Historyetc – Moghul Emperors, 30 years war, closing Japan and Manchu China

well, that was lots to cover really! BB and small were up early in the morning on roblox, Big and SB really struggled to get up at all! i think all our friends joining us also had a difficult day to be up and out too, so a later start and plenty of tea and coffee needed . we also gave Alfie a warm bath and he now has 2 warm lights, as we think he is trying to hibernate, as not eating and not moving. [he is still alive tho! and we did get him to do a bit of walking around and nibbled a tomato after the warm bath. will repeat most of the week]

being the sitting resident, I had my first variation on a theme, and I had chose the Moghul emperors. Before Kids, in what seems like a different life, i went to india on a ‘golden triangle’ self made journey on trains, and saw Taj Mahal and Fatepur Sikri, the red fort at Delhi etc and it was a perfect way to learn about SHah Jehan. Unfortunately, I couldn’t affor to whisk away us all today, so instead tried to infect everyone with my enthusiasm for that piece of history. not sure if successful, but hopefully they all retained something from that . Anyway, my first variation was using glass paints on tiles to recreate a marble tile that could have conceivably been used in the taj mahal we discussed symmetry, the lack of pictorial representation of people or animals, the use of jewel colours, tesselating and simpcity vs complexity. then set off. SOme followed the brief and pictures i had found, some used their own interpretations, and some were unique . All were done with care, attention and discussion of the source. I enjoyed it

Whilst I was doing that, Zoe was in the kitchen making gingerbread men and swedish apple cake for St Martin’s day – as the food component, nd also related to the 30 years war. both tasted utterly, utterly delicious.

K was with me in the conservatory, and making zen gardens from salt and glass pebbles and tealights, and talking about space and gardens in Japan. SInce these gardens are so transitory, I only managed to catch 2 before all puffled up!

After that Jax discussed Japan and the closing off to foreigners – something she is interested in in history too, and provided a map of japan

I have to say, BB did a lot of flying of her new remote control helicopter!!

After lunch, zoes st martins candles didn’t freeze, so we will do that next time Katy talked about the Manchu – we all fancied the hobbies of jumping on a camel from behind, or archery on ice! I did the second variation on taj mahal tiles, this time using star cutters and fimo on our white tiles. Think these also went well. Most kids liked the glow in the dark best tho!

so my family’s 2 different styles here.

overall a lovely day with friends and some crafting and learning, and lots of laughing and giggling . we finished the day with birthday cd of flying monsters, and then BB fell asleep whilst SB at Judo, and then some playing of birthday creationary by BB whilst SB watched masterchef the professionals

oh, and loved this pic of zoes