Monkey Business!

We got this lovely book, with monkeys to make and a funny rhyme to read, and I saved it for an after-dinner chill activity ...

There are bits and bobs to make three monkeys, with the book, and some things for them too ...

The instructions were easy to follow and our new friends began to take on their cheeky characters!

Bending the shaped pipe-cleaners creates the knees, elbows and little hands and feet!

Daisy chose this amazing orange monkey, and only needed a little bit of help ...

This is the best bit because we are nearly ready to play!

With pop out ties, the monkeys can dress up as in the fun rhyme too!

Or fly around with super-hero capes on!

Make some yourself, find out more here!

Today i tried rag-rugging for the first time!

That red and gold bit is my work!

I just love to make potato cakes ...

And eat potato cakes too!



For some time now I have had some willing helpers to do some mashing and mixing, and i can often leave them to it now for the most part, but not way back, when this video footage was taken, Baking with three under three I needed several pairs of hands and I can't imagine how I filmed it too!


So cute to see! And it used to be the only way my children would eat their 'tapeos', but now its a fab way to use up leftovers!

Booja-Booja?

The Raggy Rat Video stars!

more cat head WIP ...

and so to make the pattern for furring the cat head ...



interesting shapes appear when I work this way ...



and the blue foam shape starts to look like a creature ...



sometimes the wrong creature - is this a bunny?



those ARE cat's ears!



and that's a little pink cat's nose!



creating the eyes, cutting the shapes for irises from painted acetate ...



and into the head they go!



eye can see you!

fur and feathery greens!

today I buried my hands in super soft fur ...



and i spent a long time cutting shapes into this for and a fluffy white one ...



also did some green things, eating this lovely fresh lettuce for out tea, harvested under the watchful eye of our chickens ...


the children picked some of our gooseberries, and removed some of the fallen-too-soon apples from the lawn...

Tiger in Radipole Woods!

Really enjoyed making this video! Thanks to Tiger-Tan and my lovely girls!

picnic with friends ...

We went to Abbotsbury gardens with friends, for a picnic, play and explore ...



a pretend camp fire was made using fallen bamboo leaves and poppy petals for the red flames!



Matty basks in the orange glow!



then the fire was taken apart after lunch, to make pictures and objects ...



The girls look very smart today. If it's true that The Raggy Rat cannot knit, who made those lovely cardis?


I'll tell you tomorrow ...

filming fun!

What a bunch of talented peeps in need of more sensible hobbies like (insert hobby) will do in a bid to get their hands on more awesome truffles (made with love) ...

Raggy Rats appear by kind permission of the Raggy Rat Lady, Catherine Owen xxx

flashback ... me and a hairy ginger pirate!

long before my blogging life I was involved in making a pilot for a Devon-based company. I made the puppets and, as i boasted about my puppet wielding prowess, I was involved in filming not one but two pilots ...

Evil or naughty characters are always fun to do, and this pirate was no exception!

Do you like to see what people do when they work?

when they feed odd object through their sewing machines ...



do some lovely chunky blanket stitching?



putting buttons in odd places ...



making very good use of their 'zipper foot' ...



or tying interesting knots!



I know I do! what have you been making this week?

Not Back to School ....

Mary and mummy and a bowl of bread dough...



with clean hands, and an apron a piece, they all get their hands sticky ...



after we let the goop rest, I divided it into 6 balls and we did a bit of number work, me swapping them about as a shaped them. They still have to learn that 6 is always 6 ...



and this week everyone got stuck into the dishes, even Mary. it's very clever really, just an extension of water play, with a very happy mummy at the end of it!

We Also love FREE HUGS!

many of you know how much me and my children love this video!



so we got busy with some card and some black crayons - Matty spent a long time doing some careful colouring ...



and Daisy did all this lettering herself ... nice and big isn't it ?



Mary eats as the girls display their hard work and talk about what they might do ...



FREE HUGS!



then we got together with our friends, and made this ...