Friday, July 1, 2022
Week in Review - Another Birthday, Bowling, and Basketball
Thursday, June 30, 2022
Preschool Picture Books & Art: The Fuzzy Duckling & Handprint Duck
The Fuzzy Duckling is such a cute and classic Golden Book about a duckling taking a walk through the barnyard, counting the various animals as he sees them. I wanted to make a cute painted handprint duck, but Zeke was very much against painting his hand so we opted for this way instead! It turned out really cute and was so simple.
First I traced his hand on a sheet of yellow paper. I made him keep his four fingers together to form the backend of the duck with feathers and his thumb straight up for the neck and head. Then I cut it out for him.
Next I had him paint a paper plate "pond" blue.
While the paint was still wet, he stuck the duck on the pond. Then I put a dot of glue for him to stick the googly eye on the head.
Then I drew three lines and he placed three yellow feathers on the body of the duck. I cut a small orange rectangle and stuck it on the head for a beak. I think this turned out really cute!
Check out the other books and arts and crafts in this series:
A Tree is Nice and Cork Tree Painting
The Mixed-Up Chameleon and Paper Plate Color Changing Chameleon
Monday, June 27, 2022
Blogging from A to Z - Essentials for Preschool
- Before Five in a Row and More Before Five in a Row - both of these programs are amazing! You will read so many good books. The guides provide plenty of discussion and jumping off points, and I always added extra worksheets and activities.
- ABC Jesus Loves Me - this is a free curriculum for ages 2, 3, 4, and 5 year olds, but you can also purchase a printed version for pretty cheap! I used this with Silas (my now 12 year old) when he was 3 and 4 years old.
- My Father's World Voyage of Discovery - we have never used this program, but it looks fantastic. It's a bit more expensive, but you do receive lots of educational toys! We use My Father's World for Kindergarten and it's just terrific. I have no doubt this would be great!
- The Peaceful Preschool - I didn't finish using this, but it's a wonderful and gentle preschool program for moms who don't want a lot of worksheets. There are plenty of book suggestions, life skills, and fine motor work scheduled it.
- Heart of Dakota's Little Hands to Heaven - this is a really gentle Bible based curriculum for ages 2-5; tons of games and hands on activities; few worksheets
Well-Stocked Art Cabinet
- paper plates
- paper bags
- stickers of all kids
- dot stickers in all colors
- ribbon, yarn, and string
- craft sticks in all sizes and colors
- pom poms in multiple sizes and colors
- clothespins
- pipe cleaners in all colors
- wooden dowels and skewers
- construction paper, cardstock, and printer paper
- foam and felt sheets
- googly eyes
- beads and buttons in many colors and sizes
- paper brads
- masking tape and scotch tape
- hot glue gun and glue sticks
- dot markers
- markers, crayons, colored pencils
- modeling clay and playdough
- paint and paintbrushes
- It looks a little messy, but I promise everything is organized!
Puzzles
Lots of Books
Pattern Blocks and Cards
Blocks
Counters
Flashcards
Fine Motor Tools
You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enterFriday, June 24, 2022
Week in Review - Birthday, Heat Advisory, and Rodeo
Saturday
Mercie had another rodeo today. She didn't have her best run, but her time wasn't bad at all - 19.8 (it was a bigger pattern than last time). They knocked a barrel over, so that added 5 seconds to her time so she didn't place at all. After the barrel run, she went with a friend to the Play Day in our town. She got to run barrels, run poles, and do the flags. She placed first in her division (13-17 years old) and won $21.
Sunday
I woke up and made a big breakfast (I do this every Sunday for Rod as it's his only day home each week). I also prepped lunch for after church. I made Cornbread Casserole and black eyed peas with bacon, Rod's favorite meal. We also had cake and ice cream for Silas's 12th birthday which is Tuesday. Rod bought Silas a left-handed gun for his birthday. Silas loves to hunt, but we don't have any left-handed guns so it's always awkward for him to shoot. Rod has been looking for one and finally found the perfect gun. He shot his gun after church and is very accurate with it! We watched Old Yeller before going to bed.
Monday
Today we stayed home all day, which was nice. We woke up early and weeded around the rosebushes I planted by my back porch before the wasps came out. Then Titus spread some more dirt around them and he and Silas watered the garden. We played inside and outside since it's so hot outside. Eli had to work, but he and his friend came home for lunch. Mercie fried chicken, and I made macaroni and cheese and heated up the leftover peas from yesterday. It was so good!
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Summer School
Organization
On the Blog
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Preschool Picture Books & Art - The Mixed Up Chameleon & Paper Plate Craft
This is one of our favorite Eric Carle books, but honestly they're all so fun to read! I saw this paper plate color-changing chameleon craft and I knew we had to recreate it.
You need two paper plates, a paper fastener, paint, and a print out of a chameleon to trace. I simply searched for and found a basic chameleon coloring page and made it smaller when I printed it.
I had Zeke paint the paper plate (he actually painted two because he was enjoying it so much) with several different colors. He went all out and painted the entire plate - no white space left!
While he was painting, I was tracing the chameleon onto another paper plate. Then I cut the chameleon shape out using scissors. It would probably have been easier to use an Exacto knife, but I didn't have one. This was the hardest part of this activity, and it's not perfect! I left a little place to glue a googly eye on the chameleon!
We waited until the next morning to attach the white paper plate with the cut-out chameleon onto the painted paper plate. Then Zeke glued on a googly eye. When we spin the top plate around, the chameleon changes colors!
This was a fun craft to do and a great go-along for the book The Mixed Up Chameleon.
Check out the other posts in this series!
A Tree is Nice and Cork Tree Painting