shed

Over the Easter hols I managed, in between the rain showers, to not only put a base down but also to erect a shed on it!

Feeling quite pleased - especially as the shed came as a kit of a million parts!

flowers

In y1 today we painted flowers. Unfortunately the weather prevented us doing it 'en plein air' but they remembered what they had seen earlier in the week. We painted the stalks with brushes, after having mixed a green, and the flowers with our fingers! We have some children who need to do things in a very kinaesthetic way. We started off by creating pictures of daisies and then progressed onto wild flower meadows.

                        

growing

In y1 today we created pieces that showed flowers growing. They made a simple pull up the flap mechanism to make a stem, leaves and finally a flower appear, after having been watered and exposed to sunlight. We then progressed on to a 'beanstalk' version where the beanstalk will 'grow' before finally reaching the clouds and the giants castle. The last pic shows the layout of all the pieces on an A4 size piece of card.                         

automaton

Here's the latest automaton to grace my workbench;

It's a gardener proudly watering a flower. As you turn the handle on the right the gardener bends to water the plant and, as he rises, so does the bloom. I made it as a try out rather than a completely 'finished' piece just to get the hang of the mechanism. Quite pleased with how it turned out.