{Theme of the Week} Pirates

  • August 4, 2010 8:46 AM

 

DETAILS:  1.  Grandma’s Birthday Gift: Handmade Pirate Tic-Tac-Toe   2.  BOOK Love!   3.  Pirate WORD Ship (Chalk Board Spray Paint + Colorful Chalk)  4.  Family Art Time

 

[Shoe Box Treasure Chest & Paper Bag Map]

  

 

 

 

 1.  Word Wallet (Find the PIRATE words hidden inside.  Make a sentence!)    2.  Snack Map (The skulls are made from marshmallows and Swiss cheese.)   3.  Library Book Fun   4.  Arrrr Word Ship

 

ARRRRR Ideas & Inspiration

1.  FANTASTIC Free Pirate Printables from Cottage Industrialist {HERE}

2.  An EXTRODINARY Artful Pirate Series {HERE}

3.  Texas Reading Club: Ahoy Matey!

4.   My favorite Pirate ship EVER:  Ann Wood

 

{Theme of the Week} Robots

  • July 19, 2010 7:27 PM

Ready

Set

ROBOT!

Sweet Robots

 

Clockwise: 1.)  Our Love-Bot (Mini Cereal Box + Tin Foil + Painted Clothes Pins)   2.)  Matchbox Robot Treats   3.) Emerson-Bot   4.) Robot Suit (Dollar Store Car Sun Reflector Thingy)   5. Garage Sale Robot

 

Magnetic Robot Puzzle

 

Clockwise: 1.) Robot Count!  (Change out dominoes for different math problems!)   2.) Robot Down   3.  Mason-Bot   4.  Chalk-Bot

 

And of course we had to bring out ROBBY the COUNTING ROBOT from 09.  {Here}

Have a wonderful day!

{Theme of the Week} Goldfish

  • June 30, 2010 5:06 PM

[Tuna Fish Sandwhich with Blue Berry Bubbles]

 

[Emerson eating lunch, like a fish, in the kiddie pool.]

 

Sixteen Ways to have fun with GOLDFISH (from left to right):

1.     Serve Goldfish Soup

2.     Try Goldfish Kiddie-Pool Math (fish for numbers then put them in order)

3.     Make Tuna Fish (or PB & J) Sandwiches in the Shape of a Fish

4.     Buy A Feeder Fish for Every Member of Your Family 

5.     Check Out Goldfish Books from the Library and Make Rock GOLDFISH Pets 

6.     Write and Illustrate a FIVE FACTS about GOLDFISH Mini Book

7.     Freehand Foam Goldfish for Math Time

8.     Make a Colorful Goldfish Crackers Collage

9.     Paint a Fish Bowl and Add Artistic Touches like Seaweed and Gravel

10.   Make a Unique Home for Your New Pet

11.   Have Toddlers Engage in a Fun Color Match with Goldfish Crackers

12.   Go Fishin

13.   Dunk Orange Swedish Fish into Blue Jello

14.   Do a Family Fish Day

15.   Eat in a Goldfish BOWL (AKA Kiddie Pool)

16.   Use Goldfish for Addition and Subtraction Practice

and all time favorite of the week– Make an OUTDOOR GOLDFISH BOWL—–

Enjoy these beautiful summer days friends… 

Need More THEME-TIME fun?  Check out:

A CHOCOLATE DAY by Princess and a Frog Blog!   They even had a chocolate BATH, chocolate pancakes and chocolate play dough– come on how cool is that???!!

The MOUSE PICNIC by Little Page Turners!  This left me with a huge SMILE.  Her theme this week is MICE with irrisitble projects and activities!

{Theme of the Week} Veggies

  • June 18, 2010 11:49 AM

So long ice cream…

hello VEGETABLES!

Talk about a hard sell. :)

 [Painting With Veggies]

Asparagus: Paint Brush!  Corn on the Cob: Paint Roller!  Peppers and Brussels Sprouts: Stamp and Smear!

 

Photographs of veggies cards for “Go Fish” and ”Memory Match”

 

[Create a Veggie Plate]

 

 

 

—————————————————–Veggie Details————————————————————-

Fun & Games:Go Veg (Go Fish), Name that Veggie and The Vegetable Memory Game

Imaginative Play: Farmers Market & Seed Scientist

Book Love:The Vegetable We Eat (Gibbons), The Life and Times of Corn (Micucci), The Monster Who Ate my Peas (Schnitzlein), I Will Never Eat a Tomato (Child), Grow it and Cook it (DK Press) 

Art Time: Painting with Vegetables, Design Your Own Seed Packet and Plate Veggie Art  

Creative Learning: Seed Packet Spelling, Spelling Blocks & Vegetable Classification  

Just for fun: Peas and Carrots Cake & Peas & Carrots SMASH!

——————————————————————————————————————————————

 [Emerson by the Veggie Table]

 

 

[Seed Packet Spelling]

Kiddos can use seeds to spell the vegetable name.  Seeds are mini circle punches and packets are letter sized envelopes cut in half and mounted on cardstalk.   

 

Left to Right (above):1) Blaise Visits the Farmers Market 2) Word Block Spelling found via Make Learning Fun  3) Painting! 4) Corn Ready for Color  5) Emerson Taking a Picture of our ‘Peas & Carrots’ Before SMASH! 

 

 [Veggie Classification Game in an Altoid Tin]

 

 Now go eat some VEGGIES! Or at least play with them.

 

 

 

{Theme of the Week} Ice Cream

  • June 4, 2010 5:11 PM

Mr. Scoops Ice Cream Truck (minus the wheels— they kept falling off!)

 

Ice Cream Garden

 

Guess the FLAVOR!  What’s your favorite?

 

 

 

Math Scoops

 

What’s the flavor of the day?  Ice cream container holds “scoops” of FUN!     

 

 

Here’s to some sticky — lickin’ days and nights!!!

Summer here we come! 

 

 

{Theme of the Week} Clowns

  • May 18, 2010 6:36 PM

 

 

[Toliet Paper Roll Puppets]

 

 

[The Clown Pool]

 

 

 [The Clown Shop]

 

CLOWNING AROUND

Fun & Games: The Clown Pool, Clown Dress Up Box, Face Painting & Pie Smash

Book Love: Funny Bones: Comedy Games and Activities for Kids by Lisa Bany-Winters, Be a Clown: Techniques from a Real Clown by Ron Burgess and Heather Barberie, Big Top Recipes for Little People:  The Big Apple Circus Official Cookbook for Kids and Would-Be Clowns by Favorite Recipes Press

Art Time: Clown Faces, Toliet Paper Roll Puppets & Clown Face Paper Plates

Learning Fun: The Clown Shop (Math & Shapes), Clown Shape Up & Clown Color Discovery

 

 

 Pie Smash Tomorrow!

xoxoxoxoxo!

 

{Theme of the Week} Happy Faces: Part II

  • May 4, 2010 8:41 AM

Completely inspired by the CARD DROPS at Kind Over Matter 

we went around town to leave happy little surprises for kids and adults alike!

 

The idea behind “card drops” is to leave something for a stranger—

 it could be a kind word, encouraging note or exact change to buy treat. 

 

 

“The smallest act of kindness

is worth more than the

greatest intention.”

—Oscar Wilde—

Every act of kindness counts.

Don’t have time for a card drop?  YOU could—

Buy a candy bar for a gas station attendant.  

Hold a door.

Drop a dollar in the toy isle (on purpose!).

Leave change in a soda machine. 

 Ready. Set. GO spread the kindness friends!!!!!!!

xoxoxoxoxo

P.S. Link for the complete HAPPY FACE THEME— here!

 

   

{Theme of the Week} Happy Faces: Part I

  • May 1, 2010 1:14 PM

AKA SMILEY FACES!

 

 

 

Fun & Games

The Happy Hunt:  For the inside version I used circle punches and mini yellow stickers to hide smiley faces throughout the house.  For the outside hunt the kiddos searched for the smiley faces (yellow paper plates) at the park and while we were out cruising around town.   Object of this game is to count your blessings.  Every time you find a smile you find something in your day that made you happy.   

Happy Face Math: Addition with a twist— adding smiley faces using dotty “bingo” markers.  

Smiley Face Pop: What’s in the balloon?  A note to hop, jump or skip perhaps?

Happy Match: The classic preschool favorite using recycled CDs and clothes pins.  How fast can you match letters or numbers on the smiley face?

Feelings Game: Feeling happy is great… but it’s okay to feel shocked, shy and mad too. We decorated an old ‘laughing cow’ cheese container to hold faces and feeling cards. 

The Happy Board: Gratefulness = Happiness!  So much to be thankful for and to be happy about!!  God, Ice-cream trucks, baseball, family… This was our visual celebration of all the things that make us HAPPY!

Happy Grass: Funnel + Sugar + a Touch of Food Coloring = Happy Grass  I was a wee bit worried that the grass might not like the sugar, but apparently grass likes sugar as much as we do!

 

 

I could do happy faces all year long.  Yellow smiling faces really do make me smile.  

 

So next time you are feeling a little blue… just put a little smile on…  anywhere, everywhere… 

Happy Faces Part II HERE!!   

Have a nice day. :)