Weekend (In)Activity

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We've had a terrible few days; The Boy is teething again and this time it's bad. Probably the worst it's ever been in all fairness. He is suffering unbelievably; chewing his gums, bright red cheeks, not eating, runny nose, doesn't even want to drink milk, high temperature, screaming in pain at night and not able to sleep easily, and of course the de rigeur nappy situation!

This weekend we had such great plans. Yesterday we were going to sort out the garden; adjusting some steps which are too big for him to manage without falling down, mowing the lawn, trimming the hedge, pegging the washing out and playing. We managed to mow the lawn. The Boy felt terrible and needed constant cuddles or nursing.

Today we were going to go to Margam Park, near Swansea, for the day allowing The Boy his morning nap in the car on the way there. After the most horrendous night's sleep that we have ever had, that idea was scrapped. We managed to nip out to a beautiful country park which trails through woodlands, meadows and ends up on the beach. Unfortunately though The Boy didn't want to get out the pushchair and when he was coaxed out, he wouldn't go back in or walk. The poor thing wouldn't even really play with the football apart from for the inital 30 seconds.

On the way home, we tried to tempt him with his favourite park. Surely the slides and swing would enable him to crack a smile? We managed ten minutes of play before again 'up-py' was the request. The poor little chap is suffering so badly, it breaks my heart. The only thing for it was a trip to Nana and Grandad's; pure magic! He giggled and laughed for the first time all day!

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Sunny Day

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Is there anything better in life than this?

Sitting on the back doorstep, watching my beautiful and clever 22 month old (today!) son playing with his new garden toy. "pa(s)ta gone, wheel round-a-round, wa(t)er splash down, pwane sky, sun-ny… day, pour pour pour!" The birds chirruping in the trees, gentle Spring breeze blowing through the bamboo and zebra grass, windchimes gently swaying, planes zipping through the sky, children shrieking with delight. The sun's gentle caress is trying to convince my milky-white legs to convert to a more sociable shade of cream, while coaxing the moisture out of The Boy's mini-clothes on the whirly-gig.

I love Spring!

Fun in the sun!

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Work this week has been a bit here and there, I've done a fair few half days due to a meeting and a hospital appointment. I'm normally due to work all day on a Thursday but I had the afternoon off which was brilliant because it has been gloriously sunny and hot here all day with a stunning blue sky. I'd say I sauntered out of school, but that would be the biggest lie ever; I near-enough ran (aside from the fact that I don't run!) and pegged it home as fast as I could.

Lunch consumed for both of us, we trotted off to meet a friend across town in a lovely Victoria park. I was running late and my feet were killing me already (never a good sign), so we ended up catching the bus.

The Boy has never been on a bus before and thought it hilarious. A little perplexed at first, but he soon started chatting to all the old fellas and dears, making lots of new friends.

Once we'd got to the park, The Boy and his friend, Little Miss Cheeky, had great fun racing around amongst the daisies. Little Miss Cheeky is 6 months older than him, but they adore each other; she refers to him as 'My (name)' and he just points and grins at her. She's also the youngest child of my oldest, recently reacquainted, friend which is great that we have more of an excuse to spend time together gossiping.

As you can see, Little Miss Cheeky is going to lead my boy astray in the future, but it's ok because we've already agreed that they're allowed to marry each other. I can think of worse in-laws than your best mate!

Following the hijinks in the hedgerows, The Boy and I went down to the beach where he had his first ever ice-lolly all of his own! He likes ice-cream, but everytime he's had it in the past he's squirmed and complained because of the cold. This time I bought him a mini-milk which he did manager to hold quite well, but I wolfed my cone down and popped his rapidly melting lolly into the cone which was a massive success!

We then had great fun playing 'stop, go!' on the pier making all the little old ladies coo in delight. He even investigated his shadow a little bit more.

Oh, and I got sunburn! It's April for goodness sake!

'Education'

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Being a teacher you'd think that I'd find The Gallery theme set by Tara this week easy, correct?

No, wrong.

I suppose because I blog about the way the The Boy learns and how I find this fascinating, I didn't want to go for the obvious solution. So I decided to think a little outside the box. I did ask him for suggestions but he just looked at me, handed me the remote control and said "Tubbies?"

I hung my head in despair, which is when I noticed one of his play-sets.

And so I bring you our take on education, because we like to be a little bit different.

Learning Through Play: Water!

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Before I became a primary school teacher, I trained and worked as a nursery nurse. My 'dissertation' equivalent had the rather considerable and earnest title of "The Importance of Play as a Part of a Child's Development". That was written 15 years ago when I conducted a comparative study between the pre-school establishments in Denmark and those in Wales. A group of my fellow students went out to visit a range of nurseries and took a whole load of photographs for me, while I poured over reference books and a fledgling Internet search engine.

What was hugely apparent back then was how the Scandinavians viewed education to be something that evolved through the child's natural curiosity and desire to learn and understand their world. At the time, nursery education in Wales was still incredibly formal and started at three years lasting a year before little Myfanwy or Dafydd entered formal schooling (as is still the case). In Denmark, children don't start formal education until the age of six which allows them time to be infants before the stiff structure of schooling.

The reason that I mention all of this is because The Boy is 21 months old now and I am fortunate that when he starts his formal education, he will enter into The Foundation Phase. This shift in the style of schooling has been heavily influenced by the Scandinavian model, and sees children exploring their world, getting mucky, playing with toys in a guided manner.

So after a wander around my school's nursery last week, I pinched their ideas and came home and set up a water-play area in the garden!

Do you know what that equals? A whole lot of fun!

Our garden is already quite child-friendly; swing, slide, a cube climbing frame and a playhouse. However, I wanted a messy area. Somewhere that he can mess around with water and dig and get dirty, just like children should. Somewhere he can find insects and bugs and learn about nature. I used to adore my garden as a child and I want The Boy to feel the same way.

Therefore on Saturday I decided to get creative with the above equipment. This is the result:

The educationalist in me will point out the scientific development and vocabulary learnt: pour, empty, full, splash, down, up. That's in addition to the mathematical enhancement when he started pointing out the shapes: triangle, square (ok so it was a diamond, but he was trying) and circle.

The mummy in me will highlight the pride when my son learnt that the water he poured into the funnel came out of the tube a metre away. Or when he was pouring water from one can to another.

The big kid in me is too busy splashing in the mud to care!

The next step is to surrender one of my small vegetable patches to a digging area and 'mini-beast' hotel for him!

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This post has been submitted to the Tots100 March Blog Hop.

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall