Fish feeding children during a rainy field trip (another wet/rain entry) who do not seem to mind the drizzle that came before they boarded that raft. The field trip chaperones were just glad that this was a roofed raft because it afforded protection from the elements:

Some photos from this field: yellow flower, orange flower, and rainy field trip posts.

Two paper houses that I made as models for the younger daughter’s Science project about backyard setting and decorative plants. We decided to do 99% paper crafts for this one:

In case you are interested, here is a link to some steps we did to make the project.

Sample house with a red roof and red door made by me. That is the younger daughter in the background making the paper house that we will use for the project. Click here for the pattern of the house.

Below are the daughter’s hands at work putting together the paper that will become a house:

Initial design idea in the photo below. We lacked paper so the front floor of the porch is cut short, lol. That was the paper that we used for the houses. I needed to add that part because that was where the railings of the porch was attached.

We decided to put up the trees after the daughter has cut the “leaves” or the green parts, the trunks and the wee fruits. I drew the design on the construction paper and she cut these out. Notice the lopsided roof, that was still unattached at this point.

Details are important to make this “imaginary” house and backyard seem real, hence the doghouse which very much looks like Blue’s Clues home, flowers that look real (some are made of fabric while the rest are embellishments) and trees at the back of the “property”. We then went on to put together the itty-bitty craft creations by pasting, using thumb tacks and using toothpicks for the flowers. Roof has not yet been glued.

Finally, after putting together the finished products: trees were attached to the trunks, fruits were pasted on the trees, roof was glued to the house, flower pots arranged neatly, doghouse glued near the entrance/gate and mini-fish pond added, we were all done. The mini-pond consisted of blue construction paper and its plastic container/cover glued on top to make it look like water. Daughter cut the fish while I made little rocks out of black construction paper scraps.

Notice the China flag in the background: while I was putting together the details, the daughter made the China flag she will use for the United Nations’ Day parade.

We were done before 5pm even if we started before 9am. In between I had to cook lunch and wash the plates <- taken cared of by the eldest child. Tiring day it was but definitely worth all the effort.

We decided to use paper materials for this one. It was tempting to use toys of course because that would be easier to do and accomplish though not necessarily a better option because of the expenses it will occur.

We mostly used colored construction paper and scrapbook embellishments from Filstar which we bought from a nearby bookstore. Since I still have some embellishments for my handmade notepads, we only got what we needed for this project.

Materials:

• 2 feet by 1 foot styro board
• green velvet paper for the “ground”
• a big bottle of glue
• scrapbook embellishments like shimmery flowers, chipboard embellishments and foam shapes among others.
• ruler
• scissors
• toothpick
• patterns for the houses 
• creativity/creative ideas
• lots of patience

It was difficult at first to “see” how we like to have her backyard but eventually, after we brainstormed ideas and gathered materials we might need, we came up with a plan. I had no problem with the younger daughter accomplishing a lot, she is the artsy one who can do arts and crafts with very little supervision. She did a big chunk of the project herself including putting together the parts that make up the house.

Here is a glimpse of what we put in the backyard.

More photos to be published soon. Photos and post published here.

I’m so glad we go to a school that supports this special day. If truth be told, I am disappointed with schools that celebrate Halloween but NOT United Nations Day. Harrumph.

Here is a photo of the younger daughter with her classmates all dressed up with the country of their choice.

She chose China. The husband at first suggested that we get her a Chinese dress but the daughter insisted we should not buy: RECYCLE was the teacher’s tall order.

We had her wear the husband’s red silk Chinese polo (am thankful we still had this in the closet), with the long sleeves rolled up and a belt to make it look smaller than it actually is. Black leggings and her school shoes that look like the traditional Mary Jane Chinese shoes completed the get-up along with a long white scarf and a bond paper with the word China stapled on it to make it look like a sash.

The children were asked to bring food that represent the country they chose.  We brought shumai or siomai for the class while others brought a lot of different food.

I was able to get a lot of ideas in the web when I searched for patterns. In the afternoon I tried to do a house and a tree.

The daughter loved it! She can’t wait for the print outs for the detailed outline so she can make her own.

Here’s what I made: presenting my low-cost housing unit and a tree, ta-da!

The youngest daughter enjoyed “decorating” the outside walls of the house when they came home from school:

I “copied” this pattern but I used my own measurement. For the 4th wall, I had difficulty adjusting it to be able to get a square. I obviously ran out of paper which made the house pink in front and white on the sides and back.

Am excited to get more supplies at the bookstore for this project. Can’t wait for tomorrow to come

If I remember it right, these were for breakfast, not for lunch. The kids arrive at school early and have time for breakfast. They don’t have enough time for a leisurely breakfast in the morning before the school bus arrives so they bring their breakfast to school.