Skip to main content

Theme Week: Earth

You know how these things work.  The first week you're full of enthusiasm and do tons of stuff, and the second week... yeah.  Not quite so much.  It's not that we haven't done things, it's just that many of them weren't related to the theme.  So we made ice lollies, played with friends, took the car to the garage (not an expensive fix, fortunately), and occasionally squeezed in a few earth-related activities too.

Since I may have less to write about, I'll take a moment to mention my two main mayhem-reducing tools for the summer.

The first is a whiteboard, on which to delineate our day's activities.  The intentions being a) I'm forced to come up with at least a few things to do each morning; b) Toby has some idea what's going on in advance; c) Toby improves his reading skills.  We haven't used it every day, but I think it's achieved those goals when we have.

He's also been improving his writing; that says "car" in case you can't tell.
 
The other is a set of cards which I prepared in advance (get me!), showing things to do and places to go.  They're colour-coded into outings, outdoor activities and indoor activities, and Toby can pick one from the appropriate category (edited as necessary to the ones I'm actually prepared to do on any given day).  He really seems to enjoy that, and it's useful both when we're planning the day and during those moments when we've run out of things to do.  And it's so much easier than coming up with something myself, when my mind's a blank and all I really want to do is hide under the duvet.

So, back to Earth...

Activities

1. Papier mache
Believe it or not, there's actually a whole website devoted to papier mache, and I probably should have read their tutorial first.  We were aiming to make a globe using a balloon mould, but it's taken a long time to dry and sagged a bit at the bottom.  Looking at the instructions, I should have diluted the PVA glue less, and put on fewer layers.  Also, I should not have given Toby a bath before trying this activity.  You live, you learn.  Maybe we'll paint some rough approximations of continents on it one day.

No good taking photos when your hands are covered in glue, so this is the aftermath.
Drying in the garden

2. Chalk target game
This just sounded easy and fun, and you know, chalk's from the earth and we were drawing on the ground, so I shoehorned it into the earth theme.  The only thing I had to do in advance was buy some cheap sponges, but beanbags would be great too, if you had any.  We dipped the sponges in water to give them some weight - and besides, wet sponges are way more exciting.

My super-artistic target
Actually I think he may have been dropping the chalks in the water, which wasn't the idea at all.

Outings

1. Sharpe's Pottery Museum
A few miles away in the town of Swadlincote, there was once a thriving industry making... toilets.  And sewage pipes.  Oh yes.  The excitement never ends.  But the museum is free, child friendly, and has a cheap cafe serving rather yummy cake, if you can face that kind of thing after learning all about toilets.  We met some friends there and spent more time sipping coffee than studying sanitaryware, but that can't be a bad thing, can it?

2. Arbor Low Stone Circle


Not in the original plan, but Graham was looking for a place to walk this Saturday, and discovered that the Peak District has its very own version of Stonehenge!  Big rocks!  Earthworks!  Hills!  Beautiful fit with the theme, thank you.  Also it's very close to the top end of the Tissington Trail, which gave Toby a chance to whizz along on his balance bike, Graham and I a chance to have a decent stroll, and Theo a chance to snooze.

None of the stones are still standing, unfortunately
There's a circular bank, a ditch, and the ring of stones within that.
 
Theo, taken by Toby

Food

Well, it's got to be Mississippi Mud Pie, hasn't it?



9" pie crust (we used pastry but a biscuit / graham cracker base is an alternative)
4 oz / 1 stick butter
3 oz / 100g dark chocolate
3 eggs
8 oz / 1 cup sugar
3 tbsp golden syrup / corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Melt the butter and chocolate together.  Meanwhile, whisk the eggs and stir in the sugar, syrup and vanilla.  Pour the melted chocolate mixture in and stir to mix.  Pour into the uncooked pie crust.  Bake at 180°C / 350°F for about 45 minutes until set.  Serve warm.

Eat with ice cream and a big smile

And I almost forgot to mention - this is my two hundredth published post!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Models of Contextual Theology: Spiritual Formation Book 7

"A theology that neither issues forth in action nor takes account of the way one lives one's life can hardly be theology that is worth very much." Models of Contextual Theology looks like the most boring book in the world. Dry academic title, weird geometric cover design - you'd definitely only pick this up if you were required to write an essay on it, wouldn't you? Well, I wish the outside did it justice, because the contents are much more exciting than the cover. It asks some very interesting and important questions about how our faith relates to the world around us. Is culture mostly good or bad? Is there such a thing as the "naked gospel", free of context? Do you have to be a trained academic to theologize, or can anyone do it? How much does theology from one culture transfer to a different culture? Bevans describes six models of theology which offer different answers to these questions. All are valid, he says, but they all understand the gospel an

Unto us a son is given...

Did I mention something about life getting back to normal in October? Oh yes, I was just finishing work and looking forward to at least two weeks off to organise the house, stock up the freezer and buy baby stuff. Then little Toby threw a spanner in the works by turning up five weeks early! Which would put his birthday in... let's see... October. So much for normal! For those who would like the gory details, here goes. If you are a mother who had a long and protracted labour, I advise you to skip the next bit - or if you don't, please don't start sending me hate mail. You have been warned. You see, we'd been to all the childbirth classes (yes, just about managed to finish them) and learned all about the different stages of labour, and how many hours each lasted. We learned some relaxation techniques and various things Graham could do to help coach me through long periods of contractions. And then we turned out not to need any of them, because the entire thing

A birthday weekend in York

We were surprised to discover that York is only a 90 minute drive from our house. It's somewhere we'd been thinking of going for a few years, but I'd assumed it was much further away. So when we wanted to go away for the weekend to celebrate my birthday in January, York was the obvious choice. The city did not disappoint us. I'd been to York years ago, and my only clear memory was of a tower on top of a grassy mound. That was Clifford's Tower, owned by English Heritage, and recently updated with a rather snazzy series of platforms and staircases inside. We saw a 13th century toilet which had been inaccessible for 400 years (I think I was more excited about this than the boys) and got a great view of York from the rooftop viewing platform. View from the top of Clifford's Tower Most people's memories of York probably involve the Shambles - an ancient street of shops - and York Minster. Apparently there isn't a clear difference between a minster and a cathe