Category Archives: Themes

Apr16

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

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IMG_9101Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer, paperback novel, 280 pages, first published by Viking in 2001, this edition published by Puffin Books in 2002.

Artemis Fowl is not an average twelve year old boy. He is a criminal mastermind isolated on an enormous estate in Ireland, where he is constantly accompanied by his bodyguard, Butler, but is not restricted by any parental or guardian influence. His family’s vast fortune, accrued over many generations of criminal Fowls, has been lost, and Artemis is determined to restore it. A spot of supernatural kidnapping for ransom should do it, all he has to do is find a fairy to kidnap. Though he is a genius with an elaborate and thorough plan, when he captures Captain Holly Short of the Lower Elements Police Reconnaissance Unit (LEPcon), he gets more than he bargains for.

I’d been thinking about reading Artemis Fowl for a while (I wanted to see whether it lived up to the hype), when I came across a copy in excellent condition in a secondhand bookstore. It was also on sale, so I think it was a sign that it was time to read it! I was not disappointed. From the first chapter I was hooked. It is a fast paced adventure full of fantastical creatures, villains and plenty of action. There are fairy police, an egotistical centaur, a humongous troll, goblins and a tunneling and devious dwarf, all of which come to life in the pages of Artemis Fowl. And Artemis himself is a very interesting character. There are many stories of young heroes saving the day, but not too many telling the exploits of a young criminal using his excessive intelligence to create havoc and amass a fortune. I liked this different perspective, even though he is undoubtedly the baddie, Artemis didn’t seem like the enemy. I found myself hoping there would be some way for both Artemis and the fairies to come out on top.

The plot of Artemis Fowl contained suspense and surprises, and it wasn’t predictable as some novels for younger readers are. The characters developed throughout the story too, providing a richness to the tale, and leaving me wanting to find out more about the Lower Elements, the People and Artemis. There were also little things left unknown, which could be revealed later in the series.

The complexity of the storyline and some elements of violence probably lends itself more towards upper primary to lower high school students, though with guidance younger children may also enjoy this book. I thoroughly enjoyed Artemis Fowl, and I had trouble putting it down to sleep at night. When I can, I will find more of the books from the Artemis Fowl series to read. I am very interested to find out what trouble Artemis is plotting next.

Apr15

Sheep Cupcakes

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IMG_8959A while ago I saw some of the librarians at our local library had made foods inspired by books, and they had made sheep cupcakes for Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek. We own this book, and it gets read over and over to the point where both L and A are able to recite the words! I love the idea of book inspired food, and these sheep cupcakes looked simple enough, so I gave them a go.

Cupcakes ready for icing.

Cupcakes ready for icing.

Big L made a double batch of butter cupcakes, and when they were cool, I iced them with basic vanilla frosting. Then I covered each one with mini-marshmallows (I think the pack called them mallow bakes). I had these in pink and white, so we had some pink sheep and some white sheep.

Covered in mini marshmallows.

Covered in mini marshmallows.

For the heads I used some honeycomb chocolate pods, which are like a small biscuit cup filled with chocolate and come in a number of different flavours (I think they are made by Mars). The filling side of the pods was facing out, and I drew on this using white chocolate writing fudge to form the facial features and ears of each sheep.

It didn’t take me as long as I expected to make these sheep cupcakes, and I was quite happy with the result. Everyone thought they were very yummy too.

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Apr15

Arrowroot Biscuit Easter Eggs

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IMG_9084We go through a lot of milk arrowroot biscuits in our house, especially baby T, he loves them!

Biscuits and 100s and 1000s ready for decorating.

Biscuits and 100s and 1000s ready for decorating.

Milk arrowroots are oval shaped, and close enough to egg-shaped that we tried decorating them to make some non-chocolate Easter eggs. The icing is quite sweet though, so these aren’t a less sugary alternative to chocolate eggs, but they were fun to make.

I mixed up some icing sugar with a little bit of milk in a bowl, and then I transferred some to a zip lock snack bag. I added some vanilla essence and some food colouring to the bag, sealed it, and squished it all together to mix it. When it was ready to use, I snipped a tiny triangle off one corner so that we could use it as a piping bag. I added a bit too much milk to the first lot of icing so it was a little runny, but the other lots were a better consistency for piping.

Spreading icing with a knife.

Spreading icing with a knife.

Piping icing onto a biscuit.

Piping icing onto a biscuit.

The kids used the icing bags to spread icing across the top of the biscuits, on some making patterns with the colours, on others just covering the whole biscuit in the same colour. On some of them they used a knife to spread the icing out. They added some 100s and 1000s to the top of the biscuits, and some they even dipped in the bowl of 100s and 1000s to completely cover the top.

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This was a very messy activity! There was icing, 100s and 1000s and icing sugar everywhere (including all over the kids), but they had a ball. They also enjoyed eating some of their biscuit eggs along the way 🙂

The mess at the end.

The mess at the end.

Apr9

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

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IMG_8888Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel  Scheffler, paperback picture book, first published by Macmillan Children’s Books in 2001, this edition published by Macmillan Children’s Books in 2002.

The Witch and her Cat are going for a broom flight in the starry night, but things keep blowing away. Each time they descend to the ground to recover the lost item, there is another animal wanting a ride on their broom. Can the broom hold all of these animals, or will they come to a sticky end?

Room on the Broom is another delightful rhyming book from the creators of The Gruffalo. This is a fun book to read aloud with children of all ages, but is especially good for pre-schoolers and lower primary school children. The illustrations are nice, and the story is funny, and I enjoy sharing this one with my kids. There is a dragon in this story, which my kids thought was a little scary the first time we read the book, but that hasn’t stopped them requesting many re-reads! This is one of our favourite picture books.

 

Apr8

Two Little Pirates by Ruth Paul

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IMG_8894Two Little Pirates by Ruth Paul, paperback picture book, first published by Scholastic New Zealand Limited in 2010, this reformatted edition was published by Scholastic New Zealand Limited in 2013.

As the day draws near, two little pirates attack the King and Queen where they lay in their bed sleeping. They tickle the Queen’s feet, and the King falls down, but soon the tide turns and the little pirates are hung over the side of the ship. Captured, they have to pay for their pirate ways, but soon punishment is exchanged for snuggles and cuddles.

This is a lovely book, with gorgeous illustrations and rhyming text that makes the idea of being woken up by young children seem like a fun and engaging experience. The language is just right for the subject matter, with humour and pizzazz. Two Little Pirates is a great book for sharing and reading aloud with young children. Slightly older children, lower to middle primary school age, will also enjoy reading this themselves, and listening to it being read of course!

Apr4

Paper Plate Rabbit

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A made a paper plate rabbit today. It has paper ears, a button for a nose, googly eyes, a pipe cleaner mouth and little pom pom teeth.

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Adding a button nose.

Adding a button nose.

I cut out the ears for A, and she glued them together. Once she had glued the ears to the top of the paper plate, they were a bit floppy, so we added a couple of popsticks behind the ears to keep them upright. A glued down the nose, eyes, mouth and teeth, and then left it to dry.

Adding popsticks to keep the ears up.

Adding popsticks to keep the ears up.

We used the hole punch to put a hole in the plate between the ears and added some string so that it could be hung up in her room. This was pretty simple and quick, and A is very happy with her rabbit.

Apr3

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Mozzie by P. Crumble and Louis Shea

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IMG_8896There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Mozzie by P. Crumble and Louis Shea, paperback picture book, published by Scholastic Australia in 2010.

This is an hilarious Australian twist on the classic There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly. Only here, the Old Lady swallows a Mozzie (mosquito), followed by a range of Aussie animals, which get bigger and bigger.

The illustrations in There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Mozzie are fantastic. The Old Lady is comically dressed in purple slippers with matching purple hair, and a purple bow on her wide-brim hat. My favourite picture is of the Old Lady eating an echidna sandwich with tomato sauce, but every page contains a wonderfully humorous drawing. And the story is just as entertaining, as she eats her way through the Australian bush in an attempt to catch the mozzie she has swallowed.

I shared this book with my children, and they loved it. It’s best for lower primary school children and below, though all ages can have a laugh while reading this book. It is perfect for reading aloud and for sharing. Once we’d read the story we really enjoyed talking about the pictures, and how silly the Old Lady is for swallowing all those animals, especially since she took her teeth out at the start! A fun book we will read over and over.

Apr2

Yarn Dolls

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I remembered making yarn dolls when I was a child, and I wanted to try it with the girls.

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Wrapping the yarn around the cardboard.

Wrapping the yarn around the cardboard.

First I cut some sturdy cardboard up into two rectangles to use to wrap the yarn around to make the body of the doll. I started each child off by winding the yarn around a few times, and then they continued to wind it until it was as thick as they wanted it to be. Once that was done, I helped them remove the hank of yarn from the cardboard. From this yarn we would make the head, body and legs of the doll.

 

 

Tying yarn around the body to form the head.

Tying yarn around the body to form the head.

The body with hair, head, body and legs.

The body with hair, head, body and legs.

L cut a few pieces of yarn off the ball to use to tie around the hank of yarn to differentiate the hair from the head, and the head from the body and the body from the legs. L tied her knots, but A had difficulty, and asked me to help her do this part. Once the yarn was tied around the body at the top of the legs, we split the yarn beneath this into two roughly equal parts, forming the legs. A small section at the base was also tied off to form feet.

Arms ready to be added to the body.

Arms ready to be added to the body.

To make the arms, the kids wrapped some more yarn around their cardboard, but this time, around the shorter sides of the rectangle. This hank of yarn was also not as thick as that of the body. Once we had removed this yarn from the cardboard, a small section on each end was tied off to form the hands.

We carefully threaded the arms through the body of the doll, and secured the arms in place using another piece of yarn wrapped around the doll’s chest in a criss-cross under the arms and around the back. We snipped off all the loose threads from our knots, and then the dolls were done. L left her doll just as it was, but A added some tiny googly eyes to her doll, but not other facial features.

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Apr1

The Terrible Plop by Ursula Dubosarsky

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IMG_8646The Terrible Plop by Ursula Dubosarsky and illustrated by Andrew Joyner, paperback picture book, first published by Penguin Group (Australia) in 2009, this edition published by Penguin Group (Australia) in 2012.

The rabbits are having a relaxing snack by the lake when they hear a loud noise. It frightens them and they run away from the lake as quickly as they can telling all the animals they meet on the way about the “Terrible Plop”. They come to a bear who doesn’t believe anything could be scarier than him, and he forces the smallest of all the rabbits to show him where this “Terrible Plop” is.

Just as some children are wary of trying new things, the littlest rabbit discovers that some things seem scary at first, but once they are explained, they are not really scary at all. This is something most people can relate to. The Terrible Plop is an entertaining story with rhyming text and lovely illustrations. It is an excellent read-aloud book, and I love sharing this one with my kids. Great for preschoolers and lower primary school children, this story is sure to become a favourite.

Mar31

Pom Pom Bunnies and Chicks

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IMG_8836When we went into Riot Art & Craft last week they had a large display of Easter crafts, including some little craft kits. Each of the kids picked out a pom pom critter kit to make at home. L chose mini chicks and bunnies, and A chose some chicks.

IMG_8818IMG_8819There were some instructions on the back of the pack, but it would have been possible to complete the pom pom critters from the picture alone, given what was in each kit. We had to cut up some of the pipe cleaners to the right length, but otherwise everything was ready to go.

 

Adding the chick's bunny ears headband.

Adding the chick’s bunny ears headband.

L got started on hers straight away, getting the beak and little puffy cheeks onto her chicks. A asked that I help her with the glue, and making the pipe cleaners into the right shapes. Once I’d placed the glue, she put the pieces together carefully.

One of L’s mini bunnies experienced a small accident which left its face elongated, so L started calling it the ele-bunny. I think she just damaged the pom pom, making it a weird shape.

L's mini bunnies and mini chicks.

L’s mini bunnies and mini chicks.

It was a fun way to pass an hour or so, and once the pom pom critters dried, the kids had great fun playing with them. A even took her chicks to bed with her and cuddled them to sleep.

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