Would have loved to do this when mine were young. Joni

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  6. Fantastic idea, love those colours. Can I come and play?

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  7. Hi Su - I was surprised how much they enjoyed it to be honest - there's nothing quite like getting your hands stuck into an activity!

    Hi GLA - Im glad to hear that most of the snowdrops arent out yet as these are the only ones ive found so I was getting worried that they'd all pegged it!

    Hey Jo - I know Ive got it all to come - if its any consolation they also know how to operate the wii and can skyplus tv at the drop of a hat! -
    Hi Mel - I think we had as much fun with it as the kids to be honest!

    Hi Joni - thanks for dropping in and commenting - we are a long way off having a garden in bloom - hence thats why im making the most of even the smallest petals! Really enjouying your blog x

    Hi Choclette - You're on - Ill set you a place at the rice table!!!

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  8. Wish I had thought of this when my kids were little!

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  9. Brilliant fun and gorgeous colours. As you say, it will be fantastic for doing rangoli patterns and if you want it to be permanent, just arrange it with glue on cardboard. x

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