Friday, 15 June 2012

Nature Projects

We were stuck at home again today - Hubby has my car while his is at the garage being serviced. There was lots of rain this morning so DS2 & 3 were delighted to have a pyjama day!  I am getting to really enjoy these days at home (especially after busy days out such as yesterday)
DS1 had a busy morning - had some time on MathsWhizz, drawing a lovely underwater picture, and starting a new project...  in his 'Bird Life' magazine from the RSPB, he received news of a nature diary competition where the first prize is an ipad.  Now he would really, really like an ipad (wouldn't we all?!), so he decided he was going to enter.  I was really pleased as this will be a great project for him to do - but he'd only just started when he was already complaining that he was bored (having written the grand total of six words!)  I'm not happy with him giving up so easily, but there's no point forcing him either, so I just said it's up to him: if he wants to have a chance of winning the ipad, he needs to keep the diary - as simple as that.  To be fair, it's a subject that he really likes, he just finds it hard to translate his enthusiasm for the concept into something more concrete - so once he'd said yes he definitely wanted to do it, I asked him a few leading questions to give him an idea of how to get going, and he finally made a good start (that ipad prize is great motivation for him!).  I have no idea if he will keep it up though - it's only for ten days, and I need to see if I can find some other nature diaries online to give him a better feel for the project... but ultimtely, we'll just have to see if he completes it.
As for the others, well DS2 spent some time on both Reading Eggs and MathsWhizz, and made some yummy banana muffins with Mummy (to use up the over-ripe bananas we had that they all refuse to eat) - and DS3 also had a long time on Reading Eggs, as well as lots more fun playing with playdough, and joining DS2 to learn how to make sandwiches for everyone's lunch, at their request ... the rest of today was spent looking at and talking about a family project (or two) which could be coming up soon... DS1 and I have been watching Springwatch where they had some chrysalises hatching on camera. They said that butterflies have had a bad year this year, so we thought we'd do our bit to help - and have bought a Butterfly Garden which was on special offer from Amazon. It arrived yesterday & we've just ordered the live caterpillars... we're all very excited & can't wait until they arrive!  And as nature is such a part of our lives, we may also be having a go at the Wildlife Action Awards (also courtesy of the RSPB), as we've done lots of the activities before and thoroughly enjoyed them... I just rediscovered these awards this morning & thought it was a lovely idea to recognise what the boys are achieving :)
So basicaly, we may have been stuck indoors for the day, but that didn't stop us dreaming about being in the great outdoors... ;)

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