Thinking Outside The Box (Or Den!)

Maya is one of the most creative people I know. Not only is she one of the most creative, but she is able to truly think outside ‘the box’!
This is an example of what I found the other day. A den, of a different kind….

Walls made from blocks, crates and tables (turned on their side mind, not as the base of the den)…

…and a roof made of planks of wood – and comics….

</

…plenty of space to hide inside…

…and of course, a little decoration..

Let’s hope she never conforms!

Simply Painting With Water

We had a very hot day yesterday – a great day for some painting with water…

Teddy loved it..

..and adding a ladder took it to another exciting level…slightly scary for mummy…

…and soon we had the neighbours’ joining in…

Scouting With Lord Of The Rings

Some months a go I decided to help out in Maya’s scout group due to lack of leaders – thus I became a leader – and now we’re a thriving group of 32 scouts and 8 leaders!

We just spent our first weekend camping together (though admittedly we did rent out a scout hut in case of rain!). As it turned out, however, despite an hours downpour at around 10pm, all kids except 1 slept in the tents!

We planned a weekend with a theme – ‘Lord Of The Rings’, and even though many of the children were not familiar with the story (including Maya), it didn’t matter, they got the gist of it any way!

We started with a visit from Gandulf who explained about the rings which were bringing bad omen upon the world and needed to be destroyed…

Each child was given a brass ring…

We followed a map through a forest where we ate our lunch ‘hike bombs’…

The ‘hobbits’ ‘scouts’ were told to watch out for the black knights, who were also looking for the rings. As they ate their lunch, cooked over a fire, two black cloaked figures walked by over the field in the distance….. (myself and another leader dressed up..)

After lunch the hobbits were divided in to their groups, each with a leader.
The first task was to walk across a swamp filled with snakes, holding each others’ shoulders, scarves over their eyes….

The second task was to make a necklace to hang their ring on. I don’t have photos of this as I was at the third stage!

The third task was to solve a code to get through the gate of Moria. The elfin queen was there with refreshments, guarding the gate, helping the hobbits to solve the code…

Once the code was worked out, the key to the gate was to say “friend” and walk backwards through the gate, down towards the stream. Then they needed to get over the stream, turn left and orienteer their own way back to the campsite.

Later there was cooking and eating by the fire…

…lots of energetic games…

…and finally a hike up to the top of the ‘mountain’ to throw the rings in to the fire (though actually, for safety’s sake, and to avoid the kids digging in the ashes the next day, the rings were threaded on to an iron rod and put in to the fire by a leader…)….

The kids were a little sad at having to ‘destroy’ their rings (as you can see in the photo above) – but fortunately, they all got them back the next morning in the farewell meeting!
And of course, there was lots of singing…

Despite many kids not falling asleep until midnight, all slept well (only one scout went home) until 7am, ate breakfast outside, packed up together, and went home contented.

Until next time!

On Making Dandelion Sorbet

I do wish I’d got a photo of these two when they were picking their dandelions in the sun!

They looked so colourful, one in bright blue, one in bright pink, surrounded by bunches of yellow! Unfortunately it was not to be – Ted was yowling like a pussy cat to go home having refused to eat his breakfast, and being hungry as a wolf!;()

Alfie has been asking to make dandelion sorbet all year – he still remembers making it with myself and Maya years ago, when he was barely three years old.
Step 1: Collect the dandelions
Step 2 : Snip off the petals (as above)
Step 3 : Put 5 cups of water, 1 cup of sugar and half a cup of honey in a saucepan and bring to boil to make a syrup.
Step 4 : Add dandelion petals and simmer for an hour…

Step 5 : Use muslin sieve to filter out the petals….

….until you have just the liquid….

Step 6 : Pour in to container and put in freezer until frozen.
Step 7 : Decorate with dandelion flowers, eat sorbet and enjoy!

A Giant Cootie Catcher!

Maya always comes up with the most amazing things – often with a twist of eccentricity!
Do you remember those things we all made at school; the things that you fold from paper, ask someone which number they would like, count that number with the folded paper object, then ask them what colour they want – this proceeds in you opening up the flap of that colour and telling them something true/untrue about themselves – or in Maya’s case, telling them a specific thing to go and do…?

Well, if you’re not sure what I’m writing about, this is what I mean…

I’ve since found out, that in the US at least, it’s called a ‘cootie catcher’.

So Maya made a tiny weeny one…

…which proceeded in her making a GIANT one….

….which really works!

Brilliant!

Dyeing With Tea Experiment

So we were back with the tea again today….!

Another selection of tea leaves and a few different tea bags. We’ve been lucky as our neighbour gave Leon three different packets of decaffeinated tea that she no longer wanted at Christmas time (he recently had a fascination with ‘tea’)….
Then we took a bowl of warm water and a square of white cotton…

…and used pipettes to add water to the tea…

..to see how it would dye our fabric..

The results? ‘Winter Spice’ (berry) tea turned the fabric a strong red, Green tea did NOT turn the fabric green, and ‘Sweet Honey’ tea did NOT turn it yellow – but ‘Decaffeinated Organic Tea’ turned it a deep yellow – while ‘PG Tips’ most definitely turned it a deep orange!
So there you go!

Discovering Tea

We laid out a table with a couple of tiny tea sets….

…and a tray with a jug of warm water, a couple of bowls of tea leaves, a bowl of different types of fruit tea bags, and some tools (tiny whisk, tea strainer, tiny sieve and tea spoons)…

Time for lots of discovery…

Pouring….

Smelling…

Soaking….

‘Whisking’….

Squeezing…

Straining…and of course tasting!