In Our Pond

I really enjoy making felt foods.  My kids don't really enjoy playing with them, though.  They'd rather look for frogs or dig in the dirt than make and eat fake food.  I'm not going to stop creating it, though, which is why I put together this fun Smore set for the end of camping week.  Like the watermelon , these marshmallows have been something I've been wanting to make for several years. The Smore is very simple to make; although, the roasted marshmallow is a bit trickier.  Hopefully, I've explained it well below.  I hand-sewed my felt food, but you could machine sew parts of it.  I also made the unroasted marshmallows white and the roasted ones in cream.  You could do whichever color you want.  Fabric markers can be used to color burnt marks on the marshmallows, or you can cheat like I did and use tan felt.  Happy Crafting! SUPPLIES - 12" dowel rod - 3 shades of brown felt - white felt - DMC embroidery floss - poly fil stuffing - sewing nee

I don't know if it's possible to have too many letter tracing worksheets and activities when kids are learning how to write.  Whenever you can make it interesting and fun for them, it makes practicing their letters even better.  I now have alphabet cards for monster trucks, bugs, and ocean themes.  Today, I have a camping one for you! Just like the other writing cards I have, these can be printed and laminated to use over and over.  I like to bind mine into a little booklet as well.  The kids love to write on them with whiteboard markers.  The blank backside of the cards provides a little whiteboard for practicing the letter without a template. > > > Click Here to Download < < < These cards are very useful at home or in a classroom, but they're even better on the go.  Take them camping, work on them in the car, or stash them in your "quiet bag" for restaurants or church.  Be sure to grab my other camping educational printables,

Is there any food more iconic to camping than s'mores?  The perfect combination of roasted marshmallows, melted chocolate, and crunch crackers just seems to make everything right in the world.  For today's camping theme learning activity, I have another s'more printable with a focus on literacy.  First, I'd like to share some fun s'more themed products I found while preparing this post. So Much Smore to Do book   <>   S is for Smore book 1, 2, 3, Make a Smore with Me   <>   Smore Caddy Electric Smore Maker   <>   Plush Smore   <>   Blanket Smore Duct Tape   <>   Smores and Checkers Game I Love You Smores Mug   <>   Smores Card Game Smore Ornament   <>   Smore Socks   <>   Nightlight Smore Playing Cards   <>   Microwave Smore Maker The literacy printable features cute and yummy color pencil clip art with upper and lowercase letters.  The cards can be used in a matching game o

When I first started putting together summer themes, I knew that I wanted to make a camping week as well.  I grew up camping with my family, and we continue to go on a few trips every year with our children.  When I was a kid, we didn't eat the tradition version of S'mores very often, preferring a simplified recipe like just sticking the chocolate straight into the marshmallow and skipping the crackers all together. My kids have gotten to eat many more S'mores in their lifetime than I probably had as a child, so they're very familiar with the yummy dessert.  They're very excited about all the S'more printables and activities I have for you this week.  For what I've started to call "Math Monday," I'm starting with a marshmallow 10-frame. > > > Click Here to Download the Cards < < < This is a subscriber-only special. Please enter your email address to receive the password. Kids can place mini marshmall

After making the cute donut letter disks for National Donut Day, I couldn't wait to make another set in a different theme.  These were just as much fun to to create as the donut ones; although, I think the pink makes them even better.  For this first watermelon week, we've done math, science, crafts, and today is literacy (click the picture at the bottom of the post to visit all the activities). Just like the donut disks, I used one inch wood rounds and attached the letters to them with a glue stick.  I also laminated the front side of them with packaging tape .  On the backside, I placed a plain watermelon round (included in the printable), which allows the letters to be used for a matching game or for the disks to be used as math counters.  You could also print two copies of the letter page and put the same letter on each side to make picking them out easier when using them for spelling. > > > Click Here to Download the Printable < < <

I have been wanting to make felt watermelon slices for years, since my kids were 2, 1, and newborn.  Back then, there was a craft company that offered foam wedges in 2 inch "pie" slices and 4 inch "cake" versions.  I didn't buy them at the time, because I had 3 kids under 3, had just started this blog, and thought we were a few years away from wanting felt play food.  When I did decide that I was ready to make them, the store no longer sold them.  For years, I put off this project waiting to find foam wedges. Related: Felt Food Patterns When I decided to do watermelon learning activities this summer, I forced myself to bite my lip and just try watermelon slices without foam filling.  After looking at piles of felt food on Instagram and Pinterest, I learned that quilt batting will also give me a nice, flat sided, wedge.  I already had a big scrap of polar fleece in the house, so that's what I used.  Here are the rest of my supplies: Supplies - s

I was very surprised in my watermelon homeschooling research that I never ran across a watermelon life cycle printable.  There's plenty of stuff for apples, pumpkins, and beans, but I couldn't even find clip art the illustrated the process.  When I decided to use real life pictures, Montessori-style, I had a lot of trouble even finding images for each step.  These cards are a labor of love to my readers and my family, and I was very excited when I finished them. Like most of my Montessori-inspired printables, these cards are meant to be used in a 3-part matching activity.  Download the PDF and print off two copies of the watermelon images.  To make them into a 3-part cards, cut out the cards, separating the pictures from the label on one set, while keeping the other ones whole.  The child can then match the pictures to the pictures and the labels to the label. > > > Click Here to Download Cards < < < This is a subscriber-only special. Please

This summer, we're going Wild about Watermelon with at least 2 weeks of sweet, sticky fun!  I started out with the idea of doing a few themed learning activities as I've been doing lately with insects, monster trucks, whales, and other ones upcoming.  A small project has spiraled into a huge, but enjoyable, project. Today is the first watermelon post, and I thought I'd start with a math printable.  The boys have been enjoying their handwriting flipbooks , so I made them some Lego number tracing books as well (coming soon).  Since I was already doing a big watermelon theme, I put together some fruit-themed ones too. SUPPLIES - printer - cardstock - laminator - laminating sheets - scissors - binding machine - binding combs - white board marker  (or these nifty crayons ) These "count and trace" cards are adorable in their pink and green motif.  There are eleven numbers, 0-10, with items for each quantity.  The kids can count the watermelon picture

Ever since our vacation to the Oregon Coast last month, we've been talking about whales.  This week, I've also been blogging about them.  In my research for our trip, I ran into this awesome website called  Thirteen Whales You Can See in the Pacific Northwest .  As the name states, it lists the 13 species and talks about how common they are to the area and where you're most likely to see them.  If you're heading to that part of the country in the future, check out the list. For today's post, I thought I'd put together a quick roundup of some ways that you can study about whales with your kids.  This could be part of an ocean unit or perhaps a lesson on marine mammals.  To begin, here are some books and toys with a whale theme. Monterey Bay Aquarium Gray Whale   <>   Whales: an Illustrated Celebration Dolphins and Whales Toob   <>   Kevin the Underwater Adventurer Anatomy of an Orca Toy   <>   3D Whale Puzzles   <>   Sa

A few weeks ago, my family went on a vacation to the Oregon Coast, where we were hoping to see some marine mammals.  We ended up not seeing any whales, but saw a few sea lions.  The adventure to the ocean has gotten the entire family intersted in whales.  I'm going to be doing a few posts this week with ideas for learning about whales and using whales for learning about other topics. As readers of this blog have probably figured out by now, we love the Safari Ltd toobs of little animals sorted by type, continent, or habitat.  They're great for sensory bins, messy play, outdoors, bath time, and anything you can dream up.  They even fit in an Easter egg!  The little toys are even good for learning and homeschooling.  I have Montessori-inspired 3-part cards for nearly every toob that Safari Ltd makes (not a sponsor).  You can find all my printable matching cards by clicking the colored text.  I have also listed all the Safari ocean-themed toobs below for your convenience wi