Country (nearly) teenagers

Posted by Rosie

In less than 2 weeks we will have a teenager in the house. About 16 months after that we will have two.  How did THAT happen?  

So what do (nearly) teenagers get up to on on  Friday afternoon in Normandy, when they are lucky enough to come home early from school?  Do you know what?  I don't know!  They came home with a friend who is having a sleep-over and soon after arriving they changed out of school clothes into old home clothes (thank goodness) and muttered something about secret camps and exploring, before disappearing out of the door.

Was I worried when they hadn't come home after a couple of hours?  No! You see this is what I did when I was their age and this is what our country (nearly) teenagers do.  And I used to go out alone at their age and certainly without a mobile, where-as I know their friend has a mobile and and I also know that they know all our neighbours and had they needed help they could have knocked on any door without any problems.

Mind you they left their presence known before they skedaddled off:

Shoes just left where they were taken off:

And a table covered in chocolate powder, school books, milk and Babybels that somehow did not get put away:

They finally came back just as it was getting dark having thumbed a lift from Simon who was on his way home ... which gives me a vague idea about where their secret den may be, especially as their friend mentioned the spring they had seen.  I should have been a detective ;)

I am also guessing that they had a good time, if the state of the clothes they lobbed in the wash are anything to go by (and the rosy cheeks of their friend):

Afterwards they watched a bit of TV and are now playing some game that involves moving all their furniture in their rooms ... which is resulting in bits dropping though the floor and INTO my wine!!!  Oh well, it beats them sitting in front of a computer screen all evening and will hopefully wear them out so they go to bed at a reasonable hour.  Am I hoping for too much, do you think?

Boys' Camping Week-End

Posted by Rosie

Simon has planned to take the boys camping in the summer holidays but when-ever Simon could go, the weather was awful and when the weather was good, Simon wasn't able to go. However last week-end Simon was able to go AND the weather was good so the three of them headed off for the weekend.  They went near Coutances about 2 kms from the coast and next door to what Simon calls a "hidden gem" of a climbing site ... so I have been banned from saying where it is!

I stayed home to mind the animals and bid farewell to gite guests so it was a real boys' weekend and I only have the photos as any record of what they got up to!

High tide was early in the morning when it was hazy but already warm.  A bit of haze wasn't going to stop the boys heading off to surf the waves!

 

Waiting for the big one ... I rather suspect they would have had to wait all day looking at that millpond!

There was enough breeze to fly a kite though (note the reposing feet that are Simon's!!)

 

There were mackerel for dinner (bought not caught).

And sausage baguettes for breakfast the next day!  Apparently there was an argument about which jam to buy so Simon bought sausages instead.  Good call I suspect!

  

And then to the quarry next door for a bit of rock climbing.  

This is Tom heading up ...

And this is Ben, a bit higher!

 They came home happy, tired and slightly grubby.  

Looks like it was a good week-end then!

PS - whilst my lips are sealed as to where exactly they went climbing, for those of you who enjoy this activity, there is some excellent climbing to be had at Clécy, just down the road from us!

Seed Pictures

Posted by Rosie

In the sixth of our series of nature games and activities for children today we have:

Seed Pictures

For this activity you need a selection of seeds that use use to create a picture of your choice.  You can either add the seeds onto a template or build up your own image.

Robin pictures made with seeds

To make Seed Pictures you will need:

• A selection of seeds
• Paper or cardboard
• PVA Glue
• Paintbrush  
• Toothpick and/or tweezers
• Paper or cardboard
• Black and white templates (optional) 

Seeds from your kitchen - soup mix, red lentils, aduki beans, split peas, quinoa, soya beans

Method

• Collect together your seeds - if they are gathering from outside and they are are wet you will need to dry them.  If collecting seeds is not an option or you need more, you can use seeds left over in garden seed packets or you can raid the kitchen cupboards - suitable seeds include dried beans, lentils, rice, pumpkin, sunflower, chickpea, spice seeds, poppy seeds etc.
• Find and print off a template if you are using one.  I went to Google, typed in robin and searched under black and white plus line drawings ... be warned though, in this instance I had to trawl past a lot of batman type Robins first!
• Add glue with a paintbrush to the first the part of the picture you want to add the seeds to.  
• Add the seeds.  Large seeds can be added individually and smaller seeds poured on.  Seeds can be pushed gently into place with a toothpick or placed more accurately with tweezers. Once this is completed, shake excess seeds off the dry areas move to the next section.  I would not recommend adding lots of glue in one hit as seeds easily get dropped and land in the wrong place.  
• Continue until the whole picture is filled in with seeds.

Seed robin by P, aged 3

Do let me know of you have a go at making seed pictures and I'd love to see your masterpieces.  You can either post them up on Twitter linking to me at @greenrosielife or pop them on our Facebook page.

For more children centred activities why not head on over to Let Kids be Kids and see what other children have been playing at this week.  You can also see all the nature games and activities we have detailed so far by clicking here.

Butterfly Boy!

Posted by Rosie

Butterfly

ˈbʌtəflʌɪ/

noun

a nectar-feeding insect with two pairs of large, typically brightly coloured wings that are covered with microscopic scales.

I have mentioned on the blog a couple of times recently how good the butterflies are this year in Normandy. A mild winter obviously benefited them and we have been witness to their dainty beauty all Spring and Summer.  At the moment the greatest magnate for our winged friends at Eco-Gites of Lenault is the herb garden where the mint and marjoram are both in full flower.  Not a day passes when I don't find 5 minutes just to sit down there and watch their antics.

Tom is also very fond of butterflies and moths and a couple of years ago successfully hatched  an Oak Eggar Moth from a caterpillar which he blogged about here.  So when he saw all the butterflies in the herb garden he was fascinated ... and then announced he wanted to catch one.  I have to say I felt his chances were slim but I had obviously not accounted for his calm approach, patience and sheer determination.  
 

Calmly does it ...

Several flew off long before his had got anywhere near them, others nearly landed and then suddenly one brave butterfly alighted gently on his finger and stayed long enough for Tom to get a real close up view of it and for me to snap this photo.  

Tom with a Tortoiseshell Butterfly

Then it was up and away and back to the more nutritious flowers for the Tortoiseshell butterfly that had briefly made friends with Tom.  It may only have been a fleeting moment but it was very special and one Tom will not forget.

For other butterfly related posts you may want to read:

A Prickly Problem
Silent Sunday - July 27th
Butterflies Galore but no Ladybirds
Swallowtail Butterfly 

Have you ever caught a butterfly or have you a butterfly story you would like to share?

Water Fight!!

Posted by Rosie

Up until this week the boys had a large paddling pool which kept them cool and occupied in hot weather and which Tom blogged about here.  Sadly though, it has sprung 2 leaks and whilst we were able to fix one the other has proved to be fatal.  We are on the lookout for a new pool but in the meantime Plan B has been put into action:

Ingredients for Plan B

• Children, preferably in swimming costumes

• One hoepipe

• Water pistols

• Numerous bottles, pans and other water holding utensils

• Hedge to hide behind/attack from (optional)

• Plants nearby to be watered (optional)

Method

• Remove all washing from clothes line

• Switch on tap

• Watch from a safe distance!

 
Do you have any interesting or unusual ways that your children keep cool in hot weather?


 

Animal Leaf Pictures

Posted by Rosie

In the fifth of our series of nature games and activities for children today we have:

Animal Leaf Pictures

This activity involves going for a walk to collect a variety of leaves of different shapes and colours before returning home to create an animal picture with them.

Leaf Mouse

To make Animal Leaf Pictures you will need:

• A selection of leaves of different shapes, sizes and colours
• Glue (PVA is best)
• Paintbrush
• Paper or cardboard
• Laminating sheets (optional)
• Animal pictures for inspiration (optional)

Method

• First head out to collect your leaves, which is best done on a dry day.  Autumn will give a better range of colour but even in Spring and Summer you'll be surprised how many different coloured leaves there are once you start really looking.
• Collect a good range including really small ones for eyes, long thin ones for legs and big round ones for bodies. Long thin leaves with a serrated edge make excellent feathers!
• Once back home assemble your materials and start making your animals.
• You may want to copy a picture from a book or the internet or be happy to go freestyle!
• For younger children you can draw or print off an animal outline for them to fill in.
• Be as adventurous as possible, building up layers of leaves for features such as eyes, spots on butterflies, scales of fish etc.

Note - if you want you can dry and press the leaves first although I have never bothered with this stage.  Another option is to make your pictures on paper and then laminate them for posterity.

Book - Look What I Did with a Leaf!

For this activity I got my inspiration from the book, "Look What I Did with a Leaf!" by Morteza E. Sohi.  If you head over to Amazon you can have a peek inside at some of the leaf animals in the book.

Do let me know of you have a go at making animal leaf pictures and I'd love to see your pictures.  You can either post them up on Twitter linking to us at @ecogiteslenault or pop them on our Facebook page.

25 MORE Child Friendly Activities to do at Eco-Gites of Lenault

Posted by Rosie

I recently drew up a list of 25 things you can do when visiting Eco-Gites of Lenault that do not involve leaving the gite at all and often are totally free.  However I quickly realised there was far more I could suggest so here are 25 MORE Child Friendly Activities to do:  

1.  See how many bird songs you can hear
2.  Ride a bike on the boules pitch or up and down our track
3.  Have breakfast, lunch and dinner in the garden
4.  Play Tag or Hide and Seek
5.  Play with all the toys we provide

Some of the toys at Eco-Gites of Lenault

6.  Do a Nature's Treasure Hunt
7.  Make leaf pictures 
8.  Toast marshmallows
9.   Do a puzzle
10. Feed the chickens
11. Make a photo diary
12. Play football

Football

13.  Have a race
14.  Have a water fight
15.  Have a snail race
16.  Paddle in a stream 

Paddling in our local stream

17.  Blow dandelion clocks
18.  Look for animal tracks
19.  Learn how to use a compass
20.  Jump on the trampoline

Fun on the trampoline

21.  Make a den
22.  Stay up and watch the bats
23.  Lie back on the grass and watch the clouds pass over
24.  Write and perform a play or have a fashion show

And finally:

25.  Turn off all the computers, TVs, phones, DSs etc, remove all headphones, disconnect from everyone except yourselves and have some quality family time together!

Natural Paintbrushes

Posted by Rosie

In the fourth of our series of nature games and activities for children today we have:

  Natural Paintbrushes

What child does not like painting so why not make things a bit different and make your own paintbrushes out of natural materials.  

Natural paintbrushes

To make and paint with natural paintbrushes you will need:

• A selection of natural materials that you might be able to use to make paintbrushes - eg grass, leaves, wool, feathers, flowers etc.
• Straight sticks for paintbrush handles
• String, sellotape or other natural binding materials
• Paints and paper

A selection of natural materials for making paintbrushes

In the top picture the brushes are made from:

Top - Large stem of dead plant (umbellifer) and rosemary leaves secured with a strip off a piece of rhubarb
Middle - Elder stem and grass secured with tape
Bottom - Stick with the bark stripped off and hay, secured with tape

How you continue this activity is really up to you.  Options include:

• Use the materials you have collected as they are to paint or print pictures
• Bind the natural materials to the sticks to make paintbrushes and make pictures
• Compare the different paintbrushes to see the effects they make
• Discuss which brushes worked well and which ones did not
• Try to recreate a famous painting with your natural paintbrushes
• Ask your children what materials they most like painting with
• Talk about what bought paintbrushes are made from and whether they are better or worse than the natural paintbrushes

Paintings made with natural paintbrushes

Of the 3 paintbrushes Tom, Ben and I made (top picture) the hay one was not ideal as bits of hay kept falling out; the grass one was a bit difficult to control but the rosemary one was the best once we had shortened the length of the "brush".

Do let us know if you  have make some masterpieces with natural paintbrushes - you can always post your pictures on our Facebook page

25 Child Friendly Activities to do at Eco-Gites of Lenault

Posted by Rosie

We all know going on holiday can be a great time to spend some quality time together.  We also all know how family days out can add up. So here at Eco-Gites of Lenault we have come up with a list of 25 things you can do when visiting here that do not involve leaving the gite at all and often are totally free.

25 Child Friendly Activities to do at Eco-Gites of Lenault

1. Blow bubbles together
2. Have a picnic under the trees
3. Fly a kite
4. Read lots of new books from our library of children's books (there are plenty of adult books too)
5. Play in the sandpit
  

6. Search for wild flowers
7. Play Hide and Seek
8. Collect eggs
9. Play a board game together (there's lots in the gite for all ages)
10. Pick blackberries
11. Go for a walk
12. Stroke a pig
 

13. Jump in puddles
14. Stay up and star gaze (there is very little light pollution here)
15. Go butterfly hunting
16. Throw a stick for Poppy and Saari (our dogs)
17. Paddle in the nearby stream
18. Draw some of our animals
19. Collect leaves
20. Make some natural art

 
21. Go tractor spotting
22. Have a race
23. Look for 4 leaf clovers (Tom often finds them)
24. Make a den
25. Make a family holiday diary

Lots of these things you can also do at home, right now - so why not put aside an hour or so and have some car-free family fun very soon!  Oh and there are 25 more things here!

Linking up with Letkidsbekids.  Do pop over there and see what other children based inspiration you can find!