Home Learning – Diary of a First Child

We’ve been working through the year 2 English curriculum recently, as a sort of a guide for things for Ameli to learn, her being very keen to learn it all. I have to admit that looking at the curriculum I’m shocked and mildly appalled at what 7-year-olds are expected to learn! But as long as Ameli enjoys it, we’ll keep going.

We’ve been reading Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter – a short story that doesn’t take very long, but is filled with all the examples of things the kids are learning in Year 2. Graphemes, apostrophes, suffixes – well, if you have a child who’s been through this curriculum, you’ll know!*

Year 2 English With Peter Rabbit

Results Are In! Grow Your Own Potatoes Project

Home / 5-6 years / Results Are In! Grow Your Own Potatoes Project

July 6, 2017 by Luschka

This year we’ve once again participated in the Potatoes for Schools – Grow Your Own Potatoes project, whereby they send you potatoes and instructions, and you have to grow your own. As part of the project you’re supposed to keep an eye on your potatoes, soil them up from time to time, and generally follow their progress. We measured them intermittently, and made sure it was slug free and so on, but we did fail miserably at the seed potato – the one you’re supposed to plant in such a way that you can actually see the root system. I know we planted it in a jar, I just have no idea what became of the jar! We did, however, do the same with a pumpkin seed and a sunflower, and were able to watch their root systems stretch towards water. It was all very interesting. But back to the potatoes…

“Word Has It!” Game Review

Home / 6 - 7 / “Word Has It!” Game Review

June 27, 2017June 27, 2017 by Luschka

Another game review today as I’ve been really slack in getting these games online, even though we’ve been playing them for weeks! Today’s game is super for anyone who loves word building games – the game is Word Has It! by University Games, and it’s best suited to those who can actually read.

The idea of Word Has It is to build the longest word you can within the given time limit, the given starting letter and the given category. So to start, you choose a category card – say ‘something that grows’ – then you spin the spinner and get a letter – say “F” – then hit the timer and you have a few seconds to come up with a word, find the letters and stack them to create a word. The winner is the person who has the longest word in the given time. "Word Has It!" Game Review Read more: “Word Has It!” Game Review

Used Tyre Fairy Gardens

Home / Creative Development / Used Tyre Fairy Gardens

May 11, 2017May 9, 2017 by Luschka

I’ve often seen fairy gardens made out of old tyres, but on trying to find out how to paint a tyre, I’ve found so much conflicting advice!

One site had a thread where people were discussing the best paint for your tyre with person A commenting that he had 30 years’ experience as a paint expert and that you should use an exterior oil based paint.

The next comment was from someone who had tried it and an oil based paint didn’t work. For every person suggesting a particular type of paint, another was refuting it and recommending something else. It was rather overwhelming, for something that was supposed to be a fun task.

Another site recommended washing then sanding then washing the tyre again, then using a primer before using one or another paint – that seems like hard work for a children’s fairy garden project!Read more: Used Tyre Fairy Gardens

STEM/STEAM Wild Science Perfume Factory

Home / 7-8 / STEM/STEAM Wild Science Perfume Factory

March 17, 2017March 15, 2017 by Luschka

I don’t know if it’s just because Ameli is of a particular STEM/STEAM age, or if it’s that there’s been a huge push in that direction lately, but involving girls in science, and kids in science generally, seems to be everywhere at the moment. We were recently sent a Wild Science Perfume Factory set to review and it’s been a huge hit here.

Ameli is quite science-keen anyway, with Project MC2 ranking high on her favourites list, so the Wild Science Perfume Factory is right up her street. You know how some toys are a the thing of the moment for five minutes, then they aren’t a thing at all five minutes later? This isn’t one of them. On the first go, Ameli spent over an hour mixing and matching – an hour’s a long time for something to hold her attention! Since then, she’s taken to applying her perfume daily and creating top ups from time to time too.

The kit includes a stand, a scoop, five vials, a perfume bottle, tweezers, stirring sticks, mixing pot, red liquid pigment, special base perfumes, sticky labels, Sodium Polyacrylate Crystals, a measuring cup, a graduated pump and cotton ball filters.

The base perfumes are Eucalyptus, Jasmine, Peppermint and Rose essential oils.

26 Free Dr Seuss Book Readings And Movies

Home / 2 - 3 years / 26 Free Dr Seuss Book Readings And Movies

March 2, 2017 by Luschka

Happy Dr.Seuss Birthday! I know this makes me sound old, because I never asked this as a kid, but where’s this year going! I just packed away the Christmas decorations, and here we are into the 3rd month of the year already. The 3rd month does start with a bang though, with World Book Day and Dr Seuss birthday on the 2nd of March.

If you don’t have the fantastic collection of Dr Seuss books there are a good selection of the short movies available online that you can watch in a pinch:Read more: 26 Free Dr Seuss Book Readings And Movies

DIY Craft Kit Gift With Twinkl

Home / 5-6 years / DIY Craft Kit Gift With Twinkl

February 21, 2017 by Luschka

You know those days when you wake up in the morning and mentally go through your day, only to suddenly remember the birthday party you’re meant to be at in two hours, so you stumble bleary-eyed over to the gift cupboard and realise that you now only have gifts left for babies, blessingways and older kids, so you log in to your online banking really hoping your client has paid you, but alas, she hasn’t… so you have less than two hours to come up with a present. What do you do? I’ve mentioned before what I do – I go to Twinkl, so that’s precisely what I did today. DIY Craft Kit Gift With Twinkl

Also An Octopus {Book Review}

Home / Book Reviews / Also An Octopus {Book Review}

February 15, 2017March 23, 2017 by Luschka

I seem to find myself a bit gushy over books every week at the moment. I can’t help that the books we’re being sent are so fantastic though! This week’s arrival was perfectly themed for us too, because we’ve been focusing on story telling and story writing this month, what with it being both National Story Telling Week a few weeks ago, and National Haiku month and all that. So Also an Octopus from Maggie Tokuda-Hall is a perfectly timed book for us – but it’s also both funny and really sweet, and an all round fantastic concept.

My First Story Writing Book {Book Review}

Home / 5-6 years / My First Story Writing Book {Book Review}

February 1, 2017February 2, 2017 by Luschka

If you’ve been inspired by National Storytelling Week or you’re simply hoping to encourage your little storyteller to grow in the craft, there are a number of books on the market that offer just that. We recently bought My First Story Writing Book from Usborne books to work through during the week and we loved it so much, I wanted to share it with you.

DIY Story Cubes {And Free Story Elements Download}

Home / 7-8 / DIY Story Cubes {And Free Story Elements Download}

January 31, 2017February 1, 2017 by Luschka

We’re in the middle of National Storytelling week, so we’ve spent a fair bit of time this week doing just that. There are loads of different ways of bringing stories to life, and while something like painted pebbles might be beautiful, we’re not all quite so talented! There’s a list here of different ways to create story prompts, but one we’ve been doing this week – and you can download it or template for your own below – is story cubes.

Story cubes require a template, a printer and an on-the go imagination.

DIY Story Cubes {And Free Story Elements Download}