Kylie at Our Worldwide Classroom has an awesome of an Active Alphabet set going on. Check it out here!
Kylie at Our Worldwide Classroom has an awesome of an Active Alphabet set going on. Check it out here!
I know this sounds like a lot of stuff. I just pick up whatever catches my eye when I’m going through my art and craft stashes. The truth is M was interested in very little of it this week. I thought it might be neat to paint on the styrofoam, but he just wanted to saw it up with his toy saw. :)
And he only wanted to pop the bubbles on the bubble wrap. After he popped all of them he did put some stickers on it for a funky collage: I always get a laugh from how this kind of thing keeps him occupied… so I just let him keep at it.
He experimented a little bit with my watercolor pencils. He didn’t have great success with this, I’m wondering if I should get him some watercolor crayons. Do any of you have them? Here’s what he made with the pencils and a little water:
He was very into painting this week. He was producing one painting after another. Some were watercolors:
Some were tempera:
“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” – Romans 12:1 (NAB)All in all this book was easy to read and did a good job of presenting stories of the Bible pertaining to worship. However, I felt that a crucial element was missing – a look at how offering our lives as a sacrifice to God, day in and day out – in everything we do – is at the very core of worshipping Biblically.
This was a pretty light week for us… and we enjoyed it! We didn’t try to do too much, and just had fun.
Fine Motor Skills
M cut strips of green and red paper with the “zig zag” scissors, then we made a chain of loops and used stickers to close them up: He was very interested in this activity, and caught on to the fact that we were making a pattern. This was a real breakthrough because in the past he hasn’t gotten the whole *pattern* idea. I expected lightbulbs to appear over his head and bells to ring, but he just calmly said, “it’s a pattern, we need green next.” Ha ha, this kid always amazes me and makes me laugh. :)
He spent a LOT of time popping the tiny bubbles on this bubble wrap, such a great activity for strengthening those little fingers:
He put pipe cleaner “branches” into the holes of a salt shaker, then added fall colored leaves (pony beads). He loved this, and thought it was hilarious to call them branches and leaves. We got this idea from the Schafer Family blog.
And laced up some Autumn themed lacing cards:
Sorting
M used tongs to sort fruit and vegetables from his supply of pretend food:
And we sorted truck cutouts onto a color wheel:
Math Skills
We played “store” with M’s pretend food and a cup of pennies. We both had so much fun with this and M had a smile on his face the whole time. I don’t know why we haven’t done this sooner. He told me later in the day, “I had fun playing store with you, Mommy!” :) We set up his fruit and veggies on the loveseat and he picked the items he wanted and I told him the price. It was perfect for counting practice, and when he ran out of money we had a short conversation about why we can’t always have everything we want. This great idea came from Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns!
Sensory
We played a sensory game with a few matching pairs of items and a small pillowcase. One of each pair went into a small container and the other went into the pillowcase. M had to pick an item from the plastic container, then try to find the matching item in the pillowcase using his sense of touch only. I held the bag for him, but he was on his own here just so I could take a picture. :) He did great with this and had so much fun we did it again right away. Here are the items we used: pennies, pinecones, wooden blocks, megablocks, clothespins, glass pebbles, pipecleaners wound into a circle, craft leaves, and spoons.
Thanksgiving
Here’s a picture of our finished Thanksgiving tree:
We had so much fun with this and we will definitely be doing it again. What a great way to list our blessings and what we are thankful for.
We went to our Nature Center again for our weekly class and while there the kids drew pictures of what they are thankful for. Here’s M’s: Apples were first on his list, you can see it in the middle. Other things were his family, building a snowman, and going sledding when it snows. He had a great time scribbling… I was surprised because he has not shown that much interest in crayons at home. At the nature center he was still coloring when all the other kids were done!
I printed a turkey out from here, and M painted it with his watercolors, then cut the tail feathers apart:
Imagination
M has a tiny teddy bear that he’s been calling “baby” lately. (He wants us to have a baby so badly!) He made a little bed and “baby” slept in it: Then “baby” woke up and wanted to be rocked (someone else wakes up and likes to be rocked sometimes too). What a great daddy!! :) (No, that isn’t quite the same way I rock M!)
For more Tot School posts, go here.
Have a beautiful week! :)
For flowers that bloom about our feet,
Father, we thank Thee.
For tender grass so fresh, so sweet,
Father, we thank Thee.
For the song of bird and hum of bee,
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.
For blue of stream and blue of sky,
Father, we thank Thee.
For pleasant shade of branches high,
Father, we thank Thee.
For fragrant air and cooling breeze,
For beauty of the blooming trees,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.
For this new morning with its light,
Father, we thank Thee.
For rest and shelter of the night,
Father, we thank Thee
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
We have had some great fall and farm themed puffy stickers lying around the house for several weeks now and I’ve been waiting to use them because I just wasn’t sure what to do with them. Then I saw this in the Oriental Trading Co. catalog:And I thought, that looks so easy to make! So, I made some. :)
There aren’t a lot of fall and farm stickers, so I didn’t make a full page sticker scene. I thought about doing that and adding it to M’s homemade sticker book, but decided against it. Instead, I made them with ziploc bags.
Simply cut construction paper however you want, then layer it using double stick tape. Make sure it will fit into your bag, and pop it in. Seal the bag so all the air is out (as much as you can).
A close up: These are quart-size bags. Stickers go in the back:I made these last weekend and put them on M’s activity shelves this week. They were super simple to put together, and quick too! I’m pleased with how they turned out and I hope he likes them too. ;)
Have a beautiful day! :)
In the art box last week: Do-a-dot painters, coffee filters, new stamps and stamp pads, glitter glue, feathers, cotton balls, craft sticks, cardboard tube, Elmer Color Slicks, construction paper, newsprint, “zig-zag” scissors, scrap paper, paintbrushes, a couple of pictures with watercolor strips (craft?), and q-tips. (All put together on Mommy’s bed, the secret art box center.)
M is still enjoying his art box, and went to it or asked for it at least once a day last week.
He still loved the zig-zag scissors and cut up a storm – no pictures this time. Really, a pile of cut paper one week looks pretty much like a pile of cut paper the next week. ;)
He loved seeing the Color Slicks out. We haven’t used them for a long time, and with good reason… they are extremely messy. They make beautiful, brilliant colors and draw even more smoothly than oil pastels, but ugh. Chunks break off and stick to things and then you step on one and track color through the house… and well, you get the idea. Here’s his lovely picture: They are so much fun, but I can’t recommend them. If they bother me because of the mess, believe me, they are REALLY messy. I actually took them out of the art box halfway through the week.
I added a little something I found at Michael’s over the weekend:Now, this is not completely child-directed art, but I don’t feel it’s a “craft” either… these coloring pages of animals have strips of dry watercolors along the bottoms. I showed M how to dip a q-tip in water, rub it on a color, then paint the picture. I feel that one “fun” thing to find in his art box that he can do by himself can add to his enjoyment and teach him something new. He’s never painted with q-tips before and he thought this was a lot of fun.
He actually asked for his watercolors (which I was happy to trade for the Slicks) and throughout the week made these paintings: Water colors were definitely the big hit of the week, and he has really progressed with his knowledge of how to make them lighter or darker. I love it when he learns something all on his own! He was especially fascinated with the black paint.
He loves the do-a-dot painters, and I was hoping he’d pair them up with the coffee filters, but for whatever reason he wasn’t interested in the filters at all. He used the dots on newsprint: He did enjoy seeing what some of the colors made when they were put on top of one another.
He asked for foam stickers too. I guess he had his own ideas of what he wanted in his box this time! He made this little collage with some glitter glue (still a huge favorite, and almost completely gone): Well, apparently that photo was taken pre-glitterization. I’m not taking a new one now, so you’ll have to use your imagination. :) Sparkly!
He did make a collage with some paper. I think he was experimenting with the glue here… remember the product isn’t the point (thank goodness!):
And that’s it for the week. I thought he’d do something with the cardboard tube, but all he did was cut it a little bit and stick it on the railing on the basement stairs like a sleeve. :) No picture of that either, although he was very proud of himself for doing it! Silly boy.
I can’t wait to see the art your little ones made!! Link up below!
Have a beautiful day! :)