Christmas crafts

We played some board games this morning before going to post some cards and presents then joining some friends for Christmas crafts. 

The boys made baubles. We used plastic clear baubles that opened to fill with tinsel and they coloured the outside with sharpie pens. We also made them from strips of shiny card fastened at the top and bottom with split pins then fanned out. 

Peter also made a snowman and Harry coloured a stained glass window style decoration.

They had a good play with their friends too.

Mince pies and soft play

We finished off some more Christmas cards this morning then made our first batch of mince pies. Harry loves this job and actually did most of it himself. We made the mincemeat several weeks ago and made pastry for the pies this morning. 

After lunch we met some friends at soft play, which was a great energy burner for two hours! 

We've been reading Christmas themed books at home, both our own and library books and we watched a Mr Men Christmas DVD this afternoon. 

Making Christmas cards

We've been making Christmas cards this morning! Peter is getting quite good at writing his name and was determined he would write it in each card! 

It's good writing practise for Harry too and he doesn't complain about this as much as other styles of writing! 

We made some by using double sided tape to create a vague Christmas tree shape, then peeling off the top strip and adding glitter.

I also printed small copies of Harry's snowman picture from art class and we added these to some of the cards.

Harry has been working on the chance section of Conquer Maths and Peter has been doing Reading Eggs. Harry also had his swimming lesson this afternoon and we left in the icy rain, which I think might give us an indication of the weather for the rest of this week! 

Christmas music and Beavers activities

We've had a musical and festive weekend! Harry and Peter went to their music classes on Saturday then we met friends to go to a children's concert called Warming Songs for Winter Days. This was really nice and included songs such as Let it Snow and Carol of the Bells with participation for the children.

We put up our Christmas tree on Sunday. It is a very colourful creation with lots of home made decorations and the boys love it!

Harry and I also went to the Panto (Cinderella) with his Beavers group, which was fun.

Harry took part in his Beavers show last night. They made Beavers masks and sang a song to the tune of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer called Beavie the Beaver Mascot. He really enjoyed it.

He also had his last speech therapy group yesterday and we have several games to play at home to keep practising his problem sounds. He has improved lots this year and I think the group has been really helpful. 

Playdough, park and art

We made play dough on Thursday and the boys played with it all morning! They made sweets, monsters and vehicles for Lego men.

We went to the park with friends in the afternoon which was very wintery, so we had nice rosy cheeks! I even joined in playing football to keep warm!

Harry finished his Winter themed picture at art yesterday using watercolours and then the boys both had haircuts.

Harry also had his enjoy a ball class, where they practised basketball skills. 

In between these activities he has been playing minecraft. He bought himself the handbook and has been reading it constantly to learn how to do new things!

We've also been talking about maths a lot. I am trying to establish if we need to do any more year 2 in the Conquer Maths programme so I am asking him questions to check he has remembered the more complex points, such as angles, fractions, shape and measurement. Harry has also been using the Mr Thorne maths universe app to practise adding, subtracting and dividing.

The Nutcracker and library

We read the story of The Nutcracker this morning from this lovely book we borrowed from the library. 

We also watched the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy on YouTube and Harry wanted to see Darcey Bussell as he knows her from Strictly, so we found some of her dances to watch too.

Harry played cello and we all played some board games before going on the bus to the city library. I love that Harry has to take a book everywhere with him now to read on the way! 

We are going to be reading Peter Pan aloud next and Harry borrowed a Jeremy Strong Christmas themed book to read himself. Harry also bought the minecraft beginner handbook as he has just started playing it. He has been reading it all evening and filling me in on all the things he is going to try next! 

They have both been using the Lego movie maker app to create Lego videos this afternoon. This was one of the scenes, showing new creative machines that will appear in Harry's version of The Lego Movie 2.

Advent activities

It's December! Not sure how that crept up on me but we like December and we will enjoy it. We do a lot of relaxed Christmas themed activities during Advent and I will try to get them on here.

We have had more cuddles with baby cousin Jacob.

We've been to see the Alice in Wonderland themed Fenwick Christmas window and our first Christmas theatre show with friends 'The Christmas Grump', which was a reworked version of A Christmas Carol.

Harry made a Lego snow globe following the instructions in a Lego magazine.

We have finished decorating our hall, hurray! We love it and can't wait to get it decorated for Christmas at the weekend.

We have played at the (otherwise empty) park with friends and had friends round to play at our house.

I have printed some Christmas themed activity sheets from Activity Village. Peter told a story about Santa on Christmas Eve and Harry has been colouring and completing times table sheets. 

Harry has been playing lots of cello in preparation for his Christmas concert. He is doing really well at the moment and enjoying playing.

He has also been a reading machine! He can now read a Beast Quest book in one day and has done so several times. Peter is also storming through Reading Eggs and can read simple three letter words with phonic sounds. He really wants to read like Harry! I am going to work on numbers 11-20 with Peter as he gets to them in his advent calendar, which he is very fond of!

We preserved some leaves in glycerine. This is for Harry's collector badge at Beavers and his collection will be leaves preserved in different ways. He collected Autumn leaves and has rubbed some and pressed some already. He has also recently gained his faith badge.