Photos from May Half Term

Sea Chests at Cutty Sark – we were looking at the sorts of things sailors would have brought with them to sea, such as pyjamas, a compass, etc.

It was all about money at The Tower of London – we were looking at the Royal Mint, linking the activities to the new Coins and Kings exhibition at The Tower.

At the Ragged School Museum we were looking at Victorian women connected to Dr. Barnardos, which included an interior designer and a lady who sent children to Canada to receive a better quality of life (I can’t remember the names of the women at the moment).

The annual Sutton House Elders Summer trip took me to Scotney Castle (National Trust). What a magical place?!?

I had another funtastic half term – I can’t wait for the summer holidays now!

I have still been volunteering at the V&A. The David Bowie exhibition is still going strong, with queues outside the museum first thing in the morning. I have learnt that people have been paying up to £100 on sites like eBay for tickets, which is totally unnecessary – there are still £14 tickets available to buy each and every day in person from the museum – just arrive early. Even a years membership to the museum is cheaper than paying £100.

I have also been volunteering at the V&A Museum of Childhood. I got the chance to sit in on a school session the other day. Moving Toys got the schoolchildren thinking about how toys without batteries move (push, pull, compress, etc.). The children got to play with lots of toys and it was a very noisy room – a great way to learn about the physics of toys.

At the Ragged School Museum I am still delivering school sessions. It’s going pretty well – after delivering my first session I haven’t felt nervous or scared. Sometimes the children really do surprise me though. One girl correctly identified the Victorian hot water bottle (which rarely happens). I also had another girl ask me why poor Victorian families had so many children if they couldn’t afford to look after them – I was a bit surprised by the question but responded by saying that not all children survived to adulthood. I’m not sure if this really answered her question, but I added that they can discuss this further back in the classroom with their teachers.

On the first May bank holiday weekend I volunteered at Cutty Sark. The theme was imaginary journeys – the families made their own islands (and some made boats) and then made journeys across the blue sea mat we had laid on the floor to other islands. The children were very creative – there were sea monsters, whirlwinds, large volcanic islands and even chests of treasure. I had so much fun helping out on this day. It was such a shame we had to throw everything away after because there is no space to store it.

 (My island getaway) 

 (Imaginary journeys)

 (Castaway raft)

 (At the end of the day – when the sun finally came out)

I went to visit my friend in Manchester and of course did a massive museum run – 6 museums in about 2 days I have always wanted to visit the People’s History Museum, so that was the first on my list. I also visited the Imperial War Museum North, and loved the emotional video they play in the gallery space – it made me very teary.

 (Me at the People’s History Museum – I loved all the dressing up and interactives)

I have also now started my job as a visitor assistant at the Houses of Parliament – not exactly museum education related, but i’m enjoying it – it’s also my first paid job within the heritage sector. Over Summer, the challenge will be working full time at Parliament and trying to fit in volunteering too.

May Half Term is coming up and I’m looking forward to working hard and having fun too

Sutton House 

Before the Elders session on Good Friday I went to the Royal Academy to see the Manet exhibition with a friend - it was totally worth waking up ridiculously early. The reciprocal agreement between the RA and other museums was going to end on the 31st, so I am glad I got to see it for free. I really enjoyed the exhibition and learnt a lot more about Manet’s life. The only downside was that it was really really busy.

The Elders Session was absolutely fantastic. As African Drumming was so popular last time, we decided to do it again. As it was Good Friday we had a lot of families visiting the house. I saw a few looking through the windows and called them to join in as there were plenty of spare drums. By the end of the session, the younger visitors had completely taken over. The guy who was leading the session also works with children in schools and he was great at getting them involved.

 (Younger visitors having a go at African Drumming)

I was back at Sutton House on Easter Sunday for the Easter themed family day, which was another fantastic day. There were lots of fun activities going on throughout the house. The face-painting in particular was beautiful. There was also a Tarot card reader in the Victorian Parlour – definitely the right atmospheric setting for reading cards. I was in the barn leading the more crafty activities, which included Easter cards and Easter bonnets, as modelled by fellow volunteers in the picture below.

 (Examples of some of the activities)

V&A Museum of Childhood

I volunteered on 3 days over Easter and these were extremely busy days. On the 2 weekend days that I worked we had about 3000 visitors on each day. There were queues for the Art Smarts activity, which was paper dolls (the Emperor’s new clothes), and the story telling sessions filled an entire corner of the museum.

Tower of London

The theme for the Easter holidays was Colonel Blood and the Crown Jewels Robbery. Families got to make their own Imperial State crown, wear the coronation robes of an Earl and then create their own royal oath – so in effect they had their own mini coronation ceremony. To make their crown look luxurious and regal there were felt tips and crayons for the children to use, as well as tissue paper, fabric remnants, sequins and gems. This worked very well as many of the families had been to see the Crown Jewels before coming to the activities. We also had real examples of Emeralds, Rubies and Sapphires (which are all important stones in the crown) to show the families.

The Imperial State Crown has been remade several times over the years. The current version is the third replacement made since 1660 and the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II. In his attempt to steal the Crown Jewels, Colonel Blood took charge of the Imperial State Crown and hid it under his cloak.

 (Examples of the Imperial State Crowns the families made)

 (Me in Coronation Robes)

I was supposed to work two days over the Easter holidays, but I couldn’t make my second shift because I fell ill

V&A

I worked one Tuesday shift at the V&A over Easter. The museum was very busy, with families visiting and people coming to see the Bowie exhibition (which I still haven’t seen). There were lots of great family activities taking place, including Live Tudor Tunes in the Music Hall room and Make Your Own Armour. The activities were related to the Treasures of the Royal Courts exhibition.

Cutty Sark

This was my first time volunteering at Cutty Sark. I volunteered on 2 days with the same wonderful freelancer, Brenda. We made Racing Puppets, aka origami paper ships that could race each other. The idea behind the activity was to get children thinking about the history of Cutty Sark, and the competitive journeys it made to China to get tea.

Although the children could make 2 ships, for some reason everyone only made one. There were some amazing ships though – one child spent over an hour adding very detailed rigging to her ship. It was great to see the end results and no two ships were the same.

I spent my second day with a clipboard and evaluation forms, asking those who had completed a family trail for their feedback. Unfortunately, this was a rather fruitless endeavour and I didn’t enjoy this as much. However, we all had a good discussion at the end of the day and I shared some ideas that I had.

Brenda (the freelancer) was very encouraging and supportive, and made me feel a lot better about my current work situation. It is always nice to be told that you are good at what you do by someone in the industry I hope I get to work with her again. I also now know how to make paper ships using origami.

 (My pirate ship which would have attacked Cutty Sark)

Ragged School Museum

There were lots of Spring based activities going on throughout the Ragged School Museum over Easter. I helped out on 2 days over the 2 weeks. Some of the activities were changed for the second week of the holidays, and due to the hourly rotation system, all the volunteers got to lead all of the activities.

 (Bird Badges, which remind me of Angry Birds)

 (Spring scene – families could make flowers to add to the scene)

 (Spring Scene painting using templates. Mine is in the middle at the back)

 (The bunny army – I did this towards the end of the day when it got a bit quieter)

And in between all of this volunteering, I still managed to attend a family wedding.

Tuesday 19th March – Victoria and Albert Museum (click here to read more about my Front of House duties)

Due to other volunteering commitments, today was the first time I have volunteered at the V&A in 5 weeks, and I have really missed it. It was a rather quiet day, with many enquiries about the ‘David Bowie is‘ exhibition that is opening on Saturday 23rd March. We had a few visitors from overseas who sadly were returning before Saturday and they were really disappointed . To tell you the truth, I am more excited about the ‘Treasures of the Royal Courts‘ exhibition, which is fascinating. I took pages and pages of notes, as I haven’t previously studied Anglo-Russian trade during the Tudor and Stuart period.

Wednesday 20th – V&A Museum of Childhood ‘Grand Explorers’ last session and exhibition (click here for more information)

Today was sadly the last day of this ‘Grand Explorers’ project. In order to celebrate the work and time we have spent together, we put on an exhibition for friends and family, so they can see what the grandparents and their grandchildren have been working on. We started the event with a video which documented the project and we also got to hear from the participants . The video was actually very emotional – I think it was the music. We then had a short tea, coffee and snack break. After, the families and friends had the opportunity to see all the memory trees and ask the participants about them. Everyone had a great time and the participants were so proud of their work. Hopefully, the museum will get further funding to continue this great intergenerational project.

Thursday 21st March – First session at The Geffrye Museum and Sutton House Scribblers

I was so excited to finally start volunteering at The Geffrye as they have a great Community Outreach programme. Today I was helping out on a family learning session with a local primary school. I arrived half an hour before the start time to help the freelancer to set up the activity – Easter bonnets. We prepared card, tissue paper and craft foam, which the families could use to create things to stick on to their Easter bonnets. Once the families arrived, the freelancer got the group thinking about Spring, and especially Spring flowers and animals. After the introduction the families just got on with the activity. They really didn’t need our help, which is great as the idea is that the families spend time working together. The parents were also really good at drawing animals. While the families were working on the activity, I played with a under-5 child who had come along with her mother. The staff member in charge brought out some toys and mats to keep her entertained. There were some amazing Easter bonnets by the end of the session.

 (Easter bonnet example)

After we had finished clearing up, I rushed over to Sutton House to lead the Scribblers session (the creative writing group). The theme for this month was Spring, although it was sadly a rather un-Spring like day. I had come up with some creative writing exercises last week, so we worked our way through a few of them. We also had two new Scribblers, which was great. As I was at The Geffrye in the morning, I missed the Book Brunchers session, but was pleased to hear that the book chosen for next month is ‘Lolita’ by Vladimir Nabokov – a book which until now has been sitting on my shelf gathering dust. I am really looking forward to next month already.

 (Scribbling away)

 (Book at the ready…)

Friday 22nd March – Sutton House Elders

Today we had our end of term party. We arrived earlier than usual to prepare the food for the party – yes I can now put light catering on my CV . The Elders did some embroidery and stitching today with a freelance artist. Each Elder had to choose a single word which they thought best describes Sutton House. Using applique, embroidery and fabric printing, each person depicted their word on a patch. The freelancer will stitch each patch together to make a patchwork quilt, which will be displayed in Sutton House.  It was a rather quiet session as everyone just got on with their work. It got even more quieter once the food was ready. I spent most of the session threading needles, which is always tricky! I can’t wait to see the finished patchwork quilt.

 (The food)

 (Unfinished patchwork quilt)

What a busy week!?! With the Easter holidays coming up, things are about to get a lot busier and crazier – I am looking forward to it

Monday 11th March - Ragged School Museum school visit  (click here to learn more about what happens on school visits)

I got to sit in on a SEN (Special Educational Needs) session for the first time. The Museum’s schools programme is already very interactive and multi-sensory, so the SEN sessions are not different from the usual programme. The class enjoyed learning about and handling all of the objects. One of the boys correctly identified the iron curling iron and mentioned that you could easily burn your hair with it. As mentioned in my last Update, no one usually recognises the curling iron – I didn’t :O. From afar they do look like scissors, trimmers or tongs.

 (Victorian Iron Curling Iron)

Tuesday 12th March – Sutton House school visit  (click here to learn more about what happens on school visits)

There was one school in the morning and one in the afternoon. We had to make the morning session shorter than normal because the school had to leave at 11am, but the children still got to dress up and see the house. In the afternoon, one of the girls correctly identified the butter churner in the Tudor kitchen . This group was very high-spirited, and it was useful to see how the session leader, and teachers, deal with these situations.

In the evening, I caught up with emailing and social media-ing for the book group and creative writing group I run at Sutton House. I used to volunteer for these groups, but the volunteer in charge recently left, so I am now responsible for the groups. I also came up with a session plan for the creative writing group.

Wednesday 13th March – Cutty Sark Induction and ‘Grand Explorers’ at V&A Museum of Childhood.

In the morning, I was at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich for the Cutty Sark induction. After the induction, I had a chance to look around the amazing and inspiring Ansel Adams exhibition – I should really learn more about photography. I also had a chance to head up to the Royal Observatory and stand on both sides of the Meridian Line. I am such a tourist sometimes.

 (The Meridian Line)

In the afternoon, I was at ‘Grand Explorers’  (click here to learn more about this programme). The families were able to finish off anything they had left to do and finally put together their Memory Trees. They were also whisked away for interviews, some of which will be used in an exhibition video next week and some of which will be used to secure further funding for this fantastic programme.

I finally have some pictures of the finished Memory Trees. There will be an exhibition next week for friends and family to see what the grandparents and their grandchildren have been working on.

Friday 15th March – Sutton House Elders

The Over-55′s did some dancing with the legend Stuart today. When I started everyone was continuously talking about Stuart. The group absolutely love him, and when I met him last term, I could see why. He is so full of energy and knows how to connect with the group, and it’s always nice to have another male in a female-dominated group . Today Stuart was preparing the group for a flash-mob dance they will be doing for the opening of Breaker’s Yard (a new outdoor space at Sutton House which should be opening at the end of this year). The group could also take a break from dancing and make sashes (Beyonce-style), which they will be wearing during the flash-mob. After the Over-55′s session finished, I met a fellow book club and creative writing group volunteer in the Sutton House Cafe to discuss some ideas for the group.

Tuesday 5th March – Ragged School Museum school visit  (click here to learn more about what happens on school visits)

I am hoping to deliver some sessions soon, so I took pages and pages of notes in the Victorian Life session in preparation. The children were quite curious and asked about some of the more hidden objects in the kitchen, such as the Victorian iron curling tongs and Victorian hot water bottle. No one (not even me) correctly identified these objects, so we all learnt something new.

 (Victorian hot water bottle)

Wednesday 6th March – ‘Grand Explorers’ at V&A Museum of Childhood (click here to learn more about this programme)

In this session, the families got to play with some toys from the museum’s collections. There were robots, play doh and even Slink from Toy Story. The children had to link a sensory memory to five toys from the collection, e.g. play doh was messy, racing cars were noisy, etc. For the craft, the families made paper birds to put on their memory trees. These were quite tricky to make, even with the templates. I will take some photos soon – we usually run out of time, so I don’t get a chance.

Friday 8th March – Geffrye Museum Training Day

I had a training day for the Community Outreach role, which involved disability awareness training, child protection training, as well as having a go at some of the activities. We learnt about the different groups The Geffrye work with, and I am now very excited to start volunteering. The disability awareness training lady was lovely and made the session very enjoyable, although I always leave these sorts of things feeling quite scared and extremely conscious about everything.

Saturday 9th March – Knole (National Trust)

I didn’t have anything to do this Saturday work wise, so I met a friend for a much needed walk with the deers at Knole and a lovely lunch in the cafe.

 (Knole)

While the children were doing the activities we asked any adults who were waiting to fill in short evaluation forms about the activities and their overall visit. These forms were filled in anonymously. A few days ago I received an email from the lovely peeps over at the Tower saying that the feedback from the visitors was amazing!

‘run by very child friendly and patient people, well done!’

‘Helpful friendly approachable guides at the puppet table this is the start of our visit’

‘actively welcoming staff’

‘friendly staff’

YAY

(You can read more about the activities here and here)

This project began at the beginning of February, but due to existing commitments, today is the first time I have been able to volunteer on this project. The Grand Explorers meet on Wednesdays from 3.30pm until 5pm. Two local schools were targeted by the museum for participants, so everyone knows each other pretty well. It is amazing to see families bonding like this and sharing their experiences. Magic Me artist David started the session with a little bit of simple acting based on peoples memories. He divided the families into groups (I got to join in too) and said some words out aloud. The groups then had to freeze into a position which they thought represented this word, e.g. for the word friendship, my group put arms around each other. Everyone was really good at this. After this David got the families to sit together and write about their memories, with prompts like I remember, I liked, etc. Noddy and the Teletubbies were popular, although some of the younger children struggled with this bit. David then got the children to pose as one of their memories, e.g. one girl posed as an animal because she remembers going to the zoo with her family. Some of this was photographed and videoed to use for the exhibition on the last day of the project.

We then moved onto the arts and crafts part of the session, where each week the families have been creating things to stick on their memory tree, e.g. paper flowers. As the group had had a break over half term, everyone talked about what they had done so far, which was great for me as I have just started. Then we moved onto creating leaves for the memory trees. The families were encouraged to write mementoes on their leaves and to decorate it with glitter – a lot of the children chose West Ham Football Club as a memento. Using glitter was a lot of fun, and it spread from the pots onto everyone’s clothes and even onto one child’s face – I don’t think the mums and dads were too pleased to see their children after this activity, especially as many of the children were wearing their school uniforms. Sadly, due to the lack of time, the families only managed to create one leaf each, but they are encouraged to work on the project at home.

This is a great programme and all the participants are really enjoying it – some of them have been involved in previous ‘Grand Explorer’ projects. It is great to see old memories being shared and new ones created.

I apologise for the lack of photos – next time!

- In the Barn the activities included making pop-up Mother’s Day cards and paper flower bouquets

 (Paper flower bouquet)

- In the Georgian Parlour, there was some Georgian fancy dress

- There was a Tudor Banquet in the Great Chamber

 (Tudor Banquet)

I was doing Mother’s Day themed puppet shows in the Victorian Parlour with Applied Theatre Student Esther (who is doing a placement at Sutton House). She was absolutely amazing – she could do different voices, improvise and sing beautifully. She does some puppeteering professionally and also made the puppets we used. I am not good at this sort of thing, but I definitely tried my best. I had a great time, but it is very tiring having one arm up all the time and using your thumb. We also had National Trust Chairman Sir Simon Jenkins come for a visit to the property today, and he saw us in action and said we were brilliant – so high fives all round. I love nothing more than visiting historic houses, so meeting and shaking hands with the author of ‘England’s Thousand Best Houses’ was great (I am working on the long list).

In general today was a rather quiet day with not many young visitors – I blame the cold weather and the end of half term for this. But we did have a few children who immensely enjoyed the puppets (and one who cried!). One boy even got involved with us and was the ghost in our Sutton House ghost story – a lot of improvisation was needed. One senior citizen was so sweet and stayed behind by herself to watch us do a show – she was great at audience participation.

 (Puppet show)

So this family day marks the end of a busy half term week. By Friday I was feeling exhausted, but it was nothing a long sit down and cup of tea couldn’t solve. I have had a great week full of lots of different activities. And even though I am tired, I really enjoy what I do

 (William explaining the different techniques used for creating light and dark tones)

 (Some examples of the work done today)

 (Sutton House has a lot of panelling)

This is the first time I have devised and led an activity. I also organised the marketing and the supplies required for the event. I was nervous at the start of the session that either things wouldn’t go to plan or that the children would hate the activities. Thankfully, everyone enjoyed themselves – although I’m not sure if the parents enjoyed carrying the trees home after.

The activity started with the children collecting twigs and branches from the museum garden. They then placed their branch in a clay base and decorated with sequins, ribbons, pipe cleaners, fluffy chicks, etc. We also used marble ink to marble polystyrene eggs – which was so much fun!

As the marbled eggs were drying, we had some dressing up time and  played with some Tudor and Victorian toys. The families also used this time to explore the rest of the house.

  (marbling polystyrene eggs)

 (the activity in action)

All of the activities were based on the history of the area,  which was amazing as everyone was able to learn new things. On arrival the families were given a booklet with questions related to Booth’s Poverty maps. They could find the answers dotted around the museum, receiving a prize after they had finished.

The other activities included:

- making donkeys, as donkeys were used in the area to carry food to sell

- there were slates available for families to practice their handwriting in the classroom, which was fitting as the museum was once a school for the poor

 (The Victorian School Room)

- in the art room, there were 2 activities going on: rat masks (because certain areas surrounding the museum were once known to have thousands of massive rats hanging out) and police hats (in some streets close to the museum it was too dangerous for the police to go – if they did venture to those parts they would end up in hospital)

 (some of the rat masks made by the families)

 (making police hats)

 (me in my police hat – I spent the first half of the day on this activity)

- on the top floor, families could create bird cages, as some pubs south of the museum used to hold bird singing competitions (the person whose bird tweeted the longest would win)

 (making bird cages)

- also on the top floor, families were able to explore the Victorian Kitchen and all the objects used for washing, cooking, etc. I spent the second half of the day explaining and encouraging families to use the objects. Some of the visitors remember using some of the objects from the kitchen or remember their grandparents telling them. It was great to hear the families sharing their experiences.

 (The East End Victorian Kitchen Set)

- there was also an under-5′s area, which sadly I didn’t manage to see, but I did hear lots of noise coming from that general direction. Under-5s usually get sidelined by some museums, so it was great to have an area just for them too.

The main point of the activities is for families to work together and for us to provide the general guidelines/supervision. It is good to see families spending quality time together and learning new things. The information provided by the museum in all of the rooms was well presented and concise, which was great for the families to read together and enjoy. Many of the children were enthusiastic about finding all the answers to complete their booklets. It was not only the families who learnt something new – so did I! I liked that the activities were based on the area around the museum and that their was some history tied in too.

 (The Ragged School Museum)

At the end of the day, we had to clean up and we got the hoover out – it felt so surreal using a Henry hoover in a medieval palace (although the floors are obviously more recent).

I don’t think I will be at the Tower until the Easter Holidays now – but I feel like I need to visit soon to have a proper look around. It has been too long.

 (The Medieval Palace where the family activities take place)

 (Stained glass windows done by two Japanese sisters – how amazing are these!?!)

 (My Medieval Queen puppet)

The Tower’s February Half Term theme is Fifteenth Century Knights and Ladies. Over the week there will be storytelling, workshops and drop in activities. The drop in activities (which is where I was today) involve making stained glass windows and puppets.

No child objects to being given tissue paper, glue and scissors, so it is no surprise that the stained glass windows were popular. We also had information on medieval colours and what these colours represented (yellow = harmony, green = youth, blue = royal). There was a choice of three stained glass templates: a king, a court jester and a lion. There was already a lion window prepared from a previous activity, but before the activity opened I quickly made my own stained glass window of the court jester to use as an example – which of course I brought home .

 (The stained glass window templates)

 (My court jester stained glass window)

The jointed puppets were also popular. There was a choice between a  Medieval Knight or a Medieval Queen. We provided coloured pencils and crayons (which were easier for the younger visitors), as well as silver and gold metallic crayons. There was also some information available on the medieval knights and queens. Not all medieval women were the damsels in distress that fairy tales have led us to believe they were – they had a lot of freedom and lived similar lives to men (they owed businesses, hunted and some even led armies into battle). Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to make one of these puppets but I brought the templates and some split pins home with me – watch this space!

 (The puppet examples we provided)

It was a very enjoyable day and it was nice seeing families work together on these activities. It was great to see how differently children work – some were such perfectionists.  One boy kept saying how excited he was to visit the Bloody Tower – I think he just wanted to say ‘bloody’ without getting told off . And even though I am rather sleepy now, I can’t wait for the next one on Tuesday.

 ( The White Tower in the sun today)

This internship started in September and will finish at the end of February. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of the educational activities.

 (Whitehall)

 (Our home made table napkins for the Victorian Christmas Exhibition)

 (Part of our Victorian Christmas Exhibition)

 (Sutton House has a very colourful history – squatters once lived in the house and painted this on one of the walls at the top of the house)

I have such a great time working at Sutton House. The over-55′s group are so vibrant and full of life – they call themselves recycled teenagers. Below are some of the activities I have participated in with this group. We’ve also done more arts and crafts things, and acting, dancing and singing.

 (African Drumming session for Black History Month)

 (Making Picasso style masks with Hackney based artist William Bock)

The last Family Day I worked on was Halloween and it was absolutely crazy. We had over 400 visitors. I was in the barn leading all the activities, which included shadow puppets and making trick or treat baskets. I ended up spending the majority of the day making witches hats for the children to decorate as we hadn’t anticipated the number of visitors that turned up.

 (The Great Chamber decorated for Halloween)

The school visits are Tudor based. The children learn about the difference between everyday life for the Rich and Poor during the Tudor period through role play.

If you have trees in your front or back yard or can visit mature trees at your local park, this week’s post is an easy and fun activity suitable for preschoolers to grown ups. By taking a close look trees, it is easy to see how different they are.  Listed below are a few questions to talk about with your family to learn more about trees and their leaves. If you are at a park, please be respectful and select leaves already fallen to the ground:

1. Does the tree have leaves or needles?
2. What is the leaf shape?
3. How many needles and how are they arranged? (in a group of 3 or 4 or attached to a branch individually)
4. Are  leaves small and round or large with 3 or more pointed edges?
5. Does the tree have flowers or blooms?
6. Does the tree have a fragrance? If so, what?
7. Why do leaves change color in the fall?
8. Take a look at the veins on each leaf and compare them.

Leaf Rubbings

Art activity: Gather leaves from one or more trees. If you are at a park, please be respectful and find leaves that have already fallen to the ground. Take home your leaves and make a leaf rubbing picture by placing one or more leaves sandwiched between white sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 paper.  Rub a colored crayon or colored pencil firmly and repeatedly across the paper sitting on top of the leaf or leaves. When your picture is completed, you will see a colorful duplicate of the leaves with all its veins, edges and stem. photo credit: Colourbugs.net

Preserve real leaves between sheets of waxed paper and iron them on a low setting. The wax melts and seals the picture ready for framing.

A puzzling question: Do all trees lose their leaves? Yes. The evergreens lose their leaves all year long. Deciduous trees lose their leaves in the fall. Conifers are trees with needles. Yes. They lose needles all year long too.

• age difference in children
• skill difference in children
• Certain projects get carried far longer than others
• Certain projects dont actually help in building any skills but kids love it becoz it is fun.

I think I will be keeping the activity time as 2 – 2 1/2 hrs and now how do I manage to squeez two activities in there ??  Big question. Being a parent myself, I know how important it is that you feel the money you put in is worth it in the end. Children should learn a skill, enjoy building it and at the same time get entertained !

The last 6 week programe was jam packed with young and old ones, we had fun and it was really a sucess. 

Hmmm , lets see, I think primarily we can place two activities in a day. One would have to be the skill builder and one the ancillary activity.

I’ve noticed how most of the summer camps just treat kids as cattle and that really upsets me. When my own boys went for the summer classes to Al Nasr leisureland, it was a complete waste. They never learned anything there, they just ” hung around” the pool or the ice rink, ( not included although they had said it was a part of the deal, initially ) There were alittle more than 200 students !! I learned my lesson the hard way. No more packages for me. Although packages are economical, there is always a catch. That we find out after payments are made.   

I wish to keep smaller classes so that, while the kids do make a few friends, they learn a new skill and have someone giving them full attention. 

Anyways, its all a little bit of a messy so ONCE i have handled that, I’ll post some more

Till then ciao.