little learners lounge

Valentines for the Birds

2012-01-27T10:52:00.000-05:00

The other day (when there was still snow on the ground) we decided to make Valentines for the birds. I cut out hearts from some cardboard and Eva turned them into treats by spreading shortening on them and then sprinkling on bird seed.

We added some ribbon for hanging and then went out to decorate a tree with them.

Eva helped by sprinkling some of the extra seed around the tree for the birds (and squirrels).

Seeing as they disappeared from the tree that night, either we have some very hungry (and strong) birds or some other critters got a little treat. All that matters is there are a few less hungry animals in our neighborhood!

Snowflake Decor

2012-01-25T19:29:00.000-05:00

We haven't had much snow here this year so the other day we decided to make our own snow- snowflakes that is!

I folded coffee filters and then Eva took snips out of them in various places. Her favorite thing was cutting off the corners. We even broke out the hole punch and made a few snowflakes using them. After making a bunch I taped some yarn to them and we suspended them around our dining room window. Now we can have snow even when it's rainy or sunny outside.

Outdoor Play Every Day

2012-01-22T14:07:00.001-05:00

We have joined up with our friends at Greening Sam and Avery and pledged to get outside every day this year. The weather has definitely been working in our favor! The first half of January was extremely mild for us (especially since we live in the city that ranked number 2 in the nation for most snowfall each year!). Eva has been riding her tricycle and even having snack outside.

We knew we couldn't avoid the snow forever and now that it's here, we are still out playing! We've been taking hikes in our neighborhood park, sledding, and making tons of snow angels.

We even built a fire in our fire pit one night and toasted marshmallows by the light of the moon.

Want to join us in our pledge to get outside every day? Stop by Greening Sam and Avery (today Abbie is hosting a link-up if you have some outdoor fun to share) and let's play outside every day!

Eva is FOUR!!!!

2011-12-30T09:44:00.000-05:00

Time has been flying much too fast around here. The other night I kissed my sweet little 3 year old goodnight and in the morning I was awakened by a charming little 4 year old! She was thrilled to find that it had finally snowed, just intime for her birthday.

We celebrated Eva's special day with friends who were visiting from out of town and one set of grandparents. (Her actual birthday party will be this Saturday.) Eva was showered with all the things she loves- trains, dinosaurs, stickers, more dinosaurs, books and did I mention dinosaurs?

I cannot even find the words to describe how much I love this little girl. Eva, you amaze me and fill each and every day with wonder, giggles and sweetness. Your Daddy and I love you and cherish every moment we get to share with you. I know as a 4 year old you will continue to grow, create, astonish and entertain us.

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 22: Nativity Scene

2011-12-23T20:43:00.000-05:00

Isn't this the sweetest thing? I wish I could claim credit for it but Eva made it at her Spanish class. The tiny little figures were shaped out of clay made with white bread and glue (1 tablespoon of glue/ slice of crustless white bread). Eva made the pieces one week and by the next week they were dry and she painted them. Her teacher then hot glued them to a felt covered disc. (To give you an idea of the size, the disc is the size of a cd.) I love it! Eva places it under her little tree. Isn't that the cutest little Holy Family you've ever seen?

I am officially throwing in the towel on the last two crafts. While Eva never takes a break from crafting, she has had no interest in doing mommy-introduced crafts and I'm not going to push it!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and we'll see you in the new year!

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 21: Reindeer Feed

2011-12-23T20:30:00.000-05:00

This is another annual tradition in our house- making reindeer feed! Those reindeer get hungry pulling Santa's sleigh so we sprinkle some of this special food on our lawn for them to eat while Santa is busy inside. There is no specific recipe- just mix together anything you have in your cupboards that is safe for critters to consume. For ours we used oatmeal, walnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds and flax seed. To get the reindeer the extra magic they need to fly, we also add some red and green sprinkles. Stir it together and keep in a sealed container until you are ready to sprinkle it on the lawn on Christmas Eve.

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 20: Snowman Candy Wrappers

2011-12-21T17:18:00.000-05:00

Eva has a ton of cousins so we made these candy bar wrappers to snazzy up their chocolate gifts. I cut an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper in half width wise and wrapped it around a Hershey bar, securing it with clear tape. Then Eva drew eyes, a carrot nose, a mouth and buttons on each one before I tied some scrap fabric around for a scarf.

We are making 12 total but Eva ran out of steam after 7 so we will finish them up tomorrow. I love how each one has it's own personality!

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 19: Penguin Thumbprint Ornament

2011-12-20T19:13:00.000-05:00

I saw these amazing ornaments on Meet the Dubiens and knew we had to make the penguin one. Eva made a white thumbprint on a clear ornament (but any color would work) and then I used paint markers to turn it into a penguin. She also wrote her name on the back of the ornament and I dated it. Such a great keepsake!

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 18: Painting with Pine Branches

2011-12-19T20:12:00.000-05:00

Who needs brushes when you can paint with pine branches? Eva had a blast dipping the branches in paint and smearing it around. She also tried making pine prints but the smearing was apparently more fun.

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 17: Cookie Cutter Painting

2011-12-19T20:07:00.000-05:00

I spent the other day baking and this craft kept Eva entertained for quite some time. I poured some paint on little plates and let Eva pick out a cookie cutter to go in each color. I gave her a pile of parchment paper sheets to stamp on and she went to town. (It turns out paint doesn't adhere to parchment paper so if you decide to try this I suggest using paper or else when the paint dries it will fall right off!)

Eva added some of her own touches too.

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 16: Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

2011-12-16T21:40:00.000-05:00

Making these ornaments is a yearly tradition in our house. We always end up making a few batches- some stay to decorate the house, the rest are attached to presents. They smell great and are simple to make. I don't have any pictures of the process but Eva made this batch with her buddy Luke (his mom Kristi is a frequent commenter on the blog and a long time friend of mine- HI KRISTI!!!). They had a blast rolling out the dough (and tasting it) and cutting out Christmas and Hanukkah shapes with cookie cutters. The dough is just a cup of cinnamon and a cup of applesauce. I add the applesauce gradually until the mixture forms a dough-like consistency. I have yet to use the whole cup of applesauce. After the little ones finished cutting out their shapes, I poked a hole in each one using a chopstick and then placed them on a cookie sheet and set them in a 200º oven for about an hour, flipping them once. You can also skip the oven and just leave them out for a few days to dry out on their own. Once they are completely dry, slide some ribbon through the hole and hang them wherever you'd like. Eva put a bunch on her tree and I have one hanging from each of out kitchen cabinet knobs. They make the whole house smell like the holidays!

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 15: Hand and Footprint Rudolph

2011-12-16T21:28:00.000-05:00

This is a fun, quick craft that you could also do with paint but we opted for tracing on paper. Just trace both hands and a foot, cut out and glue to a sheet of paper (or dip them in paint and stamp onto the paper). We added googly eyes and a sparkly red pompom for a nose.

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 14: Santa Beard

2011-12-16T21:25:00.000-05:00

Eva has never been a big fan of the man in the red suit. Each year she has progressively gotten braver about talking to him but this year we went straight back to sheer terror. I thought making this Santa beard may help her connect with the jolly guy but no such luck. Even making a Santa craft was unacceptable to her.

I cut out a beard shape and asked Eva to glue on some cotton balls. I"m amazed we got this many on- she just was not having it.

This was as close as we got to Santa this year.

But she did mail him a letter to make sure he knew what she wanted.

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 13: Gingerbread Play Dough

2011-12-14T21:20:00.000-05:00

Today's craft involved some cooking in the kitchen. We made two batches of wonderful smelling gingerbread play dough. I found the recipe here. Eva helped stir all the ingredients together and then I heated them on the stove until a dough consistency formed.

After it cooled, we divided one batch up and made little gifts for our friends at Spanish class by attaching a cookie cutter and little card. With the rest, Eva went to town "baking."

We also made a real gingerbread house today. Eva was a pro at sticking all the bright colored candies everywhere!

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 12: Handprint Bough

2011-12-14T21:14:00.000-05:00

First I'd like to thank everyone who shared their crafts and activities in our link up the other day. If you have any you'd like to add, please continue to do so! Next, I want to apologize for skipping the last few days- I've had a migraine and was in no mood to post but we were crafting so we will play catch up over the next few days. Finally, today's craft! After making the handprint tree earlier in the month Eva has been asking to make handprints with paint so this is her own creation. She drew a brown branch on the page and then stamped her hand in green paint to make pine needles. When it was dry, she glued on circle ornaments cut from scrap book paper.

Christmas Craft Link Up!

2011-12-12T11:23:00.000-05:00

Today is your day to show off the wonderful holiday crafts you've been making with your little ones. Feel free to share crafts you've made yourself too or any yummy recipes as well! If it's holiday related, link on up!

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 11: Snowman Ornament

2011-12-11T19:38:00.000-05:00

We are making these ornaments as gifts for Eva's teachers. I found some clear plastic ball ornaments at JoAnns to use to make them and Eva drew on the face with paint markers. I had her sit on my lap and held the ornament for her while she drew.

When the paint dried, I used a funnel and toothpick to push some fake snow into the ball (no where near as fun as it sounds!). But they turned out really cute!

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 10: Paper Heart Ornament

2011-12-11T19:34:00.000-05:00

I found the instructions for this little ornament on pinterest and knew it would be a fun, easy craft for Eva to make. I cut some Christmas scrap book paper based on the dimensions of the paper I had and Eva glued the papers together according to the directions in the tutorial.

Rather than stapling everything together like in the tutorial, we glued and Eva pinched it tight- pinching face optional.

To hang, I added some ribbon through one of the hoops.

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 9: Pionsettia Ornament

2011-12-09T21:22:00.000-05:00

Today Eva and I went to visit our local conservatory to see their annual poinsettia display and it inspired this craft. After checking out these beauties,

we came home and painted a toilet paper tube red. When it was dry, I cut it into 8 rings, pinched them to look like petals and used glue dots to adhere them together into the shape of a flower. We glued on a few yellow dots that I made with a hole punch and added a ribbon for hanging. An easy craft after a busy day of posing with the poinsettias!

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 8: Garland Wreath

2011-12-09T08:14:00.000-05:00

We had so much fun making this craft we even made some for Eva's cousins! We used a styrofoam wreath form, garland, a wooden initial, some paint and ribbon. To begin, Eva painted each of the initials.

While they were drying, we started wrapping the garland around the wreath form. I used a straight pin to secure the end of the garland to the wreath and then wrapped it tightly around. It took two 18' lengths of garland to cover each wreath. I secured the ends again with a straight pin (I also found that a staple works too if you get a particularly stubborn end like I did). We tied a ribbon around the top for hanging and then another ribbon onto to that to hot glue the initial to. Eva has rightfully claimed her wreath and hung it on her bed post- she loves how sparkly it is (and now silver is her favorite color)!

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 7: Glitter Glue Ornaments

2011-12-07T21:45:00.000-05:00

Today's craft isn't done yet but I didn't want to not post something! This morning I drew some holiday shapes on wax paper with a marker and then Eva used glitter glue pens to trace over them and fill them in. She loved this! We need to use glitter glue more often- all the sparkle of glitter with tons less mess!

Twelve hours later, they are still drying! When they have completely dried we will peel them off the wax paper and use ribbon to hang them on the tree. (Or I may get really impatient and just cut out the ornaments and leave wax paper on the backs!) I'll be sure to post an update when they are completely done.

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 6: Paper Lantern Snowman

2011-12-06T18:38:00.001-05:00

Today's craft was inspired by a recent trip to the Dollar Store. I saw these paper lanterns and immediately thought they would make a great snowman. I assembled them according to the instructions in the package and then Eva painted on a face and buttons.

When the paint was dry, I used a hot glue gun to attach the two lanterns together. Eva picked out a piece of fleece from my scrap pile to use as a scarf (and to cover the not-so-pretty neck). Now he hangs out by our tree.

The lanterns can light up too but by gluing them together, access to the one switch becomes impossible so we are leaving him unlit for now.

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 5: Laced Stocking

2011-12-05T20:36:00.001-05:00

This craft brought me back to my childhood. I remember always making a laced stocking at some point before Christmas each year. For this one, I cut out two stockings from red paper and then punched holes around the edge while holding them together. I cut a length of yarn and tied it to the first hole and then Eva set to work lacing around the edge.

(Our dog Woofer was acting as quality control today.)

When she had worked her way all around the stocking, I tied it off the then looped the extra yarn back to the beginning hole and tied it there so there could be a hanger. Then Eva used some Christmas stickers to decorate it.

She also cut out and designed a bee to glue onto the stocking (not sure what the rationale for it is but she insisted her stocking needed a bee) and now she is busy making things to put into it.

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 4: Handprint Tree

2011-12-04T19:15:00.000-05:00

I hadn't planned on making another tree so soon after our last one, but Eva really wanted to, so here's what we did. First, Eva traced her hands on three different shades of green paper.

I cut them out and then she glued them onto a brown paper trunk. (Don't be alarmed- that's really Eva not a T-Rex!)

We used a leftover bow from our Day 1 wreath for a star on top of the tree.

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 3: Sticker Ornaments

2011-12-04T19:11:00.000-05:00

This is a craft Eva came up with on her own. We were making a paper chain to go on her little tree when she decided she needed to make some ornaments as well. She stuck Christmas stickers on a sheet of red paper and then cut them out. I added the yarn for hanging and Eva decorated her tree.

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 2: Button Tree

2011-12-02T17:22:00.000-05:00

Today's craft was a simple little button tree. I cut out a triangle from green paper and a brown rectangle and Eva glued together a tree. Then she used white glue to adhere buttons all over the tree for ornaments.

That in itself had been my plan for the craft but Eva knew no Christmas tree is complete without lights so she used glitter glue to make tiny dabs all over the tree. Now it sparkles just like our actual tree does!

It's hard to see but next to each button, Eva drew the pine needle that the ornament is hanging on. I love that she can take a simple idea and add so much of her own interpretation to it!

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 1: Bow Wreath

2011-12-01T16:19:00.001-05:00

We have officially kicked off our Craft a Day 'Til Christmas! Today we made a bow wreath. To prep, I cut out a wreath from cardboard and gathered some stick-on bows. I was just going to have Eva slap the bows on the cardboard but she insisted the wreath needed to be green so she colored it a bit first.

Then she peeled the backings off the bows and stuck them to the wreath. If your child is as obsessed with stickers as mine is, this will be pure joy!

When she was done, I reinforced the bows with a few staples because they were starting to pop off. (Eva squeezed a ton of bows onto the wreath. If you do less yours may stick better on their own.) Then I added a ribbon for hanging and now we have something festive to brighten our door!

Happy Crafting!!!

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas

2011-11-28T19:48:00.000-05:00

I have really been slacking lately when it comes to blogging but to make up for it I have an exciting December planned. We will be making a craft each day leading up to Christmas. Twenty-four crafts. A post every day. I promise!

I also have a giveaway or two planned plus a link-up at the halfway point for all of you to share the great holiday crafts you've been making with your little ones.

Are you excited? I know I am!

Stop back on December 1st when we kick off our Craft a Day 'Til Christmas!

Meet My Mummy

2011-10-27T11:27:00.000-04:00

This year Eva wanted to be a mummy for Halloween. And not just any mummy, a "purple girl mummy". This costume was actually pretty easy to make. I cut out a pattern for a dress (because "purple girl mummies" wear dresses) by tracing one of Eva's tunic style dresses. Eva picked out a lovely shade of lilac muslin for the dress and after cutting out the pieces I ripped the rest into strips. (I used 3 yards but had about 1/2 a yard left over). Before sewing the pieces of the dress together, I tacked on the strips, just zig zagging them down the fabric as I sewed leaving a few strips hanging down. Then I sewed everything together and used fray check to keep the strips from unraveling further. I saved one long strip of muslin to wrap around her head.

She loves it and I think she's the cutest "purple girl mummy" ever!

Autumn Art

2011-10-22T12:00:00.000-04:00

Our local library hosted an Autumn Art Show and all the children who visit the library were encouraged to submit a piece of artwork to hang in the gallery. I had found some leaf and pumpkin doilies at the dollar store and Eva and I decided to use them to make her artwork. She started by painting an entire sheet of sturdy white paper (we used cardboard) with watered down glue. Then she placed the doilies all over the paper. We added another layer of glue (I had to help a little here as some of the doilies started folding over) and another layer of doilies. We ended with a final layer of glue and then Eva sprinkled everything with glitter.
Yesterday we received a call that Eva had been awarded First Place in the art show!

I love how this turned out and I'm thinking of having Eva make another one on canvas to keep as a fall wall hanging for our home.

First Day of Preschool

2011-09-20T19:32:00.000-04:00

I have a preschooler! I can't believe my little baby is in school already. The past three+ years have just flown by. Eva was so excited to go to school this morning. I made her purple pancakes for breakfast (her favorite color) and even though the color wasn't dark enough she ate them up.

Then she got dressed in the outfit she picked out special for today and bounced around the driveway waiting for it to be time to go. She was so excited!

Once there, she found her hook

and then she was off to play with her new friends.

The best part- no tears from either of us! (Although I'm sure I'll shed a few on Thursday when I actually have to leave her there!)
When we got home I had her draw a picture of herself. I plan on having her do this at the beginning (and possibly the end) of each school year to see how she changes and grows. I must warn those who are faint of heart- Eva is in her nudist phase. All of her drawings are naked because according to her she "doesn't know how to draw shirts."

Back to School

2011-09-06T09:18:00.001-04:00

The buses are rolling through the neighborhood again so we broke out a favorite craft from last year- the shape bus. It's fun to see how much difference a year can make! Here is last year's:

And here's this year's:

We got fancy this year and added pom poms for lights and Eva wanted other details like a road, hubcaps and a traffic light. I also had her tell me a sentence about the picture and wrote it down for her to "read". (By writing down children's own words you give them ownership to the story and because they spoke those words, it will be easier for them to read them.)

Good Bye Summer!

2011-09-05T15:04:00.000-04:00

Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer and Mother Nature is following course. Today is cool and rainy with that whisper of Fall in the air. We have been cramming as much summer as we can in these last few weeks.
We've hit the beach:

the amusement park (for roller coasters big and small):

gone swimming:

and played in the backyard:

(Eva's lawn furniture sculture)

And done all we can to keep cool:

Today we whipped up a batch of play dough and I dug out some of our fun fall activities from last year. While Eva's been playing, I'm been coming up with new ideas to share with all of you over the next few weeks. I hope you are enjoying the last bits of summer!

Bird's Nest Art

2011-08-21T16:45:00.001-04:00

Throughout the spring we watched a momma robin build a nest in our lilac bush. She laid four eggs and guarded them day and night. Soon little baby robins hatched and we watched as they grew and learned to fly. No one has been back to the nest for a while now so decided it was safe to take it down and examine it. Eva loved looking at it but decided it was lacking- it needed eggs and a bird! "Let's make a sculpture!" she shouted and Daddy was game for helping her do so. First they gathered some rocks to use as eggs.

Then they used a pinecone, some bark, a leaf and two little berries to form their bird.

They needed to use some wood glue to hold everything together but soon had a bird to rest in the nest.

I think it turned out adorable and I love how creative kids can be when we let them do their own thing!

Early Literacy: Sight Words

2011-08-15T18:32:00.000-04:00

I recently noticed that the number of words Eva is able to recognize and spell has been increasing. For a while she knew her name and ours and that was about it (besides boo which she has hung onto since Halloween). Now she is noticing more words in the environment and starting to hold on to them.

While she can read and spell them, she does not know how to write them yet. (The only word I've actually taught her how to write is "love" so that she could sign birthday cards for family members.) The other day I sat down with her and wrote down the words she can both read and spell to make a chart to help her learn to write those words.

I hung it from one of our window shades and left some sentence strips and markers for her to use to write when the mood strikes her. She grabs the word she wants to write and sets it above her sentence strip for a reference.

I love finding her "writings" and knowing that she has embraced this and done it on her own.

Some other things we do with her little word wall are:

use a pointer to point and read the words
I say a word and Eva points to it
take the words out and spread them on the table then Eva closes her eyes and I hide a sticker under one of the words; she then has to read a word and then look under it to try and find the prize
trace the words with her finger
take a word and make it with magnetic letters
take a word and stamp it with alphabet stamps

As she learns new words I'll remove some of the really well known ones and put the new ones in their place.

Paper Plate Watermelon

2011-08-06T13:55:00.000-04:00

In our house summer = watermelon. I have to buy one every week for Eva and Daddy to devour. Their love of the fruit inspired this craft. All you need is a white paper plate, red, green and black paint and a Q-tip. To start Eva painted the inside of the plate red and then the rim green.

When that dried, I bent one end of the Q-tip to make a seed stamp for dabbing in the black paint.

You could then cut it into wedges when it dries but Eva wanted to leave hers whole.

Bubble Wrap Painting

2011-08-03T16:11:00.000-04:00

The other day Eva was playing with some bubble wrap (we buy toys why?) and commented that the bubbles looked like little blueberries and this idea was born. I cut a square of the wrap and Eva painted it with blue paint.

Then she flipped the wrap over and stamped it onto a sheet of paper a few times.

She then decided her blueberries needed a bowl so she painted a circle around them to contain them.

After finishing with the blueberries she informed me that the bubbles also looked like corn kernels so I grabbed the yellow paint and cut out a cob shape from the bubble wrap for stamping.

I suggested painting some husks on but Eva insisted on another bowl so I bowed to the artiste.

I love how spur of the moment crafts can turn out to be the most fun!

Sponge Balls

2011-07-31T19:20:00.001-04:00

It seems like everyone is making these this summer so we couldn't be left out of the fun! They are so easy to make- cut two or more sponges into 4 strips each and then tie tightly in the middle. I bought 3 four packs of basic sponges and we made 6 balls. Then we came up with fun things to do with them. First I placed a hula hoop on the driveway and Eva tried to throw the balls into the hoop.

After doing that for a while, we played catch with them- be sure to soak them first for more fun! We also threw them up as high as we could to see what kinds of splats they would make. Eva came up with another fun thing to do them- squeezing them over your head.

Have you made sponge balls yet? If so, what have you done with them?

Where We've Been

2011-07-24T15:09:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone! Sorry we've been away so long but we've been busy. We went on a wonderful vacation to the gorgeous state of Colorado! We spent several days with family in the San Juan Mountains outside of Ridgway and then a few days as our little family of three in Denver. It was a fantastic getaway but it's great to be home!

Starting in August we will be back with much more regular posts, crafts and activities. Hope you are all enjoying your summer (or winter for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere!).

Daddy Day!!!!

2011-06-18T17:54:00.000-04:00

If you are anything like me, you have a pile of your child's paintings laying around because you either can't bear to part with them or you just know you can use them in another craft someday. For our Father's Day cards this year we used a few of those paintings! These are really easy to make if you are looking for a last minute gift. I just took a sheet of card stock, folded it in half and then cut a two inch slit in the middle of the top. Fold down from the slit so that the card looks like it has a collar and then glue on a tie cut out of your child's painting.

Write your message inside and you are good to go!

Eva's daddy definitely deserves a wonderful Father's Day. He is just so full of love for her and spends so much time caring for and teaching her. She is one very lucky little girl! He even spent Friday night building a James engine for her to ride in at our neighborhood party today. What a super dad!

Garden News

2011-06-11T17:49:00.000-04:00

A while back I posted about the beginning of our garden for the year. Since then, seeds have been sprouting and other veggies and herbs have been planted.

Our peas have shot up and have blooms. We can't wait for the pods to appear. Last year not many peas made it out of the garden. Eva would pick them as soon as they appeared and eat them right in the yard!

The carrots have also been growing away and we should soon have a harvest.

Here are a few of the other plants we have growing in our kitchen garden:

Tomatoes- Roma and cherry with lemongrass and dill in the planter

Eggplant (with two little guys starting to grow!)

Zucchinis

Cucumbers

Peppers- jalapenos, poblanos, habaneros, cubanelles and cayennes

Lettuce

Parsley and cilantro

Basil and purple basil

Oregano and rosemary

Sage and marjoram

Kale

Butternut squash

Watermelon

Pumpkin

And for the first time, we are trying an upside down tomato plant.

Our roses are also blooming beautifully!

And my favorite flower- peonies!

What do you have growing in your garden?

Butterfly Garden

2011-06-04T13:11:00.000-04:00

The Easter Bunny brought Eva a butterfly garden and a few weeks ago the mail order caterpillars arrived. Eva watched as they grew, spun their chrysalises and finally emerged as butterflies. It was absolutely fascinating. Every morning, as soon as she woke up, Eva had to run to peek at her creatures and observe how they were changing. We referenced the butterfly lifecycle chart she made earlier in the spring throughout the experience.

Yesterday we released the butterflies back into the wild.

I cannot recommend the Butterfly Garden enough. We will definitely be ordering another set of caterpillars! This time around we just observed but next time I plan on making a log for Eva to record her observations- counting caterpillars, their sizes, when they spun their chrysalises, when they emerged as butterflies, etc. The options are endless!

Dancing Queen

2011-05-21T22:01:00.000-04:00

Today was Eva's very first dance recital and she absolutely amazed me! I have to admit- I was convinced my shy little love wouldn't get up on the stage, let alone dance but I was wrong. She danced her sweet little heart out! It doesn't hurt that one of the songs her class danced to was Laurie Berkner's "We Are the Dinosaurs" and we all know how much Eva loves dinos.
Here she is in her recital outfit:

And here she is showing off her dance moves, complete with a dinosaur roar:

Hippity Hopping

2011-05-16T19:38:00.000-04:00

I love that Eva is at the age to start enjoying playing hopscotch! We drew a simple 1-10 one on the driveway the other day (with the words "go" and "stop" on each end since she is starting to read them). Eva loved hopping from number to number and even practicing counting backward.

I also drew a bunch of circles and she pretended that they were lily pads and she was a frog. So much fun!

The options for hopscotch are endless! You could put letters in boxes (or circles) to jump to in order to practice letter recognition, alphabetical order or even spelling words. Shapes or colors would be fun to jump to also. Or you could just ask your little one what they would like to jump to- that's how we came upon the lily pad idea. Have fun hopping!

Dandelion Painting

2011-05-16T09:16:00.000-04:00

We are guest blogging about all the fun we had painting with dandelions over at Greening Sam and Avery today. Stop by and say hi!

We're Back!!!!

2011-05-15T14:14:00.000-04:00

Thank you to all of you who have been so patient over the last few weeks. I have definitely been in a bit of a blogging slump. I don't even know if slump is the right term. It's more like blogger's block. I've done a lot of reflecting and come to the conclusion that I'm just not loving the direction I decided to take the blog this year. While learning about new places is fun and exciting, it doesn't seem to be enough to keep Eva's (or my) attention. I think I was just too structured in what I planned for the year and then I felt trapped. So I've decided to let go of my need to plan out everything and go more with the flow. Occasionally I will still do theme weeks and the like, but now that Eva is old enough to initiate her own ideas and select things that interest her, I'm going to let her be my guide. Throughout the next week I'll be sharing some activities we've done that I felt didn't "fit in" with my plans and therefore didn't post. (I swear, we haven't been sitting around staring at the walls lately!) Thank you again for your support and I can't wait to be back in the blogging world!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T12:30:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there who love their babies with all their hearts! You are all amazing! A very special wish to my mom- the woman who taught me so much about being a good mother through her everyday actions and endless love.

Easter Egg Magnets

2011-04-20T14:27:00.000-04:00

A while back, Eva went to a bug class at our science museum and made a cute lady bug magnet. The shape of them reminded me of eggs so I decided to recreate the project to use as an Easter gift. To begin we added water to some plaster of paris and then scooped it into plastic spoons.

Then Eva dropped a magnet into each spoon. (Be careful if you are using strong magnets- they will attract each other if the spoons are too close.)

When the plaster was dry, I popped them out and rubbed the edges to get rid of any rough parts and then Eva painted them.

We let that dry and then Eva decided her eggs needed polkadots. Using the opposite end of a paint brush, she dipped it in paint and dabbed onto the eggs.

Now we have a collection of Easter egg magnets to pass out on Easter Sunday to our family and friends!

Bunny Garland

2011-04-16T08:43:00.003-04:00

Eva decided we needed a garland for on our fireplace and only bunnies would do! I love the peeps garland that Dana at Made created last year and used her template for the bunny shape. I traced the bunny onto pink, yellow and purple card stock and I thought it would be cute for Eva to use a cotton ball to paint a tail on each one but she has plans of her own. She decide the bunnies needed to be completely covered in white paint and that only a paint brush would do the job. This was her craft so I let her call the shots!

When they had all been covered in paint (notice how her method changed from painting individual bunnies to just covering the paper with paint!) we added some glitter and when everything was dry, I cut them out. Eva then decided on the pattern (yellow, purple, pink) and laid them out on the floor. I taped them to some ribbon and hung them up. Now we have a festive Easter decoration that Eva can truly call her own!

Let the Planting Begin!

2011-04-14T08:37:00.001-04:00

This past weekend was absolutely gorgeous so we spent a lot of time outside getting our gardens ready for planting. Eva has been anxious to start growing her vegetables so I broke out some of the seed starters she has accumulated over the past few months and she went to ton making the dirt and planting the seeds.

We also direct sowed our carrot, lettuce and pea seeds. We had so much fun building bamboo teepees for our pea plants (and later, green bean plants) to grow up.

(We live in the city so we take advantage of any bit tof garden space we can find!)

As soon as the seeds were in the ground, Eva began asking when they would grow. We made a little chart to keep by the back door with our guesses as to what would sprout first.

Now everyday when we go outside, we check to see if anything has sprouted. It is so exciting!

Fun with Plastic Easter Eggs

2011-04-13T08:34:00.000-04:00

This year, instead of coming up with activities for Eva to do with plastic eggs, I gave her a basket full of them and let her creativity guide her. Each day she has come up with something to do with them. She has used eggs tongs to transfer them from the basket to a tray.

When she got bored with that, she dumped the eggs on the floor and then used the tongs to collect them again.

Here's a list of a few other Easter egg activities she came up with:
* hide the eggs and then find them again (great training for Easter egg hunts!)
* open the eggs and see what will fit inside (she's tried everything from dinosaurs to crayons to buttons)
* put something in an egg and have someone else guess what it is by shaking it
* sort eggs by color
* sort eggs by size
* roll eggs to see which ones will go the farthest
* put small objects in two eggs and use as shakers to make music

Play Dough Planting

2011-04-06T15:41:00.000-04:00

It's not quite planting season for us here yet but we still can have flowers! I came upon this post at Teach Preschool and knew it would be a big hit. I made a batch of play dough and added a mix of food coloring to turn it brown. (I also sprinkled in some cocoa to make it smell nice!) Using some flower pots and bunches of Dollar Store flowers, Eva started planting.

So much fun! Eva was so into it, she climbed up onto the window seat to get comfy and played for half an hour arranging and rearranging to flowers.

Welcome to Australia!

2011-04-06T14:38:00.000-04:00

(Image Source)

This month we are headed down under for lots of eco-friendly fun! That's right, in honor of Earth Day later this month, we are going green for all of April (and beyond too!). We'll be recycling, reusing, repurposing and more!

Rather than weekly themes, we will be incorporating crafts and activities that relate to spring, Easter and Earth Day into our exploration of Australia. We hope you'll come along with us as we jump into the Outback!

Books:

Spring Painting

2011-03-25T12:19:00.000-04:00

Seeing as spring rolled in with a snow storm, we needed something to perk things up a little. Eva decided she wanted to paint a flower picture on her easel and I am loving how all of the sudden her paintings actually look like something. I am a total nerd when it comes to child development and I am just amazed how children grow and change so this picture will definitely be going in the "keep" pile!

See that green and yellow thing at the bottom? That's a bee- isn't it the cutest you've ever seen? Next to it is a flower and some baby bees (the little yellow dots). The blue is sky and the yellow spotted blob floating in it is a bunch of bees shedding their skin (guess who learned about molting in her bug class?). And of course no spring picture is complete without a giant red T-Rex.

Bugs Glorious Bugs!

2011-03-22T13:03:00.001-04:00

Eva has been taking a class about bugs at our science museum and brought home some really cute crafts! Last week she made a thumbprint caterpillar

and a fun ladybug magnet who now hangs out with her letters.

The ladybug was made by filling a plastic spoon with plaster and then pushing a magnet into it. When it was dry it slid right out of the spoon and Eva was able to paint it red and then add spots and a face.
This week was all about butterflies. The teachers wrapped a few kids up in toilet paper so they could be like caterpillars in a chrysalis and then they broke out- Eva thought it was hysterical but wouldn't try herself. They also made this to show the stages of the butterfly's life cycle using different pastas:

Eva also got to meet a few bugs up close including a tarantula

and a vinegaroon (a cousin of the scorpion).

Hello Spring! We've Been Waiting For You!

2011-03-20T14:55:00.000-04:00

As you have probably noticed due to the lack of posts lately, we just haven't been into India much this month. Eva has been anti-craft/organized activities lately- she only wants to color and I am not one to force her to do something she isn't interested in. She is still on her dinosaur kick and she is also really into bugs so I am going to abandon my plans and follow her. We have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of spring so I'm working on incorporating Eva's interests into the change of the season. Thank you for your patience and for sticking with us as we have battled the winter hum-drums. Hopefully now that spring is here, we will be energized and the fun will return!

(Eva digging for mastodon bones at our Science Museum- aka our home away from home!)

St. Patrick's Day Cards

2011-03-16T11:04:00.000-04:00

To share our love of all that is Irish with our family and friends, we made these St. Patrick's Day cards. Eva stamped a "shamrock" on the front using a pepper top and some green paint.

When they were dry, I added a message- Shamrocks are green, Dinos are too... Happy St. Patrick's Day! I love you! Eva signed her name and we taped in a picture of her posing with her favorite dinos.

We also whipped up a batch of green cupcakes (lemon cake mix with green food coloring added) to snack on when we visit Grammy and Papa for the holiday.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

May the Luck of the Irish be with YOU!

March Sensory Tub

2011-03-12T10:44:00.001-05:00

In March we are "visiting" India and taking in all the beautiful colors and shapes the country has to offer. Our sensory tub this month is full of rainbow colors and shapes. I found the pack of 3D shapes here and the flat shapes are meant for overhead projectors back from my teaching days (similar to these).

I was so excited to make this tub but really hadn't thought about what Eva could do with it. No worries! I gave it to her and she created her own activities. I forget sometimes that not everything needs a plan- I'm still working on doing more following, less guiding! Eva used the shapes to make things. This one is a penguin:

And she experimented with how many toys she could cram into a tiny zipper bag:

She has also used the bin as a place for her dinosaurs to romp (yes, we are still a bit dino-obsessed!) and many a "downtown" has been constructed with the blocks. Sorting by color and shape are also options but chances are if I suggest them, they will be vetoed. Three is a very independent age!

Mardi Gras Activities

2011-03-07T19:14:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday and we have a fun day planned! We will be kicking off the day with some yummy doughnuts for breakfast. Eva picked out a chocolate frosted one covered with sprinkles when we were grocery shopping today and she can't wait to give it a taste! We'll also be having a New Orleans staple for dinner- jambalaya- yum!

Other fun Mardi Gras things to do:
* Throw on some beads and grab your masks for a masquerade. Add some fun music and you've got a dance party!
* Use those beads for painting. Dip a string of them in your favorite color paint and then drag them around on paper or toss them in a box top lined with paper and shake them up.
* Grab some musical instruments (or make your own, like we did last year) and you can be your own rag-time band!
* Many folks enjoy a king's cake on Mardi Gras and it's good luck to find the baby hiding in the cake. Play hide and seek with a baby doll and bring on the luck!

Mardi Gras Masks

2011-02-27T14:42:00.002-05:00

We'll be leaving China this week for India but we'll make a pit stop in New Orleans for Mardi Gras next Tuesday. In preparation, we made Mardi Gras masks. I started out tracing this template onto purple card stock and cutting it out. Then Eva went to town decorating her mask with gems, sequins and feathers.

When the mask was complete, I used packing tape to attach a pencil to the back to make holding the mask easier. You could also punch holes in each side and add ribbon or elastic but if your child is like mine and hates having anything around her head, the pencil is the way to go.

Now we are ready to start indulging in the Fat Tuesday fun!

Dinosaur Roar!

2011-02-20T19:32:00.001-05:00

You're probably wondering what dinosaurs have to do with China. Absolutely nothing but Eva has been obsessed with them lately so we're going with it! No sense pushing something if your child is really digging something else. Luckily for us, the dinosaur exhibit is back at our local science museum so we spent a few hours visiting with them the other day. Eva was thrilled that all of her favorite dinos were represented- T-Rex, stegosaurus, apatosaurus and triceratops. She also got to meet some new dinos that are now part of our pretend play daily. (Does your child love to pretend to be dinosaurs? We've been speaking in roars a lot lately!)

We also made a fun dinosaur picture. I wrapped a cardboard tube with bubble wrap and Eva rolled it in paint and then onto easel paper.

It took her a little while to get used to rolling as opposed to smearing but soon the dots began appearing.

When the paint was dry, Eva dipped dinosaur cookie cutters in black paint and stamped them onto the paper.

I love that it looks somewhat prehistoric, almost like cave drawings.

We've also been reading some of our favorite dinosaur books:

If you have a budding paleontologist too, be sure to check out the dinosaur activities we did last year too!

Building Creativity

2011-02-16T16:12:00.002-05:00

Today I set Eva up with some marshmallows and toothpicks at the dining room table. I showed her how to push the toothpicks into the marshmallows and connect and let her go to town.

This activity was great for working on fine motor skills and Eva learned about the need for a solid foundation (although watching the tower fall was tons of fun and became the new foundation!).

Eva loved adding the toothpicks and even returned to the sculpture while I was getting dinner ready.

250 toothpicks and a bigger support paper later, Eva unveiled her fantastic creation:

Who would have thought that a bowl full of mini marshmallows and some toothpicks could lead to such creativity!

Building and Construction

2011-02-15T16:59:00.000-05:00

(Image Source)

One of the first things that often pops into mind when thinking about China is the Great Wall. We will be honoring it by learning more about tools, buildings and construction.

Crafts
Nuts and Bolts Painting- we'll shake these fasteners around in some paint to make some cool abstract art

Scrap Box Buildings- our building supplies will come from our box of recyclables and scraps that we keep in the art center- can't wait to see what we create!

Activities
Blocks- you can't talk about building things without playing with blocks!

Marshmallow Structures- we'll use mini marshmallows and toothpicks to build all sorts of things

Exploring Tools- we'll try out hammers, screwdrivers, levels and many other tools to see how they work and what they are used for

Home Depot Field Trip- we'll visit one of Eva's favorite stores

Cooking
Triple Decker Sandwich- we'll take building to the kitchen and erect a tall tasty lunch

Books

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T19:14:00.001-05:00

We hope you have all had a wonderful Valentine's Day filled with love, laughter and fun! Yesterday we sorted candy hearts using a graph. I found the printout for the graph here.

After sorting them all out according to color, we talked about which color had the most and which had the least.

For dinner tonight we tried our hand at making homemade pizza dough and made a heart shaped pizza. Pizza is always a hit and such a great meal to cook with a little one!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Valentine Activities

2011-02-10T19:14:00.000-05:00

We have been having a lot of fun preparing for Valentine's Day. Eva has been enjoying sorting heart erasers into heart-shaped baking cups.

She also has been testing out different items to find out whether or not they are magnetic.

Wednesday we were all finally over our colds so we went to story time at Barnes and Noble and Eva got to make a pretty heart garland. She threaded different sized hearts onto ribbon and then decorated them with markers, foam stickers and even some heart glitter.

Free App

2011-02-09T17:18:00.001-05:00

My wonderful and talented husband has created a fun drawing app for iphones/ipods/ipads called Kids Slate. It's a simple way for little ones to draw and it's free!

Click here to grab one! It's been Eva tested and approved!

PS- sorry there haven't been any posts lately- we've all been battling colds but I have a bunch of neat Valentine things to show you soon

Chinese Zodiac Matching Game

2011-02-04T19:08:00.001-05:00

Eva loves playing matching games and they are super easy to make. For this one I used red card stock and some animal stickers. We only made 8 of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs- tiger, pig, monkey, rat, dog, rabbit, rooster and horse- because I couldn't find stickers for dragon, snake, oxen and ram. Eight pairs tends to be a good amount to play with at this age so it worked out.

Eva was really interested to find out what year she was born in- the year of the pig and that mommy was born in the year of the tiger and daddy, the year of the rooster. She found a match of mommy's year!

Dancing Dragon Puppet

2011-02-03T10:53:00.001-05:00

This morning we made a dancing dragon puppet. We began with a big foam heart and several foam heart stickers. Eva arranged them to make the dragon's face.

We then added a craft stick to the back and some streamers. (I tried just taping the streamers to the back with packaging tape but it did not stick well to the foam so I ended up hot gluing them on.)

Eva is loving dancing with her special dragon!

We also read a book about Chinese dragons and the Chinese New Year. This book is perfect for the toddler/preschool crowd- simple explanations and beautiful pictures.

(You can always click on any books shown for more info.)

Paper Lanterns

2011-02-02T20:36:00.000-05:00

With Chinese New Year just one day away, we got busy making some paper lanterns. Eva started with sheets of red construction paper and used some Valentine stamps to decorate them.

When they were sufficiently covered, I folded them in half and drew lines every inch from the fold out to two inches from the edge and eva cut along them.

Then we opened the paper back up and Eva added glue all along one of the long edges.

I helped shape it into a lantern and then Eva "poofed" it out.

Now we have a few of these hanging in the dining room for our new year's feast tomorrow.

Spring is Coming!!!

2011-02-02T16:36:00.000-05:00

I don't know if the groundhog saw his shadow today but the hedgehog didn't so spring must be right around the corner.

This storm is just winter's way of saying good bye, right? Right?

Stay warm!

Welcome to China

2011-02-01T18:09:00.000-05:00

Today we traveled to China. Eva found it on her map and colored it in. She also got another stamp in her passport.

The sensory tub has been filled with a staple in China- rice. We colored some red and some pink and I added a set of red heart scoops and a bunch of red pom poms. The rice is a huge hit. Eva has always been drawn to rice tables and will spend hours scooping and feeling the rice.

I also made a few felt fortune cookies for Eva to practice transferring between take-out containers with chopsticks. It is definitely tricky!

The fortune cookies are really easy to make. Take a felt circle, fold it in half and place a bit of ribbon in the fold but sticking out at one end and then sew it shut. Using a needle and thread, make a stitch 1/3 of the way in on the fold and another 1/3 from the other end, pull tight and tie off. It should fold in like a real fortune cookie.

Chinese New Year

2011-01-31T19:41:00.000-05:00

This Thursday is the celebration of the Chinese New Year. We will be welcoming in the Year of the Rabbit all week!

Crafts
Chopstick Picture Frame- we'll use wooden chopsticks to make a special picture frame

Paper Fan- a cardboard rectangle and a tongue depressor will be transformed into a beautiful fan

Paper Lanterns- similar to the Halloween lanterns we made last year, these lanterns will be used to decorate our dining room for the new year feast

Egg Carton Dragon- no Chinese New Year celebration is complete without a dragon puppet

Red Envelope- we'll make a red paper envelope and maybe Eva will find some lucky money in it on Thursday

Activities
Chinese Yo Yo- using a spool, some string and two popsicle sticks, we'll make this Asian take on the yo yo

Chinese Character Memory Game- Eva's been getting really good at playing Memory so this version will help her look carefully at the details

Chopstick Transferring- we'll use chopsticks to move felt fortune cookies from one bowl to another

Rice Sensory Tub- the snow is emptied out and in it's place is a lot of rice- one of Eva's favorites

Cooking
Lucky Noodles- we'll make a yummy noodle lunch

Chocolate Covered Chinese Noodles- a sweet treat to celebrate the new year with

Books

February: Asia-China

2011-01-31T12:45:00.001-05:00

We are saying goodbye to the cold and snow of the Arctic and heading over to Asia. Our first stop in Asia will be the big and beautiful country of China.

Here is how the month will look:

February Theme: China

Weekly Themes:
   * Chinese New Year
   * Building and Construction
   * Mountain Life
   * Valentine's Day (okay this has nothing to do with China but we can't ignore it!)

Science Unit: Tools

Books

WINNER!!!!!

2011-01-31T12:00:00.001-05:00

Thank you to everyone who entered to win the giveaway and welcome to all the new followers!!!

And now for the winner:

Comment number 5 is:

Sandi said...

I "like" little learners lounge on Facebook!

Congratulations Sandi! I'll be emailing you to get your address- enjoy the book!

Groundhog Day GIVEAWAY!!!!

2011-01-30T10:59:00.000-05:00

Eva just got a copy of a Groundhog's Day book we already own so I'm doing a quick giveaway- just from now until NOON tomorrow (1/31). Here's the book:

There are two ways to enter:

1. Become a follower of Little Learners Lounge (or tell me you already are) and leave a comment

2. Like us on facebook (or tell me you already have) and leave another comment

I will do the drawing at noon EST tomorrow Monday, January 31 and will express mail it to the winner. Good luck!

Arctic Animals

2011-01-28T16:13:00.000-05:00

I saw this really cute snowy owl and knew we had to make it! We have an abundance of pine cones so any excuse to use them in a craft is great. Eva began by pulling apart a few cotton balls and stuffing the bits into the pinecone.

When he was snowy enough we added a foam beak and googly eyes. So simple and so cute!

Last year we also made some North Pole pals. You can check out our torn paper polar bear,

a sock seal,

and a snowy owl puppet.

Eva also made a polar bear puppet at story time this week (those ladies at Barnes and Noble must know what themes I have planned!).

(that's the polar bear's heart and mittens- he didn't just finish a meal)

Mitten Prints

2011-01-26T14:37:00.000-05:00

We dug out a few of Eva's outgrown mittens for this fun craft. First, Eva chose three different paint colors- pink, purple and turquoise- and I poured a little of each on small plates. Eva then pulled on a mitten, dipped her hand in the paint and stamped onto a sheet of paper.

Such fun!

We sang a favorite winter song while painting too:

The Mitten Song

Thumb in the thumb hole,

Fingers all together

This is the song

We sing in mitten weather!

The Arctic

2011-01-23T14:33:00.000-05:00

Wow! This month has flown by! We will be wrapping our visit to the polar regions with some time in the Arctic. We'll mainly focus on the animals that live near the North Pole, along with a few activities relating to winter wear.

Crafts
Mitten Prints- what happens when you finger paint with mittens on? you'll have to stop by and see!

Snowy Owl- we'll transform a pinecone into an adorable owl

Activities
Tracks in the Snow- we'll head out to the park to look fro animal tracks and make a few or our own

Polar Bear Fat- we got to do this cool experiment at the zoo a while back and we will try to reenact it at home

Camouflage Experiment- how does a polar bear's white fur help him hunt? we'll play around with colors to see how animals' fur helps them hide from predators or prey

Mitten Matching- using Eva's supply of mittens, we'll find matches and hang them on a little clothesline

Books:
Arctic Animals:

Winter Wear:

Icy Science Experiment

2011-01-21T19:19:00.000-05:00

Eva has been fascinated with the salt sprinkled on the sidewalks around town and is always asking about it so I put together a simple experiment to see the effects salt has on ice. A few hours before we conducted the experiment I filled a small bowl with water and placed it in the freezer. When it was frozen solid I popped it out into a small pie tin and we set to work. (Someone was very excited about this!)

I let Eva sprinkle salt on the ice and after it sat for a minute or two we added a few drops of red food coloring. The food coloring allowed us to see the cracks forming in the ice.

Eva also made an observation that the ice was smooth and slippery where the salt hadn't touched it but rough where it had. That led to a discussion of how salt helps us walk on ice. Now I think Eva better understands why there is salt on the sidewalk!

Marshmallow Igloo

2011-01-21T16:25:00.000-05:00

We've taken off from Antarctica and headed up to the Arctic regions. It's just as cold but more people live here. We read this book as an introduction to the people who call the Arctic region home:

and then we made an igloo. To begin, I cut a styrofoam ball in half and glued it to a paper plate. Eva then went to work dipping mini marshmallows in white glue and sticking them all over the dome.

When she had the whole thing covered (or as close to covered as she was willing to get it and still have marshmallows left to snack on), I added a few marshmallows to one end to make the entrance and our igloo was complete!

stART- Diamond in the Snow

2011-01-19T06:32:00.003-05:00

We found this adorable book, Diamond in the Snow by Jonathan Emmett, at the library today and it's an instant favorite. It's the story of a little mole who awakens mid-winter to find his woodland covered in snow. While out exploring he discovers a diamond and he is amazed by it as it changes like magic within his hands. His woodland friends explain that it actually an icicle and show him a big tree covered with tons of icicles. That tree inspired our craft.

We started out by making a tree. Eva cut strips of brown paper and glued them onto a sheet of blue.

(She was singing to herself while cutting- love it!)

Then she squirted blobs of white glue along the branches.

To make the icicles, Eva tipped the paper and watched as the glue ran down the page. When it looked like icicles she set the paper back down.

Then came the fun part- glitter! She sprinkled glitter all over the glue and then we set the picture aside to dry.

Once dry we hung it up and admired the beautiful, diamond-like icicles.

Snow Ice Cream

2011-01-18T20:04:00.001-05:00

Jill over at Meet the Dubiens shared her recipe for ice cream made with snow and I knew we had to try it. (If you haven't checked out Jill's blog yet, you must! She is amazing!)
We started with a big bowl of fresh, clean snow and then added half a cup of sugar and a drizzle of vanilla.

After stirring that in, we poured in a cup of milk (I used heavy cream because I had some in the fridge but regular milk works too.)

Stir it until is looks like ice cream and then serve. Yum!

Indoor Snow

2011-01-18T14:57:00.000-05:00

Lately it has been so bitter cold, we haven't been able to play outside in the snow. So instead of staring out the window wistfully, I brought the snow inside! I filled a big container (I used a foil turkey roaster) with snow and then let Eva go to town in it with a bunch of kitchen utensils. I think we will be doing this every day- it was such a hit!

I put a blanket down to catch any snow that jumped out of the pan. After a few minutes Eva asked for her mittens and dove right back in. Lots of fun and minimal mess!

Snowflake Silhouettes

2011-01-17T20:30:00.002-05:00

I thought these silhouette trees were so pretty that we just had to try the technique. Rather than trees, we made snowflakes. I cut some strips of painters' tape and Eva helped design some simple snowflakes on a sheet of cardstock. Then we mixed up two colors of paint- purple and turquoise (Eva's two most favorite colors)- with a little water and some glitter. Eva then painted all over the paper.

When the paint dried, we peeled off the tape and discovered the beautiful snowflakes we had created!

They are hanging near our calendar and I love how the glitter sparkles in the sun.

Snow, Snow and More Snow... Plus Some Ice

2011-01-17T17:53:00.000-05:00

There is no denying that winter is here! We have been getting snow almost daily and the temps barely get into the twenties. It's cold but we are having fun!

Crafts
Snowflake Silhouettes- similar to these pretty winter trees, we'll be making some fancy snowflakes

Marshmallow Igloos- we'll build some igloos out of a tasty treat

Snow Painting- the lawn will be our canvas for this fun art project!

Activities
Melting Ice- we'll experiment to see what the best way to melt ice is

Ice Cube Trick- do you think we will be able to pick up an ice cube with a string?

Cracks in the Ice- using ice, salt and food coloring, we'll see how cracks form in ice as it melts

Frozen Bubbles- it's so cold out, even bubbles freeze!

Shaving Cream Snow- playing with shaving cream is always a tactile treat

Fun in the Snow- Not Just Cute shared this great list of things for preschoolers to do in the snow

Snow in the House- when it's too cold to play out in the snow, bring the snow in!

Cooking
Snow Ice Cream- Jill at Meet the Dubiens shared a recipe for ice cream made with snow that we a dying to try out!

Books

Life-Size Penguin and a Book Rave

2011-01-13T19:25:00.000-05:00

Eva received this life-size penguin for her birthday and he goes everywhere with her these days. In honor of him (she named him Big Daddy Penguin), we made another life-size penguin. To start, I traced Eva's outline on easel paper.

Then she set to coloring the penguin in.

When she decided he was colored in enough, she added eyes and a beak and we cut him out.

(Those are some star stickers on his belly- Eva decided he needed to be fancy.)

While we are on the topic of life-size things I have to rave about a set of books I got Eva for her birthday.

The Life-Size Zoo series by Teruyuki Komiya is absolutely amazing! Each book contains photographs of animals you would find at the zoo or the aquarium. The best part is each picture is actual-size! So some animals fit on a page and others don't even fill the giant fold-out pages. Eva loves them! We read each one several times a day. Besides the photographs, there is information and fun facts about each animal. (Did you know pandas poop around 100 poops a day? We do now thanks to these books!) There are about 20 animals in each book and the books themselves are quite big and hardcover with several fold-out pages in each- definitely worth the ~$12 they are selling for on Amazon. (Click on any of the books above and you'll be taken to Amazon.)

Footprint Penguins

2011-01-10T20:23:00.002-05:00

I love these adorable penguins! I still have the ones that Eva made last year hanging up. This year we made them to use as thank you cards for Eva's birthday presents. She insisted on a penguin theme for her party (big surprise there!) so these cuties were the perfect way to wrap it up. I painted the bottom of her foot with black paint leaving a small patch unpainted. I also dabbed a little orange paint on two of her toes. She pressed her foot down on white card stock and the penguin appeared! Once they were dry she added googly eyes and an orange foam beak (I cut the triangles from foam stickers she had so they would adhere without needing glue.) I hope the recipients find them as cute as I do!

Penguins A-Plenty

2011-01-09T13:38:00.001-05:00

Did you know the only land animals in Antarctica are penguins and seals (and occasionally people)? Eva is a huge penguin fan so she is thrilled that we have been reading more about her little web-footed friends.
Crafts
Penguin Footprints- we made these last year too but this year they will be used as thank you cards for Eva's recent penguin themed birthday party

Shape Penguin- we'll be creating some different penguins from various shapes and colors

Feather Painting- this is always a fun activity!

Life-Size Penguin- we'll turn an outline of Eva into a giant Emperor penguin

Activities
Penguin Waddling- can you walk like a penguin? can you walk with an egg on your feet?

Rock Hopping- another activity we did last year only this year we will take it outside

Hide the Penguins- Eva got a penguin Toob for her birthday and the first thing she asked to do when she opened it was to hide them so this game will be played a lot!

Songs
I'm a Little Penguin (to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot) by Victoria Smith

I'm a little penguin, short and fat
Wearing my tixedo without any hat
I live in Antarctica where I splash and play
Whales, sharks and leopard seals make me run away.

Have You Ever Seen a Penguin? (to the tune of Have You Ever Seen a Lassie?)

Have you ever seen a penguin, a penguin, a penguin
Have you ever seen a penguin swim this way and that?
Swim this way and that way and that way and this way
Have you ever seen a penguin swim this way and that?

(change out swim for waddle, slide, hop, etc and act out as you sing)

Books

I'm Featured Today!

2011-01-07T07:48:00.001-05:00

Stop on over to ABC &123 where I am the featured blogger today.

And a great big WELCOME to all of you stopping over from there!

Iceberg Hop

2011-01-06T19:06:00.003-05:00

Eva got several games for her birthday and Christmas and has really been into playing them so I broke out one I had made for her last year. The object is to move the penguins along the icebergs back to Antarctica. I made the game board by sewing on white fabric circles to a piece of blue fleece but you could just as easily make one on poster board. We used the penguins from Eva's penguin Toob and a big die I had sewn using felt and buttons.

Of course, Eva's favorite part is tossing the die.

She has also been loving this game:
It is a great memory game and involves her favorite animal so it is a big hit!

Welcome to Antarctica!

2011-01-04T12:57:00.000-05:00

Our journey around the world has begun! We have landed in Antarctica and it is cold!!!! Big fluffy snowflakes were falling when we arrived so we decided to catch a few so we could get a closer look. I stuck a piece of dark colored paper in the freezer while we were bundling up and then we headed out into the flurry to see what snowflakes look like up close.

Eva did a great job catching them on the paper and then we bent in for a closer look.

We saw that each snowflake had 6 points and that no two were the same. Later this week we will be making some snowflakes of our own.
When we came in and warmed up, Eva decided she wanted to paint a snow storm on her easel. I set her up with some dark paper, white paint and a variety of brushes and she went to town.

Guess it was really a blizzard!
We also located Antarctica on our map and globe and Eva colored it in on the little map she keeps in her suitcase.

I also made some tickets for our travels (thank you Deborah for the great idea!)- Eva loves them.

We will be keeping them in the suitcase too, along with her passport and map. (I still need to find a stamp for Antarctica so we haven't officially "checked" in yet. )

January Sensory Tub

2011-01-03T09:53:00.000-05:00

This month's tub is full of snow. Well, not real snow- that would melt! Our snow is made from packing peanuts, cotton balls and pompoms. Hidden in this frozen world are some Arctic explorers, as well as the animals that call the Arctic region home. There were also some penguins to represent the Antarctic region but Eva claimed those as soon as they went in. I added a few ice cream scoops for digging in the snow too. There is also a little igloo for putting the animals in but Eva swiped that too (she is very particular of late as to what is "hers".) They may make their way back into the tub as the month progresses but until then , there is still plenty to explore and discover.