Tom in July...

As it is coming to the end of July, Tom wanted to show you some of the things he's been up to and also how we keep track of each month.

Tom has very busy school days. He spends lots of time doing all sorts of different messy play or other play activities and then the other times he is out exploring the world around him. Both of these things play a huge role in Tom's education.

Tom is learning, developing and growing each day and it is so beautiful to watch. He learns new things all of the time and he certainly keeps us on our toes! In order to make sure we never forget what Tom has been up to and also all of his cheeky little faces he pulls, I make a board of each month to show Tom and all of his friends and family what he has been up to.

On the board we put pictures taken using his Polaroid camera, drawings and paintings, and any other craft activities he has been up to. Sometimes I have a theme to the boards so Tom has a themed month and then sometimes its all just pretty random. This month we decided to do a sea theme.

As you can see Tom has been pretty busy! My favourite thing on the board is Tom's Lobster, this was made using his feet. I did a red footprint with Tom and then we used a paintbrush to add the claws at the end, stick on a couple of eyes and then you have a lobster!

Tom has also been busy painting with his hands. The pink jellyfish were made by Tom painting with his hands, spreading and mark making. I then cut the jelly fish out for him. They were made using shimmer paint so as the light shines they glimmer.

In between going out and all of this painting Tom has also been busy with messy play. Tom tried something new with tinned creamed corn...this was not so much a success. Not in terms of Tom not liking it but all of us grown ups couldn't stand the smell or the texture, it looked very much like someone has a nasty tummy bug! Tom didn't mind at all in fact he found it pretty funny!

Tom doesn't always enjoy arts and craft but this month he made the most beautiful feathered bird that flies across the ocean! we did this just by using PVA glue and feathers! It got pretty messy but it was a lot of fun and certainly worth it.

Everything you see on the board Tom has made himself. I love making Tom's boards with him each month because we can get super creative. It is lovely to be able to show of all of Tom's great work! He is always a busy little bee.

Once the month has come to an end I put all of the bits and pieces on the board into a scrapbook for Tom. He then keeps this so that we can look back at the things he got up to when he was much younger! It is also so lovely to see how he is changing, growing and learning month by month. We are very excited to see what August holds...