The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge - FIAR

We have just finished this book after 3 weeks of activities.  The boys REALLY enjoyed it all.

You can listen to the Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge on YouTube.

We usually use the Before Five In A Row Guide to do a few learning activities to go along with the story.

This year I found some extra resources online to add to what we would do.

I gathered all our own books from our shelves that had to do with rivers, lighthouses, and bridges.  Then we went on a library visit to find more.

Lighthouse books

Bridge books

River books

On Google Maps we found the Hudson River, the George Washington Bridge, and the Little Red Lighthouse.  We followed the river all the way north to the lake where it begins.

The children built a lego bridge of their own design.

And we made a sensory play box with a river and bridges.  The boys loved playing with this.

The boys and I made another sensory play box with a lighthouse.  They thought this was so neat and played with it for ages!

Here is a lighthouse we made.  I had to do most of the assembly as it was a bit fiddly for young fingers.  They absolutely LOVE their lighthouse nightlights!  They have one each which sits on their dresser beside their bed.  They look really cool flickering away in the dark as the boys fall asleep.

Materials: large red disposable cup, small clear disposable cup, electrical tape, and a LED tealight candle.

The girls did some artwork of the Great Gray Bridge and the Little Red Lighthouse

There are many different types of bridges, and here the children are constructing the different patterns.

Popsicle sticks with velcro dots and a chart of bridge types.

 Some of the finished products.

We talked about the use of personification in the story.  I had the children make their own faces to cut out and find something to personify.

Arrow personified the door in his room.

Crystal personified the clock. 

Blossom personified the stock pot.

Cedar personified the junk box.

We watched 2 documentaries as part of our learning.

The building of the Bellrock Lighthouse

The building of the Brooklyn Bridge

The very best part of our study was our visit to Castlepoint to see the lighthouse there!

Castlepoint lighthouse.

The walkway up.

The children (with boundless energy) running up.

Under the tall lighthouse.

Beyond the lighthouse was a further climb to the highest point of the rock.  I have to say it...it scared me to the point of feeling sick with all those little people bouncing about!

The amazing view from the top.  Breath taking.  

The view looking back the way we had come up.
We went swimming in the lagoon in the background.

Swimming

Digging

Butterfly and Blossom wanted to swim in the waves at the mouth of lagoon. 

Blossom and Butterfly went exploring on the rocks between the lagoon and the open ocean...only because it was a calm day as I suspect it gets really rough sometimes.

At the end of the day the children all sat down and fed the seagulls.  Seagulls are hilarious to watch.  When one seagull stole the food from another the victim would throw a little tantrum, screaming and flapping it's wings.

~Lorna

Summer Fun - Kai Iwi Beach, Wanganui

Whenever a visit to Wanganui is arranged, we try to fit as much as we can into the day! I have some very favourite spots in Wanganui and this is one of them. 

It was lovely to be able to share it with Grandma.  

Of course the first stop, when you have little people is the playground!  This has always been a fun playground in my humble opinion, and is also where Mr V asked me if I would "go out with him".  

Cedar swinging and chatting with Grandma

Arrow on the playground

After a little while Arrow's sense of adventure took over; he and Cedar headed down to the ever changing stream which winds it's way over the beach looking for the sea.

Walking along the stream

We found a good spot with a partially built dam spanning the stream.

We all helped to find rocks and logs.

Grandma and Blossom diligently worked on their side of the dam and successfully slowed the water flow.

Crystal decided to build a replica of the blue-grey mud-stone cliffs which dominate the beach landscape here.  Grandma had explained to her how the cliffs used to come much further out on the beach, but have eroded since she was a girl. 

Crystal found some small pieces of Papa rock, as it is commonly called, and designed a beach scene.

 Arrow bored quickly of the dam, preferring to find rocks with which he made a horseshoe shape on the shore

Heading on down stream the children were drawn to the large boulders at the foot of the cliffs but we moved on fairly quickly.

Near the mouth of the stream is an old army fort which used to sit on top of the cliffs as a lookout for ships during WW2.  When I was a girl I was able to walk inside the concrete structure.  Now it is almost completely submerged.

A quick paddle in the surf.  Not so safe here as there are rocks hiding under the receding tide.

My four in the shallows!

I was hoping to explore the rock pools, but the tide was high and only just beginning to go out so the pools were not visible when we were there.  We did go for a walk to the large section of cliff that sits on the beach in rather a beautiful solitary position.

We managed to stop and look at the tiny muscles on the rocks between sets of waves.

Up to this point the weather had been perfect for a day at the beach; no wind and slightly overcast.  Now the wind had picked up a little so out came the shopping bag kites!

Blossom, Crystal, and Cedar flying their kites.

Arrow is too worn out from adventuring to stand up for his kite flying!

~Lorna