Sea Memory Game. The girls loved this. Panda Girl had no idea what we were doing but she shut her eyes anyway, then studied the tray very carefully, squealing 'turtle!!' etc when her big sisters did.

Science experiment: How Sand is Made:

The girls put sugar cubes, representing rocks and cliffs in a pot of water (the sea). They shook it pretending they were big waves. We let the water settle and discussed that over hundreds of years the rocks break down and make sand. They really enjoyed this and Panda Girl had a fine time counting sugar cubes "toooo, fwee, five, fwee toooo!"

This morning the girls made their ships (they have been logging their journey across the world), The Diamond and The Poppy. We discussed lighthouses and their importance for those out at sea.

Recently the girls have been learning how to draw 3d boxes. This is Ballet Girl's treasure box (glitter for the treasure), and underwater scene.

Ballet Girl sewed a beautiful starfish this afternoon. We filled it with polystyrene balls and made it into a starfish beanbag.

Apart from a bike ride this afternoon, Ballet Girl and Monkey Girl spent most of the day on their roller boots.

Lighthouse - made with a torch, card, pebbles and netting for sea foam.

Work-time today. Panda Girl wanted to sit next to Ballet Girl and mid work gave her long happy hug.
Today, amongst other things, the girls did some good work in their activity books, listened to a Bob the Builder Story CD, and had an hour of gymnastics lessons. Ballet Girl is teaching herself to do a walk over from the bridge position and her teacher recommended today that we stretch her shoulders back a little to help her.
We took the dog for a good run on the fields and the girls had great fun rolling down the hill as fast as they could - lots of giggles.

In the girls' Ship's Log Books today they travelled from Mexico, through the Panama Canal, West to China across the Pacific. They saw a shoal of fish, went fishing and "swam with mermaids".
They also stencilled some sea animal and named their favourite. Ballet Girl is working hard on her joined up handwriting in her log book.

Panda Girl is 2 and 2 months. She concentrates so hard when she is colouring.

She did this all on her own. It's amazing to watch her.

Dancing with armbands and goggles to The Little Mermaid's 'Under the Sea'. Very funny.

Beach scene in the living room, complete with towels, goggles, armbands, buckets and spades, and a palm tree...!

Bright and early this morning the girls spent 2 hours in a nearby gymnastics centre, walking on the beam, trampolining, climbing through tunnels, racing, bouncing about and generally 'legging it around' - so to speak.

After lunch the girls listened to Paddington Bear on CD, read by Stephen Fry, followed by some really good maths work in their Sea and Ocean workbooks....

...then made steady progress in their activity books...

...while Panda Girl played with a big tray of rice, pearl barley and corn. Can it get any more fun when you are 2?!

I made a treasure map as a surprise for the girls. I put it on their desks for them to find in the morning. They followed the map and found mini spice loaf cakes I had made for them hiding behind the sofa. They were delighted!
Later I showed Ballet Girl how to make a treasure map, tearing at the edges and using coffee to stain the paper for an old parchment effect. She drew a beautiful map on it and hid some blueberries in Monkey Girl's bed for her to find. Great fun!
Monkey Girl made one later and hid a bone at the park for the dog! :)

Wow!! We've had a whole week off. The girls have had a lovely half term week, spent mostly catching up with their friends and/or at the park. Refreshing and fun.