Into the dark...

The latest Big Kids Magazine is out, as you know we are fans and have contributed in the past, such as the memory game and the Treasure boats. This time the theme is Into The Dark.

It took quite a while to decide what to make or do, as we were brainstorming Ebi-kun talked about caves and going into a dark hole, so we decided to make one. We used a shoes box and painted the inside black. 

As that was drying, he got out the plasticine and started making scary monsters, we used glue to stick them to the ceiling and walls. Then made an 'Ebi-kun' out of card, so it looked like he was entering the scary cave....

As we worked on the monsters we made up a poem, we had, 3 verses down by the time we finished and then we worked on it a bit more, using the senses as a way of exploration....

The magazine encourages adults and children to work side by side, it is something that both Ebi-kun and I love doing, so if you haven't checked out the magazine yet, go and do so!

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.