Playroom

Still a work in progress here.

Now worked on the "home area"

We have added hooks for cups, pans etc and a clothes line as well as this gorgeous screen from Marmalade Trees on Etsy to create walls!

I also bought this set of cubing for MB the younger's room to help organise his stash of stuff a little better. He is thrilled he now has a plant to care for too!

And finally I attempted some needlefelting this week - I am almost too ashamed to put it up here, but still, it relieved some stress for a while lol and hopefully I may get better!

This is my gnome who has a very badly proportioned body!!


This is the "fall" picture.

Changing of the seasons..

Just like nature, our life at home is continually evolving and changing with the seasons. Here are some updated photos of the playroom and LMB's bedroom.

Here are our open shelves allowing access to the toys. Emphasis here is on wood and natural and also toys that are allow for open ended play.

Reading corner. Much as I really, really want to purge the books and have a small selection out at a time so as not to over stimulate; coming from a home where we had wall to wall libraries I find this task breaks me out in a cold sweat, hence there are still a plethora of books everywhere you look. I have tried hard to cull a bit. The picture on the wall is one that Master Beehive the elder did at school last year - fortunately fitting beautifully with the colour scheme!!

The "home corner".

Our somewhat depleted nature table (I have taken some of it into school!) and also geography area. The tall boxes house our growing lego collection. It is actually hard to find something just right to store the lego so it is accessible and easy to reach as well as tidy!


Moving onto the Little Miss's room:

One side of her home corner. I do believe Master Beehive the younger can be seen poking his head out!

This is the front entrance! As well as having her "home" toys in there, there are also bean bags, playsilks, manipulative toys as well as a growing herd of My Little Ponies!!

Her "care of the self" area, not too different, only we have now placed some hooks beside the mirror to hang her alice bands. I dont know where she has moved her little basket with her brush and hair accessories - one of the delights of trying to keep neat a home that houses a small tasmanian devil lol!

Hmmm....the ironing board doesn't normally live centre stage. Master Beehive the elder decided that it needed a higher vantage point!

Oh and finally, today's creation. Master Beehive the younger sporting his new apron for his chore this week as "Chef's helper"!! Craftily made out of a tea towel. This is the project I have for the class over the next few weeks so it was useful to have a willing guinea pig!

Colour theory!

I just wanted to post these pictures of the playroom now that I have painted it. I have hopefully used colours that will embue imagination and cooperative play I have borrowed a similar colour scheme as those found in the imagination inspiring kindergartens in waldorf schools- ie: not red for fire and arguments, not white for boredom and lack of creativity and not green for tranquility and sleep etc.

Anyhoo, here are the results -

I decided to put up I's canopy in this corner next to a box of books so they have somewhere to hide away to read. There is also a cushion and our storytelling doll in there too.

The sensory materials have been moved over to this area as they were a little dismissed behind the door.

This area has been laid out for a home style corner (not particularly Montessori I know, but it is an area that all of the children love to utilise!) and we are in the process of creating a nature table which you will see better in the picture down below.

It isn't very clear, but we have got our nature table on the cupboard. So far we have found some interesting wood and an empty nest. The nest was in my hanging basket on the porch until a week or two ago. The birds have appeared to have deserted it. Unfortunately I think the mail man had unwittingly scared them. The eggs were broken too. We have since put it on our table.

The final wall is a work in process!!!

I am limiting the amount of stuff I put ON the walls this time, I have only a framed painting of T's, a picture and a wall hanging and I am going to put our huge map of the US back up too. Other than that, the children's work will now be kept in their art boxes in their rooms and if they do something they are particularly proud of, we will frame and hang in their bedrooms. There is still a lot of work in the kitchen on display too.

And of course - there is a very important factor in all of this............is it working - hmmmm they are currently playing in T's bedroom!!!!!!!ah well, time will tell!