Saturday 29 October 2011

Autumn and Halloweeen stuff

Play academy-follow this link to see what others are doing http://nurturestore.co.uk/tag/the-play-academy-2

Since the kids have started school and pre school there has not been as much time for craft and theme related stuff. However, with halloween coming up, along with the dark nights and colder weather, I decided it was time to search for some inspiration.

I found some great ideas on there and adapted them a bit to fit in with the resources we had available as money is a bit limited at the moment for buying endless craft supplies!

Pumpkins

All these involved was sticking tissue paper squares on paper plates which will then have a face drawn on with black pen.


Scary looking cakes

With blue or red icing....



Threading skeletons

I bought plastic skeletons and skulls in the pound shop. Melissa threaded the skeletons into a piece of cotton (good for fine motor skills as the hole is really small) and Louis did the skulls.



Haunted Houses
These were printed off from Activity Village and were great to give the kids to get on with with minimal input from me. Very American seeing as no one round here has a house that massive though of course! The kids coloured in the house and the decorations and then Melissa was able to cut out the decorations and stick them herself. Louis on the other hand needed help but he is getting better with using scissors.

These were
Leaf Pictures

We went on a nature walk, collecting various leaves, twigs and acorns which were then stuck onto large sheets of paper cut into a leaf shape. I think sticky back plastic would have been better really but since we have moved about 5 miles from shops which sell such supplies we have had to make do a bit more with what we have in the house instead of nipping to the supermarket for supplies



So now we have decirated the house all ready for halloween. I am really excited this year that we actually haave a front garden to decorate too in readyness for trick or treaters! I am working and have a hairdressers appointment on actually halloween so we will celebrate tomorrow with a special tea and trick or treating. I kind of wish we had had a party but its only 3 weeks since Melissa's birthday party!

Wednesday 19 October 2011

Melissa's 5th Birthday...

I can't quite believe it myself but my little Melissa turned 5 earlier this month. Though her actual birthday was on a Friday, due to school, we celebrated on the Saturday with a party. Not being one to do things by halves, I decided hiring a room and having a big party was the way forward. That way I could invite her old friends from playgroups, nursery, my mummy friends kids etc... as well as any new school friends. Because she had only been in school about 2 weeks when I sent out the invites, I decided, inviting all the girls in the class would be the way forward. Well about half of them replied and came but the other half; rude so and sos did not even bother to reply!!
As usual I invited too many people, thinking many wouldn't turn up. That meant in total there were about 25 children at the party. Melissa wanted it to be fancy dress so all the girls came as princesses where as the boys were a mix of pirates, super heros and dinosaurs.
In the beginning I had this idea I would provide the entertainment myself. However I soon chickened out and we hired a very good, but very expensive children's entertainer. The kids, however, did seem to enjoy it and join in!
Here are some photos...




Starting school

Well, we are almost half way through the autumn term; Melissa's first year at school and Louis first year at nursery.
It all seems to be going ok thankfully. Louis took a while to settle in to nursery. Although he always said he enjoyed himself and the teachers said he was fine, he would cry when I dropped him off. The teaching assistant has been really good with him and would make a special fuss and read him a story. Anyway, fingers crossed, about 2 weeks ago he said 'I've decided I am not going to cry now mummy.' and that was that. He has gone in happy enough ever since. It is really cute seeing him shout the names of the other children and nice he is making his own friends and devloping his own personality with some time away from Melissa.
Melissa being at school means me and Louis have two mornings together when I am not in work. I have all these plans to teach him his letters and numbers ready for school but so far all we have really done is play or have a cuddle!!
Melissa, on the other hand seems to have taken no trouble settling into school. I took her in on the first day and she went and sat down like she had been going every day of her life. She is mentioning the names of a few other children so hopefully she is making friends fine. She is very indpendent but seems popular with the other kids!
School seem to have started already with reading, writing and numbers. At the end of the first week Melissa brought home her first reading book. Strangely it had no words in it but appparently this is to get the children used to the charactors of the scheme they use. She has been bringing home 2 new words to learn more or less every night and seems to be picking them up very quickly. I am under no illusion she is a genius though-she is almost a year older than many of the kids in her class!
Tomorrow is parent's night for both kids so will find out how they are getting on.
Here are some pictures of them in their uniforms....