Back to School...and a sparkly sink!

Both my youngsters returned to school this week, my lovely daughter to Sixth Form (I still don't know quite how that's happened so quickly!) and my teenage boy to Year 9! Next week, it's back to school for me too as my after school art & craft clubs begin! Once all four clubs are up and running, I shall be making and creating with up to 80 children each week...and I am so looking forward to it!

I love to hear the children's ideas and to see what designs they come up with! Last term, we made coasters using old CDs and DVDs and, as the World Cup was underway, I had made a football-themed example and mosaic example for those that were not into football.

Without exception, the boys all made football coasters and the girls made mosaic ones!
I have always been fascinated by the "nature versus nuture" debate...are boys and girls conditioned to have different tastes or are they just born that way? What do you think?

I am a keen recycler and this crosses over into my after school art & craft clubs, not only because it is eco-friendly, but because I aim to show the children that you don't need a lot of expensive materials and equipment to be creative and have fun!

We made football trophies and goblets using plastic bottles, recycled cardboard, masking tape and papier mache - they looked fantastic once they had been painted gold and silver!

The children did some observed drawing using a charcoal pencil: apple and banana in a striped bowl. I found the end results very interesting:

These are some of the drawings from the Foundation & Key Stage 1 group - children aged 3-7. I love the different interpretations...the way that some children have drawn the fruit and bowl as separate pieces and how, for some, the fruit was hovering above the bowl rather than in it! I was most fascinated by the drawings produced by twin girls who are the youngest in the group, which can be seen at the bottom of this photo. The drawings are so similar, even though they didn't draw them together - they didn't even see each others drawings until they took them home!

So my sink will be sparkling again next week as I wash the empty pots, sticky spreaders and dirty brushes...in fact, it's not just the sink that sparkles during term time...glitter seems to get everywhere!

I'm really looking forward to going back to school!

Bye for now,

Rebecca

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Meat, Two Veg & Tea

Despite having left home over 20 years ago, I still have bits and pieces in my mum and dad's loft!! Slowly but surely everything is making its way here - mum asks if I'd like to look through a box when we visit, or brings things with her when she comes up to Yorkshire! Whilst having a sort out here yesterday, I came across a couple of those things...

my school cookery apron (that mum made for me!) and my school cookery book, which makes entertaining reading - I sound like a 1950s housewife throughout most of it, despite writing it in the 80s!

I had to write a little piece about a local food shop and I chose the local butchers, which, rather confusingly, was called 'Bakers'. Goodness, meat prices have certainly shot up - leg of lamb for £1.54 per pound anybody?

My neighbour (on the other side of us from the lovely B) brought round some lovely looking beetroot this morning, along with a not so perfect looking courgette! It certainly wouldn't make the supermarket shelves! But, I'm looking forward to it as part of roasted veg with some ham from the joint I roasted yesterday. Why do vegetables have to look a certain way? Is it us that want it that way, or are we being dictated to by supermarkets?

Mmm...a nice refreshing cup of tea ! I've gone back to using loose leaf tea - well, it happened out of necessity last week when we had run out of tea bags (disaster!!) and I've decided to stick with it because I think it tastes better! It doesn't really take too much longer to make a small pot and there's something slightly comforting about warming the pot and covering it with a lovely vintage embroidered tea cosy while the tea brews!

Back soon,

Rebecca

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