Mommy School week 1: Biology and Geometry

I've decided to do mommy preschool with my kids this summer.  So far we have had three classes. I'm holding the classes in my basement which is unfinished so the space is a bit bare.  I hope by the end of summer we change that with lots of fun things on the wall.  Here is what I did for the first two classes.

Biology or...

Gardens and growing plants.

1. Craft.  3yr old-glue pieces of a flower (stem, leaves, petals, etc) on a paper.  1 yr old-stick stickers on a paper.  Or just scream.  Honestly my daughter was a pill throughout the whole class. 

2. Quick lesson on what seeds need to grow.  Use magnets as visual.

3. Story.  Eric Carle's The Tiny Seed.

4. Plant "magic seeds" (Skittles).  If they are good they will grow at the end of class.

5. Gardening scavenger hunt. I gave my son my phone to take pictures of the things he found.

6. Plant seeds.  We planted mini sunflowers. 

7. Go back to see if our magic seeds sprouted.  They grew into lollipops!

8.  Enjoy lollipops in peace and read Mrs Spitzer's Garden by Edith Pattou three times because sister is sleeping.

I got the magnetic board at Walmart for $11 or $12.  It's a dripping plate you would use under a car so go to the automotive section.  I picked up some foam and a roll of magnets and I should be set for summer school.  Matt's preschool teacher had one of these and I loved it.

Geometry or...

Shapes

1.  Made shape mobile with three year old.  Laid out shape toys for my one year old. 

2. Talk about different shapes and stick them on the magnet board.

3. Shape Bingo.  This was a big hit.  Used candy as the bingo chips.

4.  Shape matching worksheet.  Match shape to common objects we see. 

5. Sponge shape painting.  He was excited to do this but this ended up not being an activity he enjoyed.  He got to frustrated so it ended up being me doing the art and him dictating to me what he wanted.

 
6. Shape snacks.

Milk does the body good

This one is my favorite

I made some onesies for a friend who is having a baby boy. Simple project.  Print the image on fabric transfer paper and iron onto onesie. 

Be Mine

 

 

Not a new concept but I asked M if he would like to do this and he was excited about this idea.  I think it's because I said the word, "lollipop".  The jokes I got from here. 

Now my baby girl is surrounded by baby boys so we (I) decided it would be fun to make Valentine's Day cards for those baby boys in her life. 

I attached a little bath book that I found in the dollar section at Target.  I looked at Lil Luna to get saying ideas.  Here is a list of 50 Valentine ideas.  She always has fantastic lists.  I initially wanted to do something that said, "I'm hooked on you" or, "You're a catch" and give Fish crackers with the card but getting my one-year old to pose was tricky and this book picture turned out cute so I switched it up. 

Here are some outtakes. 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

1st Birthday

 

My baby girl turned one.  

 

We threw her a family party and to kick it up a notch we had a Snow White theme.  I love the apple cupcakes.  My mom found this idea online so I can't claim it as my own.  It was really fun for me to put together a few decorations even if these things don't matter to her. 

A glance at December Crafting

 The traditional fresh pine Christmas wreath.

 Homemade gift card holder

Mommy and son snowman.  We each painted a side.  I love his side. 

 

Felt nativity puppets.  Part of a church craft day.  (same with the snowman but I took a lot of my projects home)

 Photo collage.  That empty space at the top is where we are going to put our family name. 

 Shepherd and sheep costume.  Mike made the shepherds crook and I made the lamb ear headband.  I wanted to make a fleece hat but we were so busy. 

 Snowflake candle lights made out of baby food jars.

Baby boy bow tie and dinosaur made for my new nephew! 

I made a couple more things like sweater stockings, a nativity advent calendar, and an owl heat compressor but didn't get pictures.  Next year I guess.  

November Wreath

Making wreaths just might be my favorite craft to do.  They are so satisfying to me.  I've made several wreaths over the last couple of years: the fresh pine wreath, the acorn wreath, the 4th of July yarn wreath, the Halloween burlap wreath and now the November wreath. 

I love that it has elements of fall coloring but also winter colors too like the berries and ribbon.  November is definitely a transitional month from fall to winter here in Indiana.  I searched the web for a good fall wreath and there are a few I fell in love with. I'm thinking I'm going to need a good Fall wreath for September before I put out my Halloween one. 

These were some of my favorites. 

Pine cone wreath
Yellow Flower wreath
Coffee Filter Wreath (in fall mum colors)
Leaf and Flower autumn mantel and wreath
Pumpkin Wreath
Pumpkin Wreath (and porch!  I love it.)

Painted pine cone wreath (the one I chose)

Thankful Tree

I thought up this idea last Thanksgiving and thought this would be unique.  Come this fall I've seen half a dozen similar ideas.  Not that original but a fun way to count down till Thanksgiving. 

Our Thankful Tree Advent

 Err...lets try that again.  Everyday we take a leaf off the tree and say something we are thankful for.  I might eventually add "Thankful tree" to the felt board.