The Scarecrow’s Wedding craft and writing

Posted on October 7, 2017 by ofamily

We have not done fun crafty story based activities for ages but I noticed the past week that my youngest has been reading and rereading The Scarecrows’ Wedding to himself so I thought it might be fun to use the story for some crafting inspiration.

I knew Activity Village had a basic Scarecrow template so we printed out a few copies and then raided the crafting cupboard to see what we could add to the Scarecrows (and let’s be honest when making scarecrow’s you could really add anything as most Scarecrows are a bit scruffy and made up of old cast off items).  The kids seemed to like the idea of tissue paper, shredded paper, crafting feathers , we tried some wool but they did not like it and some magic maze.

Scarecrow Crafting activity for children. Use a basic template and let them create their own scarecrow

I love crafting activities like this were the kids can just let their imaginations go and play around with different materials.

Scarecrow craft activity for children made using an Activity Village template

They made a few.  And each one ended up looking very different and unique (although there did seem to be a pattern of using shredded paper for the Scarecrow’s hair).

Easy Scarecrow Craft activity inspired by The Scarecrow's Wedding by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffer. Made using a template from Activity Village

The craft was such a hit with the kids so I thought we would stick with our scarecrow theme and try to do some writing (this is something we are really working on at the moment but I will share some posts soon on what the kids are using and how it is going).

For our scarecrow writing we used the scarecrow themed writing paper from Activity Village.

Activity Village scarecrow themed writing paper. Perfect to use with the book The Scarecrow's Wedding

We like this themed paper as I can print off the normal lined page for my daughter and the handwriting lined page for her younger brother and they both have the same picture (perfect for different aged siblings who like working together).

Scarecrow themed writing paper from Activity Village. They have two different line versions of the paper for different writing abilities

And if you like all the Activity Village scarecrow themed pages they also have a stunning Scarecrow colouring page – my daughter loves this one (she has used it a few times over the past year).

Activity Village Scarecrow colouring page completed using STABILO 3-in-1's dipped into water

I have included an Affiliate link for the book. If you follow an affiliate link and go on to purchase that product, I will be paid a very small commission, however your cost will remain the same. I only include affiliate links for products that we own, use and love.

An easy crafting activity for children inspired by The Scarecrow's Wedding by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffer

Easy Craft activity for children inspired by the Julia Donaldson story The Scarecrow's Wedding. Perfect for autumn and harvest themesScarecrow themed writing pages which can be used with the Julia Donaldson story The Scarecrow's Wedding or with an Autumn or Harvest theme

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We are not in a Home Ed Sprint

Posted on October 6, 2017 by ofamily

Here is the thing about home education it is a lifestyle, it takes time, it is not a big SPRINT.  There is no desperate need to finish that book today, if it takes an extra day it is OKAY, if it takes an extra week that is FINE, have a cup of tea or coffee chat to the kids and give yourself a break.  If you Sprint to finish everything you are going to get exhausted. And in my house exhausted mom = grumpy mom = not the best at facilitating learning.

There are going to be topics that your kids learn about that are not covered by the schools in your area in the same year.  So if you don’t cover the exact same History topics at the exact same time as your local schools, it is okay.  Breathe.  If your kids study the Egyptians one year later it is going to be okay.

We don’t need to stick to school term dates, so if your kids prefer to do the museum trips and activities during school term when it is quieter embrace it because guess what when it is school holidays and all the museums are crazy busy you can use that time to do some learning projects at home.

We don’t need to fit everything in during the school hours.  If you are as lucky as I am and have a partner who wants to be a part of the home education, include them.  Let them spend half an hour with the kids in the evening talking about a topic that they are interested in.  I am constantly amazed by how much my kids have learnt from the half an hour evening reading / chatting to their dad (when he gets home from work).  The detailed knowledge they now have about animals blows me away.

When we first started out home educating my oldest I worried about fitting everything in, I got grumpy when we did not do the activities that I wanted to do in the way that I imagined them.  But as we have progressed I have realized that the more I stopped looking at this as a race to get everything covered, the more I relaxed and enjoyed learning alongside the kids, the more we actually got done.  And more importantly when I was not panicking and rushing the kids through the activities but giving them time they started to understand, they started to question and the real learning actually began.

So in our house this is more about Long distance. We want the kids to enjoy learning, to question, to explore topics they find interesting and like this week if our plans get thrown out the window because one of them needs a break it is totally fine.  There is no deadline for our learning.

And must just find them sitting down doing something on their own.

Taking time to follow the kids interests and not rushing to finish gives us moments when we all relax and enjoy the adventure

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Hedgehog crafty fun with a template

Posted on October 3, 2017 by ofamily

There is something about Autumn that makes you think of hedgehog and Squirrel crafts and since we have done a few squirrel crafts we thought we would have a go at some hedgehogs.  Everyone has been feeling a bit tired so we decided to stick with a template.  We  used the Activity Village Hedgehog colouring page as our template – I purposely choose this as the template as the kids have been using the Learn How to Draw pages over the last few days and the hedgehog in the drawing pages is the same as the hedgehog in the colouring page so I thought the consistency would be a good thing.

We tried 2 different versions.  First we had some fun creating a Sand Art hedgehog.  We just used normal Pritt for this and our Coloured Sand bottles (my kids find it easier to pour the sand out of the bottles into smaller plastic cups so they can better control the amount of sand they apply to their pictures).

Adding coloured sand to a colouring page from Activity Village to turn it into Sand Art

After we had finished our hedgehogs the kids commented that the eyes looked a bit strange (they were hidden under the sand).

Autumn Craft. Sand Art Hedgehog made using a colouring page from Activity Village

So we tried adding some googly eyes that we had.

A Sand Art Hedgehog made using an Activity Village colouring page, coloured sand and glue

We also had made more multi-coloured hedgehogs.

Multicoloured Sand Art Hedgehog. A fun and easy Autumn craft for children you love cut animals

(Sand Art Tip – use trays to keep the coloured sand off your floors)

And we had a go at making a coloured paper hedgehog.  The kids cut out a strip of grass to go at the hedgehogs feet and  realized that the snippets of paper that we had cut out were triangular in shape and wondered if they could add it to the hedgehog as it’s prickles.  So we cut some more “grassy strips” in orange and yellow and then glued the off-cuts onto the hedgehogs body.

Add cut-off bits of coloured paper to the colouring page to get a crafty hedgehog

I must admit I really like the effect the paper gives the hedgehog (on this one my daughter used her oil pastels to add in the background).

Hedgehog paper craft for children using coloured paper and the Activity Village hedeghog colouring page

I Love our little hedgehogs.

Cute, easy hedgehogs for children to make using a colouring page from Activity Village as the template

 

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A Day off being a Home-educating mom

Posted on October 1, 2017 by ofamily

I Love being a home-educating Mom, I really do.  But here is the thing it is all-consuming, it has a tendency to take over my WHOLE life.  I am always reading up about new topics, find new resources, pinning ideas, sorting out activities for the kids, helping them with their activities, preparing for the next and it goes on and on.  I am no longer known as Shelly, I am now that Lady from dance class who home-educates her kids, that lady down the road who home-educates her kids or that person that someone used to know who home-educates her kids.  It just always seems to get tagged on.  It becomes an all defining definition of who I am.

And here is the crazy part I never thought I would home-educate.  I thought I would go back to work at some stage and the kids would just slot into the local school.  But very early on I recognised that my daughter was not going to fit into my idea of what she should be like but that I needed to change and become the mother that she needed.  So all my plans out the window and somehow we ended up a home-educating family.  It suits our kids and dare I say it – It actually suits our family unit.

But as much as I know it is the right path for us and as much as I do enjoy it there are times when I really just need a break, when I need to stop being that home-educating mom and just be me.

This past weekend I had that opportunity.  I attended Britmums#17.  And yes the blog is the reason that I attended and yes the blog is about home-educating but for a WHOLE DAY I got to be the blogger who writes about home-education instead of the home-educating mom who has a blog.  Maybe you think there is no difference.  But there is.  I got to go into a blogging world where no-ones knows me as the kids mom, no-one wants to chat about unschooling verses semi-structured home-ed, or which resources to use or how did I explain a certain Maths concepts.  Nope the conservation was about blogging, how to write better content, take better pictures (yes I paid attention).  It was about me learning just for the sake of ME learning, not me learning so that I could explain something to the kids.  And it felt GREAT.

Home-educating me kids is a privilege and I LOVE it.  I am incredibly grateful that I get to go on these learning journeys with my kids.  But every once in a while it is nice to escape that home-educating mom label and just be ME.

And after having my “day off”  I came back to lots of questions about what I had learnt. I explained a bit about backgrounds in photographs and how you can position your items and my daughter just went with it.  She converted part of their play area into a mini studio, she found a few goodies, drapped some material for a background and started creating a catalogue of book photographs (apparently she will let me use her photographs in return for hot chocolate from her favourite coffee shop).

Practicing her staging her photographs

Sometimes just one day away is exactly what you need. Thank you Twinkl Resources for sponsoring me and giving me my day’s break, for giving me a chance to just be me again and for allowing me to inspire my daughter.  I loved my day of just being ME and now I am quite happy to go back to my crazy home-educating mom label again.

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Little Acorns eBook and Calligrams

Posted on September 29, 2017 by ofamily

My kids love reading eBooks on the computer.  We have download a bunch of traditional stories for them but they also love “new” stories.  So this past week I download the Little Acorns ebook from the Twinkl Resources website.

It is a very sweet story about a little acorn who falls off his tree and gets buried in the ground and then starts to grow (includes the full life cycle of an oak tree).  We actually used it as reading practice for my youngest and it was perfect for him.

Reading Twinkl Original eBook Little Acorns which is filled with Calligrams

While we were reading the story both kids commented on how some of the words were written in unusual fonts and sometimes as pictures.

Twinkl Orginal Story Little Acorns. A sweet story about an acorn becoming an oak tree

I never knew this but these words are called Calligrams (words or phrases where the design and layout of the word creates a visual image which relates to the words meaning).

So we thought it would be fun to try to create some of our own.

Creating our own Calligrams after reading the Twinkl Original eBook Little Acorns

Both kids loved the activity and sat happily for ages writing and rewriting words trying out different fonts and ways to decorate the different words.

Creating Calligrams, is a fun way to get kids writing and practicing their spelling

It ended up being a great spelling activity for the kids.  And my youngest really impressed me with how much he wrote and how he kept trying to find ways to express the words.  I just love his idea of tall inside a giraffe.

Writing out Calligrams like tall inside a giraffe

And we even had a go at making some more crafty calligrams.

Creating crafty Calligrams after reading the Twinkl eBook Little Acorns

The words can be as simple or as complex as you want.  I like the fact that there is no right answer to this.  So everyone who tries can come up with their own idea.

Calligrams can be as simple or as complex as you want

Little Acorns in a Twinkl Orginal Story which means it was written for their website and can only be downloaded from their website.  It is currently available as part of their Platinum Classic package.  They also have a number of learning activities linked to the story.  Twinkl have a document on their website explaining what a Calligram is as well as a worksheet with suggested words that the kids could use to create Calligrams (both are also part of their Classic package)

Calligrams. Fun way to get the kids writing and practicing their spelling. Idea from the Twinkl eBook Little Acorns

Please note – The Twinkl packages I mention in my posts are the valid packages at the time of me writing the post.  Any changes that may occur with the packages are at the discretion of Twinkl.

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