The “Lulu Burt Best of 2014 Awards”

Mummy says we’ve started a New Year called 2015 and it will be the year of the Sheep in the Chinese calendar. That’s fab as both me and my BFF Euan LOVE our toy sheep (both called Baa Baa!). I had an amazing time in 2014 so am hoping 2015 will be just as exciting. Here are my favourite things from 2014, otherwise known as the “Lulu Burt Best of 2014 Awards”.

Best product I used in garden

I had lots of fun last Spring using the fabby kids gardening tools from Twigz. I used them to grow veggies and flowers from seed and to look after the seedlings and plants as they got bigger. My favourite item was the watering can.

Twigz do a wonderful range of garden tools for children

Best things I grew (apart from taller that is!)

Regular readers will know that I LOVE a big bright sunflower. I even gave them away in the party bags from my birthday party last year. Two of my others faves to grow are tomatoes and potatoes. Imagine my excitement at discovering the TomTato plant. It grows tomatoes above the ground and potatoes below, all at the same time, cool huh? The big crop of sweet tomatoes was really, really yummy but the crop of potatoes didn’t stretch very far when it came to feeding a growing girl. It still wins the prize for yummy sweet tomatoes and being really different.

Best books I reviewed

The contest for best book was a close run thing, I gave 5 Lulu Burt gold stars to 2 fun books in 2014. So in this category we have a tie between fellow blogger Dawn Isaac’s “101 Things for Kids To Do Outside” and “Findus, Food and Fun” from Hawthorn Press.
Both books have really fab activities that little-uns like me can do.

The book is PACKED full of lots
(well 101 to be precise) of awesome ideas

Best places I visited

This is a no brainer. It just has to be Provost Park in Bridge of Allan. I (Lulu Ann Burt, aged 2.5 years) was the very important person who got to open the newly designed park. Mummy and Daddy were involved in this design project even before I was born (I still can’t believe anything of importance happened before I arrived!) It was great to see the site being turned into a low maintenance, Victorian themed place to meet friends or just relax.

Our daughter Lulu officially opened Provost's Park in 2014

Me officially opening MY park!

Best things I’ve made

Mummy tells me it is better to give a gift than to get one. This year I had lots of fun making presents for Mummy on Mothers Day and Daddy on Father’s day. Since I’m just little I didn’t have many pennies to spend so made do with up-cycling things from our kitchen.

Pansies in cheese boxes makes a lovely gift

My decorated tin can planters

Best thing that happened in 2014

BIG DRUM ROLL PLEASE……. the overall, most wonderful and exciting thing that happened to me in 2014 was that I became a big sister. My very cute and cuddly (but not very good at playing hide and seek yet) little sister Tilda was born in November 2014. I can’t wait until she is old enough to do some gardening with me!

Tilda and I – double cuteness!

Wow, I did have a very busy year. What did you get up to in 2014? I’d love to hear all about your adventures. Let’s have even more in 2015!

Lulu xx

A Snail, A Snail, The Teacher Turns Pale…

Unlike many gardeners (and teachers), I LOVE snails. I love finding them in the garden, I love drawing them and I love reading about them in my favourite book The Snail and the Whale. In this blog I tell you a few facts about the banded snail, how to make your very own Snail Race as well as a lovely paper plate snail.

Head out and do some snail hunting at dusk

Banded Snail Facts

There are 2 common banded shell snails in the UK – one is brown-lipped and one is white-lipped. The colours refer to their shell openings though, not their actual lips!
Snails hide during the day in damp places and come out in wet weather or at night.
Banded snails hibernate in the winter.
Banded snails have two pairs of tentacles on their head which can be retracted. The longer, upper pair have the snail’s eyes at the very end of them!

Earlier in the year I reviewed the very wonderful 101 Things for Kids To Do Outdoors Book. If you haven’t already got it I would def recommend it for your Santa list. One of the projects in the book is the Snail Race. I decided to challenge M&D to a snail race. Here’s how…

Snail Race

You will need:

Snails
Chalk

How to do a race:

1. Draw your race track on some slabs using chalk.

2. Find some snails to race (I recommend having a good root around your hostas, a favourite of the snail!)

3. Get all the contestants to place their snail on the starting line and ready, steady, go!

4. The first snail over the finishing line is the winner!

We have plenty of snails which we can race!

Mummy’s snail managed to somehow win our snail race! I demand a re-run (or should that be a re-slither?!) If you are a bit squeamish when it comes to snails then you can make your own snail out of a paper plate from our blog Save the Snail.

Make A Paper Plate Snail

There you go. A lovely paper plate snail so if you are a snail fan like me you can enjoy looking at them all year round, even when they are hibernating!

Lulu xx

Book Review: 101 Things for Kids To Do Outside by Dawn Isaac

Next week a new book will be launched and I was lucky enough to be sent a sneaky preview copy so that I can tell you, my lovely readers, all about it. It’s written by a fellow blogger called Dawn Isaac (she is very clever and is also a garden designer like M&D) and is called “101 Things for Kids To Do Outside”. Could it be any more perfect for me and my super-duper blog? Here’s what it’s about, the sort of things you will find inside and what I think of it…

Clutching my special preview copy

Dawn Isaac has three kids of her own so she knows a thing or two (well 101 actually) about kids and how to have fun. She is firmly of the same mindset as me that it’s waaay more fun to head outside than to be stuck inside watching TV (although that can be fun too).

The book has been split into four seasons so frankly there is no excuse to not head outside, whatever the time of year. There are also projects for people who don’t have a garden. Just head outside to parks, woods, public gardens, wherever.

The book is PACKED full of lots (well 101 to be precise) of awesome ideas

Here are some of the things I just love about this book:

There are lots of lovely big pictures for every single project so you can see how it is built and what the final project should look like.
On every project it clearly lists all the materials you need so you can see quickly what you need to get or you can quickly choose a project where you already have everything you need. Loads of the projects just use the sort of things you will have lying about the house.
The book is filled with lots of tips (like really awesome ones on how to make games messier, yay!)
There are lots of ideas you can use as gifts throughout the year (home made gifts are so much nicer to give and receive.)
There are lots of fun cartoons throughout the book.
There is a great mix of quick and easy projects (that can be done in about an hour) as well as some which you can spend a bit more time on.
It’s a great reference for things to do at parties or on play dates (your friends will think you are the coolest person ever having all these projects up your sleeve.)
There’s a great mix of games, gardening and craft projects – exactly what my blog is all about.

There are lots of cool projects – do you want to hear some? But sshhh, don’t tell anyone else OK?

What’s in the book…

The lovely people at Kyle Books (hello Hannah!) have given me permission to tell you about some of these projects over the course of the year so watch out for these in future blogs. A few which have already caught my eye and I think are brilliant ideas are:

Grow a potato tower (it uses old tyres and is a brilliant way of “earthing up”)
Go on a bear hunt (hide and seek for all ages)
Brew your own plant food (it’s like a witches brew and stinks, yay!)
Make a twig plant pot (I think this would be an awesome Mother’s Day project, watch this space…)
Make outdoor bunting (perfect for garden parties, if only we were having one soon Daddy that we could try this at…)
Make a butterfly feeder (it involves painting so I am in!)
Hold a snail race (I LOVE snails!)
Make autumn crowns (as a princess I insist on this project!)

I hugely recommend “101 Things for Kids To Do Outside” . I think it would be a WONDERFUL gift to give friends for Easter (or drop hints to your grown up to buy it for you!) It will last a whole lot longer than a chocolate egg. This book is loads of fun for kids of all ages. The only thing you will need to watch out for is your grown up trying to steal it.

Lulu rating: 5 big shiny stars!

Hugs & kisses,

Lulu xx

1. I would like to write a book when I am a big girl. Perhaps when I am three…