Tag: toddlers

  • Art Time with the Boys

    Painting Activity Prep

    This year we are doing Adventures in My Fathers World, included in that is “I Can Do All Things” art lesson book.  We did assignments out of there to start off our homeschool week.  The lessons are good but it starts out with coloring and drawing and my boys were dying to paint something.  So I headed over to Pinterest and searched for Kids Painting, got so many great results but one piqued my interest.  It was a paper with swirls, dots, waves and stripes.  I thought it would be a perfect, easy and fun lesson with the boys. The original post is here at Be a Fun Mum.

    I set the table up while they were all on break.  I usually have them share paint and brushes but that never turns out the way I imagine it can.  This time, everyone got their own palette and a variety of brushes.

    I asked them to watch me paint the different items and then told them they could make any kind of painting they wanted as long as they used dots, stripes, waves and swirls.

    Mommy's Sample Paintingmommy’s sample

    They liked being able to have freedom with their painting, I liked that they actually incorporated the items into their creations.

    Painting with swirls, dots, waves and stripesOliver painting the Solar System

    Painting with swirls, dots, waves and stripesPreston creating a Robot

    Adam and Olivers Creations (Kindergarten)Adam’s is ocean waves, fish “and the red part is a force field” -lol

    Samuels (preschool)Samuel immediately mixes all his colors up and made this masterpiece

    Preston's Robot Creation (2nd grade)Preston’s Robot (sideways)

    This was fun!  I even got in on the action, what a blast!  Thanks to “Be A Fun Mum“!

     

  • Fun with Shaving Cream

    fun with shaving creamRecently I discovered another amazing blog!  This one is called Meet the Dubiens.  I have seen so many things on this blog that I want to do with my kids.  Very inspiring!

    Our first inspiration we did today.  She mixed food coloring with shaving cream and used it as paint for her kids bath time.

    We did not make it for bathtime, just craft time.  I let them play at their little table and gave them some utensils.

    I do wish I would have had primary colors, Oliver was mixing colors and discovering new colors, would have been more effective with primary colors.

    I am still trying to use up the neon colors I used for Oliver’s Rainbow Cake.

    The boys had fun for about 1 hour, record time for my 3 and 5 year olds.

    Oliver playing

    colored shaving cream

    Woody in the shaving cream

    pretty green shave cream

    Olivers Mixing Tray

    tie dyed shaving cream

    Next time:  More tools and Primary Colors.

    FUN:  YES!

  • Summer Centers

    We love centers!  I used them throughout the past school year for all 3 boys.  Some structured some as free-play.  The boys are always happy to pull them out and play with them it is a guaranteed 30 minutes of constructive play.

    For the Summer I reorganized them, rearranged and grouped different things together to get the boys geared up for summer indoor activities.

    I put everything in one cabinet thanks to my sister who gave me a nice white cabinet.  Thanks Tia!

    our Centers cabinet

    Melissa and Doug Pattern Blocks and BoardsMelissa and Doug Pattern Blocks and Boards

    Styrofoam shapesStyrofoam shapes – Good for Math, Sorting and Building

    math manipulatives10 Base T  set – great for Math and Building

    Random toolsRandom Tools (thanks Liv for the Magnifying glasses)

    treasure huntColored rice, items are buried, fun!

    Math ManipulativesGreat for Math, Sorting, Building and Art

     Geoboard
    it’s also a Geoboard!

    shape blocksshapes

    shape blocksfor building

    robotsLearning Robots, Phonics and Math

    Concentrationtravel size Concentration game

    Card shufflercard shuffler

    One happy boyOne Happy Boy!

  • Making Art with Rice

    I am always looking for fun ideas the kids.  They love experiments and art.  This Summer, I signed us up for the Activities Challenge at education.com.  They have a sortable list of activities for kids.  Arts & Crafts, Science, Games and Summer Fun are just some of the categories listed.  We have done a few of the activities and the kids have really enjoyed them.

    Today we chose the “Make Rice Pictures” activity.  We needed:

    • Rice
    • Food Coloring
    • Rubbing Alcohol
    • Glue
    • Paintbrush
    • Construction Paper

    The only step I added:  I thinned my school glue down with a little water and let the kids apply it with a paintbrush.  I only laid out the colors that matched the colored rice (that didn’t last long, lol).  We ended up with a dolphin, a robot on a beach and a “fuzzy” robot.

    Here in Colorado the rice only took about 2 hours to dry so we were able to do this activity in one day.  The boys thought it so cool that is was colored rice.  We invited a friend to join us.

    Rice Art

    Dyed Rice

    Rice Art

    Dyed Rice

    Creating Rice Art

    the boys at work

    Rice Artapplying some rice

    This was fun and I recommend.  We have a lot of rice left over so we will do it again.  Might also use the rice inside an “I-SPY ” bottle.  It’s pretty that is for sure!

  • Fun in the Sun

    Preston Cowboy
    The weather here in Colorado is crazy! One day it is 70 , the next it is snowing and freezing, then back to 70 the next day. Seriously!

    Last week on one of the so-so days we had some fun outside. Wasn’t too cold, wasn’t too hot.

    The boys did floor puzzles on the sidewalks, we colored the sidewalks with chalk. We ate lunch on a blanket in the grass, fun! To top it off… the boys went for the costume drawer, which is always a hit.

    puzzled sidewalk

    puzzles outside

    oliver buzz ironmanthis is a Buzz Lightyear, IronMan Hybrid

    Buzz Lightyear

    Sam Toot

    oliver outside

    LOVE this life!!

  • Meet Toot Toot

    Samuel - 2 years oldThis is Samuel aka Sam Toot or Toot Toot. We love nicknames. Sam has jumped right into the family, he is sweet and spunky! He is a total ham too. He loves to be involved with everything and everyone.

    2 year old Samuel

    He keeps himself busy during school time with the older boys…

    Samuel working

    Toddler Puzzles

    Samuel Coloring Veggie Tales
    Samuel working
    He loves chocolate…
    Samuel Cupcake

    He keeps us smiling…Tootie Helmet

    Thank you God for Sam Toot Toot, he is such a joy and a gift!

    Samuel Asher

  • Fun with Lunch – Muffin Tin Inspiration

    Lunch.  Lunch can become boring for kids and they become uninterested and picky.  At least that is what has happened to my kiddies.  While browsing blogs I came across 2 really cute blogs FULL of ideas on making fun lunches.  They are:

    Muffin Tin Mom and Lunch in a Box; Building a Better Bento

    Inspired by other blog moms once again, I set out.  I had cutters so I didn’t need to get any.   I did pick up the muffin tins at the Dollar Tree and then some cupcake liners at my local grocery store.  I picked up 10 packs of fruit leather (.50/each), pretzels, crackers, cheese, almonds, turkey and cookies.

    Our Muffin Tin Lunch:

    Cut Fruit Leather into Rectangles
    Cut Fruit Leather into Rectangles
    use small cutters to punch out shape
    use small cutters to punch out shape
    cookie cutter lunch
    Oliver helping out
    fun muffin tin lunch
    fun muffin tin lunch

    3-Cheese Cheese Slice, cut out with extras chopped up… Fruit Leather cutouts…  Almonds, Turkey Rolls on fancy toothpicks…  Goldfish and Mini Oreos

    lunchtime
    lunchtime

    **In this last picture I show my 2-year old with fruit leather – MISTAKE!  Do not give to toddlers, trust me**

    It was fun and the kids were so excited when they came to the table, that is a first!  Thanks for the inspiration ladies!

  • Digital Fun for Kids

    TechLink Online Kids
    We are always trying to find websites that have learning content rather the sites with games only. This has become even more important because lately our boys have developed an addiction to Super Mario Brothers, the old school version online. They explored all the learning websites and grew tired of them, so my husband had an idea.

    How about creating a web page, with them for other kids to use. They started working on it a few days ago and have come up with 4 different interactive areas. Since we homeschool it has been an awesome opportunity to have our oldest participate in planning it and then putting that plan into action, our 4 year old also helped. Now the boys get to see their work on a real live web page and they love it!

    Preston learning how to setup a page and insert pictures and text. He also learned how to add sound and effects and like most people he didn’t like hearing his own voice at first but still thought it was pretty cool. What a great learning experience! Hope you enjoy.

    www.techlinkonline.com

  • Preschool Worksheets and Coloring Pages

    I love printables! I have used them for a few years now.  There are some to be had out there on the web; however, I wanted more to choose from.

    What is a printable? Simply put, it is a worksheet that you can print for your children to use. I finally started making my own and would love to share them. There are only a handful now but I will keep adding to them. Hope you enjoy, please comment and let me know how they worked for you! Visit my Printables Page.

    preschool printable

    If you have any requests, I would love to hear them!  Thanks!

    my signature

  • A is for Animal

    D is for Dinosaur
    Oliver with his Dinosaur

    After checking out a ton of homeschool blogs this summer I was looking for an alphabet activity for Oliver to do, I came across an idea at totallytots.homestead.com.  It is called Now I Know My ABC’s and it shows pictures of animals made from each letter in the alphabet.  Here is what Oliver has made so far:

    A is for Alligator
    A is for Alligator
    C is for Crab
    C is for Crab
    D is for Dinosaur
    D is for Dinosaur
    Oliver's ABC Book
    Oliver's ABC Book

    He is keeping them inside of clear sleeves in his very own ABS’s book… he likes it so much!