Reading Confetti

Announcing the Summer Virtual Book Club: Keep Reading This Summer!

2012-06-02T06:06:00.000-05:00

Some of my favorite kid bloggers have teamed up to host the Summer Virtual Book Club. Each month we'll choose a different author, read at least one of his or her books, and do an activity relating to the book. We hope you'll join us!! At the end of the month we'll have a link party where you can share your posts! There are more than 15 blogs participating, so not only will your blog get great exposure, but you'll also get lots of ideas to keep your kids excited about reading this summer!

Did you guess who this month's author is? Mo Willems! The link party will go live on June 18. I can't wait to see what you share!

Winner of the My Memories Software!

2012-06-01T07:53:00.000-05:00

Congratulations, Tanya M! There was no email connected to your profile, so email me at loriesk@msn.com within 48 hours to claim your prize! Thank you so much to those who entered!

Kid's Co-op: Fun with Ice!

2012-05-31T07:14:00.001-05:00

There were so many fun ideas linked up last week! Here are 3 fun ways to incorporate ice into your playtime this summer:

Slide Painting with Ice at Putti Prapancha

Glowing Ice at Train Up a Child

Ice Boats at Mama Mia's Heart 2 Heart

I can't wait to try these out with my kiddos this summer! If you were featured and would like a button, you can find it on my button page. I also pinned them to the Kid's Co-op Pinterest Board.

What have you been up to this week? Can't wait to see it!

Golf Tee Porcupine for Father's Day

2012-05-29T21:13:00.000-05:00

We used our painted golf tees to create this cute gift for Dad. What father wouldn't love to have this little creature on his desk or nightstand?

I cut a styrofoam egg in half and my 3 year old painted it.

After it dried, I glued on some google eyes and he stuck in our decorated golf tees.

Our wild porcupine:

Our domesticated porcupine:

This would be sweet packaged with the book Just Me and My Dad. Little Critter and his dad spend some special time together camping, fishing, and telling ghost stories. (I realize he's not technically a porcupine but close enough...)

If you wanted to do this for a fun book project and not a gift, A Porcupine Named Fluffy is an adorable book about how Fluffy the porcupine tries to live up to his name by making himself fluffy. He tries to become a cloud, soaks in a bath, and covers himself with whipped cream. Discouraged when none of these things work, he runs into a rhinoceros named Hippo. They both find this so hilarious, that they become friends and stop minding their names.

Painted Tees and Free Tags {Father's Day Gift Idea}

2012-05-28T07:47:00.000-05:00

This Father's Day gift idea was simple enough for my toddler to help with and I think my husband's going to love it! All you need are golf tees, paint, a sandwich bag, and one of the printables below.

We got multi-colored tees (because my daughter was the one who picked them out) but white or plain wood would do just as well.

Decorate them with some acrylic paint. Paint lots and lots of them! (We have another idea for them coming tomorrow!)

Let them dry. (I'd put them on a cooling rack, so they don't stick to the paper.)

You might want to spray them with a clear coat of something to seal them, but I didn't bother with that.

Put your tees into a standard size sandwich bag. Choose the printable Dad will like best (you can download it by clicking on the image.) Print it onto cardstock or heavy paper and cut it out. Fold it in half and tuck the top of the bag into the fold. Put a staple on each side to keep it in place. Voila! A cheap, cute Father's Day present made with lots of love.

(The printables were made with MyMemories software. You can still enter the giveaway to get your own!)

This would be really cute packaged with a special book to read together like Froggy's Day With Dad. For Father's Day, Froggy spends the day making his dad feels special. It begins with a breakfast of crunchy eggs and ends with a homemade present. In between they have lots of fun miniature golfing (or at least Froggy does!)

Linking to Made by Little Hands, The Gunny Sack, Tip Junkie, Tip Toe Thru Tuesday, Tuesday Tots, ABC and 123, Kid's Co-op

Taking Care of Our Teeth

2012-05-27T15:53:00.000-05:00

My son loved MAM pacifiers and bottles when he was small, so I was excited to try their line of oral care products for babies and toddlers. My daughter tried the MAM First Brush, designed for ages 6 months and up. She likes it because it's pink and I like it because it's small and easy for her to handle. I also like how soft the bristles are, but my favorite feature is the the pink bristles on the brush that indicate the right amount of toothpaste for little ones. Did you know you're supposed to introduce toothpaste by age 2? Both my kids like to put on their own toothpaste and of course want GLOBS of it on there, so this was a really nice visual for us.

This seemed like a good opportunity to read Bear's Loose Tooth. Bear has a loose tooth and all his animal friends assure him that it's perfectly natural. But they need to get that tooth out of there to make room for a new one to grow in! Progressively larger animals try to get the tooth out for Bear. When it's finally out, Bear gets a visit from a fairy who leaves him some blueberries in exchange for his tooth.

We also did a quick craft. I cut some yellow teeth from paper and my two year old "brushed" the tooth to make it white. We used with a mixture of shaving cream and glue and an old toothbrush instead of a paint brush.

*I received some free samples of MAM oral care products in exchange for an honest review. (You can find MAM's facebook page here.) Opinions are 100% mine.

Glow in the Dark Fireflies (& Kid's Co-op)

2012-05-24T07:15:00.000-05:00

We (mostly I) made fun glow in the dark fireflies to go with Eric Carle's The Very Lonely Firefly about a lonely firefly looking for other firefly friends. At first mistaking lanterns, headlights, the eyes of animals, and even fireworks for other fireflies, the lonely firefly eventually finds his friends.

The only materials we used were black paper, glow stick bracelets, and tape. I taped down two bracelets to form the head and body.

And then added two sets of wings.

I know the tape looks terrible but it doesn't show in the dark.

You could make a simple homemade neon sign by using the glow sticks to spell something out. Or how about some fireworks for Memorial Day?

What have you been up to this week? I'd love for you to share whatever kid-friendly projects you have and I'll pin some to the Kid's Co-op pinterest board!

Linking to Fun Sparks, Sun Scholars, TGIF Link Party, Read Explore Learn, Sharing Saturday, Show and Share Saturday, The Sunday Showcase, Link & Learn, Book Sharing Monday, Learning Laboratory

2 Free Printables or Make Your Own! (Giveaway)

2012-05-22T07:21:00.000-05:00

**This giveaway is closed but you can still use coupon code STMMMS59198 to get $10 off the purchase of the My Memories Suite and another $10 to use toward fun extras in the MyMemories store. Thanks to everybody who entered!**

When I was first contacted to do a my memories suite review and giveaway I was a little reluctant because I'm not much of a scrapbooker. I like to do picture collages, though, so I started checking out the reviews. It's rated #1 by Amazon and TopTen Reviews.

The more I learned about it, the more excited I was to try it. Of course, this software is great for scrapbookers but it's also wonderful for making calendars, printables, invitations, cupcake toppers... the possibilities are pretty much endless and it's so easy to use.

This printable is the first thing I made using the scrapbook software. It took me less than half an hour including downloading the software and learning where the different features were located.

I created it so my daughter could glue matching pom-poms to flowers. She loved this activity and happily glued pom poms for a long time. She didn't necessarily match the colors and sizes but I didn't push it. I was happy it kept her busy for so long. (You can click on the image above to print it.)

I also made one to work on number recognition with my son. (You can also click on this one to print.)

He used a medicine dropper to drop colored water onto each bullseye.

There are so many more things you can do with this! I really believe it's a great value. It's an even better deal if you use coupon code STMMMS59198 to get $10 off the purchase of the My Memories Suite and another $10 to use toward fun extras in the MyMemories store.

I'm also lucky enough to be able to give away a My Memories Suite ($40 value). To enter, do any or all of the following:

Visit MyMemories and come back and leave a comment telling me your favorite product.
Connect with MyMemories on their blog, twitter, or facebook page. Leave me a comment telling me you did.
Follow Reading Confetti. Leave me a comment letting me know how you follow.

I'll choose a random number on May 31. If I don't hear from the winner within 48 hours, I'll choose a new winner. Good luck and thanks so much for entering!

*I received a complimentary download of the My Memories Suite for the purpose of review. Opinions are 100% mine. This sweepstakes is not affiliated with facebook.

Linking to Homemaker on a Dime

Keeping Our Garden Organic with Whitney Farms

2012-05-21T03:50:00.001-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Whitney Farms for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I posted about planting our little fruit and vegetable garden, I mentioned that I thought it was a good learning experience for my kids. But I also think it's healthier to know how your produce is being grown. I try to buy organic fruits and vegetables when I can, so of course I also want our garden to be organic!

I plan to use Whitney Farms® plant foods to encourage big, beautiful vegetables. Their entire line of organic plant food and organic soil are 100% natural with no additives and nothing artificial. There's also little to no dust, no odor, and it's easy to apply. In addition, it contains beneficial microbes and provides everything your plants need to grow and thrive. After all our hard work, the last thing I'd want to do is cover our plants with the harsh chemicals in conventional plant food. These veggies will eventually be going in my children's mouths (I hope...)! (We have yet to see any carrots sprouting up but our strawberry and tomato plants are looking great and the kids check on them pretty regularly. However, the enthusiasm for watering only lasted through the first day or two.)

Whitney Farms is also offering a $3.00 coupon toward one of their products, so keeping your garden organic is easier than ever!

Happy Gardening!

Turtle Trouble aka A Tale of Two Wimps

2012-05-20T19:39:00.000-05:00

We woke up to this critter on the street outside our house on Saturday morning. We see them in our yard very occasionally but not often and never this big. We're not all that near to a lake.

A huge snapping turtle! She was at least 2 feet long, not including the tail.

We went out to investigate and then came back inside to have breakfast. By the time we'd finished eating she must have decided that she liked us and wanted to move into our garage. She'd moved from the street to right in front of the door.

Now that is a face only a mother could love.

The feeling was not mutual. We sent the kids in the back to play while my husband and I tried to point her back in the direction of the lake. Truth be told, we're both a little squeamish about stuff like this*. We tried changing her direction by spraying her with the garden house. This proved to be completely ineffective. We tried nudging her with a rake handle but we didn't want to hurt her and she just was not wanting to go. (Plus, honestly, we were scared of making her mad.) A Fed Ex man happened to drive by while this was going on. Seeing our complete incompetence all the way from the road, he took pity on us and stopped. He picked that sucker up with his bare hands, loaded it in the truck and offered to drop it in the nearest lake for us. Thank you, mysterious, turtle lovin' Fed Ex man. We owe you one.

Well, I had to take advantage of all the turtle excitement by checking out a snapping turtle book from the library. I got Snapping Turtles (The Library of Turtles and Tortoises) and while we didn't read it cover to cover, it was short and concise enough that we read most of it. Our favorite fact was that common snapping turtles eat fish, bugs, frogs, turtles, birds, and plants. We also found out that snapping turtles are unable to pull their heads entirely inside their shells.

It turned into a sort of impromptu turtle day for us. I drew some turtles on plastic caps from different beverage containers and the kids raced them across our kiddie pool using drinking straws to blow them around.

Then Drew fished for letter bottle caps with his bug net. The target was "T" caps, of course.

The pool water was filthy. They were jumping in and out of it all morning.

We did a paper plate turtle craft. Drew wanted sharp claws and teeth on his turtle but we actually learned that turtles don't have teeth, not even the snapping ones (although they can bite through a human hand. eek)

And finally, a turtle snack made from cucumber. They each only took one bite.

*this squeamishness is in no way a reflection on my husband's manliness. He's very manly. Let's forget I called him a wimp, okay?

Linking to The Southern Institute, Learning Laboratory, Tuesday Tots, Gluesticks, Bear Rabbit Bear, Kid's Co-op

Handprint Garden Markers & Kid's Co-op Link Party

2012-05-17T08:00:00.000-05:00

While I wasn't prepared to commit to a full fledged garden, I thought it would be a good experience for the kids to grow something this summer. We decided to use the flower boxes on our deck to plant some carrots, grape and cherry tomatoes, and strawberries. The kids helped me do the planting on Mother's Day.

I also made some garden markers from their handprints. These are made from craft sticks, craft foam, and hot glue so I don't know how long they'll last outside, but at least we'll get to enjoy them for a little while.

Our carrots were the only thing we planted from seed. I chose a short variety hoping they'll do okay in the container.

We already have a tiny strawberry!

We planted both grape and cherry tomatoes in an effort to get the kids to like at least one kind!

Of course, we also checked out some gardening books from the library:

My Garden by Kevin Henkes is about a little girl who helps with her mother's garden and imagines what a garden all her own would be like. Our favorites were the jelly bean bush and the strawberries that glowed in the dark.

The Carrot Seed (which we've also done a carrot treat for) was the perfect book for us! A little boy plants a carrot seed. Despite everyone telling him it won't grow, he takes good care of it and it grows into one huge carrot. I think we'll be happy if we get just one carrot, and it doesn't even have to be all that big!

My son really liked The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle and asked lots of questions about seeds and how things grow. We liked looking for the tiny seed on every page, watching it escape many dangers, and eventually seeing it grow into a huge flower.

What have you been up to this week? I'd love for you to link up any kid friendly projects! I'll pin some favorites to the Kid's Co-op Pinterest board!

Linking to Gluesticks, Bear Rabbit Bear, Link It Up Thursday, Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons, JDaniel4's Mom, Sharing Saturday, Family Ever After, Six Sisters' Stuff, A Pinteresting Party, Delicate Construction, What's in the Gunny Sack?, Tip Junkie, Tip-Toe Thru Tuesday, ABC and 123, Whimsy Wednesday, Garden Hop

Ice Letter Hunt-Preschool to Middle School

2012-05-15T20:26:00.000-05:00

There are so many ways to adapt this activity! I'll start with the activity for the youngest (which we did) and work from there.

Letter Recognition
I took some small foam letters (from the dollar store) and stuck them to paper with double-sided tape. I made a copy of the paper and laminated it. You could skip this step by just writing the letters you're going to use on a piece of paper.

I froze those same letters into colored ice. (The letters are made of foam and want to float so I filled the ice cube trays half full with the letter on top, froze them, then added more water and put them back in the freezer. This is also a good chance to make multi-colored ice cubes!)

We picked a hot day to play with the ice.

As the letters melted out of the ice, I encouraged them to match the letter they found to the paper. It started off well:

And then Drew lost patience:

But they played for a long time with this, especially Lainey, who loves playing with water.

Letter Sounds - hide small toys with the letters and have them match the beginning letter sound

Site Words - make a list of your child's sight words, or skip the paper part and see what words they can make from the letters you've hidden in the ice.

Spelling Words - hide all the letters they need to make the words on their spelling list (Since I'm not a huge fan of spelling lists, I feel compelled to offer you an alternative. Start with a prefix or suffix and hide different letters needed to make words with that prefix or suffix.)

Secret Message - Hide the letters that spell out a secret message, which the kids would have to unscramble after finding the letters. Obviously, you'd need to tailor it to your child. Beginning readers might just have one word, while older readers could unscramble longer messages. Some secret messages could be:

You are so cool.
Glad you didn't have a meltdown!
Playing with ice is snow joke.

You know you thought of some too...let's hear 'em in the comments.

Secret Message or Alphabet Line-Up (Groups)- Now I know the majority of middle schoolers think everything is lame. But they are generally more accepting if it's something that gets them out of regular class, especially those last few days of school. Take them outside, give each kid an ice cube and have them work together to unscramble a secret message. Or make the cubes with each letter of the alphabet (I've heard cold water makes cloudier ice cubes) and after everybody melts their letter out, have them line up in alphabetical order while you time them. (Just be sure to set some guidelines, know that somebody is going to get ice down their back, and hope like hell it's not you.)

This could also be a fun summer birthday party game. Divide them into teams and see who could melt their ice cubes and unscramble their message the fastest.

I'm telling ya, the possibilities are endless.

Linking to It's Playtime!, Kid's Co-op, Fun Sparks, Sun Scholars, The Sunday Showcase, Link & Learn

The 3 Little Pigs Retelling

2012-05-13T19:56:00.001-05:00

Once upon a time, there were three little pigs.

Made from pom-poms, google eyes, felt, craft foam, curling ribbon, pipe cleaners, and hot glue

It was time for the three little pigs to go out into the world and make their own homes. The first little pig was very lazy and built his home from straw because it was the easiest and fastest way.

base made from drinking straws taped together, with more straws set on top

The second little pig (who was only a little less lazy) built his home from sticks.

base made from craft sticks and hot glue, with toothpicks set on top

The third little pig was a hard worker. He built his home from bricks even though they were very heavy and it was hard to do.

made from Legos

One night, the Big Bad Wolf decided he was hungry and wanted some little pigs for dinner. (The Little Bad Wolf was not interested in participating and wanted to turn her wolf nose into a princess hat.)

Made from brown and white construction paper, tape, and stretchy ribbon

The Big Bad Wolf came to the first house. He said, "Little pig, Little Pig, Let me in!" and the pig (who did not want to be eaten for dinner) replied, "Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin." The wolf said, "Then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in!" and that's just what he did!

The little pig was so scared that he raced to his brother's house. Unfortunately, the Big Bad Wolf followed and demanded, "Little pigs! Little pigs! Let me in!" and they replied, "Not by the hairs of our chinny-chin-chins." The Big Bad Wolf was really getting hungry now and yelled, "Then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in!" and that's just what he did!

Those little pigs were terrified and raced to their brother's house. That Big Bad Wolf was hot on their curly tails and demanded once more, "Little pigs, little pigs, Let me in!" "Not by the hairs of our chinny-chin-chins." they said confidently, knowing they were in a sturdy brick house. The Big Bad Wolf was mad by now and said, "Then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in!" And he tried. And tried.

But he couldn't blow that brick house down. He eventually wandered off to have grilled cheese for dinner instead (at least in our version.)

Linking to Book Sharing Monday, Delicate Construction, Learning Laboratory, Today's Creative Blog, ABC and 123, Tuesday Tots, Tip-toe Thru Tuesday, Tip Junkie, Mom on Timeout, Kid's Co-op, Sun Scholars, It's Playtime!, Cheerios and Lattes

Handprint Mother's Day Card & Kid's Co-op Link Party

2012-05-10T07:29:00.000-05:00

What mama doesn't love a little handprint? We made some really simple and cute Mother's cards.

A handprint on the top and bottom of the card:

Fill in the letters with markers using each finger as the base of a letter:

That's it. In honor of Mom's Day, we checked out two mom books from the library. I ended up reading them myself because my preschoolers were not interested. I don't think these were intended for preschoolers anyway, but they are super cute for older children and moms.

M.O.M. (Mom Operating Manual) is a funny "owners manual" to keep your Mom running in tip-top shape. It's divided into chapters like Daily Care and Maintenance which tells us "Remarkably, despite their size, moms can sleep on as little as three inches of bed." and advises that if your mom is trying to lick the bottom of her coffee cup, you should insist that she take a nap. Troubleshooting describes what to do when a mom, who is normally the most adaptable human model on the planet, has reached her limit (often a direct result of overuse). One warning sign of a malfunctioning mom is "eerie silence" and the quick fix for that is to call Grandma and have her come get you for a while. Funny for moms and kids.

31 Uses For A Mom is a list of all the things moms are. My favorites are bank, thermometer, and page turner.

What have you been up to this week? I'd love for you to link up any kid friendly projects! I'll pin some favorites to the Kid's Co-op Pinterest board!

Linking to Crafty Moms Share, Read Explore Learn, Tatertots and Jello, Family Ever After

Disappearing Letters (Tracing Practice)

2012-05-08T20:44:00.000-05:00

Drew doesn't like to trace letters very often, at least not on paper, but he loves water so I knew he'd do this kind of tracing practice!

During nap time I went out to the patio and made some large letters and lines with chalk.

Then I filled some old condiment bottles with water.

When the kids woke up, I gave them each a bottle and told them to trace the lines with the water and make them disappear.

This was a big hit. I refilled those bottles many, many, many times. Drew started tracing the letters, then decided a broad sweeping motion across the entire patio would be more effective, and that of course led to drenching everyone and everything in sight.

Lainey went straight for trying to squirt her brother.

A nice thing about this activity that I didn't anticipate was the water made the chalk seem to disappear when it was wet, but once dry the letters were all still there so I didn't have to make them again.

After we did this activity, I saw a similar post at Train Up A Child. Be sure to check it out - she added a little something extra that I'm sure my kids would have loved!

Linking to Kids Get Crafty, It's Playtime!, Bear Rabbit Bear, Kid's Co-op, Fun Sparks, Outdoor Play Party, Sun Scholars, Living Life Intentionally, Sharing Saturday, The Sunday Showcase, I Can Teach My Child, Link & Learn

10 Ways, 10 Books, & A Link Party to Celebrate Children's Book Week!

2012-05-06T10:03:00.001-05:00

In honor of Children's Book Week (May 7-13), here's a simple list of things you can do to celebrate. You probably already do lots of these things, but in case you haven't, this would be a great week to:

1. Get every child their own library card.

2. Give a book as a gift.
3. Do a book swap with a friend, classmate, or neighbor.
4. Do a fun craft or activity to go along with a favorite book.
5. Dedicate a special bag for each child to take to the library.

6. Make a snack or meal related to a book (check out our book themed picnics!)
7. Put on a family play based on a favorite book.
8. Share one of your own childhood favorites.
9. Find a special place to read. We love blanket forts!

10. Read one of these books about books (there are 10 here, I'd love to hear any you'd like to add):

Wild About Books by Judy Sierra - In this fun rhyming story, librarian Molly McGrew takes her bookmobile to the library. After reading them a story, the animals are wild to read more. She finds the perfect match for each animal, even finding waterproof books for the otter who adores Harry Potter.
Five Little Monkeys Reading in Bed by Eileen Christelow - Mama has read 4 books to her 5 little monkeys and tells them lights out. They can't resist reading a few books though. During the sad book they weep so loudly that Mama has to come in. The scary book and the joke book follow, eliciting shrieks and laughter from the monkeys and prompting return visits from Mama. When the monkeys finally settle down to sleep strange noises coming from down the hall cause them to investigate. It's Mama reading the books!! The rhyming, predictable text, and adorable illustrations make this a perfect book for preschoolers.

The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco - Grandpa shows Mary Ellen how the sweetness inside books must be worked for by taking her on a hunt for honey. Perfect for children who are learning to read, especially those who might be struggling.
Miss Brooks Loves Books (And I Don't) by Barbara Bottner - Miss Brooks helps all the children in her class find books they love. Missy is a tough customer, though, and dismisses them all until Miss Brooks finds her a book she loves too.
Good Books, Good Times! by Lee Bennett Hopkins is a collection of great poems about the joys of reading. Two of my favorites are "Give Me a Book" and "I Met a Dragon Face to Face".

The Wednesday Surprise by Eve Bunting- As a birthday surprise for her father, Anna and her grandmother are working on their reading. The twist is that it is Anna who is teaching her grandmother to read! This is a book with a wonderful message about the joy of reading and learning from each other and is suitable for almost any age.
I Can Read With My Eyes Shut! by Dr. Suess- Read the reviews of this book on Amazon, and you'll get lots of opinions about the message in the book - it's about the importance of sight, it's meant to get children to memorize books, it's about how you see much more of the world with your eyes shut. My personal opinion is that it's about how reading opens up the world around you. Whatever the message, it's classic Suess with silly rhymes and fun illustrations.
Book! Book! Book! by Deborah Bruss - The farm animals are bored when the children go back to school so they head to town to find something to do. One by one they head into the library, but the librarian can't understand what they want. When it's the hen's turn she goes in and says, "Book! Book! Book!" and gets three books! The animals happily take the books back to the farm where they all entertained. Except the bullfrog who says, "Already...Read it! Read it!"

Lola at the Library by Anna McQuinn is a sweet book for preschoolers about a little girl and her mother going to the library. She has her own library card and gets to choose any book she wants.
Dog Loves Books by Louise Yates is about Dog who loves books so much that he opens his own bookstore. He's a little disappointed when nobody comes to buy books. Luckily, he has lots of books to keep him occupied and before he knows it, he has a customer!

I'd love for you to share your own book activity and find ideas for more! This link party is hosted by

Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas

Smiling Like Sunshine

Carrots Are Orange

Teach Preschool

Toddler Approved

(This was originally a guest post at Imagination Soup.)
Linking to Tip-Toe Thru Tuesday, Kid's Co-op

Outdoor Letter/Sound Matching & Kid's Co-op Link Party

2012-05-03T07:11:00.000-05:00

I LOVE this activity! You can do it BEFORE your child knows their letters or letter sounds!

All you need are:

Poster Punch Outs from Craft Project Ideas (available at Walmart)
Painters tape

The kit is intended for making posters, but of course I had other ideas. We chose to do this outdoors because it was such a nice day. The Poster Punch Out kit includes 150 cardstock letters and numbers so I emptied them into a bucket.

Drew and Lainey pointed out objects they wanted to label and I told them the beginning sound and gave them the letter to tape to the object!

We even did some numbers:

Simple, educational, and fun!

If your child already knows their letters and letter sounds, you could do a more traditional sound matching activity by giving each child a letter and having them find an object that starts with that letter.

*We received the Poster Punch Outs kit free from Craft Project Ideas as part of a Rainy Day Survival Kit. Opinions and ideas are 100% mine.

What have you been up to this week? I'd love for you to link up. I'll be sharing your ideas throughout the week on my facebook page and the Kid's Co-op Pinterest Board.

Linking to I Can Teach My Child, The Sunday Showcase, Tuesday Tots, ABC and 123

Picnic (Craft) Time!

2012-05-01T21:19:00.000-05:00

Continuing with our picnic theme, we did a little craft and read some more picnic books today. If you missed our 5 book inspired picnics, be sure to check it out!

One of our favorites was Piglet's Picnic. Piglet invites everyone to a picnic and asks them to bring their favorite food to share. Many animals join them like a mouse, two frogs, and a dog. When they get to the picnic, everyone begins to open their packages. (This part of the book is lift the flap and lots of fun to guess what each animal has brought.) Unfortunately, everyone has brought things that nobody else wants to eat! The mouse has brought stinky cheese, the dog has brought an old bone, and the frogs have brought BUGS! Piglet solves the problem by sharing her treat with everyone (cupcakes) and everyone gets to eat what they brought. The last page is a large fold out page showing all the happy animals sitting around the picnic blanket with food. This is a great book for preschoolers or younger elementary students. It's also good counting practice, although we didn't focus on that aspect of it for this activity.

Our craft for this book was to make our own picnic. We cut some pictures of our favorite picnic food from magazines. Not surprisingly, my two and three year olds cut out a lot of of treats and candy.

We glued the pictures to gingham scrapbook paper for our picnic blankets (but any paper would do).

After the glue was dry we added some fingerprint ants to our picnics. We just dipped a finger in paint, made three dots, and added details with a black marker.

Here's how my three year old's turned out:

I think he did a great job! My two year old and I worked "together" meaning she cut out two pictures, then bossed me, and then lost interest and I finished it:

Here are two other great books that would go well with this craft:

The Pig's Picnic has a cute message for preschoolers about being yourself. When Mr. Pig wants to ask Miss Pig to go on a picnic with him, all his friends encourage Mr. Pig to "improve" himself. The fox loans his tail, the lion loans his mane, and the zebra loans his stripes to Mr. Pig. Feeling very handsome, Mr. Pig arrives at Miss Pig's house only to have her tell him to go away!! She's thinks he's a monster! Mr. Pig quickly returns the borrowed items, shows up as himself, and happily goes on a picnic with Miss Pig.

Picnic is a wordless picture book (at least the version we read is) about a mouse family who heads off for a picnic. One little mouse gets lost and everybody is sad until they find her again. Beautiful illustrations in this book!

Linking to Red Ted Art, Kid's Co-op, Sharing Saturday, Delicate Construction

5 Book Inspired Picnics

2012-04-29T19:39:00.000-05:00

One of the best things about warmer weather is picnics! Here are 5 ideas for making your picnics book inspired!

1. Curious George

Any of the Curious George books would work well this picnic, but our favorite Curious George book is Curious George Visits the Zoo. George gets in a little trouble stealing some bananas from the zookeepers, but he saves the day when he uses them to rescue a little boy's balloon.

Peanut butter and banana sandwiches
Monkey munch (granola)
Yellow Hat cheese slices
Jungle juice (juice or flavored water)

2. The Rainbow Fish

The Rainbow Fish is the classic story about how the Rainbow Fish learns that being beautiful is not nearly as important as sharing with your friends. (See more activities for The Rainbow Fish)

Rainbow fruit kabobs
Wise octopus string cheese
Fish scales (crackers with a few wrapped in tin foil)
Sea water (any drink with fizz)

3. The Lorax

The Lorax by Dr. Suess is a classic and has a great message about ecology.

Lorax mustache sandwiches (pita or flatbread sandwiches)
Trees (broccoli)
Trufulla fruit (grapes)
Trufulla fruit juice (juice) or fresh butterfly milk (milk)

4. The 3 Little Pigs

Who doesn't love The Three Little Pigs???

Straw (Spaghetti salad-mix cold spaghetti with Italian dressing and fresh veggies)
Sticks (Carrot & celery sticks)
Bricks (Rice Krispie treats)
Wolf teeth (Bugles)
Pig punch (pink lemonade)

5. Hey, Little Ant

What's a picnic without ants? This ant themed picnic would be perfect with any ant book like Hey, Little Ant, Ant and Grasshopper, or Two Bad Ants.

Ants on a log (celery spread with peanut butter or cream cheese and sprinkled with raisins)
Ants made from hard boiled eggs and straws
Ant antennae (pretzel sticks)
Bug juice (fruit juice)

Check out our picnic craft too!

Linking to The Southern Institute, Delicate Construction, Mama Smiles, Tip Junkie, ABC and 123, Mom on Timeout, It's Playtime!, Kid's Co-op, Homeschooling on the Cheap, For the Kids Friday, Thrifty 101, Tatertots and Jello, Family Ever After, I Heart Nap Time, Come Together Kids

Painting with Water Balloons & Kid's Co-op Link Party 11

2012-04-26T08:31:00.000-05:00

After having so much fun with our fly swatter painting last week, we read another book illustrated by Stephen Gammell calledThe Burger and the Hot Dog. There are lots of funny food-related poems in this one!

Painting with water balloons was the perfect activity to replicate Gammell's splattery style. I used a plastic medicine syringe to put paint in some water balloons.

Filled them up (HATE this part - should've gotten better balloons.)

Drew loved it. Lainey's involvement was limited to squeezing a balloon and becoming irate when it popped in her hands.

Stomping the balloons:

The color was very light, I should have added more paint and less water. Either way, Drew wasn't much interested in the colors. He just liked breaking the balloons.

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How've you been getting messy this week? I'd love for you to link up. I'll be sharing your ideas throughout the week on my facebook page and the Kid's Co-op Pinterest Board.

Linking to Outdoor Play Party

Easy Carrot Treats

2012-04-25T20:44:00.000-05:00

One of the few veggies my kids will voluntarily eat is carrots (well, if you count my younger one sucking dip off them, that is), so I was excited when Toddler Approved announced their April book club selection was The Carrot Seed .

The Carrot Seed is a simple story about a little boy who plants a carrot seed. In spite of everyone telling him that the seed won't grow, he takes good care of his plant and is eventually rewarded with a great big carrot.

The obvious activity to do with this book is to plant carrot seeds and we will, as soon as I remember to buy some! In the meantime, we made some carrot treats. (I was inspired by the Santa Hat Bugles at Cookies & Cups.)

To make these you need-

Bugles
Orange candy melts (we actually mixed red and yellow because that's what we had)
Green licorice

Melt your candy and dip the Bugles in. Choose ones that haven't been flattened and try not to let the chocolate get inside the Bugle. Let them set.

Cut off a small piece of licorice. Snip the ends to look like carrot greens.

Tuck the licorice into the Bugle and there you have it!

Here's my 3 year old's (he preferred a little more "green".)

Here's how far my 2 year old got:

I realize that I have this a little backward- I should be making healthy food look fun and not making fun food look healthy, but you have to have a treat every now and then...

Be sure to check out all the cute ideas (and link up your own) at Toddler Approved!

Linking to Bear Rabbit Bear, Link It Up Thursday, Happy Hour Projects, I Heart Nap Time

3 Activities for Rainbow Fish

2012-04-24T19:35:00.000-05:00

The Rainbow Fish is a classic. In case you haven't read it, it's about the Rainbow Fish, the most beautiful fish in the ocean because of his shining silver scales. He's lonely, though, and eventually learns that while sharing his scales with the other fish makes him less beautiful, it also makes him more happy.

We did three activities to go along with this book (hope you've got yourself some tin foil!)
1. Craft
I drew a simple fish shape and the kids used tin foil scales, glitter glue, googly eyes, and markers to decorate them. They also used the bingo markers to make "bubbles".

2. Retelling
I attached some colored and tinfoil scales to clothespins and clipped them to my two little rainbow fish. We read the book and then I encouraged them to trade scales. (We have a way to go in the sharing department around here.) If you were doing this with a larger group of children, you could designate one child as the rainbow fish and only give the shiny scales to that child. As you read, the rainbow fish could give his or her shiny scales to the other fish.

3. Play
I cut four different colored fishes from construction paper and made one the rainbow fish by adding different colored scales. Each got six matching scales except the rainbow fish, which got tinfoil scales. (I laminated everything but you wouldn't have to.)

I put a small piece of magnetic tape to the back of each scale and taped the fish to the refrigerator. Now the kids can either match the scales to the fish or distribute the shiny scales to each of the fish.

Linking to Kids Get Crafty, It's Playtime!, Kid's Co-op, 3 Boys and a Dog, Sun Scholars, Read Explore Learn, Crafty Moms Share, Link & Learn

5 Ways to I SPY

2012-04-22T20:22:00.000-05:00

We love the I Spy Books and there are lots of ways to incorporate the idea into fun activities. Here are just five of them:

1. Make your own I Spy Books. Choose a theme like colors, a holiday, or beginning letter sounds. Start gathering objects from around the house that fit your theme (or better yet, have the kids do it.) Take and print your pictures, write your clues, and bind them together for your own I Spy book! (There's a great tutorial over at Rookie Moms.)

If your children are younger, you could do an I Spy collage (aka junk collage). Gather odds and ends from around the house (cereal, dried pasta, magazine pictures, foam shapes and letters, google eyes...) and have your preschooler glue everything onto a piece of paper. Then they get to quiz you and see if you can find things.

2. I Spy Scavenger Hunt - Our local library has laminated cards with pictures of things for kids to find around the library. Drew enjoys this so much that I made my own version by taking pictures of things in the backyard and laminating them. This is great for preschoolers because there's no reading required and he can do it on his own. It's also great because it's active.

3. I Spy Discovery Bottles - We did a Christmas themed snow globe, but you could use any theme and any container.

4. My sister made these I Spy bags for the kids. There's a laminated picture attached of all the things they can find in the bag (including the letters in their names). There's a tutorial for similar ones at Skip to My Lou.

If you're like me and and your sewing skills are non-existent, I saw a great idea for filling plastic zip-lock bags with hair gel at Teach Preschool. Add some little toys and a laminated picture, and you've got a No-Sew I Spy bag (though it's probably not as travel friendly as the sewn version!)

5. Interactive Games- Scholastic has great I Spy games online. There's an interactive game to build your own I Spy picture, I Spy Bingo, I Spy Puzzler, I Spy Mystery Match and lots more!

How do you I Spy at your house?

Linking to The Southern Institute, Delicate Construction, ABC and 123, Tip-toe Thru Tuesday, Tuesday Tots, Mom on Timeout, Kid's Co-op, Fun Sparks, 733, Sun Scholars, Living Life Intentionally, The Sunday Showcase, I Can Teach My Child

Fly Swatter Painting & Kid's Co-op 10

2012-04-19T08:57:00.000-05:00

I had this great idea for painting with fly swatters. Then I saw that other people with other blogs also had this very same great idea (Deborah from Teach Preschool did a great one at The Imagination Tree.) The good news is that my kids don't read blogs, so it was new to them and they LOVED it.

What brought about this great (but apparently not very original) idea was the book Old Black Fly . Great rhyming text takes you through the alphabet as the fly lands on the crust of an Apple pie and makes the Baby cry. What we really love though, are Stephen Gammell's illustrations. Especially the one at the end when Old Black Fly is not going to be bothering anyone anymore, if you know what I mean.

To start I took a long roll of paper and put drops of paint ("flies") all along it.

We got ourselves ready.

Safety goggles from Target's dollar spot

Then we were ready to go!

Lots of messy fun. They wanted to do it over and over!

How've you been getting messy this week? I'd love for you to link up. I'll be sharing your ideas throughout the week on my facebook page and the Kid's Co-op Pinterest Board (being seen by over 285,000 followers is not too shabby!).
Linking to Sun Scholars, Read Explore Learn, Sharing Saturday, The Sunday Showcase, I Can Teach My Child

Preschool Physics & Having a Ball with Books

2012-04-17T19:52:00.000-05:00

I don't even know if the first part of that post title is accurate, but it sounds impressive, doesn't it? I do not have a very scientific mind. In fact, I taught sixth grade science for one year and the phrase my unfortunate students heard most often was, "I don't know, but I'll find out." (Then later I would ask one of the real science teachers.) I do vaguely recall something about observation and hypotheses being important and so (I figured) if I want my children to be more scientifically thinking than I am, we better start observing and hypothesising.

I gathered a few different sports balls. We have many, many, many more but I wanted to keep it manageable.

First, we tried to determine which balls would bounce the highest.

Then we guessed which would hit the ground first if we dropped them at the same time from the deck. Dropping them at the same time proved to be a challenge. And then Drew claimed that the ball he dropped "won", no matter which actually hit the ground first.

We moved onto sinking or floating. If Drew guessed wrong, he tried to correct the problem. He guessed the soccer ball would sink and here he is trying to figure out how to get it to the bottom of the bucket:

Finally, we tried to guess which ball would make the biggest splash. This was by far the favorite and went on for a long time.

I do not know if all this made us more scientific thinkers, but we did have fun. We also have a lot of related books:

In Watch Me Throw the Ball! by Mo Willems (author of the Pigeon books) Piggie teaches Elephant that throwing a ball is all about having fun.

The Basket Ball is about Lulu, a girl who loves basketball. When the boys won't let her join their team, she throws a basket ball, a ball to which all the best girl ball players are invited. This is more fitting for elementary than preschool. We love the illustrations (and the message) but some of the rhyming is a little clunky.

Big Kicks is about Biggie the Bear who is asked to fill in for the soccer team. Even though he's big, he knows nothing about playing soccer. He ends up accidentally winning the game and making a bunch of new friends. We did a soccer treat to go with this book back in the fall.

*After we did this activity, I saw a similar post at Science Sparks. She took a more scientific approach and recorded results for bouncing balls in a table. You should definitely check out that post too!

Linking to Fun Sparks, It's Playtime!, 733, Kid's Co-op, Sun Scholars, Thrifty Thursday, The Sunday Showcase, Link & Learn