parklife – Tracie's Treasures

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Half Term Fun

Posted on 1st Jun 20231st Jun 2023 by Tracie Dowling

It was lovely having Emma come and help Tracie care for us, we miss her so much during term time. It was also lovely to catch up with leo and Martie who came and spent the day with us, they have grown up so much!

The weather has been so kind for us, We have spent lots of time in the garden playing, planting, hiding and relaxing.

Our Jack took advantage of the lovely summer day to play out in the front garden, he loved this hot poker flower, he pretended it was a microphone and kept us all entertained with funny rap songs.

The long flowers were an amazing yellow colour which went with his t-shirt.

Jack practiced his ball skills, we tried to have a game but the table was to small. Next time we go to the park we will take our rackets and balls as they have a tennis table there!

Jack Showing off his Ball Skills

Lottie had a lovely time playing at Sector8 in the bouncy little ones play area. The big kids Georgia, Leo, Jack and Chloe played for a whopping 2 hours in the ‘big kids’ area.

We went for numerous walks around Stanly park. We took picnics, balls and got to play in the playground as it was very quiet.

Georgia loved playing with the Ello bricks and shapes. She made a lovely flower garden. She also made lots of crafts, this one was a pre printed princess dress, hair, shoes and gloves. Georgia then had to draw the princess’s face and join the arms and legs. It was so good she wanted to display it on the wall and make another one to take home. Georgia was so clever writing her full name on the top of the picture all by herself.

While walking around the park we kept an eye out for ‘Liverpool Kindness Rocks’ we were just about to give up when Tracie found one! She screamed and had to jump high to reach it.

We finished the week off starting our ‘30 Days Wild’ campaign by putting up bee and insects houses .we made sure the wild birds have enough clean water and seeds.

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Lincolnshire: Wildlife Park

Posted on 11th Oct 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

Lincolnshire Wildlife Park is one of the UK’s largest animal sanctuaries. The residents are from all walks of life and from all over the world. They have an amazing array of animals which keep the keepers very busy daily, from Tigers to Parrots and lots in between!

We had a fun packed day out walking around the park, we discovered some amazing facts and information about Parrots and learned why the Charity is so important. We listened to the wonderful sounds of the rainforest, spanning from Australia to Africa to the Americas and discovered why they are the only park that talks back!

The Lincolnshire Wildlife Park is a well established ‘National Parrot Sanctuary’ housing over 1000 re-homed Parrots & Parakeets, covering over 100 different species. They have a third of the UK’s Parrots here, and continue to re-home those that need help. These amazing creatures come in all sizes, colours and with some colourful language to accompany them! This parrot above kept saying hello to Poppy.

We found out some interesting facts about the Reindeer pictured above. Their hoof pads soften and widen in warmer weather to walk with ease on the soft ground, in colder weather their pads shrink, exposing their sharp hooves which are able to dig into the ice for extra grip. Their antlers are like a human’s fingerprints, no reindeer’s antlers are the same! How cool is that!

We loved the Tapir which are related to the rhinoceros and have special splayed toes to help them walk through soft muddy grounds. A group of Tapir in the wild is called a candle and baby Tapir are called calves. Calves have very different markings to adults, they are striped with white bands which helps to camouflage them in the wild.

They have a variety of Turtles at the sanctuary, including Yellow Bellied Sliders, Red Eared Sliders, Cumberland Sliders and Map turtles.

If you would like to visit you will find the details are:

Lincolnshire Wildlife Park,
Dickonhill Road,
Friskney,
Lincolnshire,
PE22 8PP

We all recommend a visit!

childminding, family, Garden Classroom, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Summer Holidays: Week 4

Posted on 10th Aug 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

Week 4 already! Wow the summer holidays are going fast!

Izzy has had lots of fun with everyone and has settled into our setting really well. She is always so happy, bubbly and watches everyone playing. She lets us know when she wants something or not, and thrives on all the interactions with children, Emma and Myself.

We had fun at the play centre, Jack loved looking through the peep bubbles and trying to point out his friends.

Charlie and Martie both finished off their ‘Liverpool Kindness Rocks’ paintings so next week we can all go out and hide them in all the parks we are visiting.

Tracie, Martha, Ivor, Jack, Sophie and Georgia all went to the Odeon to watch ‘The Croods 2’. It was very funny and everyone behaved so well they had popcorn and sweets for treats!

While we were all in the Odeon Gemma took Poppy around town. They had lots of fun, in and out of lots of different shops. Poppy said the sweet shop smelled so sweet and Lush, which sells bath bombs, smelled like fruit! They both loved looking at the display made out of colourful umbrellas and comics. What a sensory time they had!

At the ‘Liverpool Lighthouse’ this week we went for fun, games and dancing. We played musical statues, musical bumps, superheroes, dancing and tag. We also took part in ‘make your own’ lunch. We all got to make a healthy bag full of fruit, veg and sandwiches which we took to the park for a picnic.

The game of the week was ‘UNO’ everyone joined in so we ended up using two decks of cards. Chloe won the most games, Poppy the most tantrums and Jack the most ‘give aways’.

Poppy and Izzy loved playing together, Poppy read Izzy stories, sang songs and had sensory mat play.

The soft play was used the most this week. The children used them as a playground, hiding seek, building, sleeping, relaxing and role play! Well worth the spends!

Last full week before our week off, then back to school. I wonder what fun we will be having?…

childminding, family, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Summer Holidays: Week 3 already!

Posted on 4th Aug 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

Well, what an action packed week we have all had!

We have been walking, playing and having picnics everywhere!

We enjoyed spending time at home with the sensory toys, practicing our walking skills and reading stories.

We all chose to have glittery tattoos done at the Liverpool Lighthouse. We then had a fun afternoon dancing and singing.

We even took part in an fire evacuation practice, we didn’t want anyone to know it was our smoke machine in the disco that set the alarm off! Ssshh don’t tell anyone!! At least we got to practice an evacuation!

Fire Evacuation: Too Marks We Are All Safe!

Jack stood up all by himself and the boys went rambling up the hill all by themselves!

We went to Cirq d-Play in Great Homer Street. Chloe loved the tube slide the best, her mum wanted to have a go too! Looks like you both enjoyed the experience, lovely face Gemma! Hahaha

Jack enjoyed the baby slide and everyone wanted to have a go with him.

Poppy found the way up to the slide very challenging, Gemma and Chloe both encouraged her to have a try. It took about four attempts and quite a lot of screaming but eventually she made it up the ropes and down the tube slide!

Wonder what fun we will have next week??

childminding, family, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Summer Holidays: Week 1

Posted on 16th Jul 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

We have had a ball this week, the sun has been out every day and the children have all been so good!

Alfie was so tired one day he was nearly asleep while playing! Izzy had her first day with us and she was such a little giggler, her favourite play was jumping up and down in the activity centre.

Tracie is so relieved it’s Friday, we have had an eventful week but now time for a few days rest, then it all starts again!

Garden Classroom, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Half Term Adventures

Posted on 8th Jun 202110th Aug 2021 by Tracie Dowling

What an amazing week all the children have had for half term! We have been so busy going wild the week went way too quickly and the Wonderers and Rangers are now back in school!

Tracie took Chloe on a wild bike ride all around Croxteth Park. We saw some amazing cows, ducks, horses and squirrels. We went up and down bridges, over a cattle bridge, through the trees and along the very bumpy winding paths. By the time we got back to the car we had cycled 5 miles! Lets hope Chloe slept well for her mum and dad that night!?

One morning while Tracie was putting the washing on the line one of the cats had this baby bird in its mouth. Poppy got upset but luckily we were able to take the bird gently from the cat. We very carefully checked over the bird and decided to put it on the bird feeding table so it’s mummy would find him.

The Seedlings and Martha from the Rangers went on another Liverpool Kindness Rock hunt. Tracie also asked them to look out for mini beasts and wildlife.

When we were all hunting in the rose garden Georgia called out to say she found a bird. Tracie identified it as a Swift as it had a short forked tail, appears black in flight and crescent (like the moon) shaped wings.

On Tuesday, in the park, we saw the gardeners all working hard to make the flower beds pretty. Tracie noticed they were throwing the empty flower trays to one side. We went over to do some investigating. Wonder what they would do with them?

Martha decided to ask the Gardeners if they reuse them? The gardeners said no! Well that’s not good! Tracie asked if we could take them? We can use some for potting on our growing seedlings and recycle the ones we don’t use. The gardeners were happy for us to take them off their hands.

Jack had a wild time playing in the long grass, he giggles away rolling about watching everyone chat and take pictures.

We have had such a fun week, here’s a little gallery of different wild things we have done.

We were not impressed with the amount off rubbish we found in the park! This could harm the wildlife and is not very pleasant to see! This is what we found!

The children asked if we could pick it up and put it all in the bin. Martha said she was ‘quite upset with what we all found!’

What a first week of our 30 Days Going Wild, we have had a fun-packed time! Wow it’s exhausting writing the blog we’ve done so much! I wonder what exciting Wild days we will have next week?

family, Seedlings

Liverpool kindness Rocks: Hiding Our Ladybirds

Posted on 11th May 202110th Aug 2021 by Tracie Dowling

The sun is shining, so we’re off out to Stanly Park to hide our lovely Ladybirds now that they are varnished.

Emma thinks the trees are a good place to hide and find the rocks, the girls went off to hide the Ladybirds. Afterwards they looked and found new stones. They found one on a tree stump, another in long grass and the last one up a tree. All three were hidden by someone who is great at painting, we found them behind the COVID centre. Emma put them on the Liverpool Kindness Rocks Facebook page and found out they had only just been hidden that morning.

Tracie is going to take a rock and hide it on Sunday when she goes on her 12 mile cycle ride around Wigan. Wonder if anyone will find it and let us know?

wanderers

Easter Holidays with the Rangers and Wanderers

Posted on 8th Apr 202110th Aug 2021 by Tracie Dowling

The Rangers and Wanderers have been pretty busy this Easter holidays. They have been out and about visiting different parks on the bus, bike, car and walking.

The weather has been different every day! Its been hot, cold, wet, windy, sleeted and snowed all in the two week break!

The older children have enjoyed the outdoors the most, they have climbed trees, made dens and been on a hunt for #liverpoolkindnessrocks

Mason and Tracie put together a wood burner so we could toast marshmallows.

The children all loved eating the warm fluffy mallows, Jacy said they tasted warm and crunchy. Jack wanted more and Emma put the ‘seedlings’ Mallows in the middle of two biscuits to make it easier for them to eat!

We have all enjoyed having Martha and Ivor come for a couple of days. They have both grown up so much and they loved seeing their old friends. Tracie has been looking after them since they were born and they are both part of our treasure family.

Martha and Ivor asked where Niamh was? We explained she has moved back to Ireland, they were upset so we sent her a photo to say hello.

family, rangers

Six Years Between Takes – Flashback Friday Photos

Posted on 29th Jan 20215th Feb 2021 by Tracie Dowling

In July 2013, tennis tables were installed in Stanley Park by Liverpool City Council to celebrate the success of the 2012 Olympics! This picture was taken of Poppy and Chloe when they were just two and three!