Piked out of going to HIP because H is streaming snot and has a nasty wet cough. K lay on the floor and read Dr Seuss to herself (she wasn’t reading out loud, but later she told me very specifically that she was teaching herself to read). B sat on her laptop all morning, which I would feel more judgemental about had I not done the same myself *ahem* Later, K and H sorted her shell collection into different jars and plastic tubs, according to shape and kind (corals, long thin shell, flat spiky shells, fat spiky shells, cone shells, and fan shells). Then K was at a loose end, so brought me the book 1000 ways to Amuse Children, and we decided on waterplay. Which evolved into K and H having a bubble bath with plenty of bath toys. Then I gave B the Kitchen Science book and told her to choose an experiment to do with the smalls. She picked making goo from cornflour and water. I made them get into old clothes, which turned out to be a Good Idea, because they didn’t make it properly (I guess I should have supervised it because K did not get the whole adding water SLOWLY part) so it didn’t do the whole solid-under-pressure thing. They took it out into the back garden and threw it at each other instead.