Busy bees!

Today was Fun Club and it was a cracker.  The theme was loosely based around the garden and there was plenty to do.  Something that had been agreed previously was that it would be good to have name badges, M did hers (with a picture of Mad Eye Moody, which is who she 'is' from Harry Potter and a speech bubble saying "Constant vigilance!"), K didn't actually do a name badge, but she did make this.

It says Hufflepuff and that's a badger.

At the moment anybody, adult or child, who the girls talk to, who has a reasonable knowledge of Harry Potter and is amenable is expected to 'be' a character from the series (people do get to choose as long as the character is not already taken), as I said M is Mad Eye, K is Tonks, I'm Professor McGonagall, various friends are Bellatrix Lestrange, Kingsley Shacklebolt and many more.  Today they recruited another friend, who has chosen to be Hagrid, not that she bears any relation to him physically!

Both girls had a go at pyrography.  As you might expect the results were Harry Potter based!

Mad Eye Moody by M

Tonks by K - she added the pink hair at home later

The girls each also made a miniature garden.

K's garden

And M's

 We also had a guest come in to do an activity, which was great!  The children all made their own bee hotel.  He explained that not all bees are social creatures like honey bees and that there are some which are solitary bees, such as leafcutter bees (he showed us some pressed leaves with almost perfect circles cut out of them), which live alone, as their name suggests.  These hotels provide an ideal place for these types of bees to nest.

I'm not sure how much had already been done for the older children, but for the 7-9 year olds, he had made the basic shell, but with only half the screws put in.  With a bit of help, the children used cordless power drills to add the remaining screws.  Then they filled the box with bamboo (I think!) pieces, biggest pieces first then smaller ones, finally hammering the thinnest ones into the gaps, to wedge them all firmly in place.

Next the back was covered with clay and a back nailed on.

Next some roofing felt nailed to the top ensured that it will be pretty weather-proof.

They were finished off with a bracket to hang it in a sunny spot at least 90cm from the ground.

 After lunch the older children (from about 7 up) played some team games, including a sort of human ludo, which was quite interesting!  Unfortunately the last game ended in tears for K & M, who were on different teams and accidentally collided resulting in a split lip for K and a bump on the head for M.

In other news, we've had a few lovely games of Happy Families recently, using a really lovely, if rather battered, set of cards I remember playing with when I was little, that my Mum brought for us last time she visited.

M got out the Banangrams tiles again and came up with this.  The only thing there that isn't as she did herself is reconciliation, which was a very good stab at a very long word!