ABC and 123

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Summer Fun: Playing with Water

There is still one more week of school for the kids in our house, but we have heard of many friends who are already enjoying summer vacation. Hot days and water play are on their way! Here are some fun water themed activities and games to try this summer!

Create a water wall, similar to an outside marble run. There is a nice example to get you started at Playing By the Book.

UCreate put together a DIY backyard Water Blob. This idea was all over Pinterest last year and we are looking forward to finally giving it a try this summer.

Roll 6 and Splash from Toddler Approved is on our summer fun list. Simple, yet silly enough to be cool! (There are other water themed games included in this link)

Mamas Like Me posted several water games. We are especially excited about trying the sponge bulls eye.

A favorite summer camp standby with our kids is "Drip, Drip, Splash" played like duck, duck, goose but the duck-er gets to carry around a small bowl of water to drip and splash on the unsuspecting gooses.

There are also many great examples of Kid Washes around the web. Here is the one we made last summer. The kids are ready to get it out again soon!

B.Toys makes a wonderful water toy called H2-Whoa. It comes with 4 water pens that draw on 2 different colored board surfaces. The picture slowly fades as it dries. Perfect for indoor or outdoor water drawings.

A very simple idea for young children is to fill a paint can with water, provide them with large paint brushes and a stretch of backyard fence to "paint." This activity kept my 1 and 3 year old entertained for hours last summer.

Ready? Get set. Get WET!

Monday, May 27, 2013

Memorial Day Conversation Starter Activity

Today was Memorial Day in the United States. It is a day of rememberance for those who have died in service to our country. While my own children don't yet fully understand their freedom and the brave sacrifices that ensure it, we want them to begin to process the significance of remembering.

In the midst of our yard work, camp fire, and family wiffle ball tournament we took some time to start an informal conversation about the holiday with a drawing activity.

Materials:

Magazines

Scissors

White Paper

Glue

Pencils

Colored Pencils

Objective:

Kids will reflect on how and why we observe Memorial Day

Activity:

Cut pictures from a magazine

Attach magazine cut outs to white drawing paper with tape or glue. Instruct children to create a scene showing what their character would be doing on Memorial Day based on their understanding of the holiday. Let the brainstorming, drawing, questions, and conversation begin.

Share pictures and discuss the ideas the kids are trying to portray. An obvious extension activity would be to write about the finished pictures or to add conversation bubbles to the pictures reflecting what the characters may be thinking or saying.

Outcome:
With our own children the outcomes included: thoughtful conversation about what it means to remember, an interesting discussion about the differences between days of celebration and days of remembrance.; a richer understanding of our own family history and our great grandparent's contributions to our country's freedoms.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Clever Father's Day Gifts to Make and Give

The air is warmer, the leaves are back on our trees, the kids are counting down the days until school gets out, the plans for Memorial Day festivities are ready to roll and my mind if full of ideas we'd like to add to this year's Summer Fun To-Do list. It doesn't hurt to start thinking about some Father's Day gift and card ideas either! Here are a few cute suggestions to get your gears turning!

Turn your left over Altoid tins into adorable mini toolboxes like these from Alpha Mom.

Use the Soda Can Cover-up printables on The Idea Room to create a special case of cola and coasters for Dad.

Tatertots and Jello presents Dad with a tee-rific round of golf.

The kids at Four Crazy Kings used images from old magazines to make this Motor Trend Dad of the Year card.

Katherine Marie Photography has come up with some clever uses for chocolate on Dad's card.

Send your father's day wishes with a sweet treat in the form of Father's Day Candy Bars, Melissa from Max and Ellie has even made up a PDF for you to download filled with all the candy related messages and ready to print out on standard sized labels. Doesn't get much quicker or easier!

Kaboose has a cute I Love You Daddy poem and card idea.

Sarah at the Fifth Street Palace and her son made this fun fish gift bag, perfect for her fishing guru dad!

Ramblings of a Crazy Women shares the step by steps for putting together a Father's Day acronym card.

Mama Jenn made this decorative saying hanging with her daughter for her husband.

Dollar Store Crafts suggests an idea for framing a personalized word collage.

Running short of time? Try this Father's Day Coupon book from Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

Boys of all ages will love the outdoor adventure ideas in Jen Murray's new ebook, KidVentures! Make it a Father's Day gift for dad and a summer full of fun for all the guys in your family!

Monday, February 18, 2013

Snowman Suggestions: Math, Snacks, and Sensory Exploration

I am "snow" in love with this winter-y sensory bin activity from KatherineMaries.com. This must visit link also features some great snowman crafts and activities.

H is for Homeschooling shares some other ideas for a snow themed sensory bin.

Preschool Alphabet has a picture of a healthy snowman snack idea.

The kids at Under the Big Top practiced their names by making snowman with every letter.

Swamp Frog First Grade made a downloadable snowman to practice fact families.

Fabulously First Grade has another version of a snowman themed fact family practice activity.

Tons of Fun used the idea of stacking a snowman to practice number ordering.

Teacher Time 123 suggests building a paper snowman to practice measuring length and diameter.

Somewhat Simple is offering a free printable for one of our favorite dice games, this version is Roll-A-Snowman.

Pitner's Potpourri put together an activity to combine drawing snowmen and practicing multiplication facts.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day!

Children who know how to a foreign language will have many advantages as they grow older. To increase the new language readers and speaker’s abilities, practice and creativity will enhance learning.
St. Valentine is around the corner and I decided to make a new set of Spanish cards

for your word wall.

What can you do with these cards? These are some ideas:

Word walls cards can be used:

To provide reference for children during their reading and writing.
To support the teaching of important general principals about words and how they work.
To provide a visual map to help children remember connections between words and the characteristics that will help them form categories.
To foster reading and writing.
To promote independence on the part of young students as they work with words in writing and reading.
To develop a growing core of words that become part of a reading and writing vocabulary.

You can also sort words by:

the number of letters
the number of syllables
the number of consonants
the number of sounds
if they have a certain vowel
if they have a certain rhyme
if they begin with the same letter

Download word wall cards here

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Show and Tell #117

Gift of Curiosity linked up to our last party with a free printable valentine pack.

Growing Book by Book suggests 28 topics to get your family talking at the table this Valentine's Day.

Sparkle and Splatter shared how they put together a mailbox for their valentine's

It's Your Turn

If you are new to Show & Tell or need a quick recap, here are the rules:

~Post your favorite lessons, crafts, traditions, kid friendly recipes, field trip recap, learning games, experiments, DIY organizational projects, holiday related activities, or Ah-Ha moments.

~Direct link to your post, not your home page.

~Include a link back to us or include our link button in your post or sidebar.

~Please try to visit and comment on at least three links. This adds to the positive collaboration that makes our learning cooperative a success!

~Each week we will feature three links from the previous week's party.