God Bless Us, Everyone!

Merry Christmas to your family from ours!

Naters was 4 yrs old when we went to Disney World in September (the family picture in front of the epcot space ball).  We had a great time at Disney world (our first) and are already planning our second trip there for January 2013!  Recommend to anyone who is thinking about it!

Have a wonderful & Healthy New Year!
warmly,
becky

Christmas play-doh

Red is scented with Peppermint, and the green is scented with Mistletoe & ivy

Since i've been making the monthly playdoh again, she's playing with it way more than she was the store bought play-doh, which just makes me happy to make it for her!

scholastic warehouse sale

I think i did pretty well.  the entire back row are hardback books.  So glad i got the new Bad Kitty book.  Love those for the abc's in them!  Naters practically has the first one memorized!  So got these 19 brand new books for $75.67 (tax included)  I thought that was a great price since six of them are hardback!  I do admit, I really miss my border's book store and their coupons!  I think these are the first books i've purchased since my local border's closed...

thanks for looking!
becky

Christmas Crafts

These are 3 crafts we did today.  The angel handprint & footprint and the handprint on ornament ideas I got from pinterest!  Love pinterest!

For the paint i combined white shimmer and while holographic acrylic paints togethers for lots of shimmer & sparkle!

Thanks for looking!

becky

Advent Playdoh, Christmas 2011

Here is the Advent playdoh I made for Naters this month.  both have lots of Martha Stewart's fine glitter as well as polyflake glitter (non-toxic) the pink is scented with Happy Birthday and the purple is scented with Grandma's Dessert

Thanks for looking!
becky

Christmas Sensory tub, December 2011

This is Nater's Christmas sensory tub for this month.  I'm going to be changing her sensory tubs up a little bit.  I try to incorpoate them into whatever subject we are concentrating on the for week, two weeks, or monthly period of time we give to a subject..  She is getting older (4yrs 4mos old) and I want them to be more education centered.  So she may not have a sensory tub every month, but when she has one I hope that they we will more educational or be able to reinforce more of whatever subject we are working on.  Won't be too technical; but will depend on what materials i can find on the cheap (garage sales, estate sales, resale shops) or shopping with my coupons (Hobby Lobby, Joann's, Michael's, Lakeshore Learning, United Art & Education).  Will let you know how my ideas for this unfold.....

Pretty much everything in the tub is recycled from last year except the spoons.  Last year she got the colored rice separated initially, but then it was combined during play; so this year it's combined.  Thanks for looking! 
becky

December, calendar pieces, Christmas

Here are the Christmas Calendar pieces i made this year for December.  I let Naters help me pick out what clip art we used!

just comment here or leave me an email and i'll send you the word file or the jpg
Thanks for looking!
becky

Thanksgiving crafts

Here are two of the Thanksgiving crafts that Naters did.  On the tree i glued the tree, base, put the scarescrow together and the words together; then she applied them and decorated the scene.
on the turkey she loved putting the head together and gluing on the feathers!

Alphabet Sensory Bin

This has been in the making since May.  I actually bought the pasta on sale back in April or May.  I colored over 5 lbs. of the pasta in May using Wilton gel food coloring.  I've been purchasing, finding, copying things to go in to the bin since then.  We do Letter of the Week so I just thought this would enhance the learning since I made the Alphabet sounds treasure box last year.  I got the idea for this sensory box from Stephanie at Playing House.  This is the base sensory box and then i can add/change things to it for each letter using things from our alphabet sounds treasure box and also items i've picked up specifically for our Alphabet sensory bin!

So I'll take think from my Alphabet sounds box and put them into the alphabet sensory box when we are doing that letter!
Thanks for looking!
becky

Thanksgiving book shelf 2011

These Thanksgiving books are part of our daily reading for the next two weeks~
thanks for looking
becky

Autumn Fall spelling - alphabet disk pages

I made the wooden alphabet disks (bottle cap letters) like confessions of a homeschooler talks about on her blog.  Since I took the time to make them, I try to use them as much as possible.  With that in mind, I took some of the words from the Thanksgiving based preschool pack I've gotten off the internet and put them to use in the following pages for Naters to work with

Thanks for looking!
Just click on the images if you want to download them to add them into your teachings this month!
becky

Thanksgiving sensory tub, Thanksgiving sensory bin November 2011

Here is the Thanksgiving Bin that I put together for Naters this year.  Normally I do little piles of things.  This time, I put down the layer of popping corn, then I put down a layer of acrylic beads (leaves, pumpkins, & acorns).  Then a layers of some wooden beads, then sprinkled with sparkling poms poms, real acorns,  a giant amber jewel, some silk leaves, and a wooden bowl and spoon!  The popping corn was bought at Aldi's, and all the other stuff was purchased at (JoAnn's with 40-50% coupons, Michael's with a 40-50% off coupons or Pat Catan's).  I am lucky enough to live close to the craft stores and can stop by after work and use a coupon quick!

Thanks for looking!
becky

Thanksgiving Calendar Numbers, free file giveaway

These are the Thanksgiving (November) calendar numbers that i made for our calendar.  If you'd like the file, just comment or e-mail me

Thanks for looking!

becky

Halloween crafts 2011

Halloween crafts that Naters did.

thanks for looking!

becky

2011 Halloween Sensory tub, Halloween sensory bin

This is our 2011 Halloween Sensory tub!

Thanks for looking!
becky

Halloween Book shelf 2011

These are the Halloween books we will be reading repeatedly until Halloween.

Thanks for looking!
becky

rain forest books, rainforest books

These are the rainforest books I was able to find in the used book stores for Naters.  The only new one i bought was the Cat in the Hat learning series (i got the for 50% from Borders before they went out of business!)  The backyadigans phonics set was only $1.00 for the complete set!!!!  The new rain forest puzzle from lakeshore learning (on sale!) she has put together all on her own each day!!

Thanks for looking!
becky

rain forest number sequence puzzle

here is the rain forest number sequence puzzle i made up for Naters.  I print on card stock, laminate, then cut out!

If you'd like the jpg file for this, just e-mail me or leave a comment here and i will send to you ASAP!
thanks for looking
becky

Rain forest Calendar Pieces RAINFOREST

These are the Rain Forest Calendar pieces i made for Naters calendar.

If you'd like an editable copy of this file, just e-mail me or leave a comment here and i will send out ASAP!
thanks for looking!
becky

Rainforest sensory tub, Rainforest Preschool Theme Rain Forest

Naters is 4 yrs 1 month old.  Since I don't want to do an entire month of halloween activities, I decided to squeeze in Rainforest before we start Halloween.  In November we will do Fall, Leaves, & Thanksgiving!  This is the Rain Forest Sensory Tub that I made for Naters.

I wanted to use coffee beans because it's one of the major crops of the rain forest, but they are just too expensive.  I found these rich, earthy looking french lentils at Earth Fare and bought about 5 lbs for her sensory tub.
medium:  French lentils
additives:  two wooden bowls, wooden tongs, Rain Forest toob, frogs & turtles toob, and Tree toob
extras:  small porcupine balls, four diffent types of beads in the 1 wooden bowl (represents water), and other bead--red, orange, yellow, purple (different shapes & textures)
thanks for looking!
becky

Lakeshore learning pit stop

Last month near Naters' 4th birthday, Her grandma & cousin Lesley came in from West Virginia.  One our of little day trips was to Preston's H.O.P.E. in Beachwood, OH (a totally awesome park!) and since we were so close, I just HAD to stop in to my local Lakeshore Learning Store while they were still having their summer sale!  I help back and only purchased a few things--i swear i would like to buy everything in the store!

We got two puzzles (Rain Forest & zoo), Idestructible Pots & Pans (already have the tableware), Magnetic fishing poles (going to make my own magnetic games), rubbing crayons, a solar system poster, a magnetic double sided lap board and a school year keepsake storage folder.  Can't wait to start doing some thumbprint art!  We are looking forward to going back to Preston's H.O.P.E. (and Lakeshore Learning) soon!
Thanks for looking!
becky

Princess Preschool work

Here are some samples of Naters completed Princess preschool work

we did a glitter crafts (i flocked the background with flocking), she painted the princess with a paint brush & paints, and her work that she did from printables by Confessions of a homeschooler and 1+1+1=1

thanks for looking!
becky

Princess Preschool theme printables

Naters is 4 yrs old (48 months).   I found my Princess themed printables at the following wonderful & generous blog sites Carisa's Princess Preschool Pack ; Jolanthe's Knight Preschool Pack ; Erica's Princess Preschool Pack; and Kaci's Princess Printables.  I made Naters' own Princess lacing cards and number sequence puzzles using images from the internet and printed them on cardstock, laminated and cut them out.
She's still enjoying her princess sensory tub!

Of course, she has to get our her princess jewelry, princess dresses & shoes often to play with her sensory tub.  Ken & Barbie have also been seen naked in the sensory tub swimming!
Thanks for looking!
becky

On her bookshelf, Princess books, Princess bookshelf!

These are some of the books we are reading this month.  We got the 2 Do Princess books at Borders going out of business sale for 65% off!  the hardback disney & dora books we got for $0.25 each at a garage sale!  The other books were bought with coupons at Border's.  We read every day!
Thanks for looking!
becky

Princess Calendar pieces

These are calendar pieces that I made for Naters calendar for this month.  I was orginally going to use the pricness theme in August for her birthday, but then after we planned our Disney trip for September,  I decided to use the princess theme for September. 

If you want the editable publisher file or you need jpg file, just let me know and i'll send it to you via email.
I can also change the month header for you if you like!
Thanks for looking!
becky

Princess Sensory Tub, 2011 September

Naters is 4 yrs old!  she celebrated her 4th birthday in mid-August with a sleeping beauty inspired princess party.  We were lucky that her grandma Edith from West Virginia was able to come up for her party and visit with us for a few days.  It made her birthday all the more special.  For September, I made Naters a Princess sensory tub in honor of our upcoming trip to Walt Disney World mid month.  We are also going to be focusing on princess books, princess movies and of course all the wonderful princess themed preschool learning stuff there is out there.  I'll  put pics up in the next few days of what we are using!
Here is her PRINCESS SENSORY TUB!

Base:  tri-beads xmas green, 8mm faceted xmas green beads, pony beads opaque green, pony beads transparent xmas green, pony beads opaque lime green, faceted 8mm lt aqua beads, pony transparent turquoise beads
Tools: spoon, tweezers, pipe cleaners, small bowls
Fancy stuff:  clay alphabet beads spelling out Princess Natalie, 15mm berry beads, large pink faceted jewel, a bag of big bling princess shapes, 3 heart beads (Mom, Dad, Naters), a wooden castle I painted pink & purple for her, a small pony & sleeping beauty doll (her favorite princess), some pink butterfly beads, and two different type purple beads--lots of different textures in all the beads~
Thanks for looking!
becky

Zoo sensory bin, August 2011,

Naters is 47 months old.  Here is the ZOO sensory tub that I put together for her for this month.  There is so much material out there for zoo themed learning, I know we won't get to it all in one month!

MEDIUM (BASE FILLER) is 3lbs of Wild Harvest Universal blend birdseed for medium & large birds.  I bought this one because of all the colors & textures in the seed.  We will recycle this birdseed outside in our feeders at the end of the month!  FUN STUFF:  Wild toob & Zoo babies Toob (polar  & panda bear only), 3 small dishes (metal, wood & glass); wooden & glass beads with many textures & finishes.  I LOVE HOW THIS BIRDSEED SMELLS!  Instant smell of nature when she opens up the lid!
Thanks for looking!
becky
p.s.  I dont recommend the aquarium stones i used last month in her Ocean sensory tub.  The color kept coming off on her fingers even though i washed the rocks multi times & dried them completely before putting them in her sensory tub.  The  stones also scratched up one of our sensory tub containers badly.  Just thought I'd be upfront & honest with you all!!!

zoo number sequence puzzle

Here are a couple zoo number sequence puzzles I made for our zoo month.  These are super easy.  You can just print on cardstock, laminate & cut.  If you want thicker pieces, you can mount on thin wood, thick foam sheets etc...

Just click on the images and print on cardstock!
thanks for looking
becky