Thinly Spread - Parenting From Tots To Teens

Posted by Chris Mosler on Jul 16, 2014

Face to Face with a Barrel Jellyfish!

I’m chomping at the bit, desperate for the summer holidays to finally arrive! My two oldest boys have been off school since their exams finished but BB and DG are still crawling their way towards the end of term and it is SO frustrating not being able to take off and just keep sailing over the horizon! We’ve been down on the coast as often as is possible with four children and two adults who...

Posted by Chris Mosler on Jul 9, 2014

Salt Painting

Salt painting is one of those childhood crafts which are totally absorbing, the ones which stick in your mind. I remember very clearly marbling paper in Junior 2 when I was about seven and finger painting when I was in nursery aged three. One of my fondest memories from teaching practice in the early 90s is working with groups of children to produce squares of paste resist batik; watching them as they...

Posted by Chris Mosler on Jul 1, 2014

Thank You From The Bottom Of My Heart

In February and March of this year I wrote several posts about Save the Children’s campaign to end Newborn deaths. I told you that 1 million babies are dying each year on the day they are born and that many of these deaths are easily preventable with basic medical care. I told you that Save the Children were asking us to stand up for these babies and their families, to call on the world’s...

Posted by Chris Mosler on Jun 26, 2014

Drink Carton Crafts – How to Make Bird Feeders and Plant Pots

I do love hanging out with other crafty people! Last week I took part in a Google hangout with fabulous craft bloggers from Red Ted Art, Zing Zing Tree, Here Come the Girls and Kids Chaos where we all shared our ideas for drink carton crafts reusing tetra pak juice and milk cartons. Bonus Boy is at the stage when he doesn’t want to decorate everything and make it look pretty (pah) but is still very...

Posted by Chris Mosler on Jun 15, 2014

Simple Things in June – Songbirds, Tea, Sunshine and Smiles

My Simple Things as we meander into June have been those little soul restorers which lift my spirits, allow me to take a little space, breathe and then carry on. With a household dominated by summer exam revision these moments are really precious and total sanity savers. Simple Things : The Dawn Chorus I’ve been waking very early which could be really annoying if it weren’t for the songs of...

Posted by Chris Mosler on Jun 9, 2014

Couscous Salad in the Shade of My Apple Tree

The weather was kind this weekend, Mr TS wandered off to Portland to do a bit of essential maintenance on the boat’s bottom, DG disappeared to the river with her chums, BB and I gardened, biked and played and my teen boys revised. Again. It’s endless. I’m going to write a parenting manual warning people of the fool hardiness of leaving a two year gap between children – it works...

Posted by Chris Mosler on Jun 6, 2014

Gardening Crafts – Homemade Plant Labels, Seed Packets and a Decorated Pot

With Father’s Day approaching and the garden beckoning my thoughts have turned to easy gardening crafts to give as gifts. I love how these turned out and I hope you do too. Plant labels, seed collecting packets and a decorated terracotta pot – I like them so much I may struggle to give them away! The plant labels are made from large wooden lolly sticks (available from craft shops and some toy...

Posted by Chris Mosler on Jun 2, 2014

Driftwood Craft – Noughts and Crosses

We spend a lot of time on Chesil Beach and it is a brilliant place for driftwood and pebble collectors like us. The driftwood we find is bleached and smooth and comes in all shapes and sizes. We wonder where it came from and how far it has travelled to reach us and we plan what we will do with it once we get it home. This driftwood craft uses some of the pebbles we have amassed, results in a game we can...