Gardening and Science

We enjoyed a dry morning in the garden, there was a light frost and the children discovered some ice. They collected up a small pile of ice and then enjoyed trying to stamp on it, laughing as the pieces escaped and sometimes crunched under foot, they are really enjoying exploring the different noises they can make within the natural environment. We planted some seeds, sweetpeas, I told the children I love these flowers and they smell lovely, when their parent collected them later they told them we had planted smelly seeds, did make me giggle. We've also planted some aubergine seeds, this is the first time we have tried to grow these, so will be interesting to see how they do, then lots of onion seeds. For our windowsill garden we've planted some more basil seeds and some salad leaves, was planning to do some spinach seeds but couldn't find them in our seed box, so will need to have a thorough sort through, there are rather a lot of packets in the box!

Little ones were fascinated with the idea of a mini greenhouse aka a part of a plastic bottle, the other part we have used to plant seeds in.

We decided to try another Mel Science kit, this time Seaweed garden, did produce rather effective looking seaweed.

After lunch they enjoyed some painting, followed by lots play with dolls and building lego houses.

Chinese New Year

Our story last week from A Year Full of Stories is from China, just in time to look at Chinese new year celebrations, all the children here love the dragons and stories I have collected to read. Two of our favourites are The Runaway Wok and The Magic Paintbrush, they are beautifully illustrated, enjoyed by a mixed age group and raise lots of different questions, should the wok take from the rich man, or is it still stealing. The Magic Paintbrush, is told in verse, the children love the rhyming and again the story brings about many discussions. I googled pictures of Chinese dragons and the children choose one they wanted to base their paintings on, they added fireworks and people enjoying the celebrations.

Drawing of lanterns and people celebrating.

L found a picture of a winged horse which she decided to copy and then made it into a unicorn

She has also been practising her writing, I hadn't planned to do anything involving learning to read and write until she was at least 6 but she has changed my plans and is desperate to learn to read.

Before Christmas I had to make the hard decision with reference to my work, home education and decided that M needed more help and support with her work especially as she wants to take her exams. So with sadness I decided to cut down the days I am working, so I can concentrate more on her needs, this meant I had to give notice to one of my lovely families. So this was their last week with me, so an emotional time, we will hopefully stay in touch, their leaving present was this beautiful bouquet of flowers, they look and smell divine.

I finally stopped procrastinating and did the buttons on the waistcoat, one practise go and decided it was now or never, very thankful they turned out perfectly and looks lovely on the little one it was made for.

Now time to make something simple, so crocheting some bunnies for spring/Easter bunting. Joining Ginny at  Small Things with Yarn Along

 On the reducing our waste front hubby and I are trying out two different shampoo bars, the one I have smells lovely but I was left with really frizzy hair. Having done some research and read that rinsing with water with some apple cider vinegar in it can help, this seems to of reduced the frizz, fingers crossed it carries on working. Not sure what hubby things of his one, he will probably reserve judgement until he has tried it a few times. Hoping this week to have a couple of dry days so we can get outside and start some planting, space has been cleared for the seed trays int he back porch but not got much further as we had rain most of the week. Which has meant some lovely walks and puddle jumping with the littleones.

Leaving you with a little thought to ponder on

Frost Painting

 We have been making the most of the cold, frosty mornings here, the joy of finding frozen cobwebs and various patterns that the frost and ice create.

The children decided that the ice on the slide looked like a little ice forest and would the Snow Queen live there.

 They thought this one looked like the feathers from a bird's wing.

They decided to try and draw patterns in the frost but quickly realised it was way too cold to draw with your fingers but a small bucket with some warm water and a couple of paint brushes was a big hit. They spent ages drawing different patterns and seeing what would happen if they drew on some pieces of ice they found, also seeing how long it would take to melt holes int he ice with the water. They have realised that even the coldest water is warmer than the ice.

 Today we made some gingerbread biscuits, some in the shape of snowflakes for them to decorate and then a mixture of shapes and creatures of their choice.

At the weekend I had my first try and no knead bread, made lots of different types of bread over the years but this was very easy, ok the children missed the fun of the kneading but for quick, very tasty bread for the family it is brilliant. Now just made my third lot of loaves, keeps really well in my bread bag, now just to see how it freezes. I used this recipe for Peasants Bread and baked it in two medium sized pyrex bowls. think this will be replacing my normal loaf that I make.

L has taken to her knitting fork really well, she is pleased that she can sit with me and knit too.

Still slowly working through the knitting of the second panel for my blanket but also making a waistcoat for a wedding, for a friend's child, fabric is testing my patience, usually work with cotton rather than something that is very shiny and slippery but it is coming together ok, now just need to pluck up courage to do the button holes.

Linked with Frontier Dreams Keep calm and craft on.

Sparkly Drawing Tray

We often have a sand tray out for the children to write and draw in, brilliant when they are wanting to practise writing their letters and numbers. Thought I would put together a winter themed one, used salt and some silver glitter, it has been well used, for both writing and drawing.

Most enjoyed the wax resist painting, one wasn't so keen as they struggled to see what they were drawing but all loved the magic of painting over the paper and seeing their pictures appear, I can see them asking to do this again.

Cardigan finished for my friends Granddaughter

and there was more wool than I thought left over and managed to make 3 dish clothes, have been told they would make better face clothes because of the colour but as we have plenty of those, they will be dishcloths but then again!!

The Snowy Day

The Snowy Day by Ezra Keats was one of my favourite winter stories when I was little and a few years ago I found a copy to read to my own children. So thought I would spend some time exploring the story and various snow and ice activities with the children. M will enjoy some of the art and science activities and can add to them as she wishes. We have talked about some of the things she could research - Snow Bentley, how icicles and stalactites form, we also have a lap book we made years ago with O and M and thought it would be nice to bring that out  and look through it together.

My planning linked into all the areas of the EYFS.

This week

This week, I have started making a list of garden/allotment jobs that need to be done and thinking about a planting plan. Need to decide if the green house is repairable or not, I have no idea how old it is, it was second hand when we first got it and wasn't in a brilliant state then and it has been taken down and put together a couple of times too. But it has done us well for over 10 years but have reached the stage last year were the metal door was refusing to close and a couple of roof panes have slipped again and the seals are going or have gone, as well as few other problems. Jobs so far are

1. Order new seeds and buy seed potatoes, decided to try growing aubergines and peppers, we did peppers a few years ago and they were ok but need to start them of early.
2. Plan allotment planting
3. Sort green house, clean pots
4. Prune apple and pear trees
5. Prune grape vines
6. Plant onions, aubergine and early broccoli

Think that will do for starters!

Our second story from A Year Full of Stories was from Germany (have realised that 2 of the next 3 stories are also from Germany, had hoped for more country hopping, should of looked more closely first but enjoying the stories). Thought we would look at the work of the artist Franz Marc, he was born in Munich in 1880 and a key figure in the German expressionist movement. Now my girls love horses so his many varies paintings of horses went down well with them, they chose the Blue Horse to try and copy, create their own version of.

L loved all the colours, so decided to paint a multi coloured horse, she realised after she had finished painting she had got carried away with how many legs she had painted, luckily she found it rather amusing.

M went for a more literal interpretation but got rather stuck trying to recreate the horses legs.

One painted by one of my minded children.

L then decided to paint a caterpillar with hairy horns.

We spent yesterday exploring the woods.

L spotted some fungi growing on a fallen branch, really do wish I could identify at least some of the mushrooms and toadstools we find on our walks.

I have been sorting through my wool basket, or maybe that should be baskets and found I had enough pretty pink cotton to make a friends Granddaughter to be a cardigan and the left over ball into some dishcloths. Have been told they look to pretty to use for washing up dishes but sometimes I think it is nice to have something pretty to do a routine job.

Also enjoying reading Braiding Sweetgrass, just read a lovely chapter called The Gift of Strawberries, she talks about how the nature of an object changes depending on how it comes into our hands, a pair of socks bought in a store do not have the same feeling as a pair of socks knitted by your Nan, that sort of gift creates an ongoing relationship. The same goes for our food they are a gift from the earth and therefore create a relationship with it, when you grow your own food you have a different relationship to it than the food you buy in a store. You can see this in the faces of the children when we go and harvest our fruit and vegetables. It is so far proving to be wonderful book, full of interesting stories that are very thought provoking.

The other book is Self-Reg, I have an interest in sensory processing disorder and anxiety in children, so far he has talked about how easily babies and small children can be over stimulated, how for some children the classroom is just too much sensory stimulation for them. How the constant daily triggers, sensory input can lead quickly to full blown melt downs and how a quieter, calmer environment is better for them. I don't think I have learnt anything new yet but enjoying the way it is written and always good to go back over subject even if you think you know it well.

Tonight we had snow, was amazed it settled at all, as it had been raining steadily all afternoon but it did the girls spent a mad hour playing outside, don't think L can really remember the last time we had snow, they enjoyed a snowball fight. It has stopped snowing now and looks like it might be all gone by tomorrow much to their disappointment.

Linked with Yarn Along