JDaniel4's Mom

{Story Retelling} Finger Puppet Story Walking

2013-05-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

With Father's Day right around the corner, we pulled out the book That's My Daddy! out of the spring Tiger Tale Books collection I was sent to explore this week. It is a sweet book that shares the wonderful things that dads do for their children. They can reach high places, fix anything, are super strong, are not scared of the dark and so much more.

The book features animal dad displaying the many things that dad can do. The animals the illustrating chose for each attribute are really cute. A giraffe dad can reach high places. An owl dad isn't afraid of the dark. A woodpecker dad is able to fix anything.

Before or after reading this charming book, you may want to picture walk the book with them. There is humor and fun elements in almost every picture.

What did we do after reading That's My Daddy!?

Story Retelling- Finger Puppet Story Walking

Newly Painted Finger Puppets

I made finger puppets that represented most of the dads featured in the book by cutting them freehand out of cardboard from cereal boxes. These are a type of puppet that you stick your fingers through holes at the bottom of the puppet to make the puppet walk. Since seals don't walk on feet, I cut a hole flipper hole in his side for JDaniel to stick a finger through.

Finished Finger Puppets

As we retold the story, JDaniel was asked to select whichever puppet he wanted. The same puppet could tell the whole story or the puppet that matched a particular page could be used.

Seal Puppet with Flipper

He had fun selecting puppets to help him retell the story.

Mouse Finger Puppet

How did you explore books this week? If you have a post you would like to share, please link it up below. Once you have added your post, please visit at least three others.

Disclaimer: This post contains an affiliate link. I was given the book That's My Daddy! to review by Tiger Tale Books.

Four Children's Prayers for Their Fathers

2013-05-22T03:30:00.000-07:00

The end of the cul-de-sac on Shady Brook Lane were four houses. Each was the home of boy and his family. The boys spend hours playing together. Legos and bike riding were their favorite things to do. While it may have looked to their family's like they did was play and ride, they each spent time taking in what the other families were like.

Sometimes when they went inside after a day of play they would pray they had a different dad. Well, not a completely different dad. Maybe a dad that was just a little more like one of the other dads.

Jason

The boy that live in the white Cape Cod house just as you entered the cul-de-sac was name Jason. His dad worked as the chief mechanic at a big car repair center. He came home dirty and sometimes a little smelly. Jason's mom had to scrub his clothes to remove each day's grime before washing them.

Jason's Prayer

Dear God,

I love my dad. You know I do, but his hands are always a little stained when he comes home. Mom has to scrub his clothes each and everyday so the grease from the cars doesn't set into them.

Please God give him a new job. I would love for him to have a job that he would need to wear a suit too. Kevin's dad wears a suit and tie to work everyday. He never comes home dirty. Maybe you could give him a job like him.

Amen!

Kevin

Kevin lived is a house next door. It was two story house with black shutters. The house wasn't fancy or big. Kevin's mom had hope for years that would move to a bigger house, but Kevin's dad said they needed to save for the future. Kevin's dad had a job at big insurance company. He seemed to work all the time. Work kept him at the office late and he would come home and work some more.

Kevin's Prayer

Dear God,

My dad works so hard. He hardly seems to have time to sleep. I don't think he was able to come to many of my soccer games this spring. Sure wanted him to be there. He would have loved to see me make those goals.

Please God give him a job that doesn't take so much time. Jason's dad seems to be at home for dinner every night and he was at every soccer game. Maybe you could give him a job like his dad. Amen

Charlie

Charlie lived in a tan vinyl sided house with big window in the living room. They were perfect for looking out into the cul-de-sac to see who was coming home from work and who headed out with their family for dinner or to a park. Charlie's dad was in the Army and he had been away from almost six months so far. Charlie's knew his dad was in some place called Afghanistan. He talked to him through Skype on the computer, but it wasn't the same as having him home all the time.

Charlie's Prayer

Dear God

I miss my dad so much. He used to take me and my sister Rose to the park on Saturdays. Sometimes we would stop at McDonald's for lunch. It was wonderful. Just having him to ourselves. If we stopped at McDonald's, Dad would always get an extra large sweet tea for Mom. She loves sweet tea and Dad loved to surprise her with it.

Please God bring him home to us. I wish he could be home all the time like Joseph's dad. Joseph's dad is home all day long seven days a week. That would be so cool. When my dad comes home, can you have him be home all the time. Amen

Joseph

Joseph lived in the house just as you were living the cul-de-sac. The house's window's seemed to glisten in the sun. Joseph's dad washed them often. He also mowed the lawn regularly and sometimes headed over to Charlie's house to mow the lawn there. Joseph's dad tried to keep busy when he wasn't looking for a job. He had been hunting for a month or two and hadn't found anything yet. The extra family time and time to get caught up on things that had been left to do later had been wonderful that first month. Now he was starting to worry. Joseph could see the worried looks his parents shared. They tried to hide their concern from him, but he was old enough to sense something was worrying them.

Joseph's Prayer

Dear God

I love, love, love having my dad here to take them to the park and the library. We find the best books to check out. Some are a little violent. Mom wouldn't be excited about the books on tanks and war planes, but Dad seems to think they are okay.

My parents are worried though. They talk sometimes in whispers about dad's job hunt and how mom has to start hunting too. We need something called insurance I have heard mom say.

Please God give my dad a job like Charlie's dad, or Kevin's dad, or Jason's dad have. I know he could do just about any job you gave him. He just needs to have job.

Amen

The Boys' Prayers

Each of these boys loves their dads you can hear that in their prayers. Each of these boys sees something that he think could be changed. Each of the boys sees a dad that has what they think their dad needs and none of the boys realize that someone might what their dad to have.

What is most important is that each of these boys is that they realize they can lift their concerns in prayer! They may not get the prayer answered as they have requested it though. God may answer their prayer in his own time and way. They may not understand that.
The hearts and prayers of these boys are simple and come from pure hearts. I hope that you will take a few moments on before Father's Day to pray with your children for their dads.
They may surprise you with what they share in prayer. I bet Joseph, Kevin, Jason and Charlie's moms might have been a little surprised at what they child pray. (Well, maybe they wouldn't. Moms are pretty good at knowing what is on their children' hearts.)
This post in linked to Mrs. Matlock's Alphabe Thursday and Pour Your Heart Out on Things I Can't Say.

Teacher Appreciation Gift- Class Thank You Flower

2013-05-21T03:00:00.000-07:00

This past year I have been one of the room moms for JDaniel's class. Sometime during the winter one of the moms came to me and said she had a great time for the teacher appreciation gift. She had found it on Pinterest. While I was searching for the idea she had found, I came across a class thank you flower shared on Hillside Elementary Library The Hillside Elementary Library blog suggested flowers be given to each teacher in the school by her students. It would be hung on the the teacher's door. Each petal of the flower had a picture or a message written on it by one of the students in her class. I love this teacher appreciation gift of a class thank you flower and pinned it so I would not forget it.

Last week I sent home two flower petals with each student in JDaniel's preschool class. I asked each student's mom to help them decorate and place a message one petal for their teacher and her teaching assistant.

Yesterday I collected all the petals and put together the class thank you flowers. The teacher at Hillside Elementary had taped the petals of the flower in place. I wanted the teachers to be able to spread the petals out and fold them back in.

Each petal received a hole from a hole punch at one end. I then cut out two pink felt circles and cut small slits in their centers. Next I placed on pink felt circle on the the brad. After the circle was in place, I added the decorate petals from the class. Finally I added the other pink circle.

I did the same thing for both teacher's thank you flowers.

Why did I do it this way?

Felt Circles

Many of the students decorated or had messages that went the full length of the petal. By using felt instead of cardboard the teachers could lift up the circle to read the full message or take in the full picture.

Folding Flowers
I chose to have the flowers fold so the teachers would be able to store them easily. I wasn't sure how they would store a large flower.
Two Circles
Two felt circles were used to help the petals stay on the brad. I was worried over time the petals in the back might slip of the brad.

The teachers received their teacher appreciation gifts last night. Both loved their class thank you flowers. I watched as they read over some of the messages. They were really touched by them.

How do you remember your child's teacher or teachers at the end of the year?

Preschool Graduation Bento Lunch

2013-05-20T03:00:00.000-07:00

I honestly can't believe today is my son's preschool graduation day. His time in preschool has flown by. Seriously! It seems like only yesterday I registered him for preschool. A special day like today totally deserves a preschool graduation lunch.

Tonight he will be wearing a cap and gown along with his Sunday best. JDaniel has been quietly singing the songs for tonight is his room. I am not supposed to hear them until the event. He was given a special instructions to keep them as a surprise. I don't think they want all the mom's sobbing while they listen to them at home All the tears I have will have to stored up for tonight.

What was in his lunch?

JDaniel is still requesting cheese sandwiches for lunch. This cheese sandwich features a cap that I cut freehand. It took me a couple of attempts to get it right. I ended up filling up on cheese scraps while working on this project.

Meat is not one of his favorite lunch items lately. I rolled a single slice of turkey into a some what scroll like creation and slid it onto a graduation cap ring.

Watermelon and strawberries are not only favorite fruits of JDaniel's they add a burst of of color to the meal. This meal definitely needed some color. I found the cutest cat pick at a local 5 and 10 for him to use to pick up the fruit . He was the closest thing I could find to a preschooler graduating.

I will be posting some of his graduation pictures tonight on Instagram and Facebook if you what to see them.

How have you celebrate your chlidren's graduations?

Patriotic Foods for Kids

2013-05-18T02:30:00.001-07:00

The summer is filled with patriotic holidays. Memorial Day next week. Flag Day is on June 14th. Then there is the 4th of July in the middle of the summer. Finally there is Labor Day which is celebrate at summers end. I searched through the blog's archives to find patriotic food for kids that I have served. These meals, snacks and desserts may have originally been served on Memorial Day or 4th of July, but would be wonderful for any of the patriotic holidays I listed above.

Twisted Stripe Wrapped Hot Dog Meal

Pinwheel 4th of July Snack

Patriotic Ice Cream Sundae

Split Hot with Salads Meal

Fruit Flavored Watermelon Stars

Child Build Stars and Stripe Meal

Labor Day Star Themed Meal

Memorial Day Picnic Foods Meal

I hope you have found a patriotic food the kids in your life would love among the collection above. There are several more in the blog's archives. These are the ones I though you might like the best.

If you have a post or idea that you think would make a great patriotic food for kids, feel free to leave a link to it below. I am always looking for food ideas to add to my Food Creations board on Pinterest.

{Read.Explore.Learn} Reading Comprehension: Illustrating a Story

2013-05-16T19:19:00.002-07:00

This weeks JDaniel and I read the book Amelia Bedelia Helps Out. JDaniel loves the humorous way Amelia messes things up by not understanding that words have multiple meanings. I love her too. She turns 50 this year. (That means that people have been chuckling at her missteps for over half a century. ) It is her misunderstanding that I decided to focus on in this reading comprehension activity called illustrating a story.

JDaniel and I have read this story many many times in the past. Since we have been talking about gardening for the past few week, this book so needed to read again. A few of her mistakes are related to gardening. She weeds the garden by adding weeds. She stakes the bean by wrapping steaks around them. Amelia uses a duster to dust the potato bugs with bug powder.

She also does a number of other odd things thinking she is doing the right thing. You just have to love her and giggle at what she does that is part of the fun of reading her stories.

Illustrate a Story

Picture walking through a story means you flip through a story and look at the clues the pictures give as to what is happening in the story. Illustrate a story is the opposite of picture walking. During illustrate a story, a child flips through a book and looks for key concepts and pictures in a story they have already heard or read. They then draw them on a larger roll of paper in the order they happened in the story.

We looked through the story and picked four of the events that we wanted to draw. Both JDaniel and I worked on the drawings and we talked about what was happening in that part of the story.

Drawing Weeds

I drew the weeds and JDaniel added details to them. We talked about how they needed to be very big weeds just like the ones Amelia Bedelia had added to the garden.

Drawing Bean Plants and Steaks

It was so much fun to draw the bean plants and add pink steaks onto them. We don't eat steaks often at our house. JDaniel kept having to refer to the book to see what they looked like.

Dusting Potato Bugs

I tried drawing a potato bug like the one in the book and JDaniel told me it was not exciting. I didn't know that they were supposed to be exciting. He grabbed a gray crayon after drawing his own leaf and make one that was more exciting then mine.

Giving The Chickens Scraps

JDaniel seemed to have lost interest in drawing when we got to giving the chicken scraps of cloth. I started the chicken and he finished it. The feathers and feet are all his. I just love them.

When we finished, I had him walk me through the events of the story we had selected. I was really expecting to just talk about what had happened. JDaniel grabbed the book and looked through it to find each of the events. I love that he had us go through the book as we discussed it.

While his not yet reading, he has learned show that he comprehends what is being read to him. I think we will be illustrating a story again soon. As he does learn to read and write better, I will have him add keywords from the text to the pictures.

How did you explore books this week? If you have a post you would like to share, please link it up below. Once you have added your post, please visit at least three others.

Disclaimer: This post contains an affiliate link.

{Learning Activities} 19 Ways To Use A Zigzag Learning Maze

2013-05-15T13:07:00.002-07:00

Sometimes you sit down and plan an activity you will be doing with your children. You brainstorm what you will do during the activity along with alternative ways you can use it. There are other times you just grab a roll of tape and see what you can make with it. That is just what happened with this zigzag learning maze. When I sat on the floor with roll of tape I had no idea what the maze would look like and no idea of how we would use it.

Boy, have we found wonderful ways to use this zigzag learning maze! Actually we found 19 ways to use this zigzag learning maze.

Here are some ways we have used the walkway we created:

Movement Activities

We started by simply walking up and down the center of the pathway by placing one foot in front of the other. JDaniel doesn’t usually walk this so it took at little practice.

Walking the pathway backwards was even more of a challenge. When you are looking, back your feet can sometimes step off the path without meaning too.

Trying to walk on the tape down one side of the pathway and back on the other side took a little bit of concentration.

Jumping from one side of the path to the other was easy in areas where the pathway was narrow, but was harder in the wide areas.

Challenging a partner to move down the path in a certain way was a lot of fun. Skipping, hopping, galloping, sliding, and tiptoeing down the path were each offered up as challenges.

Timing which of us could move down the path the fastest and the slowest was also fun. Walking in slow motion inspires one to move the rest of your body in slow motion too. That can bring on a lot of giggles and stifled laughs.

Throwing a beanbag into a particular corner selected by an opponent can be quite challenging.

Pretend Play

The edge of the pathway can be lined with block shaped buildings or cardboard boxes from the recycling bin.

Toy cars can race through the maze pushed from behind by people ready to get the checkered flag.

Balls can be rolled through the pathway like pinballs zinging and pinging through a maze.

The pathway can become a waterway for bathtub boats. The corners and dead ends can be inlets off a mighty river.

Learning Activities

Numbers can put in the corners by a child in ascending order.

Once number cards have been put in place, a child could walk to each number and clap that number of times.

Sight words can be placed along the path. In order to pick up the card the word on the card would need to be read.

Colored pom poms could be spread along the path to be picked up with chopsticks. Before the pom pom was picked up, the child would have to tell you the color of the pom pom or the answer to a learning question.

Two players could take turns rolling a die to see how many steps they could take down the path.

Books could be used to fill up all the space on the pathway and they would then be counted.

The pathway could be the home to a giant concentration game. The cards could be spread out along the path. Children could walk up and down the path looking for matches.

Washcloths could be used to fill in the path. They could then be counted to find the area of the path.

What are some other ways we could learning using the zigzag pathway?

This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock's blog.

Creating a Summer Bucket List with the SITS Girls

2013-05-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

I am visiting with the SITS Girls today sharing how to make a summer bucket list for your family. The post looks at several things you might want to think about before putting your list together. Things like recipes you are dying to try, places you have been wanting to go to , free events in your area, and ways you can serve others.

I hope you will take a moment check out the post and leave it a comment. The comments on this post are turned off in the hopes that you will leave a comment there.

Father's Day Craft- Walking In My Father's Shoes

2013-05-14T03:00:00.000-07:00

Father's Day is such a wonderful day to celebrate. I wanted to create a Father's Day craft that would capture a memory and carry a message of how much JDaniel loves his dad. The idea I came up with was a craft I am calling Walking In My Father's Shoes.

When JDaniel was little he would put his little feet into him father's shoes and stomp or shuffle around the house. He had to stomp or shuffle. My husband's shoes were heavy and way to big for him. Yet he loved to slip his feet into them. There was something wonderful about putting on his dad shoes and trying to walk in them.

If JDaniel grew up to be like his father and chose to walk a path similar to him, I would be thrilled. They are very similar already due to DNA and life experience. Seeing JDaniel grow into even more of who his father is would be wonderful. (I am not saying he shouldn't be his own person. Just that his dad has wonderful qualities.)

How did we make it?

We painted the bottom of an old pair of my husband's sneakers with blue paint and carefully placed the shoe onto paper. We had to pressed the sole of the shoe from the inside to make as deep a print as he could. Rocking the shoe back and forth seemed to help.
After the shoe print dried, I painted the bottom of JDaniel's foot green. Then I helped him place his footprint on the paper.
The next step will be to print out the words Some Day I Want To Walk In Your Shoes on a larger piece of paper and put a frame around it. We haven't done that yet so, I made a mock up on PicMonkey of what it will look like.

This simple Father's Day craft would be so easy for you to put together. I bet you have child that loves to walk in his father's shoes.

Father's Day Breakfast- Cereal Tie

2013-05-13T03:00:00.000-07:00

I know it was just Mother's Day yesterday and Father's Day isn't for awhile, but I have been trying to come up with a special Father's Day breakfast. Last year JDaniel was taught how to make me a special breakfast and I thought dad would like one too.

When I think of Father's Day, I think of neckties. I am not sure why. My husband only wears one to church. I tried to put together breakfast cereal so it would like like a tie in a shallow bowl. I thought he could just add a little milk to the bowl and have cereal for breakfast.

After putting it together, I asked my husband what he thought and he said I needed to tell him what it was first. It looked obviously to me. Apparently my husband didn't. When I asked him why he didn't see a tie, he said it was because the tie wasn't long enough. Well, I don't think I can make a long tie in a shallow bowl. Maybe a platter would work, but then milk couldn't be added to it.

What do you think? When you look at the image in the plate above,pic do you see a tie?
If you don't see a tie, what do you think I can to fix it?

{Children's Book Week} 18 Favorite Books and Activities

2013-05-12T06:58:00.000-07:00

This is the beginning of Children's Book Week. I thought I would share with you twenty of the books we have shared in Read.Explore.Learn. posts. If you click on the name of the book below, it will take you to the book explorations that JDaniel and I did for each post.

How Did That Get in My Lunchbox?

How Rocket Learned to Read

Eating the Alphabet (This post will go live on Friday.)

Gilbert the Goldfish Wants a Pet

Fox in the Dark

Little Owl's Night

Ten Apples

Rosie Sprout's Time to Shine

What are your favorite children's books? Please share them with me in the comments.

If you have post about about your favorite book or books with activities, please share in the link up below.

{Kids Activities} 10 Fun Flower Posts

2013-05-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day always makes me think of flowers. I think it is because my husband has always given me flowers for Mother's Day. Here are some wonderful links to flower themed snack, meals, learning activities and crafts.

Three Child Friendly Spring Salads Upcycled Flower Craft {Mother's Day Craft} How to Make Paper Flowers JDaniel's Flowers and a Mother's Day Quote Paper Circle Flowers Tissue Paper Dandelions Counting Flowers in Your Neighborhood Paper Plate Sunflowers Signs of Spring Bento Lunch Tangram Rose Snack
I hope you find a flower post that you love and decide to try at home.
Here is 1 more! That makes 11 fun flower posts!
Sunflower Learning Activities and Crafts

{Dig Into Reading} Gus Grows a Plant- Read.Explore.Learn.

2013-05-10T05:14:00.000-07:00

We read the story called Gus Grows a Plant this week for Read.Explore.Learn. It is a wonderful book easy reader that walks children through the process Gus goes through to grow a sunflower. In very simple text the story explains what plants need to grow, grow and grow. JDaniel's class went a field trip to Uncle Bruce's farm on Monday and got to plant a sunflower seed. It is just in the watering stage so, I decided to focus on some learning activities that had a sunflower theme. What did we do to explore this book? Crafting a Sunflower

We made a construction paper sunflower and attached it to a cardboard tube with pipe cleaner. Then we wrapped green tissue around an old instant tea container. It was supposed to look like grass. The tissue paper was secured with yellow curling ribbon.

Sunflower Vowel Sound Match

JDaniel was asked to sort through paper sunflower seeds into a short a and long a piles. I read the words to JDaniel and he told me what side of the flower to put them in.

Sunflower Counting

We worked with a set of sunflowers with numbers on their centers. This activity focused on the numbers 10-20. JDaniel has the most trouble with some of the numbers in this range.

This were simply made by printing out sunflower clip art and placing numbers on them.

How did you explore books this week? If you have a post you would like to share, please link it up below. Once you have added your post, please visit at least three others.

{Gardens for Kids} Spider Web Trellis

2013-05-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

The idea for this spider web trellis came after reading about a spider web trellis in a book. The book suggested using bamboo poles and twine to create a web. They went on to recommend that you plant a sweet pea plant to weave into the web.

JDaniel and I headed to Home Depot with the book in head to see if we could find the materials and plant that we would need to create one for our backyard. We found out very quickly that they didn't carry bamboo poles and that the customer service lady wouldn't recommend using them. They will fall apart so quickly she said.

What did she recommend that we use instead? She pointed us to the metal poles that farmers used to make barbwire fences. "The poles have hooks built into them to attach the twine to," she said. They were perfect. The fence poles are solid, won't rot, and have those wonderful hooks.

The book then recommended a sweet pea plant, but they didn't have any pea plants for sale. We then looked for the next thing on the list twine. They had a gardening twine so, we grabbed a roll of that before heading to the register.

JDaniel and I must have visited three other nurseries and didn't find sweet pea plants. One recommend I buy seeds instead, but they didn't carry them. The second nursery suggested we try Martin's Nursery in the next town so, we headed there.

They didn't have them, but I wonderful lady there suggested that we try the Trumpet Creeper. "It will grow up to thirty feet long and will be flexible enough to weave," she told us. When I told her about the twine I was going to use, she told us that was a bad idea. "It is going to rot," she said. She recommended that we use a heavy string.

It was decided that we stopped by to pick up the string later in the day. JDaniel was ready to stop looking for spider web trellis materials by then.

When we did have everything we needed, we headed into the backyard with our fence poles, string, Trumpet Creeper, and a variety of gardening tools ( large shovels, small hand shovels, scissors, a hammer and more)

The first thing we did was to plant the poles. It was a little tricky. We found that after about eight inches of dirt we have clay. Digging through the clay was a workout. JDaniel and I both took turns trying to dig through it.

Once we got the hole as deep as we could, I put a folded washcloth over the top of the pole and hammered it in. While I did that, JDaniel started the hole for the second post.

After I did a happy dance to celebrate the fact that poles were in place, we planted the Trumpet Creeper. Digging the hole for the plant was so much easier than it had been for the poles.

Creating the web was JDaniel's favorite part. I had to show him how to pull the string tightly around the poles and attach it to the hooks at the beginning. He got the hang of it very quickly. He took the string across around and down over and over again.

The web got bigger and more elaborate as he wove it. The string went over and across our plant a couple of times. When I felt like we had a enough string on the web, I tied it off tightly and we both stepped back to look at it. We were both very pleased with it.

Would you like to make one of your on?

Here is our supply list:

two green metal fence posts
a roll of heavy white string or twine
a plant that will creep or spread like a vine

We created our spider web trellis a few weeks ago. The plant has grown and we have been able to weave it through the web both vertically and horizontally. It is fun to decide what direction to guide plant into next.

This is a wonderful garden for kids. I hope you will try to make a spider web trellis too.

This post is link to Dig Into Gardening. ( A gardening link up for kids that I am co-hosting)

Yes, Mom is Part of My Name

2013-05-08T03:30:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I went to a blogging conference and a lady from a PR agency shared that she wished that so many bloggers didn't put the word mom in their blog names. "You will not always be a mom," she said. She encouraged people that hadn't started a blog to avoid using it. "You are so much more and will write about so much more than being a mom," she announced.

I sat quietly confused by what she had said. What I write about on this blog may shift over time and JDaniel may decided he doesn't want me to write about him as much. He will grow up. He has already become a "big boy". He informed he of that just yesterday. What won't change it that I will always be his mom! I will always write with a mother's heart, because that is one of my favorite parts of my heart to share.

I know she meant I am so much more than a mom, but the way she said it hit me wrong. Writing about motherhood is a gift that not all women get the opportunity to write about. Being JDaniel4's Mom is one of my most favorite things to be. When I go to pick him up at school or the little boy from next door comes over, the name I am called is JDaniel4's Mom. I am not Mrs. Smith most of the time. (Though I love being Mrs. Smith just as much.) I am not a blogger or a writer or a teacher or a sister or daughter. (Though I am those things.) Maybe it is because I spent so much of my life as a single school teacher and maiden aunt. I was called teacher or aunt or by my first name or Miss and my last name for decades. It hasn't been that long that I have gotten to be called mom.

When I hear that deepening voice call out for mom or mama or mommy, my heart jumps. It is my favorite thing to hear JDaniel say. Well, I love to hear him say dad too.
Giving my blog the name JDaniel4's may not have been the best branding or SEO choice. I really didn't think about that when I started my blog. I just gave it my favorite name so, despite what others think I will with pride respond to the name JDaniel4's Mom.

Celebrating the differences of Motherhood is brought to you by our host, Inspired by Family, and by the following contributing blogs: Kids Activities Blog, Rainbows within Reach, Powerful Mothering,Fun-a-Day, The Pleasantest Thing, Royal Baloo, Laly Mom, True Aim, Kids Stuff World, Milk and Cuddles, The Imagination Laboratory, Smiling like Sunshine, Teach Beside Me, JDaniel 4’s Mom,Kitchen Counter Chronicle, My Nearest and Dearest, Nate and Rachel, Two-Daloo, Mamas Like Me,Mama Miss, One Mommy. This post is also linked up to Mrs. Matlock's Alphabe Thursday and Things I Can't Say's Pour Your Heart Out.

{Dig Into Gardening} M.O.M. Herb Container Garden and Link Up

2013-05-07T02:30:00.000-07:00

When I head that the theme for summer reading was going to be Dig Into Reading, I was thrilled. There are so many wonderful concepts and activities that children dig into. The first concept or theme that came to mind was gardening. My family loves to work on our yard and to garden. I also noticed that a large number of members of the Kid Blogger Network seem to like gardening too!

Why not give you a place to see and explore the wonderful posts that I was discovering I thought? Five amazing Kid Blogger Network bloggers agreed to join me in sharing not only their gardening themed posts, but those created by others.

You will find that some of the posts are actually about gardening projects while others are activities, crafts, food creations and more that have a garden theme. If you have posts with a gardening theme for children I hope you will link them up below and add the Dig Into Gardening badge.

Mother's Day Plant Idea - M.O.M. Herb Container Garden

I looked through a variety of gardening books for children to find ideas for a Mother's Day project to do with JDaniel. In the book Roots, Shoot, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together With Children. I found a garden that featured plants that matched a child's initials. This is a great idea, but didn't fit a Mother's Day theme. Why not look for herbs or flowers that matched the letters in mom I thought.

JDaniel and I headed to our local garden center to look over herbs or flowers that started with the letters in the word Mom.

We didn't need to look for very look before we found the area to dig into. The herb section actually had five or six kinds of mint sitting right next to a pot of oregano that was right next to some marjoram. It was like they were placed right there just for us.

It was hard to decide which variety of mint to select. We ended up having to decide between an orange mint and a chocolate mint.

We ended heading home with a pot of marjoram, a pot of oregano and a pot of chocolate mint. The car smelled wonderful.

Unfortunately it rained all weekend. We ended up having to transplant our herbs in the garage. I am so glad we had the space in the garage to work on this project.

Thankfully the sun came out yesterday! I quickly added our plant markers made from stakes our lawn maintenance service leaves behind and signs displaying what each plant is. Some pretty ribbon left over from making our plastic jug jellyfish was also added to made the planter a little bit dressier. Then I rushed our container out into the sun to take pictures.

Here are the hosts of this Link Up:

JDaniel4's Mom Royal Baloo The Usual Mayhem Growing Book by Book Frogs,Snails & Puppy Dog Tails Edventures with Kids

{Cute Snack Idea} Tangram Rose

2013-05-06T03:19:00.002-07:00

A Mother's Day Breakfast Sundae JDaniel made for me is featured today on B-Inspired Mama today. Please take a moment to show that post some love.

Dig Into Gardening a link up I am co-hosting starts tomorrow so, I have had gardening on my mind a lot lately. JDaniel recently found a set of tangrams in his nightstand I started wondering if we could create a flower with with them.

After searching on the internet, I found a worksheet that showed the rose above. With the worksheet as my guide, I cut out the pieces for this rose.

It was hard to see that it was suppose to be a rose when it was just pieces of bread pieced together. I dug out my set of food markers to create the outline of each shape. The rose really jumps out with the outlining.

While I was working on this food creation, JDaniel announced he was going to make his own food creation. His creation would have microorganism meal.He headed to the fridge and searched through the shelves the way he has seen me do millions of times.

It was such fun to watch him put his lunch together. It has a giant cell orange, spinach leaf photo plankton, microscopic being on a bagel, and applesauce filled with microorganisms.When he finished, he grabbed his magnifying glass and he took this picture.

JDaniel loved creating and describing this lunch to me. When he finished, I told him we would have to eat the lunch. He said, "Fine! It is filled with favorites.

I love that the loved his lunch. I love how the rose turned out too.

Do your children enjoying making there own lunches?

Dig Into Reading- 22 Garden Themed Books

2013-05-04T03:21:00.002-07:00

The summer reading theme for 2013 is Dig into Reading. There are so many wonderful books that feature a dig into it theme. I thought I would share some wonderful books for children that you can dig into that feature a gardening theme.

Compost Stew This is a wonderful book that shares just what can go into a compost bin.
From the Garden: A Counting Book About Growing Food (Know Your Numbers)
Counting from 1 to 12 while gathering items from the garden is such fun.

The Curious Garden
A little boy seeks to make his community garden more beautiful and over time his garden spreads through out his city.

Flower Garden
A little girl and her dad create a wonderful window box garden for the little girl's mom. What a wondeful surpise.

Counting in the Garden
This is a counting book with wonderful pictures. As you go through the book a new items is added to the garden.

Growing Vegetable Soup [GROWING VEGETABLE SOUP
All the steps need to grow, harvest and prepare vegetable soup are described in this book.

Green Thumbs: A Kid's Activity Guide to Indoor and Outdoor Gardening (A Kid's Guide series)
This book contains wonderful ways to get children into gardening.

How Groundhog's Garden Grew
Instead of borrowing vegetables from other animal's gardens Groundhog learns how to grow his own.

Jack's Garden
This book follows the rhythm of "This Is the House That Jack Built" only this time Jack plants a garden.

One Bean
This book walks you through how a bean grows.

Planting a Rainbow
This wonderfully illustrated book walks you through how many different plants grow. It shares not only planting seeds ,but seedlings and bulbs too.

Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden
The photos and text in this book walk children through the life cycle of a pumpkin.

Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together with Children
How to create 12 themed gardens is shared in this book.

Sunflower House
The life cycle of a sunflower are shared in this wonderful story. Oh! A wonderful sunflower house is shared too.

The Carrot Seed Board Book
Everyone in this book tell a little boy his carrot seed won't grow. He tends to it and it does grow.

The Gardener
This terrific story features a roof garden created by a little girl visiting family in the big city.

And the Good Brown Earth
A grandmother and her grandson both choose to garden their own way and end up with a wonderful garden.

Zinnia's Flower Garden

Zinnia and her animals create a wonderful place for flowers to bloom.

The Ultimate Step-by-Step Kids' First Gardening Book: Fantastic Gardening Ideas for 5--12 Year Olds, from Growing Fruit and Vegetables and Having Fun with Flowers to Indoor and Outdoor Nature Projects

150 garden projects for children 5-12 are shared in this book. What a wide variety of ideas displayed for you to try!

Whose Garden Is It?

Every person, animal, and insect that lives and works on the garden in this book things it is theirs. The impact each has on the garden is shared in such a wonderful way in this book.

Rosie Sprout's Time to Shine

Rosie has a gift of helping others and tending to not only her bean plant at school, but another student's. I love this book.

Now that I have shared some wonderful books I want to let you know that I will be share some wonderful activities that feature a gardening theme on Tuesday, May 7th. Several members of the Kid Blogger Network will be hosting a link up called Dig Into Gardening. I hope you will stop by to link up your own activities then. I am also hoping you will visit my other co-hosts to see how they are exploring the theme.

During the summer I will be co-hosting a Dig Into link up on the first Tuesday of the month.

Here are themes and the date the link ups will go up:

May 7th- Dig into Gardening

June 4th- Dig into Exploring Underground Animals

July 2nd- Dig into Construction Sites

August 6th- Dig into Treasure Hunting

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

{Spring Craft} Spring Weather Headband- Read.Explore.Learn.

2013-05-03T02:30:00.000-07:00

I usually come up with activities for JDaniel and I to do after we read a book. This week we did it backwards. We made the spring craft that displays spring weather in a headband first and then explored our home library for a book that talked about spring time.

It's Spring Time! by Elizabeth Bennett is a wonderful board book I was sent to review by Tiger Tales. It is a book that shares signs of spring with wonderful pictures and fun rhymes. Seeds being planted, baby birds cheeping for their mom or dad, spring cleaning, spring rain are all shared in this book.

JDaniel loves the glitter that appears on every page spread. It really makes the pictures glitter. I really love the precious animals. They are so adorable.

How did we make our headband?

Colored strips of paper were glued together. The colored strips are arranged in the order they appear in a rainbow.

Then we stapled the rainbow to a light blue construction paper hand hand. We tried the rainbow tucked into the band and on the outside the band. Outside looked a whole lot better.

What do you need to have a rainbow? We brainstormed and decided that you needed sunshine, clouds, and raindrops. We sorted through our construction paper to find the right colors for these weather elements and then cut them out.

Once we had all the small weather elements, we blued them onto the headband. The original was to glue the clouds, raindrops, and suns in pattern around the headband. They needed up being randomly place on the band.

There must be something about five year old and hats or headbands. JDaniel really loved wearing this one. After making a spring weather headhand in April, we may have to come up with a different themed headband for May.

How did you explore books this week? If you have a post you would like to share, please link it up below. Once you have added your post, please visit at least three others.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

100 Days of Play: Party Blower Frog Catching Game

2013-05-02T02:30:00.000-07:00

Watching frogs stretch out their tongues to reach out and grab a passing fly is fascinating. We have really only seen it shown in slow motion in an animal documentary at my house. It was so cool to see that the frog's tongue is able to keep the fly attached to it as the frog drew it in to enjoy. Trying to catch flies with a party blower in a frog catching game may be the closest thing we have to experiencing the thrill the frog has as he gathers his lunch.

How did we put together this activity?

Flies were printed off the internet and cut out. We used construction paper because it is heavy enough to support a Velcro spot and light enough to be lifted off the kitchen table by the party blower frog tongue. .

We took round sticky backed Velcro spots and put the side that has the hook on it on to the end of party blowers facing down.

Then we took round sticky backed Velcro spots with loops and placed them on the flies.

Directions for Catching the Flies

We found that it is easiest to blow the party blower horizontal to the table. There are many other ways to try. You could try to blow the party blower straight down. You may try to blow the blower at an angle down onto the fly. You may come up with a way that we didn't even think off.

Hints:
The technique you choose may depend on the height of the person blowing, the height of the table and the length of the blower. It really was fun to try several different ways to connect the blower with the fly.

If you blow your blower to hard, the breeze coming from the blower can send the flies skidding across the table.

Once you find the technique that works for you, you may want to see how fast you can capture the group of flies on the table. We found that some flies cooperated in being a part of the party blower frog catching game and others frustrated us.

This post was part of the 100 Days of Play Blog Hop co-hosted by Sun Scholars and Life at the Zoo, it combines 100 blogs from around the world and 100 days to showcase simple ways to play.

100 Days of Play Blog Hop

Sharing simple ideas on how to connect with your children through play!

New ideas shared each day from 4/1 – 7/20.

Parenting- You Teach Me

2013-04-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

There are times that activities that I create end being learning times for me. Let me give you an example. Just last week I sat down with JDaniel to work on a letter and sound recognition game.(It was featured in last week's Read.Explore.Learn. post.) JDaniel was supposed to place the uppercase letter, the lowercase letter, and a picture that began with that letter all together on one pea pod.

The activity started as it was planned. He sorted through the letters and pictures. It was not a surprise to see that he wanted to start with the letter D. It is the letter that starts one of his names. I was pleased to hear him say each of the letters as he sorted through them. He also said seemed to recognize all the pictures. This was going to be simple for him I thought.

All of a sudden he decided to change the activity. He placed an uppercase G down on a circle on a pea pod. Then he put down a frog. "Frog doesn't begin with g," I told him. "I know, but it ends with it," he replied. The activity was to match uppercase letters and beginning sounds so, this didn't follow the rule of the activity. It wasn't suppose to find the ending sounds in uppercase and lowercase letters.

I have to admit I was a little frustrated. Doing this was going to leave a lowercase g without a circle to be placed on. I was sure he knew that frog began with the letter f. This just didn't make sense.

Something inside me told me to wait and see what he did next. The teacher inside me tried to contradict this feeling and have him do the activity correctly. Thankfully the teacher voice quieted down and I waited for him to teach me. There was something going on inside that wonderful brain of his and I was just dying to know what it was.

"You know frog begins with a f," he declared. "We don't have the letter f on any of the circles," I told him. "I can make one," JDaniel stated. He got up from the kitchen table and went to the junk drawer in the kitchen hutch. Things in the drawer were pushed around and searched under things until he found what he wanted.

"I can make the letter f," he said wheedling an orange marker. "There aren't any extra circles," I told him. With that he took the circle with the elephant on it and turned it over. On the back of the circle he wrote an uppercase F.

He was so proud of himself. He had come up with his own way to do the activity. I was proud of him for a number of reasons. He had taken a simple activity and made it a little more challenging. He had taken ownership of the activity. He had seen there was a problem and he had created a solution.

While I was proud of him and enjoyed seeing how he worked out this activity, I had to wonder what his kindergarten teacher would do if he did this next year.

Technically he destroyed the game and he didn't demonstrate that he could match the upper and lowercase letters. He prevented himself from completely using all the circles by making the elephant circle an F. The teacher won't be able to check off that he knew the skills this activity was assessing if he didn't complete the whole activity correctly

If I hadn't been sitting beside him to hear he talk about what he was thinking, I might not have known what he was doing. Next year he will be in a class filled with children. The teacher may give him a worksheet or activity to do and she may only have few minutes to assess his understanding.

We will probably talking about the importance of following the directions the teachers given him at school. I will need to be working on making sure he doesn't complete every activity with an out of the box solution at home.

He is a really smart boy and I worry that someone who doesn't know him well would miss that he really does understand what to do. JDaniel is just one of those kids that thinks out of the box a lot. His mind is a fascinating place. Things are thought through, analyzed synthesized and developed into new and original thoughts all of the time.

I am hoping and praying that he teacher next year will look at some of his work and ask him to teach her what he is thinking. You teach me is a parenting question I am going to be asking him again and again.

This post is linked to Pour Out Your Heart.

Oh! I have a guest post on Crayon Freckles called Making a Newspaper Nest. If you have moment I would love for you to stop by, read it and leave a comment.

White Cloud Diapers and My Local Food Bank

2013-04-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of White Cloud Diapers.When I was asked to write a post about Walmart's White Cloud Diapers, I thought I won't qualify for this Walmart campaign. JDaniel has been potty trained for ages. Then I remembered our last visit to the Gold Strip Relief Center to drop off food at their food bank. When we were heading out the door, one of the food bank volunteers asked if we had any leftover daytime or overnight diapers at our house. "We could really use them," he said.

I need to remember that I thought to myself as we walked down the path that leads to the parking lot. I usually remember everything, but I must have developed "Mom Brain" overload or something. No sooner did we get in the car than I forgot. Well, I forget until just this weekend when I finally remembered.

When it comes to diapers, I am really picky. There are some brands that just didn't work for us. Name brands and store brands alike gave me conniptions. My son was a normal size, but not all of them fit him right. Many leaked like crazy. Others were hard to open to check if they were wet. Yes, I know you can using masking tape to retape them, but that meant searching for the tape. Still others were really expensive and you know how frugal I am.

The White Cloud diapers were designed to help address many of my diaper issues.

Here is how:

They have a special absorbent core to keep babies dry. They have features found in many luxury or more expensive diapers.

They have a stretchy side feature. I think this would have helped diapers fit my son's form better.

A quilted inner liner can be found in the diaper. JDaniel would have been so comfortable with this feature. Most of the diapers we tried had a soft liner, but not all of them.

White Cloud diapers are also hypoallergenic and fragrance-free, designed to meet the needs of babies’ sensitive skin. So many of JDaniel's friends had allergic reactions to the diapers there moms tried.

White Cloud diapers have a wetness indicator that changes color letting parents know a diaper is wet. That saves parents from opening up diapers when they don't need to.

Finally they are not expensive. Walmart has them priced so that parents on a budget or trying to stay on one can afford them.

I think the parents and grandparents stopping by the food bank that need diapers will be so pleased that I selected White Cloud Diapers for them. The food bank volunteers will be so happy they have them to give out.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of #WhiteCloudDiapers.

Lunch Recipe for Kids- Painted Milk Sandwich

2013-04-29T02:30:00.000-07:00

I like to give him a sandwich that is special in some way. Just plain bread is nice, but it isn't fun. Sometimes we don't have the correct cookie cutter to cut out a shape for JDaniel's lunch. I love it when I do, but many times we just don't. Then I try to figure out if shape can be cut out with a knife or kitchen scissors. If it has simple lines and edges, I can usually freehand cut it out. When I don't have the right cutter and it is going to be to difficult to cut out, a third option is available. JDaniel can have a painted milk sandwich.

The recipe for paint milk is really easy. You just add a little food coloring to about 1/4 cup of milk. Keep adding food coloring until the mixture is the color you like. If it gets too dark, just add a little milk.

A simple paint brush can be used to paint the mixture onto the bread. We have a couple paint brushes that I have set aside just for painting bread. I think I got a bunch of them for less than $1. They are run through the dishwasher before we use them.

Here is a lunch JDaniel just had last week with a painted milk sandwich:

It contains a ham, cheese and spinach sandwich that has an umbrella painted onto it. The top of the umbrella was painted first. A dash or two more of blue dye was added to the milk to make the mixture darker and than I painted on the umbrella's handle.

JDaniel also had applesauce with flower sprinkles and rainbow colored goldfish. The bento lunch had a April showers bring rainbows and flowers theme.

How do you make your children's lunches special?

{Kids Crafts} 14 Ways for Kids to Paint

2013-04-28T04:00:00.000-07:00

With days filled with rain this spring or days filled with pollen at my house, children are looking for activities to do inside.I looked through my archives of post last week and found 14 different ways to paint. Painting is a wonderfully fun way to spend time when you have to be indoors. I hope you will find a new way on this list that your children will really enjoy.

Finger Painting on Newspaper JDaniel had finished a painting project and really wanted to paint the newspaper I had put out to protect the table. Many kids like the feel of paint on and between their fingers. My son really loved it.
Finger Tips Painting on a Photo Mat Last year for Mother's Day JDaniel decorated the photo mat to put around a Mother's Day poem with his finger tips. I love how it turned out and so did my mom.
Torch Painting with Spoon We talked about the Olympic torch while working on activities with an Olympic theme last summer. I wrapped a paper towel around a kitchen spoon and JDaniel dipped it in paint. Tapping the spoon in paint made a fun design on the paper towel.

Corn Cob Painting Last fall JDaniel used a plastic corn cob to paint in a turkey roasting pan. The kernels from the cob made a wonderful pattern on paper.
Salt and Glue Painting

The mixture of salt, paint, and glue creates a sparkling effect on the surface you paint on. We used salt glue paint to decorate snowflake cutout last summer.
Magnet and Paperclip Painting A simple magnet (large enough for a child to hold) moved under a paper plate with paint blobs and a paperclip on it make a wonderful painting experience.

Ice Cube Rainbow Painting Food colored ice cubes are such fun to paint with in a turkey roasting pan. They wonderful for indoor play or water table time in the summer.
Hand Print Painting

We have done a number of hand print painting projects. My favorite is the one we made for a post called Legend of the Dogwood for Easter.

Salad Spinner Painting

When JDaniel was younger, this was his favorite way to paint. I loved how mess free it was. You simply place loose paint and a piece card stock into the bottom of a salad spinner. Children just push down on the spinning element for as long as they like. When it is done, the card stock is filled with swirls of paint.
Cotton Ball Painting

Cotton balls can be dipped into painted and dapped onto paper. The cotton creates a really fun texture on the paper or object you are painting.
Finger Painting with Pudding

JDaniel always loved to eat what was on his fingers when he was younger. Painting with pudding was a great and safe way for him to finger paint.
Painting with Tree Branches One of the beech trees in our backyard is forever dropping tree limbs. JDaniel and I decided to use them as paintbrushes in a post I wrote for the Kid's Activities Blog.

Cookie Cutter Stencil Painting Cookie cutters make great stencils for children to paint in. They just place the cookie cutter where they want it on the paper and swirl the paint brush inside the cooking cutter. We did just that in another post for the Kid's Activities Blog.

Chalk Paint Making JDaniel loved breaking up the chalk for this paint. It required a hammer and smashing.

There are millions of ways to paint with kids. I hope you will find that these 14 ways for kids to paint are ones your family will enjoy. Oh! I have over 100 ways to paints with kids pins on my Ways to Paint with Kids Pinterest board. I would love for you to stop by and check them out.

Rosie Sprout's Time to Shine- Read.Explore.Learn.

2013-04-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

JDaniel and I were browsing at the library last week when I noticed the book Rosie Sprout's Time to Shine sitting on top of the shelves. I have been wanting to start some spring planting projects with JDaniel so, I took it down and added it to our library pile. It is a wonderful book. The librarian that set it up on the shelf deserves my thanks!

Rosie isn't the star of her class at school. Violet is the star and everyone else in the class agreed that she was. Well, everyone except Rosie. She was tired of hearing everyone praise Violet including Violet. Yes, she did everything well, but enough was enough.

When everyone is asked to decorate a flower pot, Violet's is the sparkliest and Rosie contained a simple heart. Rosie and Violet are the first to have a sprout, but Violet shouts it out first. When Violets starts to be taller than Rosie's, she can't take it. Rosie has to push soil over top of it.

Rosie regrets her mistake when she finds out that Violet has the chicken pox and won't be able to tend to her plant. That is when Rosie really shines. She is the best she can be and she is the best friend she can be. Rosie sings and tends to both her plant and Violet's.

You will have to read the book to see what happens when Violet gets back from being sick. Just know that this really is Rosie's time to shine.

What did we do to explore this book?

Number Recognition

JDaniel and I worked with homemade pea pods. Some of the peas had number represented by numbers. Some peas had numbers represented by dots. Some of the peas had numbers represented by triangles.

The goal was to put the three peas that belonged together in the same pod.

Letter and Sound Match

This pea pod letter and sound matching activity is just like the math pea pod activity. The goals was to find the three peas that belonged in the same pod together.

When pod had its three pods, it should have an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter, and an object that began with that letter. I was really pleased to see that JDaniel could match each of the letters quickly and find the right picture for each pod. He did change the game a little, but I will share that story with you next Wednesday. It deserves its on post.

Decorating a Flower Pot

JDaniel was asked to paint whatever he wanted to on this flower pot. Rosie was told to decorate her post anyway that she wanted to and I told JDaniel the same thing.

He really wasn't into painting the afternoon I set out the paint and flower pot. He painted the jellyfishes bell shape and didn't want to paint the tentacles. I talked him in to doing some if I did some too.

I wasn't surprised that this pot as a jellyfish them. We read books about them everyday. You may remember I even made him a jellyfish mobile for his room.

How did you explore books this week? If you have a post you would like to share, please link it up below. Once you have added your post, please visit at least three others.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.