Mermaid Gala

Today we went to a mermaid gala at the Civic in Barnsley.

 

 The area had been decorated with bunting and there were ladies dressed 

in 1940's gear serving tea.

 

 Rosanna was transformed into a mermaid...

 An open-air performance with a group of modern day mermaids 

on dry land demonstrate synchronised swimming.

 This part reminded me of the Russian gymnasts we saw last year.

Hoola hooping workshop

 You can hear the sea when you listen in a shell,

or can you?

We got a surprise when listening to this shell, 

it played itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny yellow polka dot bikini!

Word Birds

We went on a workshop to make 'word birds'.

 Each child was given a cut out bird shape on thick cardboard.

There was a plentiful supply of old books and 

magazines to find words to decorate the bird.

 There was also lots of glitter, tissue paper 

and feathers to transform the brown bird shape.

 One side finished, on to the other side...

 

 Rosanna chose to decorate the other side with letters, which shows how this activity is suitable for all ages. Rosanna at age three chose letters, whereas Jemima aged eleven chose sentences from one of her favourite books, 

Diary of a wimpy kid.

 Diary of a wimpy kid bird.

A flock of birds waiting to decorate our play room/home ed room.

OLD MOOR RSPB RESERVE

We had a first trip of the year to RSPB Old Moor.

We were without a car from September last year until July of this year, so we are enjoying visiting all our old favourite haunts once again.

The playground had been revamped, 

so before we could explore the reserve we had a long play in the playground...

We finally set off to explore the reserve, 

there were plenty of ripe blackberries to snack on along the way.

The family bird hide has had a make over too.

It feels very welcoming, with nice activities for the children.

As well as bird watching, 

there was pond dipping activities and plenty of insects to spot.

The nature trail, has lots of games along the way...

and places to stop for a snuggle,

or for Superman to have a rest!

There's even a place for bugs to rest -The Bug Hotel.

We were really tired after our day exploring the reserve, 

but Rosanna really wanted to go into the craft room.

I love it when they get to do big messy craft activities 

and I'm not the one tidying up at the end!

Werewolves of Rotherham - Song writing workshop with Ray Hearne.

Today we went on a song writing workshop with
Rotherham folk singer Ray Hearne.

 The session began with a magic spell song.

Then a brain storming session firstly to find
 a magical creature to write a song about.

A long list was compiled and then werewolf was chosen.

Next more brainstorming.
What does the werewolf look like?
Where does it live?

Who is it?

After this everyone went off to write a four line verse.

 Reuben and my mum writing their verses for the song.

 Ray Hearne giving us some writing tips!

Compiling the final song...

 

The kids sang the chorus all the way home on the bus!

iPad art with free apps

A couple of months ago we went to Saltaire and visited the mills where some of David Hockneys work is displayed, including his most recent work on the ipad. Inspired by this the girls went on an ipad art course at Experience Barnsley.

 They began by drawing still life, they drew part of the flowers at actual size.

 I left the girls at this point at took Reuben and Rosanna to look around the museum and discovery centre.

 

 Reuben and Rosanna love getting dressed up.

 

 This car was part of a roundabout that was in the market for many years,

 I can't remember it as I'm not a Barnsley lass!

Later we went back to get the girls and this is what they'd be doing...

 

 Reuben and Rosanna joined in for the last part of the session.

The girls really enjoyed the afternoon and have asked to go to another session.

The free apps they used are:

Brushes

instagram collage

sketchbookx

Picasso

sketch agent