I’m Lydia! I’ve worked with children for the last 20 years and in the last 6 years started with children with SEND. And here lies my passion. I love being creative and finding solutions to the daily struggles that families face all the time when they have children with SEND. My main driver is working with children with speech and language difficulties and creating resources.
We were recently able to apply for a Merlin Ride Access Pass. So I thought I would take the time to explain why we have it and why we are not just skipping the queue because we feel like it (yes that was shouted at me yesterday).
My little one is completely and utterly taken by Rollercoasters. He watches POV’s (point of views) on YouTube, can tell you any fact about them and how much air time you get on each one. So it stands to reason that a preferred day out for him is a day at Alton Towers.
But we have a slight problem, my little one has ADHD. So queuing is incredibly difficult. He can do it because at the end of it is something he is desperate to do. But it comes with issues – like the last two times I’ve queued with him I’ve ended up with injuries and bruises.
So why is this… When a person with ADHD has to queue it’s like an elastic band being twisted and twisted until it’s very tight and at some point that elastic band has to spring back into its original position. This twisting can be a combination of anxiety, excitement and inability to be patient. This then can result in acting impulsively – swinging on the bars of the queue, running away or making incredibly loud noises.
The sensory issues surrounding queuing can also be daunting.
Smells such as food, other peoples washing powder or perfume can be overwhelming.
Loud noises such as others laughing or screeching or the music from the rides itself can cause anxiety or over stimulation.
Standing still for children/adults who are sensory seekers it is agonising as they are all the time trying to meet their sensory needs and therefor standing still doesn’t meet that. So to meet these needs they fidget, move around, jump, touch everything and generally be distracting to everyone around them.
For children and Adults who are sensory avoiders, queues can also be incredibly difficult. Again smells, loud noises and having people near by can cause anxiety and overwhelm. Making the whole process so unenjoyable and therefor they can’t enjoy the experience of coming to the theme park.
If by any chance they do manage to hold it together and queue especially for something like the cinema or the London eye (recent experience), then you find that they can’t actually enjoy the thing they have queued up for because all of their energy has gone into queuing and they can’t hold it together any more. One experience we had, was for a ride and he held it together to queue and do the ride, but it was all too much so came off and was aggressive and shouting. Not fun for us and not fun for him.
For me as the parent, I find queues difficult because I have no idea what will happen or what he will do to meet his needs. And usually it’s me who gets the impact of it. I end up like an elastic band of stress, it gradually getting worse the longer we queue.
Merlin have a great system, so where people may feel we are skipping the queue, we are not I assure you. We queue by walking around the park or playing on the play parks and when it is time for us to ride we make our way to the ride. We can’t go on other rides during that time and we queue for the same amount of time that is stated outside the ride. So we are really not skipping the queue I promise, we are just queueing in a way that means myself and my little one are not hurt in the process of queueing!
We’ve only just got a diagnosis for our little one, but I kinda wish I had used this for the last few years. Every year when my little one changes classes, we have to start all over again and I have help my little ones teacher understand him better.
I listened to a webinar about ADHD and they suggested putting everything in writing, a class passport that follows them. Its a quick look about the needs of your child, how their condition effects them and what different things the teacher can do to help.
I don’t think at all that this should replace meeting with your child’s teacher. I think it’s great to build a rapport with them, get to know them and become your child’s cheerleaders. Also some schools may already do this, but I think coming from the parents perspective is also important.
I have put a downloadable version for you to print off and write on. There are definitely other versions out there but I couldn’t find one that was completely right. I hope it works for you.
Our little one has recently been diagnosed with ADHD. Which is amazing because it’s been a bit of a fight. But with it has come some unexpected outcomes and feelings. (I’ll go into some of these in more detail in other posts).
But the main thing to become blatantly obvious is I need to care for myself more so I can be a better carer.
For a long time, without the diagnosis you keep holding on because you keep thinking that all of a sudden he’ll change or calm down. So you just keep holding on till that moment comes. But as soon as you get that diagnosis you realise this isn’t just going to dramatically change. This is now long term. And of course that is completely ok. But on the plus side with a diagnosis comes an element of certainty – this is how we now support him.
But this involves a lot from me, emotionally and physically.
1. I have to remain calm at all times. (I do not achieve this) because the moment I become emotional it descends into chaos.
2. I have to be two steps ahead at all times. Children with ADHD have so much internal chaos that they need structure, boundaries and order externally. They can also incredibly impulsive, so you have no idea what they’ll do.
3. Problems which need solving become apparent continuously. You see a problem, you work on solving it, then another one pops up.
4. Children with the hyperactive type of ADHD are so so so so active. I am not active but have to be to keep up. A few miles walk before bed.
5. Sleep is tricky – getting off to sleep and him staying asleep are tricky. I don’t have a full nights sleep very often.
These are some of the tricky bits of life with ADHD, that impact me. But to do all of this. I have to look after myself so I can be the best mum I can be.
So how can I look after myself? I am aware that some of these ways are very personal to me some of them would not feel like self care to you. But keep in mind it may not feel like self care but it might help!
1. Me time – I basically work full time. I help run a childrens centre, I run my own business and I’m studying so there isn’t much me time. I have started to try and put in at least 30 mins me time once or twice a week. Sometimes it’s not achieved but I am trying. I’m doing some training in central London next week so I will be staying an extra half hour for a cuppa in a cafe by myself. I’ve tried doing life without this and it doesn’t work. I get fried and I burn out. I’m no good to myself, my job or my family. So me time it is!! I also treat myself to the odd present here and there!!
2. Systems – This is the one you might hate. But I have a lot of systems in place to help me. I am spinning a lot of plates in life. So I have to put in systems to make sure those plates don’t drop and break. I also have systems that help me feel at peace about life.
3. Partner Time – This is super hard to do. We don’t get evenings and the little one doesn’t just sit in bed and read a book. So we have had to find ways to see each other. We get chance to catch up, mainly chat about who needs the car when but also see each other. My husband and I are a team in this parenting thing and I need my team mate. One way we’ve found is we sit in the garden for 20 mins a week during my sons screen time. (Need some ideas about what to do in the winter though!)
4. Get a support network – We’ve struggled to ask for help. Mainly because deep down I’ve worried about what people will think of his behaviour. But now I am sure I need help! This is what it is and people will have to take us how they find us! We have my parents who help us with the little one and then I have people who I can just talk to, I need to widen the groups a little. But this is all new.
These are just some ideas. What are ways you look after yourself?
After Mothers Day I posted on FB that it hadn’t been the best day.
It hadn’t been great because my little one hadn’t been prepped at all about a different day and not only was it different, it was about me and not him!
So I challenged myself to have a better birthday and I can say it really was a great day. But to get to that point I had to put in some work. But it really was worth it!
1. Prepping for the day This started the day after Mother’s Day. I was determined for it to be different. And it just started with conversations. Conversations about my birthday coming up and how birthdays are important days for some people and on those days we should treat them well and treat the nicely.
My husband also took him out on a special trip to buy me some presents. My husband used the opportunity to say that Mummy probably wouldn’t want a rocket for her birthday, can we think of some things Mummy might want!
We talked about it quite a lot, and expressed regularly how he needs to behave.
Because my birthday was during the holidays, we made a holiday picture time table and my birthday was part of that.
2. Taking it personally This is such a hard one. It goes against everything in you. If any adult or Neuro-typical child behaved in the way my little one did, you definitely would take it personally and you probably wouldn’t speak to them for a while, because you thought they were quite mean, and unthinking.
But as our ADHD nurse put it, you have to reframe it. It’s not him being mean and horrid (even though it is), but he doesn’t understand, he doesn’t know how to do this right, because socially speaking those skills are not honed yet. In some ways the whole day would have been far better if I hadn’t taken it personally. If I’d have realised all of this in the morning and not at my bedtime! If I’d taken it in my stride, then we would have had a better day. For my birthday I was half expecting it to go very wrong, so in some ways it was a complete shock and surprise when it didn’t. I altered my behaviour and tried to help him alter his.
Now I’m not saying his behaviour on Mother’s Day was acceptable. And at some points in the day there were some consequences for his behaviour. But like with all behaviour, we have to ask why? When I reframed the situation, I wasn’t as insulted and put out. Try it next time you’re in a similar situation. I hope it helps.
3. He struggles with these types of days. We recently met with an ADHD nurse and she said something that hit me like a ton of bricks!!
“Children with ADHD don’t like CHANGE!!”
Now yes I should know this, but it’s never been said in such a clear way. Now Mother’s Day is definitely a change. It’s not part of the norm and it’s very different. This is the same for children with ASD and other neurological conditions.
So you can either give into this and say well we won’t celebrate it let’s just keep everything the same and then you as the mum miss out (again!) or you can allow it to happen and either face the consequences or prep. I personally as the mum don’t want to miss out. I work so hard at being a Mum, I want to celebrate this fact!!
4. See it as a brilliant opportunity to teach social skills. This is not going to be the only time in his life where he will have to put someone else first. As a child his friends will have birthdays, his family will have celebrations and when he’s older and gets married and has children, that’s a whole lot of putting others first. So this has got to be taught.
We’ve always had to break social skills down into small basic chunks to support our little one. And this should have been no different.
* Putting others first * Respect others and their feelings * Understanding how celebrating someone else might make them feel loved and special. * Why we have special days * These types of days are a regular thing
Now of course you don’t teach all this in one go. But you drip feed little nuggets. The very act of prepping shows that this is important. It takes time, it might take a few years of it not being great. But have hope!!
I recently had to write an essay about this subject and it inspired me so much I had to share some of my findings with you. I am mainly writing this to any parent who wonders why they should sing because they feel a bit silly or to the people who do song time at work but they don’t really know why and again may feel a bit silly! Let me encourage you never to feel silly again because what you are doing is immensely powerful and an incredible learning tool!
So why sing…
It supports language development There are a number of reasons for this… Singing similar songs time and time again builds vocabulary. If you sing sleeping bunnies a million times over, the vocabulary sinks in and if mixed with the actions or signing the words embed quicker and easier. There isn’t a right or wrong outcome with music and singing. They can choose to listen or join in or experiment, therefor the children feel more confident and safe to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. It also helps with the techniques needed for communication, such as taking turns, intonation and expression.
It helps build attachment This one is mainly for parents and main carers. The act of singing supports building a bond, when you sing you give eye contact, you laugh together, you hug and play. The moment you start singing your child is more interested in what is happening and is more engaged and therefore that bond/attachment deepens. I use to run a choir for mums with postnatal depression – and the positive effects of singing such as, lower blood pressure, increased happiness, sense of belonging then filtered down from the mums to the children. Because they felt stronger and happier the connection with their children grew. It was a privilege to watch over time.
It helps support focus and interest There is something called ‘Infant directed Speech’ (IDS) – speech that has more exaggerated pitch and tones. (Young, 2017) We use greater facial expressions and body movements, which excite and interest the child, meaning they pay more attention. Dionyssiou (2009)states these types of interactions ‘contributes to babies cognitive development, regulation of emotions, and supports memory, language, learning and attentiveness’. During song time IDS is being used all the time and encouraging this in-depth development. But also encouraging children to take notice, to participate and join in. I also now sing a lot of my instructions, it means they focus in on what I am singing and most of the time do as I am singing. I’ve also said before how many times I have sung ‘Let it go’ from ‘Frozen’ and how it settles children and supports pre-verbal children to join in. It’s a great song!
It is brilliant for People learning English as an additional language (EAL). Probably for all of the reasons mentioned above singing is also incredible for people learning English. Singing – Repetition, interest, safe surroundings all support language learning. “Researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland found evidence that singing can help facilitate language learning. Sixty adults participated in the study, which involved 15 minutes of listening to Hungarian phrases and then repeating the phrases normally or through song. When the participants were tested on the material, the researchers discovered those who used singing scored higher than the others.” (Article) So at work I have a lot of parents join in the singing too and I love seeing their confidence grow as they join in.
So don’t feel silly any more. I use to wonder ‘why am I doing this?’ But not any more I am developing enquiring minds young and more mature and it’s great!! Also don’t feel the pressure to use CD’s and complicated versions of the songs, your voice is enough. “Babies do not seem as able to process the multiple strands of music on a commercially produced CD” (Young, 2018). A CD would make me loose focus on the benefits of singing. I might loose the facial expressions needed or the exaggerated intonation that is so important with this type of play and creativity. So dust off your vocal chords and have fun singing!
A friend of mine, Faye is a speech and language therapist. We trained together to become Makaton Tutors and are starting to collaborate on training sessions. So I asked her to answer some of the most frequent questions I get asked about speech and Language. Keep reading for top tips and speech and language explained.
1. Can you tell me a bit about yourself? And why did you become a speech and language therapist?
Hello, my name is Faye, and I am a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist. I work with children and young adults with complex needs. I decided to become a Speech and Language Therapist after volunteering with a Speech and Language Therapist during Sixth Form. I really enjoyed the therapy sessions; I would visit every week with a young adult with Cerebral Palsy who used a device to communicate. We would go on trips to the local library and art shops as well as working on functional skills such as making a cup of tea. From this my passion grew for Speech and Language Therapy and found that Makaton was something that would be highly beneficial for the clients I support. This then lead to be becoming a Makaton Tutor and here I am today!
2. What are some easy ways to support speech at home?
First of all, it is helpful to clarify that Speech and Language Therapists work and support clients with a a range of communication skills (Not just speech!)
Communication difficulties include: – Attention and Listening – Understanding Difficulties – Expressive Language (talking) difficulties – Social communication needs – Word finding difficulties – Play skills – Speech and sound difficulties – Dysfluency (Stammering) And lots more!
The advice would recommend varies dependent on the child’s age and of course each child is different! For young children I would highly recommend Tiny Happy People for activities and ideas.
3. When would be a time to seek help for speech and when should you just give it some time?
Again, this varies dependent on the child’s needs. As a first port of call I would recommend contacting your GP and Health visitor. They will be able to guide you regarding your local Speech and Language Therapy service and provision.
It may be beneficial to get an up-to-date hearing test for your child to ensure that their hearing is within the expected range. I’d recommend looking at the ICAN Talking Point Progress Checker for more specific advice if you have concerns https://ican.org.uk/i-cans-talking-point/progress-checker-home/
4. If English is a 2nd (3rd or 4th) language being used at home, what are the best ways to support learning English at the same time as the native language?
Continue to speak each language as you naturally would at home. Being multi-lingual is a huge benefit and has been shown to help improve academic success. It is beneficial to use visuals including the real item, photographs, pictures, drawings and signing when talking about vocabulary and talk about the word in English and other languages you use at home. This helps the child to link the object/item to the word in English and other languages.
5. Are books and singing songs great ways of supporting language?
Yes! Books are a fantastic way to support language development, children love to read and re-read (!) stories with parents/carers. As we re-read stories, they become more familiar. Stories for young children usually have lots of pictures which really helps to build their understanding of the vocabulary and story. Books help to also develop a child’s sequencing skills, the idea of a beginning, middle and an end, which is an important skill as they get older in being able to sequence their own thoughts and stories.
Nursery rhymes and songs are also highly beneficial, they are fun, which is the best way to learn! They are familiar and we all sing the same tune (or try to!) for Wheels on the Bus or Twinkle Twinkle and this will be the same when your child is at nursery/school and with you at home. Songs can also have actions, or the song can be Makaton signed which further helps to develop understanding of the word or action.
6. What are some other ways to support language even if my child doesn’t have additional needs? Is signing helpful for children without speech conditions?
Signing is helpful for all people; children, adults and everyone in between. For children, we know that adding movement when learning helps build connections in the brain to help learn and remember the word.
Using Makaton Symbols is also highly beneficial as this provides visual information to an instruction or activity. The Makaton Charity is aiming for more people to learn Makaton within schools and in the community so those that use Makaton as their communication tool are able to interact with everyone and aren’t just limited to communicating with those who know Makaton. Makaton is for everyone, all children can benefit from learning and using Makaton to develop their speech and language skills even if they do not have any additional needs.
I can’t seem to be able to plan a session at work without relating it to a book. Planning activities that link to a books helps bring the book to life, increases the learning opportunities and gives you and your child a chance to explore the book together in a deeper way.
Now the 6 weeks holidays are here, it means you either have a bit more time to set up some activities or you need something different to entertain the kids whilst you get some work done.
So here are six children’s books that you probably have or can buy from Books and Pieces and a few activities loosely based on the theme.
Week One – The Gruffalo
Who doesn’t love the Gruffalo. I’ve read it a million times and still love it.
The great thing about Julia Donaldson books is you just have to look on YouTube and you’ll find the animated versions and Julia Donaldson has written songs for most of her books, the Gruffalo song is amazing and comes with Makaton Signs too.
So what about activities…
Owl Ice cream – Make an ice cream shop – you can either use real ice cream or fake ice cream (Depending on how much sugar you want consumed!)
I used a kit from ikea, but you can use the ice-cream scoop from your kitchen and real ice-cream cones. Cotton wool balls, make great ice cream and Pom poms make good sprinkles. You can even use scrunched up tissue paper for icecream. Add in a till and you’ll cool down in this hot weather we’ve been having.
Gruffalo Crumble – This one could potentially be messy, but go with it and have some fun! Make a gruffalo crumble. Put out some pots of porridge oats and flour along with some scoops and bowls. Kids love scooping and mixing.
Woodland Walk – Go to your local woods and go on a search for the Gruffalo. Take the book with you and search for some of the creatures and animals in the book, it’s not just the mouse, owl and fox etc, but the pictures are full of other creatures, go on a Gruffalo scavenger hunt!
Act out the story – Have some fun drawing the main characters in the book together. Then stick them on some lolly sticks and you have Gruffalo puppets, use the puppets to act out the story. If your drawing skills are not up to it, have a look online and print off the characters.
Week two – You can’t take an elephant on a bus
Brilliant book – entertains children who love transport and animals.
Transport Scavenger hunt – draw a picture of each of the types of transport in the book (Maybe not the roller coaster) and take a walk. How many of the different types of transport did you cross off your list?
Car drawing – yes you can draw with cars. There are a few ways to do this.
Stick a felt tip to the back of a car and put out a large piece of paper. I used a roll of wallpaper and then drew on a road map. The kiddies can then drive the cars on the paper whilst making drawings.
Get a tray and put on a thin layer of flour or shaving foam (not both together) get some plastic cars and see what shapes you can make in the flour or foam.
Transport Hand Prints
Do some hand painting and once they are dry try and make them into the different vehicles from the book.
Week Three – Welcome to Alien School
This is a great book for kids starting school in September. Yes, this isn’t an exact representation of school, but it gives the basic structure in a fun way.
Chalk painting – get some thick chalks and have fun drawing on the pavement outside. Once the kids are bored with this give them a thick paint brush and some water and paint over the chalk. At work we drew a giant map in the play ground in chalk, and they used the play cars to drive around the map. Only really doable if you have a garden and a play car.
Planet pictures – If you have some plain white paper plates at the back of the cupboard then make the different planets in the solar system. When we did it, it worked great with paint dabbers, but you can just paint them. You could then hang them up to make the solar system.
Space Tray – Use whatever you have in the house to make a space small world. Anything shiny and bumpy!
There is Quinoa in this tray if you are brave enough.
Week Four – Going on a bear hunt
What a fab book! I’ve recently re-discovered it and there is so much you can do!
Story Spoons – Now I made these without any help from little ones because I needed them for work, but you could get the kiddies making their own so that you could use them to retell the story.
These are painted with Acrylic paint, but you could use felt tips. Once dry you can paint over the top with child safe varnish to protect the spoons.
Sound Tray – Lay out some instruments and different materials that can be used to make the sounds in the story, you can then make the sounds whilst reading the story or just let the kiddies have fun making sounds.
Teddy Bears Picnic – set out teddies on a rug in the front room and have a tea party, use some plastic cups and bowls. You could even have an inside picnic for lunch!
Make a cave – If you have some sheets or blankets, make a cave under the table.
Week Five – Squash and a squeeze
This is a brilliant book, I for some reason always give the old man a Newcastle accent when reading it! It’s a good book to think about being thankful and content with what we have.
Thank you jar – Being thankful and having a thankful attitude is so good for your mental and physical health and gives you a different outlook on life. Why not decorate a thankful jar together, then on little bits of paper every day add something you are thankful for. If children can’t write, can they draw a picture or tell you what to write. Then when it’s full, look back at it and be reminded of the things you are thankful for.
Pipette fun – You can find pipettes online quite cheaply. They are great for fine motor skills. Then get some water in a bowl and squeeze water into different containers. The little connectors in Duplo are also fun to squeeze water into. I added blue food colouring into the water too.
Sponge painting – Finished with your cleaning sponges or have some spare makeup sponges, dip in paint and see the different effects they make. You could even buy some cleaning sponges that a quite thin and then cut them into the different animal paw prints from the book.
Week Six – The hungry caterpillar
What a classic book, so great for learning numbers, days of the week, food and the life cycle of a caterpillar. There are so many amazing activities you can do with this book.
Again you can find animated versions of this incredible book on YouTube and Netflix. But nothing can beat holding a book in your hands. My little one is over 5 but still asks for this one on a regular basis.
Feed the monster – Now this one takes a bit of prep, but once you’ve done it, it’s a toy you can use over and over again.
Get a wet wipe box – if you can’t find one of these, take the lid thingy off of a packet of wet wipes and stick it to the top of a tissue box. Using a glue gun would insure it being longer lasting, but I’m aware not everyone has one of these. Then make it look like a monster. You can be as creative as you like or go very simple. Then print off and laminate pictures of food. Again if you don’t have a printer or laminator, cut out food from a magazine and stick it on some card, like a cereal box. Then have fun feeding the monster, you can chat about the different foods, being healthy, what time of day you eat them that type of thing.
Biscuit decorating – kids love, love, love decorating biscuits. And all you need is a packet of rich tea biscuits (they have the perfect surface) and a packet of icing tubes. Poundland have started selling them too. Then let the kids go crazy.
Pom Pom Maze – stick objects to the floor or on the table then blow the pom poms round the maze. It’s great fun and also helps to strengthen the muscles around their mouth aiding communication. Use objects from your recycling such as toilet roll tubes and cardboard.
I’m not sure what it has to do with the hungry caterpillar, but it is good fun.
So, I know this won’t fill your whole holiday, but hopefully there will be something amongst this that will mean you have fun together whilst being engaged with books.
I love reading now. I don’t remember choosing to pick up a book as a kid and to be honest I don’t remember learning to read. But I must have.
My little one is in reception and he’s doing really well with his reading, but encouraging him to read is another matter. He knows how to but doesn’t want to, which is a shame because the things he could read if he was willing to give it a try.
So instead of having a battle every time we are going to read together, we’ve started devising new fun ways to read. Now be warned this does make reading time a longer process but he enjoys it.
Road track reading
I made a track out of our k’nex roller coaster kit with the car on and each word he read the car would move along the track. He could finish reading when the car got to the finish line and sometimes he got a little treat. When this lost its interest we moved onto….
Skatepark reading
This time J would set up his ideal skatepark, and at the end of each page he would get to show me a trick on the skate park.
Planet jumping
We’ve been looking at different planets recently, so we set out the planet cards (in order) and then at the end of every page he could make a Lego man jump onto the next planet card. The challenge was to get the Lego man to the sun.
Writing the story on paper
One day I just wrote the story (well some of the story) onto yellow paper (his favourite colour). He enjoyed this, I think it worked because there were no distractions just pure and simple reading.
Tricky word challenge
One day I wrote out all the words that he might find tricky (from the current book we were reading) on a large bit of paper, I also numbered each of the words 1 – 6 and played a game before reading. We each had a some Duplo bricks and we had a dice. You have to roll the dice, and whatever number the dice lands on you have to try and read the word with the same number. If you get it right you add that many bricks to your Duplo tower and it’s the first person to 10. This was great fun.
Minecraft jumping
I set up six letter tiles and at different stages I also placed a fidget spinner. After each line he read the minecraft man moved along to the next tile. At the tile with the fidget spinner he was able to show me a trick. It was J who suggested that the minecraft man should say the letter that he lands on.
There is a slight transporty theme to all our reading challenges, which is fun. I like including things that he’s interested in at the time so that he is more engaged. We do each game for about a week and then move on so that boredom doesn’t set in. I know it probably seems like a lot of work, but it is worth it because we both enjoy practicing our reading.
I’ll have to get my thinking caps on for more intriguing reading fun.
My LO has been really poorly this week tonsilitis, ear infection and now on an inhaler poor little thing. So let’s just say we’ve all been a bit exhausted! But amazingly it hasn’t quenched his thirst for exploration. He’s been really interested in flowers so we did book Month a bit differently and read books based around flowers rather than me choosing a book.
We came upon this because my wonderful hubby buys me flowers every week, and one morning I came into the front room to find J intently studying a flower.
He was fascinated! So we looked up online about the different parts of the flower.
So I scoured my book shelf for books about flowers and surprisingly I didn’t have many. Of course we have lots of books that have pictures of flowers but only 2 that specifically mentioned them.
Any suggestions for the future?
What I did come up with was…
It’s not written by Dr Seuss but in the same style. It loosely explains the process of making honey, which definitely involves flowers. You can also watch the Bee movie which is fun and again explains the process, but don’t expect too much science! And of course we had honey on toast.
Our second book was…
There are questions in there about ‘why do flowers smell nice?’ ‘Why do trees loose their leaves’ and ‘do trees breathe?’
We made this little book about the parts of the plant (I’m sorry I can’t remember which site it’s from, but if you google parts of the plant there are loads).
This was one of our activities that were handy when the Calpol had kicked in!
We also tried an experiment of putting flowers in different coloured water to see what would happen.
For some reason it didn’t work. But we had fun anyway!
He now has a bunch of flowers in his room and his minecraft world is currently being littered with red flowers.
Another book which is BRILLIANT is…
There are no words in this book only incredible pictures which spark the imagination and have helped us to write a story about Jelly Fish called the ‘Jelly Fish Backflip’ (don’t ask I still don’t understand!). It’s a beautiful coffee table book.
So we couldn’t do much this week, I would have liked to collect some flowers and do some flower pressing and I’d also like to have done some flower dissection, but illness took over.
This is the last post of Book Month. We have loved it, I didn’t make a big thing of it. J probably didn’t know it was happening, but we have loved exploring new books, it seems book Month has been very based on our world from ‘Tidy’ by Emily Gravitt and books about space and flowers. And who can forget Robot Week!
I’m definitely just going to carry on bringing books to life in ways that makes reading more enjoyable, educational and enduring!
Space week was a little bit like a collapsed star – the first part of the week just disappeared because for some reason we were sooo busy but eventually something happened, but it wasn’t as successful as previous weeks.
It all started with a book from Twinkl (an online store of resources for people working with children). It’s a Twinkl original so you can’t get it anywhere else, so I know this is a bit mean. It’s called ‘Back to Earth with a bump’
It’s a great, because it is Augmented Reality (AR). So on certain pages you put your phone over the pages (you have to download the Twinkl app) and out of the page pops the little boy holding his bear, or the planets moving around the sun. It really got J interested in the Solar system. It was also another way for him to engage with the book.
Other books we read…
We love this series of Ed Hart books with Albie.
We also read a few non fiction books from the library about the solar system, which were fascinating. Although J prefers Mars Rovers!!
So down to the activities…. or should I say activity.
I made a space Tuff Tray, which he didn’t touch 🤦🏼♀️. The sandy stuff is quinoa and seeds. Then the foil is just put over some boxes. I printed off some planets too.
I did order a decorate your own solar system but didn’t realise it was coming from China, so we’ll just have to do that another time.
I did have a long list of things I wanted to do…
Decorate the solar system
Make Space Rock Cakes
Make a Rocket
Make moon sand
but he’s also been poorly so everything went awry!
It’s a great, because it is Augmented Reality (AR). So on certain pages you put your phone over the pages (you have to download the Twinkl app) and out of the page pops the little boy holding his bear, or the planets moving around the sun. It really got J interested in the Solar system. It was also another way for him to engage with the book.
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