Another week of home schooling but as we can now venture outside our learning has taken a more practical role. Little Man continues to learn through play. I play games with him rather than sit him down to learn and he responds better to this.
Our new found freedom and ability to get out and exercise has given the girls something to look forward to. They each take it in turns to plan somewhere to go and it is the highlight of the day getting out and exploring somewhere new.
I have been making progress with couch to 5km and felt ready to try a socially distanced run with a friend. It felt so good to be outside and to be talking to another adult. We went on an adventure around some footpaths and the time was so needed to refresh batteries after a tough few weeks.
We had lots of left over rock from trips to the seaside in the cupboard and so for our baking this week we decided to use them up. I made a chocolate rock bark. Melted dark chocolate with crushed up rock mixed in them, and then some rock sprinkled on top. It tasted amazing and was great to finally use up the leftover rock.
On my run the previous evening I had found lots of tiny frogs, it turns out they are toads but at the time I thought they were frogs. It was a bit of a walk but I took the kids there for the afternoon to see the toads and we spent a couple of hours exploring there.
When the rain came we took shelter and played out some more, the kids didn't want to leave and wanted to stay and find more toads. We stayed until early evening and even then the kids were all asking to come back.
We had been invited by Viking direct to take part in a virtual craft event. Earlier in the week a huge box of craft materials had arrived including some items we were not expecting. I wasn't aware that Viking direct also stocked cleaning supplies as well as office and craft supplies. In addition to the craft items we were also sent toilet rolls, hand sanitizer and hand wash.
There were three activities to take part in, the first was chocolate bubble wrap. We cleaned the table using the surface cleaner we had been sent and washed our hands with the hand santiser ready to begin. The first job was to cut out a section of the bubble wrap and give it a clean. Next we tore up our chocolate into a bowl and melted it in the microwave.
Once the chocolate had melted we very carefully spread it over the bubble wrap before placing it in the fridge to cool down.
Whilst we were waiting for the chocolate to set we started our next activity. We were making ice breathing dragons. Little man chose red for his dragon and marked out neatly where to cut. The paper would be wrapped around a toilet roll tube and he marked the length he needed.
The coloured paper was wrapped around the tube and then we began decorating them with stickers and even making eyes and nose for our dragons.
The fun part was to add the ice. We did this by cutting up strips of tissue paper and sticking them into the bottom of the tube. Little Man then blew into the top and it looked as if the dragon was breathing ice.
Our chocolate had set and so after playing with the dragons for a little while we then got the chocolate out of the fridge. After peeling away the bubble wrap the chocolate had made a rather interesting pattern. The kids all loved it and wanted to make it again.
Our butterflies were now ready to be released and as the weather was finally dry and not too windy to do so.
Most of the butterflies flew straight off but one of them hung around for a little while.
We decided to make the most of the sunshine and head for a walk to the river. I think it was the perfect way to end the week.
