For the Love of Playmobil!

The girls had simply grown out of the majority of other toysets that we have so I recently invested in some pre-loved playmobil from e-bay and it has been a roaring success. I had wondered if it would stifle their creativity as it is in pre-designed sets but they have been just as creative as ever with it! It has been a permanent fixture on the dining table the last couple of days and I think they clocked up around five hours with it yesterday! 

Domino Maths

My girls love to play dominoes at the moment they count up their remaining dominoes and Eve writes the scores down, which is giving her loads of practice in writing teens and multiples of tens. I found these printable worksheets for her to use to make math problems with the dominoes as an extension to her love of dominoes!

Beginning Blends Bingo!

This game is a Godsend!! Eve and I clash over literacy activities, she CAN do it, she just doesn't want to do it with me, or doesn't like the pressure, I'm not sure, but this game that I found this week is brilliant. The game cards have a variety of beginning blends on them and the cards have pictures. Eve has to both read and blend the sounds on her game card AND identify and segment the sounds of the picture words. BINGO! She is gaining literacy skills without really realising it, and definitely without fighting me over it.... she even asked to play again!!!!! Hurray!

You can find it to download and print here!

I had this message today from the Mum of one of the little ones that I care for:

"I've just been given a gallette des rois that you have at the beginning of jan for the three kings/wise men... I thought the girls would like. It is like a cake and whoever gets the little model in their slice is the "king"..."

We shared the cake for afternoon snack.... the explanation continues with whoever gets the little model crown is the King and they present the cardboard crown included in the bag to their Queen.... of course I made sure that the crown was in my slice and of course all four girls are special so all of them took turns to be my Queen.... here is Faith proudly taking her turn!! the Mum that brought the cake speaks fluent French and works for a multinational company as PA to the Chief Executive, who is French, and she has often shared French customs with us to enrich our days together.... she even nipped out of work to bring us the cake!

Creativity with Polar Animals!

I put out the Inuit playset that we have..... and was called to see 'Faith's brilliant trick' by Eve.... she had balanced the animals in series. I just loved it..... she has such an eye for pattern and beauty in simple things!

handmade presents by Eve...

I couldn't post about this on the run-up to Christmas as it would have spoiled the surprise for the recipients, but this is the appliqued pillow for Granny that Eve very cleverly made with a little guidance using my Nana's beautiful old Pfaff sewing machine. She also hand sewed a decorated cushion in felts for her Mamgu. I'd love to join in in 2011 with those who made a hand made Christmas last year but fear that i couldn't post about half of them as the intended recipients read my blog!!!! Any suggestions about other nice sewing machine projects for children?

Winter Twigs

This sheet of detailed pictures of the Winter twigs of different varieties of British trees is fantastic, it comes from the Woodland Trust's 'Nature Detectives' site, and can be downloaded direct here. In the picture, Eve is identifying a horse chestnut by it's huge, sticky black buds. Motivated by my desire for it to be Spring soon, we cut two twigs and brought them home; they make a stark display in my Grandmother's gorgeous earthenware flower jug, but should soon burst into life in the warmth of the lounge. This is a simple activity that can be done at the local park or walking along the street, it doesn't even need a big trip out to the woods. It really encouraged the girls to look closely and discuss the differences as several of the buds we looked at were red but are layered differently.