Nature – Painting an Insect box

I can’t say I love all insects but they are important.  There are lots of information and links on national insect week about insects, insect spotting, friendly gardens.
Insect Box
I have been looking for some wood that we could use to make an insect box. I found a combined ladybird and bug box along with a bird box with paint for sale.    I am not sure what birds or insects think of colourful houses but Luath and I set to work with a rainbow of paints.  I thought that my painting the houses Luath would become much more involved in the process. I don’t think the bird box is ideal for nesting birds so we are using it as a decoration.
We had some new roll on paints to trial.  Luath enjoyed taking the lids on and off especially.  The rollers are a great idea but you need to keep them upright and give a bit of pressure so they are a little tricky for Luath.  She still enjoyed using them even if only a little paint came out.  I rolled some paint and then we used a paint brush to spread the colour.
 
 
A very colourful outcome.  We  left the insect box for a while before hanging out to give the paint time to settle.  We used non toxic paint but I thought it was safer to give a bit of time to remove any residue.

(Luath was 25 months)

Places to go – The Highland Folk Museum

This is Luath’s second trip to the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore.  There still is more of the open air living history museum for her to explore.  It is a fantastic family friendly free museum and you could easily spend a day here.  It shows how people lived and worked in the Highlands from the 1700s. 

There are staff/volunteers at some of the buildings who dress and act out parts i.e. farm workers, school teacher.

The play area greets you on entry so Luath headed there first and again later.  It has some well thought out play equipment.  Luath loved the raised play houses and the xylophone.

At one end of the museum there is a reconstruction of a 1930s farm.  The buildings were already here.  (Other buildings have been moved from elsewhere in the Highlands and reconstructed on the site).

Chickens and ducks roam free. 

There is lots to look at and in one building a few wooden puzzles, a colouring area and quizzes to do.  Near the farm Luath spotted the tyre tractor (a favourite from our last visit).  There are old tractors and farm equipment to see.
 
Granddad and Luath checked out the post office and then we all were tempted in the old fashioned sweetie shop but decided not to buy.
 
Luath spent a very short time inside the school but loved the hopscotch and the hoop/stick equipment outdoors.
 
One of the Newtonmore Wildcat Experience cats is here. 
 
Our last stop was the small bus, which currently isn’t working.  Luath enjoyed being the driver.

We saw much more on the day and the site has more to see.  The museum is on a large site but is pushchair/wheelchair friendly (steep slope near entrance). Luath ran most of the way with a little bit of carrying. There is a cafe, gift shop, picnic area and toilets on site.  A highly recommended place to visit.
(Luath is 30 months) Shared with Family Days at mums do travel

Tip - Getting elastic back into children tent poles

Luath’s tent has elasticated poles which were great until the elastic popped out and then it made it almost impossible to erect the tent.  Getting the elastic back in is a bit tricky.  There might be a better way but this is what I found worked best for me.
Tools – a blunt needle (knitting sewing needle), a knitting needle (or similar) with a head that just fits into tube – doesn’t have to be very long , a pencil, a short screwdriver with a decent handle (really it is the handle that is important, something you can put a bit of pressure on if the needle and pencil get jammed).  A second person would make things easier

The first few poles are quite easy as the elastic is loose.  Thread elastic onto sewing needle, drop it down pole using gravity to help it through.  Once the elastic starts getting tighter, pull on the elastic to stretch and then use one hand to keep the tension on.  Place sewing needle into pole (I found you needed to keep a finger on the needle, elastic to keep it in pole).  Use head end of knitting needle to push down on sewing needle.  Keep pushing until knitting needle is all the way in. 
 
Place the pencil into pole and push down.  Sometimes the sewing needle with elastic will come out, other times it gets a bit jammed so you also need to use the screwdriver to push the pencil and knitting needle further down into pole, which then brings the elastic out.  Keep a tight hold of the elastic before you remove anything else.  I lost the proper stopper so used a large button instead.
 
Make sure that you line the poles up so you don’t do what I did and miss a joining section and had to undo some of my work.
(Luath is 29 months)

Outdoors everyday – week 29

The week started very hot – making great use of SPF clothes.  Some rain too.

Some of the things we did outdoors this week were:
Jump on shadows.  Paddle.  Feel the sand with bare feet..  Pitch a tent on the patio.  Re-enacting Jack and Jill went up the hill.  Nature bingo.  Enjoying a wild strawberry.

(Luath is 30 months)

Book of the week - Read with Biff, Chip and Kipper series

Read at Home Biff, Chip & Kipper series that we own is a collection 48 books  (24 x Phonics Books and 24 x First Stories Books) that are aimed at helping children learn to read and their progression.  There was a fantastic deal on these books last year so I purchased them well in advance of any plans to use with Luath.  We have read them a few times with Luath.  The stories are fun, the illustrations up to date and there is lots to discuss about the images and stories.  Many of the books have things to spy – a butterfly in each picture, hidden keys.

We keep the books on a bookshelf in the main bedroom.  This week Luath was chilling with daddy on the bed and spied them and so we have been enjoying the bundle.  Luath likes looking through the stories herself.
(Luath is 30 months)

Indoor Play - A bag of golf tees

Daddy ordered a big bag of golf tees and they were too tempting to ignore.

We pushed and hammered into styrofoam.

We connected the tees using elastic bands, making funky art.

We made shapes.

Sorted into colours.
   
Sorted by size and arranged in order.
Balanced objects on them, then hit the object off.
And a few other silly things.
(Luath is 30 months)

Indoor Play – A worldwide safari

Luath loves play that involves trips in her (banana box) car.  As we have recently been to a wildlife park I set up a safari for Luath.  I laid out different zones – savannah, jungle, farm, forest, sea, ice and snow.  Most of the areas were just coloured material.  We then took some animals and placed them in their correct location.  Luath needed a little help for some of the animals.  The dinosaurs, which Luath wanted to see on her trip, shared the jungle with a monkey and a tiger.

Luath then set off on a worldwide safari.  Stopping to play along the way.
 
I quickly found some books that fitted into each area as Luath often enjoys reading while we play.
   
It was a fun way to begin learning about varying types of landscapes, climate and where different animals live. 
(Luath is 30 months)
shared with tuesday tots via rainy day mum

Places to go – Highland Wildlife Park

The Highland Wildlife Park, Kincraig (near Newtonmore) is run by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland which also runs Edinburgh Zoo.  For us the park can be en route to grandparents so we decided to buy a season ticket.  Luath has had three visits and loved each trip.  The great thing about having a season pass is that you can stay for 1-2 hours, see a lot and not feel that you have to stay longer and see it all.

The park has a wildlife loop that you drive around (or you can be driven round in a guided tour) and also areas to walk. 

Just after  the entrance you drive past bison, camels and wild horses.  Each time the animals have been beside the road (one bison likes to lie partly on the road).  This immediate animal spotting opportunity made it exciting for Luath.


The first time we visited it was only Luath and I so she had to stay in her seat for the wildlife loop.  The next time daddy came too so Luath could come out of her seat when we stopped to look at the animals.  Spying through her binoculars really felt like being on safari.

We all had a great giggle at the Bukhara deer.  Daddy on one side of the wall, mummy and baby on the other – just like at home.  The fawn kept standing up, so we did have a talk about how he was probably saying “I can’t sleep mummy”  and mummy would be saying “try and lie down and you might fall asleep” (a conversation Luath and I have been having often lately!). – Luath showed a lot of self awareness around this topic.

The beginning and end of the loop goes past the polar bear enclosure.  The 4 acre enclosure was built in 2009 to home Mercedes who had lived in Edinburgh Zoo since 1984, the only polar bear in a UK zoo at that time.  She was rescued from Canada, where she had wandered three times into a town and was scheduled to be shot. She died in 2011. The park has two male polar bears.  Walker moved to the park from the Netherlands in 2010 and Arktos from Hanover in 2012.  They have formed a very close bond.  You can also see the bears from the walking area.  Each visit we have always seen at least one bear.  On two of the occasions we have seen both males interacting with each other.

There are a few different areas to the walking loops.  We haven’t covered all the paths yet.      
One of the loops takes you through a typical Scottish Highland scene with Capercaillie, Ptarmigan. Squirrels and Wildcats.  Like in real life they are difficult to spot, although Luath and I did see the wild cats on our first visit.  The park is home to Amur Tigers (Siberia).  They have recently had cubs so were off show and then hiding quite far back when we have visited.  There is a fun trail spotting signs of Tigers.

We did see a few babies including  Snowy owlets

and Snow Monkey (baby is bottom right of picture) who was very entertaining.

We haven’t eaten at the park, apart from Luath and daddy shared some ice cream.  There is a cafe but also some picnic spots.  The play park mostly has equipment for primary aged children. There is a gift shop.  We are looking forward to a few more trips, especially at least one visit on a cold and snowy day.
TIPS

1. Most people start with the wildlife driving loop.  If you are there on a potentially busy day and arrive near opening time, I would recommend parking and viewing the walking exhibits first (especially the tigers).  We did this on our third visit  (on a lovely Saturday in the summer, so probably one of the the busiest days)and pretty much got to see the snow monkeys and tigers to ourselves.  We returned to see the tigers an hour later and it was getting very busy.
2. There is a lot of walking involved if you want to see most of the park.  Some of the areas are not pushchair friendly (check map), but if you had a light pushchair you could carry it and either have child walk or be carried.  We had to carry Luath a view times.
3. We had our dog one day, it was too hot for her to remain in the car alone.  After we had been on the wildlife loop I took her to the dog walk area.  This area is actually small and more just a stretch the dogs legs place.   As we had only planned Luath and daddy to have an extra half hour it was fine.

(Luath was 27-30 months) Shared with Family Days at mums do travel