After the rain

                                    

I've been out and about with a class of five and six-year-olds today; we spent a very enjoyable hour in the glorious herb and flower gardens of the Geffrye Museum. The recent and plentiful rainfall had every plant looking its very best, but luckily the rain stopped and the sun shone while we were outside. As we strolled around the grounds I encouraged the children to look carefully at how delicate and numerous the colourful petals were, to notice the lushness of new green leaves and to spot the jewel-like droplets of rain adorning some of the plants. 

Their teacher took plenty of photographs - I wish I'd had my camera with me; these pictures were quickly snapped on my iphone after the session - but the main way they recorded what they saw today was to sketch and then colour (using watercolour pencils) their favourite flowers. There were so many plants to choose from - some sketched wisteria, roses and poppies, others peonies, irises and violas - and soon their pieces of paper were in full bloom. 

Back in the classroom they magically transformed their drawings into watercolour paintings by adding water with paintbrushes. They all left the museum very happy, clutching their beautiful - and still damp - watercolours; the pictures looked as fresh and as vibrant as the gardens themselves, after the rain.

Beach hut envy

[Southwold by Louise Braithwaite printed by Mad Lou Publishing Ltd]

Since admiring Southwold's cheerily painted beach huts last week, we've been yearning for one of our own. They are extremely difficult to buy - to be eligible you have to be related to the king of Suffolk, or something - so instead of pursuing that particular dream we are attempting to build ourselves a beach hut at home. Fortunately, Buddy and Daisy seem happy to realise this dream in miniature. At least for the moment.

We began our building project with the stickle brick beach hut pictured below. All Southwold beach huts have romantic, cool or quirky names - we came across The Chequered Flag, The Bucket & Spade and Topsy Turvy. The children called this one Rubber Duck.

Unfortunately, this hut didn't survive; it was too small for the dolls' house cooker, table and chairs and kept falling apart when Daisy tried to furnish it.

Our second effort has been more successful; I found a cardboard box that had beach hut written all over it. Actually, it had toypost.co.uk written on it - but its proportions were perfect.

With a doorway and window frames cut out and a pitched roof secured with sticky tape, the hut was ready to be painted. Daisy informed me that it had to be yellow and red. And it had to have stripes. I spent a few minutes marking out some for her but in the end she ignored them - there was a change in the design vision, apparently. Faint lines were still visible through the paint however, and gave a lovely, authentic wood panelling effect.

With the painting complete - the front face orange where the yellow and red got mixed, Daisy noted - the beach hut was finished. Except for one thing...

'It needs a name!' she announced, and was adamant we should use the box's original text as a sign. Fortunately I'd salvaged this when we cut away the doorway.

And so this is how we came to have a beach hut with the name toypost.co.uk. Now, if that's not quirky, I don't know what is - I hope you're not too envious.