Giant Bubbles, Rivers and More

Today we had fun making giant bubbles, recipe is here, we used straws with wool threaded through them to make the bubble wand, we have all enjoyed seeing who could make the largest bubble.

Knowing that the heat was going to last, I decided to make some ice chalks, they need a hot day for them to work well and melt enough to draw with, think I should of made more than one tray though!

 They all had a great time exploring the feel of the ice cubes and looking at the colours before deciding to try and draw something.

Home ed wise, my plan today was to look at rivers with M, now I had planned to use the sandpit to create a mini river, tiny waterfall, plunge pool and estuary. Now the last time we did this it worked really well and we even managed to create a meander, didn't work so well this time think the sand needed to be wetter before we started! Anyway at least M can see how a river picks up debris and deposits it at the estuary etc and the younger ones have had a fantastic time playing with the very wet sand and water.

Toucan artwork from last week.

The rabbits enjoying the freedom to explore the garden and nibble various flowers, they have discovered how delicious the grape vine leaves are.

Tigers and Garden

My younger ones are fascinated by tigers and we have enjoyed the story The Tiger Who Came to Tea and then had some fun creating tiger prints, using shaving foam as a base, first time we did this we used a bit too much black paint, so only a little black otherwise it seems to take over the picture!!

Then use a knife to gently mix the paint into the foam.

Gently lay a piece of paper down and press on it all over, then leave to dry, while paintings are drying

they had a lot of fun mixing the left over paint into the shaving foam and exploring the texture!

Finished tiger prints.

They have also drawn some pictures of tigers and described them in their own words, the top one is a cute mummy tiger carrying her baby and the bottom picture is a rainbow monster tiger.

Finished sticker page from the eco kids magazines.

Having fallen in love with the Eco Kids magazines, I've ordered a couple of back issues, including one on the Amazon river, which hopefully will go down as well as the rainforest one did. M has been recapping photosynthesis to help explain why the rainforests are called the lungs of the world and has started to look at deforestation. Yesterday as it was raining so much in the afternoon we sat and watched Rio, which led to a talk about why people were trying to steal the birds, where was Rio de Janeiro, so today's plan to have the maps out and look at Brazil and see where that leads us. Hoping to also do some more art based on Henri Roussea as well but we will see.

M is doing well working through her preIGCSE course, she is on a high as her last assignment came back with an A grade, you can't get better than that. It means even more because she has verbal dyspraxia and as a young child really struggled to speak, lots of speech therapy to help her but it also meant learning to read and write wasn't easy either but she has been very determined and it is paying of now.

I found this series The History of the Home and thought M would rather enjoy it, she has enjoyed the frontier house and the Victorian farm etc, one of the opening scenes was at the Wealden Down Open Air Museum, we have been a couple of times and loved it. Hoping either this year or next we might make another trip there as M was only about 4 or 5 when she went last.

On a crafting front I have just ordered some of this wool in deep water to make the imagine when shawl for a friend, this will be a birthday present, so justifying buying more wool before using up the stash I was supposed to be working through! I alternating knitting at the moment either the main part of L's cardi which is just plain knitting and panel 2 of the blanket with lots of cabling. Reading A Daughter's A Daughter by Mary Westmacott, otherwise known as Agatha Christie, I have not read of her romance books and wasn't sure what I would make of it but actually enjoying it and making me giggle in places. There is a  lovely conversation between an older lady and one entering her 40s  , she talks about how women in their 20's to 40's are biologically and relationship concerned and rightly so but towards the end for their 40s they gain a second blooming in the mind and the spirit and the older a woman gets the more interesting the older they become, a very positive view of getting older. Also have the next two books from The Little Coffee Shop in Kabul to read at some point.

Well my plans for the day might change a bit, L got up and asked to have the colour rice out to play with, so while I finished writing my blog she set up the tray below to play with.

After all the rain and wind we have, this morning we have sun and some photos of the flowers that have survived the weather!

 One of my new penstemons is just coming into flower this one is called heavenly blue.

 We have some tiny cucumbers growing, ignore the weeds, it's a job for later in the week.

Grape vine has lots of grapes growing, hoping for another lovely crop this year.

Linking with Nicole at Frontier Dreams

Rainforest

After enjoying the Eco Kids magazine and the children's enthusiasm for the rainforest, we have enjoyed watching some clips of different rainforest animals, tigers, tapir and macaws, which seem to be the favourite at the moment. Then there was that wonderful moment when they came across a picture of an ocelot and the children realise that they aren't just something made up in minecraft but a real creature.  I've also made the most of my twinkl membership and have used various power points they have put together including this one, which is photos of various rainforest animals and this one on the rainforest habitat. This then led on to a discussion with M about deforestation and I came across this you tube video which worked well for all ages, not always easy to do when you are working with a wide age range. M has decided that next week she would like to look more at deforestation and it's impact, I've found a couple of videos to start her of with, this on the effect on the climate and the lungs of our planet, plus a recap of photosynthesis.

We've had the books out looking at the different layers of the rainforest and the children spent time painting their own rainforest and decorating them with some animal stickers.

Perfect time to introduce  Henri Rousseau, we based out art on Surprise! we'll be looking at some more of his art work next week.

I am hoping to use this power point with them next week as it goes over some of what we have already learnt, plus a bit more.

Weekend has been busy mainly with a lot of time spent at the allotment, planting out plants and more seeds, harvesting a few red currants, strawberries and golden raspberries. Also painted one side of my husbands shed, this is the side that will be seen in our secret garden, when we finish it but was the old chicken run, I've gone for a purple colour bright but not over powering! The rest of the fences I am leaving brown with all the climbers over, think painting it all purple would be too much and today we picked up some lovely butterfly solar lights.

Bank Holiday Weekend

The last week has mainly been about enjoying the sunshine and making the most of being outside, Rosie has worked out that she doesn't have to do the hard work of finding the juiciest, nicest dandelions, she can sit back and let L do it for her, one very happy rabbit.

Bank holiday weekend we attended the local County Fayre, L enjoyed the animals and had her first ride on a donkey. She has been wanting to ride a horse for a long time but I think she would be a bit worried about getting near a large animal, let alone on it! So a donkey ride was a good starting point, she got on the donkey fine, panicked when it started to move and wanted to get off, with some reassurance she settled down and rode round the ring, wasn't sure at the time how much she enjoyed it or not but today she has asked if she could ride a donkey again, so assuming that means she actually did like the ride in the end but no mention of horse riding lessons at the moment!

They had loads of tractors, going back to one of the first produced in this country, to modern day, the commentary about each tractor was rather interesting.

They had a lovely display of some birds of prey, watching them fly is always amazing, the owner had a raven that would bark like a dog, rather that talk. they also had tug of war competitions, the young farmer's floats.

Fruit is slowly ripening at the allotment, well one red strawberry,

a few red currants,

and a nice lot of apples, hoping these do well as they are delicious , it's a blue moon column apple tree.

Peas are doing really well and we have just sowed a load more, to hopefully spread the season out.

The blackberries have just started to blossom.

I planted a couple of lupin plants two years ago, one is doing really well, do love lupins, had a lovely display in our front garden but they died of a few years ago and the next lot I planted didn't do well, now have some seedlings that I hope will do well, now the soil has had a break might do well again, fingers crossed.

Anna wrote a lovely review of The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul, I've been on the library waiting list ever since and finally got to pick up a copy the other weekend, now halfway through it and loving it, it's a nice story but also interesting, as you get to see the different cultural mix and the traditional family views and the more modern ones collide.

Lots of work in progress, I've knitted a couple of rows of the throw and the same on L's cardi, cut out the fabric for the geranium dress for L. The purple fairy fabric is her choice, she was really pleased with it when she found it in our local fabric shop and can't wait to wear her fairy dress.

Have just about finished the autumn embroidery, just one leave to finish of and then to decide whether to move onto the spring or winter section.

Joining Kat for Unraveled wednesday

We have been given some back issues of Eco Kids, L loves these and I have decided to treat her to subscription, actually think this is a treat to hubby and I as we are both enjoying the magazines too. The first issue is covering the rain forest, we have this lovely book Nature Cross Sections, that covers various habitats, it was a book I bought for O when he was the same age, it has been well loved. Anyway I can see us having a lot of fun learning about the rain forest at the moment she is interested in the different layers as in the forest floor in the under canopy, the canopy, emergent layer and all the animals that live there.