Pink Before and After

I must admit I was not prepared today. I have my Theme Thursday post up, though so I was kind of prepared. Well, I have been thinking about how I have not been sharing projects that the girls and I have been working on. We still work on them, but I can't always get the camera in there because my hands are either busy or dirty. Today, I am sharing our bowls that we made. It was just flour and water with tissue paper. We wrapped the bottom of  one of their favorite bowls with saran wrap (after spraying it with Pam) and I let them layer away. It took most of the day to dry (mostly because they really coated it). At the end of the day they did get to snack in their bowls, which they loved!

Before:

After:

Preschool: Nature is All Around Me; Brought to You by D, E and F

Preschool Lesson Plan 2, Theme: Nature, Letters: D, E, F

Today's class was focused on the Earth and all of the nature it holds. The letter D is for Dirt, the E is for Earth and the letter F is for Feather. We discussed with the three three year olds about nature being made up of everything that is not man made. "Something that Mommies and Daddies can't make." How's that sound for a three year old? I actually got a couple laughs with that one. 

We giggled about how we can't make dirt and how funny it would be if we tried and we let the kids ask questions (they didn't have many) and we gave examples of what kind of nature the earth holds. For instance Lorelei brought up nature is when you go hiking. Well, she got that pretty...kind of...close to right. Yes, nature is all around yes and a prime example is when we go hiking!

The kiddos had time to cut, color and write the three letters while gluing feathers and other fun stuff to them. Sheri brought out some brown paper rolls and cut large pieces of "dirt" for the kids to glue other natural objects to. There was green felt for grass, dark brown felt for mud, light blue felt for clouds provided by Jenn and natural objects such as sticks and leaves provided by Sheri. Lorelei and I brought in some handfuls of feathers. 

I only got a shot of Lorelei's project and I have to say she was more interested in dumping the glitter once that came out rather than really focusing on her picture. She has really enjoyed making art lately, but mostly taking it apart. 

Please note throughout the kids very serious crafting faces! They mean business. It's always nice to see the kids taking it seriously.

Sheri read a book about leaves that the kids really enjoyed. After the book and snack time we discussed the seasons with the kids and what happens with the leaves and why they change. 

My goal by the end of the school year is to help Lorelei learn social interaction skills she can use within the years as well giving her a warm and comfortable place to flourish that peaks her interest in learning. I would also like to watch Lorelei and learn about her and what she needs as a person; who she wants to be and what interests her to better equip me for the upcoming years (yes I said me. Is that selfish?). As far as specifics for class I guess you'll have to keep on reading as the year goes on!

Please feel free to comment on any links or activities that you like, have done or may be useful! Thanks for stopping by!

Preschool: My Binoculars Help Me See My A, B, C's

Preschool Lesson Plan 1, Theme: Sky, Letters: A, B, C

The three kiddos coloring, writing and tracing letters A, B, C.

Zeke from A Beautiful Life in front of the kids Preschool Banner they painted during the introduction of preschool.

Lorelei excited to use her Tinker Bell pencils and ruler while coloring in her letter A.

E from A Day's Journal enjoying cutting out her letter B after coloring.

Zeke gluing down his Blue Bird for onto his sky. He was the first to notice the hidden letters by saying "Hey! There's an A on my airplane!"

Enjoying a book read by Sheri from A Day's Journal.

"Round Like a Ball!" All the kiddos including the little guys enjoyed story time.

E, Lorelei and Zeke holding up their projects.

Taking pictures of their projects and I think we lost them.

We weren't so successful with getting all of the little guys together. Do you see Hannah and R looking over at Kiah?

This is what they were looking at and this is the best shot of the three.

The big kids at recess. The girls were picking on Zeke by pushing him on the swing when he really just wanted to be alone in the task. I think he liked it a little bit though.

In all what we did was give them a few moments to get introduced and get the giggles out at first arrival. Second we set up their coloring pages and let them color, cut and trace their letters (first lesson A, B, C). Third we got them started on a little gluing project. I previously cut out the shapes of an airplane, bird and cloud. The airplane had a hidden A and the blue bird had a hidden B while the cloud was in the shape of the C. Next we had snack time followed by a book. When they kids were all done and settled back down from the book Jenn introduced the binocular project. She had felt and toilet paper rolls as well as the fuzzy pipes. (Forgive me I forget what they are called.) The kids glued the felt on and we cut out the access from around the two, side by side toilet paper rolls. Jenn and I cut out some felt shapes for the kids to decorate their binoculars. We attached the fuzzy pipes to keep the felt on since we were going to use them right after gluing. The kids then took them out and ran around outside looking for things in the sky. I think it was a wonderful time and the kids really did enjoy themselves. I can't wait for next week and I know Lorelei is even more excited.

Autumn Craft: All Hands and Feet

I can't even explain to you how much I enjoy these crafts. They are absolutely adorable and super easy. If I could set the girls up in an assembly line I would send one to each family member. The wonderful website which gave the inspiration (and instruction) for these crafts is Artists Helping Children. I definitely suggest checking it out. 

Okay, here is our version and I do have to admit that I did not read the instructions. Sorry! I googled it this morning while the girls were wandering around my feet. What we did was outline Lorelei's hands and foot (I helped her a bit to get a straighter line). Then I cut them out as well as the head, beak and feet. She was super impatient this morning and did not want to add eyes or anything, but she loved it so much she wanted to play with it.

Hand & Foot print Crow:

(Lorelei 3 years)

The last photo is of all of the projects together and I really wanted Lorelei to make a tree too because it was so simple, but she wanted to help Hannah. That was okay with me as well. Lorelei helped pick out the purple for our second tree. I traced Hannah's hand and cut out the shape as well as the tree topper and leaves.

For the first tree I showed Hannah the idea by putting the leaves where the glue was and she got the hang of it quick. She pointed out where she wanted it and I put the glue down. She stuck the leaf right to the glue very easily. It was a lot of fun and Hannah was very pleased with herself. Oh I almost forgot. All I did differently was add a paper towel roll cut in half and glued it to the back of the trees so they would stand up.

Hand Print Autumn Tree (+Crow):

(Hannah 16 months)

For more crafts click here. I know I'll be going back!

Preschool: Introduction (A Warm Welcome)

So you may or may not have read my debates within the past few months about preschool and whether or not Lorelei was going to go to public school or stay home this year. If you're curious and have yet to read the debates click here for the first debate and here for part 2.

Okay, now that we're ready I'll let you in on what we did for our first day of preschool. Remember we are all moms with the best of intentions and are learning the ropes so be kind. To introduce the kiddos to preschool we let them play for about five minutes so they could get their wiggles out before we sat them down. After a few minutes the kids were more than ready to sit down and paint! 

We got out a banner I put together out of a roll of paper I got off of our easel from home. I simply wrote out the word "Preschool" to introduce them to our upcoming (nine week) lesson plan on letters. We talked about the letters on the banner and associated them with their names. (Our goal is for the kids to learn at their own pace and get the individual attention they need while having a nurturing learning environment.) They picked their letters and paint colors and got to painting.

Lorelei: I swear she enjoyed the painting more than this photo is showing. Too funny, she saw the camera aim her way and she blanked. I was impressed with her painting skills and happy she enjoyed the time with others.

Zeke (Momma from A Beautiful Life): Had a wonderful time mixing the colors! He also knows a lot of letter sounds. I was very impressed.

"E" (Momma from A Day's Journal): Was very polite and painted within the lines. She could also write her name which was very impressive.

The girls stayed the longest. Here they are finishing up the banner. Our goal is to put it up during each class so the kids understand the difference between a play date and school. Let's cross our fingers. 

Recess after snacks (Sheri provided yummy snacks which included peanut butter crackers. Lorelei immediately asked me for some for her house). The kids played Ring Around the Rosie among other games.

It wasn't easy to get all three of kids with their people. I cut out the people and clothes before hand from construction paper. Jenn brought the "google" eyes and the kids decorated. "E" quite enjoyed the activity while I was impressed with Zeke adding the shorts in for the letter A and Lorelei really loves her creative outfits doesn't she.

We have a plan for next week and we will be starting with the theme "Sky" and will introduce the letters A, B, and C with individual associations. We would also like to get a book in next week! Wish us luck. Overall though I think it was a wonderful success. The kids told us their favorite parts, other things they want to learn later and their little brothers and sisters played nicely!

If you have any other ideas or thoughts please share!

The Leaf Man

The girls and I went for a walk the other day (we do this at least three times a week which includes me at my 5'1" stature, a double stroller and a preschooler plus a toddler) and Lorelei brought her Elmo's doctor kit (minus the stuff) to carry some fun stuff. She loves to collect so I figured this would be perfect for her. She enjoyed collecting different items and we took them home. This was the other day and we finally got to making the leaf man today. (We've been busy, but good busy.) So take a look at Lorelei's leaf man (which includes an awesome beard) and please enjoy.

Oh The Craft Cupboard NEEDS Organized and Make Your Own Puzzle, House Picture, Highlights Fun, Jell-o Cubes

So now that you have already read my title and you still clicked into this post beware! No really, I've just not gotten to posting a few things so I crammed them all together. Are you ready?

Here is the craft cupboard. I can't believe I'm sharing my disorganization. I am used to be an organized person. Then a tornado of two under two hit and now I'm at two - three and under and it only gets busier. My excuse for the craft cupboard mess is the fact that I have to throw it in QUICK before grabby little hands start digging everything out (and it all collapses onto tiny and my mommy toes).

Exhibit A & Before:

One set of little grabby hands (In her adorable jammies may I add)

After:

NOT an Improvement

You see Oscar there? He sure is appropriate for dead center in this photo. What a horrible organizational system eh? Well, I grabbed some old bags and started neatly quickly and not so gently throwing stuff into the cupboard while the girls were getting into stuff that I just so happened to set in their path. You know, stuff they think they are getting away with playing with. Anyway, please help! Any ideas will make me a happy camper. Please share any websites or ideas. I need the kick in the pants.

Now onto some fun stuff! 

Make Your Own Puzzle

I didn't really know what else to call this, but it was fun! We grabbed some near by toys and put them in a container after tracing each object. Lorelei had a sheet to trace things and I had a sheet to trace some stuff. After tracing it goes into the box so we could find it easily. When everything was done Lorelei got to grab the objects out and find their appropriate spots. She really liked this. Mostly because she traced them herself, found the objects herself and got to finish off the puzzle all by herself. Do you see a pattern? Lorelei loves being "the boss." So any project where she gets to lead is just perfect. Plus the ownership and pride is excellent. It was way too easy for her, but the tracing was good practice. I definitely suggest this easy project/game!

House Picture

The first step was to simply cut out the shapes. I cut out different things for her and let her decide where she wanted them. She chose the colors of the stuff and what I should cut out mind you. (I'm sure she will make a good boss some day.)

We added in some people last minute and she took the project very seriously!

The end product. It's quite good if I do say so myself. Honestly though I was quite surprised with how well she lined everything up. I'm not sure why the guys were crooked, but I'm sure she didn't want it to cover her house up. Another fun and easy project kids love! I definitely suggest this as well. After all you only need a glue stick, scissors, paper and imagination! (Was that last one cheesy?)

High Five for Highlights

We have quite a few of the Highlights magazines lying around the house so we took the one from April and I let her cut out whatever she wanted. Lorelei's face lit up with joy when she heard she could actually cut into a magazine! My idea was to make a collage out of it, but she really wanted to cut out big stuff and glue the single picture onto one single piece of construction paper. She was thrilled though and that is what counts. Plus I loved watching her enjoy herself and seeing how well she is getting along with those scissors!

Above is a game we found in one of the magazines. She liked it for a bit, but it didn't last long. She was super excited about "flipping" the penny though. She didn't have a whole lot of patience for the game. Maybe when she is older?

Jell-O Cubes

So I am calling this one Jello-O Cubes out of humor. There was a tip in a tiny little book my mother gave me that if you put the powder from the jell-o into a dish or pan with an ice cube that the kiddos can swirl the ice cube around to watch it make designs in the powder. I thought it sounded wonderful because Hannah would love it too!

Lorelei dipping her fingers in after dumping the jell-o powder.

...and the joy of being able to eat part of her project!

...getting ready to drop in the ice cubes! Any guesses on what might happen to the ice cube when it gets dropped in and swirled around?

Here we go..the cubes are in and they...

turn into Jell-O cubes. Yep, that's it.Yummy Jell-O cubes for the kids to goo on and suck on and stain little fingers with. Me, I was disappointed it didn't work out. The girls were more than SUPER excited about it. They were playing in it and licking it. After a little gooey fun we took a little break from the cubes so we could wait and see what they turned into.

This is what's on my fridge right now. Lorelei traced her hands and my hand which she loved and made a lot of construction paper pages into hand traced pictures. Then I made her name and let her trace it. She really just wanted to circle them. Fun stuff eh? 

And now the moment...what does it look like after (maybe) an hour? Please enjoy the next few photos word free as you have been a champ reading through this long, LONG post.

So there it is. An unorganized cupboard, make your own puzzle, a house picture and some yummy Jell-O cubes. I hope you enjoyed my lengthy post! Truth is I'm hoping at least one person sits through it.

Thanks again! Please share comments if you'd like!