A visit to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens

When I was a young girl, my Poppa (grandfather) used to work at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. My 2 brothers and I have many fond memories of my Grandma taking us into the gardens to have a picnic lunch with Poppa on the days when he worked. So many wonderful things experienced, and memories made. I even remember the metal cups that we used to share the can of drink between us all :)

Yesterday we took a trip down memory lane.

Little Mister and I met up with my Grandma (Poppa passed away some years ago now) and my cousin and her "charge"... at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, for a picnic lunch and a meander through the Bicentennial Conservatory and other garden buildings, over the lawns and stopped to interact with the ducks and cod in the lake.

It was a lovely day with beautiful weather and friendly company.

Perhaps, with enough of these visits, Little Mister will have fond memories of this special place too.

 

Inside the Bicentennial Conservatory at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens

 

Little Mister and his Great Grandma standing in front of a Pandanas plant in the Bicentennial Conservatory

 

The Simpson Shadehouse

 

Inside the Simpson Shadehouse (it was HOT outside, but so cool in hear)

 

Great Grandma with Little Mister sitting on the edge of the Amazon Waterlily Pond

 

A Waterlily in the Amazon Waterlily Pavillion

 

Palm House

 We finished our morning with a picnic lunch on the shady lawns overlooking Nelumbo Pond, which is an outdoor pond so much covered with waterlily's and other plants, that it looks like grass!

Come (later) Autumn, I would love to take Little Mister back again, to see all the gorgeous colours that come with the season. One fond memory from childhood for me, is skipping through all the fallen Autumn leaves :)

Jenny's Surprise Summer & Shapes

Since our last post, Little Mister has been learning shapes more and more. Just this morning we had a breakthrough with getting Triangle and Rectangle named correctly!!! Yay!

We have been using his shape activities lots (see our recent post), and he has picked out shapes in everyday life, ALL ON HIS OWN! Love how all of a sudden he excitedly points and says "Circle mum, look Circle!" etc.

I posted a lot of the ideas we would use to learn shapes, some we have used, and some are still to be used. We will keep on with shapes until he can tell me them all without any help. Yes, it may be another month (or more!) but Little Mister is still enjoying it, so we'll keep on going :)

For the previous two weeks we 'rowed' Jenny's Surprise Summer by Eugenie. A beautiful story about a little girl, Jenny, who is holidaying by the beach at her Gran's place, when she finds 2 kittens. At the end of the summer holiday she has to decided which one to take home with her, and she decides based on the character of each Kitten. In this time, we also spent a 4 day weekend camping near the beach, and so Little Mister was able to 'get inside' the story with exploring and finding rocks, shells and seaweed etc, and chasing seagulls, and swimming in the ocean (unfortunately we didn't find any stray kittens).

We used:

Printables from Homeschool Share

Observation Ideas from Before Five In A Row Manual

Our fortnight in  pictures...

Will it sink of will it float? Daddy did this activity with Little Mister about 3-4 times through the fortnight. Little Mister loved the idea that there was a difference between things floating and sinking, pretty sure he understands the concept, just gets the words confused!

 

I can't remember where I found these colouring pictures... we coloured one in grey for Smokey and one in orange for Pumpkin, the two kittens in Jenny's Surprise Summer. We talked about why they had these particular names and about their different characters. Then we found each kitten on the pages of the book.

 

We looked through and talked about different kinds of cats, looks personalities, oddities etc. It's hard to tell how much Little Mister understands at this age (almost 2.5), but we talk about it anyway and he picks out different things in the pictures that interest him also.

We also sang cat songs and read cat poems/rhymes etc.

 

Here's Little Mister exploring the beach and building a car wash with Grandma and Grandpa. He loves to see the waves race up he beach and fill the holes he has made. It was Little Misters imagination that turned the hole into a car wash! We spent a few hours one day exploring the beach and ocean. In Jenny's Surprise summer there are seagulls, shells, crabs etc, and we did our best to find everything in the book. We collected about 30 flat smooth pebbles to bring home, which Little Mister has had a great time using as "bumpy roads" for his cars, and seeing how high he can stack them etc.

 

We spent a half hour or so watching remote-control gliders at a cliffs edge. Little Mister's first time seeing such a thing, and he was thrilled!

True bush camping. Lots for Little Mister to explore, lots of wildlife and lots of creation to just be amongst. The Kookaburras came in each evening for a nosey, the kangaroos came in also for feeding, and we even saw a Joey climb into it's mother pouch!

 Good, old fashioned, do-nothing relaxing was on the "activities" list :)

Little Mister is telling the Kookaburras to "get in cart, Kookaburra". Very cute. We think he thought they would do as they were told, like when playing with his hens and goats at home!

All in all, a wonderful fortnight with lots of fun memories :)

Other December Happenings

Another year has come and gone... and the new one is well and truly underway!

Here are a couple of pics from our December 2011...

We did have a holiday planned, but our 4WD's transmission had other ideas... like a complete rebuild! This meant that we had a couple of weeks with Daddy home, and some real old fashioned, at home, quality family time.

Afternoon tea picnic on the back deck...

 

...lots of self-imposed quiet time...

...exploring with his own imagination...

(a climb, a hang and a drop to the ground)

(I took this from my bedroom window, he had no idea anyone was watching)

...finding new things to do, again using his own imagination...

(He's running around the edge of the rug on our bedroom floor)

(In Little Mister's words: "Runnin' round, runnin' round")

...there's a first time for everything, right?!...

(this 'activity' was definitely NOT adult supervised or encouraged!)

The first time Little Mister is close enough to touch a horse, and he gets to ride! He took to it like a fish to water and didn't want to be held on there either! He was so sad when the horses were put "to bed".

...Little Mister and a little friend who is 6 months younger, took turns (without direction) towing each other around and around...

...New Years Eve we brought out sparklers, and, yes, Little Mister is trying to blow it out! ...

(a belated) Happy New Year everyone...

May 2012 bring you many happy times to cherish!

Trains, and Trams, boats, planes, buses, but predominantly TRAINS!

Little Mister is 'obsessed' trains at the moment! Could it have something to do with us living so close to a train line?

So we embarked on a theme 'study' of trains and other vehicles.

We used:

Most of the Transportation Preschool Pack from Homeschool Creations

Things That Go layer book + the ABC Train from Homeschool Share

and parts of the Train Tot Kit from Lawteedah

Here's a selection of photo's to give an idea of what we did over the 3 weeks it took us!

Little Mister's daddy was on leave from work, so the three of us spent the day at the National Railway Museum at Port Adelaide. Here we rode the little Yellow Train called Ken, explored all the restored trains on actual tracks! There were sleeper cars, day travel cars, engines, dining carts, vehicles that looked like motorbikes that ran on the tracks for repairs, carts a miniature railway and lots more.

Little Mister coloured in many pictures of vehicles, and I helped him hold the Texta correctly to write his name on a train carriage. (Fine motor Skills)

Little Mister is very good at matching like pictures, but this was the first time he had tried Shadow Matching, and he was brilliant! Got it first go, without any explanation :) So proud of our Little Mister! We played it on the table, on the floor, shadows on colour, colours on shadow etc. He loved it every time... and still does!
(Montessori style learning)

We also spent a day with Little Mister's Papa & Grandma where we drove into Adelaide city and caught the TRAM down to Glenelg. We paddled in the waves, played in the sand and enjoyed afternoon tea on the shady lawn near this...

...shark head (man-built) which is out the front of Seawall Apartments on the Glenelg foreshore. It says if you take a photo in the shark head and email it in, that we could win a nights accommodation! Of course we'll give it a go :)

This boat was behind the shark head, and Little Mister had fun exploring.

It's set up with a picnic style table in the middle as seating for the casual dining restaurant.

Then it was back on the Tram again and heading back into the city. Little Mister fell asleep on Papa on the way back...

...and continued to sleep while we started the "Market crawl dinner" (as we call it). This involves walking the entire Central Market, taste testing and buying little pieces to eat from any stall that takes your fancy. This time we enjoyed, cheeses, yoghurt, Chinese sweet breads with a custard filling, salami (of some kind!) nuts, dried fruit.. and of course a real iced coffee!

 Little Mister thoroughly enjoyed reading many many many books on vehicles... and is now in love with Thomas the Tank Engine!!

Everyday Experiences and Education

Here are a few photos of Little Mister learning through recent every-day happenings.

We have had some wonderful and memorable experiences...

Sailing with Grandma and Grandpa out on the ocean... swish swish go the waves, swim swim go the fish. We saw great big tankers, other sailing boats, fishing boats, a dolphin or two, all sorts of birds and even had to rescue Little Mister's hat when it went overboard!

Little Mister loved to sit on Captain Grandpa's lap and help him steer.

He also loved to stand at the hatch in the bow of the boat, with just his head poking out, and watch the sails and feel the wind in his face.

The following is an unauthorised sensory education experience!!

All was quiet out the back, so I thought a little investigation was necessary... and this is what I found!  ...and then I joined in and made the most of "wasted" eggs :)

We have four Isa Brown Hens, all of which are very regular layers. We get 4 eggs most days!

Here Little Mister is helping daddy weigh and date the eggs.

Reading stories is a favourite for all of us.

Just had to share this precious photo of Little Mister and his daddy.