trip wire training and standing in a queue for very long time (aka twilight at the musuems)

Catchy title hey! This morning I masking taped bits of wool on the landing at different heights as part of our spy themed activities - I then told the girls if they knocked them off they would trigger an alarm in a baddy base somewhere else and they were as good as dead! P wasn't great as this as she mostly liked to pull the wool off the wall! E and I really enjoyed it and had several attempts - I soon added elements to the game - such as if you knock a wire and it says on the wall you get a point but if you knock it and it comes off you get 2 points. G found it hard and soon gave up - no perseverance that child!

Then in the evening we went to twilight at the museums - we went only to 1 (the zoology museum) and stood in a large queue for about 45 minutes before getting in. From the husband's and my points of view was it worth it? NO - we stood in a long queue to see things we could see in the daytime with no queue; but the girls loved it and who wouldn't like wondered round a dark museum with glosticks (they were cross because I had forgotten the torch). But the museum wasn't busy and we completed the quiz and made funky angler fish crowns out of paper and a glostick!

marmite snails (again)

To go with homemade tomato soup we made marmite snails. So simple my four year old can do it by herself (although she is convinced the marmite turns to chocolate in the oven) - take a piece of puff pastry, spread with marmite and then cover with grated cheddar. Cut into pieces about 3-4cm wide. Then put on a lined baking tray for about 10-12 minutes at 180oc. Eat!

treasure hunts

I think this is one of the girls favourite  activities - there doesn't even need to be a prize at the end. It is so easy to differentiate for the different ages - E had pictures clues and G and I had different written clues. Then they all went away and wrote one for P and me - brilliant writing for a purpose!

messy play number fun

I made some Jelly and put some plastic numbers in to it before it had completely set. The girls enjoyed extracting the numbers and it was great to hear language like "Look I have got 7" or "G can you get me 5?". I was impressed with how many numerals E recognised. They also really enjoyed playing with the jelly - the only problem was stopping E eating it all - YUCK!.

Snow Fun

This morning the girls Had so much fun - making snowmen and playing on sledges. Then Cold, we Came in and painted snowy scenes using q-tips.

colour mixing

For ages G has been interested in colour mixing ... asking about it and mixing paints (which of course end up sludge colour) ... so today I have her some food colouring now known as colour creators (diluted with water), a pipette and an ice cube tray and she enjoyed making different colours - mainly green and purple (Not brown!!!!). She decided she also wanted green as a 4th colour - so she mixed it and then poured it into a glass. After she had played for a while I then suggest some more structure and got her to write down how she had made her colours and showed her how to record her experiments in a table. E and I soon wanted to join in too!

cooking role play

Role play has always been something I have known is great for language development and making sense of the world as well as developing collaborative skills and just being great fun for the child - but I hate it! I feel too self-conscious. However, it is something I am trying to do more of. We do a lot of cooking, which all the girls love (especially when it is cakes and biscuits) - but I feel if we cook all the time I might end up the size of whale! so I decided this was one bit of role play it would be easy to do.
I bought P some lovely Lego cupcake bits which are fab - even I enjoys playing with them as well as some real kitchen equipment. They seem to come out most night after school - so I guess they are a hit. Even I have been getting into it - fantasy baking is great for the waist line!

spy books

In the topic basket this month are more chapter books ... I wonder if I and G will be inspired to read them? I wonder if I could set them a challenge - for each book read there will be something sweet as a reward. This is because G rarely picks up a book to read herself unless it is a school reading book - she is great reader and has a fantastic reading age and comprehension but just would rather be doing other things.
We have:

Wellie Boot Printing

Ever since we have read the Gruffalo's child "Ahh Ohh prints in the snow!" I have been dying to get outside and make foot prints in the snow! Hum ho - I grew impatient waiting for snow so I decided to get some paint out and make foot prints that way! The girls loved it! For the first few moments I couldn't stop laughing as P kept looking at her wellies and then the marks she was making - she couldn't understand how it was happening. However soon E ran off to get hers and showed P what to do. P soon got the hang of standing in the baking tray to get more paint and then it was fingers ... she put her hands in the tray and did finger painting instead.

They had such fun! I would do it again but I would also have different coloured paints out to explore colour mixing. Also this will led on to other printing - I can see us having fun with cars, my little ponies etc etc!