Ella writes: Willy the Monkey came to stay from my kindergarten. Willy is a Monkey. There is a flying jester at the Big Playground. My party was in the 14 of April. My Rainbow Suits is very special to me and I took a photo of it so you could see. You see where those pirate flags - well we were saying thank you to Ben - my Auntie's husband. We took a photo of my little brother Jamie - JAMES. There is a red sculpture that we took a photo of in the gallery.

Ed Bread

The Mars Project

We went to see The Mars Project at RMIT. Our favourite exhibit was Phillip Allan's delicate depictions of the 'mythical canals of Mars.' Phillip combined images from the Hubble Space Telescope with early drawings of Mars, in particular the drawings of Percival Lowell.

cards

Ella writes: we glued the Sweet card and we got some sticky paper and then put the beads on the right way and then stuck it on paper to make the cards.

I can make a rainbow

I've been leafing through 'I can make a rainbow - thing to create and do with children' which my friend Michelle lent me - a gorgeous battered family copy, much loved over many years and now going into the second generation. This evening I started reading from the back of the book and found these ideas which I love.


Balloon postcard. Fill a big sturdy baloon with helium. Tie a postcard and a note (covered with plastic) to the baloon. The postcard should be addressed to yourself, and the note should ask whomever finds the balloon to mail you the postcard and tell where they found it.





Hands and feet. Trace around your hand. Use your pattern to cute 30 hands from green paper. Glue the hands, one touching another, into a wreath. (Feet could also be used - and hands of different sizes).

Walking collage. Go for a walk with a bottle of glue and a small flat board. Collect natural objects and glue together a collage as you travel along.




Home Campaigning. Make your own campaign buttons ... to campaign or promote anything! Cut heavy cardboard circles - colour slogans on the front and glue a safety pin to the back.

lookout for leaves

We've been really enjoying looking at and collecting leaves this autumn. We find them on walks and they find their way into the top of the pushy and sometimes from there into the leaf press. This autumn we got not one, but two, leaf and flower presses. The leaves come out perfectly flat and lovely - but a different colour. I have an envelope full - still trying to decide what to do with them. The last leaf in the pictures is the last of our wisteria - now mostly twigs.