In which it snows and we play indoors...

 

There's been a fair bit of wild weather around these parts this week.  The wind is fierce and whistles and creaks around the house in a very disconcerting way.  It has been bitterly cold and this morning I awoke to find patches of snow outside my bedroom window.  All this amounts to plenty of indoor play for the kids.  I thought I'd give you a look at a few of the things I've been doing with the kids to keep them occupied and thereby stop them from killing each other.

Earlier in the week I took the kids along to a performance of the Magic Flute by Opera Australia at one of the local primary schools.  I love opera so it was a bit of a treat for me, even if it was geared at the kids!  We all adored Papageno the panpipe wielding baritone, so today we decided to make our own little panpipes out of straws.  I guess this activity was vaguely science based since we observed how the different straw lengths create different notes as the air vibrates the tubes.  Minty loved doing this since it required very minimal help from me!

 

We did venture outside at one point, when there was a gap in the rain, to stretch our legs.  Minty took along her cloth bag and I told her to collect as many different and interesting types of leaves as she could.  She had so much fun foraging even if it was bone numbingly cold.  When we got home I let her use some of my special copper coloured paint to make leaf prints.  I think these will make gorgeous wrapping paper!

 

And lastly Minty spent some time drawing faces onto balloons.  I've got a little balloon themed sewing project in the works, which I should be able to show you soon.

I hope you're all keeping warm wherever you are!