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Showing posts from October, 2015

f is for fire (year 2, week 8)

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Day 1 We're still sick (going on 3 weeks), so today was another day of sleeping and resting. Day 2 We talked about the time that Daddy's clothes caught on fire and practiced stop-drop-and-roll. Day 3 Bible study day- no school Day 4 We watched some fire safety videos on Youtube. Fire Safety Video for Kids - a song one that was engaging for the kids but not very deep Fire Safety Education Video - a big corny but covered a lot of topics in a simple manner Elmo: Fire at Hooper's Store - a Sesame Street classic A Day in the Life of a Firefighter - a documentary style video without too much realism.  A bit boring for the youngest ones but interesting for the 4 year old on up.  Shows details about their truck, gear, and training. Printables firefighter 3-part cards fireman preschool pack "what if" discussion cards fire safety book fire safety rules fire truck pack fire truck roll and cover Ideas fire science pretend firefighting fire ball

Skirts for Kids (with tutorials)

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I've been getting a lot of questions lately about how I make skirts for my kids.  Instead of answering everyone individually, I've decided to make a blog post. I made this skirt for VBS at our church this past summer.  The skirt is made from quilting fabrics, the planet on the outside and a swirled blue for the inside. This isn't the best picture to show off this repurposed dress.  I bought a skirt from Goodwill that was too large for Dragonfly and a long-sleeve t-shirt from Walmart.  I opened the elastic casing on the skirt and tightened the elastic.  Then, I sewed the casing back together and sewed the skirt onto the t-shirt.  With this outfit, she declared that she was "all ready for fall." Dragonfly is currently fascinated with squirrels.  When I saw this fabric, I knew it would be perfect.  This is her official fall skirt. Here's another look at the squirrel skirt.  I really like the fabric I found for the lining.  I started with a

DIY- mini ornaments

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One of my sisters is in college, so I thought it would be fun to put together a miniature Christmas tree set for her fall birthday.  I bought the tree and mini lights off the internet and made the rest. Snowman - I started with 6 small wood disks and painted them.  I drew the face and buttons on them and modge podged all the disks.  Then, I started gluing the disks in a line, sandwiching a penny between the disks for weight.  A piece of ribbon as a scarf completes the snowman. Gingerbread House - the pattern is from Imagine Our Life Pumpkin - The birthday girl loves all things pumpkin and usually has pumpkin pie and pumpkin ice cream for her birthday.  My ornament is a mini version of the pattern found on the American Felt and Craft blog. Globe- My husband helped me break this globe off of a Safari Toob lid.  I added a button on each end to create a hanger. Coffee - I introduced the birthday girl to lattes when she was in kindergarten so this ornament is especially meaning

r is for rain (year 2, week 7)

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Day 1 Today was another sleepy day with sick kids and lots of naps.  I made a chicken soup for dinner that was the most colorful soup I'd ever made.  It had yellow carrots, green broccoli, orange carrots, green peas, purple carrots, and yellow corn.  We talked about all the colors as we ate. Day 2 One of our focuses this week was the water cycle.  We read books and talked about it.  We also did the "rain in a jar" experiment.  The one on the left is the first one we made.  It has boiled water on the bottom, shaving cream on top of the water, liquid food coloring on the shaving cream, a seal of plastic wrap, then a bag of ice (frozen apples) on top.  I think the first jar looked more realistic but the shaving cream got in the way of the rain process.  It worked but it was way too slow for preschoolers. The jar on the right is our second attempt at the rain cycle.  This time, I kept it simple.  Boiling water topped by plastic wrap, which I had smeared with paint

h is for hibernate (year 2, week 6)

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We've had a bear visiting our apple tree/yard for the last few nights, so the kids have been very interested in bears.  This week, I changed my lesson plans to include a theme about bears, hibernating, and foraging. picture from wikia commons Day 1 The weather has turned cold and cloudy, so it was a great day for some hibernation.  The kids built themselves a bear cave by putting their blankets over the kids' table.  It worked pretty well, and they learned a few things about how to build a fort that holds together.  All the books and talk about hibernating (as well as the dark skies) must have put them in the mood for a long winter's nap.  Tadpole slept four hours and Skimmer and Dragonfly napped for three hours.  I got to do a lot of crafting. Day 2 I taught the kids a song today called "Five Little Trout" It has the same tune as "Five Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree."  The words are "Five little trout, swimming in a stream.  Telling M

i is for insect (year 2, week 5)

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So, I was really looking forward to this week's theme, but my children have been completely uninterested.  We didn't do a lot of schooling. Day 1 I hurt my back last week and was in a lot of pain.  The kids watched a lot of movies.  I think they may have watched Toy Story 2, twice.  I did try to do a bit of life cycle work with the kids, but I was in too much pain. Day 2 I went to the doctor while the kids stayed with a babysitter.  Afterwards, they had naps and I did crafts in front of a movie.  They also played outside a lot in the sunshine. Day 3 Socialization day for the kids.  Home again for naps and a bit of rambunctious play for the rest of the day. Day 4 We spent some time in our yard today looking at the types of mosses that grow on our trees. an example of the type of moss we found in our woods ( source ) Day 5 We finally got to some insect-themed work today! Dragonfly colored a ladybug and the parts of the life cycle.  After she finished

s is for seeds (year 2, week 4)

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Day 1 Today we explored pumpkins.  We talked about their characteristics (orange, hard, smooth), then opened them to see what was inside.  The kids enjoyed their sensory time, digging the seeds out of the pulp and washing them.  After nap time, we baked the seeds for a snack.  We kept a few seeds raw and planted them in a mason jar to watch them grow.  We also baked the meat of the pumpkin, which we plan to use for muffins this week.  We're still having beautiful fall weather so the kids have also spent a lot of time outside. Day 2 Our neighbor gave us two sunflower heads to extract the seeds from.  The kids really enjoyed the process.  We're hoping to plant a few next spring. Day 3 We had our weekly socialization time in the morning and then Dragonfly and I worked on her science notebook.  She practiced following directions by coloring the parts of the pumpkin life cycle the correct colors.  The file for the pumpkin life cycle can be found here . Day 4 Daddy was