Apple Pie Playdough

I made a fresh batch of playdough especially for apple week.  Rather than putting in food coloring or Kool-Aid, I just added a few shakes of cinnamon and nutmeg.  It has a nice crust color to it and it smells heavenly!  Eva set out with her rolling pin, a few small pie tins and some pom pom "apples" and got to baking.

Greetings Earthlings

Today Eva was transformed into a creature from outer space.  We made this cute alien headband using green and white paper, pink pipe cleaners and markers.  To start, I cut two strips of green paper and two circles.  Eva decorated them with markers.  (I got a new pack of Crayola markers at Walgreens for $3 and after a $3 rebate they were free!)

The circles will become part of the alien's eyes.  I cut out two white circles to also be part of the eyes and Eva drew the iris on each.

We then glued the eyes together.

I curled the pipe cleaners around one of the markers and stapled an eye to each.  Next I stapled the other end of the pipe cleaner to the green strips.  Finally I fitted the headband to Eva's head.  Apparently even aliens say "cheese" when they see a camera.

We also created a night sky in our exploration station.  I covered the window seat with white paper that we colored with all sorts of blue, black and purple crayons. 

Eva has been adding start stickers to the sky.  We have been counting them all together and counting how many there are of each color.  Later in the week, I may connect a few to make our own constellations (if they aren't all in a straight line like they are now.)

Where Do You Live?

This is a fun animal sorting game that I made for Eva.  I took stickers of animals that live in the jungle and ones that live in the farm and stuck them to card stock.  I cut them out and on two other sheets of card stock drew jungle and farm scenes.  Eva could then decide where each of the animals lives.

After sorting the animals, Eva started making up stories about them and even had a few of the jungle animals visit the farm.  Gotta love toddler imaginations!
We went to our zoo to look for jungle animals too but my camera batteries dies within minutes of arriving.  We did find these two (Bill and Roscoe).

Thankfully we have another zoo trip planned for today.  We will be heading to this zoo with Grandma- I hope we can find some jungle animals there!

Picnic Planning

This week we will be focusing on one of summer's great activities- picnics!

Crafts
Placemat- we'll make reusable placemats for eating outside

Ants- no picnic is complete without a few of these visitors

Watermelon- half circles and Q-tips will help us make a replica of Eva's favorite summer fruit

Activities
Picnic in the Park- we'll pack a lunch and head to the park

Cooking
Eva will help make our lunch for the picnic in the park, including making strawberry freezer jam for our sandwiches

Pretend Play
Teddy Bears' Picnic- we'll make a picnic lunch for our furry friends

Songs
The Ants Go Marching
Teddy Bear Picnic
We're Going on a Picnic

Books
          

What's New Pussy Cat?

I don't know about your toddler, but mine loves to pretend to be different animals.  Throughout the day she rotates between being a penguin, turtle, duck, bear and just about any other animal she can come up with.  When she started pretending to be a cat (stuck in a tree, of course) I quickly whipped up some paper ears (black construction paper triangles taped onto a long strip of paper, fitted to her head) and a tail (a circle of black construction paper, cut in a spiral and taped to her bottom).   I drew on some whiskers too with a little eyeliner to complete the look.

Meow!

Little Veterinarian

Dr. Eva's animal hospital is open for business.  We spent the afternoon caring for sick dogs, rabbits and even a frog.  Eva gave each animal a thorough examination

and then they got to rest a little.

Our friend Miss Jenny stopped by (thanks for reading our blog!) and brought Eva some stickers.  She used the pet stickers to create a fun little scene with Daddy (thank you for reading the blog too!).