Categories
Education

Twinkl Back-to-School Hub: Ignite Learning Magic for an A+ Adventure!

Hey parents, teachers, and little learners! 🌟 Are you ready to sprinkle some educational magic into this year’s back-to-school routine? πŸš€βœ¨ Look no further than Twinkl – your ultimate partner in making learning a joyous adventure! πŸŒˆπŸŽ’

Having fun learning with Twinkl

πŸ”— Check out Twinkl’s Back-to-School Hub for a treasure trove of resources that will turn the ordinary into extraordinary! πŸŽ‰πŸ“˜

Why Twinkl? 🌟

1️⃣ Whiz-Bang Resources: Twinkl’s got a backpack full of resources for every grade, subject, and learning style. From vibrant worksheets to interactive games, they’ve got the golden ticket to engage young minds!

2️⃣ Teachers’ Pet (Literally!): Calling all teachers – Twinkl is your classroom companion! With lesson plans, activity packs, and vibrant displays, you’ll be the superhero of the school year.

3️⃣ Parent Power-Up: Mums and Dads, get ready to be your child’s learning hero! Twinkl offers at-home activities, printables, and fun games – making homework a breeze and bonding time a blast.

4️⃣ A+ Variety: Whether your little one is a math whiz, a budding artist, or a future scientist, Twinkl caters to all interests. Learning has never been this diverse and delightful!

Navigate the Hub like a Pro! 🧭

πŸ“– Storyland Corner: Dive into the magical world of storytelling with Twinkl’s enchanting tales. Perfect for bedtime or an afternoon escape!

🧠 Brainy Buddies: Meet the Brainy Buddies – your child’s animated study companions! They make learning fun and keep boredom at bay.

🎨 Arty Avenue: Unleash your child’s creativity on Arty Avenue! From crafts to colouring, this is the perfect spot for little Picassos.

🎀 Show and Tell Square: Time to showcase those new skills! Share your child’s accomplishments in the Show and Tell Square and watch the applause roll in.

Grab everything you need at the Twinkl Back to School Hub

πŸ“’ Extra! Extra! Read All About It! πŸ“°

Twinkl is not just a platform; it’s a community! Share your back-to-school adventures, discoveries, and triumphs on social media using #TwinklBackToSchool. Let’s create a buzz of positivity, inspiration, and support as we embark on this exciting academic journey together! πŸŒˆπŸš€

So, what are you waiting for? Dive into the back-to-school extravaganza with Twinkl and let the learning festivities begin! πŸŽŠπŸ‘©β€πŸ«πŸ“ #TwinklMagic #BackToSchoolJoy

Perfect resources for parents and teachers – all at the Twinkl back to school hub

Ready to sprinkle some educational pixie dust into your teaching and parenting routines?

Our recent blog post, ‘5 Reasons Why You Need Twinkl Membership,’ is your golden ticket to a world of delightful learning adventures! Picture this: a hub filled with vibrant lesson plans, engaging activities, and a community of fellow learners and educators cheering you on. With a Twinkl membership, say goodbye to educational woes and hello to an enchanting journey where teaching and learning become a joyous collaboration. Dive into the post, grab your popcorn, and discover why Twinkl is the secret ingredient for turning ordinary moments into extraordinary milestones in your academic adventure! πŸš€πŸ“š

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Categories
Creative

Make a Paper Chain Calendar

This post was provided by Education.com

Young kids usually have only a vague sense of time. They probably know that an hour is longer than ten minutes, and a week is shorter than a month, but it’s difficult for them to gauge time’s passing.

Making a paper chain calendar can help them learn this valuable math skill.

What You Need:

  • Calendar
  • 3” x 8” strips of colored construction paper
  • Glue

Make a Paper Chain Calendar
Make a Paper Chain Calendar

What You Do:

  1. Pick a date in the future that has some meaning for your child, for example, the first day of school, the date a relative is set to come visit, a birthday, or the start date of a favorite activity, like soccer. Ideally, the date should be about a month away.
  2. Pull out your calendar, and with your child’s help, count the number of days until the event you’ve chosen.
  3. Give your child the construction paper strips and explain that each strip stands for one day. Together, count out the correct number of strips (one for each day until your event), then help your child make a paper chain, by gluing the end of each strip together to form a link, then adding the rest of the links to form a β€œchain”.
  4. Hang your chain in your child’s room, or in a prominent place. Each day, allow her to remove one link from the chain. As the days pass, this will give her a visual picture to associate with the numbers she sees on the calendar.
  5. Not only does this provide a concrete image for the passing of time, but it gives your child a great excuse to practice counting backwards!

 




A big thank you to Education.com for this creative way to help kids learn. If you have not checked out their website make sure you stop by. Education.com have excellent resources to help your kids be super clever.

Categories
Things to do

See Mammoths the Giants of the Ice Age

This weekend we are going back in time.

42,000 years into the past to be precise. How are we time traveling? Well, we don’t have a Delorean or a Tardis. Personally, this is a tragedy but not the end of the world.

Due to not having any of these fancy time travel machines, we will be roughing it by walking to our destination after parking the car.

How are we time traveling? Well, we don’t have a Delorean or a Tardis. Personally, this is a tragedy but not the end of the world. Due to not having any of these fancy time travel machines, we will be roughing it by walking to our destination after parking the car.

Due to not having any of these fancy time travel machines, we will be roughing it by walking to our destination after parking the car.

Woolly Mammoths Mural. Illustration by Velizar Simeonovski, The Field Museum.
Woolly Mammoths Mural. Illustration by Velizar Simeonovski, The Field Museum.

So where are we off to that requires us to flash back thousands of years?

We are having a sneak peek at the Australian Museum’s latest exhibition. Yes, we are visiting a museum and in a way that means we are being whisked away in time. The kids, hubby and I are going to learn about theΒ Mammoths – Giants of the Ice Age

The Mammoths – Giants of the Ice Age is an exhibition that is in partnership with Destination NSW, the Australian Museum (AAM’s) major exhibition will feature Lyuba , (pronounced Lay – oo – baa ) – a 40,000 – year – old baby woolly mammoth, discovered in 2007 by a Siberian herder and his two sons. This will be the first time the near fully intact baby mammoth has been on display in the southern hemisphere.

Lyuba , (pronounced Lay - oo - baa ) – a 40,000 - year - old baby woolly mammoth.
Lyuba , (pronounced Lay – oo – baa ) – a 40,000 – year – old baby woolly mammoth.

Fancy having history come to life and getting closer to what these animals would have been like.

Australia didn’t have mammoths, so this might be your only chance to see them.

What will you see at the exhibition?

Developed by the internationally renowned Field Museum in Chicago, the exhibition includes a rich collection of fossils, casts and cave drawings showing evidence of how early humans hunted and honoured these massive creatures. Mammoths lived alongside humans for thousands of years and were a source of food for early people, as well as artistic inspiration. Artwork dating from between 35,000 and 10,000 years ago will also be on display in the form of miniature carvings made of bone, stone and mammoth ivory from mammoth tusks. How amazing is it that this artwork has survived.

Did you know? Mammoths are an extinct group of elephants of the genus Mammuthus, whose ancestors migrated out of Africa about 3.5 million years ago.

This image of a human next to mammoths gives you an idea of how big they were. I must say I wouldn't want to be next to one, it would be rather scary.
This image of a human next to mammoths gives you an idea of how big they were. I must say I wouldn’t want to be next to one, it would be rather scary.

I cannot wait to show the kids these amazing and enormous animals. I’m also keen to learn more at the exhibition about what life must have been like alongside this massive creatures. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be close to a mammoth and to learn more about the time, the animals and much more. Make sure that you don’t miss this amazing exhibit from the Australian Museum.

 

What are the dates of The Mammoths Giant of the Ice Age Exhibit

The Mammoths Giants of the Ice Age is open from 19th November 2017 to 13th May 2018

Book your ticket today to see the Mammoths - Giants of the Ice Age at the Australian Museum.
Book your ticket today to see the Mammoths – Giants of the Ice Age at the Australian Museum.

Get tickets to see this amazing event

You can purchase tickets online at the Australian Museum website. Online prices: Adult $10 AM Member, $20 non-Member, Concession $8 AM Member, $16 non-Member, Child 5+ $6 AM Member, $12 non-Member. Kids under 5 go free. Β  Having this on the list of things to do for the soon to be summer school holidays is a good idea. I always like to have some good places to take the kids that they don’t normally go to often. A museum is a good excuse to stay in the city, relax at a swish hotel and have dinner out. Follow the blog on Instagram to see all the updates at the exhibition and while we are in the city.

A big thank you to The Australian MuseumΒ for our invite to look at the exhibit before it officially opens. We are all very excited and cannot wait.

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Categories
Things to do

Get Up Close with Dinosaurs

Do you need an idea of where to take the kids? Well this one will keep kids and adults occupied for hours! Yes the whole family will find something of interest. Recently we took the twins to the “Tyrannosaurs, Meet the Family exhibition at The Australian Museum.” It was amazing and very interactive for the kids. So if you need somewhere for the kids that is different and also educational this is a great place to go!

Excited and cannot wait to go and meet the Tyrannosaurs
Excited and cannot wait to go and meet the Tyrannosaurs

 

Here is a sneak peek of what the exhibition is like.


When we all walked in the kids were super excited and we did not know what to expect. There was a walkway and to each side screens with video on them. On the screen was images of Sydney one at the Opera House and the other looks like it is Phillip Street. The video below shows what happened when we went through this walkway to access the exhibition.

I obviously did not care if my kids or hubby were attacked by a dinosaur. I was too busy giggling and filming on my iPhone.

Once we were at the exhibition there were places for the kids to touch dinosaur bones, interact with the screens. This interactive screen allowed you to click on an egg, hatch a baby dinosaur and drag it onto the right time where they would have lived. I had no idea when where to put them but it was very clever and a fun way to get kids interested and involved.

The girls playing with the touch screen.
The girls playing with the touch screen.

There is now a dinosaur on the loose
There is now a dinosaur on the loose

 

A Dinosaur Shadow Comes to Life

Turn the volume up to experience full roar!

The twins were rather shocked that the shadow came to life. The noise was very loud!

We had tickets that allowed us entry at a certain time. I think we could enter at 12.30, so we had time before we went to the Tyrannosaurs exhibition. This allowed us to see the rest of the museum as well. It was a good experience for the kids. In the bone and skeleton section there was a lady with bones and items that kids could touch. She told the kids all about the bones and asked questions of the girls. One thing that she asked the twins was why is it that the pelican bones are so much lighter and more hollow than the elephant or other bones. The answer of course was barbecue pelicans fly and need lighter bones to be in the air. Yes the girls got that one right!

Domestic Bliss. Reading the paper while the dog is at your feet. The cat is chasing a mouse. While the bird is in its cage.
Domestic Bliss. Reading the paper while the dog is at your feet. The cat is chasing a mouse. While the bird is in its cage.

A horseman on his horse. Yeehaa!
A horseman on his horse. Yeehaa!

The girls at one of the skeleton remains of a dinosaur.
The girls at one of the skeleton remains of a dinosaur.

We also looked at some very nice and big lumps of gemstone! Yes I would have loved to have left with a lot of it in my bag. I know it would be obvious I would have it as I could not lift it and therefore, would have to drag my bag out of the building. Plus it is all behind glass and I would not be able to get to it is a big deterrent and of course getting to trouble is BIGGER ONE!

Just amazing and impressive gemstones on display.
Just amazing and impressive gemstones on display.

More About Tyrannosaurs – Meet the Family

How much are tickets?

$62 for a family of 2 adults and 2 kids if you buy at the museum on the same day

$57 for a family of 2 adults and 2 kids if you purchase tickets in advance

Kids under 5 are free!

You can see all the museum as well as the Dinosaur exhibit with this ticket. Great value to see everything.

If you are a member of the museum it is cheaper.

When does it end?

The Tyrannosaurs exhibition closes on July 27th. Better get there to experience the fun before it ends.

A Bit of Fun

You can download the Tyrannosaurs Photo Bomb App and enter the competition to win tickets and a trip to Sydney.

Hope this has given you another idea for the kids. After we left the museum we decided to go to the Botanical Gardens so the girls could run around and get some energy released, this worked out well as we had a long trip back to the mountains. I find it best when kids can have some time playing and running around before they get back into a car where they cannot move much and are rather restricted.