Hobbsy's House

Hobbsy's House

Friday 26 October 2012

Half Term Halloween Fun


It's a bit late, but just in case anyone needs inspiration for next week, here are some of the events on in Swansea during half term:


Glyn Vivian Half Term Holiday Workshops:
29 October 2012 11am - 4pm
01 November 2012 11am - 4pm
Free admission
Tel: 01792 516900
Email: glynn.vivian.gallery@swansea.gov.uk
Website: http://www.glynnviviangallery.org
Create a work of art in fun workshops for children and families at the YMCA, Swansea. No booking required, spend an hour or stay all day.With artist Sheree Murphy.Contact the Gallery Information line on 01792 516900. All children under 10 must be accompanied by an adult.

Halloween Ghost Train
30 - 31 October 2012From Southend: 4.45pm; 5.30pm; 6.15pm and 7.00pm
£5.00 per person (children will receive a free goodie bag)
Tel: 01792 635411
Website: http://www.swansea.gov.uk/ghosttrain
Hop aboard the Ghost Train this Halloween! The Halloween Ghost Train will be making its spooky way down Swansea Prom two nights this Halloween. Ghosts, goblins and witches of any age can enjoy the popular return journey from Southend Gardens to Blackpill Lido. Places get booked up early, so parents are urged to book early to avoid disappointment. Part of the Swansea Bay Festival autumn programme.

Spook Night
30 - 31 October 20125.30pm - 7.00pm
Children and adults £4.50 each
Tel: 01792 474555
Website: http://www.plantasia.org
This Halloween Plantasia will once again be opening their doors after dark and inviting all you ghouls, goblins and witches to join in the fun. Follow the ghost trail, enjoy spooky activities and come dressed up in your scariest costume. Pre-booking essential due to popularity. Part of the Swansea Bay Festival autumn programme.



Bush Tucker Trial @ Plantasia
1, 2 and 3 November
Come and experience our very own Bush Tucker Trial on 1, 2 and 3 November.  Dare to try some tasty critter treats from Honey locust, nutroasted mealworms, garlic flavoured crickets and see how close you can get to Big Beastly Bugs?  Come and have a go – if you're brave enough!
4 shows a day: 10.30, 12pm, 2pm and 3.15pm
Due to popularity pre booking is essentialPrices (price includes a visit of the hot house)
Book online via Ticketsource (small booking fee applies) or contact us on on 01792 474555
Child: £3.95
Adult: £4.95


Waterfront Museum
Flick books – 27 Oct – 2 November 11.30, 12.30, 2, 3. Free. Booking Required


Clydach Library
Dear Zoo 30th Birthday celebration 10.30 – 11.30. Tuesday 30th
Halloween Mask Making Wednesday 31st: 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm

Halloween Story Time and Activity at Swansea Central Library
Tuesday 30th: 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Listen to some of our favourite Halloween tales and then make a spooky craft to take home!










Wednesday 24 October 2012

Sami Sgwar (Sammy Square!)

Today we learnt about squares. We did a hunt for squares in the garden:


I chalked a load of them around the garden but was very impressed when the little boy I look after kept finding other squares in the brick wall and the roof of the playhouse. Clever boy! Of course we had crackers for a snack:


And we made some squares to put on the wall alongside the circles we did last time. I found some square beads to glue on and also cut out squares in different materials (card, foam, tissue paper):


Friday 19 October 2012

Sinking and floating

It was a lovely afternoon so we spent it out in the garden, our bulb planting lead to watering..



Which lead to filling buckets with water. Which lead to a sink or float experiment. The 3 year old I was looking after wanted to know why a toy frog was staying on top of the water so we talked about how and why some things float and some things sink and found lots of things around the garden to experiment with: 


A big pine cone:


A toy car:


And lots more. Lots of fun and lots of learning!

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Discovery Boxes - Fabric

Every week I make up a different Discovery Box for the younger children I look after. So far we've had one filled with different shape, size and texture balls, another filled with blocks of different description. This week is fabric. The one year old I look after loves opening and closing lids so I always use a box with a lid and give him a 'spare' empty one so he can move the fabrics around, opening and closing lids to his heart's content!



As ever, when the older children came home from school they wanted to get stuck in too. So I dug out some larger fabrics which they laid out, explored thoroughly and made into costumes:


Thursday 11 October 2012

Carly, Carly, Carly Cylch

Yesterday was sponsored by the humble circle or, in Welsh, 'cylch'. We did some glueing and sticking, colour matching as we did it:



 Snack time was crumpets of course:


And we made and decorated some fairy cakes. Even our daffodil bulb planting helped with the circle recognition:

Sunday 7 October 2012

Autumn Art Gallery

We've been doing lots of Autumn Arts & Crafts over the last few weeks. All were as simple as possible to suit the 1 and 2 year olds in my setting:

These were done in a salad spinner! Put a leaf cut out in and a couple of blobs of paint, get the kids to spin like crazy:


A hedgehog done by Elin at our fantastic playgroup:


Here's an Autumn tree, just some tissue paper and glue:


And this is what we did with the sensory tray stuff - glued it onto card with some PVA glue, very abstract but it's nice to just let the kids get on with it without guiding them too much:


Some autumn leaf stained glass windows, I've posted about this before (contact paper and tissue paper basically!):


And last of all, using leaves, pine cones and other autumny bits collected from the park to make prints:


I think I may have to rename Hobbsy's House, 'Tate Clydach'!

Saturday 6 October 2012

A load of old rubbish

If I've learnt nothing else in my time as a mum and now childminder, it's that very young children like very simple things. Last week we made a very basic Autumn Sensory Tray using twigs, pine cones and leaves that we collected from the park:


It was very successful and I ended up getting it out a quite a few times.

It was especially successful when used in conjunction with a load of recycling:


These aren't just cardboard tubes and empty plastic bottles you know, they're actually musical instruments!