Merry

What’s in a name?

August 7, 2015 By Merry

People often ask me how MuddlePuddle got its name. It was born as a website back in the olden days of the internet when domain names didn’t need to have relevancy or be easy for search engines to find – in fact, most of the ways of searching we used back then don’t even exist now!

It came from an amalgamation of two of the aliases I used for my eldest daughters at the time – Pud and Moo. Casting about for a title, I rolled the two words around in my head and eventually came up with a word that really wasn’t being used anywhere else on the www at all at the time. It has – like nearly every other word – since found itself into book titles, similar sounding shops and various other things but on this little corner of the net, it came about like that.

How to choose the perfect name for you child. (Hint: don't name them after ducks!) — How to choose the perfect name for you child. (Hint: don’t name them after ducks!)

How Fran and Maddy became Pud and Moo is a different story – the first was a nickname shortening my dad gave Fran (from Pudding I would imagine) while MaddyMoo is used by countless owners of Maddies. By the time I got further along in having children the nicknames got even less inventive but nicknames – like domain names that don’t rely on visibility – don’t need to be original or inventive.

Real names of course are quite different. We agonised for hours over all 6 of our kids’ names to make sure we had ones we really loved and perfectly suited both the character written on their face at birth and our vision for them in the future. Picking names is tricky – how do you make sure the name will suit them and not harry them with unfortunate nicknames, double meanings or future uses of their name by awkward organisations? Believe me there is no fun in being called Merry if you get depression or Grace if you are a stout, uncoordinated type!

Two of our children ended up with names that became more popular than we might have chosen – Amelie has the honour of being one of the oldest of many with her name in England now (but most definitely led the way!) while Freddie was sadly rather popular just around when he was born which cane be painful at times given he is no longer with us. But the others have managed to hang on to names they can make their own – you don’t meet too many Frances or Josephines on a daily basis. They aren’t hampered by famous celebrities to share with but fortunately they all like their names and can carve out a future using them as a badge that is likely to stay unique to them and whatever they choose to do in whatever pond the swim in. Much as I grumbled about being a Meredith as a child, I like that I have only met 3 or 4 others in my life and you don’t get too many Merrys for a pound!

One way of avoiding awkward associations might be to use something like this name checker to see who in history or current affairs is sporting your chosen name for your new baby. It’s a bit of fun but it comes with some alternative ideas too and might just be the perfect way to set them on the path to greatness!

This is a collaborative post.

The Best Play Dough Recipes on the Internet.

May 10, 2015 By Merry

Homemade play was a staple of our early home educating life and the recipe (which in the days before Pinterest or even Google) I learned from playgroup teachers and has remained my go to one ever since.

Playdough Recipe

2 cups of plain flour
1 cup of salt
2 cups of water
2 tablespoons of sunflower oil
1-2 tablespoons of cream of tartar (I prefer more rather than less but tends to depend on what was in the pot!)

Chuck it all in a pan on a low heat and stir till a solid and non sticky mess then lift it out on to a floured worktop and gently knead, adding more flour if needs be until the ideal consistency. I tended to make double quantities (4 children) and then divide it into quarters and add food colouring and essential oils to the different lumps to alter it, for example yellow colouring and lemon oil, green colouring with sage or rosemary oil, blue or purple with lavender oil, orange with mandarin or red with patchouli.

Now, I never had ANY problems using a drop of any of these in playdough with my girls but there is more information about these days and you might choose to consult the ‘ essential oils that are safe with children‘ list here and make some alterations for the two I used for green.

Things having moved on, lots of clever people have made play dough a hugely inventive thing now so here are some popular alternatives from around the internet.

6 Great Play Dough Recipes

No Cook Playdough from The Imagination Tree.

Cloud Dough is a soft, fluff mouldable play stuff but as it is made with baby oil, you need to be sure it won’t get eaten.

Gluten Free Play Dough – with a coeliac in our wider family, this is a happy find as I’ve felt very guilty when she has come to our house and not been able to play with what was already made.

Ice Cream Dough is made with hair conditioner and cornstarch and apparently looks and smells like ice cream.

Sand Play Dough has a a great sensory feel and is quite different.

UK Solid Jelly Play Dough sounds divine and seems to be very popular as an idea and something that feels and smells quite different.

The great thing about the internet of course is there is now Pinterest and so a wealth of ideas and recipes can all be collated in one place. Take a look.

Follow MuddlePuddle Home Ed’s board Play Dough Recipes on Pinterest.

It has to be said, my kids still love shop bought playdohas a treat, so if nothing else will do, you could always use this affiliate link to buy some.

Great Tudor Project Days Out

May 8, 2015 By Merry

There are so many great places to visit that have Tudor links, even before you start on all the demolished abbeys, monasteries and so on.

Kentwell Hall – period events in costume and kept ‘exactly as was’ at a beautiful venue. Well worth a visit to see the care the re-enactors take in costume making and being in character.

Hampton Court – once the home of Wolsey and taken from him by Henry VIII, it’s a beautiful place with many original features and lots of themed events.

The Golden Hinde – a replica of Sir Francis Drake’s galleon (later Tudor period) in Brixham – ideally placed to couple it with a trip to his beautiful home Buckland Abbey, on the edge of Dartmoor.

Bramall Hall is a fascinating Tudor home; it reopens in refurbished state in April 2016. There is a short mention of our day there in this blog post.

Mary Rose – see Henry VIII’s warship, risen from the depths in the 1980’s.

The Tower of London – the scene of many a crime and beheadings and plenty of history to discover.

Ludlow Castle – home of Arthur and Catherine during his childhood and their short marriage/betrothal.

Hever Castle – the childhood home of Anne Boleyn.

Hatfield House – two homes in one; the older building that housed Elizabeth during her childhood and the later Jacobean one, home to the Cecil family. The extensive gardens were established by the Tradescant’s, collectors of many items that became the start of the Ashmolean Museum. You can read about our day there on our blog.

Burghley House – Home of Lord Burghley, (Mr Attenbrough in the film ‘Elizabeth’) and father to the Cecil who founded the new Hatfield House. The house is a fabulous trip but the grounds are also wonderful.

Peterborough Cathedral – burial place fo Catherine of Aragon, so if you have a soft spot for her, you can pay homage.

If you have suggestions for more, please do let me know.

Books for Learning about Wild Animals.

April 25, 2015 By Merry

Each month we receive a book through the post from Parragon publishers, who send us releases they would like us to review. This month was particularly exciting for the boy as the book in question has buttons and MAKES NOISES!

Now I have a long history with ‘noise button’ books which tended to be of the twinkly princess and fairy variety when my girls were little; certainly I have grim memories of repeated pressing of the “bears like hunny and I’m a pooh bear” singalong button. So, I can’t lie, my heart sunk a little – I do prefer my books to be colourful, interesting but SILENT! However, with the boy now hitting the stage where they become insatiably fascinated by a particular topic and a book about wild animals has ignited a huge interest. So I swallowed my desire to run away and this week we’ve been reading the book – repeatedly.

In fact it’s a really nice little book with plenty to recommend it. It covers 10 animals (wolf, bear, whale, dolphin, hyena, toucan, frog, gorilla, hippo and lion) across a number of different habitats and with just enough information on each page to make it interesting and start off conversations. The noises are real and don’t go on too long and the pages brightly coloured with a shapes top representing an animal from each double page spread. The board is thick and the sound panel sturdy and it isn’t too loud or too annoying 😉 so ticks all the boxes it can really. I like the fact that we can press buttons at the right time in the story, encouraging him to think about timing, listening and engaging properly rather than getting wild or turning over the pages too quickly.

This got me thinking about other books we’ve liked over the years.

Monkey Puzzle is a huge favourite and the cry of “I want my mum!” is something the boy will often do when he wants me RIGHT NOW. I love that he makes jokes from books.

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Another popular one here is The Monkey with a Bright Blue Bottom which roughly cover the same type of idea as some of the Just So Stories, all about a naughty monkey who paints designs on the jungle animals.

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ANd then there are the Just So Stories themselves, a home education and childhood classic and a book that features on lots of Charlotte Mason Living Books lists.

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When sleep is hard to come by (and this boy has a lot of trouble settling down at night, he sometimes drifts off to the sound of the Barefoot Books YouTube channel. We had this particular book when the girls were little with a CD – YouTube is much easier though! We love The Animal Boogie (A Barefoot Singalong)

Disclosure: we were sent books and links are affiliate links.

Butterfly Crafts

April 17, 2015 By Merry

Learning about butterflies and caterpillars is a great way to explore the circle of life and how animals and insects arrive on earth. A combination of learning activities and crafts makes it a fun and colourful Spring topic, perfect for young children and arty afternoons.