After school archeology

Goblin has discovered the TV series Time Team. Its all about archeology and it appears to fascinate our little guy. So I thought I'd leave him a little excavation of his own to try after school.

I got a big plastic container and filled it with playdough (this is hand made using Nurturestore's fail safe method which takes about 2 minutes - mine is made with wholemeal flour to add texture and black food colouring to make it look like clay/mud). I buried some dinosaurs in it - but you could use any toy that won't get damaged by playdough.

I covered the dinosaurs with playdough and added a layer of stone - I intended to use sand but we've run out and our sand pit is currently full of old aquarium gravel so thats what I used.
I tied some string over the container to provide a grid and marked it out on paper - this will provide a simple maths element to the game if Goblin feels inclined - although I suspect it will be more a frantic digging session.

A New Member of the Family

(Goblin is 4 years old)

At the weekend we did something exciting. We bought a puppy. 

The cat we've had for many years sadly died recently. I've always had cats but since I was a child I've always wanted a dog. Hublet and I had talked about it but its always seemed like quite a big  commitment and we've always concluded we shouldn't ..... until now. 

PUPPY! PUPPY! PUPPY! SHE'S SO FLUFFY I MIGHT DIE. 

Despite being uber excited about her cuteness, having a puppy is quite scary and we have done a ton of reading to make sure we don't screw this up. We researched the breeds for ages before deciding on a Newfoundland. This is a giant dog breed (as you can probably tell by how large she is at just 8 weeks old) but they are supposed to be excellent around children.

Having a puppy feels a bit like having a second child. We are having to get up about three times a night to take her to the toilet. And its not just a quick trip to the garden, there is the whole settling her down afterwards - it reminds me of night feeds. 

On top of this sleep deprivation Goblin is being rather Jekyll and Hyde about the new addition to our family. He is not amused about all these 'stupid rules' like leave the puppy alone when she is sleeping, leave the puppy alone when she is eating, don't strangle the puppy, don't hit the puppy, be gentle with the puppy - and the list goes on. He also feels we are giving her too much attention.

Puppies need to be vaccinated twice before they can go out for walks in public areas. So Goblin is stuck in the house (and garden). This is not making life easy. Goblin's excitement about having a new friend to play with, is wearing off when his friends come to call and he isn't allowed out to play because we can't leave the puppy. Once puppy is a bit more acclimatised we will be able to leave her for short periods so this should ease off (I hope).

In the mean time I decided we needed to get out and about so I have broken out our old bike trailer buggy. As long as Puppy isn't on the floor or meeting other dogs, she is OK to be outside. And Goblin loves being able to show kids in the park his puppy.

 Puppy does also sleep a lot - about 90% of the time. Which gives Goblin and us a lot of quality time.

The International Language of Play

(Goblin is 4 years old)

This weekend we met up with my University friends. They are a collection of Eurochums from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Belgium. We have tried to meet up on an annual basis but with babies, bad weather, financial crisis and the rest we haven't actually all managed to be together for some time. So I was terribly excited that we finally got the gang together in Yorkshire. 

Over the years our breeders have produced two German children, two French, two Belgians and one British kiddo.  This was the first time since Goblin could talk that he had met any of them, and I wasn't sure how it would pan out what with him not speaking their languages and them not speaking his.

But I needn't have worried. The children played as if they all spoke the same language. Goblin just chatted to his new friends in English and they jabbered back in their respective language.
When that didn't work they smiled or pointed or gave each other one of their toys to play with so they could join a game.

My friend who was hosting us all remarked to her five year old neighbour

"Isn't it amazing that they play together when they don't speak the same language"

"Not really" said the five year old "Jumping means Hello"

Out of the mouths of babes comes the truth 

Play is an international language 

Taking it out of the classroom

(Goblin is 4 years old)

Kentwell hall holds a recreation of Tudor life for two weeks each year, and we take part and play at being Tudors while schools and the public visit. You can read more about it on this blog here, here, and here and on the official Kentwell Hall website here. 

Life 'in the 16th Century' offers a lot of freedom for Goblin to develop his own friendships, and make his own choices about how he spends his time.

We were sottling on the barn sward (cooking on an open fire for a group of about 100 people) so we needed to work. But we had many eyes watching our son including our extended family (my sister and her husband, and my mother in law) and many friends on the manor who know Goblin and would happily redirect him if he looked like he needed it. We checked on him from time to time if we couldn't hear him playing, but only once did he actually disappeared - untraceable for half an hour because he decided to go into the coppice wood for an adventure but forget to tell us first - anywhere else I would have been beside myself with worry, but on the manor after checking all the standing water, I was only mildly concerned.

One day Goblin found a polystyrene spitfire plane and played with it in the morning before the manor opened to visitors. He was so obsessed with the plane that he kept trying to talk about it during the day - a strict 'no no' as we mustn't break our 16th century character. So I suggested instead of a plane he referred to it as an eagle. I picked up a pinecone and a bean pod and lashed them together with twine.
"Look Goblin an eagle".
The next thing I knew he had commandeered a group of school children and had them making eagles for him. Some might think that this group of children were there to learn about 16th century living, not make eagles for Goblin. But what they learnt was how resourceful children would have been in the 16th century. They couldn't pop to the shop to buy a toy, they had to make their own entertainment, and that is something Goblin excelled at.

He did take advantage of the opportunity to learn to shoot a bow, practice swordsmanship with the soldiers and play skittles with the children of the barn school. But for the best part of the week he made his own entertainment, whether it was rummaging in the midden, fighting with sticks, building eagle nests with yew tree branches, or herding the sheep.

Interestingly Goblin didn't just play all day. He wanted to help us work. He spent a good portion of each morning helping us shell beans, make crumb from yesterday's bread or chop vegetables - he focused on apricots and mushrooms (the softer things he could cut without too much help). Then he'd disappear again when his work was done.

Sometime he'd return when he heard the school parties arriving. As the large school parties of eleven year olds rounded the corner, he would halt them and addressing their teachers ask them to spilt into two groups. His confidence and clarity surprised the teachers who did as this little four year old instructed. He would them take one group and show them how to shell broadbeans, handing out the pods and explaining how to snap off the top and find the thread that runs down the back of the bean. 

He worked hard and played hard. A week of living and playing outdoors coupled with late nights on the campsite made for a weary little fellow by the end of the week. But his experiences will stay with him long after the smell of woodsmoke has cleared from his hair and a weeks-worth of grime has been scrubbed from his fingernails. I hope we will be able to repeat this adventure next year when we will have to justify to the state why he should be doing this rather than sitting in a classroom.

Interesting 16th Century Fact: Goblin's Kentwell name is Creature. Creature of Christ was a common name given to children who were not expected to survive childbirth. A midwife would take hold of any part of the baby from inside the labouring mother and christen them. It was the only time when a child could be christened by someone who was not a priest. This practice was to ensure that babies who died in childbirth were able to go to heaven (and be buried in the church yard cemetery) but many actually survived and kept their name into late childhood.

World War II Diorama

(Goblin is 4 years old)

The other day Goblin announced that he wanted to make a model of the D-Day landings. I thought he just meant he wanted to play with his WWII planes and soldiers but when I suggested it he 'tut-tutted' me and explained that he wanted to stick the 'model's onto a scene so we couldn't use his toys as that would be "a waste". 

Fortunately we had quite a lot of cardboard kicking about, so following Goblin's instructions I set to work making an array of WWII vehicles. Over the years of working with my son and cardboard, I have come to realise that less is more. He has a great imagination so I don't need to spend ages painting and decorating and making things look accurate. So I did the minimum to depict the vehicles requested. 

To my surprise Goblin took on the decoration himself. He started by drawing Rondells on the Spitfires and used a double pen hold to scribble camouflage on the tanks. Then he asked me to show him how to draw Swastikas for the Messerschmitts. For a child who doesn't like colouring and feels pressured if you ask him to try and write his name, he sure can draw detail when its something that interests him. I experienced a strange mixture of pride and discomfort when I saw how accurately he'd managed them. Lets just hope he doesn't start drawing them at nursery or we'll have some explaining to do.

We even got him to draw soldiers. The one above I'm told is Goblin - he wanted to feature in his own diorama.

 We put all the models together in a big beach and sea scenario with the planes attached to kebab sticks. And Goblin even added some extra detail of planes on fire (on the "baddies" side obviously).

While playing with his diorama he may have reinvented history, in Goblin's version the Allies had a bit of help with their invasion, in the form of birds of prey!

Further reading:
Goblin's fascination with World War II originally stemmed from visiting Duxford Imperial War Museum. Find out more here
We have been building on his interest through further visits, reading books and imaginary play, you can find an example here
Two excellent WWII resources are the Usborne WWII flap book and Second World War Cards
(The two Usborne links above are affiliate links which take you to Amazon. If you purchase products I receive a financial benefit)

We love skate parks

(Goblin is 4 years old)

I wouldn't describe myself as a helicopter mum but at the age of four and a half I am not happy letting Goblin out on his own unless its in our enclosed back garden. Unfortunately since Goblin has discovered a love of scooters, this has meant a lot of effort for me, following him up and down the paths around our estate.

That was until we found the skate parks. I don't know if this is the case in the rest of the UK or whether we are exceptionally lucky but we have not one but four skate parks within a half hour drive of our house.

Most teenagers use skate parks at the weekend and in the evenings which means that during the day when the older kids are busy we get the skate park all to ourselves. Goblin loves zooming around the ramps and it gives me a lovely little rest as I can sit in one place and watch him rather than jogging along side him freaking out every time he veers near the road.

But of course as much as I love a little sit down, I do also like to join in with Goblin's games, so it wasn't long before I invested in a scooter for myself. Although I have to admit Goblin is much braver than I am when it comes to the big ramps.

Black and white mobile

(Goblin is 4 years old)

Recently Goblin has acquired two new cousins. When we went to visit I wanted him to be able to give them something that he had made himself. We decided to make a simple black and white mobile. Really little babies see contrasting colours better so black and white is the easiest option for babies to focus on. 

 We used air dry clay to make spheres that we then flattened and I put a hole in. When I say we I really mean, Goblin did one and I did the rest. I wanted him to do them all and I'd even got out his rolling pin and shape cutters thinking he could make a bunch of different shapes. But he wasn't interested, so I did this bit myself.

 Once the discs were dry (24 hours later) he painted them white and the following day I gave him a squirt bottle with black paint and he went to town.

Finally I strung the discs up with fishing line. I attached them to a colander, the reflection on the inside of the colander will provide some added interest for baby, however if you want to make yours look a little more attractive you can use an embroidery rind and cover the wood in a ribbon.

Crabbing

 (Goblin is 4 years old)

Hublet took us crabbing. Its something he did as a child, I'd never done it before and I have to say its AWESOME! 

Its so simple. All you need is a bit of string, a weight and a hook or mesh bag to attach bacon to. You lower the bacon into the water until its resting on the bottom. Then you wait a minute. It really doesn't take long at all which is perfect for little kids with short attention spans. 

When you gently pull the string up there will usually be one or two crabs attached to the bacon. You can shake them off into a bucket with water.

The first time Goblin went crabbing he was a bit nervous of the crabs and didn't want to pull the string up or touch the bucket with the crabs. But on the day I came too he was feeling brave and did the whole process himself including shaking the crabs into the bucket.

In 15 minutes we caught 38 crabs. This is the photo we took just before they righted themselves and scuttled back into the water.

Birds, birds and more birds!

(Goblin is 4 years old)

Sometimes outings lead to Goblin discovering a new interest - like a visit To Duxford Imperial War Museum which led to his fascination with WWII planes. Other times his interest leads us to seek out good outings to support the subject and build his knowledge.
Anyone who reads the blog regularly will know that Goblin loves the Octonauts. This has sparked an interest in sea creatures. However a recent episode about Pelicans has sent Goblin off on a different tangent - birds!

We have been looking for opportunities to support his bird interest. The zoo is an obvious place to start. They have a great penguin enclosure and a twice daily bird display. During the week we are sometimes the only people at the bird display, and we were lucky enough to be able to chat with one of the keepers about the barn owls. I think he was quite surprised by how many questions Goblin had.

We've also taken Goblin to the local nature reserve that has hydes for bird watching. We took a monocular for him and binoculars for us (Monoculars are easier for little kids to use). The more experienced bird watchers in the hides were very understanding of our rather loud and enthusiastic ornithologist. They helped point out interesting birds to look at - including a kestrel.

Near my parents there is a place called Bird World. I mentioned it to Goblin and of course he insisted we went there. It was a good opportunity to catch up with the Grandparents and Goblin could share his enthusiasm with them too.

Bird World has not one but two different types of penguins. Goblin has recently learned that there are 17 different types and he is interested in where they all live so it was cool that we had African and South American (Humboldt) ones. We even got to see the Humboldt's being fed.

As well as outings we have found puzzles, matching games, books and documentaries to support Goblin's recent interest.