"Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties."

Day 99:

The plan for today was to go for good stomp around snail beach, we made pizza and wrapped it up for lunch but when we arrived the weather just didn't want to play ball so we drove a little further up to Stiperstones and dropped the backseats so that we could sit in the back of the car and paint. Before we could start painting though Opeie asked whether we could do a drawing activity he had created where we design products for a supermarket based around themes. I love things like this as you end up drawing things that you would never usually think of drawing. 

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving."

Day 51:

I'm feeling really grateful for little projects recently, Its always good to have interests because it can keep you active and I always find that if my hands are busy my mind is calm, During this lockdown period its been these projects that have kept us occupied, which is probably why, despite not being able to go anywhere the days still seem to be flying by.

"Almost all creativity involves purposeful play."

Day 38:

Our style of home-ed has gone completely out of the window since all this began, It was never really structured to start with but I always had a plan in my head each morning of the work we were probably going to be doing. These days I think it's far more important to be focusing on the mental health of our kids. All this is so much for them to deal with emotionally. So with that In mind our days have been all about the creative side of learning, we do what ever makes Opeie feel happiest. Today we made a dinosaur mask for his LEGO Boost and he did some coding. It's always a fun educational activity that never disappoints. 

This whole thing is hard enough without having to worry about academic learning while the schools are closed. get playing with your kids, that's where the real magic is.

"Teachers can change lives with just the right mix of chalk and challenges."

day 20:

Today was one of those days that was pure perfection. We woke up, had breakfast in the garden and didn't leave the garden all day. It's not great being confined to our homes but this weather is making it so much easier. While looking for something in Opeie's bedroom today I found some chunky chalks so we decorated the back of the house. The last couple of weeks has been one creative activity after another to get us through the days and this one so far will stand out above the rest.

Go and do something that really makes you smile, trust me it will take the edge off all this madness.

My greatest project, the one that is always ongoing, is my family.

There are so many amazing ways you can entertain and educate your children and I like to think that I'm pretty good with plucking fun activities out of the sky and embracing any crazy idea the boys come up with. It's important to motivate their creative side and I've found that having a couple of projects on the go is great for spending quality time together, It's great Father/Son bonding. We started building Seth a BMX last summer which has been great for teaching Seth the ins and outs of owning a bike. It's great riding about and having fun but it's just as fun to get to know how the parts work. Things went a little quiet on the build over the winter but with only a seat and brake levers and calipers to buy Seth is eager to earn some extra cash doing odd jobs around the house to pay for his parts. We try our best to teach them that you don't always get things just for being awesome kids, sometimes you have to earn the things that you want, it's an important lesson to teach early.

While we were out on an adventure last week we walked past a house and there was a BMX at the end of the drive. We were unsure whether it belonged to someone of whether it had been left there as scrap. Later on that day I drove past the house on my way to somewhere and it was still sitting there which sparked more interest. That night I went out on one of my scoots and on the way home I thought 'I wonder if it's still there?', so I took a detour and sure enough it was still sitting there. I had a quick look at the wheels and realised that it flat tyres and banged up wheels, it must have been left as scrap. So I picked it up, held it on to the scooter handle bars and carried it home (which wasn't the easiest thing to do).

As it was so dark I didn't really get to look at it properly but the following morning I went straight into the back garden to check out our find. It turned out to be an old school Diamond back and although there was minor rust and paint chipping, the frame was in pretty good condition. Seth was over the moon when he saw it and that afternoon we spent a few hours in the garden taking it apart and cleaning up the parts worth keeping. It was great to see the skills I had taught Seth being used. He used the rivet extractor to take off the chain and took the tyres off of the wheels to check for punctures. We also managed to sell a few things that we found in the shed that day to fund the project and buy new parts that we need, which was great.

We should have everything we need this week to start rebuilding the bike and I am really looking forward to getting stuck in with him. It's always great to see the end product of anything we create together but for me (and I am quite sure the boys feel the same), It is far more about the quality time spent together.

"The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless."

A month or so ago me and Opeie were having one of our many LEGO sessions, which usually involve him coming up with something and us trying to build it together. This time though he wanted us to make a spy phone each, as he told me that he thought "there are baddies everywhere and they need to be defeated". I thought this was adorable so we began building right away. Usually when we build something together he breaks it up before we've even put the LEGO away, but this time was different.

The phones were finished and we instantly started receiving phone calls from a mysterious person known only as 'The Boss'. Each call comes with the most bizarre missions. When the Boss calls Opeie, no one knows where we will end up or what the day has in store for us. In London this week we captured an evil Owl, a villian named Tiny Joe (who can get in to buildings through the key hole), various London pigeons and an army of Taxidermy ducks. 

When the boss calls me I use the mission for exciting home schooling exercises. If we are at home one of Opeie's toys might get kidnapped and we are left with an activity sheet at the door of every room in the house. To search for his missing friend he must complete the activity to progress through the house. The phones have given us a never ending amount of entertainment.

The great things about these phones are you can get reception anywhere, we've not been conned into a rolling contract that keeps getting more expensive and there's no need for insurance, because if they break we just get more LEGO! (take note EE).

"RING RING....." Sorry guys adventure calls!!!

"I'm spinning around, move out of my way..."

I like to squeeze as many little activities as I can in to each day. The boys had their friend Keira round for the afternoon and they were playing indoors because of the rainy weather. They wanted to make strange concoctions with their test tubes and pippets so I sorted out some ingredients and bowls and let them get on with it. The rain soon stopped and inevitably they wanted to get straight outside on bikes and scooters which gave me the idea to merge the two activities together to show them how a centrifuge works.

I explained what a centrifuge was and how they are used and then we got started on our experiment by filling two small jars with oil, vinegar and mustard. We then turned Seth's bike upside down and attached one of the jars to the reflector. We then peddled the bike by hand as fast as we could. We had to start the experiment again when I realised we had filled the jars up too far but the second attempt went perfectly and the ingredients separated which the kids found really interesting.

There is so much time in a day, you can squeeze all manner if interesting little activities in to keep the kids entertained and we all love a mini science experiment.

"You cannot push any one up a ladder unless he be willing to climb a little himself."

Opeie has never really been the physically adventurous type, he loves to run about and is one of the happiest children I know but he's never really shown interest in attacking the climbing frames at the park or shooting up trees. Obviously that's never going to be an issue but secretly (and it seems ridiculous to me now) I had always wished he was a little more that way. As I lay in bed writing this it has come to my attention that my reason for feeling like this is because of how I was when I was younger, what I am only realising now though is that this memory of myself like that is around the age of 7 and Opeie is still only 3 (for a couple more weeks anyhow).

We had tickets to go to the theatre for us all yesterday but Mrs M had to work and Seth wasn't with us so we asked our friends Emma, Wilberforce and Waldon if they wanted to join us. Emma mentioned that Wilberforce had his second rock climbing class and would Opeie be interested in joining in? My first thought was 'there's no chance he'll do that!' But I booked it anyway on the off chance.

I told him all about it and he'd seen the pictures of Wilbs on Facebook high up the wall the week before. He was really excited about going (I was sure he wouldn't make it two feet off the ground though). We arrived at the climbing place and Opeie entered with a loud 'Wow!'

Wilberforce and his troops followed us in and the fun began. Neil the instructor was a top bloke and really made Opeie feel at ease as he attached the harness. Opeie was chatting away which was great as usually he would seem a little anxious at going out of his comfort zone. I on the other hand was getting very anxious. It looked like so much fun as Wilberforce shot up the wall and I really hoped Opeie would give it a try.

Opeie's turn and as he climbed up the wall I was left at the bottom in complete awe, thanks to Neil's support and motivational words Opeie clearly felt at ease and made his way up without over thinking what he was doing. It was amazing to watch and his enthusiasm and strength blew my mind.

Opeie didn't quite make it to the top on his first attempt but for the second attempt Neil put a monkey at the top and explained to Opeie that he was stuck and Opeie was the only one that could save him. As Opeie climbed, Neil told him to say things like 'don't be scared monkey, I'm coming to save you' and before he knew it he was right at the top clutching the monkey, I was so proud of him.

It wasn't quite the save the monkey had hoped for when Opeie threw him down and then landed on him on his descent, it did make us all chuckle though.

The class was for 30 minutes which was more than enough time for a couple of hardcore rock climbing three year olds. 

Opeie had completely shocked me and I was left thinking 'what else can I throw him into' because as a doting parent I got as much out of the experience as he did. The best part of it for me though was the excitement afterwards and how much throughout the day I heard "daddy I've had such a fun day" and "I'm so proud of my rock climbing". 

Children are amazing! And Opeie had shown me a side of him I'd never seen before, I couldn't be more proud. We're all looking forward to class next week and it's another chance to hang out with his partner in climb (ba-dum tis) Wilberforce.

"Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind."

This morning we had a long drive over to the hospital where Seth goes to see his consultant regarding his muscles. Mrs M took him for his appointment while I (as always) did my best to entertain mini me. It's great that the sun has decided to reappear over the last week or so and was actually the driving force for this post.

As we walked across an empty car park (we were looking for a pig on a farm we had driven past on the way in) Opeie noticed his shadow and decided to start racing it. We've had plenty of fun over the years with our shadows but today Opeie was asking lots of questions "when I turn around why does my shadow chase me?" And "where's my shadow gone now" (as we waked past a tree). I asked him what he thought and he said "because it's dark from the tree" (so i explained in more detail) clever boy!

We had some fun making interesting shapes and Opeie asked if we could make a two headed monster.... Tadar!!

We were still looking for that big fat black pig we had seen and decided to walk along the side of the road. Opeie seemed concerned about the safety of our shadows due to the traffic coming from behind but looked amazed as we stood still to see what would happen as a car passed us, our shadows leapt onto the side of the car, amazing!!

Still no pig! We did see an emo looking horse though but he didn't seem all that impressed by us so we carried on looking for shadows, holding things in front of the sun to see what happens. It was a simple way to fill our waiting time but an activity that kept opeie entertained.

After the hospital we dropped Seth at school and found some other things to keep us entertained When we picked him back up we continued our afternoon of Shadow discovery and went for a walk around our local lake...

I love being a dad, every little thing you do on a daily basis can be turned in to a learning activity, if your creative and don't just see a walk as a walk then you can mentally stimulate your child and get them asking question after question.

"IT ALL BEGAN when Floyd got his kite stuck in A TREE. He tried pulling and swinging but it WOULDN'T COME UNSTUCK"

I love how a child's imagination can take an insignificant task and instantly turn it in to a fun mini activity. I'd love to be able to think like Opeie for a day he is so much fun to be around. This afternoon while I was starting lunch Opeie wandered in and asked if he could help, so I found him a big tray and handed him a big piece of broccoli and a plastic knife so that he could chop it up for me.

Within about 30 seconds he was getting pretty hacked off with the knife not cutting through the broccoli (safety first though right?) but then he randomly started laughing. He's got a really infections laugh and it grabs my attention straight away, usually because its something really fun (he's got a great imagination).

Opeie was holding the broccoli laughing and said 'look daddy it's like the book 'stuck'". Well that was it, the food came off the hob and we went looking for things to get stuck in Opeie's broccoli tree.

We went straight to the LEGO and Opeie knew exactly what he was looking for, a boat, a bicycle, a ladder and a fireman. We couldn't find a whale so that was replaced with a shark, a deer and a polar bear. Opeie threw item after item up his broccoli tree...

I had soon forgotten all about lunch and i was dragged in to Opeie's exciting world where he just comes up with something and instantly puts it in to action. I eventually had to go back to my mundane task but Opeie was more than happy stuffing things in to his Broccoli tree giggling to himself. It looks amazing to be 3, i wish i could remember anything from my childhood back then.

“Nothing is more real than the masks we make to show each other who we are.”

I can sometimes be difficult to get Opeie interested in craft, he's more of a tinkerer and will happily sit for an extended amount of time taking Lego Minifigures apart and creating his own. One craft activity he loves though is making masks and so far this seems to be the week for it.

Yesterday was one of those days where you wake up and there seems like no time to get things sorted before dropping Mrs M at work and Seth at school, Mrs M was über stressed and ended up forgetting some things for work, plus she realised last minute she had the house keys in her pocket, it could have been a disaster. When we got home I realised we hadn't made anything for Opeie's dance class, it's not compulsory but we've made something every week and I feel we owe it to the teacher to make the effort. The theme was the letter 'A' and the first thing that came into my head was ant, so an ant mask it was. Sadly I was far to rushed for lots of photos but I did get a shot of the finished piece and Opeie class teacher loved her gift...

Last night Opeie seemed like he was coming down with a cough and he had a temperature, Because I'm still fighting off Bronchitis and Mrs M has had it too i decided to keep him in today and do some fun activities in the house. After dropping off Mrs m and Seth i asked Opeie what he wanted to do and he decided he wanted to get the craft box out that Auntie Lottie had got him for his Birthday and make some more masks, this time though, masks of characters from his and Seth's new favourite show, Adventure time. I must admit the boys have got me hooked, i love the insanity.

We planned to make Jake and Finn the two main characters but as expected that demanding little mini me had other ideas, i love a good craft session though and was happy he was getting involved cutting and pasting. The masks turned out great and Opeie kept saying 'Seth is going to love these when he's back from school'. Its lovely to see the boys proud of the things they make.

The Ice king and Marceline were added to our craft session and then the craft boxes were packed away for another day, or so i thought. An hour or so before picking Mrs M up from work Opeie decided he wanted to make Seth a mask of one of their favourite characters from the show. Sadly Opeie got side tracked doing something else and i was left to complete 'Billy' the ultimate warrior from the land of Ooo...

And then it was time for a little posing by Opeie...

Finally we used the masks to decorate one of the only empty walls in Seth's room. Job done, a well executed craft session.