Painting an old picnic table

There's a partly rotted board in the middle that needs replacing,  but that didn't stop us from bringing new life to an old picnic table in our yard.

Winter Boredom Busters! Craft felt, toys...

Felt friends! Felt, scissors, hot glue and some imagination. Super easy.

Milk jug fairy house

Craft felt play food can be made as elaborate or simple as you want. There are tons of FANTASTIC ideas online! This took 10 minutes, very little hot glue, and some imagination. We were out of brown or tan so our 6 year old said, "I want blue and purple toast!" The tacos were really fun and easy! I love making eggs. So simple yet so cute and the kids can smush them up and fit them inside plastic Easter eggs!

I have a firefighter 2.5 yr old. Everett LOVES fire trucks and plays 'fireman' all the time. He was using toy guns as his water hose until his mom had a better idea for him and made this hose screwed onto a soda bottle! He loves it!

Sebastian wanted a house/cave for a robot of his. It needed to be SUPER SPOOKY and DANGEROUS he told me...so I helped him create this. Some of the figures are glued on which he likes. The spikes are tooth picks and add an actual element of danger. That wood piece with the holes actually drops down from the roof with a string. There are trap doors too, a vampire bat and a spider. Oh, and later he added "poison plants" of course. (some silk plants I had laying around)

Christmas Crafts Galore ...I love the holidays with my kids!

We made holiday candle jars; the tea lights glow through the tissue paper so beautifully and they are so festive and neat! This was such an easy and fast craft. I like crafts that I can make a bunch of something fairly quickly, these will make really great gifts!

Supplies we used: newspaper to cover table, tissue paper, mod podge glue, beautiful scrapbook/craft stickers (really good ones), ribbon for gluing around the jar rim and for making bows on large size jars, hot glue gun for ribbon around rim, paint brush for gluing down tissue paper, glass jars, tea light candles for finished project.

We used cereal boxes and cut out holiday shapes (tree, houses, candy, candy canes). We then covered them with fabric scraps and glued with mod podge. Once dry we poked holes and added ribbon/ hanging hooks and hung on the tree.

Christmas carolers made from: toilet paper rolls, construction paper, little sheet music we printed from the internet, and the hats are old mismatched socks we cut and tied at the top.    

Sew fun!!! Homemade Lalaloopsy Mini House

I love, love, love making toys with my kids. Today Penelope (6) and I made her a Lalaloopsy house and bakery & sweet shop out of a cardboard box, scrapbook paper, sewing bobbins, buttons, thread spools and the cute Lalaloopsy cardboard houses that the mini dolls come packaged in.

Sweet Shop Bakery!

The darling cardboard houses that the Lala' Mini dolls come packaged in are hot glued on to the entire outside of the box, and the doors really work and open into the house!

The back of the house is a store front pie shop and ice cream shop! Sew fun!

Spool flower pot

Necklace Food ~ Threading Fun

  Supplies for necklace                        Good hand-eye coordination                      Munching

We have small plastic needles from a sewing puppet craft and I thought just maybe it might work to make a Cheerio necklace. It did work! Everett threading his is so cute, he's only two so I was impressed. Charlotte helped him do most of his though. When he chowed through his necklace and let the puppies lick it a few times (haha) he tried eating the one Penelope had made. They had fun making these! 

The Tactile Experience of a Typewriter

I found Charlotte's old typewriter in the attic. The tactile experience of a typewriter is so very child friendly and satisfying. I always planned on teaching all the kids the joys and wonder of such a past time. Even the oldest of things are new to curious children. I'm thinking about buying another so we'll have two. 

I love the sound. I love to see them huddled over it watching the keys clunk, taking turns and admiring cause and effect.  What's not to love about a typewriter? Unless you have to write an entire book on one. A history lesson at their fingertips. Next I'll buy them some wite-out. 

As I post this I hear clack-clack-clack ... music to my vintage loving ears. I'm eyeing a large 1950's typewriter on craigslist. I hope I bring it home for them, or one like it someday. Little Sebastian is becoming more familiar with his letters and this is a grand way to entice him into learning all of them. All the kids walk by and type something periodically. A fun message board for the household. Some one typed 'I love ice cream" and someone else "I love cake." :)

1947 Underwood Universal Portable typewriter

This is our vintage typewriter's user "manual" page of features! So cool!

The Kissing Hand

We read The Kissing Hand and made these cute from scratch raccoon paper bag puppets! They even have a heart on their hand. That part was Layla's idea.

I showed the girls how to cut and put together some example shapes and they caught on and did their own. They even helped Sebastian make one. 

The Kissing Hand is a darling story with beautiful art work. You can listen and see it and other stories at Barnes and Noble online story time! My kids listen to this site a bunch. It's great for bedtime, too. 

Outdoor Painting Space

 I want to create an art space for the kids with the intent of having a messy art area they can mess up and to have the freedom to paint at as much as they want when they want. This is an area we set up for outdoor watercolor painting yesterday as a first step towards that goal  This is made from cinder blocks and a work bench table top we didn't need. It's particle board, so it's not weather proof. I want something more permanent and weather proof but for now this is fun and a creative space in nature that the kids can paint in. 

Everett tries to hang his picture, following in the footsteps of the other kids.
We hung  twine and clothes-line pins to display and dry art work.

Homeschool Monthly Art Class

We went to a homeschool art class hosted and volunteered by homeschool moms and a local library. It was really fun. This month was Monet. The mom hosting it printed up a packet of info about Claude Monet that included a few paintings by him. We did water color lilies in the class using the coffee filters as lilies. Once the filters are dry you can crinkle them and make them take more shape. When they are really wet they are just flat of course. One of my favorite things about homeschoolers has always been the inclusiveness of everyone. So many homeschoolers see a lot of value in group learning and playing in the company of all ages. It really shows too! We had all ages from one and a half to 15 years old join the class today.

Next month the artist subject is Van Gogh and Charlotte (15) volunteered to host the class and teach how to make sunflowers. She very much enjoys art and making sunflowers and so do I! We will have fun I'm sure!

Love the tongue out!

Awesome Preschool and Kindergarten Links/ Songs/Videos

Links to videos we sing and learn together that teach a variety of things. We do many of these as we end our homeschool morning "circle time" and as I make snack and/or lunch.

Sign Language good visuals song

Vowel lessons song to Old Mac Donald

Days of the Week  a favorite!

Train Colors Song a favorite!

We Are Shapes

Meet the Numbers Introducing the Numbers 1 to 10! Watch and listen to each number introduce themselves, say their number, and tell you what they rhyme with.  -I can't get this highlight off! Oh it's making me crazy. I gave up!

The Big Numbers Song 

Months of the Year -repeat them back- a favorite!

5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed a favorite!

Animal Sounds  a favorite!

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Letter Sounds with Song -nice pictures  a favorite!

Counting

10 in bed song  a favorite!

Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes -slow

Now do it faster

If You're Happy and You Know It

Loud Counting by 10's

Dance Loud Counting by 5's song

Dance counting 2's song -loud

5 little pumpkins story / poem / memorize for fall

Spanish days of week

Little Indians

Daddy Finger --really weird/silly lol

Rainbow Color Song  a favorite!

3 Little Kittens

Row, Row, Row Your Boat -very pretty with beautiful animation

Going on a Lion Hunt  a favorite!

Bingo

16 min collection of classic rhymes a favorite!

The Planets Song 

Children's Imagination Garden

We made a play garden today. Penelope and Sebastian love it! They LOVE it. I sectioned off an area that was bare but had beautiful black wormy soil under a tree. I used some concrete edging and some cut up logs to define the space. We gathered shovels, rakes, pots, play veggies, play fruits, silk plants and flowers. Imagination took over and now I have happy children playing away and asking me all kinds of questions about what grows on which kind of plant, what root vegetables are, Etc. Super simple, super fun, super educational. They have mushrooms, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, celery, corn, potatoes...

I made hanging places for their shovels and rakes on the fence

When I told Penelope I was going to go inside to get us all some drinks she said, "Oh good, I'm thirsty! This is hard work planting!" She's so cute!

Preschool Nature Hunt

We went on a nature hunt yesterday and this was our list:

pine cone

pine needles

feather

2 different types of grasses

something yellow

a flower

something green

something brown

two leaves different in shape 

something fuzzy

a seed

something not ripe yet

We sat and read some books, and learned about insects. 

Easter Egg Hunt Game

We had an indoor egg hunt this morning, but for outside fun later on I had plastic eggs filled with finger puppets and a game planned. They got a pail and shovel for Easter so I told them to use the shovel to run plastic eggs back to their bucket -which is to be left on the porch steps. You can only bring back one egg at a time. It was fun and cute! A good way to make the egg hunt last longer. Next year I think I'll plan an even bigger outdoor egg hunt (more eggs with goodies in them) with this game.

Super Easy Spring Food Fun: Bird Nest Rice Krispie Treats

Make rice krispie treats

Baby spills Rice Krispie cereal all over (omit this step)

Other family members want in on the fun!

Spray cooking oil in muffin cups (or use butter) and on kids' hands. When Rice Krispies are warm (not hot!), give a small blob of it to the kids. They make nests in the muffin cups with their hands. Let krispie treats harden and set up firm (few minutes). Add chocolate eggs and peeps as your chicken/bird

They added a few pretzel sticks to some for their nests.
You can use Cocoa Krispies for darker nests, or just a few sprinkles of baking chocolate when you are melting the marshmallow in the pot will darken them, too.

This was a simple, easy project.

Toilet Paper Roll Tulips



I told Penelope to paint toilet paper rolls green. I like how she
left a handprint behind. :)

We cut super big flower heads and inserted them into slits we made on each side of the
toilet paper roll. I used a dab of hot glue to help them stay in for good. We cut out green leaves and glued them on the stems.

 Penelope also made a butterfly out of one of the tubes. We used a glue gun
 so it would be finished quickly without waiting. She cut out all the pieces out herself, even the tiny ones. Her arts and crafts are getting more and more detailed! She's such a 5 year old!

Stitch Books (the little sister of lapbooks)

I've always been envious of homeschoolers who do lapbooks. My kids never wanted to do them. While I drooled over the homemade books of colorful information I think the kids were intimidated by the super fancy layouts and big books. My kids are not very good at organization of school materials, reports, Etc. So I laid back for several years and didn't push the issue.

Yesterday I was looking for something for Penelope to do (preschool/K) and I came up with the idea for her to make a number book. I'm glad we were all out of staples because I told her I had a super fun idea for a even better book binding.

I went to work on sewing her a paper book. (It was hardly work, it took 1 minute.)

 And that is when stitch books were born! As I helped Penelope with her numbers I had a talk with my older kids about layout and how to matting/ framing information on projects makes them look nice. They were all interested and I asked them to make books on any subject they wanted. I explained that if we started making books on the subjects and units we learn about we'd build up our own personal library of information. We'd have them to share with the younger kids, and to read and re-learn when needed.


Showing the middle blank pages; stronger and better than a stapled book!



Penelope wanted to name her book "Learning Numbers and All Sorts of Things"


The older kids are working on these:

So as not to overwhelm them with research and layout all at once I asked them to make presentation their main focus; in other words make the stitch book about something they already know a lot about so it's easier to write and research. Since the kids all enjoy drawing I encouraged them to not use
the internet for their projects.

Charlotte has not added words to her mummification stitch book, but I think the pictures are impressive!

 These are really fun and I hope they are a persuasive introduction to the amazing, creative, fun world of lapbooking!

These are also great little books for journal or drawing. My kids always want new sketch pads and after a buying a bunch sketch pads get pricey! These are easy to make and cheap!