We had a spare hour the other day and decided to pop into Jungle In The City soft play in Glasgow West End. It’s in Partick, and it’s so close to us that I can’t believe I’ve never been before! The Play Area The play area is in a few parts: there’s a play frame, a big …
Chatelherault Country Park
Chatelherault Park is one of my favourite places on earth. Walking through it’s big, beautiful, ancient forest makes me feel like I’ve gone back in time. We go here with our dogs quite a lot, especially during the week when it’s quiet. Some days you can walk for an hour hardly seeing another person! (Bit …
The Messy Place in Bishopbriggs
Sadly The Messy Place is now closed.
We’d been meaning to check out The Messy Place in Bishopbriggs for ages. I’d heard great things about it & so we met our toddler & mummy friend there for some messy play time.
The Messy Place is exactly what it sounds like it’s going to be. Messy play for kids up to age 6. Very messy, in fact. But in a really good way. With the exception of painting & play doh, it’s pretty much all the stuff that I want my little lady to be able to do, but that makes such a mess we tend not to do in the house.
Each week is themed. It was construction week when we went along, so there were lots of diggers and trucks and spades and other construction themed toys in each of the play trays. As for the play trays… There was play doh, painting, a water table, sand pit, ice tray, craft table, and a tray with wood shavings to dig around in. So much for the kids to do. It really is fantastic.
There is a class structure. So there’s free play for most of the time, followed by a group activity (this week we made construction themed paintings using sponge stampers). Then you’ve got a bit of ‘clean-up-the-toddlers’ time and a few songs at the end.
The kids all get painting overalls at the beginning and there are loads of clean towels should you need them. It’s definitely worthwhile taking a change of clothes though – at least for the top half. Because messy is the key word!
Sessions last 1 hour and take place Monday – Thursday at 10.30am and 1pm, and on Fridays at 10.30am.
It costs £5 for the session (£2.50 for additional siblings) and mummies/daddies get a cuppa. Well worth it. The kids have an absolute ball.
Due to high demand, you have to book your place in advance now. (Nobody wants to go along to be told there’s no space for your kid!) you can do that by sending a message via The Messy Place facebook page.
The Messy Place is located in Bishopbriggs at 21 Park Avenue.
Some Triking at Free Wheel North
We checked out Free Wheel North recently. Most people I speak to haven’t heard of it, but it’s a fantastic charity run cycling centre down at Glasgow Green next to the big sandy playpark & climbing frames across from the templeton building. If you’ve been down there you’ve probably seen it; you just didn’t know …
Now, I’m ALWAYS in the picture!
This is a lovely article. As my friends will know (all too well) I don’t really have a problem ‘staying in the picture’. Even though I don’t really love the pictures of myself.
But there aren’t many photos of me when I was pregnant because I thought I looked too fat, or from those first few weeks when my little scrunchey came into the world, again because I thought I looked too fat. And I wish there were. I learned my lesson from that regret – now I’m always in the fricking picture, no matter what I think I look like!
I want to have photos of me and my kids, and me and my husband, so now I’m always asking my husband to take some. And of course the odd selfie with a toddler always goes down well!
There are so many benefits!
“Children who play outside develop better language skills, are fitter, and have fewer behavioural problems”. Best make the most of the Scottish summer while it lasts…
The Hunterian Museum
We’ve been doing a lot of museum-ing recently, since Spring decided it wasn’t quite ready to come out yet.
So last week we took a wee wander around the Hunterian Museum, in Glasgow University. I hadn’t been since I was a student and unsurprisingly, it was a bit of a different experience with a toddler!
There’s nothing at all interactive & not much that would peak the interest of a typical toddler. Most of the exhibits are up much higher than the eye level of small children too.
But it’s free, it’s nice & warm and since toddlers are happy as long as they’re free to roam, it’s good for an hour on a rainy day. It’s a pretty good place for a game of peek-a-boo.
You might even get to look at something if you have a toddler that doesn’t run away at every possible opportunity.
Note: The radiators run around the bottom of the railing on the top level. And they’re really hot. Make sure your toddler doesn’t think it’s a seat.
The Hunterian Museum: The University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8
A Run Around GoMA
If you’re in town and need something to do, GoMA (the Gallery of Modern Art is perfect for a wee indoor run around with the toddler. We were meeting a friend in town for some grub & decided to let my little lady roam free for a little while before we headed to the restaurant where …
Sporty Kidz Thornliebank
We met a friend at Sporty Kidz soft play over in the South Side the other day. Having been to the one in Maryhill (and thinking it was great) I thought that the Spiersbridge Rd Sporty Kids would be much the same. Well, it was and it wasn’t… The Play Area The first thing I …
Review: Mummy Massage Meetup
A lovely mummy friend organised a Mummy Massage Meetup last week. It was my first Mummy Massage Meetup experience, and man, was it nice! Firstly, you might ask what on earth a Mummy Massage Meetup actually is? Well, it’s basically a playdate: a regular playdate for the babies/toddlers/kids, but with a half hour back, neck, …
Pigeon Chasing
George Square is always good for a run around if you’re in town & at a loose end!
Note: The pigeons are pretty gallus & will definitely follow a toddler around if said toddler has a biscuit in his/her hand!
Happy Mothers Day!
It’s Mother’s Day! I never fully appreciated Mothers Day until I became one myself. During my lie in until 9am (I remember when that was early) I started thinking about all the mums in my life… I’m thankful for my own mum. I wouldn’t be who I am today without her, and I’m so grateful …
A little bit of charity shopping
We popped into Birth, Baby & Beyond on Dumbarton Rd in passing a few days ago for a wee look. We only had a few minutes, but managed a pretty decent haul: laptop & guitar toys, converse, shorts & leg-warmers. All for £14. They are a non profit who help families in the Greater Glasgow …
Dad’s are the funnest
Since it is my wonderful husband’s birthday today, I thought I’d post something in honour of all the amazing dads out there.
Most of these made me laugh a lot!
Gambado Glasgow – CLOSED
We’ve been meaning to go along for a while to Gambado soft play at Braehead, as we’d heard lots of great things. So we went to try it out at the weekend. The play area It was smaller than I expected (especially for the price). Toddler area was good (and gated) – it had a …
Truth
Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body.
Elizabeth Stone
Jo Jingles
We checked out the Jo Jingles class in Partick this week. It was numbers week & so we did lots of numbers songs (obviously!) with castanets, tambourines, pom poms… It felt more educational and maybe slightly less fun than other classes we’ve been to. Not that it wasn’t fun, because it really was; my little …
The Glasgow Science Centre
We took our first (long awaited, in my case) trip to the Science Centre at the weekend. Full disclosure: I worked there when I was a student, and I loved it, and I’m also a tiny bit of a science geek, so my review may not be entirely unbiased. But anyway, the review. Where do …
Science Here We Come!
I was so excited to cash in our vouchers for our science passports at the weekend; a very thoughtful Christmas gift from my family.
Our science passports mean we can visit the Science Centre for a year at anytime, for free! They’re £24 for the year for adults & £18 for kids 3-15 yrs. Under 3’s are free.
Go 3 times in a year & you’ll have paid more than that so they’re very much worth it!
Review of our first visit coming soon…
Best Article I’ve Read In A While
I never understood the significance of 1st birthdays until last year. But my husband and I kept another (totally dependent – on us) human alive for an entire year, whilst not knowing what the hell we were doing most of the time.
That is something worth celebrating!