Lucia planted some lupin seeds a couple of weeks ago. They are growing beautifully and she is very proud.

Lucia's lupin and her cactus which Nanny Mo gave her for her 4th Birthday, both growing nicely on her desk.

Today we met up with a cousin who I have not seen for a while (currently living in London, normally lives in New Zealand, but will shortly be emmigrating to Australia) and Lucia spent most of the afternoon chattering away about every subject under the sun. She also:

Counted to ten in Swahili
Counted to ten in French
Counted to five in Spanish
Recited 'Ring a Ring a Roses' in Italian

Not bad for a 4 year old! :)

USA theme paper chains which we spent a happy half hour making.

Starting with the image of a Pilgrim the girls painted while I told the story of the Pilgrims travelling on The Mayflower to America. They were intrigued about which picture I would give them next according to the development of the story. Lucia was SO happy when I told her about the Wampanoag Tribe coming to help the Pilgrims after their first terrible winter. She was all smiles and exclaimed "oh that's really kind!".

We discussed the First Thanksgiving and I have now given myself the wonderful task of throwing a Thanksgiving Party next week - the girls are excited so I have no escape!

I spent a fun evening colouring these in (sometimes it is nice for the girls to not have to colour all their work in) and gave Ced the wonderful task of cutting out each piece which he dutifully did :) The girls were not sure how the final picture would look but had fun gluing the hands and baby and feet and feathers on etc.

Lucia's Mayflower complete with her choice of Pilgrims

Elodie's Mayflower complete with Pilgrims

Taking our Pilgrim theme one step further we spent a whole morning looking at The Pioneers and Wagons West.

I created a booklet for the children to look through including a map of the Oregon Trail and pictures of families travelling across America in the Gold Rush. We discussed what we would take with us, how cattle were used for pulling the wagons, how most people walked on foot beside the wagon train and how a fire was needed for breakfast. The girls enjoyed the idea of singing and dancing and telling stories around the fire in the evening before sleeping either under the stars or under or inside the wagon.

We discussed building a simple wooden house on reaching our destination and then how many men went to the rivers to pan for gold.

Here the children are panning for gold (gold paper I had screwed up into balls and hidden amongst the stones). For every five gold nuggets they found I gave them some play money.

Gold!

The girls were able to 'purchase' warm blankets and food for their families by selling the gold they panned in the river.

We realised that Elodie was wearing an appropriate stripey top for our American project so we made a blue star sticker (albeit minus a few stars) for the top corner! Her top tooth fell out the night before so she looks yummier than ever!

Making American flags

Elodie and Lucia's American Flag - srips of card, blue sticky-back-plastic and silver stars.

Lucia doing a puppet show for Elodie

Elodie painting and Lucia creating things with boxes and sellotape.

I decided to make ginger biscuits with the girls. During the mixing Dominique disappeared and returned with this woolly hat which apparently she wanted to wear whilst she cooked. It didn't last for long but it was very funny.

The girls shaping the mixture into balls

Ginger biscuits!

We are currently working on a new project about USA.  Watch this space...

We've been busy over the past few days since the girls recovered from their 'poorliness'.  Papa took Elodie and Lucia to a Craft Fair at Woburn Safari Park for the afternoon on Saturday and then bowling and watching snowboarding on Sunday while I took Dominique to a party for a friend of hers that turned 2!  

Elodie lost her third tooth yesterday and looks ultra-cute as this time it is a top one!