Archive for June 2009
When teaching I always did octopus O, but we’ve already done that here at No Time For Flash Cards. After a few flips through the kids dictionary for ideas for the letter O I laughed at myself for never doing an owl before! I was more excited when my son was eager to do a craft after such a busy day. When it was all done we both couldn’t wait to show it off , my son to his dad and me to all of you! .
- Gather your materials. You will need 3 different colors of construction paper, 1 sheet of white paper, some brown paint, 2 googly eyes, glue, a marker and scissors.
- Start by drawing a large uppercase O on the white paper.
- Have your child paint it. I had to include this picture he was just starting to paint but was ecstatic that he made a happy face .
- While your child paints, cut out a large triangle and 2 feet from one color.
- Cut out 2 circles with the other paper. Scrap paper would work great for these pieces.
- Cut out the painted O and glue onto the 3rd piece of paper.
- Add glue to the top of the O ( you can see the smears where he added extra glue, just wipe any spills with a paper towel ) .
- Add the triangle
- Add more glue
- Add the circles
- Add the googly eyes.
- Add the feet- we stuck them under the O but over is fine too.
Let dry.
Song!
The Little Brown Owl
Hoo Hoo
Went the little brown owl one night
Hoo Hoo
Went the little brown owl,
Hoo Hoo
Went the little brown owl one night ,
And they all went hoo hoo hoot!
But we all know owls go ,
la di da di da!
la di da di da!
la di da di da!
We all know owls go
la di da di da
they don’t go hoo hoo hoot!
Books!
” The Owl And The Pussy Cat” by Edward Lear and Stephane Jorisch . The classic poem is brought to life with whimsical but pretty illustrations. The story of true love sailing off on a beautiful pea green boat is a classic for a reason, it’s melodic and will appeal to children in many age groups. I had to memorize this in grade 3 for Madame Griffin and still hold it dear to my heart!
I live vicariously through Sarah at Ohana Mama, living in Washington I spend a lot of time in dark wet weather and seeing pictures of Maui takes me away if only for a few moments. The photos of paradise are a nice treat but the real substance of this blog comes from Sarah’s genuine enthusiasm. Her enthusiasm is for products that will make mom’s lives easier, more stylish and specifically mommy made items. She didn’t stumble into this job either it’s her passion, which comes through and makes The Ohana Mama one of my favorites!
” Goodnight Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown is a classic for a reason. My son has loved it since day one and it really does a great job of calming before bed, like all great bedtime stories should. As a teacher I hated this book probably because it’s not a great book for groups I admit I was wrong, this is a gem ! The rhythm and rhymes are perfect to go from a busy day to a calm night. My son chooses this book to read to us often since he knows it by heart and when he’s having trouble sleeping I can lay with him and simply recite it to bring him back down. I say that is pretty great proof of the power of this classic.
“Mortimer” by Robert Munsch is a fun bedtime book, it’s not the calmest and is pretty funny so you may want to read this one before some more chill books, but it’s so cute I couldn’t leave it off my list. I can’t remember the first time I read this book, but whether reading it to a group of preschoolers or to my son I have never had a child not sing along with Mortimer who is driving everyone bonkers by not going to sleep! Instead he is singing and making noise and not even the police can stop him!
“Otto Goes to Bed” by Todd Parr is a really fun and positive book. Otto is a dog who doesn’t want to go to bed, he wants to play, chase his tail and a bath and brushing teeth don’t help. Instead he figures out that there is something he likes about bedtime, dreaming! I like that this book addresses that going to bed feels like missing out on things for kids, I know I felt like that for years. Instead of blankly saying “Sleeping is great” or “You have to go to bed” this book finds something positive about going to bed . The illustration of Otto as a super hero dog makes my son howl with laughter every time.
“I don’t want to go to bed!” by Julie Sykes is a story about a tiger who refuses to go to bed. His mom decides to let him stay up. Little tiger goes around to all his friends and asks them to play but they are all getting ready for bed or already asleep. The jungle isn’t nearly as fun at night as he thought and it’s much colder too! He’s getting scared when he finds a new friend who takes him home just in time to fall asleep. My son liked this book and so did I it addresses a child’s feeling of missing out on fun and explains the reality which is that they aren’t missing out on anything at all.
“Jake Stays Awake” by Michael Wright made both my husband and I laugh hysterically my son liked it too, but we loved it. It’s about a little boy who can’t sleep without his parents and they don’t like sleeping with feet in their faces. Can you relate, we can which is why we found this book so funny. What I liked was that Jake wasn’t disciplined for wanting to sleep with his parents, and they tried and tired all different places to sleep, they were just being honest that it wasn’t working anymore! My son loved the page that they were all sleeping in garbage cans and I loved that Jake looked to be about 12 , it gives me hope that my son may sleep alone by puberty.
” Good Night Mr. Night” by Dan Yaccarino This is another wonderful and calming bedtime book, Mr. Night quiets the animals , closes the flowers and gets the world ready to go night night! I love this book- I keep meaning to pick up the board book version! Like ” Goodnight Moon” there aren’t too many words, but the illustrations are perfect! My son likes to say “Come here Mr.Night” while getting into bed when we read this one.
” How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight” by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague is a beautifully illustrated story about the tantrums and dramatics that dinosaurs put their parents through at bedtime. I really like this book because it asks if dinosaurs do all these naughty things and kids love to point out what the dinosaurs shouldn’t be doing. Of course in the end the dinosaur s remember their manners and go to bed with hugs and kisses and the lights off!
My husband reads during his commute to work and back every day ( well when he’s not sleeping) so when Jessica at Foursquare Schoolhouse tweeted that they make customized bookmarks by simply cutting up her son’s illustrations I thought- perfect! Simple and so easy to do for all ages. Here is how we did Jessica’s activity.
- Gather your materials. We are using a blank note card because it’s the only card stock I have on hand, some markers, scissors, double stick tape ( not required) and contact paper.
- Start by having your child draw what ever they want on the card stock. I am going to warn you that if you have a toddler who flips out about things ( if you do you know what I mean) warn them well ahead of time that you will be cutting their picture.
- I cut the main picture out ( this is the front)
then cut a 2nd piece to frame it and write the message on it. - I had my son draw on the 2nd piece once it was cut to show you that this is also great fine motor practice to have your child write in an small contained space. You can choose to do a mix of both ways or which ever suits your child.
- Add your message ( this is the back)
- If you want use some double stick tape to hold the inner picture on the frame backing.
- Laminate or cover with contact paper, and it’s ready for dad!
” Father’s Day “ by Anne and Lizzy Rockwell. I really liked this book, it is about a class full of students writing stories about their dads at school and ending with a party where they present the books to their fathers. What I enjoyed was the diversity of this book , it covered all different kinds of dads and children and all the things they most enjoy doing together. My son was rather attached to the dad and son playing soccer , and I had a mean craving for chocolate after reading the page with a dad and daughter making fudge! A wonderful activity after reading this book would be to write your own story!
- Gather your materials. You will need some heavy paper or an old cereal box ,one sheet of construction paper, some paint or markers, a little aluminum foil, scissors , glue and cotton balls.
- Start by cutting your cereal box open and drawing a rocket on it. Simple is fine! Also draw some circles on the side for windows.
- Have your child paint or color the rocket.
I like these paint rollers because it limited the paint for quick drying, couple that with the little hands that finger painted it after and it dried fast! - Cut out the rocket and the circles.
- Cover the circles in aluminum foil.
- Add glue to the construction paper.
- Add your rocket
- Glue the foil windows on
- Add the cotton ball “smoke”. Let dry.
Song!
we’re going to the moon,
hurry and get ready
we’re going to blast off soon,
put on your helmet
and buckle up real tight,
cause here comes the countdown
so count with all your might!
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,
Blast off!!
Books!
“The Way Back Home “ by Oliver Jeffers is a moving story about a boy , a martian and the moon they were both stuck on. Together they figure out a way to get back home even though they are so sad to say goodbye to each other. I love this author, I love his illustrations as well, they are so unique and the emotion he manages to convey is amazing. There is an illustration of the boy and martian standing awkwardly before they have to say goodbye and it embodies the emotion. Grab anything written by this author and you will be happy!
“Space Boy” by Leo Landry is a sweet book about a little boy who needs to get away from everything at home so he climbs in his rocket and blasts off. I think we can all relate to this story, having to escape from the annoying things in our life for some alone time, if only we all had rockets the moon would be a busy getaway. The book started off really simply , then a few pages in the middle had much more text which was hard for my toddler, who’s interest was lost. I rounded him back up , skipped a few lines and we finished and enjoyed the book.
