We made an ice-cream shop and used cones and counters from The Scapstore for different flavour ice creams

Summer themed work from the girls' Story Club at our local library

The girls painted and decorated shells

China window display

China was a good project to do. Dominique's favourite cuddly is a Panda so we spent a whole day finding out about pandas. The girls have Chinese clothes - dresses and trouser suits so it was nice for them to have an understanding of their origin. We looked at Chinese dwellings and pagodas and tried writing 1-10 in Chinese. The girls made some pretty Chinese lanterns and we also discussed the Great Wall and other important aspects of China- I actually timed this project (accidentally) with the Chinese New Year so I had plenty of material to browse through on the net.

We ate a scrummy Chinese meal which we all went together to order (unusual because we rarely have take-aways) and the Chinese man at the Mayflower gave the girls a lollipop (unusual for them to have one of those too!) so they were highly delighted with the whole expedition. We attempted to use chopsticks which was fun but unsuccessful all round!

Papa made an origami Chinese pot and the girls made fans

Dominique's Panda, Chinese flags and rice grains

We made Chinese Placemats and Chinese Lanterns for our table

We bought a Chinese Takeaway (yum!) and attempted to use chopsticks.

Habitats and Homes window display

This was a big project and it was difficult not to disappear off on tangents. It included a lot of discussion and sorting. The girls loved playing with the fish in the water - no surprise! I also used a standing sandpit which I filled with water and gave the girls shells, toy fish, sharks etc. They loved it!

I asked friends to send me photos of their houses and we looked at houses from different countries, terrains, climates etc. They particularly like English Thatched Cottages

Sorting animals into their habitats

Sorting animals into their habitats

Sorting animals into their habitats

Making houses out of cut out shapes and glue

Animals and their homes

Den in the living room

The Good Shepherd window display

I decided Spring was a nice time to incorporate this into our project work. Lucia had recently come out of hospital after her operation so I decided that an encouraging, gentle religious theme would be ideal for her to feel happy again. It was an unexpected operation and so she became very withdrawn and unsettled. She enjoyed this project very much.

Spring window display

This was obviously timed to fit in with Spring. We had a delightful time watching all the daffodils open up in the garden, around the village and wherever we went in the car. We did lots of puddle splashing and bought new umbrellas for the two eldest.

The girls made fingerprint caterpillars and we studied the life cycle of a butterfly and the life cycle of a frog.

Some of the children's Spring work

Silver foil puddles, wellies and tissue paper flowers - for the children to dance with in the morning when they woke up.