Pass the Spotty Box ....

around,
box around,
box around.
Pass the spotty box around.
Who ...
will ...
get...
it?
(to the tune 'London Bridge is falling down'.)

and inside?

All last week, when it has been very hot and sweaty we have been outside doing the sock trail. This has kept little people (and some adults) occupied without getting hot and bothered.
Using old school socks (clean ones!!!!) I created a guessing game.
Each sock had a simple numbered label sewn on, but it doesn't have to be a sewn one, and inside is a mystery object. The children have to work out what the objects are by feeling them, although some smelling was also observed! I did sew the object into the sock to stop cheating! Pegged out on a line under the trees in the shade it was great activity.

 

 

To give you some ideas, this is what is inside the socks.

Key ring, pencil, Blutac. hair clip, battery, medicine spoon, toy dinosaur, bottle of nail varnish, tea light candle (they come up with all sorts of answers for this one - my favourite is a monster with no arms and legs!), cotton bud, bottle top, bouncy ball, elastic band (this one is usually thought to be empty - I like being mean!), 2p coin, whistle, 5p coin, marble and polystyrene packaging. You can probably think of lots more.

I'm joining in with Handmade Monday this week, as the summer holidays start on Wednesday, so hopefully I can go blog visiting as I've missed seeing what everyone else is up to.



The Secret Garden Gala

The folly

Last Saturday we were at the Secret Garden Gala, it was being held by the Sue Ryder Charity in Clifton, Bristol. Walking through a very ordinary looking door located in the middle of a city street took you to an amazing garden.
I have to say it felt like I was in an episode of Mr Benn!


The canal

Pickle-Lily and I were at Goldney Hall in Bristol. There was a tower, a mock canal full of damsel flies, dragon flies, water lilies and fish, statues and sculptures and then ....

We went down some steps ....

 

Into the grotto



Where the river god waited for us in the cool depths

Among thousands of shells and fossils

A truly fantastic place on a very, very hot day! If you ever get the chance to visit, go!

In the gardens there was singing and ballet and some beautiful stalls...

Cute little penguins and guinea pigs made by Victoria (sadly no link to post here)

This beautiful stall from Betty Brixham full of quirky prints on a super display.

Sadly P and I had to go home at about half past three as we could stand the heat no longer, but we did leave Eric behind!

 

cats, cobras, coyotes and cockroaches

I really like the black and coral colour combination

Yesterday as we were in the car on the way to school, Pickle-Lily commented that I hadn't done an alphabet blog post for a long while and what was I going to do next? We decide that 'c' was the next letter and as she was going to Bristol Zoo that day with school, she would look for animals beginning with 'c'. So we thought of a few to begin with, and came up with cats, cobras, coyotes and cockroaches! Not your usual sort of list! (On the way home we thought of loads more, but decided to keep to the original list!)
For cats, I thought I'd share the newest cat key ring I'm making. I still like my old design, but it wasn't really practical as a key ring as the tail got bent, it still works well as applique design.
Cobras are harder, so I googled 'felt cobra', then 'knitted cobra' and finally 'felt snake'. What it came up with surprised me - but in a good way!

http://www.craftbuds.com/felt-flowers-button-snake/



This is a button snake, made from a long piece of ribbon, with buttons at either end. You then thread the button through the felt shapes to develop fine motor skills. There is a great tutorial here. I will have to put this idea on the summer holiday to do list, but I can think of lots of children who would enjoy playing with one of these.
Coyotes I think I will have to think about and return to!
Cockroaches - see my post here !


Sand sculptures

Bertie went to visit the library

I know it's been a while, but I've snatched half an hour to blog between mum's taxi runs!
I've been busy making bunnies for the bunny giveaway ( if you would like the pattern - it's free, see here and for the very cute tag, see here )
 As you can see Bertie likes books and Colin went to the beach.

Colin at the beach

I also had a fab day out at the beach with a lovely group of children. We went to visit the sand sculptures at Weston-Super-Mare, and I have to say it was one of the best trips ever!
The weather was brilliant, which helped a great deal, but I can not praise the staff there too much! They were friendly, very helpful, got mucky and couldn't do enough for us! The sculptures were, to be honest a bit hit and miss, some were excellent, some I wasn't too sure who they were. We did a photo hunt looking for the details and then we had a demonstration on how to make your own sculptures using very simple equipment and just sand from the beach (I always thought it was special sand) and water. Then the children, and adults got sculpting. The thing that tells you how good this was, is that usually on trips the first thing they want is their lunch, here we had to make them stop to wash their hands and eat, as they wanted to carry on making their own sculptures!

Jurassic Park

 

The Giving Bunny Project

Sorry I haven't been around for a while, but Mr P-L has been doing computery things and now I have finally been given some time on the computer! I was going share some more bunting loveliness that Pickle-Lily and I have been working on, but then yesterday we were out shopping and I picked up a copy of 'Made in Felt'


Please take me home

In it Pickle-Lily found an article about the Giving Bunny Project . It is all about making very cute little rabbits out of felt and then leaving them somewhere to be found! There is a google map showing where they have been found, and so of course we had a look! There seem to be very few in the UK, so yesterday afternoon P and I made our first two bunnies - Angelina and Arthur. (For some reason Blogger isn't letting me edit my pictures at the moment, so the layout is a little random!!). As you  can see there is also a cute little label to print off to put with your bunny, for when he is found. Arthur has been put in position, so we will wait to see what happens next! You could always join in! I'm going to share this on Handmade Monday in the hope of recruiting some more bunnies!


Angelina

 

Arthur

 

 

Doodle Bags

Doodle Bag

Introducing my latest creation - Doodle Bags! A bag you can colour in and

Doodle bag contents

inside a drawing pad, felt tip pens, a pencil, rubber, sharpener and ruler.

Designs do vary!

Spotty Box

Pass the spotty box around ...

As most of you know my 'day job' is a primary school teacher, and one of the 'tools of the job' is my spotty box. In fact, I am know as the spotty box teacher to most of the children I have taught. When I tried to work it out, the total number so far that is, that is a very large number!
To play 'spotty box', it is passed around a circle of sitting children, just like pass the parcel, the spotty box song is sung, and when you get the box it is your turn to open it and see what is inside. That can be anything - singing cards to choose a song for us to sing, a book, a letter, interesting objects, emotion cards - tell us when you feel happy, sad... or whatever has taken my imagination to inspire the children. It can go round again, or the mystery object inside can inspire the rest of the session.
So I thought I'd use my spotty box, hopefully, to inspire you.
Inside the spotty box this time, is ......


Who...will..get...it?

 half a metre of oil cloth
a triangle template
six metres of cotton tape

I used it to make outdoor bunting, and it took me less than an hour!


Draw out your triangles




Cut them out




Pin onto the tape at 5cm intervals

A few observations
Half a metre of oil cloth was the smallest amount I could buy, but it only took the equivalent of a fat quarter. I have some left to either make more or be creative with.
My triangle measured 16cm across the base and was 18cm tall.
Pin the tape to the printed side of the oil cloth, and sew with that side down. I meant to change my needle to a heavy duty one, but forgot, and my normal needle actually coped very well.
Lift the triangle gently up as you sew it, as it can 'stick' to your sewing machine.

Ta - dah!

Outside bunting

Perfect for the lovely weather we're having at the moment!
I'm planning to join in with Handmade Monday this week, why don't you join in too?