Friday 29 May 2015

Audley End, Essex, UK



We had a lovely sunny afternoon at English Heritage's Audley End. Our first picnic of the year in the playground, fun trying out the mediaeval games and our first time inside the house since it has been changed to a more kid friendly experience. Mj played the piano in the library and they both tried out the rocking horse in the nursery. Great Nana had given them both some money so MJ purchased a wooden bow and arrow, at which I was very surprised as he is the sensible saver of the two and normally puts all his money in his piggy bank. Lj however is a live for today kind of girl and I get the feeling money will 'burn a hole in her pocket'. Anyway we came home with a bow and arrow which will be a fun toy to play with outside.

Lj's home learning, sentence for the day.

Rainy day art!

 There has been more drawing going on around here than is normal.

Lj's golfing boat with flower propeller.

 Lj's city with mountain climber and skateboarder.


 MJ's emergency services with police, fire and RNLI.


MJ's farm with church yard and surfer.


Monday 25 May 2015

Ickworth House and Gardens, Suffolk


Sadly it wasn't the warmest Bank Holiday Monday. I noticed more than one Mum hugging themselves to keep warm in the children's play park! Of course, the children didn't notice the coolness and had a great time playing sword fighting in the willow maze, hiding inside hollow tree trunks, balancing on and climbing trees. The adults enjoyed their cups of hot coffee and stroll around the kitchen garden and grounds.
Ickworth is a great day out for all the family and if it wasn't quite so far away I could see it becoming a favourite for us.

Saturday 23 May 2015

'Joseph' Wednesday Club #20

Wow...I can't believe we have had Wednesday Club 20 times! One of the girls drew me a picture at school. I love it!


We have been using the beginners bible on You tube to tell the story of  Joseph. This week was our 3rd week of Joseph and so we heard about God giving Joseph wisdom to tell the meaning of Pharaoh's dream and in so doing he was able to provide the country with food even through 7 years of famine. So in the space of 2 years Joseph went from being forgotten in prison to serving as one of Pharaoh's top men. God is always in control of our every situation.


As Pharaoh's dream involved cows, I wanted to come up with a related craft or activity. The closest I could come up with was...cows give us milk, we use milk in lots of ways, one of them is to make ice cream....creating ice cream sundaes are a fun activity. MJ was not all that impressed with my tedious link but the kids absolutely loved making and eating them! To lengthen the activity we designed our ice cream sundaes on paper. Our ice cream sundae's included...marshmallows, ice cream, raspberries, more ice cream, whipped cream, fudge sauce and sprinkles.





Flatford, home of J.Constable

Each Saturday morning M and I love to make ourselves a real coffee and while sipping, read the weekend FT which drops through our letter box with a clatter at 5am. This morning as I was reading an article on photography I noticed a photo taken in Flatford, Suffolk and commented to M that he took the kids there a number of years ago but I had not been with him. To which he responded 'lets go there today'. An hour or so later we were on our way.

John Constable's father owned the mill at Flatford, now owned by National Trust and it is in this area that Constable took inspiration for many of his paintings.
 

Do you recognise this scene...without 2 children in it?!


It is the scene for Constable's, The Hay Wain.


We took a rowing boat out on the River Stour, had lunch in the cafe, hunted for bugs and did some tree and bird spotting.


Tonight we will be reading 'Katie and the British Artists' by James Mayhew to remind us of Constable and the inspiration for his paintings.

Monday 18 May 2015

Last week's creating

 It's a wet morning and my Monday run was cut short with a knee injury but I'm enjoying being tucked up inside, listening to the radio and sewing some personalised bunting for a Mr & Mrs Bunting!
Before I forget here are a few pics of what we have been creating.

Expanding our 'Bunting to borrow' range!


I finally got 'Lilyjean' sewn onto her birthday blanket.


A drawstring bag for 'Max'.


Lj experimenting with shaving foam and cornflour!



MJ drawing and painting one of his favourite things...as RNLI life boat.


Lj would like a 'rainbow' themed birthday party so we were trying out some rainbow crafts. The bottom rainbow is created using a layer of shaving foam on a tray, poster paint dribbled over the top and a sheet of paper lightly pressed onto it. When the paper is lifted off and the shaving foam scrapped off a print of colour remains.

Friday 15 May 2015

Joseph- Wednesday club #18&19

I have become a little slack at keeping up on my Wednesday club blog posts.
Over Easter I lost enthusiasm for Wednesday club and considered stopping it for the summer but then a number of the mum's commented on how much their children enjoyed it and looked forward to it that I felt encouraged to keep on going.

We started a new topic. One of my favourite Old Testament stories. Joseph. Joseph has many low points in his life when he may have been justified to give up on God, but through it all he continued to trust in God's plan for his life. There are a number of times we see how he couldn't deny that God was working in his life as God gave him the wisdom to interpret dreams and he always attributed this gift of dream telling to God.

We will cover the story of Joseph over four weeks.

On week one we told the story of Joseph receiving the coat of many colours from his father. Joseph the dreamer. His brothers jealousy and their plot to get rid of him.
We experimented with Hama beads. Making bowls, shapes and pictures. The children of all abilities were engaged for a long time.




Week Two:
We continued from the point of Joseph's brothers throwing him into the well. His sale to the traders as they past by. The brothers lie to their father. Jacob's grief. Joseph being thrown into prison for something he didn't do. Explaining the meaning of his follow inmates dreams.

We decorated white t shirts using Sharpie pens and rubbing alcohol to create our own technicolour tops. These needed quite alot of adult supervision but the kids were in awe as the alcohol created its own patterns in the permanent marker ink. I really want to try a tshirt for myself.




Over the four weeks we will be learning through song:

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

The Ascension- Wednesday Club #17

Watch- We will watch a short clip from The Easter Story on U tube which tells us the story of Jesus telling his disciples how he must return to God, his Father.

Key points:
The disciples were sad Jesus was going away
Jesus told them about his home in heaven
Jesus told them the way to Heaven
Jesus is the Way
To know Jesus is to know the Way

Memory Verse- 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.' John 14v6

Make- Ninja Balls
You will need:
Rice
Cling film
Balloons
Permanent Marker



I forgot to post this at the time but the kids loved their balls. Very effective craft!

Lilyjean's Bean



Bean's
My bean is 16cm.
On my bean there are 4 leaves.
Lily's bean.