Education update April 2017

The children have been very busy and involved in so many projects that it would be a very long post if I included it all, so we have picked a few of our favourite things to share with you here.

After seeing pictures online of the many sock toys made by other people they made a plan to recycle some old socks into these cat plushies. I'm very proud to say that all the little sewing projects I had given them over the years must have paid off as they pretty much completed this project by themselves.

My eldest daughter's cat brought her a surprise one morning... a pile of frogspawn!!  We have no idea how the cat carried these in but in an attempt to try and save the eggs she brought them round to us. We are pleased to announce that many of the eggs are now wriggly tadpoles, this has made an excellent nature project for my youngest children and given them the chance to study the life cycle of a frog at very close hand.

We have joined the Woodland trust's project to plant more trees, with great success as we already have many little trees coming up from our packet of seeds. This project has coincided with all the seed planting we do every year to grow our vegetables on our allotment, so it has been very busy.

The latest science project the children have been studying is sound, vibration and wavelengths. We have completed many experiments including a tin can telephone, balloon noise and the above experiment to see the sugar move on the cling film by the sound vibration alone.

We have also tried to recreate how the wavelengths looked on an oscilloscope by using a really long piece of cord and moving our hands either fast or slow as seen above, until it looked the same as a given noise.

 My daughter wanted to try some new recipes in the kitchen, sticky toffee squares were one of her new experiments... and very tasty they were too. We have also been eating some of the early harvests from the allotment, so far this has been asparagus and rhubarb.

Another science project has been about light, this led to an art project involving stained glass windows to really brighten up the house. The children's sports club started up again this week for the summer now that the weather is improving which has been keeping us extra busy, along with the building of a new poly tunnel at the allotment with the hope of allowing us to grow extra vegetables.

 Will update very soon with some new projects and updates on the ongoing ones like the tadpoles and baby trees.

Remains of the Pumpkin

We have finally got through the rest of the pumpkin flesh that was scraped out of the lanterns made for Halloween. I made this spicy pumpkin soup with a difference... as it was a spooky time of year I have added a dumpling to the bowl, to give a hint that it may contain brains... not really!  A small amount of crispy bacon and onion has been added to the top for added flavour (or just onion for vegetarians) It made a very warming dinner.

 We also made pumpkin scones and these were so yummy they were all gone within minutes of coming out of the oven. I used my home made pumpkin puree for these replacing any liquid I used in the scone recipe. It was a bit of an experiment as I hadn't made these before, but it was a very big success... and that was the last we saw of the little Halloween pumpkins... Till next year (insert evil laugh here).

More Halloween Preparation

My husband carved the pumpkins today, as you can see above, what do you think?... scary enough? He tries to carve a different face every year and I think he's rather good at it. Last year he did Jack Skellington, he also likes to carve something in the back so that you get the shape projected onto the wall behind, this year he did bats. A little added magic for the children. With two pumpkins there is a lot of pumpkin insides to be removed, and we like to make use of as much as possible. I started off by collecting all the seeds and tossed them in a little oil, salt, pepper and cajun spices, these were then roasted for us to snack on.

The pumpkin flesh that was scraped out we have divided in half. One half I've kept to make soup, the other I've cooked and made into a puree to use to cook other things with. Today we made pumpkin pie, or should I say pies, as the recipe we used had very big portions.

This was really nice and as there are two pies we will be eating it again tomorrow. The children have been enjoying all the Halloween preparations, especially all the crafts.

They have made this banner, I wanted to make a fabric one to keep forever but ran out of time so they have made the banner using Halloween shapes, colouring them in and sticking the pumpkin faces on. So today has been another very busy day full of baking and crafting.

Can one have too many courgettes?

       Well, it's that time of year again when the courgettes from our plants just keep on coming and everyone you meet gives you some more. I'm constantly thinking about what to make with them so they are not wasted... something new... that my courgette avoiding children may eat. This year I'm planning to make a courgette relish, courgette bread and I've even got a recipe for courgette cupcakes that I may consider, but while I was laying awake in the early hours of this morning ( yes, courgette induced insomnia) I thought I would try adding courgettes to something the children loved... cheese scones.

    
    I just used my usual cheese scone recipe and added grated courgette and amazingly all the children loved them and so did we. I recommend adding courgette to your own usual recipe for a slight change, especially if you have fussy children like mine who don't like too much change. They didn't mind when I added herbs to the recipe last week, that's what gave me the idea of trying to add the courgette too.


     In case you don't have a usual recipe here is my much simplified recipe;
8oz self-raising flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 2oz butter. Rub these together in a bowl. Add your chosen flavoring to taste approximately 2-3oz (more if you prefer).

   I doubled the ingredients for a larger batch, I put in a grated courgette and the cheese. Add enough milk gradually to bring the mixture together in a firm scone consistency probably about 1/4 pint. roll out shape or cut, I always add a quick brush of milk and a little cheese to the top to give it a crispy cheese topping. cook on 200C for about 15-20 mins. There you go, something simple, everyone knows how to make and the children ate them... definitely a bonus.