Still sunny!

Well this weather has lasted the week, so we've been making the most of it.





We spent one afternoon at Barlaston Downs, it is only a few miles from us and has stunning scenery and a shallow, clear stream that is perfect for paddling in. Very popular with dog walkers, we take our dogs there, but this time we left the dogs at home and went for a peaceful paddle.

 I have been trying to find a cheap fishing net (the sort you would buy at a beach for rockpooling) as Harlan loves pond dipping, but as I have had no luck I bought a cheap - 80p! - sieve and he used that to try and catch some fish. Between paddling, fishing, building dams with stones and balancing on fallen trees across the stream, it made for a cheap and enjoyable afternoon.




Back at home, I made some salt dough, but added a bit of sunflower oil to give it that lovely smooth texture, and used food dye to colour it. The shirt I was wearing will never be the same again!

Harlan decided it would look very nice if he used it to decorate the front wall of our house - I really should tidy that up as there are still bits of salt dough stuck to the wall.








I've also been working on giving Harlan's bedroom a Super Mario theme, and have painted these three canvases. Just waiting for Rusty to hang them for me - I'm liable to drill through a pipe or something equally disastrous!

Spring sunshine

Today has been a beautifully sunny day, so warm that I had to dig out the sunscreen! We made the most of it by doing some work in the front garden, including planting some more vegetables and some sunflowers. Harlan was in charge of filling the pots and seed trays with compost, and we talked about the things our seeds would need to grow - soil, water and sunshine. Our list so far includes herbs, salad leaves, courgettes, onions, carrots, cabbage, purple sprouting brocolli, beetroot and of course the potatoes we planted previously. Once all the seeds had been planted, Harlan went round the garden watering everything.


After lunch, Harlan went next door to play with the little boy who lives there. He's about 18 months older than Harlan but they play well together. I didn't expect him to stay there long as he's often a little on the clingy side, but he played firemen in their garden with the hose pipe and then on their Xbox and didn't come home until I went round to collect him!

Last night I had prepared the pieces to make a pretend fish tank, like this one I found on Pinterest last week. We used dish sponges and some craft foam to make the seaweed and fish, which we tied onto pieces of thread and attached to metal nuts to weigh them down. We didn't have any lovely smooth pebbles like the ones in the link, but we used some fish tank gravel. I'd cut out the shapes last night, as Harlan has limited patience with things like that, but he put the pieces into the jar (a sweetie jar left over from Christmas, I knew it would be useful!) and helped me add extra nuts to the pieces as they weren't heavy enough to stay weighted down with just one nut on each fish. It is now on the mantelpiece and he is very pleased with it.



Our beansprouts are still alive, some growing better than others, I will take another photo tonight.

The food dye flowers have been a mixed success - the blue dye took really well and the flowers are still in good condition. The green dye didn't take at all, and the flowers look very unhealthy and wilted. The red dye didn't take either, but the flowers do look healthier than the ones in the green dye. I read the labels on the food dyes, and the blue dye has the least ingredients by far, so I presume that has affected the experiment. At least, with the blue dye working, Harlan can see the principle of the flowers absorbing the water.

Bean update and new experiment

Our beansprouts are on day 3 now, and I've taken a picture of their progress. Harlan knew they would grow leaves as they sprouted, so once there are a few open leaves (hopefully!) we can talk about the sun shining on the leaves and giving the plant energy to grow.




As it is Spring, I thought it would be a good time to do an experiment that my mum did with me when I was a child. My mum is an inspiration to me. Whilst my brother and I weren't home educated, and our family didn't have much money, my parents (mum in particular) were always coming up with interesting things to do with us. Harlan and I have taken three glasses, and put a few white flowers in each one. We have used crysanthemums as they were cheap but you could use any pale flower. We added water, then a few drops of food dye in each glass. In reality, it was more like half a bottle of food dye in each glass as Harlan was helping, but hopefully the flowers will survive! The idea is to introduce the concept of osmosis, at a very basic level. We have discussed how the flower 'sucks' up the water through its stem and because the water is coloured, the petals should change colour. I think Harlan was slightly disappointed that nothing happened straight away but he is excited that changes might happen while he is asleep tonight.

Here are our flowers, day one.

Mothering Sunday and beansprouts

 We spent yesterday with my mum, taking her flowers for the house and some wildflower seeds for her garden. Harlan loves playing at my parents' house as they live in the Brecons and have a large garden with trees, grass and a stream to play in.

On Pinterest I saw a project that I had done at primary school myself, of taking beans and watching them sprout. I ordered some beansprouts with my Abel & Cole delivery and we have put them in Harlan's empty wormery. They are on damp kitchen roll and (at my husband's suggestion) we plan to take a photo of them every day to compare how they develop.

I asked Harlan why we needed to put them on the windowsill and he knew it was for warmth. We won't eat these beans as the wormery we're growing them in isn't the cleanest ;-) but we have a box of beansprouts he might like to try.

Sensory and physics fun

We went to home ed group this morning but after his MMR vaccine earlier this week Harlan hasn't been feeling 100% so he found it a bit overwhelming. When we got home he was watching me use paperclips to hold some crocheted pieces together and he started playing with them. I got a weak magnet and we experimented with how many paperclips it would hold. Not many! However on the end of my "grabber" I have quite a strong magnet and he was amazed at the chain of paperclips it could hold.

I had a flash of inspiration (doesn't happen as often as I'd like!) and filled a deep tray with uncooked rice and dried beans. We buried treasure in it, some metal and some plastic. He played around and worked out that the metal objects stuck to the magnet but the plastic ones didn't. For those he used the grabber to pick them up and lift them out of the tray. We haven't gone as far as finding out that some metals aren't magnetic - we'll save that for another day ;-)


When he'd had his fill of that, he began to use the rice and beans for sensory play - sprinkling, pouring, squeezing. I found it quite relaxing myself! Lastly he got his playmobil set (Ebay bargain, we'll hopefully build up a good stash of it) and decided the rice was sand and they were having a party on the beach.




By the time he'd finished, he was much calmer and happier, and my living room was rather the worse for wear! I kept the rice/bean mix to use for future play and the Dyson took care of the rice and beans that had been spilled on the carpet.

Our time lately has been spent exploring. Harlan is currently fascinated by castles, knights, and buried treasure. We've also been making the most of the improved weather to spend time outdoors. One trip to feed the ducks resulted in a bleeding head as Harlan tripped and fell onto a railing, but he has healed well and we've had more successful duck feeding trips since!

We've planted our potatoes that we got from here and have also put some seeds down for salad leaves and herbs. Next week I am planning to create a time capsule with Harlan, to bury in our garden. I want to include a note about our family and when we lived here, a photo and a few little bits and pieces that Harlan feels are important to him. We will then make a basic map of our garden, indicating where we buried it.

Here is Harlan at Raglan Castle, near  Abergavenny. My mum made him a sword from cardboard and tin foil, and he played at defending his castle from invading knights!

Feeding the ducks at Bathpool Park

Digging for buried treasure at Brampton Park. Later we went into the museum, Harlan particularly enjoyed the room full of antique toys.

Apedale Heritage Centre. We went here with a group of friends and found frogs in the pond. Hoping to go pond dipping here again during the Summer.