Four mischievous tots transformed their new home into a winter wonderland by emptying all the polystyrene balls from three giant bean bags - unleashing carnage that their poor mums spent three-and-a-half hours cleaning up. Natalie Standen, 38, captured the aftermath of the cheeky quartet's antics on their first playdate in their new house while enjoying a cup of tea with pal Andreia Gomes downstairs.
The pair were having a catch-up while Natalie's sons Harvey, five, and Alex, seven, daughter Ava, three and Andreia's daughter Leah Zara, six, played upstairs. It was only when Natalie's eldest son, 11-year-old Jake, raced downstairs 20 minutes later to report that 'some carnage' was going on that they had any idea anything was amiss - and decided to investigate.
Hilarious pictures show the giggling kids scooping handfuls of the polystyrene balls into their hands before throwing them into the air while declaring 'it's snowing' to the stunned parents. The delighted children, who only moved into the house three weeks earlier, all pointed the finger of blame at Harvey who was 'very impressed' with himself.
Full-time mum Natalie, from Jersey, Channel Islands, said: "It was our first after-school playdate in the new house. Andreia and I were downstairs having a cup of tea and a chat and catching up. My eldest son, Jake came running down the stairs to say there was some carnage upstairs, but that we shouldn't go up there.
"Andreia and I glanced across the room at each other and decided we'd better go up and have a little look. As we walked up the stairs we could hear lots of laughter and screaming, and as we hit the top floor the landing was covered in 'snow'. Then we opened the door to the playroom. It was three of the four very large bean bags, and it was everywhere
"The first thing they said was 'it's snowing'. They were laughing, throwing it in the air and having an absolute ball. Me and Andreia both looked at each other and at the same time said "oh my god'. They were more than happy to point out that it was Harvey who suggested it, he was quite happy to say it was him. He was very impressed with himself."
Stunned Natalie, who lives with 37-year-old IT manager husband Danny Standen, said the room was coated in thousands of the polystyrene orbs within just 20 minutes of the youngsters heading to the playroom. Mum-of-four Natalie said: "It took maybe 20 minutes between leaving them in the room to play and coming back to that. They made quick work of it and we had no clue - they can move quickly when they want to."
After discovering the winter wonderland scene, Natalie and Andreia scrambled to gather as many of the polystyrene balls up as possible, which took a whopping three-and-a-half hours. Natalie said: "We just thought 'where do you even start?' There was no way the hoover was going to manage that.
"We grabbed an empty bean bag each, sat down and started putting handfuls back into them while the children were throwing it all over us and themselves. We attempted to put it back into the bean bags while they attempted to put it into everything else.
"The more we put into them it didn't seem like we were making any headway, there was no carpet space. We tried to get them to help. Ava climbed into one of the empty bean bags and refused to get out, Harvey was filling up a shoe and Alex was throwing it all over us - so I'm not sure 'help' is the word. It took us three-and-a-half hours, and we're still finding it now. It's going to be there for the next few years I'm sure."
Even after undertaking the marathon clean-up session, Natalie maintains that having the opportunity to play and 'make a mess' is something children should be allowed to enjoy. Natalie said: "I'm one for letting children be children. Let them get muddy, let them jump in a stream. I'm quite a free mum of a sort. I let them explore and have adventures, so I wasn't too fazed. It's just a clean-up, and my hoover didn't blow up in the process.
"With school and homework and the pressure on them these days, there's a precious amount of time for them to play like this. They just love to be children, and I like them to be doing what children do. We've said that for the next play date we'll walk down to the park that's on the estate and they can play on that instead. Then they can wreak havoc on a playground that's designed for them to be free."
