The spring sunshine (and rain) is making little splashes of colour appear everywhere, the leaf buds are bursting and the hedges are greening up, but even prettier are all the flowers. We saw this pretty pink apple blossom this morning, we will watch it through the year as it turns into juicy red apples. We can’t wait that long though so we’ve come home to raid the fruit bowl for our morning snack.

 
Even brighter were these dandelions, the verges had gone yellow with them. We decided they certainly did look like lions…we don’t need much encouragement to practice our roaring…….RAAAARRRRR!!!!

 
For the last few weeks we have been watching out for the return of the swallows. Earlier this week we saw that they were back.  So, this weeks story book is ‘Counting Birds’ by Alice Melvin. It’s a  beautifully illustrated book starting with one noisy cockerel ‘cock-a-doodle-doo’ then going through the day counting the birds we see. Number eighteen shows the tired swallows just like we saw ourselves. 

Seemingly it doesn’t matter what age you are, some activities are suitable for everyone. Whether you’re one and learning your ‘first words’ or that bit older and laughing at ‘Captain Underpants’. I for one hope it’s a habit that they both continue to enjoy.

This morning we are planting sunflowers. We have put them on a sunny  windowsill in the conservatory and we will water them and keep watching until the little green shoots appear. Then we will see who can grow the tallest. The variety we chose is called ‘Russian Giant’ so we are hoping for great things!



Even when we were inside today we could hear the birds singing. So, when we were out on our walk we were watching out for them and listening to their songs. We even had a go at copying the noises that they made. We must have been quite good because this cheeky blackbird came to see what we were up to.

When we were using our ears to listen to the birds we heard another noise. When we got to the field gate, this is what was making it. These not so little lambs were enjoying the sunshine. It’s amazing what you can hear when you just take a minute to stand still and listen.



Today we decided we were feeling artistic, so out came the art box. We started off rather sedately with crayons and coloured pencils. It was fun but not as much fun as PAINT!! Most of it got onto the paper but it was quite good fun to squidge it through our fingers and paint our arms (and legs). By the end of it we all looked like works of art but a bowl of soapy water later and we were back to our normal selves. 



We decided that as the weather was wet and windy that we would cheer ourselves up with some Blueberry and Banana Muffins. So, wooden spoons and mixing bowls came out, clouds of flour, sticky fingers and scattered porridge oats, and 45 minutes later they were baking. In true ‘Bake off’ style we watched them in the oven, they rose up and went brown on top. What’s the most difficult part of baking? That’s right…waiting for them to cool down so you can try them!



Today the sun is shining and the birds are singing so on our walk this afternoon we have been looking for signs that Spring is on the way. We saw lambs with little plastic coats on to keep them dry, we saw highland cows with big furry coats to keep them warm…maybe they were a bit too warm today? Best of all we saw lots of flowers. Snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils and we even saw the first signs of some blossom on the trees. We decided that Spring had definitely sprung…and that made us happy!

We are ideally placed opposite the school in Allithwaite, in fact as I type this I can hear lots of very excited children outside playing on their lunch break.

We have places for before and after school care available. Come and join us for breakfast, pancakes and maple syrup or boiled eggs and soldiers anyone?

After school whether it’s quiet time on the sofa, playing in the park or help with homework.

For more information give me a call on 07791767779 or 015395 32511.

Today is a day for building. Imaginations are fired up….and we have dragons, although they look quite friendly to me. They sat down nicely for their photograph but they are now flying round the house.