The Rainy Day

I always like the children's learning experiences to come out of life and be natural rather than forced.  And today, when the skies opened and the rain poured down, it was an excellent day to read 'The Rainy Day'.

 

It is a really fun and colourful book.  Very enticing for the young reader, yet also being packed full of basic, age-appropriate science.

 

 

We learned how rain is formed from teeny tiny drops of water and how when those water droplets get too big they fall from the sky.

 

 

This led me on to talk to my son (aged 5) about the water cycle; what a great springboard! 

 

Because there is a rainbow at the end of the book we decided to do some rainbow art.  I drew a basic rainbow/cloud/raindrops picture on some blue paper and he used various materials to make a colourful collage.  This was great as it led us to talking about the colours of the rainbow and what order they appear.  I also taught him to 'sing a rainbow', which you can find the words and music to here:

http://www.nursery-rhymes-collection.com/lyrics_sing_a_rainbow.html

That of course got us talking about other rainy day songs such as Incey Wincey Spider and Rain Rain Go Away.  I'm sure you could come up with a long list if you wanted to.

 

 

 

William was really pleased with his final picture.  If I'd have had more time I would have also read

Noah's Ark.

I would have then brought out the Playmobil ark and the plastic animals and done some animal identification work as well as Noah crafts and songs. However, my little five year old was happy with what we had done and wanted to go play, so off he went, knowing a little bit more about our amazing weather system and having spent some quality time with his mum.

 

A good result from a great book; thank you Usborne.

 

 

Cooking with Usborne,... and a quick hello.

Hi.  I am Jo.  I homeschool my five children and I have just become an independent Usborne books distributor.  I wanted to be able to share my love of Usborne books with others and show how they can be used in supporting a child's education.  So,.. I started this blog.  Welcome.

 

*****

 

I love to bake and cook with my little ones.  I have two Usborne cookery books that

I use a lot, as well as a set of recipe cards.  I have had these books since my eldest son was small and they are very well used now.  We have had so many joyful together times making cakes and cookies from them. The ones I have are:

Farmyard Tales Children's Cookbook

First Picture Cookbook

and

30 Easy Things to Cook and Eat.

 

 

It was fun, today, deciding which recipe to cook.

 

Jo even got so hungry that he started to eat the cookery cards.

 

In the end we chose the farmyard biscuits.

 

 

Mixing is always the best bit.

 

But rolling is also fun.

 

Look at our new cookie cutters.  An acorn, oak leaf and maple leaf.  Very autumnal.

 

 

After all that hard work the best bit was of course sampling our wares.

 

Especially dipping them in milk.

 

Cooking is a great way for children to learn about following instructions, chronological order, weight and measure and working co-operatively.  It can be a little daunting though; there is lots to go wrong with littlies in the mix.  These Usborne cookery books make baking with children simple.  I highly recommend taking a look at the fantastic variety offered by the catalogue.

 

Usborne Cookery Books.