Valentine learning fun

I know this is incredibly late but I thought I would at least post some valentine pictures so I can have record of what we did that week.

Valentine basket: wrote letters and sent them to family members as well as each other.

Craft: Love bug. Cute and simple

Fine motor: sorting beads, counting activities, stringing beads, valentine erasers

Tic-tac-toe


Clips on a heart basket

Science: magnifying glasses to examine rose petals


Weaving ribbons


Dressing basket: includes buttons, snaps, zippers


Played shape memory with cards from 1+1+1


Upper and lowercase alphabet match

Thanks!

stArt - A Balloon for Isabel

Some books just scream "Craft!" We recently got a book at the library that did just that. We picked up A Balloon for Isabel by Deborah Underwood is a cute book about a porpupine who wants more than anything to get a balloon for graduation like the rest of the animals in her class but the porcupines are not allowed to have balloons. She tries several different ideas to "pop proof" herself until she finally comes up with a plan that works.

The girls LOVED this story. I can't even count the number of times I've read it. It really is a cute story and think it is worth a read.

Here are the pictures of the main culprit who loved the story. First we started with a toilet paper roll.


Then we poked some toothpicks through it. This step took a lot of help from me if not entirely me. I had the girls count out the number of toothpicks.



Next we added Isabel's pop proof idea - gumballs. We used pom poms to represent the gumballs as I didn't want to buy a whole bunch of sugary gumballs.


Lastly the girls drew faces on the rolls. I know they could have been more elaborate with faces, arms, painting etc. but the girls still liked them and it's the idea that counts. Thanks for reading!

To find out more about combining stories and art check out A Mommy's adventures. For other great craft ideas check out Red Ted Art.

Ooddles of Noodles

This past week for church one of the props I had to prepare for the kids was a bowl of spaghetti noodles. Well, not being one to waste anything, I used it again for the girls to play with when we got home. I put some letter magnets in it and had the girls tell me the sound of the letter when they found it. Great fun. Lydia looks forward to the props I have to prepare each week. She may be a stage crew girl in the making.



I have to apologize for my blogging absence for the last month. I have a back log of a few blog I will be posting in the next week or so. I went through a bit of a funk last month but it feels like it is finally lifting and I am back to my "normal" life. Keep checking for the rest of my posts this week.

Preschool - O is for Ocean

O is for ocean. We had a great week (even if I am behind in posting it). Lots of great activities for learning with an ocean theme. Here is a sampling of our at home learning.


Lydia had a lot of fun with her shell collection. We put pearls in each shell and matched the number word with the correct number of pearls. We also did some addition with the pearls as manipulatives.

Emma sorted large and small shells.


We finger painted an ocean scene and put on ocean themed stickers to complete it. I have to confess, I consider myself a fairly crafty person but this is the first time I have ever finger painted with the girls. I made the paint from a recipe online and the girls used almost all of it. We will definitely be doing this again soon.

We had imaginary play with these mermaid felt cutouts and book but I also used number cards to match the number of mermaids on the board. We played by both finding the right card and/or the right amount of merpeople.


O is also for opposites. Great game I found at the Dollar Tree. Gotta love that store!

Octopus snack made with banana, chocolate chips and marshmallows.


Number word shell match.

I also made a game to match color words. Used some pages from an ocean coloring book, cut them out, colored them different colors and had the girls match the color words to the right color sea creature. I am thinking of making this into a file folder game for our beach vacation this summer.

I had so many different activities planned for the week that we didn't even get to them all. I will have to revisit the ocean again in the near future.

Have fun learning!

So Sweet

I have NEVER cared about Valentines day very much. I know that makes me terribly unromantic but that doesn't bother me. This year however I am feeling very inspired to celebrate love. I am so immensely blessed in my life and I want to pour out love on my family big time this year.

We focus on a virtue each month in our family (most months) and this month we will be focusing on love. As a family we will be memorizing Romans 12:9-10 though the girls will only memorize verse 10. As the girls show love to one another they will receive a black spot for their "love bug" and after the bug is filled they can take a trip to the reward bin.

I also have a heart poster which has a special activity each day leading up to Valentines day. I will do these activities with the girls and I will also add in a few extras as I find them and time allows.

I am so excited about this that I can't wait till Lydia gets home to see what is in store for tonight.

I wrote a note to my Husband and to my girls in lipstick on their mirrors and Emma's face said it all when she saw it today. Can't wait till everyone else sees theirs.


Here is our virtue memory verse and "love bug". (This is in the same area as their chore charts.)



Here are the 14 hearts with different activities for each day.
The activities are as follows:
1. Decorate valentines mailboxes (from the dollar spot at Target)
2. Love Bug craft
3. Valentine/heart Tic Tac Toe
4. Tissue Paper heart
5. Mail Valentine Cards
6. Play with Heart Stamps
7. Make Valentines Play Dough
8. Valentine Beads
9. Make Heart Shaped Cookies
10. Make Valentines for friends
12. Tomato Soup and Heart shaped Grilled cheese
13. Exchange Sister Valentines
14. Special Pancake Dinner

I want to add in some other special touches over the month but don't have a real plan as to how often or what they will be. I just want to be a blessing but don't want to stress about it.

Here is the set up for a different Bible verse about love just waiting for candles and the verses to be printed out. We will do this all month not just for 14 days.

I am so excited. A lot of my inspiration is coming from the Happy Home Fairy, a blog I just recently discovered and from No Ordinary Moments Little leaps of love challenge.

May your month be filled with lovely things!

Preschool - N is for nest

N is for nest ..... or nightingale. I couldn't really decide since we talked about all different kinds of birds.

Not too original on the craft here but still turned out pretty cute. I just drew a "nest" shape and let the girls put multi-colored tissue paper in it. We added an "N bird" just for fun.


We actually did a lot of activities for bird week including this bird feeding activity but I have almost no pictures to show for it.

Emma matched colors with color words. She is still working on pinching the clothes pins to the card. On a side note: the box provided a great deal of entertainment for her as well. Opening and closing, locking and unlocking.

We also did an activity where we sorted all our stuffed animals into pets vs. wild animals.

Sorry there is not much more in depth review of our week but I really like to have pictures to go along with explaining what we did so just trust me when I say it was a good week but we have little to show for it.

Thanks for reading.

International Popcorn Day

I have a book that says today is International Popcorn Day. I got out our popcorn containers and we put sight words and numbers on pieces of paper and crumpled them up. The girls had a fun time learning and I love when they do.