One of those seemingly "nothing" days

Yesterday, while I was busy with a sewing project I have been waiting to get into, the kids were hanging around the house trying to refind their balance after having been away camping (which kept them busy and entertained for about 17hrs a day) and ended up kinda fending for themselves. 

Through their boredom they seemed to find some fresh things to get into...

Last week we read a library book of a story about John Harrison who invented the sea clock. John Harrison was apparently a patient man (it took him about 60yrs to perfect his clock to win a large prize for solving a big problem of that day and age). While away camping, Nathan randomly told me he was patient like John Harrison when it came to waiting.

Nathan lay outside on the picnic table copying out a page from a book. Danielle joined him and did some too.

Drawing and glueing etc

Hammering and constructing with lumps of wood.

Dangerous Book for Boys came out and paper boats and water balloons were made.
Gymnastics and Keas have started back this week. Danielle's moved up to the bigger kids class (with Nathan) and is now on the floor without me and had a ball.

After dinner, we investigated the vegetables in the garden and harvested a couple of handfuls of strawberries and beans that ripened while we were away.

This morning I noticed a leap in questions and interests...

Nathan found his World map floor puzzle tucked away in his room so brought it out to construct. He then took his map off his wall and compared where the countries were (our wall map is laid out with NZ and Australia in the centre of the map).

He also found a wall chart of the times tables tucked under his drawers and brought them out and spent a bit of time reading them out and noting patterns.

We've just started to give the kids a little pocket money. They spent a while counting then suggesting we go down to the shops and see what they could buy. They weighed up what they could purchase with the small amount they had...one chose to spend and the other chose to save for something bigger.

A batch of muffins were made and clock watched till ready.

I had a game of Mancala with Nathan.

The two of them put together a mime show for me.
Nathan found a seagull feather from a previous beach excursion and told me how feathers and ink were used in the old days to write with. He wanted to know how to make ink. So we had a bit of a read up on it and then decided our Plantain tincture that we'd made a few months back for Nathan to use on his mosquito bites might work since the plaintain soaked in the vinegar goes black. Mental note to myself that he has also been interested in making paper and how to bind a book by stitching the pages together so will find the time to look at those at a later stage.

Danielle then wanted a turn of the feather, so Nathan improvised and used a nearby bean that had been freshly picked that morning lol.

 
Why are stick insects attracted to our trampoline? The kids are always finding them climbing up the netting. Strange. This time it was a bright green one opposed to the usual brown they find. So I rescued that one and placed her (apparently the majority are female and they repoduce by parthenogenesis) on a nearby shrub.

There was some water and sandpit play later on when the day had cooled down a bit which ended in both kids needing a shower!