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Nature

Stick Family

May 4, 2020 by The Mad Maker Dad Leave a Comment

Not in any way inspired by the Hey Duggee stick we decided to make some of these little stick people for the garden! Keep reading to find out how we made them or check out the video!

First we had to collect some suitable sticks of course so we set out into our local woods and responsibly collected some small sticks.

I must admit I worried that onlookers might have thought I had my child collecting firewood but I’m not that cruel.

Besides the chimneys currently blocked and I need to send her up there to clear it out.

Once the sticks were home and on my workbench we cut a small mouth into them with a pull saw and Ellie coloured in the mouth with some sharpies. Ideally we’d have painted the wood but she was impatient!

Then the mandatory googly eyes were added as its not a proper thing unless it has googly eyes. I did this myself as the self adhesive on the googly eyes wasn’t good enough to stick to rough wood so I had to use some super glue.

We then stuck hair onto them with PVA glue. This consisted of some twine and wood shavings.

And finally planned in the garden so they can look after our freshly grown seeds!

I’ve also made a short video here if you want to watch!

Filed Under: Arts and Crafts, Blog, Nature, Outdoor Activities, The Mad Maker Dad, Uncategorized, Woodworking, YouTube Videos Tagged With: crafting, crafts, fun workshop activities, how to make a stick person, kids workshop, mad maker dad, stick, stick people, sticks, the mad maker dad, toddler crafts, wood craft, woodland, woods

A Day Out at Manor Farm

June 22, 2019 by The Mad Maker Dad Leave a Comment

On the edge of the River Hamble valley country park in Hampshire is Manor farm, a working farm with loads of fun activities for the kids!

The Farm Entrance
The Farm Entrance

A given that a child-friendly farm would have a range of animals you can pet but Manor farm is so much more than this. It’s a working farm where the animals are milked, sheered, and erm….sold to be taken to shall we say somewhere else.

Incidentally, the restaurant does some fine local sausages! The rest of the food is also pretty nice and reasonably priced with plenty of seating both indoors and out. There are also a few places you can take a picnic.

The animals look happy and healthy and many can be petted or played with!

Ellie petting a little lamb

At the time of writing this they are building an over-winter area so the animals can be sheltered but still seen during those colder months.

There are so many little activities for the kids and is interesting for the grown ups too.

If you’re into engineering they have some old farm machinery on display including vintage tractors. History buffs can check out the old farmhouses and Victorian schoolrooms and kitchen.

tractors
Some of the tractors on display

There’s a blacksmith’s forge, a deer hide, cottage gardens and duck pond as well as a fantastic little adventure play park that includes a little tractor racing track!

Tractor racing!

Prices are extremely reasonable and annual passes make it the sort of thing that’s brilliant for a day out without having to worry about seeing everything in one trip. We have them so can just go any time we want!

Despite the focus on history the farm is extremely progressive with its facilities with disabled ramps nearly everywhere so almost everything is accessible.

There is also a modest but fantastic use of technology with an interactive map that can show you where to find everything.

The interactive map

I absolutely love our little visits to the farm and really recommend you go take a look especially if you’re in or near Hampshire.

Filed Under: Nature, Outdoor Activities, The Mad Maker Dad Tagged With: a laid back day, activity day out, day out, days out, family day out, family days out, family farm day, farm, farm day out, farmer for a day, fun day out, hampshire, hampshire (english non-metropolitan county), hampshire county council, hampshire day out, houses for sale, longdown dairy farm, manor, manor farm, national farming day, old macdonald had a farm (composition), with a toddler

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themadmakerdad
Very proud of my little girl for dressing as Rosie Very proud of my little girl for dressing as Rosie Revere engineer for #worldbookday instead of being one of the ten million children dressed as Harry Potter characters 🥰 
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New video on my channel showing how you can make t New video on my channel showing how you can make these amazing little fossils using a relatively inexpensive CNC machine 🥰🦖
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Got this amazing little book to help cover the sum Got this amazing little book to help cover the summer holidays. 
Thanks to my good friend Dave (who I don’t think is on Instagram?) for the idea! 
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Today is a nice day for den building 🙂 #dens #de Today is a nice day for den building 🙂 
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Explaining to my girl she doesn’t have some rare Explaining to my girl she doesn’t have some rare disease but was actually just napping on top of some duplo....😂 #duplo #legoduplo #legoinjury
Since I have a ton of footage with all the craftin Since I have a ton of footage with all the crafting we’ve been doing during the lockdown, I’ve made a separate YouTube channel for my maker dadding!  Link is in bio and if you like that sort of thing I’d really appreciate it if you went and subscribed! :) #makerdad #youtubersofinstagram #youtubemakers #makersgonnamake #minimakers
It’s a 3D printed t-rex skull water table kinda It’s a 3D printed t-rex skull water table kinda day today 🦖 💦 🥰 #waterfun #watertablefun #watertable #3dprinting
Fantastic little Easter chick craft in a cup kit f Fantastic little Easter chick craft in a cup kit from @mini_maker_kits made today by Ellie 🥰🐥🥚
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