Archive for August 2009
An Extraordinary Egg
Fish Is Fish
Frederick
It’s Mine!
Little Blue and Little Yellow
Swimmy is a serious tale about a little fish who tragically looses his family, and is forced to face scary things alone. He soon discovers that if he and other little fish band together they have power against the big bullies in the ocean. Personally I love this author and this book is one of my favorites. Some parents have expressed concern over his family being eaten at the start , so read it for yourself before deciding if it’s right for your child.
The Alphabet Tree
This is not a craft for little hands, although my son enjoys playing dress up with this ring, it’s really not one for the little ones. We are a 3 types of milk family so these little plugs accumulate quickly. I had my beads out for another craft when I thought, hmm maybe I could do this… and it worked. These little rings really hold up well and I am so pleased I finally have something to do with them.
- Gather your materials. You will need some milk carton plugs, hot glue gun, hot glue, seed beads, and a small dish that won’t stick to the glue. I used a 2nd dish for the ring to cool in but that was just my preference.
- Pour a mixture of seed beads into a small dish. You don’t want to use too big a dish because you want the beads to be close together .
- Turn the plug inside out , so when you slide it on your finger the solid part stands up against your finger.
- Add hot glue to the solid part that will be facing out. You want a lot of glue.
- Quickly dip it into the beads, gently press it into them.
- Let dry! It’s that easy. Just remember to let it dry completely before wearing it.
We are on a mini vacation enjoying the beach and cooler weather so today I have a quick round up of all different beach activities we’ve done before. If you have one please feel free to leave a link in the comments for others to check out.
Nature Jar
Crabby Crab
Sifting For Treasure
Beach Books Galore !
- Gather your materials. You will need some cardboard (cereal box), some markers, gold glitter paint , scissors and some thick ribbon.
- Start by cutting open your cereal box and drawing a diamond( or any shape you choose) on it.
- Have your child color the diamond with markers , we used markers because paint takes too long to dry and soaks into the paper , and crayons can make the glitter hard to stick .Write your puppy’s name on the tag if you want, this would be a great time to reinforce learning your phone number if your child is at that stage.
- Add some glitter !
Let dry. We wiped the glitter so it was thin and cut down drying time. - When dry cut out.
- Make two holes in each diamond with scissors.
- Thread some ribbon through.
- Tie them onto your puppies.
- Share your snack with a buddy !
Song
Um um
went the little brown dog one day
um um
went the little brown dog
um um
went the little brown dog one day
and they all went um um ah!
But we all know dogs go
la di da da da
la di da da da
la di da di da
we all know dogs go
la di da da da
they don’t go
um um ah!
Books !
“I Got Two Dogs” by John Lithgow will delight you. The book comes with a CD and I urge you to play it, hearing a book by the author is always amazing, but this song was thoroughly entertaining. As a dog lover who fondly remembers my childhood dog eating all the lasagnas at my first boy girl dinner party , I can relate to the naughty but lovable dogs. The message is about devotion and unconditional love and you don’t have to be a dog lover to get that.
“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.
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I was inspired to make these after seeing a post on another blog using wax on jar lids, I have just spent over an hour trying to find that post again and can’t. I will keep trying, I feel so strongly to cite any place I get inspiration from and am beyond frustrated I can’t find it. It’s now a quest! ** Found it thanks to Laura : Here it is Bottle Cap Stamps These were so fun to make, easy and worked so well. We will be making these again for sure. There is something amazing when kids see something they helped make work so well.
- Gather your materials. You will need some recycled jar lids, foam, double stick tape, a marker, scissors, a stamp pad and some paper.
- Start by drawing shapes on a piece of foam. My son chose a star and a car , while my choice was a flower.
- Cut the pictures out.
- Layer a square of foam on the jar lid , using double stick tape to secure it.
- Add your shapes , using double stick tape. Make sure it’s as flat as possible.
- Press it into the stamp pad.
- Print onto your paper.
What shape this is?
What shape this is?
Do you know what shape this is I’m holding in my hand?
Books!
“So Many Circles, So many Squares” by Tana Hoban is a picture book that is all about shapes in our environment. There is page after page of pictures of daily life, food, signs etc… with the simple question of finding the shapes in the photos. It’s a great book to use as a launch pad into a shape hunt in your own home or around town and worth a few looks because you will be surprised at the shapes you missed the first time.
