42/52

{Harper} "I love you." Her first written words. If I could have picked the first sentence she would have penned it would be this. She is love, from head to toe.

{Finn} His love of drawing continues. Today's picture is courtesy of his latest TV obsession: The Octanauts. In case you were trying to work it out, that's a submarine, a bit of sea kelp and the pink creatures are sea pigs.
 

The B-sides (because two photos seems a little minimalist for me)

{Taking inspiration from a wonderful Reggio blog 'An Everyday Story' this week we used mirrors as a work surface. Placing the mirrors under our apricot trees on a sunny day just added to the experience. }

{Finn did place a collection of loose parts on his mirror but I could tell he preferred looking at himself from different angles.}

{Look let's just say I took ALL my play based inspiration from Kate over at 'An Everyday Story' this week. This homemade geoboard was a winner with the kids. Both Finn and Harper worked hard to get those rubber bands around their pins. I love watching those busy, busy hands at work}

{Finn made some boats using his LEGO. I filled up a container of water and told him he could place his boats in there.
Finn: "But LEGO can't go in THERE!"
Me: "Why not?"
Finn:" Because it will get wet. Won't I ruin it?"
Me: "No mate, it's plastic. It will dry."
Meanwhile Harper grabs a piece of lego and dunks it in the water.
Harper: "See Finny it's ok."}

{my spirited child, at her spirited best}

{look no.136}

32/52

{Harper}  The cheekiest smile I ever did see.  

{Finn} With my camera out I work hard to get a smile, but it does eventually shine. {standing in front of our bookcase. spines of books he runs his fingers along and tells me: "I will read these books when I am a big boy". I don't doubt that for a second, mate.}

The B-sides (because two photos seems a little minimalist for me

{tiny glimpses of spring}

{"I'm working just like Cinderella!" A girl who can find a fairy tale reference wherever she goes}

{alphabet ink stampers in playdough}

{one of the perks of your mum working at the local playschool- testing out the new resources!}

{Daddy's home}

{Finn and Harper's first visit to Canberra's LEGO Brick Expo}

{Can I eat a banana and build with LEGO? Why yes I can!}

{While the rest of the LEGO fanatics were oohing and ahhing over the huge Star Wars creations, this nifty little music reference won me over}

10/52

{Harper} Fringe curls. 
 

{Finn} Shadows and light in his room. 

The B-sides (because two photos seems a little minimalist for me…)

 

Documenting Delight: day three hundred and twenty one {an invitation to play with numbers}

Recently Finn has moved a little bit away from his strong interest in letters, towards a love of numerals. Many of our days start just like this:

Finn: Mummy, can you count to 32?

Me: Yes I can.

Finn: When you count to that number can you say the numbers in a spooky voice?

 

Hmmmmm, I know where all of this has come from. The Count from Sesame Street, I have you to thank.

 

So today I set up an outside play invitation to engage with numbers. I searched the house for any tactile numbers we had (wooden puzzle numbers, magnetic numbers and foam sticker numbers) and poured them into a tray filled with rice. Add some plastic tweezers and the kids were set for the afternoon. The thing I love about setting up these open ended play activities is watching what Finn and Harper do with them. It is rarely what I think they will do.

I predicted that Finn would sort the numbers into groups and that Harper would spend time touching the rice and the numbers (or maybe making attempts to move ALL the rice onto the floor) but nope, I was way off. Harper took the lead straight away and enlisted Finn to help her sort the numbers into groups, even going as far as asking me for plastic containers to put the groups into. Wow, I didn’t see that one coming. Finn took a while to engage with the numbers but after helping Harper he asked collected a piece of paper from inside and started picking out all the foam sticker numbers. I stood back and just watched him as he spent time placing the numbers in sequence, counting out loud as he stuck down each number.  He was so proud of his sheet of numbers once he was done:

Finn: What do you think of this?

Me: I think I didn’t know that you knew how to put those numbers in order, but now I do!

And once all the play based learning was over, Harper plonked herself in the tub. From the squeals, I am assuming that sitting in a boat of rice is A LOT of fun!