Of On An Adventure

Today we set of on an adventure, M and I busily prepared the adventure before I picked up minded children from school, we stained some paper with tea and tore round the edges to make it look old. We then made a map of all the places we would visit. I wish I could show you the excitement and enjoyment but you will have to use your imagination! So of on the adventure we go:-

It was long hike to the base camp near the Flower Mountains (well it was really just the walk home from school). We studied the map

and checked we had everything we needed, map, rope to climb with, binoculars, telescope, a compass and of course a backpack to put it all in.

It was a long climb with the rope up Flower Mountain, it was so high the peak was up in the clouds. Honestly that is cloud you can see not a white sheet.                                                                                

At the top of the mountain we checked our map and followed the path to the sand caves, which are very small caves, we had to creep through on our tummies.

From here we had to very carefully make our way across the rickety old rope bridge, it was the only way we could get across the deep ravine.

                                                                                                               

Then the map said we had to make our way to the Cookie Caves and if we were lucky the Cookie Fairy might of left us a snack.                                                                                                                             

                                                          We were in luck!                                                                                                                                                                                        

After the cookie caves they had to negotiate the Chair Ravine and then the water chute.  We then got to the edge of Crocodile River, luckily  there was a boat for us to row across in, so we could get to the beach ok                                              

because there were crocodiles

                                                      and hippos in the water.

Finally they arrived at the beach and they went digging for treasure!

The children loved this and after we finished the adventure, they decided to do it again and again. I will definitely have to plan another adventure for them as it was very well received and a good, fun way to get lots of physical happening. Now of to think up more adventures as I know they will ask when are we going on the nest one!

Mother's Day

We usually make Mother's day cards or pictures and this year I decided rather than the normal drawing and or gluing and sticking, we would create a background with marbled paper. So we set about with the marbling inks, we have a foil tray that I use for this, which is a perfect size and it doesn't matter if the inks stain etc.

                                                 

 We then left the marbled paper to dry.

When dry, we used it for the background of our design. The children choose, what colour card they wanted for their cards and then the marbled paper was cut smaller than the card so it left a nice border.

When this was dry the children, then used a variety of foam shape, flowers etc to create a pretty picture for their Mum's. I was informed by one child that the Tulip shape piece of foam is a dinosaur footprint not a flower, which is why they are on the side.

Then something completely unrelated but made me giggle today. One of my childminded children unrolled all the loo roll and left a pile of paper in the middle of the bathroom floor, when asked why, reply was " I wanted to use the tube and all that paper was in the way" lol. I love my job and the children's logic is fantastic, you just can't beat it!

st david's day

Over the last couple of weeks we have been looking at Wales in preparation for St David's Day on the 1st March. We started with looking at where Wales was. I had an outline map of the United Kingdom as well as the atlas out for the children to look at, they were very interested in what the countries were called.One of my younger ones wanted to know if the seas had names too, so we looked at the atlas and I pointed out some of the names of the seas around the UK. It was great to see how interested the children were especially the preschoolers.

The older children, 8+, had a blank map and they labelled their map. Where the country Wales was, it's capital Cardiff, major rivers, Wye and Severn and it's highest mountain, Mount Snowdon, which is 1085m high.

All the children then had Welsh flag to colour in.

We also made Bara brith, which the children really enjoyed. They loved smelling the spice and the different dried fruit, as well as feeling all the different textures and describing how they felt about them. They also noticed how the dough changed from really sticky to bouncy as they kneaded it, so lots of sensory fun around cooking as well as maths with all the counting and weighing.

We also looked at pictures of the Welsh national dress , which only women wear, there is no national dress for the men but they might wear a leek, which comes from a story about St David. St David who was a monk is supposed to have said to the soldiers to wear a leek so they could be distinguished in battle form the Saxons, so the Welsh men went into battle with a leek in their helmets. They attacked the Saxon invaders and soon won the battle. This is one of the stories of how the leek became chosen as the Welsh national emblem, their other emblem is the daffodil.

We listened their national anthem in Welsh, which is called in English, Land of my Fathers or in Welsh Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

                                                           Land of my Fathers

                                           The land of my fathers is dear unto me,
                                           Old land where the minstrels are honoured and free:
                                           Its warring defenders, so gallant and brave,
                                           For freedom their life's blood they gave.
                                           Land, Land, true am I to my Land,
                                           While seas secure this land so pure,
                                           O may our old language endure

                                                                or in Welsh

                                                       Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

                                          Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi,
                                          Gwlad beirdd a chantorion, enwogion o fri;
                                          Ei gwrol ryfelwyr, gwladgarwyr tra mad,
                                          Tros ryddid collasant eu gwaed.
                                          Gwlad, gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad,
                                          Tra mor yn fur i'r bur hoffbau,
                                          O bydded i'r heniaith barhau.

We also looked at different lovespoons and some of the meanings  behind the different symbols. These wooden spoons are carved from one piece of wood, showing amazing skill of the carver. A man would carve a lovespoon  and give to the woman they hoped to court. And then made some out of card. I found a couple of videos on you tube that we watched. One was carving the spoon all by hand tools and the other was a mixture of machinery and hand. They asked lots of questions about what they were doing, the tools used etc. I had then cut out spoon shapes in card and some hearts, horse shoe, flowers etc also in card for the children to stick on their spoons and then paint, so they had their own lovespoons.

The littleones, enjoyed making the daffodils out of card and involved some counting of petals etc and we went out for a walk to spot daffodils beginning to grow and the how there were differnt sizes. We talked about how a daffodil grows from a bulb and the different parts of the plant.

Advent Calendar

 This has become a bit of a tradition in our house, as well as a traditional advent calendar, with a picture behind each door, we also make an activity calendar, behind each door is an activity or craft to do.

                                                     1- Paper plate snowmen                     

                                                     2- Christmas scene collage

                                                     3- Make angels

                                                     4- Make and decorate ginger bread biscuits

                                                     5- Read Story of St Nicholas

                                                     6- Gingerbread house out of cardboard boxes

                                                     7- Snow globe

                                                     8- Read a Christmas story

                                                     9- Christmas sensory tub

                                                     10- Paper chains

                                                     11- Snowflakes out of lolly pop sticks

                                                     12- Make some sweets

                                                     13- Paper snowflakes

                                                     14- Salt dough decorations

                                                     15- Paint stain glass window decorations

                                                     16- Christmas cards

                                                     17- Watch a Christmas film

                                                     18- Window clings and decorate window

                                                     19- Make some crackers

                                                     20- Oasis block painting

                                                     21- Sing Christmas carols

                                                     22- Read the Nativity Story

                                                     23- Act out the Nativity story

                                                     24- Read The Night Before Christmas