Project 196: The Moon

This project was inspired by a moon installation and current activities at Peterborough Cathedral: One Small Step. 

We started the week by reading about the moon, and the solar system more broadly, and learning about the phases of the moon with a Twinkl worksheet. 

There were a number of activities at the cathedral to coincide with a large art installation of the moon that people could walk on. At the One Giant Leap event the children were told about the moon landing and had to design a mission badge. There were activities on communication, and how difficult it is to do things in space, and it finished with a teddy bear parachute jump back to earth.  There was also a Safe in Space show run by the Cambridge Science Centre that explored how rockets get off the ground and into space and what materials space suits and rockets are made of to keep people safe.

Next project: The Bible

Project 195: Butterflies

Although three nature projects in a row was a bit over-the-top, the idea for a butterfly project coincided with the Big Butterfly Count and it was the right time of the year for releasing our own butterflies. 

The kids learned about the life-cycle of a butterfly with a Twinkl worksheet and a BBC video, before going on their own butterfly hunt. They spotted four different butterflies altogether: small whites, ringlets, gatekeepers, and red admirals.

The highlight of the week (and the following couple of weeks) was rearing our own Painted Lady butterflies from some caterpillars bought from Insect Lore. They send a cup with tiny caterpillars and their food in, and within a week they had grown significantly before turning into chrysalides. It then took another week for them to hatch before being released. 

Our craft activity for the week was some butterfly prints:

Next project: The Moon

Project 194: Owls

Sam has been wanting to do a project on owls since he first started home education, and with the ease in Covid restrictions, and the nice weather, it seemed a good opportunity to visit Baytree Owl & Wildlife Centre.

The only downside to the day was that it was a bit too hot and it was mainly all outside. Nonetheless the children all had a great time and learned lots about different owls and their habits. There were lots of other birds of prey there too, and they saw a falconry display, which was very engaging and informative.

We also bought an owl pellet for dissection, as owls regurgitate parts of their dinner that they cannot digest such as bones and fur. We extracted the rodent bones (which the children enjoyed trying to identify) so that we could rearrange them into a skeleton.

We watched the film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, which the children all enjoyed, and Solomon is particularly keen on reading the series of books.

As always, we like to finish the week with a craft: 

Next project: Butterflies

Project 193: Reptiles

As we had a home education trip to Johnson's of Old Hurst organized, as well as a family trip to see Dippy at Norwich Cathedral, 'Reptiles' seemed to be an appropriate project to bring the two trips together.

Viewing Dippy itself didn't take that long, but there were a few other activities to do around the cathedral, and the children enjoyed it. There was also a dinosaur trail around Norwich:

Johnson's of Old Hurst is a bit of a local curiosity, combining a butchers and crocodile farm, alongside a shop, restaurant, woodland walk, play area and a selection of other animals. The children all enjoyed the opportunity to hold a tortoise and touch a snake, along with hearing a talk on meerkats and feeding the donkeys:

We finished the week with some reptile crafts:

Next project: Owls

Project 192: The Indian in the Cupboard

With family members visiting we thought it'd be good to do a book project, as that ensures the project can't get totally overlooked. We chose The Indian in the Cupboard as it seemed a nice follow-up to the last book project we'd had (see Project 186: The Borrowers) with plenty of opportunity for additional activities.

In addition to reading the book, there was a suggested activity in the back of the book to create a native American style hand print artwork. We also got them to write their own stories, imagining one of their toys coming to life. 

They went to see the local 'totem pole'.

And finally watched the film adaptation of the book.

Next project: Reptiles

Project 191: Home economics

As lockdown restrictions started to lift, and visitors started visiting, it was time for a (late) spring clean and to get the children more involved in helping out around the house with some cleaning, weeding, and more cooking. 

As well as the usual cooking activities....

... we wanted the children to think more about the costs of things, and they were each given the task of coming up with a family meal with £10 at the local Lidl.

They also had to create their own menus. 

Taking responsibility for one of the family meals turned out to be a very popular activity, and they'll now take it in turns to go shopping for one meal each week. 

Next project: The Indian in the Cupboard

Project 190: Turing Tumble and Programming

Programming is one of those subjects the kids love when we do it, we always claim we are going to do more of it, but it inevitably gets pushed to one side. So after coming across Turning Tumble, an introduction to programming with ball bearings and switches, it seemed a good opportunity to revisit the topic. 

The children enjoyed the Turing Tumble, while the early puzzles are quite simple, they quickly become challenging and require plenty of thought and team work. They particularly enjoyed the binary calculator (although the instruction book would have benefitted from a more extensive introduction to binary).

We also include some more traditional programming, with Solomon continuing with Python, Monica finishing off her Scratch books and starting Python, and Sam starting on Scratch Jnr.

Next project: Home economics.