handmade beginnings

Lock and Key

2012-02-25T16:48:00.000-05:00

A little something I made for my JK class... using locks, keys, eyelets, and wood. Can't wait to show it to them on Monday inshaAllah :)

Birds of a Feather

2012-02-25T16:43:00.000-05:00

Another field trip during the winter break... Balancing bird craft chickadees! I also thought this bird feeder was pretty neat, it keeps the seeds accessible to only the birds since it has tiny holes in it.

Tracks and Trails

2012-02-25T16:37:00.000-05:00

Ready for an update? Here's a field trip we went on with our old playgroup during the winter break back in January... Making pine cone bird feeders. Learning about animal droppings- shaping oatmeal cocoa playdough. Matching animal parts to flashcards. Making tracks in playdough. Animals clues...

Star shirt

2012-01-02T00:00:00.001-05:00

My daughter seems to be growing so fast. My mom passed on some of my little sisters old clothes for A, and I passed on A's old clothes to my other little sister :). It works well that A is sandwiched between two of my little sisters in age. Clothes keep moving around, and it keeps my apartment clutter free which is good since I have no room for storage. So among the clothes, we got this faded

Pomegranates

2012-01-01T13:35:00.000-05:00

Discovering the diversity and beauty in God's creation... SubhanAllah.

Glow Rocks

2012-01-01T13:26:00.000-05:00

This morning my daughter woke up with an idea for an experiment... A's hypothesis: If you colour a tissue with markers and wrap it around a rock, and place it in the fridge, then after some time, when you take the rock out of the fridge it will glow in the dark. A's conclusion: It didn't work, but maybe we had to leave it in the fridge a little longer. My little scientist then remembered how

Winter Ice Lantern

2011-12-31T17:46:00.001-05:00

We made an ice lantern today. We froze a layer of water in the bottom of a pyrex bowl and once it was frozen we added a paper cup in the middle, and used pennies to keep it down. Then we added water around the cup, and put it back in the freezer. Once it was all set, we tore out the paper cup, and put a candle in it's spot. We tried to bring our ice lantern outside but the cold winds kept

Vietnam Lapbook

2011-12-30T20:58:00.002-05:00

I recently attended a lapbooking workshop put together by a homeschooling mum. I have heard about lapbooking before on the internet but I never actually put one together with my daughter. After the workshop was over I went home and we got started right away on a Vietnam Lapbook. I chose to do our first lapbook on Vietnam since we recently visited there and got to meet our family there for the

Eid ul Fitr

2011-12-30T20:36:00.000-05:00

I meant to post this back in September but better late than never....Here are some things I made for Eid ul Fitr.. Loot Bags for my many siblings: Lots of good things in here- candy, crayons, markers, balloons, eid money, toys, stickers. Carriage Cake: Banner: (I used two bristol boards, and wallpaper from a sample wallpaper book my mom had for homeschooling) Cupcakes: My sister made these

Window Markers

2011-12-30T20:11:00.000-05:00

Finally putting our window markers to use :).

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

2011-12-30T19:28:00.000-05:00

At our school, the kindergarteners organized a bake sale. My daughter and I baked yummy chocolate chip cookies that unfortunately burned in our new oven (too hot). So Alhumdulillah, I came across the idea for chocolate covered pretzels on Chasing Cheerios, and decided that they were a quick last minute idea to bring. My daughter insisted we add sprinkles on top of the chocolate, so we did that,

Sketching: Snow Boot

2011-12-30T18:47:00.000-05:00

A. and I arrive at school 30 mins early to prepare for the day. My daughter keeps busy during this time by drawing and doodling in her notebook until all the children arrive. I have been really amazed by all her creative drawings, especially her still life drawings mashaAllah. What has really inspired me is her confidence in her drawing ability. I have pretty much shied away from my drawing ever

4 months

2011-12-20T21:05:00.000-05:00

Well I've been teaching for a little less than 4 months now. I think I finally feel settled in my daily routine and that I can make a small come back to blogging! I don't promise to blog as often as I used to but I hope to pop in now and then if anyone is still around ;). There are so many wonderful ideas floating around that I'd love to try and share.

Junior Kindergarten

2011-09-11T11:34:00.000-04:00

Bismillah, Assalamu Alaikum & Hello (source) Our first day of Junior Kindergarten starts tomorrow!! I've been hemming and hawing about whether or not to homeschool my daughter or put her in school. On one side I see the advantage of homeschooling since you are able to create a curriculum that suits your child and your values, and you are able to give your child undivided attention. But on the

Ramadan Magnets

2011-08-15T14:47:00.000-04:00

Juice can lids + cut up old fridge magnets + a hot glue gun + puffy fabric paint = These were pretty simple to make, I took recycled frozen juice can lids, hot glued some old magnets that I got off my fridge to the back of the lids, and then let the kids get to work decorating with puffy fabric paint :)

Pencil Box

2011-08-13T10:57:00.000-04:00

Today we went to Home Depot for the kids workshop and my daughter built this cute pencil box. The hammer she used was a little big for her but I think she did pretty well nailing in all the nails with a little help from me. Once we got home she painted her box and insisted on using the same colours as on the instructions.

Ramadan Pillow Case

2011-08-12T17:37:00.012-04:00

Just for fun my daughter and I decorated a pillow case with fabric paint. My daughter loves it and couldn't wait for it to dry.

Paper Garland Wands

2011-08-11T12:14:00.000-04:00

Today my daughter and her friends cut up pieces of paper to make fun garland wands to play with. Once all the pieces were cut I sewed them together and taped them to wands/pencils. Once they were made the kids also decided to colour the paper slips with pencil crayons to decorate them. I saw the idea for this craft here.

Moon and Star Cookies

2011-08-11T10:56:00.003-04:00

My daughter and I baked some yummy moon and star shaped sugar cookies the other day. Now that my daughter is a little older she was very involved in the whole process, and I didn't have to do much! :) What she liked the best was decorating the cookies with icing sugar. For the icing I made buttercream, and used colouring gel to dye it different colours. For the icing tips we used leaf (green

Ramadan Moon

2011-08-11T10:42:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday playgroup was at my house and we talked about the phases of the moon, and how one cycle represents one month in the Islamic calendar. (printable from Montessori for Everyone) The kids then worked on making their own "Under the Ramadan Moon" books from UmmAbdulBasir that featured the different phases of the moon, and activities on each page. Here is a dua I also put up on the

Moon Sighting Binoculars

2011-08-11T10:35:00.001-04:00

This is a craft we made before, and enjoyed making again :). A decorated her toilet paper tubes with markers and bingo dabbers. I hole punched two holes near the top, hot-glued the tubes together, and then tied on some string.

Ramadan Arts & Crafts Challenge: Week 1

2011-08-11T10:30:00.002-04:00

I am participating in a Ramadan Arts & Crafts Challenge hosted by Ummi's Circle. Hop on over to her blog to learn more details! The idea is to create art with your child everyday of Ramadan and write a post about it at the end of the week to be eligible to enter her contest. So here are some of the things we created this week: Day One: Ramadan Lantern, Brownie Cake Day Two: Ramadan Greeting

Pom poms and Pipecleaners!

2011-08-11T10:22:00.000-04:00

I went to visit my family this month and my mom prepared some crafts for the kids to do :). Here are some of the pom-pom creations they made: pom-pom cat pom-pom frog pom-pom headbandpom-pom flowers yarn octopus glasses :)

Iftar

2011-08-11T10:07:00.000-04:00

We learned about Iftar last week, we talked about how it's the time when we break our fast, and we learned the dua as well. My daughter has also been enjoying attending iftars at the mosque. Here are some of the activities we did: Iftar worksheet from TalibiddeenJr: Iftar placemat from UmmAbdulBasir:

Ramadan Unscramble

2011-08-03T20:32:00.000-04:00

My daughter practiced spelling and unscrambling the word Ramadan today using this printable from TalibiddeenJr here.