Day Five of LOCKDOWN!

 Today we enjoyed our third and final day of Ancient Greece themed activities...

We finished decorating and assembled our Trojan Horse models, complete with hollow middle

Next, we looked at the post and lintel system of Ancient Greek architecture, commonly used for their temples, such as the Parthenon in Athens (built for the goddess, Athene). We tried out some post and lintel experiments of our own...

How many really heavy books can a bunch of cheap and flimsy plastic cups hold, when you use a baking tray as a lintel? 

Zachary had a go on one side, Tahlia and Ptolemy on the other

Playing with cars on the top

 

It grew taller...

...And taller

 

At a certain point, Mummy had to ask them to step away from the really heavy tower that could come crashing down on them at any minute!

This is just before it fell; it toppled from being unbalanced, rather than the cups breaking!

I even persuaded Tahlia to step onto the lintel herself, although she wasn't confident and we couldn't get a photo.

Afterwards, Zachary wanted to build a tower of cups

We then played a Greek temple building game 

You had to collect the correct type of Greek column (Doric, Ionic or Corinthian) but avoid Zeus' wrath!

 

Jory also enjoyed picking the columns, especially when he drew Zeus' thunderbolt! 

 

Ptolemy was delighted to win; Tahlia wasn't so pleased!

After painting these Ancient Greek pots earlier, and looking at some examples of Ancient Greek pottery, we had a go ourselves, drawing some people in black.

Jory drew his favourite people (from the public toilets): gents, ladies, disabled and baby change

They had a go at building their own Parthenon

 

Here's Ptolemy telling Jory off for adding a red brick

This afternoon, we headed out to Haldon Hill for a nice walk in the sun (although it was quite cold and windy!).

We were amazed at the massive drop in petrol price, so decided to fill up

Clambering across some wooden blocks at the forest park

Admiring the views

 

They couldn't resist visiting some of the dens on the way around

A bit more climbing (for their daily exercise of course!)

  

Helping each other along

Here are some other things we did today...

Jory enjoyed making his longest ever railway track

Tahlia and Zachary designed their own board games; we plan to have a board games afternoon tomorrow, so we'll play their games then.

Zachary's board game, which will most likely involve lots of going back to the start!

Tahlia explains the various 'challenge' spots you can land on

Day Four of LOCKDOWN!

Today was the first day that we have done any food shopping in about a week and a half. Jory was pining for a supermarket visit (he's autistic), so I took him along with me.

Ptolemy was upset that I had to take my phone away from him!

This morning, with Daddy, the others did a tally chart activity - counting people and things that passed the house.

The loft room window offers a good view of the road

They were delighted that they could add Mummy and Jory to their tally (also, spot the rainbow in Tahlia's window)

Looking at the view from the opposite bedroom; unfortunately, you can see a playground!

Aldi seemed very busy today - the queue was huge, although maybe it only seemed that way with 2 metres between each person 

The nice lady next to us warned us not to visit Sainsburys - it was ten times worse

Here we are queuing just outside the car park. Jory was very good and stayed in position, keeping our distance from the next in line.

These kind of signs are a common feature of most supermarkets these days

Unfortunately no pasta again (but there was spaghetti; however the kids complain when we give them that!)

Inside the store was pretty quiet though, with only 50 people allowed in at a time; the cashier commented it was a nice change from the mad panic buying of the last few weeks

This is Daddy taking a photo from his loft room/study room where he now works from home

More of the Ancient Greeks - we ran our own Olympics

The Olympic torch parade; the torch is based on the idea of the sacred flame that the Ancient Greeks kept lit during their Olympics.

The first event was the javelin...

...Some stretched the rules a little

Then it was the relay

Passing the 'baton'

Throwing the beanbags into the basket

This event was followed by a running race (Zachary only just won)

Q: Who can do the most bounces on the trampoline? A: The person who goes last -they just do one more than the best score (we'll have the change the rules next time)

The last event was discus throwing

Not necessarily in a straight line!

They also enjoyed having a go at making Loukoumades -  these are one of the first recorded desserts in history and can be traced back to 776 B.C. These deep-fried doughnut-like pastries are one of the most beloved Greek treats still today.

Cheating a little with the kneading!

We learnt the story of the Trojan War and starting making our own model Trojan horses (which we'll finish tomorrow)

Remember that Pelanos bread we made yesterday? Well, it didn't rise very well (probably down to wholemeal flour and no sugar in the recipe), so we left it overnight and baked it today. It was very crusty, but tasted reasonably good (especially with butter!).

Not quite as good as it looks!

Bread tasting

Our biggest success of the day however was the Loukoumades -amazingly delicious doughnuts! We chose to dip them in sugar rather than honey, so it wasn't quite authentic.

These were so good (and pretty easy to make), that we plan to replace our best doughnut recipe with this one!

Jory wasn't too sure at first, as they weren't the normal doughnut shape, but after a nibble, he soon devoured the whole lot!