seems like november again

What a terrible rainy weather.
Back to be forced in doors and getting creative to avoid boredom!

ANIMAL PROJECT

Last week we enjoyed few hours of sunshine. During that time we could go to the park and observe the signs of springs. M. played with freshly cut grass, smelled and touched the flowers on the ground and in the trees, and had some encounters with insects.



I decided to print some insects that M. discovered last week and make her colour them in. Today she coloured in some ants.


ART AND CRAFT

We made some new play dough. This time M. used in her kitchen to make belive cooking lots of different things. She had so much fun.







We have also done some sponge painting, but after few minutes it turned into finger painting as it usually does!

dolce salame

This is a recipe from my childhood. I remember it was almost always in the freezer during summer, but there were also good occasions to eat it in winter. It is also linked to my dear grandmother who passed away a year ago, it was her doing it for us, her grandchildren, as a treat.
It is really easy, there is no need of baking and it takes minutes. Older children can managed to do it almost completely by them selves, younger one can have fun helping with some stages.
M. helped mummy breaking the biscuits and cleaning the bowl with her fingers!




INGREDIENTS:

150 gr rich tea biscuits or digestive
70 gr butter
100 gr dark choccolate
50 gr sugar
1 egg

Leave the butter at room temperature for few minutes to become soft. In a large bowl break the buiscuits into small pieces. Melt the choccolate over a bowl of hot water, mix it untill is smooth and then leave it to cool down.
Work the butter with a spoon untill smooth, then add the sugar,the egg and the cool choccolate.
Add the mixture to the broken buiscuits and mix all together.
Put all the mixture onto a sheet of foil big enough to cover it, and with your hand give it the form of a long sausage.
Still in the foil, put your choccolate sausage in the freezer and leave it to rest for at least three hours.
To serve, slice the cake with a knife.

WEATHER PROJECT

It is still very cold, there have been few warm days, but they were quickly forgotten. Last week was a cold one and this week is even worse.
For our project weather we have been looking at the cold weather. I drew a scarf, a hat, a pair of gloves and a coat, M filled them up with a collage of wool strings, pieces of coloured paper and tissue paper.





ART AND CRAFT

We made some cards for family and friends. M. expecially likes putting the glitter on them. I think it is a lovely thing making hand made cards.







REWARD CHART

We accomplished the porpuse of the first reward chart, which was to change the nappy as soon as mummy said that. Now we have a new chart for a baby-habit M. doesn't want to get rid off easily. This one we have done it together: M. chose to have Opsy Daisy on it and then she helped me coloured it in. It works exactly in the same way as the first one, but we have introduced a timer: for every hour she doesn't do the habit, she will receive a sticker, when she gets three stickers I will give her a piece of choccolate. It is working very well and she is so good to control her-self. This exercise is teaching her self-control and patience (cause she needs to wait to obtain the third sticker before getting the choccolate). She is really cooperative and I am very proud of her.

I have not been feeling great this week. Didn't do much. There has been few nice warm days and we went out to the park, and did some wild life observations. M. is really into observing animals, insects and flowers. We looked at snails, ladybirds, warms and daffodils in the local parks

.


GARDENING

Also our hyacits have finally bloomed, after all the care we gave them. The tulips have still a long way to go, but we will wait.






Now I need to develop the photos of all the stages from bulb to flower and display them on a poster so that M. can remember the life cycle of a flower.

5 SENSES

I managed to put together the touch section of the 5 senses laboratory.
For smooth I used a rubber glove; for rough a scrabber sponge; for soft a dust cloth; for the uneven surface a bumpy sponge. I glued each material on a piece of cartoon board.

These past few days we have taken it easy, relaxing somehow from the previous busy week.
On monday we still went to the toddler group and then quickly to the library and in the afternoon I tried to have a nap (unsuccesfully). On tuesday we did nothing, the only special thing for M. was that I let her give a bath to her dolly.



This morning I went for the parenting course and M. stayed at the creche (and she is getting better and better). In the afternoon we did some activities:

ROLE PLAY

M. made some "real" tea. I gave her a real tea bag with some warm water and she enjoyed putting it in cups and then back into the boiler. It was mint tea so it also had a nice smell; she also tasted it but she didn't like it that much.





ART AND CRAFT

We did some painting and aqua draw. M. also glued freely some pasta and glitter to a sheet.

Socializing week

Oh dear what a busy week!
We have been meeting friends every day and there hasn't been time for any other sort of educational activities a part from socializing, but this is a very important element in our learning journey as well.


On monday we went to the children centre for the toddler talk group. It was a sunny day so in the afternoon we went a bit to the park and then we made a new poster about sunny days for our weather project. The elements connected to the sun are: children having fun in the park and flowers blooming. We have been observing how flowers are starting to bloom in the parks.



M. did the sticking and then I let her colour in the children and the mother with the baby.



Although sunny, it has been very cold these days, it is still a very wintery weather, so I think next weather condition to do it will be the cold.

On tuesday we met with some friends in the local indoor play centre where I could observe how confident M. is becoming in trying all the different challenges the place offers; like climbing steep ladders, walking on ropes and bouncing castels.







On wensday M. stayed in the creche while mummy was attending the incredible years class. Although she is not happy to see me leaving the room, she is gradually starting to getting used to the whole thing.

On thursday we went to another toddler group.

On friday we had friends visiting. M. is starting to learn that she has to share her toys, even if it is not always easy.

On satuday we went with a friend to pick up our mug in the ceramic shop. After glazing the colours on the mug have become so intense and bright, and the mug looks lovely!





I was so happy with it that I decided to make M. paint a plate (also because I had a 10% discout). We all had lunch in a noodle bar and then we went for a walk in the near by park. M. had lots of fun in its big toddler-friendly play area, so much that next time we will go to pick up the plate we will just go straight to the play area.



Today, sunday, we met other friends at a council organized fun-day. It was a very sunny, lovely day, but really cold. M. went for 2 rides on the carosel, had lots of fun on the bouncy castles and played the drum in a all children band. We had jamaican chicken and bean-rice for lunch and then a hot chocolate on our way home. She fell asleep on the train...exhausted.

WINDY DAYS

These days the weather has been terrible: rain and wind.
We stayed all time at home a part for the occasional trip to the shops.
I thought it was the right time to introduce the "wind" to our weather project.

WEATHER PROJECT

To do this I collected some leaves from the bushes around the block, then the next day M. collected some more leaves to add to our poster.
I drew the wind and the elements connected to windy days such as a scarf, a hat and flying leaves.
I set all the materials to use to complete the picture as I did with the rain picture. M. glued all the materials and sprinkled the glitter.