Archive for November 2011
If you are a loyal reader you may have noticed that my son’s seemingly ever present Batman shirt has been replaced. Yes we are on to a new obsession. Are your kids like this too? Do they dive into something obsessively? Well our new thing here is Lego – mostly Lego Star Wars but Lego City is a close 2nd. I firmly believe in using their love to keep them learning and finding books that interest them instead of trying to force their interest in books we like. So here are some Lego themed books to look for at the library or while you are shopping for holiday gifts.
City Adventures, No. 3: Calling All Cars! (Lego Reader, Level 1)
LEGO City: Fire Truck to the Rescue (Level 1): Fire Truck To The Rescue!
LEGO City: Ready for Takeoff! (Level 1)
LEGO Kingdoms Defend the Castle (DK READERS)
LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia
Thank you so much for learning and growing with us . From our family to yours we hope your Thanksgiving is filled with good friends, good food and lots of love.
He’s 5 . How is my little guy 5 years old? People keep telling me that soon he will be taller than me and I will be looking up as I discipline. I am 5’4 I know my days are numbered. He was born on Thanksgiving 2006 and today on the eve of the holiday this year I am devoting my post to the little guy who made me a mom, took me away from teaching in a class and sparked so many things I never expected to be part of my life including this blog.
Below are links to his favorite crafts and activities , I hope one ( or more ) of them bring you as much joy to share them with your kids as it brought us.
Nothing beats this Angry Birds Waterballoon Game. He loved this. We played a hand ful of times before we moved and the weather turned. We will be playing again once warmer weather comes back.
Knight’s Shield. After we moved this summer this never left his side. He slept with it on his night stand, he had it next to him at meals. Although I doubt it was concious this was his security blanket until he was comfortable in our new digs. It’s now happily lumped in with his sister’s Dora toys, and the others in the family room toy basket.
Puffy Paint Moon. This has been up in his room since the moment it dried. A big puffy moon to gaze at as we chat about our day at bedtime even if we can’t see the real one every night in the grey Pacific NorthWest sky.
This Scrap Paper Rainbow is more one of MY favorites but it’s also his very first craft. Although I don’t think it was posted as our first, it was the first he helped me do for the blog. I wish I’d kept it!
This roadway and the 2nd version using an upcycled kitchen mat are used daily at our house still. Not bad for a craft!
And are you shocked that this Ice Cream Taste Test made the cut?
Happy Birthday Big Boy – I love you even especially with playdough on your head.
One of the things I love most about blogging is how one post will inspire another and not just on the same blog but from one blogger to another . I wasn’t going to post this yet but when Kristina from Toddler Approved posted this Corn Roll game that we inspired with our Candy Corn Counting I knew I needed to share this game. Also we have been playing it a lot, and not just because the tv is broken, because it’s fun!
- Gather your materials. You will need some paper, markers, marshmallows or even cotton balls, a die and someone to play against.
- Start by drawing Santa , I couldn’t find a good printable with a beard big enough for the numbers. Which was good since my printer is out of ink anyway. So I drew the santas.
- Add numbers.
- I put the sheets on clip board to keep them from blowing around, but you could laminated them or pop them on a cookie sheet with some magnets too.
- The objective is simple you want to fill up Santa’s beard first but covering all the numbers with marshmallows. The way you do that is to roll that number on the die.
- Roll.
- Add the marshmallow… oh and look who is getting a little fine motor practice too. I’m so sneaky.
- We ended up playing a few times and by request one was a boys against girls.
My daughter even rolled the die for the girls’ team!
I love games like this because they use a few novelties like Santa and marshmallows but are still packed with learning not only math but about sportsmanship and good game play.
Books About Santa
Christmas Morning
How Santa Got His Job
McDuff’s New Friend
5 Comments »
My dear friend and contributing writer Kim sent us this melted crayon art a few weeks ago and it and my son’s desire to melt things with a hair dryer ( how this art was made) inspired this new take on an old stain glass craft. You may remember making crayon stained glass leaves in preschool, I know I do. I have a clear memory of my preschool teacher Fran ironing our crayon shavings. Since my son wanted to do the melting I switched an iron for a hair dryer. As you will find out there is a reason Fran used the iron… it was not easy making this “kid friendly” and not even all that “kid friendly”. Some days we hit it out of the park, some days we don’t.
- Gather your materials. You will need a crayon sized pencil sharpener or a zest grater, crayons in various fall colors, wax paper, card stock, scissors and tape. Og and a hair dryer … possibly iron.
- Start by peeling the paper off the crayons. This is fantaboulous fine motor skills practice.
- Next grate or sharpen the crayons into little bits. Our sharpener broke half way through ( should have been a sign of things to come), so we attached it with pinking sheers, I do not suggest this method. Crayons bits were flying at a high rate of speed all over our playroom. Instead use a zest grater or if you have it one of those parmesan wheel graters would be rad for this. You need the wax to bit thin and small for it to melt.
- Put it all on the wax paper .
- Sandwich it and either hold it down or tape it to the table. Either way when the blow dryer starts you want a firm grip on it so bits don’t ( yet again if you are us) go flying everywhere.
- Even on high my trusty hair dryer from 1989 took a long time to melt the thick bits… I really need to try this again with a parmesan grater , why I didn’t think of that until now after we did it is beyond me.
- While the wax cools. Draw a leaf and cut it out of the cardstock so you are left with what looks like a stencil.
- Tape the melted wax to the paper ( I tape it all along the wax paper just in case some wax breaks off then it won’t fall into my carpet )
and hang up in a window. 
Over all this project was fun , especially for my son who loved every step especially the ones I would call screw ups. That’s the thing when I break it all down we do crafts with kids not to make the prettiest thing but to have fun, make memories and share some time together. Even if some of that time was picking up pieces of crayon that shot ten feet across the room. I should note if you do use an iron make sure the crayon shavings are sandwiched between the wax and still use a towel under it when you pass the iron on low over it. Wax paper is usually great but sometimes the color leaks through.
Leaf Books
Leaf Man 
When Autumn Falls 
5 Comments »
