garden – Page 5 – Tracie's Treasures

childminding, family, Garden Classroom, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Garden Challenge 2021: Phylis’s Garden

Posted on 17th Oct 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

We have had ups and downs during this year with our gardens. Here is a round up of how Phyllis’ gardening went..

These pictures are from Phyllis’ front garden, it gets full sun most of the day. The lovely well planter was made by Frank, he has hung bird feeders and hidden bird boxes in the roof. He also made the wooden tiered planter where the vegetables are growing for their yummy, fresh Christmas dinner.

Phyllis had a bumper crop of fruit and vegetables this year, here are a few pictures to show how well she did!

It’s been a hard year and being in the garden has given Phyllis a project which she has thoroughly enjoyed. Next year Phyllis is going to focus on flowers, including a wildflower patch to encourage wildlife.

No better way to prove how amazing it is to grow your own, a delicious fresh Sunday lunch! Where’s mine?

childminding, family, Garden Classroom, Seedlings

Pumpkin Growing and Beyond

Posted on 16th Oct 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

Back in April the Seedlings sowed pumpkin seeds in the vegetable plot hoping they would grow big for Halloween.

We had bought large pumpkins from the local supermarket last year and kept the seeds, dried them out and stored them in a paper bag to grow for this year. We hoped they would grow big and strong.

Unfortunately, our pumpkins haven’t grown as much as we hoped for yet so the Seedlings went to the shop and bought one for our activity.

First the Seedlings looked at the ones growing in the garden, they were way too small, green and some still had the flower on.

Next we looked at the shop brought pumpkin and Tracie cut it in half for the Seedlings to investigate.

They touched the skin and thought it was cold and hard. When the Seedlings were asked to touch the centre, two of the children said ‘yucky don’t want too’ but Martie prodded it with her finger and smelled it, she wasn’t impressed.

Earlier, while out in the garden the seedlings picked some pumpkin leaves, for the activity they used green paint to make prints of the leaves onto paper.

Tracie cut the pumpkin in half and put it into some orange paint, the seedings swished the pumpkin to make sure it was covered in paint then used it like a stamper onto the prints of the leaves.

The seedlings made lovely pictures of the growing pumpkins in the garden. Alfie squished his pumpkin and the orange paint, mixed with the green to make an abstract painting.

The Seedlings loved the activity and we have displayed them in the front play room.

childminding, family, Garden Classroom, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Grandad And Rosie’s Garden

Posted on 8th Oct 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

Over the summer holidays Poppy went to Grandad Smith and Nanny Rosie’s to see how their wildlife garden and beekeeping were coming along.

Poppy’s sister Chelsea came along for the trip, she loved learning all about the wildlife and the bees in her grandad’s garden. We all talked about nature, looked at the bird houses and saw some footage of the baby birds learning to eat while still in the bird box via a webcam. Never too old to learn!

We brought along some tadpoles from our pond in Liverpool and set them free in Grandad’s pond, hopefully he will have some frogs next time we visit. Do you think they will croak in a scouse accent?

We sat and watched the tadpoles swimming around settling in their new environment. While we were watching them we saw dragonflies, water fleas, snails, hoverflies and lots of beautiful butterflies.

We looked around Grandad’s vegetable garden, he has grown lots of lovely vegetables and fruit this year. Poppy went hunting and found cucumbers, tomatoes, grapes and lemons in the greenhouse.

In the main garden we saw Sweetcorn, Beetroots, Green Beans, Cabbage, leeks, strawberries and lots of Raspberries.

Poppy picked so many Raspberries we had them for tea, snack and breakfast!

childminding, family, Garden Classroom, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Summer Holidays: Week 4

Posted on 10th Aug 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

Week 4 already! Wow the summer holidays are going fast!

Izzy has had lots of fun with everyone and has settled into our setting really well. She is always so happy, bubbly and watches everyone playing. She lets us know when she wants something or not, and thrives on all the interactions with children, Emma and Myself.

We had fun at the play centre, Jack loved looking through the peep bubbles and trying to point out his friends.

Charlie and Martie both finished off their ‘Liverpool Kindness Rocks’ paintings so next week we can all go out and hide them in all the parks we are visiting.

Tracie, Martha, Ivor, Jack, Sophie and Georgia all went to the Odeon to watch ‘The Croods 2’. It was very funny and everyone behaved so well they had popcorn and sweets for treats!

While we were all in the Odeon Gemma took Poppy around town. They had lots of fun, in and out of lots of different shops. Poppy said the sweet shop smelled so sweet and Lush, which sells bath bombs, smelled like fruit! They both loved looking at the display made out of colourful umbrellas and comics. What a sensory time they had!

At the ‘Liverpool Lighthouse’ this week we went for fun, games and dancing. We played musical statues, musical bumps, superheroes, dancing and tag. We also took part in ‘make your own’ lunch. We all got to make a healthy bag full of fruit, veg and sandwiches which we took to the park for a picnic.

The game of the week was ‘UNO’ everyone joined in so we ended up using two decks of cards. Chloe won the most games, Poppy the most tantrums and Jack the most ‘give aways’.

Poppy and Izzy loved playing together, Poppy read Izzy stories, sang songs and had sensory mat play.

The soft play was used the most this week. The children used them as a playground, hiding seek, building, sleeping, relaxing and role play! Well worth the spends!

Last full week before our week off, then back to school. I wonder what fun we will be having?…

childminding, family, Garden Classroom, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Garden Challenge 2021: Tracie’s Update

Posted on 6th Aug 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

When Sophie and I walked around the garden, I asked her to pick out her favourite fruit and vegetables we are growing. Well, she chose these lovely Lilies. Not quite what I asked for but she’s right they are lovely.

While we are talking Lilies, look at our amazing 8 foot Lily trees. They tower so high and they are so fragrant you can smell them all around the garden.

Back to our fruit and vegetables, below is our cucumber and we have grown conjoined twins! Double the trouble and size! Poppy ate it in one sitting!! She said they were delicious.

Our apples are coming on nicely, they are getting plumper, Monty Don says you can tell when they are ready as they twist off easily. Guess we’ve got to keep waiting. Be worth it though. We also have onions, tomatoes and strawberries growing strong.

In the greenhouse the Luffa vines are growing tall and strong. When they fruit the children are going to make luffa soaps.

The Cucumbers and Chillies have now left the greenhouse and are in the garden growing strong. Tracie watered everything and added tomato feed to give them a boost.

Our new project this summer is the bath pond. We had our bathroom turned into a wet room and thought the cast iron bath could be up cycled into a large pond. Our growing tadpoles and frogs will have more space and we might even get some fish! We will add photos next time.

childminding, Garden Classroom, Seedlings, wanderers

Garden Challenge 2021: Phyllis’ update

Posted on 6th Aug 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

Phyllis has been busy collecting her fruits and vegetables that she started growing earlier in the year.

Phyllis has grown some lovely beetroot which is Tracie’s favourite. They are tasty in a salad or as a compliment in a comforting Scouse. The peppers in the greenhouse are looking good! Chloe loves to munch on these for a healthy snack.

At the moment the tomatoes are still green, but by next week with a lot of sunny weather, they will soon turn red and be ready to eat with the beetroot in a summer salad!

The carrots are looking fabulous watch out for any rabbits Phyllis this is their favourite snack!

As you can see, Phyllis has a vast variety of fruits and vegetables growing. Looks like all her time in the garden has paid off.

childminding, family, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Summer Holidays: Week 3 already!

Posted on 4th Aug 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

Well, what an action packed week we have all had!

We have been walking, playing and having picnics everywhere!

We enjoyed spending time at home with the sensory toys, practicing our walking skills and reading stories.

We all chose to have glittery tattoos done at the Liverpool Lighthouse. We then had a fun afternoon dancing and singing.

We even took part in an fire evacuation practice, we didn’t want anyone to know it was our smoke machine in the disco that set the alarm off! Ssshh don’t tell anyone!! At least we got to practice an evacuation!

Fire Evacuation: Too Marks We Are All Safe!

Jack stood up all by himself and the boys went rambling up the hill all by themselves!

We went to Cirq d-Play in Great Homer Street. Chloe loved the tube slide the best, her mum wanted to have a go too! Looks like you both enjoyed the experience, lovely face Gemma! Hahaha

Jack enjoyed the baby slide and everyone wanted to have a go with him.

Poppy found the way up to the slide very challenging, Gemma and Chloe both encouraged her to have a try. It took about four attempts and quite a lot of screaming but eventually she made it up the ropes and down the tube slide!

Wonder what fun we will have next week??

childminding, family, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Summer Holidays: Week 2

Posted on 23rd Jul 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

The weather turned too cold and wet for a couple of days. We went to the park on the Monday and got drenched so we all decided to have a games day. The sun ended up coming back out!!

We loved the game ‘Fast Fish’ it was fun rolling the dice and predicting the colours of the fish we had to rush and find. Jack beat Tracie and Martha beat everyone!

Poppy and Sophia love anything Japanese at the moment so after the cinema we decided to pop in to Yo Sushi to try some new foods. The girls loved trying to use chopsticks, it made our lunchtime last forever!

While in town, we decided to have a walk about. The girls loved climbing the suitcases on Hope Street.

Back at our setting we were busy painting our rocks that we made last week.

Tracie and some of the children went on a trip to Acorn Farm. We went into the petting station and loved sitting still and stroking the animals. Tracie made a friend with a goat and Jack loved the meerkats.

Emma went on a trip to Hollywood Bowl. They all jumped on a bus, played a couple of games and had a lovely lunch! What a lovely fun end to a busy second week!

Wonder what fun we will have in week three!? The summer holidays are going fast!

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Liverpool Kindness Rocks Summertime Fun

Posted on 23rd Jul 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

All the Seedlings enjoyed making Kindness Rocks over the last term. The older children asked if they could paint some over the summer holidays as they didn’t get a chance because they were at school.

We thought it would be good to extend the activity by using clay to make the shapes to paint.

First we had to kneed the clay to make it malleable to roll out. Then they chose a cutter and pressed it into the clay to make the shape. It was then laid out on some card ready to dry.

We had to leave them overnight again as they hadn’t completely dried out.

The children worked hard to paint the clay rocks ready to hide.

We found just as many as we hid! We ended up going out for three days to hide them all!

childminding, family, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Summer Holidays: Week 1

Posted on 16th Jul 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

We have had a ball this week, the sun has been out every day and the children have all been so good!

Alfie was so tired one day he was nearly asleep while playing! Izzy had her first day with us and she was such a little giggler, her favourite play was jumping up and down in the activity centre.