A postcard from Edinburgh

Every August Edinburgh is transformed; posters cover every billboard, fence and lamp-post and its town squares become venues, complete with temporary outdoor cafes and bars. The Royal Mile is pedestrianised for the whole month; you can walk down its entire length watching street theatre, and being handed flyers for the hundreds of shows on offer. It is, of course, Edinburgh's Fringe Festival.

My BC (before children) festival memories are rather hazy - I vaguely recall all-night drinking, eating terrible take-away food and watching late-night shows. So upon arrival, when my 5 year old enthusiastically announced, 'It's like Edinburgh's a city of shows!' gazing starry-eyed at all the posters, I knew we needed to discover a different kind of Fringe Festival - one that was rather more family-friendly.

So we got up and went out in the mornings - a festival rarity unless you're involved in a children's show - and we drank coffee and juice, looking through the Fringe programme deciding what to see that day.

We saw Not So Grimm Fairy Tales, Little Howard's Big show, The Just So Stories, The Amazing Bubble Show and Stick Man Live on Stage! - all brilliant. We couldn't pick a favourite and we didn't pick a dud.

We were also entranced by the sights and sounds of Mirazozo - a 'luminarium' in George Square.

We walked down the Royal Mile, got the children's faces painted and accepted handfuls of flyers for dozens of shows we knew we wouldn't get to see.

We stumbled upon some fabulous street theatre at the Grass Market in which my children eagerly participated.

We spent a lovely afternoon running around Calton Hill.

We visited Edinburgh's historic castle...

... and the audaciously redisplayed galleries of its museum.

We walked up Arthur's Seat...

... and got out of the rain and into some books.

We collected so many interesting things on our holiday that since coming home we've made a scrap book. The children helped stick in the tickets and mementos we accumulated over the week. I've also put our holiday snaps in a little wallet for them, so they can enjoy the memories of our festival fun in the months to come.

We're already looking forward to going back next year. Edinburgh - City of Shows - gets a five- star review from us.

Disco dough

Both my children had play-dates scheduled for this afternoon. While my son and his pal settled in upstairs for a Lego-thon, Daisy patiently waited and waited for her friend to arrive - but her little chum never showed up.

I had to pull something dazzling out of the bag to lift her spirits and distract her from the lack of a friend over to play. Thanks to The Sleepy Time Gal's blog, which I'd read earlier today, I had the answer: home-made play dough.

We didn't do the aromatherapy variety as featured on the blog - no essential oils to hand - but I did have glitter. Offering Daisy the chance to make some dazzling disco dough was the clincher that got her smiling again and making plans. See the wonderful Imagination Tree's children using glittery play dough here.

We adapted Martha Stewart's recipe as featured in The Sleepy Time Gal's post and added food colouring and a disco dose of glitter. It was a lovely, sensuous experience kneading in the pastel colour and sparkly glimmer to the warm fresh dough.

When Daisy's disco dough was ready she decided we were going to have a cake stall 'like at school'. She made posh lady cupcakes...

Ribena milk-shakes (with ice)...

... and 99 ice creams.

I sourced the extra ingredients - buttons, pony beads, feathers - and made a few cardboard cones. She spent a happy hour making and chatting about her creations.

She also made a couple of spacecraft cupcakes for the Lego-boys and my son's play-date then asked if he could make a cupcake too. It seems no one can resist the lure of Daisy's dazzling disco dough.

Our summer fete

Although our fete was for my daughter's fifth birthday party, it would work brilliantly as a family day-at-home project. Preparing for it was such fun - the birthday girl gave me all the ideas - and as children's parties go, it was pretty much stress-free. We had about fourteen guests ranging in age from under 2 to over 10 years and everyone found plenty of things to do and enjoy. My helpers (thank you, all) gave out stickers to all who took part in activities, then small prizes were given out to everyone at the end.

Games in the garden:

1. Hook-a-duck - the classic fete game. Of course some guests had a paddle in the pool too.

2. Bite a biscuit - ring-biscuits were bitten off rather faster than we could tie them on their strings. There must have been some cheating going on - you weren't supposed to use your hands.

3. Lucky rainbows - colourful beanbags were thrown into or rather aimed at the pot of gold (the basket). It's trickier than it looks.

4. Make a mural - I attached a huge piece of paper to the garden wall and set out chalks and crayons for free-for-all drawing.

5. Lucky dip - our stash of shredded paper provided an inviting texture for small hands to dive into and search for treasure.

6. Apple bobbing - another classic outside party game that's definitely harder than it looks.

And the fun continued inside...

1. Make a fancy party bag - plain white paper bags were decorated with stickers and doilies. Our youngest party guest particularly enjoyed getting creative alongside the big children.

2. Decorate a cupcake - this was predictably popular. Thanks to my chief icing-maker who made a big batch before our guests arrived, we could just stand back and let the children transform their plain sponges into bejewelled masterpieces all by themselves.

3. Make nibbly necklaces - made by threading ring-shaped snacks onto colourful cord. The finished necklaces looked great and it was interesting to see how many different patterns were made from the edible beads.

4. Dressing up - always a popular activity at our house.

5. Do-it-yourself puppet theatre - several guests sorted themselves into audience and puppeteers and took it in turns to put on their shows.

6. Lego workshop - my son was in charge of offering help and ideas - and was in Lego heaven.

7. Food and drink - tea with jam and cream scones for the grown-ups and finger food for the younger guests. Easy peasy - and no time-consuming sandwich making.

And finally... the birthday cake. Desperate for one that was chocolate and had a TinkerBell theme, my daughter happily helped with its decoration - sugar daisies and white chocolate stars. The TinkerBell image was cut out from one of her magazines, backed in card and jazzed up with a little glitter.

Happy Birthday, Daisy!

The book nook

During a recent parents' meeting with my youngest's teacher I noticed the classroom's book corner. It was draped with chiffon, had cosy cushions and big, open book boxes - the usual stuff of a well-appointed reading zone, except one thing. It wasn't in a corner at all. It had been relocated to the middle of the room. It struck me as a great, if audacious choice of position but I was particularly tickled at the reason for its move. The reason was my daughter.

Apparently she spent so much of her time hidden away in the corner under a pile of books and cushions that they missed her. Now, in the new central book area, she is the centre of attention and I bet she loves it - she's not one to shy away from the limelight if there's any to be had. I'm glad her love of books and reading hasn't resulted in her being invisible at school.

At home, with children's books all over the house, we don't have a specific book corner at all. Or rather we didn't. A couple of days ago my creative little bookworm suggested we make one. And somehow we managed to find a space behind the living room sofa and she made the cosy book nook pictured above.

She spent a very happy half-hour fetching cushions, soft toys, blankets and a box from the recycling stash - which I gladly covered in cheery gift wrap. We filled the box with books and then she spent the next hour there - reading, relaxing and playing her harmonica.

She hasn't spent much time in the book nook since that first morning; it was definitely the process of making it that she enjoyed most. She's still avidly reading - just anywhere and everywhere like before.

Maybe that new nook will soon become something completely different - watch this space.

Mess and making

Here's an activity that never fails to get my reluctant artist Buddy straight to the making table. It's a sure-fire way of getting him cutting, sticking, colouring, glittering and designing. I sometimes sneak in new materials and techniques for him to try too - like printing and painting. These would usually be a big no-no for him; he's never been keen on the messy stuff.

It came about because I really like to keep all the birthday cards we receive. Instead of hoarding them though - and getting very sentimental and tearful over them as the years pass - I've stored them in a box for Buddy and Daisy to cut up and use to make personalised greetings cards for their friends. Of course, I have kept their first birthday cards out of the craft box, along with anything else particularly poignant.

While Daisy is very enthusiastic, diving into any art activity just for the fun of it, Bud seems to need the incentive of a cool outcome to entice him. Making birthday cards using images and motifs from the shop-bought variety to get him started works brilliantly for him.

So here's a selection of gorgeous cards made by Buddy and Daisy. They've used all kinds of techniques and it's just wonderful to watch them both get stuck in - really enjoying a creative session of mess and making.

And yesterday they made Thank You cards for their teachers...

Memories are made of this

Pairs - or Pelmanism - is a popular game in our house. While Daisy is still prone to give up if it's not going her way, Buddy is reaching the age where his youthful, brilliant brain gets him winning every time - often spectacularly.

By accident we've recently acquired a new set of Pairs cards. And they are unique, beautiful and personalised to boot.

I wanted some prints of our recent happy holiday in Wales and so ordered two sets - one for us and the other to give to Nan and Grandad. Using Snappy Snaps' online service for the first time, I mistakenly ordered photographs of just 6cm x 8cm - too small.

While I was able to get another set of larger prints for free (thank you, man in Snappy Snaps) - there I was with two sets of mini-photographs - the cutest, playing card sized, blue-skied snaps ever.

In a flash of inspiration I came up with the idea of using them to play Pairs. Simple.

We've since made a snazzy box to store the cards and it's proving to be a fabulously fun way to enjoy our photographs and share some precious memories.

And yes, so far Buddy has won every time.

How to draw your dragon

We were back at Screen On The Green's Kids' Club yesterday and thrilled to see what was on - How To Train Your Dragon. This is a firm favourite of both my children. It's a great story about not fitting in, learning to be tolerant of others, being inventive, brave, and succeeding against all odds. Plus it's packed with fire-breathing dragons and edge-of-your-seat adventure. We love it.

Back at home we listened to the film's fantastic soundtrack; Buddy and Daisy were inspired to play with their toy Toothless (a Night Fury) and other soft toys that fancied being dragons. They dramatically re-enacted the film's spectacular flying sequences all round the living room and garden.

I suggested they might like to draw their own dragons - like Hiccup (the hero of the story). Buddy and Daisy were very keen to do this; they thought the drawings could be pages from the film's How to Train Your Dragon manual.

The paper, I was told, would have to look old - so last night we carried out the classic tea-staining technique. We used cream-coloured card, and after a spot of teabag painting we aged it by scrunching it up whilst soggy.

This morning, when it was dry, I singed the paper's edges to make it look even older.

Daisy got stuck in to her drawing straight after breakfast and was finished well before Buddy had even remembered our plans from last night. And what a fabulous dragon she has created (pictured below).

I knew there was a good chance Buddy wouldn't want to draw a dragon at all this morning. So I just left out the paper and pens. Sometimes this is the right thing for him - he often circles an activity and eventually swoops down and joins in in his own time. Sure enough, he took his time today.

But as you can see below Buddy eventually did draw a dragon - two in fact.

So how did I persuade him?

Well, I didn't. Music did. I played the soundtrack once more and suddenly he was all about the dragons again. He came and sat down and began drawing with great gusto. And while he drew he told me all about his dragons with the stirring Celtic music in the background, setting the scene perfectly.

And that - for Buddy, anyway - is how to draw your dragon.

[Buddy dressed up as the heroic Hiccup on World Book Day.]