stone age

Yesterday it started with them building a stone age camp fire... 

 Then making 'soup' for the cavemen...

Followed by map drawing, complete with neanderthal village and treacherous mountains and raptor ridge...

Then a stone cave...

 And eventually refreshment in the form of tea and cake in the front garden...how civilised!

Until this morning when we woke up to snow... No problem to our intrepid cavemen, they re-drew their map to include 'snowy moor' and 'woolly mammoth hunting'...

what no tv looks like

If I had to choose what 'no tv' looked like it would be this rather Heath Robinson-esque contraption of Hugo and William's. Built from wheelbarrows, rope, skateboards and old bikes, rope ladders, the swing and tennis racquets it is, in fact, a spaceship. It represents all that is good about free time - the freedom to build from the imagination, the time to do it and  just enough boredom to make it worthwhile.

zebra crossing

Children learn best through play. So in order to teach the younger boys a little basic (but potentially life saving) road safety I decided to make it fun. First they painted their own zebra crossing. Then they built a road from wooden bricks. Next they found lots of cars for their road and also some Lego people. When I asked Mide to name all the things that might be dangerous on the road he had an impressive list- trucks, tractors, lorries, milk tankers, cars, motorbikes, vans, BMWs... ?! (BMW drivers take note) We chatted about crossing the road, using a zebra crossing and also what to do when there wasn't one. Then they got to make their Lego people cross the road - for the most part, you'll be glad to know, the Lego people made it safely across. 

oh brother!

William (aged 6) has persuaded Mide (aged 4) to play Draughts. It's not going well as Mide is losing. William is using all of his powers to keep the game going despite the amateur dramatics from his younger brother...

 
William: you've got to think, think like a t-rex wanting to kill its prey
Mide: I don't want to think
William: but you've got to think to win, use your brain
Mide: I don't want to use my brain
William: well, I'm using my brain to think and I'm gonna win
Mide: okay, stop all this talking; I'm going to play

playing

The last few days have been cold, wet and windy. Although the morning light in the kitchen is just lovely...

All thoughts of spring have been delayed and William is stuck at home with a sore throat and cough so after a morning of lying wrapped up on the sofa we decided that some drawing was required to pass the time.

Ironically the day before the three boys were playing hospitals with a dog in intensive care (?). I don't know if the photo shows it clearly enough but the dog, wrapped in a blanket and lying on pillows, surrounded by diagnostic equipment and with a breathing tube (in its ear) is being cared for by Nurse William. Nurse William has no formal training. Or uniform for that matter (a chefs outfit is close enough to fool most people) And at one point he joins the dog in its hospital bed. Note the plastic gloves. Health and Safety and all that.

Note: no animals were harmed in the playing of this game. And the dog went on to make a full recovery.