Happy Halloween.....

It will take more than a typhoon...

....to stop a certain little boy from going 'trick or treating'! One of our playgroup friends always holds a great party in the park across from their house but we are in the middle of a typhoon..boooo...luckily they have found a community room to rent for a few hours so at least we can have some kind of party! We usually do pot luck for playgroup parties and for Halloween I like to make something a bit special, this time I decided to make a cake....

click to enlarge

Ebi-kun can't wait to dig in, 

sorry, couldn't resist!

I made the gravestones from marshmallow fondant, the skulls and bones are white chocolate, the worms are gummy worms. The base is chocolate cake covered in chocolate butter cream then 2 packs or oreo biscuits smashed up in a ziplock bag makes the dirt. If I didn't have to transport it  would have gone to town and made a tree too but I didn't fancy my chances of getting it there in one piece!

yum, yum, yum......

Hmmm doesn't this look tasty?

click to enlarge

From the top, left - right

✬ pumpkin, witches snot, monster innards, bat poo

✬ freshly dug up worms in dirt, eyeballs, freshly dug up skull and cemetery dirt

✬ small children's severed fingers, flayed skin on rusty nails, bones, and a few more fingers

Ebi-kun said it wasn't looking revolting enough then I accidentally slipped with the nail gun, oopsie. 

Want to make your own? A tutorial can be found here.

 I love how this turned out, it was actually a practice run for the party food at the weekend.

 Snot anyone? This shovel spoon is perfect for shovelling in the snotty goodness.

 and to drink...that will be Frankinshake.

A perfectly balanced meal containing all the food groups ;o)

Ebi-kun got really into it, he said the bat poo tasted a bit strange so I told him they weren't the usual beans that I buy 'THEY ARE NOT BEANS THEY ARE BAT POO', ermmm yes, sorry sir, I meant to say they are a different breed of bat poo, this year I got vampire bat but we usual get fruit bat! He then went onto say that small children's fingers are much tastier than old peoples fingers *evil cackle*

A tutorial for severed fingers can be found here. 

It must have been good because he polished off the whole lot!

He was a bit disappointed because we were supposed to do the neighbourhood trick and treating yesterday but the weather was awful, no one made it out, not to worry, we have the playgroup party tomorrow.

If you want to see more Halloween MTD's then pop over here, 

to be honest I don't think any of them are that revolting.

I might as well add it here, since I know people will ask, what is it all really made from...

Frankinshake is banana and pineapple smoothie (+ food colour)

✬ pumpkin = mikan

✬ Snot = avocado

✬ monster innards = noodles and broccoli (cooked in green water)

✬ bat poo = black beans

✬ worms and dirt = gummy worms and crushed oreo biscuits

✬ eyeballs = boiled egg and mayo

✬ skull and dirt = white chocolate skull and crushed oreo biscuits

✬ fingers = sausages, onion for the nails and ketchup

✬ flayed skin = parma ham

✬ bones = kamoboko (fish cake)

The nails were a gift from our friend Tammy, they actually food picks, I have been saving them for something special! Thanks Tammy!

I have put together my favourite Fun & Fast Ghoulish Halloween Treats into an ebook so you can whip them up at anytime (why just serve ghoulish food at Halloween?)

17 absolutely disgustingly delicious treat ideas... 

All fast and fun to make

All pretty healthy, made from kitchen basics

Most of them suitable to make with the kids too

PLUS a bonus labels pack too!

new aprons...

Yasuyo asked me to make a couple of aprons for the Montessori farm, 

this is what I came up with...

and one with elephants

modelled by a tempremantal model!

If you want one for your child, I have a couple in the shop.

lots of gifts to sew

For the last couple of years I have joined in with the handmade holidays movement, I do it year round not just for Christmas, I do buy gifts too, my first port of call is always Etsy but some people are notoriously difficult to buy for, you know who I mean, I bet you have one or two in your own family. I no longer beat myself up over trying to find something handmade for them!
I have already made a start on a couple of my Christmas gifts, as I was looking for ideas I ended up compiling a list, I am not going to let on which of these gifts I am going to make but there is definitely a few in there.

I have put them into categories but take it with a pinch of salt, so many of these gifts can be changed just by the fabric you use. If you are needing cute fabric, pop over and see what I have here. If you have any of your own tutorials that you would like to add to the link, pop the link in the comments box and I will add it on.

for the men...

hoodie
laptop bag
Charles The Plushie
Boxer shorts
necktie
remote control pillow
laptop/kindle/ipad sleeve
Spanner case
Whistle lanyard
iphone cover
Draw string pants

iphone/cell phone pouch

sun visor shades case

For the ladies....

Whats new pusscat? Sleep mask

Pleated Bag (Purse)
Spa Wrap
Library bag
Sweet Cup Cake Apron
Curling iron cozy
camera lens pouch
ruffled scarf
shoe bag

for the toddlers and babies...

Quiet Book
Mr Seahorse
sweet pea pilot hat
floppy bunny (in Japanese but step by step photos)
Doll flip book
teapot (in Japanese but step by step photos)
baby kimono
One size fits many PJ pants
Soft counting book
Rocket man
kokeshi stuffie
One hour softie

for the kids...

Teeny party turtles
picnic blanket tote
boys back pack
Boys hat
mushroom and owl lunch pack
Lipsie the Pocket Girl Pouch
Kitty coin purse
bunny hat and paw mittens
flat pocket pants
news boy cap
car caddy
play silks
Felt mail bag
Bike bucket
crayon roll
Little lamb pillows
Funny Bunny plushie
Alpha beans
treasure map

for grandparents...

Hidden message heart pillow
hand embroidered pillow
Specs case
bed pocket
Silhouette Cushion
soap buddy (could be for kids too)
drawstring linen tidy
family pillow
magic bag

mom to be...

stroller/messenger bag
Hip diaper bag
portable high chair seat
changing pad and nappy pouch
baby sling

for the pets...

cute collareetes
leash
doggy or kitty bed
cat basket
dog collar
washable pet bed

stocking fillers/emergency gifts (for when you suddenly need to to have something on hand!)

elastic bookmark (no sew but a great stocking filler)
decorative basket
hot pads
Chrysanthemum pillow
Hedgehog pin cushion (or little stuffie)
Felt ball (for kids or pets)

pinwheel coasters

Is that not enough for you?? Try my tutorials page or the 100 fat quarter tutorials round up.

What no pumpkins?

It is not easy to find the big pumpkins used for carving here in Japan and when you do manage to stumble across one they are usually expensive. I did have a look around, admittedly I didn't put that much effort into hunting one down but then when I was in the supermarket the other day I thought, why use a pumpkin? So, I threw a daikon (giant white radish) into the basket.

Carving it was a bit tricky, I cut up the inside first then Ebi-kun scooped out the middle and I cut out the face, I don't have carving tools so I just used my little veg knife.

 Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

scary daikon!

yochien trip...

Yesterday was the yochien trip to Ueno zoo, Ebi-kun was very excited. I must admit, I would rather someone else deal with 100 or so kids in the zoo than do it myself! They are quite strict and the kids all have to hold a friends hand all the time, Ebi-kun was happy because he got to hold K-chan's hand (he has a bit of a thing for her, ahhhh) but he said he would have rather held one of his mates hands LOL.

They had to take a bento and we had to be out of the house early so it was rather thrown together, the picks are cute though! He also had a rice ball with it but I forgot to put that in the picture.

He has the day off today so we are off to town to find daddy a birthday present....

sneak peek...

this has been a BIG hit!

I am going to need a pattern tester, not really suitable for a complete beginner. Please only offer if you can commit to doing the project, I need the testing done by the end of November - for those who make their Christmas presents it is the perfect gift for a 3-6 year old boy. If you are interested please drop me a line at montessori.swapshop {at} gmail {dot} com

Where In The World Postcard Swap - round up

We have had most of our postcards from the swap, and some great postcards they are too.

Ebi-kun has been getting his encyclopedia out each time a new card arrived to find where in the world it is and we have also been reading Children Just Like Me which is a great book that looks at children from all over the world.

The cards haven't made it into their respective continent boxes yet instead we have left them out and they have sparked numerous conversations. One of my swap partners mentioned that they had a tough time finding suitable pictures due to her being assigned a war torn country, I must admit that this hadn't crossed my mind when I dished out the countries, something to consider for next time. I do have a soft spot for Zonnah's cards purely because they are from North Korea, when the first one arrived I had left it on the table, my husband is used to finding postcards from far flung places but his face was a picture when he picked it up, he did the whole double take thing and looked completely confused, ahh well, I am easily amused.

I would like to thank everyone who took part and helped to make it a successful swap, I hope you and your kids had fun with it too, no matter how your use the cards.

Montessori Farm in October

It has been a busy weekend, Saturday was spent rushing around trying to organise Ebi-kuns outfit for the 7-5-3 festival, grocery shopping and going to football club and all day yesterday we were at the Montessori farm. When we got there, the first thing the boys did was to go and hunt for bugs then they harvested some veggies for lunch, turnip, daikon (giant white radish) and spinach, they were quite excited to see how it had grown since last month. One of the good things about this being a monthly activity is that the children can really see the differences in the farm from month to month. Then we moved to the Montessori house, on the way the boys we shouting and comparing the sizes of their veg, just shows that kids can be interested and excited about veg if they are in the right environment.

 Yasuyo has set up the room differently this time, her husband Gen made lots of great shelves for the big room and Yasuyo put out a lot more of the equipment, it felt more like a classroom this time and the children had much more room to work in. Yasuyo worked with the children in the kitchen room where they prepared their snacks and lunch and did practical life activities and I stayed in the big room. It was a bit intimidating because I don't have all the equipment and so it was the first time I have actually seen some of the things and wasn't sure how to present it all.

Here M1-chan is drawing circles, in pink of course! K2-kun and Ebi-kun are tracing leaf shapes, Ebi-kun labelled his and K2-kun used his to make patterns.

 This is the first time T-kun joined this group but he went to a Montessori kindy so he knows his way around much of the equipment, although he knows the other kids he hasn't spent as much time with them but it didn't long for him to settle in. Here T-kun and Ebi-kun and writing words in their bingo sheets, when they finished M2-chan and L-kun were the bingo callers.

 Whilst all the kids were absorbed in work in my room I took a quick peek into the kitchen, M2-chan was washing and hanging out cloths, I love this little set up.

K2-kun looking very pleased with himself for finishing the trinominal cube.

M1-chan sorting beads, this was a popular activity with the little ones both M2-chan and L-kun worked with it too.

Ebi-kun working on the binomial cube, he hasn't done this for quite a while and it looked like he had forgotten how but he figured it out eventually.

 Over the course of the morning the kids had been helping Yasuyo prepare the lunch, when all the ingredients were ready all the kids got together to make giant nori-maki which was fun and then they helped to prepare the room for lunch.

By the time they had finished lunch it was obvious that they needed a run about to burn off some of their energy so we cleaned up and headed back to the farm. The boys played tag and then I taught them 'What time is it Mr wolf?' Once they had worn themselves out a bit we asked them to collect some leaves then we went to the art bench. We had planned to do crayon rubbings and print-making with the leaves but the kids had different ideas, some of them coloured on their leaves, some traced around them, L-kun used about half a tub of glue to stick a pile of leaves to his paper. All the time this was going on the kids were chatting in English, it is cute listening to their conversations. K1-kun found a praying mantis skeleton and Ebi-kun found a small lizard so some of the kids drew pictures of them too.

A couple of the boys decided to draw mazes, whilst this was going on this was one of the conversations...

A-kun: (to no one in particular): ...and the pirates land on the island and jump on the dynamite, what will happen? Tune in next time to find out what happens in the dangerous island adventure.....

T-kun: hmmm but what is dynamite?

A-kun: It is this stuff that blows soldiers legs off.

T-kun: Ohhh right.

I stepped in at this point and asked if they knew what else they use dynamite for and gave them some more uses (other than blowing off peoples legs).

All in all it went really well, we need to make a few changes to help make things run more smoothly but it is all part of the learning curve. Ebi-kun thanked me and daddy on the way home for taking him, he says that he loves the Montessori Farm and working with his friends.

Going Batty - part III

When I was teaching ESL, I worked at 5 different schools, a different school for each day of the week! Which most of the time was quite good but when it came to holiday lessons is was a bit of a nightmare. For Christmas and Halloween we would have a holiday themed class, lots of games, lots of fun BUT I was expected to decorate each class room before the classes and prep the class, all in one hour and I had a very small budget to do so, I ended up getting it down to a fine art, this one is easy to do and I would make a pile of the them and put them up and take them down for each class.

Requirements:

pile of black paper

clear nylon wire

scissors

pen

tape

card to make the template.

 Make a template, find an image with google or just draw it free hand, 

you only need half a bat. Fold the paper put the template on the fold.

 and draw around it. 

 We managed to get three onto one piece of paper.

 Then cut out.

To string the bats together place the wire on the back of the fold and secure with tape.

 Then find somewhere suitable to string them up.

 We have a fan at the top of this space, it is fun to put it on and watch the bats 'fly'

Frilly Knickers...

I have been seeing a lot of ruffles and frills being added to little girls outfits recently. Well last night I was looking for a couple of photos when I can across this, look at that for a frilly bum! I was 20 months old here and I think at my grandparents thatched cottage and yes, that is sherry I am swigging out of a glass* ahhh different times!

*I imagine that I am pinching the sherry and it wasn't given to me as my 3pm snack!

Going batty - part II

After going to the cave a couple of weeks ago, bats and dinosaurs are very much en vogue in this house right now, so for Halloween he wants to be bat (well that is at the moment, he will probably change his mind 7 times between now and then). Now, back when I was a wee one our Halloween costumes were made from black bin liners or an old sheet! This is a bit posher, but not much.

I didn't do a step by step tutorial but it is pretty easy to do. I got a metre of black vinyl (from Tokyu Hands) and some black elastic. To make the wings I measured Ebi-kun from wrist to wrist across his back and from the nape of his neck to his bum. I folded the vinyl in half and marked the measurements then drew out a half bat wing shape. Then I measured elastic around his wrist, just above his elbow and at his shoulder. Made them into loops and sewed them to the top of the wings. If you have a walking foot or silicon foot use that, it will help the vinyl from slipping.

Clad your little bat in a black outfit and then put the wings on.

Test them for flappability. I need to add some ears to his hoodie.

After the bat pictures he wanted to practice his Punk Rock poses...

Yeah, I am hard!

This is a bit freaky since he is semi-transparent.

A wink or a snarl, I am not quite sure.

and just a reminder, there are bat three part cards to download here.

Looking for some Fun & Fast Ghoulish Halloween Treats?
Grab the ebook and bonus labels pack too!