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Exploring British Pond Life

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  Visiting a local pond this spring and summer.  Jeanie Fair June 2023 | 5 min read   Teddy and Harry observing pond life. A Pond Throughout the Seasons On one of our regular nature walks we pass by three small ponds managed by the  Canal and River Trust . The ponds are hidden away between our local canal and an industrial site. I love this little patch of nature and wildlife. We make sure to walk through it at all times of the year. Getting to see the variety of changes throughout the  seasons  it always amazing. Spring and summer are definitely our favourite times of year to observe the ponds and enjoy them being part of our  local area . Spring is a time of year when nature thrives and there is an abundance of interesting things for us to see and observe. Occasionally we head to the ponds intentionally with our art materials and the boys spend time drawing what they see. Other visits are less organised and we just talk about what we see or take photographs. Harry drawing what pond c
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Let’s Measure

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Develop math skills with everyday home items.  Jeanie Fair May 2023 | 5 min read     Make something cool this weekend. Hands On Measuring Activities We have had a lot of fun exploring measurements in the last few months. Finding engaging and practical ways to introduce mathematical concepts is what  Hands-On Education  is all about! To me, measuring is a physical skill which we can learn through experience. Only by holding physical objects in our hands can we really understand weight. In the same way pouring water into different sized containers and comparing how much each can hold is a fantastic way to understand  capacity . Using your toys as learning tools. Using Non-Standard Units When we are learning to measure it is important to use the correct units such as centimetres, grams or litres. This can be a difficult concept to understand however, one effective way to introduce measurements to young children can be to use non-standard units. This might include measuring  length or heig
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30 Days Wild – The Wildlife Trust

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Get outdoors this June with loads of free activities and ideas!  Jeanie Fair May 2023 | 5 min read     Paint stones with your children. What is 30 Days Wild? 30 Days Wild  is a campaign initiative organised by The Wildlife Trust to encourage people to ‘do something wild’ everyday throughout the month of June. This challenge is not about going on a 10-mile hike every day, but to make the conscious effort to take notice of the nature around us. Ideas range from  dancing in the rain , making a sculpture with rocks or  preparing bird food . It’s free to take part in this challenge and a real enjoyment for kids of all ages. Get creative with shadows and nature. Why do we take part? As a family we spend a lot of time outside and it’s a rare day when we don’t leave the house. I don’t drive so we are always walking somewhere. However, just because we are outside, this does not mean we are always aware of the nature around us. Often, we are rushing here and there, trying to get to places on tim
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Plant A Seed

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  Planting seeds in the spring for a green summer and autumn.  Jeanie Fair April 2023 | 5 min read     Harry planting pepper seeds for our window ledges. When To Plant Seeds? Its April, and this is the time of year we plant our seeds. I am not exactly green fingered myself so I am really enjoying learning about plants alongside Teddy and Harry. For the last few years, we have made April a month to focus on planting seeds and performing simple investigations to understand how they grow. We pour a load of soil onto our tuff tray, find all the pots and planting trays from the shed and talk about which seeds we will plant and where around the house they should go. The sunflower seeds coming up. Which Seeds To Plant? We have had success in growing a few different plants from seeds including sunflowers, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkin and of course, cress! We don’t have a garden space to plant lots of seeds so for us it needs to be something simple which can fit on sunny window sill. This suits u
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