Nature Walk at Brook Meadow - Emsworth

Yesterday our homeschoolers nature group went to Brook Meadow in Emsworth. The day started out wet, in fact it poured as soon as we arrived, but no one minded too much so we carried on anyway.

Brook Meadow is a water meadow through which the River Ems runs . It is full of flowers, birds and other wildlife and has been officially designated as a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation in recognition of its ecological value.

It is a really beautiful area!

 

Once the rain stopped the children went bug hunting in the tall grasses. Some of the grass was even taller than Hannah!

Intrepid bug hunters!

We stopped to admire wild flowers and wonderfully scented honeysuckle.

A willow tree made a fairy tunnel over the path and Hannah liked it so much she took a picture.

As the sun warmed the grasses the birds sang beautifully ,

and the children all dried off. Just in time ............

Hannah and Freya

 ........... to get all wet again in the river! They had the best time splashing about!

We finished our walk at Emsworth Mill Pond - isn't that a lovely view?

A Little Bit Of Work And Some Play

We are nearly at the end of Grade 2 and getting ready for summer! Hannah finished her multiplication section today in her math and just has the 4 page review to do before she has finished.

Hannah took her work outside today as it was so nice and sunny!

We finished English a few weeks ago so Hannah has just continued to practise her writing and reading. She found the cat picture in an old magazine and decided to write about our cat in her writing journal.
Today she has also been engrossed in her latest issue of American Girl Magazine!

After lunch we went to visit some friends, and found time for some play in their local playground.

 Hannah and Ellen had fun on the baby swings lol!!

It has been a good day!

Adventure Group - Tie Dying Activity

This week at Adventure Group the children all had the chance to tie dye silk handkerchiefs. Hannah was very excited as she has lots of playsilks that she loves to play with, and she thought the handkerchiefs would make perfect playsilks for her American Girl dolls.

 They were each given a silk handkerchief soaked in vinegar, which Hannah concertina folded and secured with elastic bands at intervals - she had chosen to make her first one striped!

Hannah and Ellie rocking their rubber gloves!

 Then they all put on rubber gloves and applied the ready mixed dye (ready made by Sally, the mum who was running the activity!!) to the chosen areas on the silk.

 Once it was done the silks were sealed in plastic bags for an hour to allow the dye to take effect. Then it was on to silk number 2. Hannah banded this one in different areas to make a more tie dye pattern and applied random colours!

Freya

These are Hannah's finished silks - they are more vibrant than the picture really shows, and she is super pleased with them!

Thanks for a great craft Sally :-)

Friday

On Friday we had an unexpected day at home as our nature group was postponed, so Hannah spent the morning doing some 'school' work, She read all about writing a book review in her Writing Smarts (by American Girl) book and then had a go at writing her own review.

The picture is horribly grainy sorry - i must start using my camera instead of my phone!

Hannah thought her writing was too messy, but I'm still really pleased that she gave it a try. She even enjoyed it!

She also started learning multiplication in her math book.

After lunch Hannah was expecting her friend Mimi over for a play date, and she really wanted to bake something to share with her . She decided on Whoopie Pies !

 They didn't look exactly like they were supposed to, but they tasted really good!

Hannah gave them the thumbs up!

Before brownies Hannah wanted to try on my sisters old brownie uniform from 1979 which she had borrowed to show her brownie pack at their meeting. She really liked it and looked so cute!

 and after brownies Hannah took Mimi to visit her favorite climbing tree !

Can you see her peeping out of the middle of the tree?

In The Park

We have had some sunshine this week, so we've taken advantage of it by spending time in the local parks.
Hannah was keen to do some nature activities, and really wanted to make some leaf and bark rubbings, so we went along to Bransbury Park on Monday. It was a beautiful day, and we began by having coffee with a lovely new homeschooling mum in the cafe there. Then we went out to the miniature railway area which has a little copse in the middle.

 Hannah busied herself choosing leaves and areas of bark to take rubbings from,

 and found the perfect climbing tree!

This is the highest she has ever dared to go - we will definitely be going back to this tree frequently this summer!!

 The railway is only open on a Sunday, so Hannah amused herself balancing along the railway line,

 and hanging upside down from the soccer goal post before we went home!

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Yesterday we were going to spend the day at home as I had the makings of a migraine, but the sun was so inviting we decided to go along to the little playground near our house instead.

Hannah took her soccer ball and practised kicking it (daddy has been teaching her and she wanted to practise so she can show him how well she is doing!). After kicking it around for a while she thought she'd try to shoot some hoops as she has seen some basketball on tv and thought it looked fun. 

She is a bit too little for them really but she tried super hard and did finally get the ball through the hoop!

I think this might be another sport she needs to play with daddy.......................watch out daddy, she'll have you fit in no time lol!!