Paper mosaics and a muddy walk

Lots of us have visited the new Museum of Somerset and seen the mosaic floor so this week Sarah shared her mosaic project with us. We all had squared paper and either drew our own designs or used some Sarah had made for us. 

There were lots of little squares of colour paper to stick on and make the pictures into mosaics.

Some of us chose big squares and some chose tiny squares.

We had to really concentrate!

There were lots of games and toys to play with too.

Afterwards we went on a long walk in Fyne Court. There's a huge tree there we love to climb along. It had been raining in the night and the tree was really slippery!

We love to visit the pigs there. They have eaten nearly all the weeds in the walled garden and it's a bit smelly.

We had fun by the pond fishing for pond weeds.....

....and splashing in the mud and the stream. Some of us got our wellies full of water.

There's a brilliant new musical instrument in the woods for us to make music.

Making salt dough decorations

It was a very festive feel this week (13th December), as we made salt dough Christmas decorations. To make them, you need 1cup of flour, 1 cup of salt, spices (if you want!) and approx 3/4 cup of water, mix it all together and add more water if needed.  Knead for a few minutes before rolling out and cutting out your shapes.  We made a big selection of shapes - gingerbread men, snowmen, stars, trees etc, and decorated some of them with cloves.  Salt dough takes quite a long time to set (you can either air-dry them or cook in the oven at a very low temperature - it can take several hours), so we took them home at the end to decorate later.

A few of us braved a walk at Fyne Court afterwards - even though it was starting to sleet a little as we left!

Gliders, Mister Wolf and Fyne Court.

This week, the weather was nowhere near as nice as the previous week, so our session was spent indoors, although the children still managed a fair bit of running around..  I mean, exercise!!

We made gliders from jumbo straws, paper and tissue paper (if you ever want to make a straw glider, here is a nice tutorial to help you!), all of which worked really well.  The children enjoyed a story before lunch and then a game of What's the Time Mister Wolf? after lunch!

Some of us went for an autumnal walk up at Fyne Court after the session.  Running among the trees, playing the musical instrument and having a great time. 

Look forward to seeing you all next time!

Spooky Spiders & Perfect Pumpkins!

It was a relatively quiet week at our Home Education group this week, partly due to holidays and partly due to some cold bugs doing the rounds, but we still had a lovely time.

This week, as it is Hallowe'en next week, the children made spiders out of pipe cleaners (some of them made out of black pipe-cleaners looked a little too realistic for me!)  They also made 'pumpkin' tea-light holders from glass jars, orange tissue paper and lots and lots of glue.  There was also plenty of time for outside play and apple-eating.

As the weather was so lovely and sunny we also went for a walk up at Fyne Court, where we looked at the ever-popular pigs, played the musical instrument and played hide & seek, making it back to the cars just before the rain started.