Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Oh my!!!! It's been a while!!!!!



I have learned a very big lesson over the past two months it is impossible to be a homeschool mommy, wife, successful stay at home mommy, ETSY store owner, and a blogger all at the same time...I have fallen way behind so now that Christmas orders are starting to dwindle....and yes I completed over 250 Christmas Cards for fabulous families this Holiday season...that is an all time record for me, and
 I still have a few more coming in......ahhh the bussiness of the season.  Here is a quick update on some projects that we have been working on.

Kaitlyn and I made a Christmas countdown Calendar for her room. She had so much fun painting the picture frame. She used a branch from our Christmas tree dipped into some white paint to add some snowflakes to her frame. I spray painted the small clips I found at Hobby lobby with some glitter spray paint....I had no idea they even made that what a great invention....I see lots of glitter in my crafting future :)Kaitlyn decorated her frame with Santa stickers she picked out and viola we were done....each day she removes a clip as we get closer and closer to December 25th!

Tonight we made salt dough ornaments with Daddy for our tree they were so easy to make.
1 cup salt
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup luke warm water

mix together and then roll out onto a floured surface. Kaitlyn used cookie cutters to make some that we are going to paint later and then we made two special ones for our tree using K's handprint and Callen's footprint.


To celebrate Thanksgiving we made some handprint turkeys for the fridge. the kids loved playing in the paint and getting their hands messy!

Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween fun

Ghost Candles
This morning started off with some spooky pancakes and some Halloween fun! Kaitlyn and I made some Ghost candles out of old spaghetti jars. She squeezed some white paint into them and I added a few tablespoons of water...she shook them both up to coat the jar. I drew the eyes and mouth and she used the sharpie to color it in. Put a small flameless candle in the bottom of the jar for a spooky effect...these looked so cute tonight in the kitchen window.

Halloween Counting Book
We worked on our counting skills today. Kaitlyn used some Halloween stickers to make a counting book. She sorted the shapes first and put them into piles. I drew the numbers on the pages and she added the correct number of shapes to the pages. We are working on recognizing her numbers and using tangible items to count and match to those numbers. When she was done she had a cute book to read tonight.

Candy Corn Counting
Next we practiced a few more numbers by using some candy corn. I made small little flash cards with the numbers 5, 6, 7 and 8 on them using scrapbook paper. I put some muffin wrappers with each card. K had to put the correct number of candy corn into each muffin wrapper. We talked about the numbers counted them and compared them. At the end she decided she wanted to eat the muffin wrapper that had 8 candy corn because it had the most.....I think she got the lesson :)

After Math we practiced her letters by playing a letter matching game, you can purchase it from my Teachers Pay Teachers Site here 


Painting
K had fun breaking out the paint and painting her candy corn...she had a little piece of candy as her inspiration :)

Posted by PicasaLunch was fun we made ghost sandwiches using our Halloween cookie cutters! Overall it was a spooktacular day, can't wait to see her go trick or treating tonight!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Spooky Counting Fun


K and I use lots of different objects as manipulatives and tools for learning. Tonight we used some spooky PEEPS to practice our counting. So the next time you are passing that candy aisle take a look and see what fun stuff you can find that makes learning a little more fun!
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Thursday, October 6, 2011

The Letter S is for Spider

A great way to start off your morning learning about the letter S.....Some spider Pancakes!





We started school today by reviewing some of the letters we have already learned. I picked up some workbooks in the dollar section of our local Target when they went on clearance for 25cents a piece. These specifically focus on the sounds letters make as well as writing them. So we practiced writing them and choosing pictures that have the same sound. It is helpful to young writers to draw a small dot where they need to start forming their letters. this helps teach them proper penmanship as well as gives them a starting point to consistently use. Most books have them already these did not. After each page she got to put a sticker on her paper as a reward....she was over the moon about that :)

S is for Spider



Today we introduced the letter S, we had fun making the sound and kaitlyn tried to name as many S words as she could come up with. We worked on our S page for our ABC Book. Kaitlyn fingerpainted her entire page using Black paint....and then practiced making her S's on the painted paper. This is a fun way to review letter formations. When it dried I applied white paint onto her paper in a ring fashion ( see above) She then took a paintbrush and used it to draw her lines stemming from the center of the web. When she was done she had a spider web. I drew the letter S and then she applied some cute foamy glitter spiders onto the letter S.

Letter Review

Kaitlyn spent teh rest of her afternoon playing with her letter mats. She uses pom poms to make the letters by placing them into the dots. Each one forms a letter she has already learned. I made these and hope to have them on the website as a resource for you to use soon :)

Spider Cookies

The great thing about staying home with your little ones is being able to relax a little and enjoy the little stuff. Tonight while Kaitlyn played dress up....her favorite pasttime. I made a batch of sugar cookies. She helped me to decorate them in a most spooktacular way! We made some spider cookies. We took black frosting ( I really don't even want to know whats in that) and iced our cookies, I drew the circles using white irradescent frosting onto the cookies. Kaitlyn took a large wooden skewer and spread the icing out by drawing lines that start at the center of the cookie. When she was all done she added a gummy spider...yum!!!!! I had a few cookies I wanted to do something different on so we made spiders on them. As I drew them on with the icing Kaitlyn counted the legs making sure I had 8 on each one.

Her Face says it all!


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Take a Time out...in a new way

Get your free Tag here for your Glitter Jar
Print out the image below and apply it to the top or side of your glitter jar using clear packing tape.

Since blogging about this we have switched our glass spaghetti Jar to a plastic Applesauce jar...it was much lighter for my daughter to use and I didn't have to worry about it slipping from her hands and breaking.

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O is for Owl, creating our alphabet page

O is for Owl

We worked on our alphabet pages today for our ABC Book Project. Kaitlyn practiced making her o's using some of her favorite colors. She dipped her finger in the paint and wrote them on her paper. I gave her a cute owl template I found online and had her paint each part, when it was dry i ut it out and assembled it onto her paper. It turned out very cute!

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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Fun with food!



While surfing the web I have noticed a new trend in kids lunches, whether packed for school or eaten at home they have gotten quite elaborate! I've seen an octopus made from a  hot dog. Owl sandwiches, Rainbow lunches...the list goes on and on! So we rolled up our sleeves and had some fun in the kitchen making an owl sandwich and a cucumber carrot tree! I must say Kaitlyn really enjoyed it because when lunch was over there was nothing but some cucumber rinds left on her plate!
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Here are a few ideas I found around the web

Lots of mamas are making muffin tin meals, great concept to get kids interested in what they are eating. Each tin follows a theme and presents a small serving perfect for growing toddlers!
This is a great website I found with some super cute ideas, so I hope you find something that inspires you to have some fun with your little ones at lunch time!




Monday, September 26, 2011

Nap Time....Planning Time


The greatest peace during the day for a stay at home mama is nap time! Some days naptime feels like a figment of your imagination that never quite comes to pass, yet there are some days where it all works out just right........
You see there are several combinations that can occur during naptime when you have more than one child...... some days you might have one child that is peacefully napping while the other one is wide awake, while other days you have two kids that are wide awake and have no desire to rest peacefully, however there are those rare days when all of the stars align and both children are quietly off to dreamland at the same time. Those are my favorite days because I know I can accomplish so much while they are peacefully snoozing away! Today was that day! Whooo Hoo! I had 3 uninterrupted hours of quiet, and boy was I productive! I had a chance to plan out my next months worth of homeschool activities as well as make some fun printables I will be featuring here in the upcoming lessons. I even had some time to peruse through Pinterest...ohh the possibilities so much craftiness so little time!

Here is a sneak peek at what is coming up over the next few weeks

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The Letter O is for Owl! Hoot Hoot!

Today we learned about the letter O

We started out with a sensory activity. I squeezed some different colored paints ( blue, purple, black, light blue, glitter paint) onto a piece of construction paper. Kaitlyn practiced making her o's by moving the paint around with her finger. When she was all done we sprinkled on some glitter and set it outside to dry.


While it was drying we went out to the front yard and gathered some fall leaves and found a nice branch for our picture.

I used the hot glue gun to attache her branch and her leaves onto her painting.
I then traced the body of an owl onto some construction paper and asked Kaitlyn to color him brown.....I look over a few seconds later and see that she drew feet onto the owl ( this was a first for Kaitlyn) She is starting to become more accurate in her depictions of things. We made some handprints for wings and added them onto her picture!

We discussed today how owls are nocturnal animals and how they fly quietly at night to hunt for their food. We read several books today about Owls, Kaitlyn's Favorite was Owls, by Gail Gibbons

 
 
Letter O, Practice


Kaitlyn practiced her letter O's today on her mats I made. She used pom pom's to make the shape of the letter O. She also used her dry erase crayon board to trace the O's

Hoot Hoot! It's Orange Owl Cupcake Time


Kaitlyn and I had some fun in the kitchen this afternoon cooking up some orange cupcakes. Kaitlyn and I decorated them to look like owls. We used oreos and little green candies for the eyes. She then decorated the bodies with almond slivers and cocoa pebbles cereal to mimic the feathers. The finishing touch was a goldfish cracker as a beak. They were so much fun to make! Now to find a small army to eat some owl cupcakes!

Kaitlyn loves "school" time and loves practicing with her learning puzzles. This is a great one that we actually got as a gift. Kaitlyn matches the color or texture to the object. It is a great way to learn about describing words. When she is all done she practices reading the cards by pointing to the words and saying the describing word and the objects name.....a great way to develop those early reading and decoding skills.


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Saturday, September 17, 2011

Fall Suncatchers


We completed our suncatchers today and they look oh so cute hanging in the kitchen window!
Step 1 Trace a Fall leaf onto Orange construction paper, Step 2 Cut out center of leaf, Step 3 Trace leaf onto colored wax paper ( made previously see below for directions) Step 4 Glue orange construction paper leaf onto the wax paper leaf, hole punch and hang by a ribbon in your favorite sunny spot!
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Wednesday, September 14, 2011

It's Finally Fall & The Letter L


This week we have been working on the letter L. Kaitlyn has been using her letter flash cards and puzzles to practice all of the letters we have learned so far. we start each day out with a review.

Letter Play

Today Kaitlyn used her pom poms to trace the letter L, she also used her homemade fundough to make her letters. We practiced her handwriting and trying to stay on the line while tracing her L's.

Another fun way to review letters is by using a paint tracing bag....Fill a ziploc bag with some paint, close it tightly and get all of the air out while sealing it closed. Have your little one use a q-tip to trace the letters onto the bag, the letters disappear quickly and are a great way to practice using some different materials.




Cooking up some patterns in the kitchen


We had fun cooking up some patterns in the kitchen this week. We made some sugar cookies and separated the dough into three bowls. kaitlyn and I read a book about Fall trees so I asked her what colors we see in fall she chose, green, red and yellow so we used some food coloring to dye the dough. Kaitlyn rolled it out and flattened it with her hands. Using some small leaf cookie cutters she cut out three different types of leaves one type for each color.

When the cookies were all done we practiced making patterns using the three colors of leaves....I must say Kaitlyn had fun with this activity....only hazard is the leaves started disappearing mid activity :)


Colorful Circles & Fall Suncatchers

All week we have talked about colors. We have learned about fall leaves and how they change colors. This activity is a lot of fun and illustrates how mixing two colors can make different colors. First you take a large piece of wax paper, then you squirt some hand sanitizer onto it. Then take some food coloring, we used red and yellow, add a few drops of each. Then fold the wax paper over covering the colors. Kaitlyn mixed the colors by practicing her circles. She drew large and small circles with her finger mixing the colors as she went. Tomorrow we will be using this to make some Fall sun catchers.....so check back to see pictures! we set it out flat to dry over night.


Our L Page 

We made our L page for our ABC Book. Kaitlyn made a leaf rubbing using several leaves we found outside. I found it helpful to use double sided tape to stick these onto the table so they wouldn't shift while she was doing her crayon rubbing. I wrote the letter L using a sharpie marker and had Kaitlyn glue her smaller leaves onto the L.

All week we have been getting ready for fall we have enjoyed nature walks and many books about the changing of the seasons. Today we worked on some colorful and very messy art projects to get the house all ready for fall!


Get three large bowl and fill with 1/4 cup of paint we used red, brown and orange. I also mixed some bronze paint in with the brown to give it some shimmer. Then I added some water to dillute the paint. We took our containers outside and Kaitlyn took coffee filters and dipped them into the paint bowls, after she dipped them she wrung them out and then we set them out on the deck to dry. Setting them on wax paper works best for easy removal after drying.

Mommy's naptime craft project

While the kiddos were napping I put my crafting skills to work, I heated up my hot glue gun and got busy!
Step 1: Take a cardboard circle ( I use cake rounds) and cut out the center. Then take the painted coffee filters and bunch them up at the middle. Hot glue them onto the cardboard circle.
Step 2: Go around the whole circle in teh same fashion.
Step 3: Add som ribbon, loop it through the wreath and hot glue together, hang in front of a miror for a dramatic fall look!

I had some left over coffee filters so I added them onto some twigs we collected on our nature walk. They made for great table decorations in the dining room! The house is all decorated, the cinnamon candle is burning in the kitchen, my favorite sweater is hanging in the closet.....now if the cooler temperatures could just arrive!