Archive for July 2009
I am not a big meat eater, but somehow my son is a huge carnivore. He has recently discovered hot dogs and I feel like it may be the end of healthy eating as I once knew it. That or I’ll go broke buying the organic nitrate free ones! Either way I explained we were taking a break from eating hot dogs but that we could make one for art time today. Here is what we did!
- Gather your materials. You will need a brown paper grocery bag ( or other paper) , a brown or black marker, some glue, red and yellow paint, scissors and ketchup and mustard containers. You could use real ones but the beauty of these are that they are solid , washable and kids can’t see that there is only a tiny bit of paint in them. Since there is so little the mess will be manageable.
- Pour the red paint into the ketchup bottle and yellow into the mustard. I thinned it out a little.
- Cut off a large piece from your grocery bag, and draw a bun and a sausage.
- Cut them apart.
- Glue the sausage to the bun.
- Add your condiments. Ignore my impromptu strap in the picture!
- Let dry and cut out.
Song
I’m a little hot dog
here’s my bun
Put me on the grill
until I’m done
Add some mustard
and ketchup
take a big bite
and gobble me up!
Book
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- Gather your materials. You will need a large shallow plastic container, some sea animals, some decorative pebbles, a few towels for your floor, a pitcher and some water.
- Start by laying out our towels and putting your container on top.
- Put some water in your pitcher and pour it in.
- Add some pebbles, you can use sand too but if you want easy clean up stick to glass pebbles.
- Add your animals.
- Let the learning happen! Have some scoops on hand if they just want to scoop and pour the water.
Books
- Gather your materials. You will need some spaghetti, a pot, some paint , a plate and some paper.
- Cook your spaghetti. Let cool but don’t wait too long it will get too stiff to paint with.
- Add some paint to your plate .
- Dip your wiggly worm in
- Print onto your paper.
- Add more colors if you wish
- Let dry.
Song !
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alphabet spin
We had rain, rain, rain once again, which will hopefully mean that the flowers will be more beautiful than ever here in Maryland. Maybe? I can hardly wait for some outside color-matching activities. . .Anyway, today was a pretty good afternoon for indoor games.
Once Cora went down for her nap, I let Maddy and Owen choose which game they wanted to play before their rest times–Alphabet Egg Puzzles, Rhyme Bingo, Rhyme Sorts, or Alphabet Spin. Owen choose good ole Alphabet Spin. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here before, so here’s what it is:
- Alphabet Spin: This is yet another resource from Bear’s Words Their Way . . . (2004), and we’ve played it several times now. I am convinced that little kids really love any game with a spinner, so Maddy and Owen both enjoy this one.
The concept is simple: match uppercase and lowercase letters A-I. (Alphabet Spin II has the second half of the alphabet.) Uppercase letters A-I are printed on the spinner board, and lowercase letters are on about two dozen tiny cards. A person spins, says the letter that the spinner points to, then searches for that lowercase letter. The first few times we played, we lined the cards up so that they were all facing the same way. Now, we just spread them around the spinner board. It’s funny for them if we stick some of them in the carpet so they stand up–hey, whatever works, right?
The tricky part is when you get to the end of the game, since most cards have been taken, since the winner is the person with the most cards in the end.
I love that this game includes only half of the alphabet, especially because little ones usually confuse b/d and p/q. I also love that i/j are separated and that Alphabet Spin I & II each have half of the alphabet.
With this game, we do a lot of comparing–when someone gets a B or a D, someone locates a lowercase b and d and holds them next to each other so the person can choose more easily, and we always help each other out if need be. It seems to be just enough of a challenge and not too, too overwhelming for them.
That’s it–that’s our little bit of learning for the day. Now, rain, rain, go away.
teachmama.com
The Entertaining Kitchen
The Entertaining Kitchen will make you drool. Jessica the “Entertaining Mom” makes gourmet food look easy and like the hamburger cookies above there are a ton of fun recipes that will entertain your kids as well as dinner party guests! Don’t miss her companion blog The Entertaining House that has all sorts of fun things including some awesome crafts!
