This weather we are having has been glorious. We have been spending our afternoons wading in the hot tub and eating popsicles like it’s mid July. Please don’t take my sunshine away Mr. Weatherman. Along with outdoor activities, I have tried to keep K busy with some inside art each day. So if you need some inspiration to pull your kid out from in front of the TV, I got your back.
Wine Cork Clovers
Shamrock Cookie Cutter Printing
Nature Walk Collage
Coffee Filter Butterflies
Hurry up Spring, I am ready to get all Easter up in here.
One of the great reasons for having kids is we get to make them do stuff, right? “I can’t wait until they can do the dishes.” “I can’t wait until they are old enough so I can go to Disneyland.” Well I am glad I can finally use Kaili’s extremities for all my cool art projects I have stored up. Now she is old enough to “help” and she even said “thank you” after I showed her the final products.
I did let her free paint in between using her hands and feet for my own satisfaction, I mean it’s all about balance.
Art in our house usually requires a bath afterwards. But look how cute my her art came out.
I also can’t wait until she can do the the dishes and we can go to Disneyland, vacuuming will be helpful too.
“Go away mommy!” Kaili says that quite often these days and now I am giving the girl what she wants, I’m outta here.
We rented a house in Arizona through VRBO for a week getaway. The guys will be going to the Hawk vs. Cardinal game on Thursday and I will be lounging in the pool with a glass of wine. A little mind cleanse before my FET.
Shane and Wags left a few days ago for Seattle where they played downtown, went to the Seahawk game and ate amazing looking food, I have to say I was a tad jealous, oh who am I kidding, really jealous!
Albacore TartareCandied BaconBurger at 8 oz. Burger Bar
Meanwhile, I was introducing a few new tray tasks to Kaili.
Acorn tray tasking
Water transfer with medicine dropper
Kaili and I picked up Grandpa G from the airport Saturday afternoon, he is my wing man for the drive to Arizona. Before we left he wanted to represent the Walla Walla #12 at the Hawk game, so we made him this.
Wave it proud G!
I am more hesitant about leaving Kaili this time around than ever before. Maybe it’s because she is more aware, always clinging to me, or constantly asking “where mommy go?” Whatever the reason, it sucks. But, I need some time away so I have been preparing her for my absence. I made her this, aren’t I clever? In my defense I did most of this upside down. Nt like I was standing on my head but…well you get what I’m saying, I hope.
I will share pics of our Arizona rental once we arrive. Unless it’s a shithole then I won’t show you anything but I will tell you how fabulous it is.
For my last week of September we worked on the letter C, I threw in the circle since… well it starts with C.
If you really start thinking about all the things that start with the letter C it will blow your mind, so I advise against it. Here are some tray, table and art activities for your preschooler.
A tray full of C goodies to look at and manipulate.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom magnet activity. I cut out the tree and taped it onto a magnet board. After reading the book at circle, I invited the children to read the book themselves, putt the letters on the coconut tree as they followed along in the book.
Carrot tray tasking . Show the children how to use the tongs to transfer the carrots into the dirt. Left to right motion.
Circle collage on a circle
Circle Printing– Provide different circles for the children to print with. I really wish I had incorporated a few wine corks for this activity. Cork, circle, double C’s….damn it! I’ll have to do it with Kaili.
The past few weeks I have been working on Dinosaurs with the kids. We used our imaginations to take us back in time and explored a world very different from the one we live in today. I branched out a bit with the older kids and they were surprised to find that “prehistoric animals” didn’t just mean dinosaurs.
Bristle block printing on a Dino cut-out
Cut, color and glue the T-Rex together
Dinosaur sensory play in sand
Dinosaur Tracks
In other not so fascinating news, Kaili had her first dentist appointment. I was referred to a pediatric dentist through Shane and my dentist, I am not convinced there is really a difference. Well besides the waiting room…
Our dentist doesn’t have video games in his waiting room. Is there a rule that we have to take kids to a pediatric dentist or do all dentist see all ages?
The good news is that her teeth are fine but he told me I wasn’t supposed to be using fluoride on her yet. But but but our pediatrician said fluoride toothpaste was fine after 2 years old. Why is this so confusing?
He did mention that she has underbite and said she should see an orthodontist at age 5 or 6. She did just fine. Sat for him, opened her mouth when asked, closed it when asked, just like the perfect little angel she is.
She has a follow up appointment at 3 years with a cleaning and x-rays, the whole she-bang. I hope she can get through childhood without any fears of the dentist, clowns are bad enough.
What do you get when you mix equal parts cornstarch and shaving cream? We shall call it super messy but fun Foam Dough. I saw this on Pinterest and thought I would give it a try. I mean it can’t get much easier then mixing two ingredients together…right?
Well what the pin did not tell me was that it takes a lot of mixing until you reach the desired texture. I was elbows deep in the stuff and my classroom looked like…well a classroom but the sh*t was everywhere. So after all the kids took turns “mixing” it, it started to become firmer, less gooey and crumbly and I could see the light.
I added a little liquid water color
Before I left for the day I bagged the stuff up, I am curious to see how it keeps. I have this feeling it will be rock hard tomorrow but who knows?
I would definitely make this again BUT I would either A. put all the ingredients in a sensory table outside and let the kids do their own thing with it. Or B. pre make it in a big bowl near a sink and then give the kids the dough to manipulate. I think A. is the better choice. Then you can add in plastic knives, or play dough scissors. ,measuring cups, spoons, ect.
So this happened….Preschool initiation some would call it.
The bite didn’t break the skin but it came close. They told me she didn’t even cry. Funny because this is what I get when I don’t give her a cookie at 4:00 p.m.
Meanwhile in my classroom….last weeks theme was beach/ocean. After reading Rainbow Fish and Swimmy I put out paint for the kids to paint pre-cut fish.
They made an Octopus craft with cheerios. There wasn’t much crafting going on but they enjoyed glueing one cheerio and then eating one cheerio, so on and so forth. ( <–did you catch that? Pun intended. )
You can make Sea turtles with paper bowls or paper plates cut in half.
I took the fishing poles out of the magnetic fishing set , I wrote the letters of the alphabet on index cards and then taped paper clips to the back. After scattering them on the floor I directed the kids to “fish” for a letter. Fishing for the alphabet.
Using the same fishing poles, we tied on a paint brush and had them use motor skills to dip the paint brush into the paint and then paint their whales. Fishing pole painting.
Sea salt painting was my favorite. The way these dried left a salty ocean effect, the kids got into it.
Flip flop art. I traced a kiddos shoes and then let them water paint and decorate the sandal part however they chose.
This is my last month working, unless….well unless they just can’t live without me. We’ll see.
We have been busy and looking at my calendar I noticed we only have one weekend that doesn’t have anything scheduled through the first half of September. Now all of the sudden it’s August and I should be writing up the school newsletter and getting next months curriculum done but I have been bad about getting blog posts up so that will have to wait.
The last week at school we talked about light and colors. The kids became scientists as they discovered how light travels, they created colorful kaleidoscopes and mixed colors in different ways, the results were surprising and they seemed to have a blast.
I filled 3 empty jars with water and added liquid water colors, red, blue and yellow. They took the lead using a medicine dropper to mix different colors in an empty ice tray. They did this activity for 3 straight days, patiently taking turns.
Painting with 2 of the primary colors each day resulted in color changing fun.
Torn paper rainbow collage. I brought this activity out each day until it was finished. They worked hard.
Kaili enjoys herself at school. She loves her little friend Kaedyn, a girlfriend of mine and fellow teachers daughter.
Next weeks curriculum is Beach and Ocean, stay tuned for some fun ideas!
Beach Feet
I just got back from a girls weekend away and I will tell you all about it!
The Art of Thyming 