Stone Age

I have been wanting to study history with the children for a while now what with visiting all these wonderful museums, castles and houses. I just didn't know where to begin. I know quite a few people who have started with the Victorians but I wanted to structure it more clearly in my head, and with Julian's phase of Dinosaur loving I thought that we would start at the beginning. Sooooo we are starting with the stone age. Also the Waldorf guidelines say to study housebuilding with grade 3 which fits in perfectly.

To say that we are starting with the stone Age isn't exactly true because by looking back to the stone age it has made the children question about the earth and the universe and its formation and about evolution. So although we have been concentrating on the stone Age, in between we have been doing a lot of investigation into the beginning of the world, how the oceans came to be, what is in the universe, how did life come to be on the planet, how did we evolve, what exactly happened to the dinosaurs, our solar system etc.

We have a wonderful book called Living History which provides lots of activities relating to certain time periods. The children are LOVING it!

Instead of working in their mainlesson books we have decided to put their work into a lapbook.

Champ really loved the idea of the stone age tools. We couldn't wait to find flint so we decided to raid our own stone collection and just give it a go. It was a great lesson on different types of stones and their properties.

Boo wasn't as interested in the stones as Champ was but she did give it a go. I love the way she has curled her toes up.

We found out that to make a genuine stone age tool we needed to have flint. But not just any flint as stones that were on the surface, that had been touched by frost were no good. Instead we need to find flint from under the ground. We then need to warm the flint (it shouldn't turn black) and then just a light bang on the stone will yield results. We haven't tried flint yet but we are on the look out :o)

Of course the younger two were not going to be left out of this.

Kiki still gets the stones out of the cupboard to bang them together.

Another activity we did was to make clay caves.

Googs decided to roll some firewood out of clay.

We covered a wooden board with plaster of paris. Once it was dry the kids took turns to paint it.

They then added some chippings from the stones and some clay scrapings from making pots and added it as gravel.

After that they made the fire, fish, swan, spears, figures and baskets out of beeswax. Then they put it all together and added some greenery.

These prehistoric animal pictures are now living on the younger two's bedroom walls.

Cave paintings! Not sure why I don't have a picture of Boo doing a painting - thinking it might have been because I was covered in red paint!

Giant Snowballs!

My car is still stuck in the snow so the children have had to entertain themselves at home.

So they decided to make Giant snowballs!!!

Champ had been out for about an hour before the others joined him.

Googs got stuck in with the others...

and managed to make a giant snowball of his very own.

Boo was so proud of her's. That is a lot of snow!

Busy, busy, busy.

The building then moved on to shelters. Not quite an igloo though.

Boo was so happy to be outside, you would never have thought from this picture the trouble we had getting her out! She HATES getting all her layers on.

Job well done I think!

Taking a break and warming up with some freshly made cinnamon and sugar pancakes.

Mommy time :o)

With all this snow and nowhere to go it has been the perfect time to do some crafting.

I made these mitts in purple too but have to embellish them as they are looking a little plain.

Crocheted necklace. I was surprised how warm this was or rather how cold my neck felt when I took it off.

Yellow really isn't my colour but I picked up this yarn in a bargain bin. It is a silk, rayon and cotton mix. In real life it is a lot more mustardy looking rather than the acid yellow that is shown in the pics.

And it can also be worn as a headband.

And I finally finished Kiki's painting! It would have been finished much sooner if hubby hadn't given the kids my special black pen to use which they promptly broke.

A retro looking doily headband.

And finally a lovely warm cowl made with baby marino.

Now I have to find a project for my big ball of bamboo yarn...hmmmm

Snow!!!!!

After trying to snow for a few days we finally woke up to this!

Which meant that we had to put layers on and get out. The only problem is that it takes us almost an hour to get everyone dressed in all their layers and to find all the gloves, hats and scarves.

It was as if someone had put the black and white filter on.

Champ was of course the first one on the hill. The snow was very powdery.

Kiki having a big discussion with Daddy at the bottom of the hill.

Luckily enough Father Christmas had given each of the children (and hubby) a different style of sled for Christmas so they all had turns on each of them.

Boo always seems to get cold faster than the others but then again she insists on lying down the whole time.

ready, steady, go.....

Googs hasn't quite got his balance sorted yet and crashes all the way down. I am quite pleased though because the ride lasts a little longer as he takes forever to walk up the hill.

Kiki always has to ride with someone. She INSISTED on going on her own...we allowed her and she ended up with her face in the snow. She has finally accepted that, for now, she needs a partner :o)

But there are some perks of being the youngest.

Googs was so funny he would make the snowball at the bottom of the hill then struggle all the way up just to throw them at us.

Of course a snowman had to be built.

And after every session in the snow a cup of hot chocolate was waiting for them.

chocolate mustachesOvernight there had been more snow and the following day the sun had come out so....more sledding!

Lovely rosy cheeks after snow play.