Those birds ought to be really happy now...

Not only do we make all sorts of food and feeders for them, but now we make beautiful houses for them too. Well, paint them, anyway. I brought along some my husband had manufactured from some old fenceposts, and the children set to with brushes and paint. They really got absorbed in their task, and seemed to enjoy working together on it, until the houses looked more like bird-hippie-communes than respectable dwellings. Once they have been varnished we will see about getting them nailed to a tree in the park somewhere.

The park cafe had all its Christmas decorations out, including a beautiful tree with baubles and bells. So we had a story about Tante, a little old German lady who made Christmas magic for all the children and animals of her village with her wonderful Christmas tree. A little premature but we are really getting into the Christmas spirit now!

Log Bird Feeders Thursday 20 November 2008

As winter seems to be well and truly here, the Very Young Friends decided to help out our feathered friends and make some bird feeders. Phil had kindly drilled a number of large holes through lengths of log for us to fill with our yummy mixture, lard and bird seed! The children took it in turns to pour in bird seed and mix with the lard, this was quite hard work for both large and small hands. The mixture was then spooned into the holes and ready to hang from a tree, lets hope the birds enjoy their stylish feeder!

November doings

Apologies for the bloggy silence since the beginning of the month. It's not that nothing has been happening!

On the 6th Nov we did some cooking in the cafe - but not for ourselves, for the birds! We chopped cheese, apple, bread and other titbits for their delectation and mixed them together in a huge bowl. Well, most of us did. My son Patrick concentrated on stuffing himself with cheese....ah well. The following rhyme accompanied our work:
Chop, chop, choppity chop
Chop off the bottom and chop off the top
All the rest goes into the pot
Chop, chop, choppity chop!

The following week, 13th Nov, everyone - including Patrick, and therefore me - was sick. So there was no meeting that week, for the first time since Christmas week - normally the Very Young Friends are very hardy!

This week, 20th Nov, Bryony was in charge, much to my delight. We made wonderful bird feeders from logs with holes drilled in them. I will leave this to her to recount!

Halloween fun in the playground

We had a proper Halloween party in the playground. Why the playground? Because it gets quite tiring, racing after toddlers to try and keep track of them in the woods, week after week, and the playground has a FENCE!!! So the children got busy gathering big sticks and small, and tying them together into broomsticks. I don't know how many would really fly, or even sweep up if it comes to it...

We then made 'apple men' by sticking twigs and cloves into apples. Some of them were really lovely little characters.

Pumpkin cake and ginger tea warmed us up a bit, but as the sky started to darken we decided to hurry the rest of the party along a bit. So we had our story - starring all the apple men. A little pumpkin gnome was looking for friends to celebrate Halloween with. The pine cones weren't very enthusiastic, but the apple men, hiding under the autumn leaves, all wanted to join in! A few quick songs and then RACE HOME OUT OF THE WET!