Two Little Seeds

Transformation...a new year a new start!

2012-01-08T20:24:00.001Z

I have started this new year with new energy.

I have really found this beautiful 2012 workbook and planner inspiring...

from Goddess Leonie here.

She has lots of lovely things on her website and free posters which look

pretty on your pinboard!

Also I have seen this on many blogs and I treated myself...

"Organized Simplicity" by Tsh Oxenrider

and have been motivated to declutter in a big way.

This is has been a good start to the year.

How has yours been?

Gingerbread House Party

2012-01-06T20:00:00.000Z

We were given a stocking full of 'old skool' sweets,

so I was inspired to organise a Gingerbread House decorating party

for the Two Seeds and some friends.

We spent an evening making the houses in half the size of what the recipes stated,

and put the initial of each boy on the houses.

The boys all enjoyed decorating them.

We don't eat sweets in our house ( only chocolate ) but the boys enjoyed picking them off

and eating the cake.

Sights of Christmas In Our Front Room

2011-12-27T14:34:00.000Z

Honey scented pine cones dipped in golden beeswax with edges of shimmering glitter,

warming gently as they are hung over the fireplace...leaving a sweet scent mixed with cinnamon

sprinkled on the iron fire

Pine twigs hang across the stairs tied with wool and decorated with red and gold ribbons

bring more Mother Nature into our home.

A lovely bold statement as we walk into our house.

Wispy, floaty angels made from wool watch over the children playing in the front room

Warming fiery red Poinsettia with petals like velvet

A sweet gingerbread house made by two excited boys

decorated with treats and happiness

Enjoy your holidays

Bring Warmth To Your Morning

2011-12-19T19:37:00.000Z

Breakfast by Advent Candlelight.

Such a heart-warming contrasting way to start our day today.

It really is dark at breakfast isn't it?

Cloth Bags Christmas Gifts

2011-12-17T10:50:00.001Z

Just that.

x

Jewel Encrusted Candle Gifts

2011-12-13T19:17:00.000Z

The boys made these jewel encrusted beeswax candles as gifts for family.

Roll up a third of a green or red beeswax sheet (bought from here)

Cut up squares of modelling beeswax for them to stick on.

Even Little Seed could do this...even though his were a bit squashed.

Star Christmas Cards

2011-12-13T11:23:00.000Z

Big Seed had to make lots of cards for his school friends.

I cut a star from a potato...dipped it in PVA glue ( Elmer's glue)

and then squashed it on a plate of glitter.

Simple and effect.

Rainbow Angels

2011-12-11T08:00:00.001Z

I am reposting how to make these Rainbow Angels.

We shall be making these at home this week as we are in the midst of lots of decorating and
gift making.

Instructions are here

I hope you are enjoying your preparations as much as we are.

Preparations for St Nicklaus on the 6th December

2011-12-05T09:21:00.000Z

If you have never celebrated St Nicklaus before let this year be the first.

It is a lovely warm celebration upon which some of our current Christmas

traditions are based.

See last year's post here

and also how to make boot gnomes for the day here.

This year I will be telling this story which is easy to tell for little ones....

"One day long ago in Winter there was a town and the children there had
nothing to eat. They were very hungry and very poor.
A bird came and saw what was happening and flew many miles to tell Bishop Nicholas who
was a very kind and very good man. He told all the people around them to gather apples, nuts and biscuits
and load them onto the boat. The boat sailed for seven days and seven nights following the bird
to the hungry children.
One night the children had placed their socks at the ends of their beds.
St Nicholas came and not wanting to wake the children quietly filled their socks
with apples, nuts and biscuits.
When the children awoke they were so happy to see these gifts and they
were not hungry anymore as the good people had shared what they had."

There are many variations upon this story, and more traditional one involving 3 sisters for older children is commonplace.

The children should clean their boots/shoes and leave them on the windowsill

overnight. (This is where some people think the stocking idea has come from)

nuts, chocolate coins, biscuits, some nuts and a small gift

are left for them to find as a surprise in the morning.

Enjoy

x

Rain Mini Montessori Topic

2011-11-27T20:35:00.001Z

Now I am back working some days I find it quite difficult

to organise Montessori based trays but I did this with

things I had in the house already and kept it very simple.

This started with Big Seed's current interest in "What are clouds?"

Here is what is on our shelves for our rain week.

Activities for a 4 year old and a 2 year old.

Playscape: Blue silk, felted pond, ducks, blue bricks, wool, blue and clear glass beads as rain drops, frogs, felt lilypads, eco blocks, a little bell and a huge shell.

One of Little Seeds watercolours cut into a cloud with drops drawn on.

He has to cover the drops with glass beads.

More of Little Seeds watercolour paintings.

I have drawn raindrops and clouds for them to cut out and to hang/make a mobile.

Using pipette to drop water on to soap pad.

Also used this with paper towels covered in felt-tip dots.

This was popular.

Tonging clouds ( cotton wool balls)

2 tongs for 2 abilities.

Drawing box.

Paper cut into clouds and raindrop shapes.

Different blue mediums.

Spooning raindrops.

Small mini crystals/ clear beads from Ebay.

Opening 6 cocktail umbrellas onto a sponge.

( Too hard for Little Seed on his own.. He did enjoy trying though.

He likes this the best because he needs to master it....

Thankfully you can buy them in a bulk pack from Ebay!)

Making puddles expand.

Dropping water with a pipette onto kitchen towel.

Good with felt-tip dots on them too.

Explaining how clouds work. Dropping water with a pipette

then squeezing them when they feel heavy.

Using blue do-a-dot pen to put raindrops on raincloud shaped paper.

I put marks for him to aim for.

3 part cards - clouds

Paper Owls

2011-11-27T20:10:00.000Z

Paper owls made from tear drop shaped paper pre-cut.

Big Seed had to glue them in rows like real feathers.

Little Seed just stuck them randomly... I love the fact that he turned the beak into a mouth.

These characters are hanging from the ends of our fireplace.

Cheers us up in the morning.

Twice Around The Sun

2011-11-22T20:23:00.000Z

Some of this Steiner business has been rubbing off on Daddy Seed.

He made this lovely decoration for the door!

Gifts wrapped in silks with handmade cards from us.

A rainbow bamboo velour handmade pillowcase.

Made with love by Bonnie here at Holden's Landing.

Our bedtime story was his Rainbow Bridge Birthday Story,

told with silks by candlelight.

Sweet Dreams Little Seed.

Pipe Building With Playdough

2011-11-21T13:42:00.004Z

Inspired by this kit:

It's a crazy straw kit with plastic connectors.

We went onto this:

Simple straws cut up into different lengths and playdough.

Shapes....

and animals.

Although what a great idea for star constellations!!

If you miss the festival - don't miss the fun!

2011-11-21T13:23:00.000Z

This post comes from a mum who struggles to balance

Steiner in the home with going to normal school and working part-time.

Last year's Martinmas celebration was peaceful and focussed.

This year I missed it with a hectic work schedule.

Instead of beating myself up about it : we celebrated on a different day.

Luckily my two seeds have no concept of time.

Better to encourage some awe and wonder

than nothing at all.

So we went for our walk in the garden with our tin lanterns.

Special occasions remind us of the need for these rituals, to do something out of the ordinary,

to make us focus on nature, simplicity, important moments;

but they need not be confined to certain dates of the year.

Make up another celebration...

the end of Autumn, the start of Winter, the start of December, etc

but do go for that walk in the dark by candlelight.

Autumn Storytelling

2011-11-09T19:38:00.000Z

After the gnomes' fire party we were all the right mood for a fire story.

I saved a few Autumn treasures; leaves, old flower heads, acorns, etc and scattered

them on the silk floor.

" Two Autumn gnomes said that they felt very cold with the

frosts coming so they wanted to build a fire.

They gathered some twigs and put some leaves in a pile for the fire.

It took them so long to make it that they were tired and had to go to bed.

Along came a hedgehog and thought that pile of leaves would make a lovely

place to hibernate so he snuggled up under the pile and went to sleep.

The next evening the gnomes were ready to light the fire and invited King Autumn

along to celebrate. He asked the 2 little gnomes if they had checked under the fire first.

They said they had not and when they checked there they found a hedgehog!

He wandered off to find a safer place to sleep.

They all helped to add a few things to the fire but it wouldn't light.

So King Autumn summoned the dragon to fly down and breathe on the fire.

Out of his mouth came hot flames ( orange fairy wool) and the fire started to burn.

They all stood around the fire and threw seed pods and acorns and conkers into the fire.

Each one made a spark and an exciting noise. They were splattering like mini

fireworks.

They all stood around the fire and thought about how tired they were

beginning to feel because soon it would be time for them to sleep too."

My Two Seeds were so enthralled by a fire story that Big Seed wanted to re-enact it

straight away. Then Little Seed had his first go at storytelling.

It was so sweet!

Gnome Fire Party : First Fire Of The Year

2011-11-07T19:54:00.000Z

The first frost came this morning so I wanted to celebrate with a fire.

Little Seed is too poorly to go outside for a real fire so

we brought some warmth inside for him.

Big Seed helped to gather some Autumn treasures from outside in our garden

to add to those he has collected and played with earlier this year.

Twigs, dead stems, seed heads, leaves, old dried lavender, acorns, etc

We made our first fire and all threw the Autumn treasures into it,

turned off the lights and listened to the noises and watched it burn.

All the gnomes were also here to watch and share in the first fire party.

Soon it will be time for the Autumn gnomes to go to sleep, it's getting very cold.

This inspired some storytelling about fires which I will post tomorrow.

Autumn Sensory Activity

2011-11-07T19:42:00.000Z

Cornflour and lentils in a plastic tub:

They played for 40 minutes together...

We added teacups and spoons and things from their play kitchen,

made "ice creams" and drinks...

They really enjoyed exploring together.

Easy Peasy Stained Glass Windows

2011-10-22T19:49:00.002+01:00

We love the colours on these...

Trapped air bubbles, and a rainbow of colour.

It's just a large sandwich bag ( plastic bag) with 3 blobs of paint: primary colours.

Squish and squash together and attach to window with Blu-tak.

They can play with it all day on the window as it takes a day or so to dry...

Blending and merging. Looks so beautiful!

Lovely autumnal colours.

Autumn Gnome Necklaces

2011-10-21T19:34:00.001+01:00

One oak leaf and one birch leaf,

providing sleeping bag pouches for 2 little gnomes.

Go for a wander around the garden looking for signs of Autumn and ripening pumpkins...

and they helped the Two Little Seeds to turn over some soil.

Thank you gnomes for your company today !

x

Linking to Beneath The Rowan Tree

Fimo Autumn Vegetables for Sorting and Counting

2011-10-13T11:02:00.000+01:00

Apples, carrots, grapes and beetroots.

Make number games so much more interesting and tactile!

The Simplest Garden Kitchen

2011-10-09T20:46:00.000+01:00

The boys have helped their Dad make an organic looking house.

It's under a tree, and has the tree as it's roof and old branches for walls.

They created a Mud Pie kitchen from:

simply buckets and a plank of wood.

A "magic" black crayon to draw on cooker hobs, old chipped plates from the garage,

old baking containers e.g. baking powder pots, water and mud!

Big Seed had to put it together himself...they love playing in it together.

Do you like our REAL mug tree????

What a great place to store them!

Go from Autumn Sensory Box to Autumn Sensory Play Table

2011-10-06T09:18:00.001+01:00

Take last year's Autumn Sensory Box and make one simple change...

Put everything on a small table for a semi-permanent fixture for a few weeks.

Re-ignite their play and let them take complete ownership.

Make an apple tree from tree blocks and fairy wool...

Let them choose other props from the Seasonal Table...

and mix with natural treasures from an Autumnal walk in the woods.

From Montessori Sensorial Box to Steiner Free Play

Enjoy

Winner Of Book Giveaway

2011-10-05T19:24:00.000+01:00

I still cannot get the Random Org thing to publish on the blog

but the winners randomly picked by the purple machine

are No.s 1 and 2:

Sunshine By The Sea

and

Puddles and Mud

Please email me at twolittleseeds@gmail.com

so I can pass your details to the publishers.

Thank you all for entering

Rainbow Angels - Versatile Gift

2011-09-25T21:32:00.000+01:00

This angel is so versatile...

These angels were made as birthday gifts to go with the rainbow cards here,

but I can see us making these at Christmas for sure...and as Guardian Angels for bedrooms!

I was given some lovely raw sheep fleece a while ago from my lovely friend D.

Now I know what it was for...

Start by teasing a bit and tie the head with ribbon.

Leave the ends long enough for arms.

Cut wings out of felt.

I cut a heart shape but Big Seed cut 2 separate wings.

Needle-felt the wings onto the fleece.

At this point add a bit more fleece if it looks thin in parts.

As this was a birthday gift I felt I needed to put some more effort in,

so I cut some rainbow wool from Syrendell and needle-felted it onto the edge of the wings.

I also tied a bit of orange wool in a circle for a halo and needle felted that to the head.

Sew a bit of cotton through the head and wings so it hangs upright.

Taaa daaa... a rainbow angel.

Rainbow Cards and Name Initials

2011-09-25T20:04:00.000+01:00

It was Great-Grandma's birthday, she isn't feeling well

so we thought we would cheer her up by making her these lovely watercolour rainbow cards.

Above illustrates different ages of development, 4 years, 2 years and 30 something years!!!

It's the first time we have painted the colours in the correct order.

I was inspired to do so by reading about Goethe's theory of colour on Moonbeam and Applesauce.

Check her gnomes out!

It was a lot of fun ... they wanted to continue.

We made rainbow initials from their names.

They are so beautiful, so colourful they have gone on our fireplace for a while.

Big Seed's "etheric" watercolour painting...it's such a shame to waste the made up watercolour...

he likes to continue until it's all gone.

I know it's not proper Waldorf to do this kind of thing so early ( or correct me if I am wrong)

but I let him lead the way.

In the next post I will be posting the angels we made as gifts.

What inspires your watercolour sessions?

Autumn Applique T-Shirts

2011-09-20T19:20:00.001+01:00

The majority of mums seem to buy their children's clothes from 2 main stores.

Also as a mum of boys I seem to have the narrow choice of trucks, trains, monsters, or cheeky monkeys!

I would like more natural images which are so rare unless they are uber-designer...

So I made my own set for Autumn.

I bought a set of 4 plain long-sleeved t-shirts from Marks and Spencer

and lovingly browsed around Spoonflower fabric designs for lovely samples.

They arrive in the post and I await inspiration over the week.

This one is called "Splat".

The fabric is a lovely watercolour paint print.

Tree with branches back-stitched in place.

Squirrel...my favourite for Little Seed...

and Big Seed.

Why not rebel against the masses and make some sweet designs for your little ones?

Have you entered our book giveaway while you are here?

Fun Writing - Sticker Stamps

2011-09-20T18:43:00.001+01:00

Although we are using a dinosaur theme you can do this

with ANY theme you like.

I found some dinosaur sticker sheets and cut them into single stickers

to use as "stamps".

I cut some coloured A4 paper in half and drew outlines

so they could be used as postcards, and the stickers as stamps.

My two seeds did this activity for an hour, scribbling, putting stamps on,

posting them in their toy oven then delivering them over the house,

then starting the whole process again.

Think of those stickers laying around your house waiting to be used...

Have you entered our book giveaway here?

Book Giveaway

2011-09-19T19:34:00.004+01:00

Book Giveaway Time

This is a lovely book which has lots of different games sorted into different age groups from 0-10.

Great for homeschoolers or those who need something on a rainy Sunday!

We have used it and both boys have enjoyed the games suggested, especially the bean bag balancing on the head game...so simple yet they played it so often.

There are games involving sounds and music, storytelling and memory games, treasure hunts and number challenges, dancing and movement, painting and modelling.
Some are old favourites and others are new.

If you would like a chance to win one of 2 copies of this book
then please leave a comment below.

This giveaway is open to mamas globally
Ends 3rd October.

Watch dinosaurs being born - play with real egg shells

2011-09-12T19:37:00.001+01:00

This was really good fun, and something a little different.

I collected eggshells over a week from baking cakes...

and put some tiny toy dinosaurs inside the two halves.

And out they (violently) came...and then they boys had great fun crushing and pounding the shells

with the toy dinosaurs.

Shhh, here are 3 eggs almost ready to hatch!

We used the crushed egg shells to make shakers by cutting sleeves off old shirts

and tieing the ends with elastic bands.

They loved to shake them..such a nice sound and then crush them some more through the material.

Very sensorial!

Starting School- Making The Start A Good One

2011-09-08T14:04:00.002+01:00

Big Seed finally started a new school.

We have enjoyed homeschooling and going to a Montessori Nursery for 2 afternoons

but there are hardly any homeschooling children his age here.

All his friends are starting school so we decided to send him...a little reluctantly so soon.

The school are very supportive and let me stay with him as long as it took for him to settle a few days last July, and he loved it.

So we celebrated before he went instead of after...to alleviate any apprehension.

We made a celebratory breakfast.

I laid a tablecloth, and their own floral arrangements and the wooden rainbow laid on top

with an Autumn gnome.

We made some rainbow crayons last weekend which I wrapped in silks.

Little Seed unwrapped one too... his brother, his main playmate is leaving and it is a new beginning for him too.

I am sure he will enjoy the extra attention though.

Here is the Autumn gnome we wrapped as a gift,

he holds an apple one side ( very appropriate) and an oak leaf another.

Bought from a wonderful Etsy mama Waldorf Mouse here.

(UK mums check her out!!)

And a squirrel from her for Little Seed.

Focussing on natures changes moving into Autumn.

I also got him the Flower Fairies of the Autumn.

Big Seed bought a new crystal from the crystal shop.

We all gave it a kiss and I put it in a little cloth bag for him to take in

his schoolbag...to carry our love with him.

I hung our long rainbow silk from the stairs and placed his bag and shoes at the bottom.

I think days like this are just as significant as birthdays and religious celebrations

because they are so important to the child.

The whole family is involved in letting go...

of old routines, places, people...

and starting new ones.

I hope your child enjoyed their new beginning ...did you celebrate?

Back To School Giveaway Winner

2011-09-07T19:22:00.003+01:00

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I managed to get the widget on and it came up with 18...then the numbers disappear when I post.

The winner of the giveaway is

Mary from Taking Julia North !!

Congratulations!

xxx

Fairy Inspired Floral Arrangements

2011-09-04T20:19:00.001+01:00

The two seeds made some gorgeous floral table arrangements,

while there are still some blooms around.

There are many ways to do this if you don't have a large garden:

You could just arrange your cuttings in a vase,

or just gather greenery and twigs if you don't have flowers,

or go to the park/nature walk and gather wild flowers

We are staying with the Flower Fairies Book

( which has boy characters in it) and went to gather some

end of Summer flowers.

The boys cut them with scissors, they used small oasis,

dunked them in a bowl of water and placed them on a plant pot saucer.

Here they are engrossed, they enjoyed poking the stems in the soft oasis.

It needs good grip and control.

Here are the finished pieces by Big Seed and Little Seed.

One for our dinner table and one for the nature table.

When the oasis dries out we are going to recycle it for dried Autumn arrangements.

Dyeing Playsilks Using Summer Fruits

2011-08-30T19:34:00.005+01:00

We dyed our own playsilk using raspberries, strawberries, blueberries,

tomato, rhubarb and beetroot from our garden.

I was inspired by this book.
We looked at the flower that related to their first initial of their name
and I wanted to make them an elf/pixie cape of the corresponding colour.

There are boy illustrations in these books...which is great for boys to get in touch with flowers
positively without it being overtly girly.

Little Seed needed pink for Mallow...

So we set up an experiment:

I boiled the plain silk in hot water and vinegar.

We mashed up the foods and I strained them with a sieve.

Then we dipped corners and bits of the silk in different pots.

The tomato didn't work, I wouldn't bother.

The beetroot actually gave us orange!

The silk dried lighter than the image so in a few weeks we can have another go
when it fades to a very pale pink.
Any tips appreciated to achieve a darker effect!
x

Click here if you fancy winning a gorgeous snackbag

Linking to:
beneath the rowan tree

Creative Friday at Natural Suburbia

Writing by Imitation - Shopping Lists

2011-08-29T10:59:00.000+01:00

I was browsing the recipe books and making a shopping list.

Big Seed went and made his own book, cut strips of paper and stapled them

(his new thing).

Then I got him a recipe book with large writing and he copied some words.

He was very proud.

Gnome Books

2011-08-26T18:02:00.000+01:00

Big Seed discovered the stapler I placed in his writing box.

He is quite adapt with scissors so cut up tiny pieces of paper

that were so small...

"Well I can make these into books for the gnomes."

And so he did, he wrapped them up and then asked,

"When is it their birthday? I want to give it to them for their birthday."

Luckily a 4 year old has no concept of time...so their birthdays were today.

Joy

Tens and Units with Diggers and Toddlers

2011-08-25T19:43:00.000+01:00

Numbers can be stimulating if they are tactile,

and hook onto their interests

Colourful, solid, smooth, round, long, spherical

flat, square, numbers, tiles, smooth, mixed up, jumbled

" What is this?

I like this.

What is a hook?

What is this for?

What does it do?"

Toddler play along side Montessori style tens and units lesson

with homemade tens bead bars and digger number cards from here

See the other activities in our Construction Unit on the left bar

and our September giveaway

Construction Area Signs

2011-08-25T18:30:00.000+01:00

Decorate your construction area with these signs

to download from this pack here

The boys pegged them up around their play area and used blu-tack

on walls and cupboards.

Let's get building!

See the side bar on the left for our Construction unit links

and our September giveaway!

Back To School/ September Giveaway

2011-08-22T20:21:00.002+01:00

I bought this bag for Big Seed for snacks.

I love it!

So I asked Sam at My Beautiful Girl from Etsy if she would like to do a global giveaway

for you ladies...

so here it is!

For your chance to win 1 sandwich size bag in a print of her choosing

All you have to do is:

1. For 1 entry-Go to her Etsy store here

THEN write a comment on my blog saying which item you like the best

2. For the 2nd entry become a follower of my blog.
(if not I need a contact email address in your comment please)

3. For the 3rd entry become a follower of My Beautiful Girl on Facebook here

Giveaway closes 7th September

Good luck ladies, spread the love

What's On Our Shelves For Our Construction Theme

2011-08-22T19:51:00.009+01:00

We are using this Unit and also these trays:

A transferring activity- using these coloured plastic ice cubes ( not frozen)

transferring them onto a truck with a teabag strainer/tong

Transferring black beads (rubble) to the truck with lemon slice tongs

All ready to deliver, off we go.

Sorting nuts and bolts by size and shape. Matching them up and making pairs.

Sticklebricks from Charity Shop

Ordering diggers set 1-20 downloadable from Sparklebox here

Pin pushing pictures of diggers/tools self drawn.

We are also using toy pigs to tell the 3 Little Pigs Story
inspired from Structured Play here. She has some nice construction ideas.

X

Have you seen our gorgeous giveaway here?

Linking to:

Making a construction site & how to make moonsand.

2011-08-17T18:37:00.002+01:00

We created a real Construction Site Scene with their small construction vehicles

and a plastic playmat from Ebay for £2.50 on the kitchen table.

You could design your own on a huge piece of paper.

We made our own builder's sand which can be moulded into bricks and things.

This is how you make moon sand:

1 cup of sand to 1/2 a cup cornrstarch

( however much you want to make this is the ratio)

Mix water with cornstarch first and add food colouring.

Then add to sand.

Add glitter if you want.

Keep in an airtight box and add a few drops of water if it dries out.

Simple!

Part of our construction unit

ps it sticks to your socks/feet/clothes when playing

so wash off before you run around on the carpet!

Construction Unit Printables

2011-08-16T19:40:00.009+01:00

We are now learning about Construction Vehicles

so I made my boys some printables to put on the shelves

Click on image for Scribd or here for Googledocs download

In this unit you will find:

Matching pairs

3 part cards

Counting 1- 10 with numerals

Cutting practice strips

Counting worksheet

Addition worksheet

Sorry the printables wouldn't transfer across to Blogger

so these are photos of the sheets laminated before I cut them out for my Seeds.

Check out the link to see a clear view.

Print 1 sheet or the whole pack.

I have made things to suit both my boys who are 20 months and 4 years.

The unit is for your personal use not for resale or my gnomes will come and find you

and tell the troll who lives under my stairs....and we all know what happens then!

I hope you like it.

Graphics by BabyStarDesign@MyGrafico

Part of our Construction Unit Ideas and part 2

Have you seen our gorgeous giveaway?

Pin Pushing Is Our New Big Thing- Toddlers with Pins!

2011-08-15T12:37:00.003+01:00

This is so simple...the boys love this.

Just a pin from a cork notice board with an end to grip,

and poke, poke, poke to their hearts content.

The paper is placed on a big sponge (... like ours . Car wash sponge for 50p!),

or piece of foam or polystyrene.

They trace inside letters of their name and then hold it up to the light...

Even Little Seed likes poking into the sponge or paper pictures...

Anything goes.

And yes... that is my 20 month old son with a sharp pin.

I am influenced by Jean Liedloff who wrote the Continuum Concept.

An amazing woman who went into South America and lived amongst Stone Age Indians.

She advocated baby wearing, breastfeeding, not to deny screaming babies but to trust their and your own instincts.

This is what she says in an interview with Michael Mendizza from The Mother Magazine:

"We pride ourselves on being so intelligent, and yet we feel that we are the only species whose children are so stupid that they're going to throw themselves into the fire, out of windows and into swimming pools."

" We are the only animal that doesn't follow its mother, how can this be? Because we keep showing our children we expect them to run away: whereas people in the jungle have their children follow them around like animals."

"The point is trust. We are paying a terrible price when we don't trust our human nature, which works beautifully when we do. When we don't trust, our expectations are inappropriate, for ourselves and our children."

I show Little Seed what to do, and he copies his eldest brother.

I show him how sharp the needle is and he then concentrates and builds up skills, thereby building up self-confidence.

He has not hurt himself yet and probably won't.

He cuts strawberries and bananas with knives, and handles scissors ( although he can't cut).

He is allowed to do things without an air of nervousness around him and he enjoys.

Try hesitating next time you want to shout, "Don't do that! " and see if you can

find a way to scaffold what they want to do.

A Tiny Door To A Gnome & Fairy Land

2011-08-10T18:11:00.000+01:00

What could possibly be behind the door?

Where are those 2 gnomes going?

You'll never know because they go in there at night when children are asleep.

I think they are going to appear in every room in the house, different shapes and sizes!

( A piece of wood painted with a button stuck on, attached to the wall with blu-tak...)

India Topic Craft # 5 - Guess The Indian Ice Cream Game

2011-08-08T20:24:00.000+01:00

The boys made Indian Ice Cream in flavours you can't get at your

local ice cream parlour.

This was a lot of fun at supper.

Inspiration for this activity came from this book:

"Come And Eat With Us (Discovery Flaps)" by Annie Kubler and Caroline Formby

There is a page illustrating a girl buying ice-cream in an Indian village

from an ice-cream stall and it has pictures of the flavours on it.

We decided to make all those ice-cream flavours that vendor sells.

Big Seed keeps telling me he would like to try guava ice cream every time we read it.

So these are the flavours:

Guava, coconut, pineapple, ginger, banana.

This is the simplest ice-cream recipe ever!

1. Prepare fruits:

Pineapple: get a handful of chunks and blend them in a liquidizer/blender

Coconut: 3 tablespoons of dessicated coconut

Ginger : Finely grate 1 inch of ginger

Banana : Chop 1 banana into chunks and press through a fine sieve

Guava : Liquidize half of it

(Can you believe we couldn't buy guava after all this! We used strawberries instead...not very Indian

but I had to think fast. Use mango otherwise.)

2. Prepare creamy bit.

Whisk 3 egg yolks with 3 oz of light sugar in a bowl.

Take 500ml of double cream, boil then cool.

As it cools but it is still warm, add it gradually to the egg mixture a little at a time,

stirring constantly. It must not be too hot or it will cook the eggs and your ice cream will taste like breakfast!

3. Mix and freeze

Mix 100ml of cream with each of the ingredients, put in plastic pot and freeze.

We used old yoghurt pots.

The banana, ginger and coconut won't go hard as they don't contain water.

The others do so you need to stir it a few times..every hour or so.

In 3 hours it's frozen ready to eat.

4. Play Game

As the boys helped to make it, we played guess the flavour.

They have only ever eaten vanilla, strawberry or chocolate.

The ginger one was a real gorgeous surprise!

Enjoy!

I hope you have enjoyed our Indian series.

Why not try something for Independence Day on the 15th August for fun?

India Topic Craft # 4 - Hot Watercolours

2011-08-08T19:53:00.000+01:00

Still keeping with our India Unit , we used the books we had and

focussed on Hot Colours.

I asked Big Seed to choose the watercolours that were hot.

With those we did some wet-on-wet painting with watercolours and a pipette.

This is Little Seed's attempt. He couldn't get the hang of the pipette

and kept banging it on the paper, then I gave him a brush.

We will do this with hot pastels next.

The options are endless.

Big seed wanted to continue with a paintbrush...free rein.

Check out this link for fantastic drip art using the Indian Flag as inspiration.

Looks great fun!

Check out the other posts in this unit at the side bar

India Topic Craft # 3 - Glamorous Indian Trucks

2011-08-08T10:36:00.000+01:00

Continuing our theme, we decorated our own Indian Trucks.

They are amazingly decorated, they look fantastic.

We used some old trucks from our collection at home and recycled them

for this unique activity.

As an alternative children could decorate a print-out.

We took inspiration from these photos their grandfather took over in India.

Don't they look fabulous?

There are lots more pictures on the internet for inspiration.

We used permanent markers, stickers, sequins and glitter glue.

When else will he get a chance to colour on metal?

Little Seed's tractor.

Indian Independence Day is August 15th...use it as an excuse to do something different!

India Topic Craft # 2 - Making Indian Sweets

2011-08-06T11:39:00.002+01:00

Who doesn't like Indian sweets?

They are gorgeous and so aromatically spiced.

A true feel of India and so easy to make.

Mango Halwa

I chose this recipe as mangoes are common in the supermarkets here at the moment

and I am able to adjust the sugar content to suit our family.

Make sure the mangoes are really ripe and sweet, especially if you throw in chucks at the end.

Here is the link to the recipe

It uses semolina, sugar , butter and mangoes.

There are 3 mangoes in this recipe so it's quite healthy as sweets go!

The website has lots of inspiring recipes and photos if the mood takes you.

Have you seen our Indian bags and activities?

India Topic Craft # 1 - Decorating Cloth Shopping Bags

2011-08-06T11:20:00.002+01:00

Following on from our India activities here
the boys have made some gorgeous cloth shopping bags

like the people in India use everyday.

They have been using them for years before they became "trendy" and "eco-friendly" at home.

We were inspired by this cream fabric cloth bag from India,

some red printed fabric at the top of the picture,

and "Mama's Sari's" by Pooja Makhijani

which has amazing bright illustrations to inspire art.

Little Seed used fabric crayons and dipped his fingers in fabric paint.

Big Seed tried to imitate the tiny dots on the fabric by using fabric pens

and a cookie cutter as a circular template.

This is his circular design.

Little seed got creative by using the crayon as a brush

with the paint.

Big Seed used some wooden blocks to print,

fingerprints, handprints inspired by the common "paisley" design

which was created by using the side of the hand.

We will be using them on our next shopping trip!

Plain cloth bags bought from here

x

India Topic Activities

2011-08-03T20:45:00.007+01:00

I have created Montessori themed activities for a new geography

theme on India. I see that in many Montessori circles it gets studied under the theme of Asia

but we are going to focus solely on India.

Their Grandfather comes from India so we are lucky to have some treats.

Here is what is on our shelves:

They brought back some natural finds; leaves, dried flowers, cotton buds, giant seed pods,

and peacock feathers, and a wooden Ganesh figure.

( You can buy real feathers on Ebay and also buy Ganesh figures online).

I place a large magnifying glass next to the Discovery Tray.

We also have a little basket full of Indian jewellery I had in my drawers for years
which I didn't photograph but is a small Discovery Basket .

This is a traditional spice tray.

I filled it with rainbow rice.

Transferring raw lentils from child beakers for Little Seed.

Transferring raw lentils from 2 stainless steel cups for Big Seed.

(These have invisible bells inside..how cute.)

Any stainless steel cups will do, they are very common in most homes.

Transferring yellow beads pretending to be chick peas.

The ones I had were too big but these beads fit perfectly.

Using lemon slice tongs and soap holder with suction pads.

Animal dominoes that have monkeys and tigers somewhere in the set.

Lovely books from Amazon and Ebay all secondhand.

"Celebration" and "Children Just Like Me" by Dorling Kindersley can be used for all geography topics.

"Playtime (Around The World) by Kate Petty and Oxfam

"Prita Goes To India" by Prodeepta Das

"I Is For India" by Prodeepta Das

"Come And Eat With Us (Discovery Flaps)" by Annie Kubler and Caroline Formby

Puzzles; one for each of the boys

3D Peacock Puzzle from here

Construct a peacock feather game.
The felt cut-outs I made are in a pot.
He has to layer the pieces and make them all the same.

Play basket:
My green felt playmat, bits of tree bark blocks,
wooden mushrooms for forest, green playsilk,
toy elephants, a wooden carved elephant from India,
bit of green octagon construction pieces, cardboard trees we had made,
and...

a family of tigers.

Putting things together makes play more inviting sometimes.

Felt aeroplanes and and ice cube tray.
1 to 1 correspondence for Little Seed

A selection of wooden toys brought back from India.
You can get little metal bells anywhere and I have seen some of these on "Ethnic style" stalls in markets locally.

A wooden Indian kitchen playset for making chappatis.
You can improvise and use yellow playdoh too.

To take this recent activity further:
Big Seed has to thread as many aeroplane buttons on the pipecleaners as he can using
the sand timer.
He then writes down the number he managed to thread.

I made these elephant number cards to order numbers 1 - 20.
Download a copy here.

Our map of India that decorated the play area.

There are many links to elephant themed activities and worksheets that you can find on the internet.

In the next post I will be showing you what crafty activities we have done
linking to our India topic.

My Craft links:
Craft activity # 1 : Shopping bags
Craft activity # 2 : Making Indian Sweets
Craft activity # 3 : Glamorous Indian Trucks
Craft activity # 4 : Hot Watercolours
Craft activity # 5 : Guess the Indian Ice Cream Game
x

Linking to:

No Time For Flashcards - Link and Learn

Chamomile Lemon/Strawberryade - Liquid Sunshine

2011-07-27T19:35:00.000+01:00

Now is a good time to harvest Chamomile flowers for tea, sleep pocket pillows and soap cakes

This year I wanted to try something new too.

I read that you can harvest and dry the leaves too for scented crafts

We made lemonade for the hot, summer days while gardening.

Find a recipe that suits you...we don't use lots of sugar in our house

We added chamomile flowers to sugar and lemon peel in a pan,

and heated it up to make the syrup base.

I added the juice of a lemon, and also of an orange.

We have wild strawberries in the garden so I crushed some through a fine sieve and added the couli

I popped in a sprig of lemon balm

Refrigerate or add ice cubes

Liquid sunshine oh so good for you.

Homemade napkins by the boys

2011-07-25T19:22:00.001+01:00

Apologies for creased napkins in the picture but

they can't wait to use them

(they are being used as wrapping paper in role play!)...so here they are.

You get the idea.

I used an old cot sheet ( Little Seed didn't spend much time in it!)

I hemmed the edges to make rectangles by hand. It didn't take long.

Then Big Seed printed one with leaves and flowers from the garden using fabric paints.

He also drew pictures using fabric crayons and felts on another.

x

For an amazing chance to win 19 beautiful Elsa Beskow books click here!

Transportation Topic Playdough

2011-07-21T19:38:00.000+01:00

Black homemade playdough

Lovely for making different tracks

Add signs, lines and characters...

Crazy town!

Get creative

Transportation Topic

2011-07-16T18:38:00.003+01:00

This post at Counting Coconuts has got me inspired to start the

Summer holidays with the kids.

She is brilliant as always.The transportation pack by Homeschool Creations she mentions is brilliant!

Sorting transport themed felt shapes from Tesco

Threading cotton reels ( they look like wheels) from here

Matching locks and keys tied to a cotton reel

He has to get the lock off the playdoh monster toys.

I change them around so it's not easy bought from here

Fire-engine sticky mosaic from ToysRUs

Colour by numbers style

We have also got a boat one from here

Threading cars and aeroplanes as seen on Counting Coconuts

From here and here

Spooning wooden wheels from here

One spoon for each of the boys

An old lego model of a postal van

Threading transport and a town

Their grandma bought them transport stickers.

I draw a road for them and they have to stick them on in the right directions

Big Seed drew a train and he printed the wheels with cotton reels

We have also done the same printing with old kitchen roll tubes.

We went to our library and got lots of non-fiction books on transport.
Lots of real images of cars and trains, etc has them hooked at bedtime.

If you have any transport links let me know

Sound Table

2011-07-13T18:24:00.000+01:00

This is so simple.

Just gather objects from your home beginning with your focus sound.

Big Seed enjoyed writing the simple labels.

Easy Weaving

2011-07-05T18:35:00.000+01:00

We have done some rainbow weaving

using cardboard from a cereal box and rainbow wool.

June Montessori Activities

2011-06-27T21:20:00.001+01:00

I have turned the space rocket back into 2 bookcases full of Montessori style

activities.

They haven't stopped playing with them...well it is a typical UK Summer!

Activities for an 18 mth old and 4 year old...

1st bookcase contains:

Sequencing cards

Homemade sticker activities based on what stickers I have in the house.

This one is matching upper and lower case letters

I have also made counting ones, match the initial sound to the animal, put the cars on the road etc

This is in a seed tray because real Montessori trays are very expensive!

Put the right number of glass beads on the sticks

Or just place them on anyway you like.

Velcro fruit and vegetables

Chopping them in half and placing them in the pots

This is their favourite and is done about 6 times a day by both of them

Matching the right colour lolly stick to the plastic cups

(Cups from supermarket picnic section)

Sorting cutlery

(from Ikea Kid's section)

Sorting buttons

2nd bookshelf

Matching butterflies

Printed then laminated from here

More challenging matching game

Printed 2 sets of butterfly pictures and cut a third out to match up.

More interesting matching task for older children

They are quite detailed and different.

Play basket with felt playmat, gnomes, toadstools, woodenblocks, shells, a real assortment of things

they would not normally put together.

A songbook Big Seed illustrated with some instruments

Laminated puzzle of a ladybird from here

Also not shown in photos:

* Basket of homemade playdough in a tub with alphabet cutters

* Tweezing furry pompoms with sugar tweezers into a glass jar

* Using pipette to transfer water onto suction pads of soap holder

* Number puzzle

* Spooning marbles into ice cube tray

*Pouring beads from 2 empty paint pots

Two Little Seeds at work together

Space Theme

2011-06-04T19:50:00.000+01:00

I know it is not a popular time of year to cover Space but the Two Seeds

went to a Space themed birthday party so we were inspired.

This is our Sensory Box.

The Moon

Filled with sand and flour! It's brilliant!

Crystals, glass stones and some space toys.

We kept it simple, you don't need to fill it with expensive stuff.

This is the shot before they played with it.

There is a flat shell and a smooth garden stone too.

Later on they played with diggers and rollers as "moon buggies".

Free play with the space toys that came in a tube.

Found on Amazon.

Melissa and Doug Space floor puzzle. Its gorgeous.

3 part cards from here

We have been doing lots of colour mixing to paint planets.

This is our space role play area: a rocket.

Using the 2 cheap bookshelves again, I brought them closer together.

Tied a rainbow silk as a roof ( you can use a sheet), with wooden clips,

tied with string in the middle to my shelf on the wall to give it height.

2 baby chairs for rocket seats, tool kit box to fix the rocket,

food, cushions and silks to sleep in, and of course space helmets.

The brown one is seriously oversized...but he likes it that way!

At the back on the wall is a "window"...a collage of printables that we cut out,

numbers 10-0, planets, stars, etc.

As time has progressed the boys decorated the rockets with decorated stars,

more windows and buttons.

My Life Is Complete! I Made It To Crafty Crow!

2011-05-20T19:23:00.001+01:00

I finally did it!

She chose a post of mine to publish on The Crafty Crow!

I can't believe it.

The Crafty Crow been a staple of mine since I started.

It's a great day!

Watercolours # 4: Storytelling, Wet on Wet

2011-04-25T19:14:00.000+01:00

We have been using a Waldorf Curriculum loosely from here

It has some lovely ideas for wet on wet mono-colour painting for poems.

I decided to do a story from our bookshelves, "Jack and The Beanstalk."

This post is just to illustrate the technique which can be adapted to any poem/story/song

that lends itself well.

As I read the book, Big Seed illustrates what I say:

"The mother threw the 5 beans out of the window"

"It grew into a very tall beanstalk."

"At the top was a huge castle."

"There was a huge giant..."

Anyway, you get the idea.

This is the finished painting.

It doesn't matter if objects overlap, are out of proportion, etc

It is the creative process that is important.

Stories with action and movement are the best...jumping, hopping, running around etc.

These are fun for the child to do with their paintbrush.

Pirate Themed Steiner Birthday Crown

2011-04-24T09:55:00.011+01:00

This is my first attempt at a Steiner Birthday Crown.

I needle-felted from L-R

A Robin, skull and crossbones, L, ladybird and bee.

These are Spring things he asked for.

I used orange blanket stitch as this is his favourite colour right now.

He had a Steiner-style party and he invited 4 of his favourite friends.

I kept the numbers low incase it rained too, but it turned out to be great.

I used many ideas from an old post here:

I made our own party bags from pirate fabric
and made " Seaweed Sticks" by attaching ribbons to sticks for them to play with in the garden.

x

Spring Nature Prints

2011-04-07T19:29:00.000+01:00

Big Seed went to the park and collected a bucket of Spring treasures.

He is really into mixing colours..especially orange.

Orange, orange, orange.

Here are a few things he collected ...

And then he printed with them, exploring shape, texture and colour.

And then... of course

to finish off...

hands!

Mother's Day Gift Bag

2011-04-03T16:01:00.000+01:00

Here's an idea for a Mother's Day gift:

Poppy fabric shopping bag.

Printed with potatoes, carrots and a ruler.

Easy!

Here is what he made me:

a tissue paper flower...

rolled up tissue paper tied with a pipecleaner as a stem.

Lovely

Happy Mother's Day to you all!

Mother Earth and Spring Flower Fairies

2011-03-28T19:20:00.000+01:00

"Each of the root-children chose her own colour to make a dress.

The snowdrop chose a snow-white cloth, the forget-me-knot a sky blue piece, the buttercup bright yellow, the daisy white with yellow and a bit of red, and the poppy a bright red."

"As soon as you're ready, I'll unlock and open the doors up to the ground."

"At last it was really Springtime!"

Inspired by "The Story of the Root Children" by Sibylle Von Olfers

and We Bloom Here through Wild Fairie Caps

I made some peg fairies and Mother Earth.

I left them, to dry overnight and when I came downstairs they were covered

in specks of paint from each other.

I asked if the boys had been banging them together?

"Yeah, they have been kissing!"

What can you say... they now have an antique effect.

Nice!

Spring Activities

2011-03-21T19:50:00.001Z

This is what we are choosing from on our new shelves:

Sorting Spring flowers.

I found images on Google of crocuses, daffodils, hyacinths, snowdrops and tulips.

We are also growing these in our garden.

This can be as easy or as complicated as you want to make it.

Sorting shapes.

This came from Montessori Print Shop and they are nice pictures.

This is a game called Insey Wincey Spider for learning about shapes.

From Orchard games.

I laminated this sheet of spring flowers and numbers he finds hard to write to use with a wipeable pen.

Movable alphabet.

3 letter words that rhyme with hat.

Imaginative play with pond scenes.

Magic Painting books- paint with water only.

Remember them?

Really toddler friendly.

This is left over from Valentines.

I sewed a heart from felt and sewed on large heart buttons.

He has to put the small coloured felt hearts on the buttons,

or thread them onto the ribbon.

Inspired by Counting Coconuts.

Match the clothes on the teddies.

Wooden puzzle.

(A gift)

Feed the coins in the money box.

Little Seed loves this.

Spooning tulip flowers into an ice cube tray.

He has to spoon 3 into each compartment.

Little Seed likes this too.

Nice flowers from Ebay.

They make a nice tinkling sound in the ramekin.

Pouring real beans.

Sandpaper numerals with a notebook and crayon in the basket

(which you can't see as it was being used.)

Sound shakers.

We are also doing lots of Spring art, reading Spring themed books,

and sowing lots of seeds too.

Sensorial Sound Jar Game

2011-03-16T20:18:00.000Z

This is a fun activity for all ages.

It is based on something I saw in a Montessori catalogue

but we managed to make some prettier ones for free.

You need some old glass baby food jars/jam jars/yoghurt pots

Place different objects in jars in pairs.

We used rice, beans, nails, coins, and marbles.

Tape around the lid and decorate with tissue paper and glue.

Make sure you cover the bottom too!

Then choose a jar and try to find the corresponding sound.

SNAP!

Makes a nice change to the visual games that dominate our area.

Presenting Choices For Play With A Toddler Around

2011-03-14T18:12:00.000Z

How do I present choices in our play and learning area

when I have a toddler who likes to tip everything out and create chaos?

It has been frustrating because I want to create a lovely Steiner/Montessori

area for them but I could not get it to work...

until NOW!

Here we have our cheap shelves which are occasionally used as a roleplay area,
but it has got a bit tired lately so I am trying something new,
and I think Little Seed is just old enough to go with it.

I put some Montessori activities in bowls on the top shelf where Captain Chaos can't reach.
I will do a post on what the activities are this week.

The middle shelf houses the imaginative play mat, influenced by Steiner.
Big Seed got it out this week so I have made a permanent fixture on the middle shelf for now.

On the bottom are Little Seed's toys, and things I don't mind him tipping.

Next to the shelf on the floor is a basket of Steiner based tree blocks and a few baby books.

The top shelf has a basket of envelopes containing Montessori card activities.

Now here is the best part for all you Montessori homeschoolers with destructive toddlers:
clear boxes with lids with activities in it such as Practical life; scooping, pouring, etc
so that Big Seed can still see what's there. The items for pouring are in jars with lids inside.
Problem sorted!

Bottom shelf has roleplay cooking toys which they both enjoy playing with.I have put the bulk of the cooking stuff away, as they just want to make cups of tea these days.

Big Seed has shown great interest in the boxes and baskets, and so far Little Seed has respected the area.

This is progress.

x

Storytelling Bookshelf

2011-03-12T15:24:00.000Z

Stories don't just come from books...if you want to encourage imaginative play

you can give them examples and tell stories to them orally.

Storytelling is a huge element of Steiner teaching.

Big Seed has a 3 tiered bookshelf in his bedroom.

We have put his favourite bedtime stories that I tell him on the top shelf.

I have put some spring themed cloth on the bottom.

This is "Little Rabbit Foo Foo" who bonks mice on the head. The Good Fairy warns that

she will turn him into an egg after she gives him 3 chances.

Rabbit is from Schleich through Amazon.

We use it in Peter Rabbit stories.

"Three Billy Goats Gruff"

The fox is for the German version where the goats want to pass on the lane to go to the forest.

The bridge and gnome is for the troll hiding under the bridge version which I grew up with, whereby the goats want to cross the river.

Gorgeous wooden goats are from here.

"Goldilocks and the Three Bears"

from here.

There is a crocheted bee on the table because other items appear on here sporadically.

Big Seed likes to add other animals/people when he retells these stories.

Big Seed doesn't easily engage in imaginative play unless it has a purpose

or he is re-enacting real life eg cooking on his toy stove, collecting rubbish, etc

He needs me to give him examples like these.

I love hearing him tell ME stories.

3 Spring Flower Pictures

2011-03-08T20:57:00.000Z

Our new topic is Spring,

so to kick off we used our garden as inspiration:

Hyacinths using tissue paper balls.

Snowdrops using fingerprints.

Precut felt shapes: had to be arranged and stuck to make a tulip.

Then the parts of the flower were named.

Big Seed wanted to make his own tulip.

Our Spring Nature Table: Just Who Is It For?

2011-03-06T16:00:00.000Z

I am sure some of you will be able to identify with this.

We have changed our Nature Table for Spring.

Well, I say that "we" have..."we" tried and then Big Seed took over.

Well , I say "took over" but I mean he recreated the whole thing.

I asked him if he wanted to help me make the table but he did not want to.

So I made the table in a way that I thought was charming and neat.

Big Seed came along and had a tantrum and pulled the whole thing apart and became distraught.

He calmed down and then created the table by himself in a way that made sense to him.

At first, I felt as frustrated as he did ...but then I asked myself

"Just who is this table for in the first place?"

Do we try and make a nice table for the children and visitors to admire, so it fits in with the rest of the decor or feel of the house?

Or is it a learning experience to be shared or even owned by the children themselves?

In the end I was happy that it was so important to him and that he interacts with it.

It has become a playscene and an important place.

It's ok if all the animals are living in wooden houses together, and that the duck is not in the pond but in with the orange and white cow I cannot stand, along with the wooden ladybird back massager!

The empty pond is surrounded by a growing number of dead daisies he has picked for me.

It's OK because he is showing me that he feels it's important for animals to be together,

he doesn't like animals being alone, it's cold outside so they are in "houses" and the first daisies of the year are so important to him they have a place on the Special Table.

My Spring Table is for the boys...it belongs to them.

Your thoughts are welcome...do you have a table?

Happy St.David's Day

2011-03-01T19:24:00.000Z

Happy St.David's Day!

St.David is the patron saint of Wales.

Today children dress in traditional costume, have Welsh folk festival competitions in schools,

make traditional Cawl soup and eat Welsh cakes.

Daffodils, leeks and dragons are Welsh symbols.

We had a nice day out in the park with friends and ate Welsh cakes.

It has been the first dry day in ages!

Easy peasy, eco, free, garden teepee

2011-02-27T17:34:00.002Z

Here is our new garden creation:

A teepee ( well actually it's a garage for cars and trucks at the moment.)

Made from beanpole bamboo sticks, twine and old stems from artichoke plants.

The artichoke tubers not flowers; they grow over 6ft tall!

Some ivy is woven around it, I couldn't find much of it,

however it would look great covered in it.

I was inspired by the willow tunnels and shapes we saw at the Welsh Botanical Gardens.

Apparently you have to plant them by the end of Feb.

When we looked how much the kits cost ( from £60 upwards),

we decided to have a bash at it ourselves.

Total cost: £0

Remember Cuisenaire?

2011-02-22T19:44:00.002Z

We are using Cuisenaire Rods...remember these?

It's a different approach to mathematics and can be used alongside other methods.

I bought a basic wooden set from Ebay.

They are colour coded rods in different lengths from 1cm to 10cm.

The white squares are the basic single units.

We have begun by playing with them and playing matching games.

Does anyone else out there use these?

Valentines Day Activities #1

2011-02-06T19:39:00.001Z

We are into the swing of our new theme:

St Valentine's Day, which is celebrated here on the 14th of February.

I cut up different shades of red/pink/purple from an old catalogue and Big Seed stuck them onto a paper heart as a collage.

He has since been cutting up an old catalogue by himself and making more hearts like this.

Little Seed stuck some down onto sticky plastic film.

He isn't ready for this yet but still wants to join in and copy his big brother.

I cut out different sized hearts from scrapbook paper for Big Seed to sort.

Sorting heart beads from Ebay.

Transferring marbles into a heart ice cube tray with a Chinese spoon.

Tray is from Ikea.

Big Seed loves post-it notes. So I gave him some of my pad and also made him

little heart shaped notebooks stapled together

so he can pull off the sheets.

Big Seed made these counting heart cards.

I bought some shiny sticky 3D hearts from Ebay.

These are lovely to touch when counting.

Simple sentences.

This is a great introduction to reading and writing.

Big Seed drew the people in his family.

I wrote the words for him.

He chooses a person and he makes the sentence and reads it.

This activity isn't Valentines related but it's part of our "Activity Basket"

that we are working on now.

These cards relate to the Pink Series Montessori initial sounds

bought from here

I laminated them and he uses a wipeable pen.

They come with answer cards for self correcting.

This is some of the stuff we are working on this month.
I shall do another post with our other Valentines activities.

So Simple Scarf !

2011-02-04T20:04:00.000Z

I haven't got round to knitting him a rainbow scarf this winter

so he made one instead.

Not the best choice of clothing for this shot I know,

but it just goes to prove nothing is planned or set up.

It's a green fleece scarf incase you can't make it out.

Cut out a long piece or fleece,

then fray the edges like this.

So Simple!

Happy Chinese New Year!

2011-02-03T19:41:00.000Z

This is the first time we have celebrated Chinese New Year.

We started by looking at an atlas and having a chat about it.

Then the boys made these cards.

Big Seed painted with red watercolours at Christmas so we used these as a base.

I found some chinese writing on google so I wrote "happiness" on one card in pencil

and "peace" on the other.

Big Seed wrote on top in felt tip and Little Seed just liked to copy him with black crayons.

We glued on some gold glitter too.

I downloaded this rabbit template from here

Inspired by this we made a Chinese banner.
I wrote some words in pencil and some random letters
and Big Seed painted on top in watercolour.

We put everything up on our mantelpiece.
Then had Chinese Takeaway for dinner...of course!

Happy New Year !

x

Look What We Won: Gorgeous King Winter!

2011-01-27T19:34:00.000Z

We are SO lucky to have won this amazing creature

from Ancient Hearth blog.

He is just what we needed.

Jack Frost seems a bit put out now that the Big Man of Winter has arrived.

Here he is all settled in pride of place on our seasonal table.

Big Seed is very proud of him and loves his curly beard.

Thank you so much Ancient Hearth:

He will be treasured and displayed for many years to come.

Winter Wonderland Activities #2

2011-01-20T20:04:00.000Z

Here are some other Winter themed activities we have been doing:

Fishing for baubles in bubbles!

I used our plastic sensory box and filled it with bubble bath, baubles ( from our toddler posting activity),

and animals. He used a goldfish net from a pet shop.

I put a couple of towels underneath the box and let him have fun fishing.

He placed his "catch" in a bowl.

Sensory play - polar bears and penguins in cornflour gloop.

I used the lid of the plastic sensory box.

Animal footprints in playdough.

My Two Little Seeds exploring alongside each other.

Blissful moments.

A lovely felt snowflake game from My Montessori Journey.

The cards can be downloaded from here

You have to cut out shapes from white felt.

The object of this activity is to make the snowflake design on the card with the felt pieces.

They are segregated in an egg box for ease of use.

A lovely matching game.