Crunchy and Green

The Mitten

2012-01-27T18:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we hosted the book club for our home learner's group. I had chosen to have the kids read The Mittenby Jan Brett as it is a favorite winter book around our house. Since the kids range in age from 17 months to 4.5, we needed a craft that can be done fairly easily. I pre-cut each child two mittens from construction paper, and then hole punched around the edges.

The kids decorated their mittens,

and then sewed them up using yarn, being sure to leave the top open. Everyone was able to do this step with a little help.

Then, they colored the animals from the book (printed from the author's website). I read the story, and the kids followed along by placing the appropriate animals into their mittens. At the end, when the mitten bursts, we dumped our animals out.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the book, and Miss M and Baby B have been playing with theirs and retelling the story for the last two days.

Penguin Playdate

2012-01-24T06:14:00.000-08:00

We had some friends over at the end of last week for a penguin-themed play date. After reading the poems in Antarctic Antics, and practicing waddling around like Daddy penguins holding eggs, we made some of our own. This was a simple craft using two paper plates - one you cut for the wings and head and the second forms the body.

Then we had penguin cupcakes. I made these last year, also.

Miss M loved the penguin song we learned, and has been singing it ever since.

I'm A Little Penguin (to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot)

I'm a little penguin, black and white,

I waddle to the left and I waddle to the right,

I cannot fly but I can swim,

So I waddle to the water and I jump right in.

It was a little odd to be studying penguins in the 75 degree weather, but I guess it is technically winter so it counts!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

2012-01-23T13:13:00.000-08:00

We celebrated the Chinese New Year today with some friends from our home learners group. After learning about the holiday, we made a dragon craft (found here)

and held our own mini-parade.

For snack time we had oranges, rice candy (thanks to my dear husband who went out late to find some) and everyone received coins in red envelopes for good luck. The kids had a hard time with the idea that they could eat the rice paper wrapper on the candy, but I think they each finally tried it once.

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy New Year!

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-18T13:37:00.000-08:00

This baby doll was J's when he was about three, then it got passed down to Miss M a few years ago, and now Baby B has taken over the job of loving her.

The Crayon Box That Talked

2012-01-16T12:48:00.000-08:00

In celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, I wanted to do something special with Miss M. Originally, I had planned to do the brown and white egg experiment. However, after giving it some thought I decided that this as too complex for her to truly grasp at four years old.

Instead, we simply talked about how MLK was a very special man who wanted peace and for everyone to love each other. We read The Crayon Box that Talked by Shane DeRolf and Whoever You Are by Mem Fox. Both books talk about appreciating the diversity in each of us in a way that is appropriate for a preschooler.

Then, to go along with the peace aspect, we did the groovy peace sign craft from Frugal Family Fun. We made a taped peace sign on a paper plate. Then Miss M painted the plate with watercolors.

When it was dry, we removed the tape to leave the white sign showing through.

Baby B did his own color painting, as well.

"Salty" Snowglobes

2012-01-13T18:59:00.000-08:00

Miss M did a quick snow globe art and writing project today. First, I just cut a circle out of pale blue construction paper and a black base to go with it. Miss M and I talked about all the different things that could be in a snow globe (she saw one recently so it was fresh in her mind). Then, she drew a picture in her circle. She actually went through four circles before finally getting a drawing she was happy with. In the end, she drew herself.

After it was glued together, I started the writing prompt "Inside my snow globe is...." and she wrote the rest (with spelling help). She wrote "M__ playing in the snow." Then, we wanted to make it look like the snow was falling, so Miss M covered over her drawing with glue and sprinkled on the salt.

She went a little heavy (more is better when you are four), so it looks more like a blizzard, but she was very happy with the results.

(The white strip of paper is just covering up the rest of her name for the photo.)

Snowflake Measurements

2012-01-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

Today we did some measuring and graphing using foam snowflakes. We taped them to the wall in a straight line, and measured how many snowflakes tall Baby B, Miss M, Mommy and the American Girl doll were.

Then, we graphed those heights on the dry erase board. We talked about tallest and shortest and how many more snowflakes tall someone was.

Baby B decided to play a little run-around-the-snowflakes game when we were all done.

Later, we will use paperclips to estimate how many paperclips wide a snowflake is, and then compare our estimate to the actual size.

Daddy's Little Helper

2012-01-08T18:19:00.000-08:00

Miss M loves to help Daddy with his building projects, so we took her to her first Home Depot workshop this Saturday. She got to hammer and paint and had a great time building a shed-shaped piggy bank.

Of course, Baby B can't wait to get in on the fun.

Weekly Wrap-Up: A New Year

2012-01-06T13:58:00.000-08:00

We got back into our school routine this week, and had a very good week. Miss M worked on her core subjects of reading, handwriting and math. We started All About Reading last month, and Miss M is doing great with it!

We also moved into Saxon Math 1 for the new year. The initial pages are review for her, but she is enjoying the program. She likes the mix of calendar time, hands-on and workbook pages, it fits her style very well. We are continuing to do story problems in our math journal, and she loves this best of all.

Early in the week I gave Baby B some of our winter animals to play with. He was making tracks in playdough and exploring the new animals. He loved it so much, that both he and Miss M have spent all of their free time playing with the animals in playdough.

Miss M made a foam snowman which we hung on the wall to replace the Christmas decorations we took down.

The weather has been sunny and in the 60s all week, so we didn't do most of the extras I had planned for our winter theme. I am saving them for the rainy days next week.

This is my favorite picture of the week. I was taking a picture of Miss M and her American Girl Doll in their matching ballet outfits when Baby B decided he wanted into the picture. He grabbed one of Miss M's other dolls and moved right next to her to be included, too!

J has semester exams next week, so this is how he has been all week.

A New Year Begins

2012-01-03T08:17:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year. We enjoyed the break from school and work and I think everyone is heading into the new year feeling refreshed and ready to get back to our usual routine. I spent the time off learning how to work my new camera, and doing some planning for Baby B for this year (more on that later).

The kids spent their time outside,

and playing with their Christmas toys.

We started back up with school yesterday, and will be spending the next few months for Miss M focused on the basics - reading, handwriting and math. We will be doing some fun activities related to winter (not that our weather feels wintery right now) and of course the many holidays the next few months bring.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-26T08:02:00.000-08:00

We hope you had a joyful Christmas with friends and family.

The kids had a fun day filled with skypeing with Grandparents, playing with friends for the afternoon, and of course food and presents. We will be taking a relaxing week to play with our toys and have fun together; then we all go back to school on Jan.2.

Gingerbread Nativity

2011-12-21T13:19:00.000-08:00

Making this gingerbread (graham crackers in our case) nativity has been on my to-do list for several weeks, but I waited until J was home to do it with us.

The people are made with gumdrops and fruit roll-ups, the donkey is a candy bar and tootsie rolls, and the sheep are marshmallows and black licorice. Full directions can be found at AOKCorral.

The directions didn't include an angel, but Miss M insisted on making one.

J did the bulk of the work on this, but everyone got in on the fun, even Baby B who mixed the coconut and food coloring for us.

For go-along books we read St. Francis and the Christmas Donkey by Robert Byrd (this book is out of print so I can't link it); Mortimer's Christmas Manger by Karma Wilson; and Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale by Martin Waddell. All three tell the Christmas story through the eyes of animals.

Grinch Scramble and A Catch-Up

2011-12-18T08:12:00.000-08:00

My mother reminded me that I got behind in posting again, so this is going to be a quick catch-up from the rest of our week. Miss M, Baby B and I still have colds, so to be perfectly honest we didn't do many crafts this week. Here is a glimpse of the activities we did do:

Miss M made some ornaments on Wednesday using a kit Grandma had sent to the kids.

Miss M and Baby B did a lot of snuggling (these two are inseparable).

And Baby B was his usual goofy self.

The magnetic nativity set has been a big hit with both little kids.(J took a magnetic penguin set to school for his locker).

Our town held it's second annual grinch scramble on Friday night. They fill a football field with candy canes, peppermints, bubbles, and four stuffed grinches. Then they give the kids flashlights and bags, turn off the lights, and it is a mad scramble to collect the goodies.

J decided to go in a Ninja stealth mode:

Baby B went with a flashlight bigger than he is:

And Miss M ended up with more candy than both her brothers combined:

All three of the kids had a great time!!

Painting Ornaments and St. Lucia Day

2011-12-14T07:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we went with our Home Learner's group to a local pottery studio to paint some ornaments. This was the first time either Miss M or Baby B had been, and they both had a great time. We have many ceramic ornaments on our tree from when J was this age, and Miss M is excited to add her own. I had forgotten my camera, but my friend who blogs over at Raising the Cameron Clan took photos for us.

It was St. Lucia day, and I had great plans to make sweet buns and have Miss M dress up in the traditional St. Lucia crown and deliver them; but we all have colds and were low on energy so we went low-key this year. The only thing we really did was read Lucia, Saint of Light by Katherine Bolger Hyde. Maybe next year we will do more with this feast day.

Christmas Books Days 10-12

2011-12-13T06:25:00.000-08:00

For day ten, we read The Legend of the Christmas Stocking by Rick Osborne. This story is set in the 1800s in New York, and features a young boy named Peter. Peter has been saving the money he makes selling newspapers to buy a wooden boat. At the last minute he is inspired by the story of St. Nicholas and the legend behind the Christmas stocking to use the money for presents for a different purpose. Of course, there is a surprise for Peter at the end of the story as well. For a go-along, Miss M cut out a felt stocking (I had drawn her a pattern to follow) and decorated it with buttons and glitter glue.

Book 11 was The Twelve Days of Christmas by Jane Ray. The illustrations in this version are full of details and surprises. This version is based in the city, and we watch a young woman's house get busier and busier as her true love sends her gift after gift. Miss M thought it was fun to count how many birds she got total. We didn't do a craft for this book, instead we went to listen to the local symphony's annual Christmas concert (our version of pipers piping). It was a nice grouping of symphony, hand bells, adult choir and youth choir. Of course, the fact that Daddy was playing was the highlight of the evening!

For Book 12, we read a different version of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Both versions we read are new this year, and I thought reading them back-to-back would be a great way to contrast two versions of the same story and talk about similarities and differences. (One calls them "calling birds" and another "collie birds" for example.) This version by Laurel Long is so beautifully illustrated. Miss M and I spent a long time looking at each picture in intricate detail finding the gifts from previous pages that are hidden in the illustrations. (The inside cover has a key to help you find the hidden gifts if you need.) This is by far my favorite version of the Twelve Days ever. The pictures are absolutely gorgeous!

To go along with it, we decorated our own tree. I had wanted to do our own version of a pear tree, but Miss M insisted on decorating a "real Christmas tree" instead. She used small pom poms as her ornaments, and she was very careful to place each one exactly where she wanted it.

The kids are really enjoying reading a new book each day, and we are going back to revisit previously read books whenever we feel like it. There are some definite favorites among our selections!

Edible Snowmen

2011-12-12T18:25:00.000-08:00

When we read Snowmen at Night, it starts by talking about how after you build a snowman one day, the next morning it looks droopy. The book then goes on to talk about what snowmen do at night that causes them to droop.

For a fun go-along, we made edible droopy snowmen. Baby B's godmother sent us directions for adorable melted snowmen, and we adapted them to be slipping a bit but not fully melted.

First, you need to melt either white chocolate chips or white candy bark. You spread a little bit onto your plate to make a puddle. Next, roll two doughnut holes in the bark and stack them on your puddle.

Finally, decorate your snowman. We used an orange Mike & Ike for the nose, mini chocolate chips for the eyes and smile, part of a fruit roll-up for the scarf, two mini tootsie rolls for the hat, and pieces of a fruit leather rope for the arms.

Miss M made her snowman all by herself, and I think she did a fantastic job!

Christmas Countdown Books Days 7-9

2011-12-10T10:01:00.000-08:00

It was bound to happen. We have been keeping up with our book and activity each day, but I got behind on posting them. So this is a quick catch-up post of the books we read this week.

Book Seven was Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. She has been a favorite author in our house since J was little, and this particular book is one we enjoy every year. Usually we make a Gingerbread House to go with this book, but I wanted an activity that Baby B could join in, so we made Gingerbread playdough instead. We used our regular recipe and added cloves, cinnamon and ginger.

The spices not only smelled nice, but they made the dough look brown. We also made some candy cane playdough (red with peppermint scent) at Miss M's request.

Book Eight was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Shines Again. This is an out-of-print Little Golden Book that has been well loved in our house for years. Since the weather was above-freezing for the first time in a week, we played some "Reindeer Games" outside. (Tinsel Tag and Ho-Ho-Hopscotch were our favorites.)

Book Nine was Snowmen At Night by Caralyn Buehner. I didn't get to the craft we had planned because we had a book exchange Christmas party with our Home Learner's group. Baby B's godmother Nicole sent us the funniest edible snowman craft, and we will be doing that today instead. It goes perfectly with this book, so I will be sure to post about it later.

J had his first Christmas concert on the 7th (he is learning to play the trumpet), and Daddy has his annual one tonight, so we have been enjoying lots of great Christmas music as well!

St. Nicholas Day and One Starry Night

2011-12-06T19:59:00.000-08:00

I had originally planned to have the kids put shoes out to be filled for St. Nicholas Day, but time escaped me this morning. Instead, I made miter treat boxes (I found the pattern here) and filled them with chocolates and oranges for dessert. The kids enjoyed the treats while we read about St. Nicholas' life.

For our Christmas book today, we read One Starry Night by Lauren Thompson. Then, Miss M and I made a nativity scene using the printables found at Catholic Icing and toilet paper tubes. There are sixteen pieces in all, so I cut and Miss M colored and glued and colored and glued some more.

When she got tired, she directed while I colored.

The final results have been quite fun to play with.

Day Five of our Christmas Books Countdown

2011-12-05T19:42:00.000-08:00

For today's book we read a new version of The Night Before Christmas. This was actually a book scheduled for later in the month, but Miss M saw it and asked me to switch and read it today. The book comes with a CD that has Peter, Paul and Mary singing the story in several different versions. Miss M and Baby B both LOVED this book, and they listened to the CD over and over again today.

For our craft, we did a simple Santa with a cotton-ball beard.

Sometimes I find that Miss M likes the simple crafts best of all.

Christmas Books Days 3 and 4

2011-12-04T15:57:00.000-08:00

I was out of town this weekend for a girls' trip, so I am posting both Saturday's and Sunday's books together.

For Saturday, our book was Red Sled by Patricia Thomas.
This is a story about a boy and his dad having fun with their red sled. The bright pictures and simple two-word rhyming text of this story make it perfect for a beginner reader. Instead of a craft, Daddy took the kids to look at Christmas lights Saturday evening. (We don't have any snow for sledding!)

Sunday's book was The Spirit of Christmas by Nancy Tillman, the author of On the Night You Were Born. This is a wonderful book with so many layers to it. You have beautiful illustrations and story about preparing for Christmas and remembering that the true meaning of Christmas is Jesus' birth. You also have the face of the spirit of Christmas skillfully hidden on each page, which Miss M liked to find. Finally, you have a holiday song's lyrics woven into each illustration.

We did a simple Christmas Tree craft for this one. First, I cut a tree out of green construction paper and punched small holes all over it. Then, Miss M glued colored tissue paper all over the back of the tree.

When you put it where the light shines through, you can see the colored paper looking like Christmas tree lights.

The bigger the holes you punch, the more color you see. We are rainy today, but on a sunny day I am hoping this will look great in the window.

Christmas Book Countdown: Day Two

2011-12-02T11:55:00.000-08:00

Today's book was The Christmas Tree Shipby Jeanette Winter. This is a true story about a father who delivers Christmas trees to Chicago via ship every year in the late 1890s. One year, there is a great storm and the father and his ship is lost on Lake Michigan and never heard from again. However, the next year the mom and her young daughters cut down the trees and sail a new ship into Chicago, continuing the tradition for many years to come.

The story of the Christmas Tree ship is a true story. The versionof this story I wanted wasn't available at our library, so I chose this one instead. While I admire the message of courage and tradition in the story, I don't recommend the book to a child who will be easily upset by the Dad's death.

Originally, I had planned to make a boat craft, but Miss M was more interested in the snow and the blizzard part of the book so we made coffee filter snowflakes instead.

I helped her fold the coffee filters into eighths, and she did the cutting.

We have our own blizzard of snowflakes now, as Miss M made over 20 of them!

Christmas Countdown: Day One

2011-12-01T09:47:00.000-08:00

[For the last several years, we have counted down the days until Christmas by trying to do a craft activity every day. Usually I am good about doing the projects, but not so good about blogging about them. This year, I am hoping to post the book and project we do each day as we do it.]

Our basket is filled with 24 Christmas books all ready to read. Some are old favorites, but many are new books we are going to be reading for the first time. I was able to get many of the books on my wish list from our local library, so we have many new titles to try.

Today's book was The Christmas Magic by Lauren Thompson and illustrated by Jon Muth.

This book tells how far, far to the North Santa is preparing for the Christmas magic to come. He feeds the reindeer, prepares the sleigh, packs the bag and gets himself ready. Finally, the Christmas magic arrives and makes the reindeer fly. We really enjoyed this story, about Santa quietly preparing for Christmas. There is no Mrs. Claus, no elves, no bright colors, so it was a different take on Santa than the one kids usually see.

The watercolor and pastel illustrations in this book are incredible, and for our go-along we decided to make snowy trees similar to the ones on the title page.

First, Miss M and I drew trees using brown oil pastels. We tried to do simple line trees like the illustrator did.

Next, we used silver and white paint and sponge-painted the snow on our trees.

When it first dried, it didn't show up as well as we had hoped on the white paper, so we added some blue watercolor sky to make the trees show up better.

Next time, it would probably be better to use a pastel colored paper to begin with.

Christmas Wreaths

2011-11-30T19:09:00.000-08:00

We hosted our Home Learners group for craft day today and made craft-stick wreaths.

For each wreath you need 15 craft sticks, some red ribbon, and some glue (we used glue dots). I couldn't find craft sticks the color of green I wanted, so I just painted them the night before.

First, you glue the sticks into three pentagon shapes.

Next, you place the three pentagons on top of each other and alternate the points, spreading them slightly apart to make a more circular shape. You glue them together where they overlap.

Finally, you wrap red ribbon around the wreath, and embellish as you wish (we used pom poms and buttons).

First Day of Advent

2011-11-27T16:34:00.000-08:00

Today is the first day of Advent and for the first time in several years we are all ready! The new candles are in our Advent wreath, ready to be lit tonight at dinner. Our Creche is set up, the Christmas tree is decorated, the Christmas village is set up out of reach of little hands, and our outside lights are up thanks to my dear husband braving the wind and cold. Our Advent calendar is hung, and I have a project or activity planned for every day.

This was the first year Baby B helped to decorate the tree, and other than one broken ornament, all went well.

Miss M had the job of placing the angel on top this year.

It seems like this time of year passes so quickly, and I want to make sure we slow down and truly appreciate what this season means so we have some simple family Advent activities planned for the next month.

A Pilgrim Girl & Thanksgiving Bracelet

2011-11-18T12:41:00.000-08:00

I have seen some adorable pilgrim crafts in a lot of places on the Web, and knew Miss M would love to make one. I didn't use a particular pattern, I just freehand drew the pieces to cut out using this picture as my guide.

After her pilgrim girl was glued together, we wrote the things Miss M was thankful for on a piece of paper and glued it to her pilgrim girl. Her list included toys, her friends, and her brothers. (The paper on top is covering the names of her brothers.)

We also made these adorable Thanksgiving Story bracelets from First Grader at Last. Each bead color represents a part of the First Thanksgiving story (white mayflower sails, blue ocean, red cranberries, etc.) I read the poem to her (found at the link above), and then she selected the beads and strung them on a pipe cleaner.

Simple but a fun way to remember the story!

Our Mayflower

2011-11-16T11:09:00.000-08:00

Since we are learning about the First Thanksgiving, it seemed only appropriate for Miss M to get a chance to make a replica of the Mayflower. We used a shoe box covered in brown paper for the boat and construction paper glued on wooden dowels for the sails.

Of course, what Mayflower would be complete without pilgrims? We printed these paper dolls off of Kaboose. Miss M glued them onto craft sticks to make them stand up in the boat.

Simple to make, but it's been providing her plenty of fun all day long!

Rube Goldberg Model

2011-11-14T07:09:00.000-08:00

Rube Goldberg was a political cartoonist in the 1950s who was also an inventor. He made complex gadgets that performed simple tasks in the most convoluted ways. You've seen his work in movies when the crazy inventor hits his alarm clock and it sets off a chain reaction the eventually ends in the coffee starting and eggs getting cracked into a pan.

Today, there are several international competitions where teams of college students strive to create the most complex Rube Goldberg machine they can (the current record is 244 steps). For science, J had the task of creating his own Rube Goldberg model. It had to be small (no bigger than 30cm by 60 cm) and it must include one of each of the six types of simple machines to accomplish a task. J chose to have his machine pour a glass of water.

The video below shows his machine in action. It starts off with a marble being placed into an inclined plane. (Excuse our enthusiasm, this was the first test run that worked.)

Tot School: Animals

2011-11-13T08:59:00.000-08:00

Baby B is 17 months old.

This week I put six trays back out for Baby B for the first time in a while. (I had taken them away because he was in a destructive phase and they were getting dumped everywhere.)

Our color of the week was blue, so I had a bucket full of blue things for him to explore, as well as a bucket of his wedgits to play with. For fine motor skills I had some pipe cleaners to insert into a spice jar. It quickly became apparent that the holes on the top were too small for him, so I removed it and he just put them into the jar instead.

For our first sort, I wanted something easy to introduce him to the concept so we sorted Little People into people or animals. To make it easier, all the animals were some sort of horse. It took him a few tries to get the hang of putting them together by kind, but by the end of the week he had the general idea.

We also worked on matching animals. I had an education cube I had put animal pictures into, and then the matching animal magnets were in the baking sheet. He would throw the cube and then try to find the matching animal magnet. This was a lot of fun for him!

Baby B also spent quite a lot of time playing with is Leap Frog magnetic farm.

He played with playdough quite a bit this week, and did use his animal cookie cutters in it on occasion.

Playing with trains is his all-time favorite activity and he will spend an hour at a time at the train table every day.

For art we got out the ever-messy but oh-so-fun paint daubers to use.

My favorite picture of the week is this one of Miss M and Baby B just sitting and watching the view from their bench.

That was Baby B's week in Tot School. You can see what others did over at 1+1+1=1.

Miss M's Week In Review

2011-11-11T13:16:00.000-08:00

This was one of those weeks where we did not have one specific theme to work on, but just worked on a variety of skills.

For language arts we made our own book about the fall leaf colors and did a color by letter turkey.

Miss M's favorite activity this week was Read, Stamp, Write. Usually she just wants to stamp the words, but this week she wrote them out as well.

For science, we reviewed our seasons by sorting seasonal pictures. We also reviewed the three criteria for telling if an animal is a mammal and did lots of sorts into mammals and not mammals. We are intentionally molding a Halloween pumpkin, and we observed it every day for changes.

For math we continue to work on beginning addition using unifix cubes and other manipulatives.

I found a cute turkey family worksheet over at Miss Kindergarten for counting review. Miss M is a huge fan of logic games, and played Royal Rescue everyday this week. (I bought this game at the local teacher supply store last month. The price on Amazon was so ridiculous I couldn't even bring myself to link to the game. If I find it for a normal price somewhere else I will add the link later.)

And, of course, we had just lots of free play both inside and out.

I plan to do an update on Baby B on Sunday, as he had a busy week himself. I also plan to post a video J did of his Rube Goldberg project, assuming I can get my husband to edit out the first few seconds where he says his name on the video.

I am linking this post to Preschool Corner {&5K Too!} at Homeschool Creations and Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Miss Tutu's Star

2011-11-10T11:31:00.000-08:00

When Miss M brought the book Miss Tutu's Star by Leslea Newman home from the library, I knew exactly which craft I wanted to do with it. I had seen the ballet dress with the handprint tutu on Pinterest and wanted to recreate it for Miss M's room. [This is a sweet book about a little girl named Selena who wants to be a ballerina. I appreciate how the dance teacher is always encouraging and tells her that since she has a heart for dance, she is already a star. Selena practices and practices until she can get the steps right for her recital. The illustrations are full of cute little details and the words rhyme in a fun way, which appealed to Miss M greatly.]

The original project called for doing this on canvas, but we did it on watercolor paper as we are framing it. First, I just free-hand cut a leotard shape out of pink paper and Miss M glued it down.

Next, we made a tutu skirt using four of her handprints in light pink, and then when it was dry added another two on top in a slightly darker pink. We were too impatient to wait for the light pink color to dry by itself, so I used a hairdryer to speed up the process.

We glued a pink ribbon and bow at the waist to finish it off.

The original idea for this project with a full tutorial came from Meet the Dubiens. I am link this to stART (story + art) at A Mommy's Adventures and Kids Get Crafty at Red Ted Art.

Blog Makeover

2011-11-08T19:30:00.002-08:00

For a while now, my poor blog has needed a makeover. I knew what I wanted it to look like but didn't have the skills to do it myself. So, for my birthday, my wonderful husband gave me a new blog design.

I worked with Becca over at Jumping Jax Designs and I couldn't be happier. She was able to take the design I had inside my head and make it a reality. She is a very talented designer, quick to respond to change requests and just a real pleasure to work with.

Along with the new design, I am working on making the blog easier to navigate. I have added new pages for Arts & Crafts and Themes. I am hoping this will make past projects easier to find.

Being Thankful

2011-11-07T09:32:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, we started the tradition of doing a thankful tree at Thanksgiving. I think the visual impact of seeing everything listed out really helps us to see how many blessings we have. This year's version is construction paper leaves hung with yarn on real branches.

For the first time, Miss M was able to join J in writing her own leaves and hanging them on our tree.

I let the kids write whatever they feel thankful for, we don't limit it to any certain number each day, so our tree is quite full already! We will continue to add leaves for the rest of November, and to read what is already on the tree every day.

Building Chairs

2011-11-06T16:54:00.000-08:00

We bought some new dining room chairs at Ikea, and Miss M and Baby B helped Daddy put them together.

This was fantastic practice for Miss M at following directions. She was able to "read" them herself since they are all pictures and she did a great job at knowing which pieces and tools were needed for each step.

Baby B had more fun playing auto mechanic for his sister's car.

When all the fun was done, the chairs turned out great!

(Edited to add: My Dad wanted to know why I didn't include a picture of the finished chairs, so here you go Dad!)

Will It Float?

2011-11-03T06:41:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine started a local home learners group, and we have been meeting for some fun activities she planned out. The first was a floating experiment. The kids created boats from modeling clay (with some help from the Moms) and then tried to float them in a tub full of water.

We let them play for a few minutes and then led them into a discussion on why some boats floated better than others.

Finally, we extended it by laying pennies on the boats and seeing which could hold the most pennies. This was a fun experiment (who doesn't love playing in water) and will also be a great one to revisit when Miss M is older. You can see more pictures over at Homeschooling the Cameron Clan.

Baby B spent the morning playing, but was ready to fish the boats out if we needed.

Halloween Wrap-Up

2011-10-31T19:34:00.000-07:00

As is our tradition, my very-talented mother made the kids the costumes of their choice - Belle for Miss M

and an owl (my choice) for Baby B, who refused to stay still for a photo!

For the first time since he was born, she didn't make J's costume - he made his own Texas Ranger baseball costume out of duct tape this year.

Before we went trick or treating, the little ones painted their pumpkins (and themselves in Baby B's case).

We hope you had a Happy Halloween today!

stART: Raccoon on His Own

2011-10-27T07:22:00.000-07:00

Fall has finally reached our area of the south, and we have been studying fall-related themes. For stART (story+art) this week, we read Raccoon On His Own by Jim Arnosky. The book follows baby raccoon as he travels through the swamp in a dugout canoe.

We made a raccoon to go along with the story. I just free-hand cut the parts out of paper and Miss M glued them on. Miss M traced her hands to make the raccoon's eye mask. The stripes on the tail were just colored with black marker.

This post is linked up to stART at A Mommy's Adventures and Kids Get Crafty at Red Ted Art.

Worldfest

2011-10-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

J is working on his American Cultures badge for Boy Scouts, and needed to attend a festival for one of the countries he is researching, so we headed to a nearby city this weekend for their WorldFest celebration.

The kids got to try out a Japanese abacus,

watch a Moroccan wedding,

and see dancers from many different countries.

It was a fun way to experience many different cultures in one afternoon.

Lots of Fun

2011-10-24T08:21:00.000-07:00

One of our friends has started a playgroup for homeschooling families in our area. We had our first get together Thursday, where we took a nature walk, played at the park, and then decorated cookies for Halloween. It was fun for Miss M to meet other kids her age who are being homeschooled for Preschool/Kindergarten as well, and she is looking forward to future outings (we have a boat float day coming up soon she is particularly excited about!)

This weekend was also our neighborhood's annual block party. We have a party every year before Halloween when we close down the street for one evening and have food, a bounce house, face painters and balloon artists, train rides, fire trucks, and all the kids wear their costumes. It is a lot of fun and my kids look forward to it every year.

We hosted the bounce house this year, so the kids got to try it out by themselves first. (This is not Miss M's halloween costume, Grandma is still hard at work sewing for this year.)

The boys both enjoyed the fire truck...

It was a busy, busy weekend, but one the kids thoroughly enjoyed.

Stringing Necklaces

2011-10-21T07:13:00.000-07:00

I few weeks ago, my mother sent the kids a package which included a little necklace kit for Miss M. She wanted to work on it when I was making dinner the other day, so I told her to lay the pieces out in a pattern. After a few tries she discovered one that worked.

Then, she worked on stringing the necklace. It took her about fifteen minutes of work to get it all strung, but when she was done she was so proud that she had made it herself.

She had no idea she got both patterning and fine motor practice while doing it!

Wordless Wednesday: Puddles

2011-10-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

Washing Pumpkins

2011-10-14T07:02:00.000-07:00

This is an activity we have done in years past, but it is always a favorite. This year, since Baby B is still so little, I set this activity up in our bathroom to help minimize clean-up. All you need is some small pumpkins, a tub full of soapy water, and a few washcloths or dish brushes.

This is messy but lots of fun!

Pumpkin Seed Mosaics

2011-10-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

I made pumpkin soup for dinner last night and remembered to save the seeds. (None of my kids like the goo, so Daddy had the task of cleaning the pumpkins and the seeds.) After they were dry, I colored them using food coloring and this morning were ready for our art project: mosaics using pumpkin seeds.

Miss M greatly enjoyed this project and made many rainbows, flowers, suns and pumpkins.

I found this idea on Pinterest, but the original idea belongs to Our Little Nature Nest.

Wordless Wednesday: Mud Pies

2011-10-12T02:52:00.000-07:00

First Art

2011-10-11T15:09:00.000-07:00

Baby B saw his sister using her bingo daubers today and insisted he get to try them, too! To say he had fun is an understatement! (Yes, he appears to be a lefty.)

Weekly Wrap-up: Monsters

2011-10-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

This was one of those weeks where Baby B was sick and Miss M wasn't that interested in her workboxes, so we only did them one day this week. We did read together every day and do math journals every day, and in our house that counts as a day of school.

2 Teaching Mommies has a really cute Monsters unit, and we did several of their activities including rolling and graphing monsters (I laminated the sheet so we just used dry erase markers):

Then an alphabet monster mash. Since Miss M knows the names of the letters, I called out the phonetic sounds and she had to swat the proper letter with the fly swatter. She only missed five, so this was a good review of what letters we still need to work with, as well.

Despite being sick, Baby B thought this looked like fun and spent quite a bit of his own time mashing the letter cards with the fly swatter.

We glued the parts of the leaf into our science journals, and discussed what each part did in the growth of the leaf.

We did some writing about apples using a modified bubble map we made together. I am starting to use bubble maps more with Miss M because they are easy to do and help her to organize the information she knows on each subject in a fun way.

That was basically our week. Next week we plan to delve into our Woodland Forest theme since everyone is now feeling better.

I am linking this to Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations and to the Weekly Wrap-up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. Stop by to see what others did with their week!

Writing Miss M's Way

2011-10-06T09:33:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to get Miss M interested in writing lately. I have found that she despises doing handwriting practice, but will happily write "real words" as she calls them.

Sometimes I write the word for her, and then she copies it:

Other times she just asks me how to spell it and I tell her letter by letter.

I know we still need to work on letter formation, but for now she is enjoying writing this way so we will go with it for a while.

Tot School: Bear Hunt

2011-10-02T12:54:00.000-07:00

~16 months old~

It has been a few weeks since we did a Tot School post, but we have been busy working on activities. Baby B has been into the book We're Going On A Bear Hunt, so I did some activities with him related to the book.

We practiced color words using our counting bears:

We collected a variety of bears we had into one bin for him to play with:

I printed pictures from the Bear Hunt printables at Stay and Play and put them into Baby B's Education Cube. We worked on vocabulary for bear, grass, water, tree, mud and house.

I have continued to change out the six toys on Baby B's school shelves, and this has greatly increased his interest in playing by himself. He loves seeing what new toys there are out each week.

I made felt board pieces to go along with Bear Hunt, and Baby B held them up to me as we told each part of the story.

We have done some painting this week (both finger and using a brush) and spent quite a lot of time outside enjoying the gorgeous weather as well.

A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers

2011-09-28T18:01:00.000-07:00

I was recently given the opportunity to review A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers by Melissa E. Craig and Maggie S. Hogan from Bright Ideas Press

I was excited to receive this product, as I have long wanted a comprehensive but easy to implement composer study program that we could do as a family.

This program is nicely written and well laid out. The book includes 32 weeks of lessons covering six periods of music and 26 famous composers. It is arranged chronologically and includes a brief introduction to each period of music followed by biographies for composers during that time frame. Each biography includes note-taking sheets and a review sheet.

My favorite part of the curriculum is the wide variety of activities that go along with the biographies including:

Composer information cards and game

Composer timelines
Printable mapping activities

Coloring sheets
Instructions and game cards for composer Memory, Go-Fish, Bingo, Jeopardy and a timeline game
Instructions and sheets to use for making folderbooks (similar to lapbooks)

There are also fantastic tips for what to listen for in each composer’s suggested music pieces, links to where the music can be found online, and even a list of additional resources in case you wish to learn more about a particular composer.

The fact that this is an e-book means that I can print only those activities we are going to use each week, but a hard copy of the book is available. This program is intended for grades 4-8 (ages 9-13), and I think the depth of the materials reflect that. However, the wide variety of additional resources allows us to include Miss M in some of the activities as well. I think you could adapt this curriculum to include your younger or older children very easily.

To learn more about The Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers visit Bright Ideas Press or the Timberdoodle Web site.

You can see what other reviewers had to say about A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers here.

And don’t forget to check out the many other music-related resources offered by Timberdoodle. If you don't already receive their free catalog of fantastic Homeschool Resources, I suggest you sign up for it.

I was provided this product free of charge in exchange for my honest review. I was offered no other forms of compensation and the opinions expressed are my own.

A Big Weekend

2011-09-26T11:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a big weekend for J. On Friday, he turned 12 years old. It's hard to believe that my sweet little first-born baby has turned into a preteen. I remember when he was just a little guy toddling along like Baby B does now!

J has a little get together with his friends - which at this age involves lots of junk food and video games!

He ended the weekend with his Boy Scout Court of Honor on Sunday. He has only been a boyscout for 6 months, but he has earned six merit badges, advanced one rank, and earned two special patches in that time. It was nice to see him getting rewarded for his hard work.

It was a great weekend for J, and we are so proud of him!

BFIAR: We're Going On A Bear Hunt

2011-09-21T06:56:00.000-07:00

Lately, Baby B has been interested in the book We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. This has resparked Miss M's interest in the book as well, so we are taking a small break from dinosaurs and doing some book-related activities this week.

For math, we graphed gummy bears. This was good practice sorting, counting and graphing all in one. We worked on reading our graphs and deciding which color had the most and least. I just made the graph very quickly in Excel using the color words for practice.

Next we made a 3-D map of the story (from Making Learning Fun). First Miss M cut out the pieces and colored them:

Then she glued them onto our construction paper map in the order they appear in the story:

Then she practiced retelling the story using our map:

Finally she used the word cards to sequence the story on her whiteboard. (I added the drawings afterward at her request.)

We have many more fun activities planned for today for both Miss M and Baby B to go along with the book. Both Susana at Our Homeschool Fun and Michelle at Delightful Learning have fantastic posts detailing lots of great ideas for this book as inspiration, and Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations has a printables pack as a go-along as well.

Campfire Cones

2011-09-20T06:56:00.000-07:00

J had a boy scout camp out this past weekend, and needed a simple dessert they could make in the woods. After some searching, I found this idea for Campfire Cones over at Chef Jessica Bright.

Miss M helped me fill sugar ice cream cones with chocolate chips, toffee chips and marshmallows.

We then wrapped them individually in aluminum foil and when the time came, the boys just had to warm them in the campfire. From all accounts they tasted great - even the adults enjoyed them.

First Day of Soccer

2011-09-16T06:40:00.000-07:00

Miss M started soccer for the first time this fall. She is on a coed Pre-K team and had her first practice yesterday. Of course, she had to have all pink and purple soccer gear!

She looked adorable, listened well, tried hard and had a great time.

Her first game is Saturday and she is VERY excited.

Where In the World Were the Dinosaurs?

2011-09-15T07:17:00.000-07:00

We are continuing to work on our dinosaur study and this week we have twelve dinosaurs that we are learning all about. Yesterday, Miss M worked on matching the dinosaur model and skeleton to the matching information cards (printed from Montessori Print Shop.) There were not cards for all of our dinosaurs we are studying, so we have to make up some of our own as well.

Once that was done, we talked about where the fossils for each dinosaur were found. Hugg-A-Planet came in handy for this, and Miss M placed the models on the appropriate parts of the world as we learned about each.

She discovered that Triceratops, Parasaurolophus, and Corythosaurus all lived in the same area of the world, all ate plants, and were all about the same size, so they MUST have been friends!

Her favorite dinosaur so far - the Seismosaurus. After all, who doesn't love a 140 foot dinosaur who weighed as much as 10 elephants and could shake the earth when he walked!

Weekly Wrap-Up: Dinosaurs

2011-09-09T10:58:00.000-07:00

Somehow the week snuck by without me managing to get one post up, but that doesn't mean we weren't busy. September is a big month for us with our anniversary, my birthday and J's birthday all during the month. Miss M is also starting soccer for the first time, and J is back into his after-school activities as well. With all that said, we are studying Dinosaurs this month, and did do school every day this week.

We did a bubble map to recap all the facts we learned about dinosaurs this week. This was Miss M's first time doing a bubble map, but she did great at recalling facts.

We practiced spelling the word dinosaur using our boggle letter dice, and later Miss M wrote and drew a dinosaur into her writing journal.

For math we played a dice game

and did a size sort

and did a puzzle putting numbers 1-10 in numerical order

We did a lot of work with our Dinosaurs Nature Tube. We used them in our estimation jar, sorted and classified them, and just had fun playing with them.

We also did some non-dinosaur activities as well. This backpack project was a great practice at coloring and cutting from Kindergarten Crayons.

We spent a lot of time on our core curriculum as well, including using Zoologic (one of Miss M's current favorite games).

All of the printables we used came from:

2 Teaching Mommies
Kim Swoveland's Dinosaur Unit on Teachers Pay Teachers (dino roll is from her free supplement)
Kindergarten Crayons

I am linking this up with Preschool Corner over at Homeschool Creations.

Tot School - Straws, Boxes and Paints

2011-09-04T20:27:00.000-07:00

~15 months old~

This week Baby B's favorite activity was putting straws into a jar. I just punched holes in the plastic lid and he slid them in over and over and over again. He chose this activity every day, all day long. (This idea came from Carisa.)

He spent one day this week enamored with our Geoboard. It was actually out for Miss M to use in her math workbox, but he took it and spent the longest time putting the rubberbands on and off. He didn't have tension on the bands, but he knew they had to go around several of the small posts and was very intent on doing it.

We tried finger painting for the first time this week. He was NOT a fan at first, but eventually he got into it.

Baby B continued to work with his stacking blocks this week. Both by themselves,

and with balls added in. He really enjoyed trying to figure out which boxes the ball would fit into, and which it wouldn't.

That was our week in Tot School. For more ideas, check out 1+1+1=1.

Kindergarten Weekly Wrap-Up

2011-09-02T17:43:00.000-07:00

Miss M had a very busy week this week in school. While we continue to use our main curriculum, she also had many other fun activities in her workboxes.

We have begun learning about money, and Miss M had fun sorting coins this week.

We started using ClickNKids this week as a supplement to our phonics program. Miss M loves it, and has requested to do her computer time first every day this week.

We did a "Math About Me" page in our math journals. She really enjoyed this, so I will have to think up more questions we can add to this.

We wrapped up our month-long study of space by making our own constellations. She drew what she wanted her constellation to be (here is a dog) and then punched out "stars" using a thumbtack. The original idea for this came from over at Quince and Quire. I helped her label each constellation and folded them into a little book for her.

We have been working on our Europe GeoPuzzle in August, and it is another huge hit that gets done daily here. Miss M has learned over half the countries in Europe by name and sight. We will be doing country studies on some of her favorite ones during the month of September.

I am linking this post to Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations.

Gluten-Free Playdough

2011-09-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

Baby B has reached the age where he loves to play with playdough, but he is still young enough that he tries to eat it on occasion. Both store-bought playdough and our regular homemade recipe contain gluten. This is an issue for us, since even the tiniest bit of gluten can make Baby B very sick for several days. After some experimenting, I found a gluten-free playdough recipe in one of my cookbooks that works as a great alternative.

Miss M helped me make it, and we added some red food coloring and cinnamon to give it a fall scent. (It's hard to think of fall here when we are STILL over 100 degrees every day.)

The recipe worked great - it feel just like regular playdough!

For those who want to try it:
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup salt
2 TBS cream of tartar
1 cup water
1 tsp vegetable oil
Food coloring and scents as you wish.

Mix all the ingredients together in a saucepan. It will appear very watery, don't worry. Cook over low heat, stirring, until it starts to form a ball. Turn it out onto a piece of waxed paper. Let cool completely before storing. We just use a ziploc bag or a tupperware container and it keeps well for several weeks.

Tot School - First Week of School

2011-08-28T08:55:00.000-07:00

~14.5 months old~

This week was the first week of school for the other kids, so we had to change our Tot School routine a little bit. We did a little rearranging and put out a shelf for Baby B dedicated to his Tot School trays. We put six items on his shelves - two sensorial, two fine motor and two gross motor - and he played with them on his own all week, and with me or his Daddy one-on-one each day.

Probably the biggest hit were the stacking and nesting blocks. These are old Curious George blocks I bought at a consignment store when Miss M was this age, and while he can't stack them yet, he LOVED to nest them inside each other. We worked a lot on the vocabulary for in and out with this one.

This week Baby B discovered our puppet stash. Thanks to my parents, the kids have quite a few puppets of different animals that they love to play with. Baby B spent several days walking around the house with the chicken puppet and making clucking noises. It was too cute!

For an art project this week, I gave Baby B some colored ice cubes (just food coloring in water) with which to paint. At first he wasn't sure about the cold feel on his hands, but then he got into it and had a paper covered with color when he was done.

My favorite picture of the week was Baby B rolling and throwing the ball with his siblings. They just dote on him and his face just lights up when they are playing with him.

That was our week in Tot School. Don't forget to visit 1+1+1=1 to see what others did this week.

Weekly Wrap-Up: The Moon

2011-08-26T06:22:00.000-07:00

In addition to our regular curriculum, we have been focusing on studying our solar system this month and this week we spent some time focused on our moon.

After discussing characteristics of the moon and how the craters on the moon were formed, we did an experiment to recreate the moon's craters. J actually did this experiment in 5th Grade science class, and we recreated it at home. We filled a pie plate with flour, and had our marble asteroid bump into the moon and create craters.

Miss M loved doing this activity!

Next, we worked on the phases of the moon. Given Miss M's age, I was only concerned that she understand that the shape of the moon appears to change over the course of 28 days, but not worried about her learning the correct terminology for each phase. To illustrate this, we did this experiment using oreo cookies cut to represent each moon phase, an idea I found on Science Bob.

This was by far her favorite of the activities!

Finally, we used the salt painting technique we have used before to make a salt moon. First, Miss M drew her moon shape (she chose a full moon) onto her paper.

Next she added glue stick to her drawing,

and finally she sprinkled on salt I had dyed yellow with food coloring.

She shook off the excess and had me write the moon phase for her.

Overall, it was a fun week learning about our moon. We will finish our study of the solar system next week with stars and constellations.

stART: A Bad Case of Stripes

2011-08-25T08:51:00.000-07:00

Miss M has been loving a book she picked at the library: Bad Case Of Stripes by David Shannon. When Camilla Cream is not true to who she is (she is embarrassed to admit she likes lima beans) she breaks out in stripes and horrible other things until finally she is true to herself.

For our project, I printed a photograph of Miss M onto watercolor paper. I made sure to pick a picture where she had a bow in her hair, since Camilla Cream always has a pink bow in her hair no matter what else she looks like. Then Miss M painted on stripes with watercolors.

I was impressed how careful she was to match the color order she painted with the order on the book.

We cut it out and mounted it onto a black background to make it pop!

I am linking this project to stART over at A Mommy's Adventures and to Kids Get Crafty at Red Ted Art. Both these blogs have great ideas for fun book-related art projects.

Rootbeer Float Cupcakes

2011-08-24T11:38:00.000-07:00

Last year we celebrated the start of school with these apple shaped cupcakes. This year, it is still well over 100 degrees outside, so we went with a more summer-related cupcake: rootbeer floats.

We used this recipe from over at How Sweet It Is and Miss M helped me bake them.

We left off the chocolate syrup and added twizzler straws. And the best part is, that they really do taste like a rootbeer float!

First Day of School

2011-08-23T18:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the official first day of school in our house, which meant our usual backpack shots! For J, that means sixth grade:

For Miss M, that meant K4:

We actually began her program in May, but took it light over the summer. She loaded her backpack with a trumpet, just like J was carrying.

For Baby B, that means Tot School!

Today was also the first day of ballet and tap classes for the year.

I can't believe how much our little ballerina has grown since last year!

Busy Week in Tot School

2011-08-21T05:49:00.000-07:00

~14.5 months old~

Baby B had a busy week in Tot School this week. I put three trays with items out for him every day, and either J or I worked with him for about 15 minutes with those items.

He has gotten very good at opening the doors on his Melissa & Doug Magnetic Hide and Seek Board and being able to pull the magnetic item behind them out. He loves doing this puzzle over and over again.

This week I had a few of the Infantino Matching Colors and Textures Puzzles out for sensory play, and the Wee Wedgits as well. Baby B really enjoyed both of these, especially when J built towers for him with the Wedgits.

Baby B and Miss M both LOVE to do play dough,

and J was playing a game where he spun Baby B in the laundry basket, much to both of their delights.

We went to the late night at the art museum on Friday, and the theme was mystery night. While the other kids made disguises, Baby B enjoyed exploring the feathers and other art materials they had out.

Finally, I gave him crayons to draw with for the first time. He couldn't decide which hand he wanted to use, so he used both! I taped the paper to his high chair tray, and this worked well for him. He did end up with quite a few marks on his paper when he was done.

We have also been using our Education Cubes to work on vocabulary. I printed photographs of animals (cat, dog, fish, bird, cow, horse) and trimmed them to fit into the block. We roll the block and then I say the animal it lands on. So far he is repeating cat and dog, and we will keep working with these.

Baby B is really starting to use his imagination when he is playing. Miss M loves to pretend she is the puppy dog Lady from the movie Lady and the Tramp, and Baby B goes crawling around behind her panting like a puppy, too! He also loves to play with my kitchen utensils, and this day I caught him pretending the tongs were a telephone and saying "Hi" over and over again.

J goes back to school this coming week, so we will be adjusting our Tot School time to coincide with Miss M's kindergarten time.

Whisk Away

2011-08-19T08:46:00.000-07:00

The other day I was making pancakes using a whisk, and Baby B was VERY interested in what I was doing, so I filled a bowl with water and dish soap and gave him his own whisk.

He was happy whisking bubbles for over twenty minutes.

J was holding the bowl for him to ensure we didn't have any spills. If I hadn't been cooking I would have just set him down on the floor to do this, and we'll probably try that next time.

Orbiting the Sun

2011-08-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

We did a very simple experiment to illustrate how the planets orbit the sun. All you need is a foil pie plate and a blue marble.

We taped a circle to the center of the pie-plate to represent the sun. We pretended the blue marble was the Earth and then gently tipped the pie plate to start the marble rotating the perimeter.

Miss M figured out that you had to be very careful to make sure the marble stayed on path. She loved this simple experiment and has redone it several times herself since.

Solar System: Planets Distance

2011-08-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

As we continue to study our solar system, I wanted to do a project to illustrate the planets' distances from the sun. We found the dimensions here to illustrate the distances in a scaled model using either inches, feet or toilet paper squares. We decided to use the toilet paper method because 1) Miss M could count the squares easier 2) the long blank sheets of toilet paper better illustrated the space between the planets better and 3) it was just more fun!

First we drew a chalk sun on the sidewalk as our starting point, and then we started rolling out toilet paper and counting squares.

We placed balls and labels on the line to represent our planets as we went.

When we were done, we had placed Neptune over 50 feet away from our starting point.

(We are being scientifically accurate and not counting Pluto as a planet even though I learned it differently.)

For some reason I failed to photograph the complete distance down the line (it was HOT outside so we were in a hurry) but it was a fantastic illustration.

Solar System Scaled Model

2011-08-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

We are continuing our study of the solar system, and today we did a scaled model art project. I wanted to illustrate the differences in sizes between the planets accurately, and I found this chart here that gave the dimensions in a workable size (the largest is just over 7.6 inches).

I have seen a number of versions of this project, but we liked the tissue paper sun over at Ohdeedoh, so that is the what we did.

First we taped our black paper together and glued our tissue paper onto the sun.

Then we drew the orbits for our planets (these are NOT to scale)

Then we cut our planets out to the correct diameter and glued our planets on, including 3D rings for Saturn.

We needed to use larger sheets of paper than we did, because Jupiter and Saturn didn't really fit too well. Finally, we added crumpled up coffee filters to make the asteroid belt.

I LOVE how it turned out!

Tomorrow we have a project outside (it takes over 50 feet) to do a scale version of the planets' distances from the sun.

A Perfectly Pinkalicious Tea Party

2011-08-10T19:25:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Miss M's fourth birthday this past weekend with a pinkalicious-themed dress-up tea party.

Miss M actually turned four at the end of July, but we were traveling from our vacation on her actual birthday, so we held her party a week later. This is the first time she has had a birthday party where friends were invited, usually we just have a family party. She picked the theme months ago and was sooooo excited!

Miss M insisted Daddy wear his tuxedo and both he and J served as waiters for all the little girls.

We had pink velvet cupcakes for everyone except Miss M who wanted chocolate.

She loved her party and is still talking about how it was the best day ever!

Tot School: He Walks

2011-08-07T14:29:00.000-07:00

~14 months old~

It has been a while since we have done a Tot School post for Baby B. He has mainly been working on his gross motor skills, which have finally paid off as he began walking on his own this week. (He has cruised while holding on forever, but is finally taking a series of steps on his own unassisted.)

Baby B is currently obsessed with balls, and one of his favorite games is throwing the balls into a small laundry basket.

He loves to do whatever his siblings are doing. By far his favorite is scribbling. Anytime he sees anyone with a pen, crayons, marker, etc. he insists on having it for himself and scribbling away on paper.

He is also starting to get into playdough. I have to watch him closely so he doesn't eat it, but he is loving playing with his sister whenever she gets the playdough out.

For a sensorial activity, Baby B has been loving exploring our basket of seashells.

He has also been working hard at the shape sorter, and getting better at matching up the proper shapes.

Like all of our kids, Baby B loves playing on the Ipad. Right now his favorite games are Colored Dots and Preschool Adventure.

I have several things I am planning on introducing to Baby B this coming week, including fingerpaints.

Sea Turtles Up Close

2011-08-05T07:31:00.000-07:00

The island we stayed at while on vacation (Tybee Island, GA) is one of the places where endangered sea turtles come up onto the beach to lay their nests. One of the things we did while there was attend a Turtle Talk class at the local marine biology center. We learned all about sea turtles, particularly the five types that are native to the area. We learned about the characteristics of each, their food (one eats jellyfish) and life cycles.

They had a sea turtle shell for the kids to look at,

vertebrae bones and skulls,

and confiscated items that are examples of the items humans have made out of turtles.

The highlight for the kids was then getting to help feed "Salty"a one-year-old Hawksbill turtle which was being rehabilitated at the center.

This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, and the kids are still going around reciting facts about the sea turtles that they learned.

Universe in a Jar

2011-08-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

We are doing an Astronomy unit this month, and we began by discussing the universe. For a hands-on example, Miss M made a mini-universe in a jar.

First, she added glitter (she chose blue, green and silver) and stars I punched out of aluminum foil into a baby food jar.

Next she added a dropper of vegetable oil.

Finally she poured in water to fill the jar 3/4 full, and I helped her screw the lid on tight.

When she shakes the jar it looks similar to the pictures of the universe we saw on the NASA Web site.

Our House Fairy

2011-08-03T18:48:00.000-07:00

The kids were so excited to come home from vacation and see this:

it seems a house fairy named Clarabelle moved in while we were away. She has promised the kids that as long as they don't try to trap her or open the door to the fairy world (only fairies can open the door) she will remain in our house and leave them little notes and gifts of appreciation. Miss M has spent the whole week calling for Clarabelle to come play, and tells me she hopes she gets some pixie dust to help her fly sometime!

(Note: I purchased an unpainted door from etsy here and then Daddy painted it up for the kids.)

A Week at the Beach

2011-07-31T11:14:00.000-07:00

We have just returned from 10 days spent vacationing on Tybee Island on the coast of Georgia. It was a fantastic vacation, and we got a lot of the items on our Summer Bucket List done while we were there.

We saw a sunrise,

and a sunset,

we flew kites on the beach, built sandcastles,

collected sea shells and swam in the ocean.

This was the first time Miss M or Baby B had ever seen the ocean, and the first time any of the kids had swum in the Atlantic. It was a great break from the heat we are experiencing at home (it's supposed to be over 110 this week) and the kind of memories that I hope stay with our kids into adulthood.

Estimation Jars and Brain Breaks

2011-07-26T06:47:00.000-07:00

We school year-round, although we do fewer days a week in the summer. Miss M started her K4 curriculum in May, and we have added a few new items that have been a huge hit.

The first is an estimation jar. We are doing this daily during our calendar time. I try to fill the jar with objects that vary in size and shape, and when possible relate to our studies (here there are seashells). First Miss M estimates how many objects are inside the jar, and then we count them together and see how close her estimates were.

The second are these brain break sticks which I found the idea for at Keep Calm and Teach On. They are simply painted popsicle sticks with fun, quick activities listed on them. Things like running around the yard three times, having a one-minute tickle fest, and singing the song Tomorrow from Annie (one of Miss M's favorites). We do workboxes, so Miss M draws a stick after every three or four boxes and we do the activity. It's a fantastic way to get the wiggles out and add some fun into our routine.

These are both quick, easy-to-make ideas that have added some new fun into our school days.

Luau Day

2011-07-20T06:34:00.000-07:00

One of the final days of our neighborhood summer camp was a Hawaiian-themed day. The kids dressed in their best tropical wear, including leis

and drank lemonade using these fun umbrella straws I found at the Dollar Store.

They learned a hula dance, and made a jellyfish craft I found here. They painted paper plates (we didn't have bowls which would have been a better shape) using watercolors

and then glued ribbons to the underside (not the best picture, but they really do look cute in person).

Down on the Farm

2011-07-18T18:23:00.001-07:00

We took a trip a few days ago to visit Nash Farm, a historic farm near us that dates to 1859. You can tour the original house and barn, see historic farm equipment, and "ride" the tractors

and feed the chickens.

Baby B was enamored with the cow in the barn

and all the kids enjoyed the discovery tables with the miniature farm machines.

.

Shakespeare In the Park

2011-07-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy this summer that I am way behind blogging about all we are doing. One of the things on our summer bucket list was to go see Shakespeare at the Park, and we did that last weekend. We drove into Dallas for a production of As You Like It.

The company had updated the play to take place during the 1936 Spanish Civil War, but retained the original language of Shakespeare. (I think it was done since we are over 100 degrees and who could possibly wear a period costume in that heat?)

We took a picnic dinner and enjoyed some family time before play began.

Once it got dark, the play started. Miss M was fascinated by the wedding scene at the end, of course, but J really loved the comedy of the play. Everyone loved it, even Baby B!

Tie-Dye Day

2011-07-03T05:04:00.000-07:00

This week's theme in our neighborhood summer camp was colors. We tie-dyed shirts using koolaid which was a fun, if messy, process for all the kids. It did result in Baby B looking like a smurf for a few days after some blue koolaid got spilled on his leg, but the kids love the shirts they made. One of the moms had bought white onesies, and the even the babies in the neighborhood got tie-dyed shirts.

For a snack I had made some tie-dyed sugar cookies to go along with it. I made the dough first, then broke it into four parts and used food coloring to make each a separate color. I then rolled each color into a dough rope and braided them together. When I cut the braid into circles the colors were in a crazy tie-dyed pattern.

To go along with our theme, we played outdoor twister on the lawn and then since it was mainly girls we also did a little "freeze dancing" to round out our day.

The Pink Drink

2011-06-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

One of Miss M's favorite books the last few weeks has been Pinkalicious and the Pink Drink. Of course, this was just asking for a pink lemonade craft project to go along with it.

I cut a simple glass shape from a piece of paper and Miss M glued it down onto a background. She then cut and glued pink tissue paper into the glass,

glued down a straw, and topped it all with a piece of contact paper to make it look like a drinking glass.

In hindsight, this would have been easier if we had glued it to the background last, as trimming the tissue paper to fit the glass shape once it was already glued down took some work.

I am linking this to stART at A Mommy's Adventure and Kids Get Crafty at Red Ted Art.

SBL: Concert at the Park

2011-06-27T07:22:00.000-07:00

One of the items on our Summer Bucket List was to attend a concert at the park. We finally made it this past weekend. We ate icecream and listened to the music while Miss M and Baby B did a little dancing, and everyone had a great time.

These are the simple activities I love most about summer!

Van Gogh Inspired Landscape

2011-06-26T12:14:00.000-07:00

J is our resident artist, and every once in a while he creates a piece that he declares is worth framing. This one is a Van Gogh-inspired landscape painting made using watercolors.

This was drawn first using charcoals and focusing on using converging and parallel lines to create the 3D illusion. Later, he painted over it with watercolors focusing on using vibrant colors.

This one he has elected to hang in his room, but I might sneak it into the family room someday when he isn't looking!

No More Tangled Locks

2011-06-25T19:07:00.000-07:00

Miss M will be turning four next month, but she has never had her hair cut before. She has been asking for several months now to have her hair cut short, but both my husband and I have been resisting simply because we love how her long, blonde hair looks on her. However, it gets easily tangled, is hard to brush and is always in her face so we finally gave in today.

Before:

During:

After:

She looks so cute, and she LOVES her new haircut, so I guess it was time!

Outer Space Day

2011-06-23T06:45:00.000-07:00

This week's theme at our neighborhood summer camp was Outer Space. Definitely the highlight of the day was their own rocket ship to play in. I gave my husband a cardboard box and the vague instructions that I wanted a space ship, and this is what he came up with.

The inside was even lined with paper and had an old remote control, graphing calculator and mini DVD player inside for lots of buttons and screens.

All kids loved it, and Miss M and Baby B are still flying around space in it every chance they get.

We also made aliens out of green playdough and googly eyes,

rocket ships out of paper towel tubes with tissue paper flames,

and pretended to be space aliens with pom-pom and tin foil headbands.

The kids played a space version of cops and robbers and musical planets and had glow-in-the dark drinks made by sandwiching glow bracelets between two cups (directions found here).

For Miss M to extend the play into school, I printed out some activities found here and here.

Pirate Summer Camp

2011-06-17T06:28:00.000-07:00

This week's theme in our neighborhood summer camp was pirates. (For privacy reasons I only show my own children on the blog, but our whole neighborhood participates.)

When I saw this tutorial over at AlphaMom for a pirate skirt made from bandanas, I knew I had to make it for Miss M. It was super easy to do, and she LOVED being a "pink pirate" as she said.

J was my helper and ran the games for me. He briefly wore the velvet frock coat my mother had made as a costume when he was much smaller. However, the 100 degree heat and the small size prompted him to take it off almost immediately.

We had eye patches made from craft foam and yarn, spyglasses made from toilet paper tubes and pirate tattoos.

The kids made their own treasure maps, dug for buried treasure in the sandbox

and played capture the flag, treasure island, and a swab-the-deck relay race with balloons.

Overall, I think it was a fun pirate day!

Baby Bird's First Nest

2011-06-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

We have been studying birds this month and reading many bird stories. One of Miss M's favorites has been Baby Bird's First Nest by Frank Asch - a cute story about a little bird who falls out of his nest and with the help of his frog friend builds his own nest. When that doesn't work out, Little Frog helps Baby Bird make his way back to his nest and his sleeping mama.

I knew I wanted to do a nest craft to go along with it. (We did this nest one last year.) I saw several versions of this project, but we followed the tutorial over at Whatever.

First, the kids painted their paper plates half-blue and half-brown.

When they dried they glued on their baby birds (cut free-hand from paper) and added the birds beak, eye and feather wing.

Finally they glued twigs, yarn and paper strips onto the bottom to make the bird's nest.

This was a fun, easy project for a summer afternoon. I am linking this to stART at A Mommy's Adventure and Kids Get Crafty at Red Ted Art.

Summer Trip to the Art Museum

2011-06-15T07:18:00.000-07:00

One of the things on our Summer Bucket List, was to make a trip to the art museum. We went this past weekend, since one of J's favorite authors - Rick Riordan - was doing a book talk and signing.

While J and I listened to the talk and waited in line for the book signing, Daddy took Baby B and Miss M inside the museum. Miss M was fascinated with the Ivy in Flower painting by Henri Matisse (probably due to it's large size and bright colors) and so I think he will be our next artist study. Baby B made his first art project - a folded paper book. He is loving putting crayon marks on paper lately, so after Daddy made the book he happily decorated it.

Everyone had fun for our first bucket list outing.

Educating Babies & Toddlers Review

2011-06-12T19:29:00.000-07:00

I recently had the opportunity to join the Blogger Review Team for Timberdoodle, a curriculum supply company for homeschoolers. They have a fantastic site with options for everything from individual curriculum items to Complete Core Curriculums for infant to high school. We purchased their Kindergarten Core Curriculum for Miss M two month ago, and we are loving it!

As a part of the review team, I was sent the book Entertaining and Educating Babies and Toddlers to review. This book is part of their Baby Core Curriculum for infants 0-18 months. Their curriculum is not flashcards and workbooks for babies, but rather fun, gentle toys and books that help babies develop physically and intellectually.

This book contains ideas for baby-friendly exercises and activities that are both fun to do and stimulating as well. I really liked that most of the activities in the book use things you already own and don't require large purchases. The book is broken out by age, and includes activities from newborn to 30 months of age.

We tried two of the activities listed in the book. The first idea for 6 to 12 months old. The idea was for Baby B to balance on a large ball and roll gently back and forth.

He loved doing this, and had as much fun rolling off the ball as balancing on it!

The second ideas was listed under their Messy Play for 12 to 18 months old. I followed their instructions for placing a plastic cloth down before doing this, and it was definitely needed. I fixed cornmeal and water on a tray for some sensory exploration.

Baby B was not a fan of this activity (he doesn’t really like to have messy hands), but surprisingly Miss M found it quite fun and played with it for about half-an-hour after Baby B abandoned it.

Overall, I think this is an easy-to-read, well-laid out book of ideas. There are only a few ideas we haven’t tried; many of them were things we have done with one of our other kids before. I think this book would be most useful for first-time parents and parents new to educational activities for little ones, and it is on my list as a future baby-shower gift.

As a member of Timberdoodle's Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a frank and unbiased review

Dictionary Rocks

2011-06-12T07:05:00.000-07:00

Miss M has long had a fascination with rocks. Everyone once in a while, she will find a special rocks and declare it to be a "dictionary rock" and proceed to tell us all the wonderful things written on it.

We have been working on sight words and CVC words for a bit, and Miss M has finally learned enough words for reading simple sentences. So, I took some rocks and wrote her words on them with a permanent marker - making real "dictionary rocks".

Miss M has been reading her rocks in the sandbox and loving them!

She has about a dozen so far, and I plan to keep adding words as she learns them as a sort of outdoor word wall.

Neighborhood Summer Camp

2011-06-11T07:04:00.000-07:00

We live in a fantastic neighborhood where almost every house has kids and they all play together regularly. It is not unusual for us to have as many as twelve kids ranging in ages from 3 to 13 playing together at one time.

So, in order to keep them busy together this summer, we are having a neighborhood summer camp. Every mom took one day of the week and will be hosting the kids for a different activity on her days. The kids will be baking, swimming, watching movies and eating lunch together all summer long.

At our house, they will be doing crafts, games and snacks related to a weekly theme. The themes we settled on are:

Pirates (making treasure maps, capture the flag, treasure map cupcakes)
Outer Space
70's Revisited (tie-dying shirts, outdoor twister, rainbow cookies)
Neighborhood Olympics (3-legged races, obstacle course, hula hoop contest, water balloons)
Hawaiian Luau (hula dancing, making leis, fruity drinks)
Cowboys/Girls (making stick horses or banjos, homemade trail mix)

I still have to flesh out some of our activities, but J and Miss M are having fun helping me to plan and there are lots of great ideas around the web. I will be sure to post the results of our theme days this summer!

Welcome to Summer

2011-06-10T06:43:00.000-07:00

We have a tradition that every year on the last day of school we welcome J home with a banner (he just finished 5th grade at our local public school).

This year, Miss M and Baby B helped me to make J's "Welcome to Summer" banner.

We have a very full summer planned and a long Summer Bucket List to complete!

Artist Study: Georgia O'Keeffe

2011-06-07T06:31:00.000-07:00

Now that we have spent a month getting into the rhythm of Miss M's new K4 curriculum (we school year-round), I thought it was time to add in some extras including art and music appreciation. Since all of our garden flowers are blooming, we started with Georgia O'Keeffe. Our artist study was done over the course of two weeks, with a break in-between for a visit from Grandma.

First, we studied her work using the three-part cards from Montessori Print Shop. I really love the Montessori method for art study and we will be using three-part cards with all the artists we study.

Next, we read several books about her life, including My Name Is Georgia: A Portrait by Jeanette Winter and Through Georgia's Eyes by Rachel Victoria Rodriguez. I love when you can get a living storybook about the artist to read, I think Miss M learns more from them.

Finally, Miss M painted her own O'Keeffe-like painting. She studied the flowers she was going to paint:
We used real watercolor paper and tube watercolors. Mixing the right shade of pink took some time.

Finally she was ready to paint (with no direction from me).

The finished product:

When Miss M is several years older we will add in details about the artists life and impact in history. For now, it is enough that she knows the name of the artist and recognizes some of her key works.

Our Little Ballerina

2011-06-04T17:03:00.000-07:00

Miss M's first year of ballet was brought to a close today with her dance recital. Her class of three-year-olds did a ballet dance to The Chapel of Love. Miss M did so well - she remembered her steps and didn't get stage fright at all!

Her highlight of the day was the six pink roses her daddy and brothers bought her. They are proudly residing in a vase on my sidetable where she can smell them every two seconds!

We are so proud of our sweet little ballerina.

Salt Dough Map

2011-06-01T06:29:00.000-07:00

J is working on a project about Washington State, and as his visual he decided to make a salt dough map.

First he traced the state outline onto cardboard.

Then we mixed the saltdough. We used a recipe of 2 parts flour, one part salt, and one part water. He rolled it out to fill the state outline, and then added mountain ranges.

When it dried he painted it,

added the Columbia River, and added some 3-D replicas of things native to Washington (the Space Needle, a ferry boat, a salmon, and an apple tree.)

He had a lot of fun on this project.

Look Who's One!

2011-05-29T15:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Baby B's first birthday. I cannot believe my little man is already one year old. It seems like just yesterday we brought him home.

We had a family & friends barbecue to celebrate. It was giraffe themed, and we had the cutest cake made!

This was his first time eating cake and he loved it. (That is his godmother with him in the photo.)

My mother is visiting, and she and the kids helped decorate.

The only downside to the day was that it turned out to be 101 degrees outside (yes, in May).

Happy Birthday Baby Boy, we love you!!

Simply Swinging

2011-05-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

We recently added a swing for Baby B in our back yard.

He loves to spend the day hanging out in his swing, and he never has trouble finding someone to push him!

Miss M has been known to sneak in a few swings, too, whenever it's empty!

Moses Bible Story Craft

2011-05-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

Last week we were reading the story of Moses, and made a simple craft to go along with it.

First Miss M painted the paper blue to represent the water. (This is more fun than simply using blue paper!)

Next we colored and cut out a printable of baby Moses in the basket. (And added more blue paint.) I got this one at Little Blots of Faith.

Finally, we cut her handprints out of green and brown paper to be the reeds.

We glued only the palms down so you can see the baby in the basket still.

Teeny Tot School

2011-05-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

~11.5 months old~

Baby B is a budding percussionist. Lately he has been turning everything around him into a drum. He discovered this pot at the bottom of my pantry (it's only use is for making playdough) and started banging away on it. He even found the plastic fork to use as a drumstick. It was so cute (and loud)! (He is blowing a kiss in the picture, thus the funny face.)

He also discovered the sand box for the first time this week, and was very big into pouring and scooping. Surprisingly, no sand was eaten!

I bought this Melissa & Doug Puzzle at the consignment store figuring he would be able to use it when he was older. He surprised me by being able to open all the little doors and remove the magnetic pieces behind them. This has become one of our favorite toys to play with.

That was our simple week in Teeny Tiny Tot School. Baby B turns 1 next week and will officially be a Tot!

Taking Art Outside

2011-05-21T07:41:00.000-07:00

Since the weather is so nice here, the kids have been wanting to spend every minute outside that they can. We have been doing quite a bit of work on the yard this year, including building a safe place for Baby B to play. As part of that, we made an outdoor chalkboard. We simply bought a piece of 4x4 birch, painted it with several layers of chalkboard paint and hung it on the fence.

The kids are loving it. It's big enough they both can use it, and whether it is enjoyment in the act of writing vertically or the act of writing outside, Miss M is getting great writing practice!

Flower Suncatcher

2011-05-17T09:29:00.000-07:00

Making window suncatchers out of contact paper and tissue paper has become a favorite activity of Miss M. This time around, she made a flower.

I drew the outline on the contact paper first with a marker, and she added the tissue paper. After the two layers were sandwiched we cut it out and hung it in the kitchen window. A simple craft, but one we all get to enjoy.