I spy a spider...

Spiders and flies

bees in the sky

they flit and they flitter

and some, they crawl by...

Back at the Geffrye Museum today, continuing our theme of things-that-move, we focused on spiders. We made a giant (and I mean room-sized) web using a ball of silvery wool and a huge spider puppet that the children named - guess what? - Incy Wincy, of course. We created a beautiful, angular 2D structure that stretched between us all and lasted as long as everyone held on to their bit of wool. It was wonderfully ephemeral too, collapsing just like a real spider's web when we finally let go.

We investigated how spiders move by looking closely and handling lots of the plastic variety; big, small and hairy, black, brown and colourful. Then they each made their own spider; colouring and cutting it out, trying not to cut off any of its eight legs. These were stuck to wrist-cuffs and immediately worn with pride.

We sang some spidery songs and enjoyed Eric Carle's The Very Busy Spider. Finally the children made individual postcard-size cobwebs using black card as background and drippy-droppy PVA glue to create their own unique design. Glitter, snow dust and sequins were scattered over the glue to make their web glisten as if it had been raining.

The weather magically matched the idea behind this artwork; a sharp shower during the session was followed by bright sunshine. The cobwebs in the garden were waiting to be spotted, glimmering and shimmering in the sunlight - it couldn't have worked out better!

The ugly bug ball

What with computer shenanigans and birthday party organisation it's been ages since my last post. The PC is now repaired and Daisy has firmly celebrated being four years old, so here I am again at last.

Today I've been working at the Geffrye Museum running a family creative workshop. I've led this session many times before but it differs greatly depending on who turns up. This morning, with twenty chirpy 2, 3 and 4 year olds and babes-in-arms too, it was a very noisy, musical and fun affair.

We started with action songs and rhymes about things-that-move, including the creepy-crawlies living in the Geffrye Museum gardens. Then we investigated a heap of toy insects and bugs. Drawing round these on paper and adding colour was a fun way to look closely at creepy-crawly physiology and to talk to each other about how the creatures might move about.

More songs using puppets and a story - 10 Wriggly Wiggly Caterpillars - helped us focus on the amazing caterpillar to butterfly phenomenon. By this time the children were totally up for becoming beetles and butterflies themselves. Each child decorated a set of neoprene wings with pieces of tissue, foil, sticky circles, stars and lace, taking inspiration from images of colourful butterflies and highly decorated beetles.

These wings are so lightweight they can be easily paper-clipped to children's clothing at the shoulder. When everyone was beautifully be-winged we flitted, fluttered, crawled and wiggled to the music of the Ugly Bug Ball.

And a happy time we'll have there

One and all

At the Ugly Bug Ball.

Blazing June

Summer's here at last! For me, June means Wimbledon (yay), cherries and strawberries (yum), and playing outside until bedtime. It also brings village and school summer fairs aplenty; an abundance of bunting, bouncy castles and barbecues.

But I haven't had much time to write about these June adventures. A casualty of my husband currently being off in far away lands maybe? Too busy being out and about maybe? Being in sole charge of my two children is full-on and tiring, and fitting work in amongst it all is a juggling game requiring precision timing. We are certainly having fun though. Here with a few highlights of our June thus far.

I spy with my little eye

Buddy spotted the most beautiful beetle on our mini-basil plant. It was like tiny Quality Street sweet. It tolerated intense examination under the magnifying glass for two days and then was gone. Ladybird, Ladybird, fly away home....

Make and bake

We made gingerbread men, well people actually. Daisy was adamant she was going to make a skirt for her gingerbread princess.

They always take great delight in announcing which limb is to be munched first. And with recent knowledge of Alice Through the Looking Glass they call out 'Off with their head!' in shrill ordering tones.

.

The recipe is from a lovely book called Just 4 Kids - with a really simple method and a short list of ingredients including an inspired addition of golden syrup for added chewiness. My two had never tried this before so I let them lick the spoon. It was a little too sweet for Bud's savoury palate but - guess what - Daisy loved it.

Dress-up a go-go

With the lovely weather, I've shifted a lot of their toys to our little outside space.

The dress-up drawer has been relocated to the decking and Daisy has embraced its appearance by stripping off immediately she returns from nursery to transform herself into various outrageous combinations of princess, cat, alien, silver swan and butterfly. I am strictly not allowed to laugh at these though; it has been tough.

Recycling truck

Just before daddy left for his trip to the Far East, he bought a new pair of shoes. Daisy took one look at the shoebox and announced it was to be a lorry. We had great fun raiding the recycling box to make the cab, wheels and windscreen. I got one idea past the Board; a simple fan - made from thin card folded like a concertina - joining the cab to the trailer; articulation in action. Buddy was very keen to fill the shoebox with toys. The toilet roll wheels could barely hold the weight of its load.

Please note the driver; Trucker Barbie. Now that's a marketing opportunity if ever I saw one.

Haircut 100

This has been a week of haircuts. On Tuesday I took Buddy and Daisy to the hairdresser. It was only their second time and as such was still quite a novelty.

Daisy sat demurely throughout her 10 minute trim, loving every second.

But Buddy's hair took nearly an hour. First came the painful 'brushing-out' ceremony. He looks cheery in this photograph but actually his eyes were watering for most of it.

And then came the inevitable cutting of his curls; I could barely watch. I had to keep telling myself they'll grow back, they'll grow back. I love those little corkscrews.

Back at home Daisy found a book about someone who, like Buddy has untamed and tangled tresses. Sarah Dyer's The Girl with the Bird's-Nest Hair is a delightfully eccentric tale of Hollie whose hair becomes so wild and unkempt that a selection of birds set up home in it.

A cautionary story indeed. Thank goodness we didn't see any birds emerging from Buddy's hair as it was combed and cut. But as Daisy so wisely put it, 'I think we went to the hairdresser just in time, mummy.'

On Monday I gave the ivy in our garden a trim, and there was plenty of wildlife living in there. We witnessed many an indignant-looking creepy crawly suddenly exposed, rather unceremoniously evicted from its leafy home. It was a great opportunity to examine close up the spiders and ladybirds of our garden. And by the time we managed to clear up the cuttings most of them had scuttled or flown away to branches new.

Maybe it's because I've got haircuts on my mind, but I now think the little box trees in our front garden could do with a trim. Don't you think they're looking a bit out of shape with all their new growth? I certainly know two little gardeners/hairdressers who'd love to give it a go.