Umbrellas

                   

This is the final post about my springtime wall art. I know it's almost summer but not quite yet! One thing that springtime is known for are the April showers. What better way to represent this than a cloudy day picture full of brightly coloured rainbows. 

I found this idea here. It looks like they've used coloured paper or card but I had recently bought some coloured crepe paper so thought we'd use this instead. Cut out some umbrellas from the coloured paper and stick them to the background card. I have to say using crepe paper was a mistake. I didn't realise how difficult and fiddly crepe paper can be especially when glue is applied to it. The kids found it quite difficult to stick the crepe paper to the background card without ripping it. So, if you are trying to make this yourself, I would recommend using card or paper instead of the crepe paper. 

                     

Once you have got all the umbrellas stuck down, it's time to make the clouds. Do this by sticking cotton wool to the picture. I always think cotton wool is very effective for making clouds and the kids love using it as a craft material. We also added a yellow crepe paper sun to the corner of the picture, partially covered by cloud. Then, we put on some raindrops falling from the clouds.

                     

                                    Ready to hang on the wall!

                     

Colour sorting with magnetic letters

              

I often set up activities for D, my 4 year old, to do and R usually wants to join in even though it's above his age and skill level. He just loves to try and copy his big sister and do everything she does. However, sometimes I try to set up activities that are just right for him and this colour sorting activity is one of them! Although he's only just turned 24 months, he has a keen eye for colour and enjoys colour sorting.

Sorting of all kinds is the beginning of mathematical skills that are the foundations for more advanced skills such as data sorting later on. Being able to sort into different groups helps a child to to think about the different properties of objects and enables them to distinguish whether they are the same or different.

We do lots of colour sorting activities and here is our latest one; sorting magnetic letters into different coloured bowls. We use these Learning Resources Sorting Bowls (Set of 6) all the time so you will often see them cropping up in my posts. They are an extremely useful resource. To do this activity you will also need some magnetic letters such as these Magnetic Letters. This activity is also great for exposing toddlers to letters and will help to develop their literacy skills.

               

I am trying to follow a more Montessori-type approach at the moment so am trying to incorporate the use of trays into the children's learning. In the Montessori method, activities are set out on trays and I quite like this way of displaying an activity as it keeps it contained within a small and manageable area.

               

Whilst R enjoys these activities, he has quite a short attention span and soon stopped for a snack!

Tree in bloom

              

Blossoming trees and plants are a sure sign spring is here. Parks and gardens become filled with splashes of colour and petals fall off trees as lightly as snowflakes. A spring art wall would not be complete without a picture of a tree in blossom. Of course the blossom had to be pink, the pinker the better according to D.

We started off by mixing white and red paints to make pink. Getting children to mix up the colours themselves is a good way of teaching them about colour mixing and helping them to understand how mixing certain colours together can produce different colours. D had good fun adding the different paints until she got the shade of pink she wanted.

                  

                  

I prepared the background by gluing a strip of green paper along the bottom of a piece of blue card. Then I painted a brown tree onto the background for R.

                          

D said she wanted to use felt tips for her tree so I drew a tree and let her colour it in.

                         

Then she and R had fun adding finger print blossom onto the tree using the pink paint.

                 

This is the result!

                             

Tissue paper rainbow

              

My children love rainbows. With their brilliant colours and magical stories of pots of gold lying at the bottom of the rainbow it's hard not to be attracted by their fairytale charm. Seeing a rainbow in the sky really brightens up my day.

To make this rainbow you will need some white card or paper, glue and some coloured tissue paper. I have a packet of small square tissue paper but you can cut or rip the tissue paper into small squares if you have the bigger pieces. Next, cut a semi-circle from the card or paper. Finally, start sticking!

              

              The children used our wooden rainbow toy as a guide.

              

              The finished product by D! 

              

R got bored quite quickly. As a toddler, he has a relatively short attention span so often leaves things unfinished.

              

These really do brighten up our dull magnolia walls!

Our wooden rainbow toy and tissue paper can be purchased from here:

   

A day at the Bath and West show

                 

I have heard a lot about the Bath and West show over the last few years. My parents go every year and come back with stories of exciting days filled with food tasting and livestock watching. This year was it's 151st show and I thought it was about time I experienced this event for myself. 

The Bath and West showground lies in the small, rural town of Shepton Mallet in the county of Somerset, South West of England. The Bath and West show is an agricultural show that celebrates all aspects of farming and rural life. There is much to do and see at the show. There are animals shows, competitions, stalls selling crafts, food and local produce, funfair rides, outdoor sports such as canoeing; the list goes on. It is easy to imagine how you could spend a whole day or even a few days there. You can even camp on site. 

We arrive just before midday and started off walking around the stalls. There were all sorts of things to be bought; outdoorsy and farm related mainly. There was everything from clothing, rugs and caravans to chicken coops and livestock. There was a tent of all things bee-related. We had a go at honey-tasting and saw some bees making honeycomb. There were competeions for the best honey, beeswax, honeycomb and candles. 

There was a hall devoted to cheese and it was fascinating to walk room and look at all the different types of cheese on display. We were able to taste some different types of cheese too. In the food hall there was more food tasting to be done. A multitude of chutneys, jams and curds in every flavour imaginable, sausages, curry sauces and beverages.

We watched a fantastically hilarious sheep show where we found out about all the different types of sheep popularly kept in the UK. We discovered wool had historically been the UK's number one export. The sheep were well-trained, they even did a short dance show!

Next we went on a miniature steam train which the kids absolutely loved. R has a bit of an obsession with all types of transport. He also had great fun riding a toy tractor.

            

                          D had a go at milking a pretend cow!

           

Towards the end of the day we watched a sheep shearing competition. There were six sheep shearers and they each had 20 sheep to shear. They all managed to shear all the sheep in less than 20 minutes! That works out at less than a minute a sheep! It was fascinating to watch their speed and skill at handling the sheep.

Just before we left for home we went to look at the livestock and ended up purchasing two chickens. One is a Blue Maran who we have named Bluebell and the other is a Rhode Rock named Poppy. This brings the number of chickens in our flock to six. I think there is still room for a few more!


                  

                                   Poppy, a Rhode Rock hen.

              

                                 Bluebell, a Blue Maran hen.

Springtime Wall Art

Springtime Wall Art

Whilst making crafts for our spring table, we also made some pictures to put on the wall. The children had lots of fun painting and gluing and created some wonderfully colourful pieces of art which brighten up the wall. I love to see their artwork displayed rather than hidden away in a drawer. Our springtime wall art is displayed above our spring table. As the seasons change our wall art will change along with it. 

Over the next few days I will be posting about each of these art projects. The first one is painting tulips. I got the idea for this project from this post spring art tulip painting.

Tulips

Tulips are a sign of spring. They grow from bulbs that have been planted in the autumn and produce a vibrant array of beautiful flowers in the springtime. Tulips come in almost every colour, so the children can choose the colours themselves without you worrying about how realistic the painting will turn out! The colours D chose were orange, purple, red and yellow. These colours, up against the green of the stem, complimented each other perfectly.

              

We started by getting the paints, a piece of white card, plastic forks and a paintbrush. The children dipped the forks into the paint and then pressed them onto the paper. This made a wonderful tulip-like print on the card.

             

The kids had great fun doing this and it wasn't too difficult which means it's a great craft for toddlers to do as well as older children.

              

After they had finished making the tulip prints, the children got some green paint and a paintbrush and drew stems on the flowers. R needed quite a bit of help with this, mainly because he loses interest in things very quickly!

              

Using forks to paint with has given me inspiration for a few other things that could be used for painting. Such a simple idea but with a striking results. Tomorrow I will be sharing my post on how to make our tissue paper rainbows!

Spring Table Crafts

I have been meaning to make a seasons table for quite a while now but never got round to it until now. A seasons table is great for teaching children about the seasons. You can arrange objects on the table that represent the season and the children can access it during the day and explore the different items. 

Now is the season of spring, a wonderful season to start. One morning, I explained to the children that we would be making a seasons table. We got talking about the different seasons and what they were like and I told them that now it is springtime. We spoke about the different things that represent spring; lambs and other baby animals, blossoms appearing on trees, flowers, such as daffodils, appearing and April showers.

We had lots of fun making crafts to represent spring for our spring table. Here is what we made....

Lamb craft

To make these, cut a circle of white card, cover with cotton wool. Then cut some black card for the face, glue on some eyes and glue the face onto the cotton wool. Finally, paint some wooden clothes pegs black and peg them on to make the legs!

Incy Wincy Spider craft 

Incy wincy spider to represent the rain! These were made using toilet rolls.

Making the sun because spring is not only about rain! We made this from a circle of white card which D painted yellow and then sprinkled some gold glitter over.

Chick crafts

We made some cute little chicks using yellow pom poms, orange felt and googly eyes!

We also made some chicks using orange and yellow felt, orange pipe cleaners and googly eyes!

The baskets you can see in the first picture came with some chocolate eggs. The children love to play with the animals on the spring table. D likes to sing Incy Wincy spider, making the spiders climb up the spout and then fall down again. R loves to play with the sheep in particular but also has a tendency to pull the animals apart, especially the googly eyes! So, I've had to mend them a few times already!

Additional articles of interest

Spring crafts for kids

Springtime wall art

Nature journaling at Bowood Woodland

Outdoor play

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