Tag Archives: red

The Colours of Sports Day

Education, Parenting, Sign Language, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Every year my school-aged kids have Sports Day, and I have to admit, I love it. I have vivid memories of my own sports days as a kid – I absolutely loved the running, the games, the parade, the 3-legged race, the relays, and admittedly, I loved the doughnuts and hot dogs. All that still happens at my kids’ school now (including the doughnuts!), and it’s like a fantastic jump back in time for me. Literally. There’s a hilarious Parents-Only Sack Race & 3-Legged Race at the beginning to kick off the kids’ day.

Another big part of Sports Day is the COLOURS (yes, in Canada we spell it with a U, bear with me, my south of the border friends!) Each year the kids are assigned to a team with a team COLOUR. For me, I was always on the orange team, which was almost impossible to find clothes in, of course, but my mom did her best to make sure I had one tee shirt with some scrap of orange for sports day. Now that I’m the mother, it’s my job to dig through the dresser drawers for the right tee and shorts to match my kids’ team colour, which changes each year. Sigh.

You should know that I refuse to buy
clothes just for one day. I won’t.

And for some reason, neither of my kids has EVER been on the blue team. Why not? Blue clothes are stacked aplenty in our closets. And why hasn’t there ever been a pink or purple team? That would be handy for the two entire years my daughter refused to wear anything that wasn’t pink or purple. Instead, I’ve repeatedly had to find green, yellow and red, which are unfavoured, scarce clothing colours in my house.

Last year, Ian was on the red team, and I managed to find a red-ish tee in his closet, yay! But it was a scorching weather week, and as Sports Day edged closer I realized he would need a hat to stay cool and protected. That morning, digging through the front closet yielded a cargo green hat. Green! Dagnabbit, I needed something red. After some thought, I decided I’d paint the hat red. I know, I know, that is a pretty silly idea, but I was determined to use what we had. I didn’t have time to paint the whole hat, so I thought about something that could make the hat appear more red than it was, at least from the front, and I remembered something Ian loved that could ensure the hat was a success and worn for Sports Day.

TAH DAH!
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Not bad for an 8am paint job.

Sports Day has rolled around again, and Ian informed me that he is not on the red team again, but on the green team this year. Green.
Of course.

What lengths have you gone to for Sports Day colours?

For more COLOURS, check out these Signs of the Month on my website
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Poppies for Remembering

Parenting, Sign Language, , , , , , , , , ,

How to sign REMEMBER in American Sign Language:

Photo of me signing REMEMBER

Are you REMEMBERING our lost soldiers this weekend?

On November 11th in Canada, we observe Remembrance Day as a memorial to the members of our armed forces who have given their lives in the line of duty in wars since World War I. Poppies are a very visual symbol of Remembrance Day since 1920 after the poem “In Flanders Fields” was written, a poem which referred to the vibrant flowers that first grew in the churned-up earth of soldiers’ graves in Europe. The poem was written by Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae on May 3rd, 1915, after witnessing the death of his friend, a fellow soldier, the day before.

Poppies are to be worn on your chest over the heart.

I REMEMBER learning the poem “In Flanders Fields” in school as a child, and now my elementary school-aged kids are bringing home their drawings of vibrant red poppies and renditions of the poem in social studies projects every November. Two years ago, my daughter’s girl guide troop made pretty felt poppies, and their creative craft inspired us to make more at home. We always pop some money into the Canadian Veterans Poppy Campaign donation cans and proudly support their efforts each year, but we don’t take a poppy from the tray.

Making the poppies is easy and only requires pieces of red and black felt and some black thread (after sewing the layers of felt together, we hot-glue safety pins to the back for attaching the poppies -this keeps those usually-used stick pins from pricking, and also keeps the poppy fixed in place instead of popping off). It’s a fairly easy craft for kids to do once they are able and old enough to cut with scissors and/or sew with a needle.

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Because they are handmade, our felt poppy brooches are all unique and garner lots of attention.

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My daughter and I made some extra poppies this year for grandma and grandpa and also some for the kids’ teachers. While stopping by to visit our good friends at Bloom Essentials Spa in Vancouver, owners Kim and Nicole’s enthusiasm for the poppies gave us an idea: my daughter and I could make more poppies for Bloom to sell at their front desk and then donate proceeds to the Veterans’ Poppy campaign.

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The $2 poppies sold out in a day, and I’ve since delivered another batch to the shop for the Remembrance Day weekend. More importantly, Kim and Nicole are also generously matching our donations to give to the veterans! I’m so proud that a fun craft with my daughter turned into an activity that could teach her the power of doing, donating, and REMEMBERING.

(a very special thanks to my friends and Bloom Girls, Kim & Nicole!)