Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Day 31: Round Up





I can't believe it! We're DONE!

Thank you so much for playing with us this month. We had a blast!

If you haven't seen all the fantastic fun we had this month, check out the links below!

Day 1 : Cloudette
 Day 2: Now It's Fall
Day 3: Blackout
Day 4: Applesauce Season
Day 5: If You Give a Moose a Muffin
Day 6: It Could Always Be Worse
Day 7: Who Ate All The Cookie Dough
Day 8: Flaptastic Shapes
Day 9: Rumpelstiltskin
Day 10: Giraffes Can't Dance
Day 11: One Yellow Lion
Day 12: Lousy Rotten Stinkin' Grapes
Day 13: Walter the Baker
Day 14: Goodnight Moon
Day 15: The Lion and The Mouse
Day 16: Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf
Day 17: Nuts To You
Day 18: Brown Bear, Brown Bear
Day 19: White Rabbit's Color Book
Day 20: Maisy Goes To Preschool
Day 21: Jumanji
Day 22: Bridget's Beret
Day 23: Little Duck
Day 24: A Sick Day for Amos McGee
Day 25: Ice Cream King
Day 26: Happy Birthday to You!
Day 27: How Rocket Learned to Read
Day 28: Science Fair Day
Day 29: Mouse's First Halloween
Day 30: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Be blessed!

Heather


Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Day 30: The Very Hungry Caterpillar



READ.


Such a classic story book!  Just like Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?, The Very Hungry Caterpillar is an Eric Carle staple I'll bet most of us have in our bookshelves (if not memorized) and read often.  I know it's been a favorite for my girls.

The story is told of a caterpillar that hatches from an egg, grows, and eats and eats and eats until he is so full that he becomes big and fat.  He builds his cocoon, stays inside for more than two weeks, and becomes a beautiful butterfly.  It's the classic metamorphosis story.

PLAY.

Create a "beautiful butterfly" with your child that they can play with over and over again.  Follow the simple steps shown below:


My girls love to make these, and they only take about 5 minutes.  I love them because they aren't messy, and they don't involve too much skill on the parent's part!  We have quite a collection, and my oldest daughter Grace plays with hers often.  She loves to hold the butterfly by the stick and swing him around to flap his wings.

It is also fun to make each one unique and different.  One thing we have done is make a butterfly for everyone in the family.  The kids have fun deciding which colors, patterns, and designs best reflect each person.  So fun!

EAT.

Make a healthy caterpillar for lunch!

Take a large strawberry and slice to create his head.  Next, create his eyes by using little bits of pineapple cut into circles and place sliced green jelly belly candies in front.  Form his body with green grapes , carrot feet, raisin mouth, and ham antennae.  He is walking on an oatmeal ground and taking in the cheddar cheese sun! 


Enjoy this post?  Check out the rest of our series!


Thanks for following along with us!!


  




Monday, October 29, 2012

Day 29: Mouse's First Halloween


One of our favorite times of year has to be Autumn.  With Charlie's first year of preschool under way, his farm preschool is the perfect spot to catch all things nature. It even has it's very own pumpkin patch!  We traveled there last weekend and read Mouse's First Halloween to go along with it.


On the quest to discover all the sounds of Halloween, Mouse stumbles upon a friendly pumpkin. In honor of this carved creation, I thought it only fitting to feature pumpkin carvings!

First, pick your pumpkins

Then, wash and admire their beauty.

 Prepare the workspace.

This is the perfect time to get your kids involved.  Draw a pumpkin shape and let them draw the perfect pumpkin face for you to carve.

Charlie's perfect pumpkin.


And here is is come to life! (Why yes, that's a birthday candle inside...)

Mommy's classic

 The Jack O'Lantern Family

Carving pumpkins is always a fabulous tradition. Take it one step further, let your kids get creative and draw what they want you to carve even if it's not "perfect."  Swooped eyes and a crooked smile are all the better! If they are still too little, consider stickers, paint, and crayons! 

Do you love to carve? What's the greatest you've seen? (And Mr. Goomba is a hint at our Halloween costume this year...)

Samantha at The Peanuts Gang


Sunday, October 28, 2012

Day 28: Science Fair Day


Hello friends!

I can't belive I'm writing my last post for this series! We've been having so much fun!

Our book for today is Science Fair Day by Lynn Plourde.


This is a very cute story about a little girl who might be just a little bit TOO curious, at least on Science Fair Day!

Abbey LOVES science experiments. I ask her every day what she did at school, and usually get "nothing" or "I don't remember" (I think she's training me for high school). BUT, the day they did Sink-or-Float, she went on and on about it. She has so much fun exploring the world around her.

I found this little magnet set on clearance (woot!) at Target not too long ago.

It came with three little magnets, and some goodies to explore them with.

The magnet stand was great for letting Abbey see how the magnets attract or repel eachother.

It was even better when she got to make the guy "float" over the table!

We dug around in the junk drawer, found a bunch of stuff, and set up a little experiment.

First Abbey predicted if the item she was testing would stick, or not stick. Then we tested each object to see what happened. Apparently she didn't have much faith in these magnet things!



Isn't exploring fun?


Just joining in? Make sure you check out the rest of the series!

Be blessed!

Heather




It's A Long Story: blogfacebooktwitter

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Day 27: How Rocket Learned to Read

READ.
By Tad Hills

How Rocket Learned to Read is an adorable book about a dog who meets a little bird who happens to be teaching a class right in his favorite napping spot.  Rocket and the bird meet up every day, and the bird teaches Rocket his letters, reads him stories, and inspires him to love learning.  When winter comes, the bird flies south for the winter, leaving Rocket to practice his letters and wait for the bird to return.  They develop a beautiful friendship, and Rocket finally learns to read.


PLAY.
Take a few moments and practice your letter sounds with those magnetic letters that most of us have on the fridge.  Right now, my daughter is at the beginning stages of reading and knows her letter sounds well.  

Use a simple word like "cat", and practice moving new letters in front of the "at" and ask your child to sound out the new word.  Since they will be so similar to each other, it will be fun for your child to sucessfully read so many words in a row.

Try the same thing with different word endings, or by moving vowels in and out of the middle of simple words.

EAT.


Make the alphabet for snack time!  Slice a banana into 21 sections, and then find something else, like celery or perhaps apples or graham crackers, to use for your vowels.  Next, find a plastic bag, snip off a tiny piece of the corner, and fill with several tablespoons of peanut butter.


Before piping the letters onto each space, work the peanut butter around in the bag using your fingers until it softens a bit.  It will come out much easier that way.


Before eating, here are a few things you can do with your child:

a.  Ask him to point to the first letter in his name.
b.  Ask her to spell her name by pointing to each letter.
c.  Ask him which letter makes the sound __(fill in the blank)___.
d.  Point out the vowels and explain that there is a vowel in every English word.  ("Y" is also used as a vowel in certain cases)
e.  Use your imagination.  

Kids will love this tasty alphabet snack!

  








Friday, October 26, 2012

Day 26: Happy Birthday To You!


Today is all about birthdays! This month is a big birthday month for members of our close family and so we love to celebrate all month long. I thought it only fitting to capture it with this book:



“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” 

I thought it might be fitting to include some wonderful ideas from Pinterest on how to celebrate special birthdays in your own home! Finding traditions that work for your family are special and fun. My favorite tradition in my family (from when I was a little girl myself) is that on the morning of your birthday, your "breakfast" is a tower of Hostess treats - cupcakes, Suzy Q's, twinkles, etc. with a rousing birthday song & candles. My boys were literally shaking last night as we ate these delicious treats.




How about a beautiful balloon wreath when you enter your home?











Celebrate milestones in a big way!


Do you have special birthday traditions that you love to pass on to your kids now? How do you make the birthday boy or girl feel extra special?

Samantha at The Peanuts Gang



Thursday, October 25, 2012

Day 25: Ice Cream King


Hi friends!

I can't believe we're almost to the end of the month! I hope you have been having as much fun as we have!

Today's book is another library favorite, The Ice Cream King by Steve Metzger. It's a cute story about a little boy who get's to have his own ice cream world, but discovers that it's no fun without someone to share it with.
We have a tradition around here called Daddy Queen (like Dairy Queen, if you're not familiar). My dad started it when I was little, and now we're passing it on to Matt. Basically, instead of going out for fancy ice cream treats, you take a trip to the grocery store and stock up on all sorts of ice cream and goodies. Making your own fancy ice cream is so much more fun!

What could be better than seeing all of these goodies and knowing that you get to pick whatever you want for your ice cream. This is certainly not an every night dessert, but it's fun every once in a while.

Abbey chose Strawberry ice cream with pretzel M&Ms, brownie pieces, chocolate syrup and whipped cream.

Mommy went with strawberry ice cream, brownies, strawberries and whipped cream.

and Daddy doesn't believe that fruit and ice cream should go together (he's obviously wrong), so he went with vanilla ice cream, brownies, M&Ms, chocolate/caramel syrup and whipped cream.

Now, dig in!


Yum!


Just joining in? Make sure you check out the rest of the series!

Be blessed!

Heather




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