Book Day

Leave a reply

On Friday, we decided to have a book day.  Owl had suggested it when we were tidying the children’s bedrooms last weekend and I commented that we had more books than we could ever have time to read.  I really liked the idea of a whole day centred around books, so we did it.  After Owl and Monkey were back from their early morning violin lessons, and while Tiddler was at his Musicbox class with Supergirl, we started with a little bit of time working on the Gruffalo and Gruffalo’s Child activity books.  After that the children collected all the soft toys they could find that were story characters, then hunted for as many of the matching books as possible.  They then spent a long time setting up displays of each set of books and toys, and we talked about the possibility of making some story sacks.  We have done this before, for Goldilocks and the Three Bears and the Three Little Pigs, but it was a couple of years ago and the contents have long since been scattered around the house (and some of them returned to the charity shops from whence they came) so we need to start again.

This all took a really long time and we suddenly realised it was time for a rather late morning snack.  The children were keen to have a book-themed snack, and the only thing I could think of was sandwiches using dinosaur cutters.  So we collected up our Harry and the Dinosaurs books, and they made dinosaur-shaped jam sandwiches and had a drink of milk in their dinosaur cups.  While they were eating, I read “Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs” to them.  When Tiddler came back from Musicbox, he was keen to join in and the others were not happy with him spoiling their displays.  I read one of the Thomas books to him, carefully replaced it in exactly the right position, and then did my best to keep him out of the way while the big three finished the displays and read some of the books.

In the afternoon, the children spent some more time reading and playing by themselves, then we did some messy play together with water beads and ice, which I will blog separately.  They then watched some DVDS (Kids Praise Party and Friends and Heroes) while we were waiting for daddy to come home with pizza for supper.  He was a bit later than expected, and I thought the television had been on for long enough, so I offered to read to them instead.  We read “Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Book?” by Lauren Child, which is very funny and clever – highly recommended!  We enjoyed our book day so much, and have so many ideas for what else we could do, that I think we might do it every Friday.

Playing with oats

4 Replies

Yesterday our friends from The Adequate Parent and 3 Kids and a Gluestick came over and I decided it would be a good opportunity to get going on our Farm topic with some more messy play in the Tuff Spot.  Owl spent a long time carefully setting up the farm animals and fences, and then I added two large bags of oats, and a few shredded wheat.  Some of the children helped to crumble the shredded wheat up; Tiddler particularly enjoyed this, and was happily occupied eating it for quite a while.

I set out some farm-themed books on the table to provide an alternative activity.  I knew we had rather a lot of farm books, as it is something we all love, but even I was a little surprised at the size of our collection.  In fact I think we probably have even more, as I only spent about 5 minutes looking and we have books in nearly every room of our house.  It was fun to gather them all together anyway, and we will be using them for inspiration over the next few weeks.  Monkey and Rabbit rediscovered some rather nice little stencil books and drew pictures of horses and farm animals.  Rabbit also drew a rather lovely picture of a horse for one of her friends.

The children played with the farm scene nicely for a while, and then a few of them decided it would be more fun to throw the oats.  So we moved the Tuff Spot outside!  This meant that the children spread out a bit and found other things to do.  They decided to fill up the play sink with water, and then inevitably decided to add some oats.  They made a lovely mess and it kept them busy all afternoon.  You can read another version of events here.

Messy play in the sunshine

1 Reply

On Sunday it was so sunny and warm that we spent the whole afternoon in the garden.  I was probably most excited about being able to hang the washing outside, but the children enjoyed the chance to play with all their garden toys, and to swing, climb and ride their bikes and scooters.  It was also a good opportunity to take our messy play outside, using the Tuff Spot and our empty plastic sand pit.

I started by filling the sand pit with the leftover rice and split peas which I had been saving since before we went on holiday.  I added playmobil people and some stones and shells which the children had been using to set up a miniature camp.  In the Tuff Spot I placed a tray of flour, also saved from a previous play session, and surrounded it with shaving foam.  The children had fun helping me to spray the foam, and enjoyed watching the shapes it made as it came out.  Rabbit, Monkey and I had a go at writing in the foam, which was fun, but we couldn’t do it for very long because Tiddler was impatient to get stuck in.

Soon the three of them had taken all their clothes off and were in and out of the Tuff Spot and the sand pit, and covered in an interesting mixture of shaving foam and rice.  Owl didn’t want to get right in but enjoyed playing with the rice from the edge and then standing in it.  What he really wanted to do was get into the paddling pool, but the others were so messy that I decided we needed an intermediate stage of washing first.  I got out the three flexible plastic tubs I recently bought for messy play (I wish we had four, but there were only three in the shop at the time) and filled them with warm water.  Tiddler easily got right inside his tub, and Rabbit squeezed into hers.  Not to be outdone, Monkey just about managed to get into his, but it was rather a tight fit.  Owl was quite jealous – I really must find another one – but was pleased to be able to play in the rice quietly without the others, and asked me to help him bury his feet in it.

The children then had fun pretending the three tubs were the carriages of a train, and Owl was the driver.  We soon added our train-shaped paddling pool and filled it up, and they spent the rest of the afternoon splashing in and out of it in the sunshine.  They also enjoyed mixing the rice, split peas, flour and shaving foam into one big sticky mess, though I was glad that they didn’t actually get in it as by this point it was rather late in the day.  It was a really good fun afternoon of play, and we’ll definitely be getting the shaving foam out again, especially now we can do it in the garden.

Easter holidays

4 Replies

I have been erratic as usual in blogging what we have been up to, which often happens when we are too busy doing it to write about it.  I am really tired at the moment, and have been going to bed as soon as the children finally settle, but I have made myself stay up tonight in an attempt to catch up.  The holidays started with a relaxing and fun Easter weekend at Granny and Grandpa’s.  The children enjoyed lots of arts and crafts, cooking and playing, and I enjoyed having time to blog about it all – a one to one ratio is very civilised!  Since then life has been a little more hectic.  I had two days at home, mainly occupied with washing and packing before setting off annual trip to Butlins in Minehead for Spring Harvest.  It is a… well I’m not sure how to describe it… Christian holiday/ conference type thing.  I’m sure there’s a better way of putting it.  We are the group organisers for our church, and we enjoyed spending time with the other families in our group, as well as meeting new people.

Our Spring Harvest highlights this year:

  • soft play and Bob the Builder world – we spent a lot of time there, as always
  • the children settled in well to their group activities in the mornings, and had a lot of fun
  • I managed to attend four of the adult sessions this time – a significant improvement on my previous best, and a testimony to the fact that life is getting easier as the kids get older (though that did make me a bit sad – it was weird being at Spring Harvest without a little baby)
  • the Big Start in the big top – an all-age introduction to the day’s theme
  • the evening all-age worship – a very chilled out end to the day
  • having two extra children with us for 24 hours while their parents’ drove home (four hours each way) for their eldest son’s confirmation.  This was a lot of fun, and also a highlight because it felt like quite an achievement that it all went so smoothly, and it was nice to be able to help our friends out.  Six children? Easy!
  • some evening socialising with the other parents (thanks to Supergirl) and daily chats over coffee
  • swimming (for the children) and not swimming (definitely a highlight for me and thanks – again – to Supergirl.  I love swimming but not the kind that involves standing at the bottom of slides getting cold and hoping your children will emerge safely.)
  • setting foot on the beach (for about 15 minutes, in between all the other things the children wanted to do – there is never enough time to fit everything in!)
  • feeling proud of Owl who had a little more freedom to explore this time, in the Skyline where the book stall and exhibition stands were, and was very responsible about coming back when he said he would (usually only about 5 minutes at a time, but it was a good experience for him.)
  • twinning our toilets (I kid you not)
  • Tiddler’s birthday, which was the last full day.  All four children were extremely lucky to be chosen to dance onstage in the final Big Start in the morning (the link is to someone’s video from Week 1 and we were there in Week 2 but it gives you the idea!)  Later on, to celebrate Tiddler’s birthday we had lunch with three other families (19 of us in total) in one of the restaurants on site.  And for me another highlight of the day was catching up, briefly, with my lovely friend (Owl’s godmother) who came for the day and joined us at the all-age worship in the evening.

I always come back from Spring Harvest feeling tired but happy, and inspired about something new.  This time I got most excited by a conversation with others from our church about the idea of starting a “messy church” service, which we have been wanting to do for a while.  It was good to discover that the others liked the idea too!

Since then, we have had a quiet few days at home, trying to catch up with laundry and housework, but also having fun with the children and enjoying unstructured time before the term-time routines start up again.  They have played with their trains and cars, Lego and puzzles, and set up a shop selling toy food.  We have enjoyed time together drawing, colouring and working on sticker and activity books, and playing with playdough.  Monkey, Rabbit and Tiddler made food, and Owl made a red planet with a space police prison on it (apparently this is based on the Lego Clutch Powers movie!)

On our way to and from Spring Harvest we drove past Stonehenge, and the children drew some great pictures for our Prehistory project when we got home.

We have also started a new project based on a Friends and Heroes DVD which we bought at Spring Harvest, along with a curriculum pack for home educators.  And today we have been making the most of the sunshine with a whole afternoon of messy play in the garden, involving rice, split peas, flour, shaving foam and water.  I really need to blog that separately I think.  Tiddler hasn’t been very well for the last few days, but he seems to be getting better and he really enjoyed playing in the garden today.  I hope Spring is finally here!

Birthday interview with Tiddler

2 Replies

Tiddler is three.  This is his birthday interview (a little late because we were on holiday.)

What would you like to be when you grow up?

A grown-up

What kind of job would you like to do when you are a grown-up?

Doing lunch

What’s your favourite colour?

Orange

What’s your favourite book?

Topsy and Tim – Red Boots Yellow Boots

What are your favourite toys?

Cars, cars, cars!

What is your favourite food?

Lunch

What is your favourite thing to wear?

My George dressing up costume

What do you like doing with mummy?

Helping mummy

What do you like doing with daddy?

Making some stuff and a cake

What makes you happy?

Sprinkles on my cake and jelly tots on my cake and chocolate buttons on it and icing on it

Tell me a joke

Why did the apple go to the doctor’s?  Because it was running round the house. (He made this one up all by himself!)

Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child

9 Replies

This is a guest post by Suburban Dad.

Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child,
By by, lully lullay

Oh, how we just want them to sleep! Parents will go to extraordinary lengths to calm a baby; some drive around the block until they are almost asleep at the wheel, others think a particular song has that magic calming effect (perhaps Sir Mixalot, for those of you who remember Friends). But the oldest soothing method of all is the gentle, repetitive rolling of the tongue and lips.  Lulla lulla lulla lulla by by by by by. Lullaby.

In the West we assume technology can solve all problems, including crying infants. We strap our children  into rocking machines, or play them special relaxation CDs that mysteriously cost twice the price of a normal one. But most of the women in the world do not have these plastic tools. They have arms, mouths and tongues. They lullaby. And when they are happy they trill their tongues in joy – alleluiaalleluialleluia. And when they are mourning they trill their tongues in grief – allaallaallaalla. This is called ululation, and it wells up from the same human emotional spring as lullabies.

And it is the same emotional spring. We pray that our babies will fall asleep, but, oh God, we pray more that they will wake again. What mother has not lain awake at night, rigid with fear, listening out for their baby’s breathing? And what parent does not wake in a cold sweat the first time their child sleeps through the night, convinced something terrible has happened?
For a small number of parents, something terrible has happened in the night. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome sounds scientific, but it is a temporary name, a placeholder while medical research uncovers the cause of babies dying in the night. Technology will not invent a perfect machine that gets kids to drift off, but there is a much better chance of technology, twinned with  medical research, solving the mystery of why some children never wake up.
The lines quoted above are from the Coventry Carol, which comes from a mediaeval Christmas play. The carol accompanies the act where the women of Bethlehem desperately try to get their children to shut up and sleep,  attempting to hide them from Herod’s soldiers carrying out their murderous orders. Our children are not, thank God, under that sort of threat, but every family has a slim chance of being affected by SIDS.
The charity that raises money to find a cause and a cure for SIDS has changed its name today – to the Lullaby Trust. If you support them you will be working towards a world where more mothers trill their tongues in joy instead of grief, and where women lullaby their babies to sleep without the fear that they might not wake up.

If you would like to find out more about The Lullaby Trust, please visit their website.

This post is for Jennie and in memory of Matilda Mae.  You can read Jennie’s lullaby post here, and also many more that have linked up to support the Lullaby Trust.

Holiday Hama

Leave a reply

The big three and I spent this morning shopping, which was successful but quite tiring.  It was so cold, and my back was bad, but we got everything done, and I was cheered up by two things that happened in the last shop we went to.  Firstly, an elderly gentleman dropped a ten pence piece and asked Rabbit to pick it up.  When she gave it back to him, he told her she was a very kind, helpful girl, and gave her a pound coin.  Then, when we were paying for the shopping, the children were being very chatty to the lady serving us.  I was just wondering if I should rein them in a bit when she commented on their confidence and friendliness, and their good behaviour,  saying “They are a credit to you!”  Next time I notice other people’s children behaving well or just being lovely, as children generally are, I’m going to make the effort to say something like that to their parents, because it is good to hear!

After a morning out at the shops, we needed a quiet activity for this afternoon which would keep everyone involved while I got on with the housework, so I decided it was time to get the Hama Beads out again.  We started as soon as we had finished lunch and just about managed to clear all the beads off the table by supper time.  Rabbit and Tiddler spent quite a long time independently making patterns with the Maxi beads, but we didn’t manage to iron, or even photograph any before they got tipped off the boards.  After a while, Tiddler decided to play with his Lego Duplo train track, which kept him busy for most of the rest of the afternoon.  Meanwhile, Owl used the Maxi beads to make up his own design, a picture of a dog and a tree, with a frame around it.  He also made a pattern of stripes, going from transparent and white beads, through light and then dark colours, and ending with black.  Rabbit made a flower and a ladybird with my help, and Monkey made this elephant.  They all worked on their designs for a long time, and I was very impressed with their concentration.

It seems fitting, now I think about it, that we were Hama beading today while Merry was so much on my mind.  So this one’s for you Freddie xx

This week

Leave a reply

This week I have been

getting excited about our new Tuff Spot and its potential for messy play.  I think I am enjoying it as much as the children are.

watching the big three perform in their Dramabuds play (as Peter Pan, Wendy and the crocodile) and feeling very proud – and pleased that Tiddler was allowed to get away with escaping from the audience and joining in towards the end of the show.  That’s the kind of laid-back flexibility I love about Dramabuds!

excercising more – a Pilates class and a run, not much maybe but better than in recent weeks.

celebrating Easter with my family, at my parents’ house, and feeling lucky to have them all.

eating chocolate, hot cross buns, a Middle Eastern banquet cooked by Suburban Dad, more chocolate, Roast Lamb cooked by my mum, chocolate nests, chocolate brownies, simnel cake and a bit more chocolate.  (Note to self: might need to run more than once a week for the next few weeks.)

reading Sealed with a Kiss by Rachael Lucas and A Funny Kind of Education by Ross Mountney (and loving both so far – will review when I’ve finished them.)

Chocolate Easter Nests

1 Reply

As I have mentioned in previous posts, we have made two batches of chocolate Easter nests.  As the second batch was much more successful, mainly because it was done in less of a hurry and with appropriate quantities of ingredients, I thought I would blog it properly here.  It is already Easter Sunday, so I don’t suppose there are a lot of people frantically searching for a blog post on how to make them, but you never know… Also, if I put it here I will be able to refer to it next year and get it right first time.  Possibly.

You will need:

  • 150g milk chocolate
  • 150g plain chocolate
  • 30g butter
  • 120g shredded wheat
  • mini chocolate eggs
  • small paper cases

This recipe is enough for about 22 small nests.

Break the chocolate into squares, and put them in a bowl.  Add the butter, and place the bowl over a pan of water that has just come to the boil.  Stir until everything has melted.  Break up the shredded wheat into strands and add to the chocolate mixture.  Stir until the shredded wheat is completely coated with chocolate.  Place a teaspoonful of the mixture into each paper case and press it down slightly in the middle.  Add a mini chocolate egg, and put the nests in the fridge for at least half an hour.

Easter crafts and an egg hunt

2 Replies

This weekend we are staying at Granny and Grandpa’s again.  We arrived on Friday evening, and before we were even out of bed yesterday morning the children were talking about the Easter crafts they would like to do.  Rabbit and daddy started the day by reusing a Christmas decoration to make an Easter garland.  It is a silver chain with stars on, and they drew, decorated and cut out lots of Easter eggs to stick on the chain, alternating with the stars.  Owl, Monkey, Tiddler and I also decorated one egg each, but daddy did quite a few and Rabbit did the most.  While they were doing this, Monkey made a bunny basket (an idea which we have used before, from our Usborne book of Easter things to do.)  He did it fairly independently, with just a little help from daddy, and I was so impressed that I went to the village shop and bought some sweeties to put in it!

In the afternoon, we went to the church for some more craft activities and an egg hunt.  The children decided to start with the egg hunt, and got plenty of fresh air running round the church yard looking for printed eggs with a letter on.  They had to write down the letter and unscramble them to find something we eat at Easter.  The big boys did theirs independently, and daddy helped Tiddler while I helped Rabbit.  I was very proud of her efforts writing all the letters herself, and then writing the answer (hot cross bun). We then went inside the church, and the children had a wonderful time making daffodil windmills, Easter baskets, scratch art eggs, Easter bonnets and decorated foam eggs with magnets on the back.

Later in the afternoon, I made chocolate nests with Rabbit and Tiddler (much better than the ones we made on Wednesday, mainly because we had enough chocolate this time.) After that I tried dyeing hard boiled eggs with all the children.  I got them to stick stickers on (shiny ones so they wouldn’t soak off in the water – well that was the idea) and draw on them with wax crayons, before placing them in a bowl of water mixed with lots of food colouring.  It wasn’t particularly successful because most of the stickers came off, though some stayed on better than others.  So if we try it again, I will get a wider range of stickers to see which ones work best.  Also, despite using about a third of a bottle of food colouring, the dye wasn’t really strong enough.  I think we will just have to revert to our usual method of drawing on them with felt pen, and maybe try again with the dyeing next year.

Anyway, overall it was a succesful happy crafty day, and we are all having lots of fun.  Hope you are too.  Happy Easter!