Shaving Cream Toy Wash

I found this idea online and thought it sounded like so much fun!

Truthfully, AJ enjoyed the wash station more than his sister. She was not interested in washing toys. She got bored and decided to wash her shoes, some leaves, rocks, and finally stood in the pan herself!

AJ did take time to clean his cars and toys and then made a LARGE rinse station and played in the water. I would consider it was a moderate success... worth about 30 of playing time!

I got all the supplies from around the house and the Dollar Store, so it was cheap to create and not overly messy (when done outside). I think we might just do this one again!

Supplies:
Aluminium Foil Pans
Water
Shaving Cream
Brushes
Cloths
Toys to wash

Coffee Talk

I LOVE coffee. I have a special, Hazelnut cream that I buy at Wholefoods and mix it with my Fair Trade coffee and a little raw sugar. It is my special treat every day! I look forward to it. I don't let anyone else make it. I LOVE my coffee.

But, even more than my coffee, I love my family. And MOST days I prepare my special cup around 8am only to find a 3/4 cup of cold coffee on my counter around 3:30 in the afternoon. While I take great care in making my coffee, I rarely find a good time to actually drink my coffee!

Then, at Christmas I received a metal travel mug for taking coffee on the go. I used it for going out a couple times before I realized that I am ALWAYS going somewhere! Now, I prepare my special cup of Hazelnut, Fair trade, raw sugar coffee at 8am in my 'to go' cup, and go around the house all morning with a warm cup of coffee following me from room to room and activity to activity. I usually complete my coffee around 11, and it's still warm!

Just a tip for my fellow, busy morning coffee lovers!

Learning Shapes

Si learns a little differently than AJ. She is like her mama... kind of stubborn and likes to do things her own way! :) Consequently, she still has not learned her shapes! Aj learned his in two days, and Si has still not learned them and it's been MONTHS! To her, everything is a circle or triangle! I called a friend for some advise and she offered up a great game.

I cut out a bunch of shapes on card stock and outlined them with a felt marker -just to make them look pretty. I kept them all white, so that we would not get confused with color vs shape.

Then I took envelopes, cut the tops off and drew each shape on it's own envelope. I cut out four of each shape and used the following shapes:
-Star            -Heart
-Circle          -Square
-Rectangle    -Triangle
-Oval            -Diamond

Then I mixed all the shapes up and AJ and Si took turns putting them into the correct envelope. BONUS: This also worked on fine motor skills!

It was great! She still doesn't get all of her shapes, but this is certainly more fun than flash cards! Plus, it taught AJ self control because he loves to blurt out the shapes without giving her a chance to guess!


Happy Shape Sorting!

Supplies:
-A couple sheets of card stock
-Scissors
-Marker
-Envelopes

Categories and Measuring

I'm busy planning my week ahead (for once) and I wanted to start a unit on measuring with AJ. I was busy putting together a worksheet, when I had a brainstorm.

We are going to grab daddy's tape measure and head to AJ's stuffed animal bin. Then we will carefully (hopefully) measure each animal and have Si place them into buckets based on their size (i.e. 1 - 3inches, 4-6 inches, 6-8inches, etc). That way we all have a hand in the fun!

And, after all the measuring fun, we can teach Si her colors by changing the categories from size to color!

I'll let you know how it works out!

Supplies:
Stuffed animals
Tape Measuring
Buckets with sign on front showing sizes, colors, etc

Flour Power

Match box cars have been a staple in my home since Aj was just over a year old. And, on days when we were indoors with nothing to do, I would pull out the flour and let him drive his cars through it.

I would put a LARGE beach towel on the kitchen floor, put different sized  plastic lids, bowls, cooking sheets and measuring spoons out and put a cup or so of flour into each vessel. Then, he would load flour onto the dump trucks with the spoons and take it from one bowl to the other! It was great fun for about 30 minutes.

Then I would clean all the flour back into one big tuperware continer (to save for next time) and let him stand at the sink with the water running slowly and wash all of his cars, spoons and bowls. The washing was great for another 30 minutes of fun!

I speak of all of this in the past tense, because once my little barbarian, Si, came along the flour was inevidably EVERYWHERE and while it was probably more fun for them, it was a LOT more clean up for mommy!

Leaf People

I live in a condo, so any time that we can get out and get some fresh air, we take advantage of it. We load Si into the wagon and Aj pulls her around the complex looking at ducks and golfers (we live on a golf course).

The other day we went out for a walk and Aj started picking up leaves and handing them to Si and I like they were presents.  We ended up with a stack of leaves to throw back into the grass (because leaves are NOT allowed in my house) when I had a craft idea... leaf people.

I told Aj and Si that they could each pick one leaf to take home to make a special surprise.

When we got home, we rushed to the table where I pulled out glue, goggle eyes, crayons, pipe cleaners and paper. We glued our leaves, drew arms and legs and then glued on the eyes and mouth. Afterwards I cut them out and glued them onto strips of cardboard (I didn't have Popsicle sticks). Voila! Leaf people!

Craft Supplies:
Leaves
Paper
Crayons
Glue
Goggle eyes
Pipe-cleaners
Cardboard strips or Popsicle sticks

Learning about the USA

Memorizing the 50 States
Being a traveller at heart, it is important to me that my children understand the world, and seek to explore it. I've started by teaching my son about the USA and once we've completed the USA, I plan to move on to Canada (my home country) and then on to the rest of the world.

I started by posting a map of the USA in a learning corner. Next, was an attempt to teach him, and me, all 50 states. Thankfully, I stumbled upon the 50 States that Rhyme Song:

This was a GREAT, easy tool that helped AJ and I learn our states. We went stanza by stanza and in about a week we had it memorized. Now, we go over it about once a week so that he doesn't forget it. When we review it, we usually sing it together, very loud, and dance around. Si joins in and now she is learning her states too!

Here are the lyrics to help you learn it as well:

Alabama and Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas
California, Colorado and Connecticut and more
Delaware, Florida Georgia and Hawaii, Idaho
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, still 35 to go

Kansas and Kentucky
Louisiana, Maine
Maryland, Massachusetts and there's good old Michigan
Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri and Montana
Then Nebraska's 27, number 28's Nevada

Next, New Hampshire and New Jersey
And way down New Mexico
There's New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio...
Oklahoma, Oregon
Pennsylvania, now let's see
Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee

Texas and there's Utah
Vermont, I'm almost through
Virginia and there's Washington
And West Virginia, too
Could Wisconsin be the last one?
Or is that 49?
No, Wyoming is the last state
In the 50 states that rhyme!