Cartwright Hall

At the art workshop...


we made tiles out of clay


someone's thinking, 'I'd rather be in the park'


We did go there. We saw some goslings.

Sunday Science

Following on from the experiments they did at the Skipton group, I was nagged non-stop to get some alka-seltza so we could try it at home. I just happened to see some at the check-out in the co-op, where I got asked whether they were in anticipation of the following morning's hangover. Cheeky. I had to do the experiment based on what the kids told me as I had been occupied with decorating banners at the group and didn't see what was going on outside. This is what we did:

• Stick alka-seltza tablet to lid of film canister using blue-tack.
• Put a bit of water in film cannister- I think about a 1/4 full worked best.
• Put lid on film cannister firmly, turn it upside-down an stand back!
• Film cannister pops into the air, or just fizzes and bubbles if the lid's not on properly.
• You can put what's left of the tablet back in with some more water and it works again.
• You don't have to stick it to the lid at all, but it gives you more time to put the lid on properly.

We carried on with the experiments, using

• Diluted vinegar and bicarbonate of soda: fizzed too fast- not enough time to get lid on cannister
• Cream of Tartar and bicarbonate of soda- 1 tsp of each with some water
• Fizzy vitamin tablets- these worked really well
• We have been given some clear film cannisters, but havent tried them yet
  

at music group today...

Allie with banner. This will go on a float at Skipton Gala. It's massive! Urm, we did do some other stuff at music group, like, er, music! but I had my hands occupied while we sung. The children enjoyed some experiments, or rockets, made of alka-seltza and film cannisters (they told me how on the way home). I was greeted with a welcome cup of tea when I got there (thanks to Tech ; ) more pics on her blog).

The fabric squares were decorated last meeting and we just added some finishing touches with fabric crayons and pens, to outline the letters. 

Decorating a banner at the music group 

This morning Allie got stuck in the mop bucket, which was outside with muddy water in it - they had been 'cleaning' the windows earlier in the week - I had to 'deliver' him out of it, (like a midwife), and then he cried so I gave him a larger receptacle to get clean. I was trying to get ready for music group. I had to wait till the last minute to get him dressed as he kept getting back in.  

'Make friends make friends, never never break friends' 

I think he had a good time  

'We're dancing, we're dancing around the maypole high. In colours of the rainbow our ribbons do fly'. We made head-dresses and ankle bells. 

We did a spot of morris dancing with 'swords' at the weekend. I was asked to go and help with the making bit so Fugs got to join in too. Here he is going under the arches. 

A lovely afternoon in Wycoller

We had a lovely afternoon in Wycoller today.

There are these amazing walls made of really big stones there. 

Willow horse 

Willow tunnel 

A fantastic willow tunnel, which was only made this year at Wycoller. 

We went to a rag rugging workshop at Wycoller country park (Lancashire), which was great. I was inspired by the rag-rugging and we signed up for a whole weekend of community rug-making in June. I have had a go at ragging before in Halifax, but this was a different technique, using a hook and long strips of recycled fabric, which form loops. What I had a go at before involved short strips, which you shove through the sacking with a pointy tool, to form tufts. I suppose you could combine both techniques on a creative project, but you work from the back on the second method. I didn't buy any hooks as she was charging £12.50, which I'm sure was well over-priced. I have a pointy stick, but I liked the hooking method. Will have to investigate souce of hooky tools. It had a chunky wooden handle and a metal hook.

Steiner Fair

My capes and crowns for sale on the craft stall (the ones made out of old curtains!) well, I saw someone buy some. I obviously had to keep two sets after the boys got hold of them!

We called in at the Steiner Kindergarten and playgroup's May Fair after lunch today. I just wanted to see it as I have helped to organise it in the past. I managed not to get roped into anything this time, apart from helping to put up an information stand when I dropped by while Jem was at ballet.This just involved finding a hammer and banging in a couple of nails and leaving them to it. Phew. I bought some beeswax crayons and some raffle tickets, which, presumably I have not won. We didn't hang around for the storytelling and maypole dancing as we wanted to go to Wycoller afterwards. 

It turned out nice again today and we had tea outsite for the third time this week- I brought the table and chairs out of hibernation on Wednesday- If we eat quite early we can catch the evening sun. Jem made a rope ladder and a sort of tree house this afternoon, after riding her bike up and down the lane for a bit. Yesterday I was sat outside with a friend and she came out with her guitar and played a song (with one chord, but with feeling!) I had a bit of a music session with Fugs today, which was fun- he actually enjoys singing with me, which has got to be a first for me. We were looking for the tune to the coco-coconut tree that we did at music group and found a website which sells music cd's and books, with samples of music. We didn't find it.  

Playing with grass cuttings. I mananged to mow the lawn today, after nearly giving up on it as the lawn mower wasn't working. Turned out to be the plug socket. Someone told me about mixing grass cuttings with cardboard to make compost but I couldn't find out how exactly to do it so I did it anyway. It's got to beat piles of cuttings left everywhere. Anyway, I found 2 handy receptacles: a redundant bin, (now we have a proper recycled paper bin), and a big old washing basket (not shown). Guess where these cuttings ended up. 

Ok. here is the T-shirt designed by Jem. 

I'm so chuffed because I just printed this picture onto a t-shirt. Jem did it today and asked me to print it so she could wear it tomorrow. I couldn't do it earlier with the boys around as I had to concentrate and anyway the ironing bit could haave been a bit tricky. I've had this iron- on transfer paper for years and forgot all about it. We just spotted some plain white t-shirts in guess-where ... (LIDL) and thought we could do something with'em. Now I'm all inspired, we could do some fabric crayons or potato printing. tie-dye? Need more t-shirts, or bags?... Will show pics of finished article when model is awake! 

teepee made with large garden canes. Dancing round the maypole and general garden frollicking continued yesterday. This is the sound tent, which provided shelter from the storm.  

Picking dandelions 

dandelion world 

I went for a walk with Fugs, to clear my head and get some excercise- been feeling a bit groggy (no,I havent been drinking!).