Picture Monday: Rechte Heij

Just two pictures of the 'Rechte Heij'. It is really near my town. The spring only started to show when I took these pictures

Continent box South-America #1

Hi there,

Ready for a little trip to South-America? Here we go.
If I thing about South-America i think of a colorfull and bright culture, rain forest, native indian tribes, Brazilian carnaval.

Off course there is much more to South-America. It's the fourth largers countinent and fifth when looking at population

This is what I have for my continent box.

A DIY hand poppet, a waven basket, a caribbean schoolbus (pen stand)
and a Frog, Armadillo and Parrot.

DIY cards with instuments and fruits from South-America.

Grey Explains: Bizarre Borders part 1

You've probably seen the video clip about the difference between Holland and The Netherlands. Well the maker of this video clip made more interesting ones. His name is Grey.

Here is one about Bizarre Borders where countries are inside countries.


You may need to watch is a second or third time.

Fruit: Papaya

Every week when I go grochery shopping I keep my eyes open for any 'new' exotic fruit. For today's blog I have a Papaya.
The Papaya is from the tropical part of America, so from Mexico to Central America. It was first cultivated in Mexico many centuries ago. It has become a popular treat worldwide.

How do yo know if a Papaya is ripe? Well, if the fruit starts coloring yellow, looks bruised and when you press the Papaya you should be able to make a slide indention. If it's still green let is rest for a few days before you eat it.



What you need to slide the Papaya is a cutting board, a sharp knite, a spoon and something to put in the pieces of fruit.
Now before starting, wash the Papaya with water even thouth the skin isn't edible.

Now lay it on a flat surface and cut of the top.
After that cut it in half so you see the black seads.

When you cut it in half to be surpriced by the funny smell, this is what it is suposed to smell like.
Now, use your spoon to remove the seads and the sticky membrane that coats them.

Now all you have to do is remove the skinn with a knife. I used a smaller knife for this and be carefull not to cut you fingers.

When tasting the Papaya i didn't really like the tast, but i found out that it tasted better when heated.

Give it a try and let me know if you like Papaya.

Continent box Asia #1

Hi everybody,

Today we're visiting Asia. It's one of the continent I have not been to, but hope to visit in the future. It's a big and diversive continent with high mountains, ice cold climates, hot, desert like climates, Islands, big cities and many cultures and religions.

So there are lots of things to collect in my continent box.
Here a few of the things I have so far.

A small Menora (seven lampstand) from Jerusalem, a chinees bamboe candle, a peacock feather,
Tibaten prayer flags, a painted hand fan from China, a Chinees tea cup and three spoons from Indonesia

Felt sushi, a tiger, chopsticks, incense, tea bags and a origami flower.

A budha statue, a chinees bottle and vase, a tiny water pipe (without the tube)
and four wooden arabic poppets.

Picture monday: Veluwe

The Veluwe is a forest-rich ridge of hills (1100 km²) in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. The Veluwe features many different landscapes including woodland, heath, some small lakes and Europe's largest sand drifts.

The Veluwe is the largest push moraine complex in the Netherlands, stretching 60 km from north to south, and reaching heights of up to 110 metres. The Veluwe was formed by the Saalian glacial during the Pleistocene epoch, some 200,000 years ago. Glaciers some 200 metres thick pushed the sand deposits in the Rhine and Maas Delta sideways, creating the hills which now form most of the Veluwe. Because the hills are made of sand, rain water disappears rapidly, and then it flows at a depth of tens of metres to the edges where it reaches the surface again.

 

Fruit: Kaki fruit

Fruit nr#2 Kaki fruit.

Last week I bought a kaki fruit (also called Sharonfruit). It looks like a big orange tomato but when slicing it in half it doesn't look like a tomato at all. It's 'flesh' is the same color as it's skin and feels like a peach or mango. the fruit however doesn't taste like a peach. It tasks more like a pear combined with a abricot. But if you really want to know how it tasts, you have to try it yourself.

Continent box North-America

Hi there,

Taking you to North Amerika, USA today. I've been there a few times my self, three times actually.
I like the USA its has so much veriaty in only one country and it as a very old and rather new history mixed up with many cultures from all over the world.

Here a few pictures of my USA items:

I made a memory game with different native American pictures.

After a holiday in 2000 I made this dreamcatcher.

 

 some pictures of the animals you can find in the USA and the fruit and musical instruments are from the whole North-America continent.

 

And here some stemps and coins from the USA.

Books: Klappie

Klappie Tsau lives in a slum in South Africa. He thinks he is different form the other kids because he is part of the San-clan. He lives in a Township in South-Africa and he doesn't feels safe and want to run away.
When a gang attaches his village he runs in to the desert, alone.

He dreams of a life as a genuine San-warrior and goes on a day trip to join this very special people.

For all the Dutch readers of my blog: here a link to my children's book blog: http://www.mattysleukstekinderboek.blogspot.nl/2014/03/klappie-ashwin-moyene.html

DIY: making your own Pan Flute

Today we're going to make a musical instrument, the pan flute. Let's find out what a pan flute is.

 

The pan flute or pan pipe is an ancient musical instrument based on a principle of the closed tube, consisting usually of five or more pipes of gradually increasing length (and at times, girth).

 

The pan flute has long been popular as a folk intrument in Peru and Bolivia, and is considered the first mouth organ, ancestor of both the pipe organ ant the harmonica. The pan flute is named for its association with the Greek god Pan. The pipes of the pan flute are typically made for bamboo or giant cane; other materials used include wood, plastic metal and ivory.

So now we can start.

Let's first see what we need:

- scissors

- gluw

- straws

- two pieces of cardboard

- paint or something else to color it.

When you have gathered all these things, let's get started.

Cut the cardboard in two pieces each 1 inch by 3 inches, but really the exact sice doesn't really matter.
Put glew on one piece of the cardboard and stick the straws to it.

Now put gluw on the second piece of cardboard and place it on top of the straws like you see in the picture above.

Now you have to wait a little till the gluw is dried up

When the gluw is dries up you need your scissors. Depending on how much straws you used you cut the right nummer short. I used 18 so devided them in groups of three

Now all you have to do is decorate the cardboard and ready you are

Have much fun making your own pan flute!

Fruit: Pomegranate

So, in the next 10 weeks I will be eating a new piece of fruit. I will choose fruit that is exotic in The Netherlands and that I have never eaten.

 

Today I'll tell you about the pomegranate. Pomegranates are origianlly from Iran (Persia). Now a days it's widely cultivated throughout the Mediteranean eara (Southern Europe, Northern Africa, Middle East) and further.

 

Last week when shopping groseries I walked through the fruit and vegetables corner and noticed there was only one pomegranate left. It wasn't to expencive so I placed it in my shopping basket.

I had pomegranate once before, on a holiday in Egypt. I liked the sour taste and the little bite because of the seed in it.

 



Arriving home I settled down at my table to find out how to 'open' the pomegranate. Using a small sharp knife I cut out a quarter, but only cutting through the 'skin'. Then I pulled the piece open.
I pealed the seeds out and so I peeled the whole pomegranate.

Tasting the seeds they seemed less sour than they were in my memories. I was wondering how to eat them and looked for some recipies. I found one with couscous and decited to make couscous for dinner later that day. Till then I put the seeds in the fridge.

When eating the seeds with the couscous the seeds tasted like i remembered, sweet but sour and I liked it.

 

What do you like about the pomegranate? Tell me.

Continent box Africa #1

Hi everybody,

Today we're going to travel to the continent of Africa. It's a really big continent with 54 countries. So there are lots of things to explore and discover about Africa.

Today we're going to Egypt!
In 2012 I went to Egypt for a holiday with my parents. We made a Nile Cruise for a week and we've seen the many wonders of Egypt (exept for the piramids)
I've you've been there you probably agree with me about the beauty and historical feeling the country gives. I've visited many old (very old) buildings in Europe, but walking through the Egyptian Temples really made me feel I traveled back in time.

Egypt has a very long and rich history so there are many items to find to represent Egypt. Here are the once I have collected so far:

Making your own World Map

A while ago when starting to collect for my continent boxes I came along a site where you can print your own maps, big ones.

You choose a continent or the whole world and you choose how big. One page or 3x3 pages to 8x8 pages big.

 

This is the site:

http://www.yourchildlearns.com/megamaps/print-world-maps.html

 

I printed a 5x5 map of the world.

Now I started coloring it. It will probably take quite some time.