Valentine's gifts

These were Naters Valentine's gifts.  We opted to go non-food.  We are also working big on her with sharing.  She really wants to go to Chuck E Cheese; so I told her if she has 20 days of sharing her things ( we will mark it on the calendar) then i'll take her to Chuck E Cheese. 

She got a book "A Very Special Hug", some princess rings & necklaces, Hello Kitty Bingo, Dinosaur Train Pop N Race game (Like Trouble), and a Wooden Matching puzzles set for Opposites (similar to Learning Resources Match-ups).  I think she'll like the book and the dinosaur game best!

Valentine's week

Naters has really enjoyed The Letter V from Erica's Letter of the Week Curriculum.  I also got her a carpet this week, so she'd have a more defined work space than just the entire floor.  She really seems to like the
idea, and was asking what work she does at her desk and what will she do on her rug.  Playdoh, she does at her table (i have an office chair mat under her table so the playdoh doesnt get in the carpet--It works great!)

for her poke pad, I took two foam pads for stamping and hot glued them together giving her a about 1" thick padded surface to do her poking on.  She calls it her poke pad.  But needless to say it's so thick she won't poke through it and i feel comfortable with her doing her poke work at her desk, table, or carpet!
Thanks for looking!
becky

V is for Valentine's Letter of the week work

Naters is 41 months oldMonday we started with Valnetine's inspired actiities in her workboxes.  This week we are doing Erica's Letter of the Week Curriculum Natalie is really enjoying this week.  She did tell me she is getting bored with the do a dot marker stuff though, hmmm.  I'm very happy with her scissor work and her pre writing skills.  She's really come a long way since we started preschool at home this past fall!  With the bottle cap picture you see two letters off to the side.  when i put the letters in the bowl for Naters', I usually include two extra letters that she doesn't need so she has to think and not just do a matching exercise.  She does very well with it.  I'm happy she is letting me takes pics of her school work.  She will even say, "take a picture for your scrapbook"  I LUV IT!

Next week, the plan is to do Michelle's Valentine's Day pack
Thanks for looking!
becky

Valentine's Playdoh of the Month, 2011 02 February

Here is Naters' Valentine's Playdoh of the Month for February!
Pink is scented with Fruit Slices and has Martha Stewart fine pink & iridescent white glitters adeed
Red is scented with Strawbery scented and has Martha Stewart fine red glitter added
They are both very sparkly!
Thanks for looking!
becky

Valentine's Day Sensory Tub 2011 02 February, valentine sensory tub

Here is Naters' Valentine's Day Sensory Tub for February.  Fill medium is:  Great Northern Beans, Red kidney Beans, and Red Lentils.  Used various textured beads in pink & red colors, Pink spikey balls, felted & glitter hearts, faceted plastic jewels, red heart shaped buttons.  She has a container of various pom poms to add also. I let her play with this yesterday with just the beans & lentils in it and she played with it for a good while.  I know she is excited to see the added Valentine's Day items today!

Thanks for looking!
becky

Wonders of watercolors

Naters is 41 months old!
She's been asking to paint with her watercolors.  she's really been on a craft kick since we hosted our  Crafting Adventures playgroup here at the house on Saturday.  We've been doing something crafty each day which I know is good for her fine motor. 

Naters painted the dinosaur picture for her grandma.
Thanks for looking!
becky

Crafting Adventures Preschool Playgroup

Naters is 41 months old!
I hosted a group of 5 girls (aged 2.5 to 5 yrs old) with their Mommies here on Saturday morning.  We did five crafts and then took the girls to McDonald's Playland for lunch.  Everyone was worn out afterwards but it was such fun!  It was a great way to spend some time with Naters before I went to work that night.

1. decorated a craft stick snowflake (i painted them white, hot glued them together and attached a ribbon for hanging beforehand) with beads & jewels
2. decorated a cupcake for themselves and for their Dads (had carryout containers to get them home in)
3.  decorated a snowflake or snowman with peel n stick snowflakes and glitter glue (they could also use the beda & jewels too!
4.  made a foamie marshmallow snowman
5.  Did a painted footprint snowman (decorated the snowman with buttons & used brown chenille stick for arms.  Idea from Handprint and Footprint Art
We are getting together in a couple weeks for some Valentine's Day crafts, can't wait!!!
thanks for looking!
becky

Winter Weekend Crafts, January 2011

I've had this idea cooking in my head for a few weeks.  Wanted to build a snowman and then have Naters glue down some cotton balls for snow.  I little craft that we could display for the month.  I got the little hat for $0.45 and bought 3 sizes of styrofoam balls (more costly than i thought--but doable) and the rest of the items(buttons, beads, brown chenille sticks, glue, cotton balls, yarns & blue cardstock I already had on hand.  Naters was very excited to glue down the cotton balls.  I gave her a craft cup of glue and a paint brush showed her gluing down one cotton ball and I let her go to work!  I'm happy with how it turned out!

Second craft we did was to build the Gingerbread tree kit I bought yesterday for $1.00 on clearance at Michael's.  I thought she'd want to do the white tipped tree, but she didnt want any white frosting on the tree!  She had so much fun decorating this tree.  She did try to eat a piece and spit it out.  But the fun was in assembling and decorating.  I'd definately buy this kit again
(great for younger kids)
Thanks for looking!
becky

Love Lakeshore Learning!

At the end of last month, my best friend from high school came into town.  Kim has 12 kids and has been homeschooling for decades.  We shot down to the Columbus, OH store after Christmas last month and I picked up a few things.  Had a coupon so i saved $15.00 on what i bought!  She bought stuff too!

Naters has already played with the lowercase letter lacing beads and has given them the thumbs up!  I'm excited for spring since we now have a step 2 easel, and I've bought the tempera paints, no spill paints cups, brushes, and now the paint cup carrier!  We can have art studio sessions outside (no fear of paint on the grass!)
Thanks for looking!
becky

January games we are playing, 2011 01

We've been playing a lot of games; due to our winters here we haven't been going outside too much.  The games she's been enjoying are:  Lakeshore Learning Beginning Sounds Bingo, Hot Potato, Princess  Dominoes, and Froggy Boogie!

She also loves to play with her My Little Pony house & ponies and My Littlest Pet Shop pets with house.  Playdoh is a given, she plays with that multi times a day.  I let her have five cookie cutters, a rolling pin and one other playdoh cutting item (we change them out each week --she picks what goes in the bin!)
Thanks for looking!
becky