Right place, right time...

[Image from khwgarden.org.uk]

On Saturday we went to King Henry Walk Garden's Open Day. I often cycle past this rather private-looking place on my way to work so it was great to be allowed a peek inside. It certainly lived up to my expectations; it was magical. There were beautifully tended allotments, colourful flowerbeds, a pond teeming with life - we spotted pond skaters, newts and water boatmen - several fragrant herb plots and a delightfully shady little wooded area. It was all the more special for being off-the-beaten-track and - well - a  bit secret.

We spotted a craft activity table where they were making paper blossom branches, and headed over. Unfortunately they were just packing up their wares as we approached. Tears from my daughter were only avoided when the kind lady in charge offered us a few twigs and a generous handful of crepe paper squares to take home with us. Daisy was delighted.

Back at home I laid out the branches, pink paper and some glue on our making table. I assumed that one or both of my children would soon get pinching, scrunching, and then gluing the petals to the winter branches. Much later, when I realised my children were not in the least interested, I decided to make a few petals myself. This tempted Daisy and she joined in. She made precisely two petals, announced she'd finished - and off she skipped. End of making.

I decorated the remaining branches later that evening - after the children had gone to bed. It was a most enjoyable occupation that complemented a glass of wine and a spot of Saturday night TV very well indeed. Yes, I am that sad. And I'm very pleased with how my branches have turned out - see how delicate and real they look in our backyard. Daisy has asked me to point out which of the petals are her handiwork; keen to take a bit of the credit then. I'll take that as a compliment.

This weekend's experience has got me thinking about children's Making activities and how they do sometimes fail. With my son, I know that certain things are never going to fly. I always think carefully about what kind of activity to offer to him - it has to suit his skills and his interests, otherwise he will simply not participate. Daisy is more inclined to have a go at most things so her uncharacteristic disinterest on this occasion reminded me of another factor in determining the success of making things with children - the importance of timing and setting. Maybe Daisy wouldn't have engaged for all that long with the petal-making in the secret garden but she was so keen to try - the time was right then, not hours later at home. And looking back, the original place of the activity was perfect too. It would have been so lovely to make pretty flowery things in the dappled light beneath those real blossom trees. For Daisy, our living room simply didn't cut it  - and I think that's fair enough.

Tinker in the sun

On a sunny day:

1. Spread a blanket on the ground in your backyard to attract the tinkerers

2. Lay out some simple tools, and a few old and broken electronic gadgets and gizmos (we also had a solar robot kit - a birthday present - on this occasion )

3. Wait for the bait to do its job

4. Then spend a very happy hour in the sunshine with two very contented tinkerers. Help with the technical stuff like left-y loose-y and right-y tight-y

5. Lastly, sit back and admire their work. We had a free-form cartwheeling droid by a five-year-old and a solar-powered, instructions-followed robot made by a seven year old

Happy tinkering!

Time for a show

This week our Friday night film was the much loved Peter Pan. As they got ready for bed, my children asked whether they might put on a Peter Pan show the next day. Of course I said they could - but I wondered whether they would remember their plan. They often come up with something altogether different to play after a night's sleep.

But during breakfast and then as they each had a bath there was continual chatter about the Peter Pan show; from the characters and costumes to the location of scenes and ideas for props. This show was definitely going to happen. I went along with their plans - helping where I was allowed, but trying to keep distant enough so that it was their creativity driving the project along.

Firstly, costumes were chosen from their dress-up drawer; Buddy picked out a green tunic and belt for Peter, and Daisy put on a blue satin princess dress and her slippers to be Wendy. Buddy also wanted a green hat with a feather - so I helped him make one out of paper. I was also allowed to help Daisy with her hair-style; Wendy needed a kind of half-ponytail, apparently.

Costumes on, and characters collected - puppets for Captain Hook and Tinkerbell, and soft toys for the Lost Boys, Wendy's parents, Michael, John and Tiger-Lily - it was time to make posters advertising the show.

When these were completed and displayed, we rolled back the living room rug - for here was to be Neverland. They set up the mermaids' lagoon, Skull Rock (under the dining table), Captain Hook's pirate ship (the sofa) and the encampment for Tiger-Lily's family (a small table). All the characters were put into their starting positions around the house - this was clearly going to be a 'promenade' piece - and then it was time to begin...

The story started - as it does in the film -  inside the nursery of the Darling family home in London (actually upstairs in the children's bedroom) where Wendy and Peter Pan meet, and the children learn to fly.

An exciting flight (down the stairs) towards 'the second star on the right and straight on till morning' took them to Neverland where they met Hook, the Lost Boys, the mermaids and Tiger-Lily. They quoted the film's script for most of the scenes - this was very much a Disney Peter Pan. Peter even had an American accent.

Buddy and Daisy were able to remember exactly what happened in the story - a sign we've seen this film a quite a few times - and they recreated all the exciting adventure using their puppets and soft toys when required. They were absolutely immersed in the action. 

Their show was definitely more about climbing into the story than performing it for an audience - but it was all the more funny, convincing and exciting for that. I feel very lucky to have been allowed to see this magical production of Peter Pan before it transfers to the West End on the 12th of Never. It was outstanding.

It's Spring - let's go out

For me, a welcome sign of Spring's arrival is when I can say to my children 'let's go out' without any particular plan. This is what we did on Saturday afternoon - and we stayed out too; just in our neighbourhood, for over four hours. 

As we strolled towards our local green space we passed cherry-blossomed trees, saw new light-green growth on the shrubs in front gardens and listened to snatches of beautiful birdsong as chaffinches and blackbirds went about their nest-making business. It really felt like Spring had sprung.

Once we reached Butterfield Green we were rewarded with more blossom-branched trees, and with the stunning colours of crocuses and daffodils poking their cheery heads up above the grass.

I got to relax for over an hour in the warm sunshine, overhearing snippets of my children playing a brilliant let's pretend game involving exploration of strange lands and a wedding party. They checked in with me every now and again, bringing me a few more of the hundreds of funny, fuzzy, highly collectible catkins strewn all over the paths. I also received a few daisies along the way.

Later on we went to SWAPA - an adventure playground adjacent to the green. There they climbed up trees and ropes, swung on tyres, dug in the sand and rolled down ramps on unruly wheel-boards. We eventually made our way home when the sun was pale orange and low in the sky, my children wonderfully tired from all the exercise and fresh air, and brilliantly dirty with the stuff of nature and outside adventure.

Back at home I made them both a toy caterpillar each by securing pieces of cotton thread to the end of  two catkins. They trained their new pets and came up with The Captain Caterpillar Show which consisted of a mini-obstacle race on our dining table. A recorder fanfare hailed the beginning of each caterpillar's turn to complete the course - it was hilarious.

I look forward to our next impromptu outing. Where will we go? What will they come up with to amuse me? We shall see.

May the Force be with you

Take one Star Wars fan - the birthday boy. Make him a natty Jedi Knight cloak and find him a lightsaber - an empty wrapping paper tube does the job, and often lasts longer than one of the shop-bought variety. We had both.

Add a brave and clever sister - Princess Leia - to be his trusted friend...

... and welcome twelve other energetic young Padawans; ready to be trained in the ways of the Jedi.

• Take on the dark lord and sneak up on him in a game of Darth Vader's Footsteps
• Go on a search-and-save mission around the training HQ - collecting pictures of Star Wars characters
• Perfect an old Jedi mind trick - in a game of May the Force be with you
• Visit the frozen planet of Hoth and, wearing gloves, unwrap white chocolate snowballs from ice (actually foil) and eat as many as possible before the next Padawan rolls a six and takes over the task

Provide each Padawan with the components to build their very own droid...

... and be amazed at their fantastic ideas and technical skill.

Have a well-earned break with a hearty Jedi lunch...

...with an extra energy boost from home-made banana and chocolate chip muffins

 ... and some very special biscuits.

Refreshed and refuelled, congregate for the ultimate Jedi Knight challenge: lightsaber training.

One Padawan at a time, with their trusty lightsaber, for one minute against...

 ... the devilishly fast remote bubble droids. Award points for style - as well as bubble droid damage.

Finally, receive a shiny medal from Princess Leia in a special Jedi award ceremony.

 And that's how our Star Wars party went today. It was out of this world!

Sniff and Stitch

In the summer I put together an embroidery kit for my children; with binca, several skeins of colourful thread, blunt plastic needles and a couple of wooden embroidery hoops. Such lovely things - I wanted to hand them over straight away, but I promised myself that I would save them for the right moment. So they've been hidden away under the stairs since August. Today - with snow on the ground and both myself and my five-year-old at home with dreadful colds - it seemed like the perfect time to dig out the kit and try some needlework. 

Daisy has already tried large-scale stitching (weaving really) which I wrote about here. And we used the sewing machine to make short-cut cushions, which you can find here. I was interested to see whether she was ready for this smaller scale and wonderfully old-fashioned activity; her understanding of the whole how-to-make-a-stitch thing would really be put to the test. 

So, on the sofa but under a blanket, and with Classic FM tinkling optimistically in the background - our little Sniff and Stitch session began.

She watched intrigued as I stretched the cream binca into its little hoop, then she chattily chose the thread with which she wanted to start. I cut it to a length the same as that of her arm - this became a sweet little ritual every time she needed more - and I showed her how to thread her needle. She didn't ever quite master this today; despite several very sweet 'tongue-out-in-concentration' attempts.

Then we set to work on our own samplers. Mine consisted of lines of cross-stitch and zigzags - the stitches I remember learning at school. Somehow, I felt compelled to stick to convention; it was lovely to realise I hadn't forgotten the basics.

But as you can see  - there was no such desire for, or indeed knowledge of, stitch conformity for Daisy. She decided she was going to make long and colourful stripes.

She used lots of thread - and I gladly paused my stitching to help her cut it to the right length, and to thread her needle. We stitched and chatted, sniffed and blew our noses; often showing each other our ever-growing work - happy in our cosy occupation.

[Poorly girl still wanted to pose]

Daisy knew when her sampler was finished. She asked to keep it in the hoop and she proudly put it up on the wall in her room near Tommy the Owl. I think it's rather beautiful.

Voyage of discovery

[Image from Wallchan]

Testing and building,

Inventing and more;

Two scientists working

Like never before.

They called to each other,

'Nearly there!' and 'Here's mine!'

At last each revealed

Their new rocket design.

Spacesuits folded neatly,

Stored carefully within;

It was nearing the time

For the voyage to begin.

'Goodbye planet Earth!'

The countdown then started;

All engines were fired -

Astronauts so excited!

Take-off was smooth,

To Mars they now sped;

But encountering Martians -

Headed moon-ward instead.

With technical tweaks

And much zooming round space;

Safe lunar landings

Ended their race.

Moon-walking and leaping

And 'looking for Life';

And chiselling moon rock

With a wood-chip-like knife.

Soon it was time

To head back to the rockets.

Strapped in and ready

With rocks in their pockets.

Tummies were rumbling,

Space-food would not do;

T'was time to get home

for a sandwich or two.

I eavesdropped on my two little astronauts as they played out this fabulous adventure of their own devising. They were totally immersed for a whole hour - the only children in the frozen playground. Dedication to science and space travel? - possibly. Fantastic imaginations and a love of playing together? - definitely.