How to make a leaf lamp

We collected lots of treasure at the park which was just asking for some arty crafty making.

We decided to make a leave lamp. 

What you need:

A glass jar

Tea light candle

Parchment paper long enough to wrap around the hat with a bit of overlap x2

Glue

Leaves

Stapler

Lay the first piece of parchment on the mat, spread with glue and stick the leaves in place.

Place the second piece of parchment over the top and make a leaf sandwich.

Make sure there is no stray glue that will stick to your book. Then put a book or something heavy on top and leave it to dry.

When it is dry, wrap the parchment paper around the jar and staple the ends in place. Pop the tea light in the jar and light it then place the paper over the jar.*

*don't leave the candle unattended and be sure that the jar is deep enough so there is no naked flame able to reach the paper.

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The MOC Playbook: What Macgyver Would Do If He Had Kids

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Leaf Art For The Whole Family

We recently had a big sort out with Ebi-kun's desk. I have been trying to find a system that works for him. We did have a flat filing tray for his school books and papers but it was getting scary, to the point where I was afraid to be swamped under papers if I happened to be passing the desk when an earthquake hit! 

We now have a vertical stand which is physically impossible to overload, fingers crossed that this works better.

Anyway, as we were sorting through I found these papers that I had prepared ages ago and then they had got sucked into the paper mountain.

I don't remember where we had been but we collected some leaves and then I placed a few on the printed/copier and made a copy for each of us. Such a quick and easy activity that can get all the family members involved in.

We all took a print and doodled on it, the rule is that you are not allowed to look at anyone elses paper until you are finished. Here are the results....

Daddy's doodle....

Ebi-kun's doodle....

My doodle....

It was fun comparing our pictures and laughing at how differently we see things. I'd love to do this with cloud formations too. 

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Autumn Poetry Basket

I think poetry is an important part of language and it is something Ebi-kun won't get taught in English at school, that means it is down to me to do it. What I like to do, it to find a poem and make it into some kind of fun activity, have a prepared page for writing his own poem, a few objects to inspire him and a picture of some kind. I keep them all in a basket.

He started off with the poem strips, I read the poem first so he had an idea of what it was about and I split the poem into the 2 verses to make it a bit easier. He put the verse together then I re-read the verse and he checked that he had got it right, he had to make a couple of corrections. This is the poem we used this time.

We talked about the poem and what it meant and I got him to give me some other examples, after he had done he said he didn't feel like writing his own poem but then on a whim he sat down a couple of days later and wrote this...

Do you study poetry with your kids? Have you got a favourite poem, book or other resource, please share in the comments.

Surprise! - a day off school!

So, the day before yesterday I find out Ebi-kun was to have the day off school yesterday! Apparently it was 'Saitama Day' and it appears I was the only one clueless about this. I had to reschedule a couple of meetings and re-juggle the other things I had planned for the day. Ebi-kun kept himself busy for the first couple of hours so that I could get through my emails, sort out orders and do some coding to fix an issue on my website.

Then it was the laundry, changing the bed sheets and dusting then, off to the supermarket. The route I take to the supermarket means cutting through the park so we decided to stop and go acorn hunting. We picked up a bag of acorns and leaves and continued on our shopping mission. Got home, had lunch, watched Puss In Boots which was great and then we got out all the craft supplies for a big session.

We started with leaf rubbings and then went onto doodling and sticking. I was inspired for leaf doodling by The Artful Parents Autumn Crafts e-book.

We didn't have any metallic markers (they are now on my shopping list) so we just tried the different pens that we had to see what would work.

Ebi-kun designed Mr Leaf, a salaryman leaf and then he went on to make...

The Autumn Man, he used white glue to stick the acorns on and I was surprised that they were still there in the morning.

But my favourite it his rock band 'The Acorn Blues' There is a punk with a green mohican playing lead guitar, a lead singer, drummer and two backing singers/banner wavers. I love how he put this together, he used the glue gun to stick it all together. What fun! He announced when he was finished that when he grows up he is going to be an acorn rock band designer and have a shop selling acorn rock bands!

I love how a bunch of free leaves and acorns could fill a good 3 hours of creative fun.