What have we been up to this week? Any guesses? All will be revealed next week!
Water comes before play: DEC Appeal East Africa
Instead of my usual weekend links, I’m sharing just one idea with you today and asking you to make a donation to the DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal.
We spend our weeks giving our children the best start in life, filling their days with play and fun and learning, but life for so many children is so very different.
The severe drought in East Africa is putting the lives of over 10 million people under threat, with some facing the worst drought in 60 years. Thousands of children need our help.
How to help [Read more…]
Swap an idea with the Play Academy
B’s been behaving out of character this week: up before anyone else, dressing in her school uniform without any prompting, and downstairs before anyone else is even out of bed. What’s going on? Junk model fever! She’s been up and at ’em, and in the playroom creating. Here’s the result: a sail ship manned by a crew of fairies, complete with ship’s wheel, crows nest, trap door and anchor. When you’re struck by the junk model fever you just have to get crafty – even if it is six o’clock in the morning.
What have you been playing this week?
1. Link up a post to share a play idea, craft or activity with us.
2. Add a text link back to the Play Academy from your post to invite others to come and share the ideas.
3. Take a look at some of the other ideas linked and get some fabulous play ideas for the weekend. Bloggers just love to receive your comments, so please take a minute to let them know you stopped by.
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Two other idea swaps you might like to join:
Friday 24th June is the Carnival of Water Play
Thursday 30th June is the Sunflower Festival
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School fair ideas: things kids can make to raise money
It’s that time of year when we need some school fair ideas. I think school fundraising works best when the children are involved and having fun. Here are four ideas for things the children can make to raise money.
Lollypop biscuits: we use our favourite gingerbread recipe to make cookies and then pop a lollypop / popsicle stick in before baking. They make cute treats to sell on a cake stall alongside fairy cakes made using our our ‘never fail’ cake recipe. As an alternative you could make the biscuits in advance and run a customise your cookie decorating stall, providing tubes of icing and cake decorations for the children to use to design their own cookie.
Join the Sunflower Festival
Are you growing sunflowers with your children? We’re joining in with Have a Lovely Time to support the Sunflower Challenge in aid of Compton Hospice and would like to invite you to join our Sunflower Festival
Join the Sunflower Festival
Thursday June 30th is the Official Measuring Day for those of you taking part in the Compton Hospice Sunflower Challenge. We will be hosting a Sunflower Festival here on NurtureStore on that day – will you join us?
Here’s how to take part:
1. Blog a sunflower-themed idea you’ve enjoyed with your children: a craft, a story book recommendation, a science idea, a game, a recipe, whatever! Our free Sunflower Activities ebook has some ideas to get you started.
2. Visit NurtureStore on June 30th and share a link to your post with us.
3. If you’re growing sunflowers in your garden don’t forget to measure them and let us know how tall they are.
4. Those of you taking part in the Compton Hospice competition will need to let them know how tall your flowers by are to be in with a chance of winning the great prizes.
And to give you some more sunflower inspiration, we’re joined by Zoe from Playing by the Book, who has a wonderful book suggestion to compliment your growing.
What do you think of when you hear the word “Sunflower”? What adjectives do associate with them?
Sunflowers to me are bold, bright and blousy and these sorts of characteristics are often what is focussed on in picture books about these beautiful flowers. Both of the previous books I reviewed here, Measuring Angels and To Be Like the Sun capture brilliantly their brassy, cheeful nature.
Secret in the Mist written by Margaret Nash, illustrated by Stephen Lambert is somewhat different. It’s quiet and meditative book, one that would suit a quiet story time, or a child who is a little more shy than others and for all these reasons it makes a lovely foil to my earlier sunflower picture book suggestions.
A young boy, Jonathon, plants a sunflower and watches it grow. But not only does he watch it at daytime, when it is “nudged by sunshine and laced with summer rain”, he sneaks peeks at it after dark “where it lived in silver shadows and was stroked by bright white moonlight”.
Jonathon delights in watching his sunflower grow, whispering words of encouragement to it and sharing peaceful moments enjoying it with his mother during the day and with his father after bed time. Eventually the sunflower stands proud, “bolder than the blackbird’s song and more golden than the sunshine”, but the most touching moment is in the closing pages of the book when Jonathon stands quietly admiring with his father; although he only planted one seed his sunflower looks so different by day and by night it is as if he has a secret moonflower as well as a sunflower.
This book is full of peacefulness and calmness. It highlights the loveliness of sharing secret, quiet time with each parent, as well as the feeling of awe that can come upon us if we allow ourselves time to stand and stare. The lyrical text is relatively short and structurally repetitive – something that makes it easy and enjoyable for younger listeners. The pastel illustrations are soft hued, warm and gentle.
It would be so much fun to read this book, tinged with mystery and full of love as it is, with your child outside, late one summer evening as twilight begins to fall.
Playing by the Book is a site full of inspiring ideas for bringing children’s books to life with arts, crafts and acitivities – go see – you’ll love it!
Growing sunflowers with your children? Hope to see you at the Sunflower Festival on June 30th!
happily shared with abcand123 and book sharing Monday and Link and Learn, share your Sunday best
Join The Play Network Community
Want to join a community that’s as passionate about kids’ play as you are? Come and join The Play Network!
The new blogfrog community lead by some of your favourite friendly bloggers and open to everyone who wants to talk about kids’ play. A fantastic forum to swap ideas, gather inspiration and share tips, all for the benefit of our kids.
Myself, Rachel from Quirky Momma, Anna from the Imagination Tree, Maggy from Red Ted Art, Jamie from hands on : as we grow and Rachele from Messy Kids would love to have you join us in The Play Network. It couldn’t be easier to join….
1. Click on over to The Play Network
2. Log in, using your facebook account or set up one with blogfrog
3. Start chatting! You can join in with discussions in the Forum or start one of your own. And you can browse for great child-focussed ideas in Blog Posts
I hope you’ll come over and join us in the The Play Network forum.
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