Color/Counting Sorter

WHOOP!  One year ago I began this blog.  It has been such a great experience and I just love sharing with all of you.  Thanks for playing along with us!

I made this little activity for my kids and it has been a huge hit.  I wrapped toilet paper rolls in construction paper, gluing it on.  Then I wrote the name of the color on one side and wrote numbers on the other side.  I got the colored craft sticks at the Dollar Store, but I think you can find them pretty much anywhere.  I glued the bottom of the tube into the egg carton holder.  The kids sort the sticks by color or count the correct number into them. 



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DIY Felt Board

I had the best felt board when I was teaching.  Now, as a stay at home mom, one is just not in the budget.  I had this big poster board from something and a big sheet of felt. Put the two together and you've got a great felt board.  I measured and cut the size I would need to cover one side of the poster board.  Then I sprayed the board with spray adhesive and smoothed the large piece of felt onto it.  I wrapped the sides around and gave another couple sprays of adhesive to keep it on.  Voila!  Done. It took me less than 5 minutes yet the kids played with it all day. 

In the pictures, R is playing with our "Little Cloud" by Eric Carle book felt pieces.  For those, I simply placed some white paper over the pictures in the book, traced and cut them out to make templates for the felt.  Really easy, and I am all about quick and easy.

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(Sort of) Stretchy Play Dough

When I saw this recipe in one of my books, I had to give it a try. It is suppose to be stretchy dough but didn't come out how I thought it would.  It is still more elastic than most play dough.  It feels similar to cookie dough.  We didn't add any color but next time we will.  My kids loved playing with this dough.  It feels really nice and doesn't dry out your hands like the dough made with salt.  In fact, it makes your hands nice and soft...and a little greasy.  We saved it in a baggie to use another day, and when I took it out the oil had seeped out, so just be aware of that if you make this.  Here is the recipe if you want to try making your own.

4 cups of flour

1 cup of oil

1 cup of water (add color to the water if you want colored play dough)

That's it....simple huh?

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Lego Words

Recently, my 4 year old is very interested in words, letters and spelling. He also loves to build with Lego's.    So, I put this little activity together for him.  First, I asked him what words he would like to build.  He came up with a list, which included, spaceship, Mommy, Daddy, Buzz (as in Lightyear), toy, and his sister's name.  I wrote these on cards.  Then, I put a little piece of clear tape on the side of the Lego's and printed the needed letters on them.  He would choose a word and then gather the correct Lego's to spell it out.  He now knows how to "read" all of them.  Nothing like a little play for learning to read!  This activity combines fine motor skills, letter recognition, and reading.

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Spookley the Square Pumpkin

This morning, I introduced the kids to "Spookley" the Square Pumpkin. the book comes with a really great CD, so you can play the story while you work. 

"Spookley was different.  He was odd, he was rare.  Spookley the pumpkin wasn't round-he was....square!"

We worked on making our own unique Spookley's while we listened to the story....again.

 They glued orange craft sticks to orange paper and added some goggle eyes.  T wanted to add a smile, "just like the one in the book".  He wanted to make his a square and R, well, she made her own unique pumpkin.

 We added pipe cleaner stems...

And there they are....our very own, very cute, pumpkins. 

"Maybe one day we all will discover- you can't judge a book, or a pumpkin....by it's cover.

Such a great book, with a really good message.

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Eating and Reading

I often try to mix our two very favorite things....eating and reading.  We really like Eric Carle books, with the beautiful watercolor illustrations and simple words. " Brown Bear, Brown Bear", "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", and on and on.  We were stuck on "The Grouchy Ladybug" one particular grouchy day, "Hey you...you wanna fight?" is what the ladybug asks all sorts of different animals throughout the book.

 So I thought it would be fun to make our own "ladybug" snack.  I put some cream cheese in a bowl and added a couple drops of red food coloring (science, observation, coloring recognition).  I let the kids stir it until the cream cheese turned the right color.  We used plastic knives to spread it on plain rice cakes and added raisins for the spots (math, counting, fine motor skills, life skills).  Then we ate up our "ladybugs".  My son wasn't too keen on the cream cheese and asked if he could make a brown ladybug with peanut butter. 

 I love "cooking" with the kids.  It is so empowering to them and they are more willing to try new foods if they prepare it themselves.

 

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