Thursday 4 December 2014

Not My Monkey!

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Not my monkey – but still my problem. Our history topic this term has been ‘old toys’ and this little acrobat was in bits in the bottom of the box of resources. I brought him home - glue, and new strings have returned him to a working condition. He somersaults quite happily now! I reluctantly returned him to the cupboard at school.

P1000321We do have some old wooden toys here at home – a cup and ball game. Bizarrely, Liz received this in a Secret Santa when she was a teenager. Not what she had expected – so she promptly gave it to me as a teaching tool.

And the lovely wooden solitaire board has been Bob’s since childhood. I got this out at the weekend, with the jar of marbles.

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One dear blogfriend has sent me a beautiful Jacquie Lawson Advent Calendar. There is an incredibly detailed, gorgeously illustrated and animated window to open each day – and also another room where there are interactive activities. One was a ‘virtual’ Solitaire board.

After clicking for a while, I decided to go and dig out the real thing, and roll the marbles* around. It is so satisfying to solve puzzles like this. Kids these days don’t know what they’re missing!

*please, no jokes about ‘Has the pastor lost his marbles?’

5 comments:

  1. I like playing solitaire. my dad has wooden one like yours but his relatively new. I loved playing with the somersaulting monkey
    Carolx

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  2. My Grandad had a wooden solitaire. Where oh where is it?????? X

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  3. This post reminds me so evocatively of a gorgeous afternoon we had, whent he boys were quite small, in Wordsworth's house in Cockermouth. All these toys are there, and to be played with at that, in the nursery. I still look at the photos and feel the smooth wood of centuries-old play!

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  4. We have the JL calendar each year..so much fun!
    We have a soapstone solitaire set..only to be used when the cats are asleep!
    Jane x

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  5. I love these old toys! I wish my boys loved them, too ...

    xofrances

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