24/02/2015 Dr Seuss

A cat in the hat's edible hat

 Dr Seuss day is on the 2nd March. We had fun running with this theme!

09/12/14 & 16/12/14: Christmas party fun

09/12/14

Christmas sun catchers

What did we do?

18/11/2014 Plastic printing and curry capers

Reading tent

We set up the hall a little differently this week to cut down on the running around in circles. So far it seems to have worked, it will be interesting to see if this continues long term. There is still plenty of room for the children to move about, probably even more than before, but it no longer feels as if the tables are in the middle of a race track with the boys zooming past.

Cooking chickpea and lentil curry

Enjoying our curry!

This week we had curry prepared for us. Very mild but lots of flavour and lots of empty plates. We don't have a meal to share every week but I really enjoy the times that we do.

Playing with geo-mags

To add to our usual toys and games this week we had Geomags to explore. These are fantastic little magnets that are can be used to create structures as well as explore magnetic properties. On a practical note the trays were very useful for keeping the bits together and well away from the floor (Geomags are NOT a good mix with young children).

Our art project this week was mono-typing using plastic bags. These can be layered up to produce quite abstract almost graffiti style art. A 'how to' is shown in the video below (more information can be found here: http://alisaburke.blogspot.co.uk/)

PRINT with plastic bags from Alisa Burke on Vimeo.

We have three more sessions before we take a break for Christmas. I'm really looking forward to all the Yule tide crafts and activities that we have ahead of us.

Recipe: Sausages

Sausages made by our boys.

• 1 kg of pork shoulder 
• 100 g salt
• 1 tablespoon of sage
• 1 tablespoon of parsley
• 1/2 tablespoon of black pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon of grated nutmeg
• 6 feet of sausage skins (28 mm diameter)

07/10/2014 Sausages!

Playdoh Aliens

For a session that started so badly I think it ended up being one of my favourites. Our initial problem was that the village hall had been double booked so we were offered the Pavilion by the local recreation ground instead. I'm grateful that everybody managed to find us.

Playing catch up: 09/09/2014, 23/09/2014

Life is hectic at the moment offering me little time on the computer so here is a quick round up of what we have been doing over the last couple of weeks.

09/09/2014 Thread painting and flat breads

Marble and thread painting

This activity was organised by a young lady working towards her Arts Award. There were two techniques to try:

Recipe: Tarte aux pommes

Pastry, sweet short crust:

08/07/2014: Bouncing with mischief

Counting

We seem to have a lot of boys with us at the moment and yesterday it felt as if they had all been touched with the joy of summer. Watching them reminded me of my early years of home educating with my eldest boy (now 12) when I didn't feel the need to do any formal work throughout the warmer months.

Recipe: Pea Soup

Pea soup

A simple but quick and tasty recipe that was prepared by the older children during our meeting. As with most soup recipes quantities of ingredients do not need to be exact, just chuck in what you've got and hopefully it should taste good.

01/04/2014 Eggs galore!

Today we had the hama beads out for decorating Easter cards. They had a special surprise in them, a small packet of poppy seeds for scattering!

28/01/2014: Chinese New Year

Chinese style painting

The sun was shining brightly this morning as we started our latest meeting in Okeford Fitzpaine. We were a little light on the toy front but had lots of other activities to enjoy.

08/10/2013 Harvest bread

Wheat sheaf

As a nod towards the seasonal harvest festivities we created a wheat sheaf loaf. All of the children helped to put this together including the all important mouse at the bottom. Here is a quick youtube video on how to do this, we used scissors to shape the ears of wheat.

Rolls

Individual rolls were also made to take home.