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| Little snowflake people from here |
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| air dry clay decorations |
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| duct tape flowers |
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| Totoro under the christmas tree keeping company with some wise men and other clay characters |
Showing posts with label craft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label craft. Show all posts
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Advent Calendar part 2
Lots of crafty activities on our advent calendar this year, like air dry clay decorations, duct tape flowers, and felt softies. We finally put up the Christmas tree and decorated it with all our newly made treasures. Another day we baked a huge batch of gingerbread cookies which we ate non stop all day. Other days saw us donating bags of toys and clothes to Savers, doing The Hour of Code, visiting the Gingerbread Village at the Melbourne Town Hall, and seeing the film Nativity! at ACMI,
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Advent Calendar 2014
Our advent calendar this year is big and bold, made on a budget and takes up lots of space in the kitchen.
I have reused the little envelopes I made for last year's calendar; the frame is an old one we've had for years and the decorations were leftovers from Dr P's year 9 class. Total cost: $0!! I have more baubles to add as we progress through the calendar. Each morning we'll cover up that day's date so we'll always know what day we're up to.
Yesterday's activity was a day out at Funfields with loads of other homeschoolers to celebrate the end of another year. An awesome day out complete with all kinds of Melbourne weather - cool winds to start with then an almost thunderstorm, some rain, sudden humidity and then scorching sun. All that in just five hours!
Day two - Make beaded bubble wands.
We made a pile of these as presents for Moomintroll's birthday party guests.
With the bowlful of leftover beads we also made some sparkly new decorations for our tree.
The girls are desperate to put the tree up now, but we'll have to wait until the Advent Calendar says it's the right time. I've actually forgotten which day it will be so hopefully I'll get a surprise that day too!
I have reused the little envelopes I made for last year's calendar; the frame is an old one we've had for years and the decorations were leftovers from Dr P's year 9 class. Total cost: $0!! I have more baubles to add as we progress through the calendar. Each morning we'll cover up that day's date so we'll always know what day we're up to.
Yesterday's activity was a day out at Funfields with loads of other homeschoolers to celebrate the end of another year. An awesome day out complete with all kinds of Melbourne weather - cool winds to start with then an almost thunderstorm, some rain, sudden humidity and then scorching sun. All that in just five hours!
Day two - Make beaded bubble wands.
We made a pile of these as presents for Moomintroll's birthday party guests.
With the bowlful of leftover beads we also made some sparkly new decorations for our tree.
The girls are desperate to put the tree up now, but we'll have to wait until the Advent Calendar says it's the right time. I've actually forgotten which day it will be so hopefully I'll get a surprise that day too!
Monday, May 19, 2014
Rainbow Looming
The latest craze has been here at our place for some time now. The Snork Maiden's skills are getting better everyday, and I do mean everyday! She spends hours in her room with You Tube and her looms and our house is littered with stray rubber bands. Moomintroll also enjoys looming, but not as much as her sister does.
After mastering bracelet designs and coming up with her own patterns, The Snork Maiden moved on to bigger and better things.
So you see, there's no time for maths books and art lessons. There is way too much Looming to do!
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| L-R: Rose Garden; Beaded Fishtail; Chevron; Butterfly (own design) |
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| L-R: Triple Single Starburst (own design); Triple Single; Zippy Chain |
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| L-R: Ten Pin Dragon Scale; Sailor's Pinstripe; Triple Fishtail |
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| L-R: Snow White, Cinderella, Princess Aurora |
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| L-R: Someone; Elsa and Anna (from Frozen) |
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| just a bunch of people |
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| more people just hanging around |
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| another person and Ponyo (from the movie Ponyo) |
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| The Simpsons |
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| iPod covers |
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| pencil toppers; Penguin, frog, Hello Kitty, duck (?) |
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| a bird, Jake from Adventure Time, a Seussian Barbaloot |
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| more bracelets |
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| more bracelets. The THINK bracelets help us to remember to speak nicely to others. Is what you want to say Thoughtful, Helpful, Intelligent, Necessary and Kind? If not then don't say it! |
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| purse |
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| more bracelets.. |
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| DNA Double Helix bracelets. These were custom designed to Dr P's specifications. |
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| and some more bracelets.. |
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| and finally.... |
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| headbands for unruly hair. |
Sunday, February 10, 2013
The Brian Street Learning Centre
The girls have come up with a name for our homeschool - the Brian Street Learning Centre. That should keep those pesky supermarket cashiers happy when they ask the inevitable question.
We even have a theme tune sung to the tune of Play School. It's lovely to hear them singing it loudly in the garden whilst performing synchronised jumps on the trampoline. I'm sure the animals enjoy it.
This week we picked up where we left off last year with Life of Fred for maths. Both girls are enjoying the quietly humorous stories of Fred and Kingie. The level of maths is just right for Moomintroll. It's way easy for the Snork Maiden but we think the revision will be handy for her. I'm letting her get through the books at her own pace; she's already onto book 2.
We then revisited Mapping the World with Art. We went right back to the beginning which wasn't really far at all seeing as we had only got as far as chapter 4. This time around Moomintroll is joining in too; maybe not with the map drawings but certainly the historical readings and activities. This week we made Babylonian cuneiform tablets out of cookie dough and created maps of various rooms of our house in ancient Polynesian style.
My plan is to merge MTWWA with our Around the World scrapbooks that we began last year. This way we'll cover ancient history with present day geography/culture at the same time.
For science this week we began Taxonomy using this great free resource. We learned about the five Kingdoms and looked in depth at the animal kingdom. The accompanying activities are great fun; we created a bean classification chart and by taping up our thumbs we learnt how important having opposable thumbs is to survival.
Our read aloud this week has been Those Dreadful Children by Enid Blyton which was a great favorite of mine growing up. I remember reading and rereading it endlessly and desperately wishing that I were friends with "those dreadful children". Actually they're not dreadful at all - the Snork Maiden said "they sound just like us!"
One thing we are making more time for is craft. Not just the cut and paste style but real, proper handicrafts that everyone needs to know. With my help the Snork Maiden repurposed a tired old black crocheted cardigan into a very hip and happenin' sleeveless vest. Think Madonna in the 80's. Very cool.
Moomintroll tried her hand at dry felting and made a little fuzzy face which she attached to her painting from the week before.
Next week we hope to make a skirt for Moomintroll and I may teach Snork Maiden how to crochet something very exciting - dishcloths! Which leads me to our other fun activity that we've started each morning called 'Tidy Up Time'. I have a list of jobs that are kid friendly and the girls pick one to carry out. So far so good; the toilet is clean, the washing has been put away and the floor mopped (for the first time in about 6 months I'm afraid to say)!
Finally, our Saturday Science prac was fossil hunting. P and the Snork Maiden collected more 405million year old rocks from our favorite site and brought them home for some serious whacking with hammers and chisels. Most of us found small brachiopod and crinoid fossils and we all made a terrible mess.
We even have a theme tune sung to the tune of Play School. It's lovely to hear them singing it loudly in the garden whilst performing synchronised jumps on the trampoline. I'm sure the animals enjoy it.
This week we picked up where we left off last year with Life of Fred for maths. Both girls are enjoying the quietly humorous stories of Fred and Kingie. The level of maths is just right for Moomintroll. It's way easy for the Snork Maiden but we think the revision will be handy for her. I'm letting her get through the books at her own pace; she's already onto book 2.
We then revisited Mapping the World with Art. We went right back to the beginning which wasn't really far at all seeing as we had only got as far as chapter 4. This time around Moomintroll is joining in too; maybe not with the map drawings but certainly the historical readings and activities. This week we made Babylonian cuneiform tablets out of cookie dough and created maps of various rooms of our house in ancient Polynesian style.
My plan is to merge MTWWA with our Around the World scrapbooks that we began last year. This way we'll cover ancient history with present day geography/culture at the same time.
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| Babylonian edible clay tablets |
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| ancient polynesian style map. just imagine reeds with shells tied to them instead of blue paper strips and stickers! |
For science this week we began Taxonomy using this great free resource. We learned about the five Kingdoms and looked in depth at the animal kingdom. The accompanying activities are great fun; we created a bean classification chart and by taping up our thumbs we learnt how important having opposable thumbs is to survival.
Our read aloud this week has been Those Dreadful Children by Enid Blyton which was a great favorite of mine growing up. I remember reading and rereading it endlessly and desperately wishing that I were friends with "those dreadful children". Actually they're not dreadful at all - the Snork Maiden said "they sound just like us!"
One thing we are making more time for is craft. Not just the cut and paste style but real, proper handicrafts that everyone needs to know. With my help the Snork Maiden repurposed a tired old black crocheted cardigan into a very hip and happenin' sleeveless vest. Think Madonna in the 80's. Very cool.
Moomintroll tried her hand at dry felting and made a little fuzzy face which she attached to her painting from the week before.
Next week we hope to make a skirt for Moomintroll and I may teach Snork Maiden how to crochet something very exciting - dishcloths! Which leads me to our other fun activity that we've started each morning called 'Tidy Up Time'. I have a list of jobs that are kid friendly and the girls pick one to carry out. So far so good; the toilet is clean, the washing has been put away and the floor mopped (for the first time in about 6 months I'm afraid to say)!
Finally, our Saturday Science prac was fossil hunting. P and the Snork Maiden collected more 405million year old rocks from our favorite site and brought them home for some serious whacking with hammers and chisels. Most of us found small brachiopod and crinoid fossils and we all made a terrible mess.
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| a lovely neat presentation. it didn't last long |
Monday, March 26, 2012
Term 1 wrap up
The end of first term is nigh, so before we leave on our very well deserved holiday to Heron Island, here's a record of what the girls have been up to.
Sport - Ballet, Gymnastics, Kids Cardio, Circus classes.
Music - Choir, Piano lessons, attending concert band rehearsals, concerts and citizenship ceremonies.
Personal Development - Girl Guides.
LOTE - Latin, learning phrases and words relating to the countries studied in our Around the World unit.
Art - Artist Trading Card swap with fellow homeschoolers, batik making.
History - Brief histories of the countries studied in our Around the World unit; Indigenous study (tool making, edible plants, culture and music); Horrible Histories books/DVD; French Revolution video from Khan Academy.
Geography - Around the World unit; preparation for our trip to Heron Island, Qld.
Science - Crystal growing; Tadpole watch; Saturday Science sessions; Rockpool study; marine life study; growing pumpkins; dog, rabbit and guinea pig care; "Hands in the Dirt" excursion involving planting seeds, grasses, analysing compost, identifying animals under a microscope.
English - Shakespeare (H); Headsprout (R); library days; H is writing her own Mr. Men story; writing and performing original plays; atttending a performance of Hamlet; research skills for Around the World project.
Maths - Smartkiddies website; Cool maths games; math workbooks; Pi Day; selling raffle tickets at band concert.
*Around the World countries studied were South Korea, Mexico, Canada and Mauritius.
...and all done in our pajamas! (well, most of it anyway).
Torn paper craft:
Hands in the Dirt excursion:
Circus time. R is working towards her Level 1 certificate:
The Doctor is changing daily now. One day he sprouted a front leg. The next day the second one popped out:
We will most likely release him back to the creek where we found him at the end of this week.
Sport - Ballet, Gymnastics, Kids Cardio, Circus classes.
Music - Choir, Piano lessons, attending concert band rehearsals, concerts and citizenship ceremonies.
Personal Development - Girl Guides.
LOTE - Latin, learning phrases and words relating to the countries studied in our Around the World unit.
Art - Artist Trading Card swap with fellow homeschoolers, batik making.
History - Brief histories of the countries studied in our Around the World unit; Indigenous study (tool making, edible plants, culture and music); Horrible Histories books/DVD; French Revolution video from Khan Academy.
Geography - Around the World unit; preparation for our trip to Heron Island, Qld.
Science - Crystal growing; Tadpole watch; Saturday Science sessions; Rockpool study; marine life study; growing pumpkins; dog, rabbit and guinea pig care; "Hands in the Dirt" excursion involving planting seeds, grasses, analysing compost, identifying animals under a microscope.
English - Shakespeare (H); Headsprout (R); library days; H is writing her own Mr. Men story; writing and performing original plays; atttending a performance of Hamlet; research skills for Around the World project.
Maths - Smartkiddies website; Cool maths games; math workbooks; Pi Day; selling raffle tickets at band concert.
*Around the World countries studied were South Korea, Mexico, Canada and Mauritius.
...and all done in our pajamas! (well, most of it anyway).
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| a bucketful of egg cases(?) need help identifying these! |
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| investigating at Rickett's Point |
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| snail trail |
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| common sea star |
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| crab shell lineup |
Stage 1 of batik making using flour paste instead of wax. Instructions here.
Crystal making using Borax, food colouring and boiling water:
Torn paper craft:
Hands in the Dirt excursion:
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| planting Lomandra |
Circus time. R is working towards her Level 1 certificate:
The Doctor is changing daily now. One day he sprouted a front leg. The next day the second one popped out:
We will most likely release him back to the creek where we found him at the end of this week.
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