Hectic

Gymnastics day and bean, 10, asked if we could go to Tilgate Park afterwards, so we did. They collected sticks and played pirate ships on a fallen tree trunk. Bean, pumpkin, 8, and plum, 5, played on the large twirly slide together. Pippin, 3, enjoyed the rope swing, swings and smaller slide.

That was topped and tailed with watching Plum watching Elf, bean continuing The Matrix 2 with daddy, bean making a daily calender for himself using coloured paper, a hole punch, the paper slicer, and string. Plum drawing pictures and making cards. Pumpkin organising a nerf war for us all to play and pippin co tinuing to enjoy colouring, play dough and baths with her anna doll and repunzel barbie.

We had a quiet relaxed day at the beginning of the week, now i have overwhelmed with requests to play or help or for food. Sometimes it's quiet, sometimes it's just plain hectic.

All sorts

Bean, 10, continues to build his skatepark with cardboard ramps and fixing them together with a glue gun. He took the ramp and remote control skateboard to his friends house to play and also found the finger skateboard too.

Pumpkin, 8, spent most of the day watching and playing on his tablet. He enjoyed nerf wars at his friends house and continued to play when he got home.

Plum, 5, is loving looking after the rabbits in the mornings. She played parties with pippin, 3. They got dressed up in special outfits and put on make up and nail varnish and decorated their hair together.

We spent three hours at our friend, O's, house. Plum went and played with the three big ones this time and took on the roll of healer in the nerf game. It seemed to work really well.

Daddy was home late but had arranged to watch The Matrix 2 with Bean so they started on that. I curled up downstairs with plum and we started watching Turbo together.

Carving Pumpkins

Bean, 10, and i spent an hour hollowing out pumpkins this morning. I have learnt a few things about carving pumpkins in the past few years and today i learnt more. I remembered that it takes an age to hollow them out and that carving out a large lid is best. Today i discovered that the large pumpkins (which i have previously avoided) have the same amount of fibres and seeds in them as the smaller ones and are therefore easier to scoop out, they are also easier to carve as they have a larger canvas space.

Our friends, A, J, and H came over to play. They all choose pictures for their pumpkins and then their mum and I sat for hours carving them out. Pippin, 3, chose minnie mouse, plum, 5, chose the cheshire cat, pumpkin, 8, chose a scary face and bean chose another scary face. I didn't do so well with Bean's so we have plans to purchase another pumpkin.

Whilst we carved the children played marble run and a fighting/war/battle, there was some tablet games and discussion going on, and a new game based on the enderman character is minecraft which they called Slenderman. And there was food. Pippin got the Bing and peppa small world toys out and was singing Frozen songs over and over.

Later pippin and pumpkin played play dough together. Pippin creates characters and models and pumpkin was dissecting them or performing surgery on them. Sometimes it was a heart transplant and sometimes full amputation, head transplant or swapping limbs. It was brutal.

Bean and i played minecraft and he had a bath, continuing to practice holding his breath.

Plum took herself to her bed and watched/played on her tablet.

Questions, questions, questions.

Bean, 10, is on a crafing role. Today he began his day by makin a snowglobe for Plum. After alt of years of harbouring and collecting crafting items, they are now being used. Bean was notinterested in making using paint or glue when he was younger but recently asked if we could have a desigated crafting table.

Pumpkin, 8, was in a question asking mood. Do fish close their eyes when they sleep? What is nitroglycerin? What doyou call itwhen the moon is moretan half amoon but not a fullmoon?

Plum, 5, played doll's house and dollies with pippin, 3.

In the afternoon our friends came to play. A, J, H and their mummy. The big four played upstairs making traps and hideouts and playing roblox and sims4. H, plum and pippin played play dough pizza making and ice cream sets they also played momentarily in the garden with the small world.
We took themall to the park. Bean took the boomerang and they played a real life version of a roblox game similar to winking murder. This continued when we got home.

Saturday, daddy took all four smalls to bedgebury pinetum and meet FA#3 with cousins C and H. They had a good day exploring and climbing and doing a gruffalo trail. We watched Men In Black in the evening together.

In the house

The gaming computer is back in the house and fully functioning so bean, 10, and pumpkin, 8, spent most of the day on the sims4 and roblox, plum, 5, joined them on her tablet. We researched new rabbit hutches and watched Back to the Future 3 (having watched the previous two at the weekend.) I watched The tinkerbell movie with Plum and Pippin, 3.

Bean has discovered 5 minute crafting videos on youtube and has made telephones using paper cups, origami book mark animal faces and is now attempting a snow globe.

Pumpkin is enjoying roblox: cowboy showdown and murder mystery and warfare.

The big three all went to gymnastics and pumpkin and C played chess afterwards before we headed home. Bean, pumpkin and m

Plum and pippin played more doll's house together and misfits board game.

Day 5

Today was our last day of quarantine.

Bean, 10, made a birthday card for Pippin with moving parts. It took several attempts and reworking to get the length of the pulling parts correct and make sure they didn't get pulled out but he did it. He also ent about half an hour playing piano with me. We looked at all the keys and put coloured dots on the matching ones. We looked at notation and how it related to the keys. We played tunes together that we have played before and tried a new one. And then we had fun with the 'excercise' book. In the afternoon he did several 100+ piece puzzles, some with me, some on his own and some with Plum. He had a bath and was counting holding his breath and using a straw as a snorkle.

Pumpkin, 8, is currently immersing himself in 'The amazing world of Gumball,' i think he watched it all day except for when he put the film 'the house of magic' on. He did have a bath. Pumpkin also regained hos appetite today so hopefully, after fuelling up and resting today, he will be better now.

Plum, 5, played doll's house with me in the morning and then continued playing with pippin. They made a cinema for the figures using the doll's furniture and a tablet, the created a beach area using face clothes as towels and daddy's blue blanket as the sea, and they made a play park area too.
Plum played a shooting game with bean. They used unloaded nerf guns and had bases and were chasing each other around the house shooting. And then plum did a 100 piece puzzle with a little help from pumpkin. She then completed a few more with me and bean.

Pippin, 2, had a bath this evening, played doll's house with Plum, cut up veg for dinner, tried her hand at a few puzzles and watched Topsy and Tim.

That's no moon

Friday became our second enforced day at home with mummy's bad back.

Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 8, and i watched Satr Wars 4, Plum, 5, watched Youtube and played in the garden and with the kitchen set.

Bean has taken over the morning feed of the animals this week and fed and watered them every day, often without reminder too.

Plum and Pippin and mummy painted their nails together and braided two plaits in Plum's hair.

Saturday we took a familt trip to plant flowers on nana and grandad's grave. Bean and Plum made a wreath together from willow and plants and flowers from the hedgrow and field.
We spent the day at FA#3 and mostly played in the garden with cousin C and H.

Sunday was church day, our friends renewed their marriage vows and mutual friends came to celebrate too. Plum and daddy took archie for a walk in the afternoon. Pumpkin played the head/ body/leg/feet drawing game with me and bean and pumpkin and i played mastermind together for a while. We watched the original Charlie and the chocolate factory together in the evening.

Welly boots

Bean, 9, Plum, 5, and Pippin, 2, filled welly boots with stones and compost today and planted violets in them. We did six pairs altogether and then potted the remainder of the plants in one large pot. We put the large pot and four pairs of boots out the front of the house and Plum placed the other two on the back door step.

Pumpkin, 8, watched YouTube and played Roblox.

Bean and I read an Usbourne puzzle book that we got from the library and then we went to the park across the road. Plum and Pippin rode their bikes and Bean took his remote control truck with him. Mostly they played with the truck but there was a little swinging and going on the round a bout.

Plum and Pippin played in the garden on the see saw and Plum went woodlouse hunting, she collected three but found lots more.

Pumpkin played haulabaloo in the evening and told me all about mosquitos.

And Pippin drew pictures and pictures and pictures.

Room for everyone

Pippin, 2, was busy this morning playing board games and other family games from the shelf. She got out dotty dinosaurs, dinosaur races and pop up pirate. Plum, 4, has been devising and perfecting a game with the building blocks similar to Jenga. Pumpkin, 7, has been playing with the pokemonGo update, and Bean, 9, has been working on his gaming rexording and fixing the problem with the sound recording.

Pippin and Plum played 'babies' together upstairs and then moved downstairs to get the play dough out and play cafes. They made pizza with toppings and then we sliced it up, this was followed by tea and cake. Plum told me all about her birthday party and what was going to happen there (i wrote it all down) Then we got out the old Christmas cards and they both cut up pictures and made hanging decorations for the tree and Christmas pictures.

We attempted to go out and meet friends but we couldn't find the car keys. After half an hour of searching we discovered that daddy had them at work. Playdate was postponed. By this time Pippin was tired so she went for a sleep. Plum came and sat with us , watching on her tablet with headphones on. The boys were doing their own thing downstairs. We rested for an hour.

The, now, usual wrestling game occured whilst i prepared food and we watched Elf together whilst we ate. I managed to redirect Pumpkin upstairs for a bath and then Plum and Pippin followed,and next was Bean. All clean.

God save the Queen

Thursday

I was utterly relieved beyond words to see SGS arrive at the craft group this morning as well as SGG (who usually works on a Thursday.) SGG played with Plum whilst I was able to help the boys with their craft. Today they made sandwiches, decorated badges and did some scratch art. I'm glad I was able to help out, normally I wear Plum in her sling but had forgotten it and sometimes the boys aren't that interested in the craft and want to play more. The soft play area required the boys to wear socks, which I had forgotten and Pumpkin wasn't wearing any. Bean was in the process of taking his socks off when I stopped him to explain that he had to wear them. "They're for Pumpkin," was the response I got. So thoughtful.


Bean turned Royalist again on us today. After attending the play and craft group this morning which had a jubilee theme he was full of questions and ideas and is still trying to figure out why we can't go to Buckingham Palace to have tea with the Queen or send her the picture he has made. He asked me to draw Buckingham Palace and we then looked up different Queen related things on the internet, inspired by the craft group and the boys both chose pictures they wanted printed. He then cut them out and completed the Palace.

Early Learning

I'm really enjoying our relaxed week. Today was little builders at Kingdom Faith Church where somehow I managed to reverse into another car, fortunately she was also reversing so there was no damage. The boys coloured, food crafted and made sun catchers. The actual skill needed for all these things is fairly minimal but I'm sure that it's since we've been attending here that they have become more interested in making things. Bean even picked up a glued piece of paper yesterday without too much caution.
We had good good friends to lunch who helped us eat leftovers and play wildly. Lots of running around, garden exloring, climbing, hide and seek, full body learning.

Plum has napped today presumably because she slept 14 hours last night, with feeds of course. This seems to be a regular occurrence and she is often the last to rise. I wonder why it is third that sleeps so long? Not that the boys slept bad, just early risers.

Today's news seems to bring to light the detrimental effects of an early school age. Of course this is not news to early childhood practitioners. It still amazes me that Joe Bloggs thinks our children have to be in school for Reception class, that is 4, when it is actually the term after they're five and not necessarily in school just in schooling. This means Bean is not legally required to be educated until September which is the equivalent of Year 1. As if we could stop him learning before then! But this is discussing formal education. Sit down learning. I must impart knowledge to you that I think you should know right now. Please don't talk to me about skeletal structure and planetary systems we don't cover that until next year and you're too young to understand that now.
It just seems that some people find it hard to comprehend the 'less is more' approach: slowly slowly; and fail to see that it is detrimental to peoples social development as well as mental health, self confidence, personal responsibility, autonomy etc etc. Maybe I have studied it for too long so it has become second nature, obvious, or maybe I watched play succeed and structured learning crush too many but I am in full support of more freedom to play, freedom to learn.

The road is long

Bean returning from Grandma and Pop's has been a bit traumatic and it has taken most of today to find our equilibrium again. He came home yesterday lunch time which was followed by a second viewing of 'cars.' I knew he would need the down time when he got home. This time I watched it with them (my first time, and I quite enjoyed it.) We struggle to find films that don't upset the boys, Bean especially. I invested in Stuart Little recently thinking it was fairly low key but we only got part way through before we had tears and anxiety.'Cars' we manage. It always amazes me how much Bean remembers after only one viewing. I had a constant commentary all the way through telling me what was going to happen, if not that he was asking me questions about racing and sponsorship deals.

The rejected Lightning McQueen

A flurry of activity followed. Grandma and Pops, by chance, had bought a cars painting poster set each for the boys so they wanted to start painting these. This progressed into Bean wanting to paint his own picture of Lightning McQueen. It has only been this side of Christmas that he has really taken his own interest in painting and drawing and crafty activities but his development has come on rapidly as he now paints and draws recognisable objects and their placement is well thought through, including colour and shape and space. The painting was rejected by Bean as he put a sad face on the car instead of a happy one. I tried to suggest some ways of fixing it but to no avail.
After much painting he then wanted the car garage out and the box of cars we have. These haven't been out for a long time. Some toys can sit unplayed with for weeks and then suddenly they find new life! He sorted out all the cars that were small and metal. He got very agitated when Pumpkin pulled out some cars that were small but wooden. In schools I know they test children in reception to see if they are able to sort. Mostly this is done in a setting made up by the adults and then the children are asked to sort whatever toys they have been presented with. I wonder if the adults observed children at play more whether the results would be different. Does Bean actually know that what he is doing is sorting and would he do it if I asked him to? mmmmmm....
He proceeded to line them all up in a queue like fashion and send them up the lift one by one and park them on the top floor. This was followed by them coming down the ramp one by one and being lined up adjacent to one another round the back of the garage. This is not the first time that arranging toys in such a way has appeared in his play...and it wont be the last.
Today we went to our local Family Centre. It's a lovely place for us to hang out, it's not too far from our house and has a warm welcome whenever we go. The boys played for hours in the hall with two of their friends. It was a game based around 'Octonaughts.' They rearranged all the toys to build themselves a house, where the large soft skittles were lined up as pillows, a tent in one corner was their 'pod' where they lined up the vehicles outside (as if parked in bays) and the car mat was used as the mapping system. Other than these observations the children were left to it, they understood more of the game than any of the adults!!

Example of trajectory play (found in the archive)

For me I can't help but observe my children's play and analyse it. So here is my diagnosis: Bean is currently using a trajectory schema in his play. That is he has a repeatable pattern of behaviour (schema) which takes a trajectory pattern. It's also displayed when he kicks a ball around; shows a preference in play equipment at the park: climbs up and down the crows nest, and using the slide; repeatedly asks to climb the ladder into the loft; insists on playing at falling of his chair at the dinning table; practises repeatedly what can only be described as a long jump and I'm sure other things that I haven't noticed! 


Found out a bit about lapbooks today thanks to HEWS. Very interesting. 

Rain on the rooftops

Not the day we'd planned (outing into the New Forest, farmer's market, maybe a picnic.) Mainly due to the rain that poured all day and the fact that I hadn't packed any form of waterproofs we had a crafty day with grandma instead.. Bean spending a mammoth one and a half hours colouring in pictures and drawing with stencils. He drew a circus picture and fish under the sea. Pumpkin attributing a nursery rhyme to every picture in the colouring book no matter how tentative the link! 
Grandma and daddy spent some time winding wool around circular card in an attempt to make a bird. Simething Bean started a while ago but I got confused at the instructions and we had a good think about who could help us when cousin B turned up with one he'd made at grandma's...perfect!

Pops and Pumpkin did a lot of puzzles together, in fact, Pumpkin had a very puzzley day.

Bean enjoyed emptying grandma's games cupboard and I enjoyed playing some childhood favourites. We went through known favourites like snakes and ladders, snap and pairs, learnt some new classics like ludo and draughts, and shared those old old games of mine like rings on your fingers.

And Plum enjoying some time with her Pops...or is it Pops enjoying time with Plum?



All in all a lovely family centred day...maybe not that far removed from what we originally planned :)