Monday 31 March 2014

Frankenstein Frog and Other Explorations

Our week started with excitement from Squidge that his runner beans had started to sprout!


He did some painting (this, he says, is one of Sprout's online friends as a monster),


...then Moppet joined in, which went on for a while and ended up with them both bright orange all over. A very painty bath ensued!


Moppet and I went to do the shopping, and she went on her favourite ride :)


She's been watching YouTube videos where they unwrap little playdough 'eggs' and there's a toy in the middle, so we decided to make some ourselves. She loved doing this and has done it every day since :)


Squidge and I went out for some one on one time together, he chose to go and have a Happy Meal in the dark :) (he was very specific about this!) He was very happy that there was a Luigi toy in his meal too :)


He asked if we had a Mario Bros app, but after searching it seems you can't get one so we downloaded Lep's World instead which is pretty similar. He's found the levels challenging as he's progressed through it but has stuck at them and is really proud when he completes them!


We also did a Mario Bros word search, and some colouring in.


Sprout had been hair styling...


...and he and I went out for some time together too. Went went out for a drink and he brought his Science Focus magazine where we read about nuclear fusion, 3D printing, AI, black holes, Stephen Hawking, the biological effects of chocolate, cuneiform, and a new generation of space suits.


Back at home, Sprout played on his Terraria and Minecraft servers and skyped with his friends, while Squidge planted the carrot seeds out of his Weekend Box.


We also made a 'robot voice box' by making a reed from a straw, which lead to a *lot* of laughs :D


Squidge also made this little peg doll for me for mother's day.


Sprout's been playing Garry's Mod, among other things, and we've had some technical issues with Tekkit which we've tried together to fix.


We've also started reading Lucy and Stephen Hawking's book, George's Secret Key to the Universe. I'm reading some bits, Sprout's reading others when he fancies it, asking me the odd word he doesn't know. It's so exciting to me that he was never made to read 'learning to read' books for the sole purpose of learning to read, and has been able therefore to choose only to read books that he's interested in :)


There's been a lot more playing with dough together, with Sprout helping Moppet to operate the things that are too hard for her yet...


...and we received an Explosive Experiments kit by mistake in the post, but they said we could keep it which was awesome so we started with a vinegar and bicarb volcano which we haven't done in a while.


It was certainly explosive!


We made the Smithsonian frog dissection kit up that we've had knocking about for a while...


...which was relatively successful...


...and they enjoyed digging all the organs out. It was less a dissection and more a tombola ;)


The weather's been dull but dry, so they've played on the trampoline quite a lot, both on their own and with their friends visiting.



Squidge wanted to go and get a Mcdonalds mocha frappe one day and we didn't have enough money, so we blended some ice, milk and chocolate sauce and a bit of decaf coffee and made our own :)
Sprout then wondered if we could emulate the Mcdonalds strawberry smoothie, so we blended a cup of frozen summer fruits, a banana, a cup of vanilla yoghurt and a bit of apple juice. He loved it, success!


Sprout wanted to do some digging so he and his friend weeded and dug over the planter ready for Squidge's runner beans.


They asked if we could rent Frozen, and ended up watching it seven times in three days :) 


I found this DIY Sun Science app, which has a live telescope view of the sun that Sprout enjoyed watching at different wavelengths, plus some sun-related activities (we've got a couple planned!)


We went along to a (quiet!) home ed park meet up with a couple of other families.



Sprout wanted to see how far he could throw his frisbee if he climbed to the top of the net.


And he picked some daisies and put them in my hair :)


And explored symmetry by way of tortilla cogs :)


Squidge did some more painting, mixing the glitter into the paint this time.



They wanted to do the Mario activity off Squidge's Happy Meal box, so I called out the various moves and they did them...


...and they were pleased to receive their trophy of pure (cardboard) gold :)



While I was cooking dinner Moppet discovered that George Pig can soak up coke, and you can drink it by sucking it out :O


We spent a couple of hours at Come Into Play for a froend's birthday...


...then headed to their grandparents' house, where they showed their grandpa how to play Blocksworld on the iPad...


...looked for birds through the telescope...


...watched the bluetit and its eggs on the nestbox camera...


...played a variation on chess where you choose your own starting set up within the first three lines. It's the first game of chess I've ever seen that involved a fortress (Sprout's starting set up), a fez (that a King in check had to wear), and Davy Jones' locker (when pieces went once they were taken) :)


Moppet went with her grandma to pick some flowers for pressing...


...and Sprout built some 80s Space Lego.


They also got a Hello Fresh box for us, so we went home and Squidge cooked this Pork and Beef Polpetti with ratatouille. It *says* that this was the first meal that Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong ate on the moon after their moonwalk, but I can't find anything to corroborate this. It would be a cool fact if I could find it!




We spent a really lovely chilled out afternoon at a friend's house, where Sprout played Little Big Planet 2 with his friend and Sprout and Moppet played with Lego, balancing blocks and Geomag and watched a little dog :)


When we got home Sprout wanted to light his oil lantern, and he experimented with making the flame larger and smaller and took photos to compare the brightness. 


We've got a busy start to next week too so I need to go and get things ready for it!