The lovely Sarah from Getting Stuck In is on the blog today to tell us about her business – she also has a fab giveaway for you; see the end of this post for details :O)
Who are you?
Sarah Berryman, founder of Getting stuck in and mum to 3 boys – 5 year old twins, and a 1 year old.
What do you do?
I have developed gettingstuckin.co.uk, packed full of ideas for indoor fun with the kids. The site features a wide range of activities, tips and best buys, and is aimed at families of preschool and infant school children. Take a peek and never hear “I’m bored!” ever again!
When did you establish your business?
I started the business in February 2012, with gettingstuckin.co.uk going live at the start of July 2012.
What made you start your own business?
Since becoming a mum, I realised that there were lots of “days out” websites, but none for the days when you can’t or don’t want to go out – be it a rainy day, school holidays, entertaining a poorly child, or just trying to save some money. There are lots of parenting websites, but their ideas can be a bit broad, and lack the personal approach.
My children have never been ones to just sit and play – largely due to them interrupting each other’s games! To keep everyone happy we have always tended to do a lot of activities – and all our favourites are on the website – all tried and tested by us, and all feasible with more than one child!
What do you love about working for yourself?
It is extremely rewarding when things go well, and fantastic to see your plans take shape and become a reality. Being able to shape the look and feel of everything, and decide your own “brand guidelines” etc. is really fulfilling!
Is there anything you do not like about working for yourself?
Any money spent is your own, and is money that could be used to pay for the mortgage or the kids’ clothes! In addition, because the work is your “baby” it tends to be all consuming ….. I think about gettingstuckin.co.uk morning, noon and night at the moment.
Is there anything you would go back and do differently if you could?
I don’t think so. I have learnt so much already, from web development to doing radio interviews, that it has all been really positive.
What advice would you give to a Mum considering starting her own business?
Go for it! As a mum you spend so much of your time devoted to others, starting your own business is a great way to carve out a role again for you as an individual. It is time consuming and tricky to juggle all the balls involved … but when you have a good day, it makes it all worthwhile!
Sarah has kindly offered to give one of her Getting Stuck In Survival Packs worth £22.99 to one of my lucky readers; to enter just complete the Rafflecopter below 🙂
a Rafflecopter giveaway
73 Comments
Our favourite is Story time. I love to read both for my own pleasure and to entertain the children. I don’t just have stories at bed time but find that if they’re a bit boisterous and I feel need a little calming I’ll start to read to them or even make up a story. They invariably stop and listen or join in the story making. Works well for us. xx
colouring always keeps them entertained for abit x
Baking 🙂
both of my children love playing with the thomas train set x
we love baking, with gingerbread men top of the list as they take a good hour to make and then we have great fun decorating. The kids seem to like the eating bit too!!
cooking – he loves making cupcakes
I love making cakes , great fun and a delicious end result! x
Anything outdoorsy they just love. Searching for pinecones in the woods, picnics in the park, cycling….anything that allows them to burn off steam! 🙂 x
My children love painting but I must say they equally love putting their wellingtons on and splashing in muddy puddles! 🙂
Walking or cycling around the countryside or to the park
We like decorating bought biscuits and bounce on the trampoline! Not at the same time though!
It might sound very basic but my kids love to be outdoors so just a walk in the woods keeps them entertained!
My little one likes to make dens and play with lego.
We like to go on walks across the fields and collect twigs,leaves and feathers and then make a picture with them when we get back.
I LIKE TAKING THEM ANYWHERE OUTSIDE SO PARKS, BEACHES ETC. GIVES THEM SOME FREEDOM AND LET’S THEM BURN OFF SOME ENERGY TOO 🙂
my eldest loves doing anything creative so we will draw, stick,make things etc and she loves nature to so we go on walks over the nature reserve and to wildlife parks. my youngest who’s 2 loves playing with little animals and her aqua mat or we make a pretend picnic with her plastic foods
Different coloured chalks to draw on the patio and a big bucket of soapy water to wash it away at the end of play
Arts & crafts
I like to try and encourage them to do crafty things like making things and drawing or colouring, collecting cards for albums and reading.
We love to bake x
Anything where they can get their hands stuck in (cooking, painting, modelling) at the start then they will become very focussed on completing the items – sprinkles & dazzles for cakes, biscuits, gingermen or gluing on beads, pictures, feathers etc and putting noses & eyes on clay men – the looks on their faces when they complete their masterpieces is priceless! xx
Messy play! paint, play dough and sometimes digging in the garden and planting seeds!
sticking stickers on everything, colouring in the walls
Grotbags would love these x
my older daughter loves making things. we buy loads of crafty things for her to make. younger daughter is happy with a pen and piece of paper, shes 16 months but starting to draw
Baking, cooking, crafting, drawing, doing puzzles or just going outdoors 🙂
My daughter is only 9 months but loves messy play – especially with food! lol x
Crayons and stickers! There’s hours of fun in these simple things 🙂
we do crafting, glueing, painting and glitter – lots of glitter!! the kids love it
If its a nice day we would go on a lovely walk spotting and talking about any birds or creepy crawlies we spot along the way, I always take a bag with us and we collect an assortment of different stones, twigs, sticks, pine cones, flowers (daisies, buttercups etc) and leaves.
We use these items and paint, add glitter etc and often make these items into gifts for family members, I will give my little boys a bucket of water and a paint brush and they clean all the items themselves and often ”paint” the walls, patio etc with lovely patterns or writing and the miracle is within 10 mins it can often be dry and your patio and walls are back to there former glory.
they love making things
Painting, glueing and colouring in always go down a treat
Baking was always a fun one, as you get to eat the results 😉 Cleaning up afterwards when child is ready to move on to the next activity is not so fun!
Getting the lego out, they will spend hours created thing from their own imagination
My daughter loves role play, the tea set and the teddies come out and we have pretend cups of tea and cakes
My son likes cutting pictures and words out of the newspaper each week.
We like playing board games or going for walks.
colouring books and sticking
Take them out somewhere – the park, walk the dog, whatever!
Hide and seek they love it
well at the moment there loving musical chairs keeps them entertained for ages
my son loves colouring
My little boy loves to ride his bike, he will do it for hours!
Painting, or lego he can construct things for hours and be quite happy.
Painting always wins & can last hours!!
If it’s a nice day they’ll play happily outside in the garden or at the park. Inside, they’ll play all sorts of imagination games or will watch TV.
Going to the park or for a picnic.
Can I say also what a fab business idea, I was speaking to my friend today who has 2 boys 4 and 6 who have just broke up for school and she is dreading it, so passing your site on to her x
My favourite way to keep the boys entertained is by doing some painting
My son loves animals so a bucket full of animal figures keeps him entertained with me making them do silly voices.
An afternoon of arts and crafts normally does the trick xx
My fave way to keep the kids entertained is colouring! They love to colour 🙂 Also, sticking and gluing is great fun and keeps them entertained for ages.
If it’s not raining they love to get all their toys out the shed and go out in the garden and play, they play cars, scoot around, play football and tennis and just generally have loads of fun
we love searching on you tube for various educational video’s. Such a wealth of family fun!
I big long walk followed by a trip to the park and a picnic.
Board games and pens and pencils!
All my three love to bake – makes a huge mess but they really enjoy it xx
When the weather is awful both Roo and I keep entertained with messy play of some sort; usually lentils and pasta with water and flour and then making pictures from them keeps her amused for a good hour or so
we go to the park, whatever the weather – or I read stories
Rain mac and a pair of wellies… find lots of puddles!
baking and painting
Cutting, sticking and glueing – even at age 8 my eldest can make it quite funky lol
My boys love playing outside in the garden or the park!
Thankyou for the lovely competition!
i love doing board games and jigsaws
we love to get all the bed sheets out & make tents under the table, my 9 month old loves to join in too 🙂
@emmav6
Art activities (I am very arty!), baking and games in the garden, park or down the beach – I prefer taking them out in the fresh air to run around as they sleep longer lol!
we love being creative ,making cards and doing paintings and drawings 🙂
Anything creative. Drawing, painting, playdoh, writing, junk modelling.
My girls love jigsaws so we have loads of them
Mine love FACE PAINTING! but they do get more and more demanding with their requests. I once had to paint my youngest sons face as a PIANO!!!
Playing board games 🙂 x
playing outside or they love playing with train track sets
We get creative with old cards scissors, glue and plenty of paint. Handmade cards for all, and the boys have fun. xx
My favourite way to keep the boys entertained is by doing some painting. Letting them get a bit messy and creating a masterpiece in the process is great fun and loved by all ages.