Thanksgiving and Fall Finds

I found this really cute idea for at the table on Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving coloring page
I took this from http://www2.fiskars.com/Activities/Crafting/Articles/Thanksgiving-Kids-Table :
Here is the secion on making the pilgrim hat

"And speaking of pilgrim hats, here's another one serving as both décor and storage. Filled with crayons and paired with a kraft paper covered table, this might be the first time you allow your kids to draw on the table. Cut out the bottom of a black paper cup (or just paint a regular white one like I've done her) with a Craft Knife. Hot glue upside-down to a painted chipboard circle traced using the Circles Shape Template. The Circle Shape Template gets a lot of use in my house. I actually have two! I love having a sturdy set of circles on-hand all on one flat sheet to cut or trace." And then you have a cute storage container for Crayons!! LOVE THIS!!

 

Advent additions.

I found this picture of a snowman, and thought it would go so great with our advent calendar for the history of the snowman.
Frosty the Snowman Picture

Christmas!!!

Christmas is right around the corner and I am already planning my FAVORITE time of the year. I am thinking of new traditions to start with my kiddos and one of them will be an advent calendar.
I am going to buy a box with 25 drawers like this one:
Box of Treasures on Amazon

It is about 30.00 plus shipping but it is wooden and (hopefully) will last a long long time.
Im going to paint it and decorate it...
Here is my list of things to do each day

12/1 The legend of the Candy Cane- read story and color a picture
12/2 Listen to a Christmas Cd (a kids one) and do a craft
12/3 Go to the mall and register for the Angel Tree- Talk about how the season is about giving to others.
12/4 Watch a Christmas movie and drink Cider
12/5 Bake cookies with Gigi
12/6 Play a Christmas game
12/7 Go to the bookstore and buy a new Christmas book
12/8 Christmas character finger puppet theater (http://www.theidearoom.net/2010/12/christmas-character-finger-puppets.html)
12/9 Make and send out homemade cards and pictures to all family but especially the ones who wont be with us for Christmas.
12/10 Santa’s Ranch with Gigi, Pop, Mama, and Dada (http://santasranch.net/)
12/11 Fiesta Texas Christmas day (maybe just for mama and dada this year and if we dont get passes again I will change this one for next year )
12/12 Make a gingerbread house
12/13 Wear new Pj’s to bed
12/14 Make snowman soup (hot cocoa with marshmallows)
12/15 The legend of the Snowman- read story and color a picture
12/16 Make/Order a pizza and watch a Christmas movie
12/17 Drive through Nativity
12/18 Drive around and see Christmas lights
12/19 Poinsettia craft with Gigi
12/20 Make Great Great Great Aunt Bessie Toffee
12/21 Nativity finger puppet theater (http://www.theidearoom.net/2010/12/nativity-finger-puppets.html)
12/22 Make reindeer food (http://www.theidearoom.net/2009/12/magic-reindeer-food.html)
12/23 Read The Nativity Story- color pictures
12/24 Read The Night Before Christmas – color pictures
12/25 Color Christmas Pictures (afternoon/early evening)

Hope this helps some if you are planning your own advent calendar!

Pumpkin Picture Painting

We painted pumpkins today. I printed off some pumpkin pictures and we sponge painted them. The kiddos had a blast.

We also read a poem called Pumpkins, Pumpkins On The Vine, it is a poem about the cycle of pumpkins. I made cards with pictures that went along with the poem.
I cant find the poem to post the link so here it is:

Pumpkins, pumpkins on the vine

Pumpkins, pumpkins on the vine
Growing big - taking their time.

First a seed, then a sprout.
Then, a vine that spreads way out.

Next, two flowers on the vine.
Then, two pumpkins in a line.

Two green pumpkins on the ground
At last turn orange, big and round.

Now it's time to harvest them.
I pick them up and cut their stems.

Two big pumpkins just for me.
What will I do? Wait and see!

One I'll make into a pie
Then eat with whipped cream, that's no lie!

The other one, I'll scoop it out.
Then, turn it slowly all about

And when I find the perfect place
I'll carve out holes to make a face.

Pumpkins, pumpkins on the vine.
Are worth the wait, every time.

Here is the link for the cycle pictures I used for the flash cards: http://www.kizclub.com/Topics/food/pumpkin.pdf
I added the jack-o-lantern one.

We had a nice little snack I called fall sticks. Graham crackers with a LITTLE frosting and a few fall sprinkles.



Fall

I know!! I know!! Its been a while since I last posted. We have been busy, we went to the beach for a week and played in the water and sand. The babies LOVED IT!! We went to the aquarium and had so much fun looking at all the fish!
Now its time for Fall. I made our fall tree today.
I bought this tree limb wall decal from a place on ebay, I left the swinging kids off and the birds off.

I put the decal on poster board added some fall leaves and turned it into a tree.

 I think Im going to add "what I am thankful for" leaves later for thanksgiving. I am hoping the tape I used wont damage the decal and I can use it year round. If not I can just buy another one I guess.

I have been looking at this website today www.hubbardscupboard.org/ for ideas for the next few weeks with the Fall theme. I need to get back to doing something.I think alot of their fussyness is because they are bored.??? So back to the planning board.

Im Seeing Red!

We are starting to learn our colors. I have been reading that around 2 they start to learn shapes and colors mine are 16 months so here we go.

Here are some of the things we will be doing. I'll post more as we go.

Books and Foods as Learning Tools

• Vividly colored produce can be used as tools to learn color names. Green lettuce, red strawberries, yellow bananas, purple grapes, oranges and blueberries are examples of colorful foods children recognize. You may choose to feature a single color by reading aloud a book like Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham," then making a green-themed lunch with foods such as a green salad, celery, green grapes, green tortilla chips and guacamole. Choose a different color to feature another day.

Learning With Color Stations

• Set up tables around the room, with each table designating a color station. Place a sign on the front of the table with the name of one color. Place solid-colored items at the corresponding color stations. For example, a blue station might include a blue toy car, a pair of blue jeans, a bowl of blueberries and blue crayons. As the child visits the various stations, a teacher, parent or helper picks up each item on the table and says the color name.

Read more: Learning Colors for Kids | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/way_5272105_learning-colors-kids.html#ixzz1W3KG6ear

I had a few flash cards I just took the red ones out and put them on a board:

 We have lots of red pillows so I made a play area. I also found all their red toys and took everything else to the playroom.

 Im going to try with the coloring again, hopefully they wont just eat the crayons. :)

Magazine Playtime

While the babies took a nap I was going through a bunch of old magazines trying to clean up my guest room. Of course they woke up before I was done. :) So I brought them in with me so they could "help" We managed to completely rip apart about 5 magazines, and they had so much fun. Squealing and yelling the whole time.

 Addy helped me pick up all the sheet and put them in the trash.

Such an easy, cheap and fun way to teach cause and effect! :)

The Ocean. Part 1

This was the first day I started this adventure with my kids. It was a spur of the moment thing. While they were taking a nap I went around the house and found anything I could that had to do with the ocean, I printed off some pictures from the internet and colored them to hang on the wall. I took a sheet and hung it from the ceiling to act as the "ocean". I left this up for about a week. We are still learning how to color and not put the crayons in our mouths so I helped them out some. I had a DVD of an aquarium we watched, and lots of bath toys to play with.

I took a blue comfortor I had and put on the floor to play on.

The fish are made from foam I got at the Dollar Tree. it was a pretty good size pack.

The "waves" are made from ribbon so is the boat.

Caden playing in the ocean.