Winter sports have all but taken over our weekends at the moment. Mr I and myself are normally pretty good at just talking through the logistics, but recently it hit a peak and I requested Mr I draw me a flow chart!

And this was just for Saturday. Sunday had two games of junior footy as well. With weekends like that it is easy for it all to go by in a blur of drop offs pick ups and rushing to get from one game to the next.

Thanks to Yoplait we were to take the family on a picnic. Due to sporting commitments I was beginning to think we could never fit it in, but that was because I was just thinking of a picnic in terms of a lunch. I needed to think broader than that, so I blocked out time for everyone late Sunday afternoon and set about creating for us a fab French inspired picnic basket for an early dinner.

I wanted the venue to be something different for us and finally settled on the Sculpture Park at Heide Museum of Modern Art.

It was the perfect venue for us. Lots of space, lots to look at and in the late afternoon when we went, there were very few people around, so it felt just like us amongst all this space and greenery. We could take our dog Lucas too!

I had packed plenty of food and we were going to have a rolling sort of meal, with lots of running around and fun in between. Our first sitting was fruit, yogurt and cheese and crackers.

We scooped out the vanilla yogurt to dip the fresh fruit into. I brought along tooth picks for the kids to skewer the fruit and then dip. They loved this and had lots of fun making fruit stacks.

Of course the eldest took it a step further and combined, fruit, crackers, sun dried tomatoes and yogurt! He was adamant it tasted superb…..

While the youngest made himself a camembert cracker sandwich.

There are the most amazing trees at the Heidi Sculpture Park. The kids took off to explore them, while I reset the picnic blanket for the second sitting.

This was a combination of home made food and purchased supplies. Master 11 played his 50th game of footy earlier in the day which we all went and watched and after cooking in the lead up to the weekend for Master 6′s birthday party on Friday, I wanted to keep it pretty simple for me.

I packaged up the Strawberry Yogurt Cupcakes so they would travel well and cope with being jiggled around in the picnic basket by one of the kids as it was carried into the park.

Roast Chicken and salad baguettes where devoured by the kids and the adults too.

Everyone wanted to share what the top of their Yoplait tub had on it.

Another pause in the eating and time for some soccer fun, even if there were some hold ups on challenges to the ref.

The car park closes at 6pm, so even though we would have happily played for longer, we did need to pack up. I had taken along old shopping bags, one for rubbish and one to place all the dirty utensils in. This made packing up a lot easier and it was quick to pop everything into their respective bags, fold up the blankets and make our way back to the car.

There is beautiful lighting at Heidi and it made for a gorgeous walk back to the car.

Without doubt though, the highlight for the kids were the great big lamps on the ground near where we parked our car.

They would have played forever on them, but the car park gates were calling us.

The picnic was such a lovely way to end our busy week end. The kids thought it was the best dinner ever and I was pretty happy too with only minimal clean up to do once we arrived home!

It was such a great reminder to me about the importance of blocking out time for the family, to enjoy each others’ company and have some fun.

How do you fit in fun family outings during the busy times?

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Making Time For Fun is a post from: Planning With Kids

If you are not familiar with Wallace and Gromit, they are the main characters in a series of clay animations created by Nick Park. Wallace (the human) and Gromit (the dog) live together in a small house and make all sorts of wonderful inventions with the aim of making everyday life tasks easier. You can see some of their more idealistic inventions in the short series of animations called Cracking Contraptions You Tube.

The exhibition is more that just a look at the animated characters though. It is aimed to be a creative and accessible way for children (and adults!) to learn about the importance of protecting big ideas.

The exhibition is set up as a a life-size version of Wallace and Gromit’s home on 62 West Wallaby Street. At the opening, the audience toured the exhibition in two groups. The space inside the house is limited, so I highly recommend making a booking when you want to attend (see end for more details).

And if you have smaller ones you would really want to consider going on a Little Kids Day In. A day held on the first Monday of each month, when there is no school group tours at the museum, allowing little ones more access to all the activities.

There are so many different ways for the kids to get hands on at the exhibition. The 11 and 6 year old enjoyed playing this game.

The preschooler loved making patterns for his wall paper. It was all touch screen controlled and very simple for him to navigate.

He then pressed a button to see his wallpaper appear on the big screen.

My daughter who loves to draw and colour in, spend ages on the “rainbow wall”.

We all loved this contraption, which required physical activity to sit and watch some TV.

The 11 year old loves a sporting challenge, so did all the throwing while the younger ones took over the controls.

Throughout the exhibition there are many message about the importance creating and protecting your ideas.

There are also ideas stations where kids can write down / draw their ideas. They could also enter them in the “Cracking Ideas” competition if they like as well.

Without a doubt the highlight for the preschooler was zooming (they do go fast!) down the plug hole. I think he went down at least 50 times!

Every bathroom should have some shower karaoke!

There is a modelling clay forest the kids can add to.

Only my daughter made something to add.

The boys were having too much fun over in Gromit’s kennel.

And on the way out there is very fun memorabilia you can purchase. We bought a very cute magna puzzle.

There are some fantastic resources on the Scienceworks website that you can check out before you visit the exhibition. While it is aimed aimed teachers and schools, they are suitable for parents too:

• An Education Kit – complete with teacher’s notes and many great activities for the kids.
• Little Inventor’s Handbook – details of competition for kids.
• Design a logo – activity showing how to protect your brand or logo with trade marks.
• Plus more you can find here.

Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention – The Details

Melbourne’s Scienceworks will be the first venue in Australia to show the exhibition from now until Decemeber. It will then move to Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum in December 2012.

Location:
Scienceworks – 2 Booker St Spotswood, Victoria, 3015

Opening Times:
Daily, 19 May – 11 Nov 2012
10:00 AM – 4:30 PM

Cost:
Entry to Scienceworks only:
Adult $10.00, Child (3-16 years) Free, Concession Free (Museum Victoria Members receive discounted entry.)

Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention (on top of Scienceworks entry):
Adult $9, Child $6, Concession $7.50

Bookings:
Can me made online here.

Or by phone:
13 11 02 (Victoria only)
03 9392 4800 (Australia-wide)
+61 3 9392 4800 (International)

Are you a fan of Wallace and Gromit?

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Wallace and Gromit At Scienceworks is a post from: Planning With Kids

I am not a teacher, nor an academic so what I am sharing are simply strategies I have used with my son to teach him better study skills and some resources we have found helpful.

Note Taking

In my post last year on 10 Things I Have Learnt About Year 7 And Year 7 Boys This Year I highlighted how our son could himself see there was room for improvment in the way he studied for his exams.

His goal this year was to have all his notes up to date a few weeks before the exams start. To his credit he did start writing notes up in a special study note book in term 1. When he showed me his notes, I instantly saw that the notes themselves where part of the problem.

His notes where really just slabs of text he was taking from his class notes or text book. They were not at all user friendly and nor did they appeal to his learning style.

His school subscribes to the Study Skills Handbook so I had him go back and review the online units about note taking. Once he finished it we then talked about the key criteria for taking good study notes:

• Dot points – do not write in paragraphs! Dot points are best and the shorter the better.
• Key points – focus on key words and definitions.
• Simplify – can it be made into a timeline? a table? a chart? Try and make it visually simple, so you can use the image to help with recall.
• Colour code – use different colour pens or highlighters consistently throughout your notes. Eg all dates in red, info you know will be tested highlighted in yellow.
• Use your own words – you are more likely to remember information when the terminology is something you would actually use and you understand it.

We had a real break through with this and he went back and redid all the history notes he had written in a more user friendly format.

Taking his learning style into account

Early in term two his teacher took the class through the different learning styles and assessed each child. Our son is a predominantly kinesthetic learner, meaning he actually learns better when he is moving his body and being physically active with this learning.

He is a constant tapper, jigger, swinger of chair type of kid – which does sort of drive me crazy sometimes! But I see how it works for him and I have tried to help him find ways to study that is less passive and a range of mediums to prevent the “boring” factor.

In Japanese for example, I had him create a table that he could write in. It took a number of goes at the table before he could recall all the appropriate answers. After each table, he would rewrite a number of times the answers he had incorrect or didn’t know. He was very happy with the improved test results he received when he used this technique for a class test.

I also found an online resource where he could test himself on the Katakana he needed to know. Youth Central have a great page on their site on Study Tips which includes a link to a quiz where you can work out what type of learner you are.

Remove distractions

Once we reached about a month out before these set of exams, we reassessed our son’s technology use / tv watching. Like me, he loves technology and could easily spend lots of time on it. Until exams are over, he has technology only on Friday, Saturday and Sundays and only after a minimum amount of homework has been completed.

While he did not love this decision, he conceded that combined with his sporting activities, he did need to use his time better.

Study Timetable

I did get him to set out a study timetable from that point right up until the exam period. He dutifully went off and created a spreadsheet and filled it in. I actually don’t think he has looked at it since! I simply don’t think he can work that far out. So we have tried something new, a more week by week approach and he seems to feel more comfortable with this.

I had him write a list up of:

• All the homework that needed to be completed.
• The gaps in his study notes.
• Any upcoming tests.
• Due dates for assignments.

The first time we did this on a Friday night, I helped him then schedule the workload over the weekend. He now feels like he will be able to do it himself next week.

I am going to check in with him Sunday evening to see how he has traveled with his to do list. I still do find he needs to know this will happen to keep him accountable!

I also try to remember what I was like at his age. As planned as I am now, I was a massive last minute study type of person. Studying is a skill and at the moment I am trying to teach some skills that he will be able to consolidate on as exams start to become of more importance to his education.

Are you in the lead up to exams at the moment with any of your kids? How do you help teach them study skills?

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Teaching Study Skills is a post from: Planning With Kids