We are going on safari!

Well not literally but today the girls asked to learn about Africa so we set up a little safari world and played with it while watching a documentary on migration on the Serengeti! 

The girls then decided that their Polly pockets should go on a safari which was interesting to watch especially as they talked about the carnivores coming to get you! (While making a lion chase and antelope) the documentary finished and then they asked to learn more so we watched a file about a family that moved to Africa and ran a consevation area and now have set up a charitable trust to help the area. It was sad but very interesting and my eldest really engaged with it! Can't wait to see what impromptu learning tomorrow brings :-)

New resources and much more fun

Well we have been having great fun over the last couple of weeks having been to science club and maths club. At maths club the girls were looking at tesselation, although me eldest daughter was not overly interested my little one was and she made a lovely tesselation, which she was very proud of

We have decided to start doing a lot more gardening this year and in preparation we went in to our hidden garden today and planted cress seeds.  

We have also been making decorations for the garden

Each and every day is a new adventure, we are using a website called scootpad at the moment that we can use to assign work and complete daily tasks, it is working quite well and meaning we don't spend too long on written work but get to focus on more practical day to day stuff :-)

More modelling dough much like moon dough

Well I love play dough and use it all the time, but a while ago someone bought the kids some moon dough which the happily played with for ages, but is ran out and I didn't replace it due to cost. Well since starting HE I am always after things the enjoy doing to and looking for new media. 

I stated looking around for a moon dough recipe any many came up with flour and baby oil, I tried this but the mixture just wasn't quite right, great fun but too sand like. 

So I started to experiment and I have found a mixture I am happy with so here is the recipe to share with you all

1 part baby oil

4 parts cornflour

Food colouring (optional)

Add the flour to a bowl, and stir in the baby oil and food colouring if using, mix until powdery then get your hands in to make sure it is well mixed. Your hands will come out feeling slightly oily and coated in a fine layer of cornflour but it actually leaves them feeling quite soft! 

So here it is 

But beware it can get quite messy as it breaks up into a powder when squashed

Have fun playing!!!!!

Super soft play dough!

Well I found a new play dough recipe and it is extremely soft with a silky soft texture so I just wanted to share. 

Now before I do please note that due to the ingredients it cannot be consumed so probably not great for very little ones

So using just hair conditioner, cornflower and food colouring as per 

http://pagingfunmums.com/2013/11/01/soft-as-a-cloud-playdoughusing-only-2-ingredients/

Ingredients 

1 part conditioner

2 parts corn flour/corn starch

Food colouring (optional)

Step 1

Pour your conditioner into a bowl (we used vo5 – note that not all conditioners are of the same consistency so you may need to add a little more or a little less corn flour to get the right consistency for you)

Step 2

Pour in the corn flour

Step 3

Give the mixture a good stir

Step 4 (optional)

Add a few drops of food colouring

Step 5

Mix well using your hands. This part smells delicious!

The play

National media museum

One of the things I love about home ed is the chance to seize opportunities.  Well yesterday we all felt a bit grumpy so decided to visit the national media museum in Bradford, something any family may do on a Saturday but the difference we have is the kids were really enthused by some of the stuff they saw, so while excited about it we will be doing activities based on things we saw on Saturday this week as part of our learning journey.

We will be making spinning pictures and flip books and linking this in to the faraday principle, we will also be making our own pinhole cameras and looking at how we create that image, and just because it is 50 years of doctor who we will be making a Darlek model. 

These are all things we probably wouldn't have time for if they were in school but because of home ed we can make it part of our learning week! Love it :-)

The girl even posed in a mock up of an old Victorian photo studio

Is it really the 10th Jan already?

Wow it is as always flying by and from my last post to now we have hardly stopped, we have gone a bit activity crazy in our first week and a bit of the new year with book club, science club, ice skating, play dates, 2 social groups, a new drama class and dancing tomorrowand so now it is time to put my feet up and have a coffee ( well for 2 mins anyway until my eldest returns from drama). We seem to be firing on all cylinders and have stuck to the weeks plan roughly, having started our new topic of bear we have read some lovely books by Mick Inkpen and are reading the old bear series by jane hissey. We started our bear lapbook and have finished off Ancient Greece from last tern with a speedy lapbook, nod just because my youngest doesn't like to miss out she has done a elephant lapbook. I don't quite know how we have found the time.

next week will be much of the same only with maths club instead of science and a bit more about bears, and maybe elephants too. 

Right now it is time to clean up the play dough, we made this week, put away the den and get ready for tea! 

We are going to be doing a fun letter activity with play dough next week so will post in case anyone else wants to try it! 

Jus though I would share my favourite play dough recipie below in case you want to have ago at making your own

• 2 cups plain flour (all purpose)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
• Up to 1.5 cups boiling water (adding in increments until it feels just right)
• food colouring (optional)
• few drops glycerine (optional- but give a glossy finish)

Method:

• Mix the flour, salt, cream of tartar and oil in a large mixing bowl
• Add boiling water in increments add food colouring and glycerine to water if using as it mixes easier and gives a more even colour
• Stir continuously until it becomes a sticky, combined dough
• Allow it to cool down then take it out of the bowl and knead it vigorously for a couple of minutes until it is no longer sticky, this is very important as this is what gets it into play dough and not just a sticky bread like dough!
• (If it remains a little sticky then add a touch more flour until just right)

Happy new year!

Well it has been almost 2 months since I last posted, and I really am not sure where the time has gone. With Christmas and new year we have all been so busy I have neglected to keep this up to date, but I will be trying to post once or twice a week in the new year starting today! 

Well today we have had a lovely day just chilling around the house and playing with Lego and sorting out the Hama beads, we spent around 2 hours this afternoon making picture and the sorting the beads into tubs by colour, the girls had a great time and they were learning without even realising it which for me is the best form of education. 

We will be looking at the topic of bears starting next week as that is what my eldest daughter really wants to learn about, but to kick us off it is our home ed book club on Friday for which we still have to choose a book and some activities and then the week after we will be going to our first science club! Very exciting times! 

So hope you are al, enjoying the first day of the new year and I hope you will all have a great year of learning and exploring the world around you!