FAMILY FRIENDLY ACTIVITIES, INSPIRATION FOR DAYS OUT & LOTS OF FUN
FAMILY FRIENDLY ACTIVITIES, INSPIRATION FOR DAYS OUT & LOTS OF FUN
We took advantage of the dry weather last night & got a bit Christmassy down at George Square. There is so much to see and do down there at this time of year, and it’s so beautiful all lit up! We spent a while wandering around seeing the big wheel, ice rink, huge Christmas tree & …
We’d heard that a Gruffalo had been spotted in the woods around Kilmardinny Loch in Bearsden, so last week we thought we’d take a trip out there to see if we could find him. Turns out that the Kilmardinny Loch Gruffalo is the very same one from the book! There are 5 or so different carvings and …
We tried out our first ever Hartbeeps class last week. We’d heard about it from a few friends who went along to the class in St Enoch’s on a Wednesday, but we’ve never managed to make it along. However they’ve just started a new class in the No. 1 Chocolate Factory on a Wednesday morning …
Despite it only being a 10 minute drive away, I’ve only ever been to Pollok Country Park a few times. If we’re planning on going to a country park, I always kinda forget that Pollok Park is there and end up travelling much further. So the little lady and I went along this morning to get a toddler’s perspective and …
We had a little party in The Messy Place in Bishopbriggs for the little lady’s second birthday. We decided to have it in The Messy place for a number of reasons. The main one though is that I wanted to have a fun celebration with her toddler friends but really didn’t want to have it in our …
Guest post coming from me today so here’s a short intro to myself and the kid – Rachel: mummy to my little lad who is two years old, living in Glasgow and having great fun exploring the city through the eyes of a wee one. We’ve been meaning to check out the outdoor playgroup in …
There’s so much to do at Heads of Ayr Farm Park. There are play areas galore, trampolines, animals to feed, soft play. Great day out. Here’s our review!
We’d heard good things about Lollipop Land soft play in East Kilbride so we thought we’d check it out. It’s located in PlaySport, the same leisure precinct as Air Space, but once you’ve turned off the main road it’s really unclear where you’re supposed to go. There are no signs for it anywhere until you …
There’s plenty green space to run or have a picnic in and little animal lovers will enjoy the children’s zoo. The walks down by the river are lovely too.
We were out with family last week for a little celebration dinner. It wasn’t really in aid of anything, but who needs a reason to celebrate? We were meeting in town, and decided to wander along to George Square, to Browns. We’ve been to Browns a few times with the little lady, including once when …
Like pretty much every other toddler on the planet, the little lady absolutely loves to climb. Everything. She’s a maniac. And she clearly has no understanding (not even a tiny inkling) of what it might feel like to fall off that fence or that table or that window ledge. I should probably stop her from climbing everything, but …
We met some baby buddies at Eastwood Pool recently. I’d heard rave reviews about it from some other mummy friends, so we had to check it out! The Pool There are two parts to the pool area. There’s the main swimming pool with lanes for doing some real swimming or lessons, and a larger unlaned …
We braved the Scottish summer and went to Palacerigg Country Park. Nice little childrens farm and good swing park. Nice walk for dogs. Great little day out.
We had so much fun at Adventure Planet this afternoon that I had to write a little bit about it. I wrote a review not too long ago, so I’m not doing another one just yet! But the slides are still the slidiest. And there’s still hundreds of them.
The slides are waaay too fast for the little lady to go up by herself (she can’t even do the one in the 0-3 bit without cracking her head) so I was up in there with her the entire time. Don’t think I need to go that run tonight now. Exhausted.
You can find my previous full review of Adventure Planet here.
We were over near The Forge recently and decided to check out Play Kingdom soft play while we were around. (I’ve managed to delete and lose all but one of my photos from this soft play. Apologies). The Play Area The main play area is a reasonable size. There are a few levels for them …
I’ve been dying to go berry picking for ages. So when a friend suggested we go check out East Yonderton Farm in Renfrew I was ready.
We went this morning and had a great time. The strawberries are in season just now, as are the blackcurrants, peas and gooseberries (although the latter is a bit too spiky for a toddler to pick).
We picked strawberries. It was a bit of a walk to the strawberry field (for a toddler – not for an adult or a slightly older child – and only because they walk so slowly and get distracted by grass, mud, an aeroplane, puddles, signs and anything else they find) so next time I might consider taking the pram along. The little lady wasn’t up for walking on the way back and she was pretty mucky, so I also ended up pretty mucky!
It is a farm, so the paths are grassy and muddy and puddly. Wellies are a very good idea. Unfortunately I realised this morning as we were leaving that the little lady’s wellies were waaaay too small, so we had to go with a sightly less appropriate footwear option, and ended up with rather wet feet. She was enjoying splashing in the puddles so much I didn’t have the heart to stop her. What’s a bit of water, after all…
The strawberries are so red; they look and smell amazing. You’re not supposed to eat them in the field, but every time I looked at the little lady she had taken another bite. She has been very fussy with her strawberries for months – she’ll take a bite and if they aren’t nice she’ll just hand me the strawberry/bowl back. So that is most definitely the ultimate endorsement from her. And now that I’ve also tasted them, I can confirm that they taste amazing too.
We filled a basket (really filled a basket) and it cost £8.
The Farm is out by Glasgow Airport, about a 15 minute drive from Charing Cross. The little road you need to turn down to get to East Yonderton is signposted from Barnsford Rd/A726. It’s easy to find.
There is a toilet at the other side of the field to the car park. It’s perfectly nice, but it amused me. This is it:
Now, it’s jam time. 🙂
East Yonderton Farm is located at Walkinshaw Rd, Renfrew, PA4 9L. It says on google maps that it’s closed permanently, but it definitely isn’t.
We hadn’t been swimming in ages and we’d heard that the Gorbals pool is good for kids, so we gave it a go.
The Pool
There are two swimming pools. The main pool is for ‘proper swimming’. It has lanes on one side and a larger unlaned area that’s good for having a wee swim with kids; for example if you’re practising your baby swimming. 🙂 It’s still pretty warm – certainly not cold like Tollcross pool.
The second pool is a zero-entry pool (sloped entrance like a beach). It’s nice and warm, and is shallow enough at the top to let tiny littles sit and get used to the water, or run and leap around in! As it gets deeper it turns into a little lazy river with rapids that go around a little area that appeared to be a jacuzzi that wasn’t on, (which meant it was a great bit for jumping in!) There were a bunch of floats and pool noodles/woggles you could use to go round the rapids.
There’s also a flume, but we didn’t go on it. It was closed when we were there, but I made the assumption it was for quite a bit bigger kids anyway.
The Change Rooms
It’s a Glasgow Life pool. They’re pretty standard, generally. They are basic and not the loveliest in the world, but not the worst I’ve seen either.
There were quite a few family change rooms (which are a really good size). The family change room we were in had a seat attached to the wall that you can strap your little tearaway into if need be. The straps were broken though, so it didn’t work.
It’s 20p for lockers, and apparently they’re really fun to climb in.
The Cost
It’s £3.20 for adults if you’re a non-member (free for members) and free for kids under 5. With a YoungScot Kidz Card it’s free until they’re about 19.
The Verdict
It’s a nice, warm pool so it’s great for teeny tinies. We still have a warma on, but the little lady lasted ages in there. With the rapids etc. there’s enough there to entertain the younger and older kids. Excellent.
The Gorbals pool is located in Gorbals Glasgow Club, Ballater St, Glasgow, G5 0YP.
We’re at the beach today! Not in the usual sense though. We’re in a giant sandpit (aka the Beach at Riverside) and it’s really nice.
It’s been here for a few summers now. But I’ve never been before, so I was pleasantly surprised at how big it is, and at how deep the sand is. The sand is really soft and lovely too.
There are some sun loungers dotted around outside the sandpit. A number of them had towels or bags or something on them to signify that they were ‘taken’, even though there were no other adults at all except me in the sand with the kids. Not that I wanted a sun lounger. But that just irritated me and reminded how much I sometimes really hate other people.
Anyway, it’s a really nice little beach for the kids to potter about in, and it’s right at the door of the Riverside Museum if you wanted them to have a play in there too. There is an ice cream van and a hot food van next to it, and a cafe inside the museum.
Just bear in mind that we live in Glasgow, and as such the sand will probably be a little bit damp. I took a picnic blanket just in case, but since I was playing in the sand with the little lady I didn’t use it.
Make sure you remember your buckets and spades! 🙂 It’s great fun!
The Beach at Riverside is located at the Riverside Museum, and it’s here until the 1st of September.
We found a brand new Toddler Sense class the other week that’s just up and running in Kelvinside. We found it entirely by accident – we’d gone along to the outdoor playgroup in the Children’s Wood that nobody else turned up to, and whilst having a wee wander round Kelvinside Meadow a lovely lady called Gail came and handed us a flyer. As it turned out the class was just about to start, so we joined in!
The Class
It’s a brand new class; so new that it was the very first day of it when we went along. There were only a couple of us there, but I expect that the next time we manage along it’ll be far busier as Toddler Sense classes tend to be pretty popular.
As always, there was a play area for the kids to clamber about in before the class (and in the case of my little lady also during, when she managed to eventually escape my clutches). There were blocks to climb about on, a bouncy castle & slide, a ball pool, bikes plus a bunch of other stuff I’ve since forgotten.
Each week has a different theme – last week was sparkle week. There were flashy balls, sparkly sticks, songs about stars, a snowy mountain that the littles climbed and quite spectacular sparkles projected from the ceiling (our cat would’ve loved all those lights flashing on the floor).
The lady who took the class (whose name has unfortunately now been lost from my terrible mummy brain) was great with the kids. She was super enthusiastic and they seemed to really enjoy playing with her in the play area at the beginning of the class.
The Cost
It’s £15 for your first 3 classes. After that you can pay as you go at £6.50 per class, or you can buy blocks of classes which work out a bit cheaper.
The Details
The class is on in the Scout Hall on Kelbourne St, just across from Kelvinside Meadow. It’s on Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 am and 11.30 am. Classes last about an hour.
The Verdict
My little lady absolutely loved it. She always loves Toddler Sense. The play area is physical enough to keep her entertained and the singing part of the class has enough going on to keep her engaged. It’s really excellent. And it knackers her. Bonus!
Toddler Sense Kelvinside takes place in the Scout Hall, Kelbourne St North, Kelvinside, Glasgow, G20 8PR.
We went back to bounce & rhyme for the first time in AGES this morning. There’s songs & rhymes & stories & lots of other babies & toddlers. It’s still just as entertaining for the little lady as it’s always been. And it’s free. The groups are in libraries all over Glasgow. You can find …