We’ve been trying to teach Ted to use scissors properly, and not so long ago I found a fun kit just perfect for that…
The fun papers are ‘levelled’ , so I just took out numbers 1, 2 and 3 (it turned out that 3 was a little tricky still)…
‘Snipping’ was just fine, but cutting in long lines was still difficult….
Of course, the paper was too lovely to throw away, so Ted made a collage (which suited him just fine, being our current ‘glue friend’!)…
😄✂️
At English Club yesterday we decided to learn a little about England and the Union Jack.
First by setting out a ‘tips promenad’ – a set of questions hung around the garden to be answered…
There were ten questions, most of them quite simple – but the goal to read and answer them in English, not so simple! 😉
1. What is the Union Jack?
2. What are the colours of the Union Jack?
3. What countries are represented on the Union Jack?
4. Who is the patron Saint of England?
5. Who is the present ruler of England?
6. What is the capital of England?
7. Name a famous person from England
8. Name a famous building in England
9. Name a traditional food from England
10. Name a famous symbol of England
The kids enjoyed this, and it wasn’t as easy as you may think – and their answers were not always expected! For example, Jack the Ripper was one groups answer to a famous person from England – and the pound sign, plus the red lion from Richard the Lion-heart’s shield were famous symbols. 😃
Next we each had a photocopy of the Union Jack, and step by step, by looking at each flag of each separate country, we coloured in each flag, in order to complete the Union Jack…
😊🇬🇧
Something we rarely do anymore…
…although admittedly, Ted thought it didn’t dry fast enough and tried to ‘blow’ it dry…
😉
Ted has gone from previously being the ‘run-around-toddler’ to being a ‘pre-schooler’ who prefers to be activated, and can sit for long periods of time with crafts, puzzles or construction kits.
During the ‘witching hour’ when I was trying to make dinner with tired kids hanging around, I gave Ted the metal colander and some beautiful pipe cleaners – an activity I tried a long time ago with him, when he was in the ‘run-around’ stage, and didn’t work well with him.
This time it was a different thing altogether…
“Look at my pipe cleaner monster!” He proudly said.
A beautiful work of art indeed! 🎨😊
Every year on St George’s day, the scout group has the giving out of the annual badges in a local church – an extremely old, and very beautiful church.
Here is Maya’s group ‘fiskarna’ (the fish)….
Maya is on the left hand side – she is one of the smallest, and as she is going through a phase of not having her photo taken, it’s often hard to catch her…but I took a sneaky close up here….
😉
Happy St George’s Day!
At English Club this week we designed our own posters for Earth Day.
Starting with reading a basic book about the ‘4 R s’ (Recycle, Reuse, Repair, Reduce)…
…and doing a relevant word search…..
…inspired by a similar poster we found on the internet…
…and a mass of new vocabulary…
…we worked on our posters…
An update on these posters coming soon…. 😉🌎
Another piece of beautiful sensory play – this time with the intention of inviting writing…..
First we had a perfect T for Ted, and A for Alfie….
..followed by a slightly trickier S for Sasha….
M for Maya was almost too fun to stop….😉
…and L for Leon confused itself with number 7….
But what fun he had!
And the best tool? The comb….
😄✏️
Just because it’s so beautiful….
😊🌈
Last weekend it was all about the frogs…
We went to a secret swamp where the frogs tend to meet, coppulate, lay eggs – and of course are then born. We were told there were sometimes thousands of them, and they could only be seen for one week there every year, before they all disappeared. Of course, we had to take Alfie, our animal loving child…
Well, we looked and we looked, but unfortunately most of the frogs had gone their way. We were lucky enough to see a few last ones – and sadly a few dead ones – but it was a good lesson in understanding what kind of habitat a frog likes to live in – and we’ll come back next year!
This weekend also celebrated the theatre festival in the theatre group which Alfie joined earlier this year, with Alfie playing the part of – a frog!
I can honestly say he enjoyed every minute of it, and hopped like a true frog! Lovely! 😉🐸
In the last week or so, Ted and I have been having a look at ‘the earth’ and it’s elements…
Starting with experiencing the rain (water)…..
…a story about the earthworm, and how he likes to live underground (earth)….
…which encouraged Ted’s own story telling skills….
We dug up some worms in the garden and observed them in our worm habitat (earth)….
…and cooked an ‘earthworm and bug’ dinner (spaghetti and chickpeas)…
…and made a ‘playmobil world’ that included earth, water, fire and air – can you see them?
Continuing with some nature bracelets we made from finding plants and flowers in the garden…
We’ve been talking a lot about how the plants need soil, water and sunlight to grow, and we’re still continuing this topic… 😊🌱🌷🌻
Squashed Tomatoes 