Playgroup Project: DEF Week

Well, today's playgroup project did not go as well as last week. Firstly, Little Bear was in a mood. Throwing tantrums, yelling no, even hitting me. She spent a lot of time in time out today. Nobody every said motherhood was easy, right? So, this week was DEF. Today, we only did the D at playgroup. She did not want to do the others. Even when we got home, she did not want to work on her letters till late.

D is for Dinosaur

E is for Elephant

F is for Flower

I still have not decided how I want to make this book. Sheet protectors are to small for construction paper. I will figure out something I guess. Also, I decided instead of printing more letters to put opposite the art work, I will have Little Bear paint the letters. Gives her more exercise in writing her letters, plus she gets to paint, which she loves!

Also, I mentioned in this post about Little Bear's little ABC book. I hated having the white letter against the white paper. So I decided to glue the letter first on colored paper then cute them out and paste them in the book. I like it much better. What do you think?

Busy Bag: Pizza

 

I just love Busy Bags. I recently created one for my daughter; Pizza Making! I got the idea from Second Story Window. She actually has a bunch of good ideas on her site. I recommend browsing her site if you are interested in busy bags. I saved and printed out her template. Then I cut out four crusts and four sauces out of felt. I also cut out 20 pieces of each ingredients; pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers, and olives out of felt. This way she could make 4 pizzas. However, after she was playing with them I noticed I made them too small. So I cut out a couple of bigger pizzas for her. She was also upset she did not have enough ingredients to make all the pizzas from the recipe cards all at once. However, she still had so much fun!

Playgroup project: House

Last week, my playgroup started their ABC project. Of course, when the mom who organized it asked for other moms to sign up for letters, I jumped at the chance. I even signed up for 2 letters, H and O. However, I apparently was not thinking when I volunteered. I spent all night tonight cutting out all these little shapes for the house 26 times. The project will be cute though. I found it at First School. It is a house made up of shapes. After you glue the house together, you can decide how to decorate it or which season to put it in. Little Bear had a blast glueing all the shapes on the paper. She decided to make it rain, that way she could glue cotton balls and pipe cleaners. It came out really cute. I really hope the other kids will like this project as much as she did!

1st Stitches "Oh my!"

Today I got that phone call every parent dreads. I am at work and my husband texts me, "taking Little Bear to doctors, call as soon as you can." My first thought, was "OH MY GOD". When I call him he tells me she was running and fell. She has a gash on her forehead and he believes she needs stitches. Now, I am freaking out. I run to my boss, explain the situation and he gives me permission to leave. However, by the time I leave and get to the hospital, they are all done! As soon as I walk into the hospital room my daughter starts to cry. My heart broke. Its times like these I really wish I was a stay at home mom. I felt so guilty that I was not there when she needed me. My poor husband was shaking, he hates hospitals and he had to hold her down so they could put the stitches in. When we got home, Little Bear and I made some cupcakes ( I find cooking helps when I am upset) and we even did some crafts. Everything is normal now. Well, now I have something new to add to the baby book. I am just hoping these are her last stitches. I do not want to have another day like today!

 

First day

 

 

2 days later, without bandaid

Making Cupcakes!

Last wednesday, we had nothing planned and Little Bear was bored. I had some cupcake mix left over in the pantry, so I decided we should make some cupcakes! This would be the first time I allowed Little Bear to help me in the kitchen. She was so excited when I told her what we were going to do. She ran and grabbed her apron and the fun began!

 

I let Little Bear pour the mix into the bowl and she added all the ingredients except for the eggs. When she asked about the eggs, I had a vision of myself spending lots of time picking out egg shells, so I told her that mama would do the eggs this time.

 

Then came time to blend. At first she hated it. She covered her ears and said "mommy its to loud!" But eventually she got used to it. As you can see above, she really liked using the blender. However, her favorite part was putting the cupcake liners into the muffin tins. We used dinosaur liners because right now, she loves dinosaurs. I thought it was super cute that she was counting while putting the liners in.

Of course, no matter how much fun she had putting the liners in the tin, she had the more fun eating the cupcakes! She even ate 2 before I got the frosting on them. I would recommend this experience to anyone! I loved cooking with my daughter. We had a lot of fun and she liked bragging that she made the cupcakes. It was a great way to introduce measurements and bond together. I can not wait till we do it again!

 

Here are our beautiful cupcakes!

 

Here is the recipe we followed:

We used strawberry cake mix and followed all the directions on the box. However, we also added 1 extra egg, 1 box vanilla pudding, 1 teasoon vanilla extract and we used 1 cup of milk instead of water. For frosting, we mixed the strawberry frosting with the cream cheese frosting. The cupcakes were so good they did not even last through the day.

Busy Bag: ABC

I was browsing Pinterest one day when I came across something called a Busy Bag. I have never heard of that before. So I looked them up and I was AMAZED. A Busy Bag is a bag that has one activity in it for your child. That activity can be anything! Puzzles, worksheets, matching, anything! I found this to be a great idea, especially since me and Little Bear are planning to go on a trip to see my family. These activities would work great at the airport or in the airplane.
I especially liked the Busy Bag ideas from Rookie Moms . She introduced me to the idea of DIY dry erase sheets. It's so simple, print a paper and laminate it and voila Dry Erase! Her site showed mazes, however she did link to another site that showed the ABCs. That site was Confessions of a Homeschooler. However, it seems that the printable has disappeared from her site. However, you can use any search engine and type in "write abc" and can pick your own printable.

I loved the idea so I printed the sheets, however, I do not have a laminator yet. While shopping, I found these self seal laminating pouches. I was so excited! I now could make some dry erase sheets! I made sure to buy markers that were "fine tip" so that it would be easier for my 4 year old to trace the letters.

I decided to use 1 pouch for each paper, instead of having both papers in 1 pouch. That way, Little Bear can turn the paper over and have a blank side to try on. Best thing, after she is done I can wipe it and she can do it again!

Cub School: ABC Book List

Hello! As I mentioned in a previous post, Little Bear and I will be starting cub school in June. We will start with our ABCs. I got the inspiration partly from our playgroup which is making ABC books this summer and partly from Totally Tots. Totally Tots has the cutest little alaphbet letters and I thought “why don’t we make them!” Of course that led me to figuring out themes and books to go along with the letters. Some of the themes I took directly from the letter. So in the case of A, she made the Big A into an alligator and the little A into an apple. Therefore, the theme for the week will be alligators and apples. However, some themes I went deeper. Such as P for Parrot, I changed the theme to Pirates because pirates have parrots. Also, for letter V which is vegetables I changed the theme to Garden since vegetables grow. The changed theme is in ( ). I wanted to make sure each letter has 2 unique themes that will not be repeated. I then looked up and decided which books to read her. I think we will either do one letter a week or one letter every 2 weeks, depending on Little Bear herself. So all month long I have been busy planning. Here is our book list for the summer!

A: Alligator and Apple
How Do Apples Grow? by Betsy Maestro
Izzie Lizzie Alligator: A Tale of a Big Lizard by Suzanne Tate

B: Bee and Butterfly
The Very Greedy Bee by Steve Smallman, Jack Tickle
Good Night, Sweet Butterflies: A Color Dreamland by Dawn Bentley

C: Crab and Chamelean
Crabby & Nabby: A Tale of Two Blue Crabs by Suzanne Tate
The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle

D: Dinosaur and Daisy (flowers)
Dinosaur A-Z: For kids who really love dinosaurs! by Roger Priddy
Sunflower House by Eve Bunting

E: Elephant and Egg
Babar and His Family (Babar (Harry N. Abrams))
Eggs 1, 2, 3: Who Will the Babies Be? by Janet Halfmann, Betsy Thompson

F: Fox and Fish
Fox by Kate Banks
Rainbow Fish Big Book by Marcus Pfister, et al.

G: Goat and Goose
G is for Goat by Patricia Polacco
Duck & Goose, Goose Needs a Hug by Tad Hills (Author
Duck & Goose, How Are You Feeling? by Tad Hills

H: House and Horse (Cowboy)
In a People House (Bright & Early Books(R))
by Dr. Seuss (Hardcover)
Every Cowgirl Needs a Horse by Rebecca Janni

I: Iguanas and inchworms
I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff
Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni

J: Jaguar and Jellyfish
Jaguars (Animals That Live in the Rain Forest) by Julie Guidone
Jenny Jellyfish: A Tale of Wiggly Jellies (No. 23 in Suzanne Tate's Nature Series) by Suzanne Tate

K: Kangaroo and Koala
What Do You Do With A Kangaroo? (Scholastic Bookshelf) by Mercer Mayer
Koala Lou by Mem Fox

L: Lion and lollipop
If I Were a Lion by Sarah Weeks
Lola the Lollipop Fairy by Tim Bugbird

M: Mouse and Magnet
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (If You Give...) by Laura Joffe Numeroff
Magnets: Pulling Together, PushinggApart (Amazing Science) by Rosinsky (Author), et al.

N: Nest and Net
A Nest Full of Eggs (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 1) by Priscilla Belz Jenkins
Can't Catch a Butterfly (Mom's Choice Awards Recipient) by Michelle Zimmerman (Author)

O: Ostrich and Owl
Oh ostrichh won't you help me please? by Gabriella Richard
Little Owl's Night by Divya Srinivasan

P: Penguins and Parrots (pirates)
Perry Penguinn, A Tale of a Brave Family, No. 30 in Suzanne Tate's Nature Series by Suzanne Tate
How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long (Author), David Shannon (Illustrator)

Q: Quail and Queen
Mrs. Gambel the Quirky Quail by Summer Hays
The Recess Queen by Alexis O'Neill
Sylvia Jean, Drama Queen by Lisa Campbell Ernst

R: Rabbit and Rooster (farm)
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
Cock-a-Doodle-Doo! Barnyard Hullabaloo by Giles Andrea

S: Snail and squirrel
How Many Snails?: A Counting Book (Counting Books (Greenwillow Books)) by Paul Giganti
Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt

T: Trains (transportation) and Toothpaste
Big Book of Things That Go by DK publishing
Pony Brushes His Teeth (Hello Genius) by Michael Dahl

U: Umbrella and Unicyle (circus)
Who Likes Rain? by Wong Herbert Yee
Olivia Saves the Circus by Ian Falconer

V: Vegetables (garden) and Volcanos
Rah, Rah, Radishes!: A Vegetable Chant by April Pulley Sayre
Jack's Garden by Henry Cole
Volcanoes! (National Geographic Readers) by Anne Schreiber

W: Walrus and Whale
Little Walrus Warning - a Smithsonian Oceanic Collection Book (Mini book) by Carol Young
The Snail and the Whale
by Julia Donaldson (Paperback)

X: Xray (body) and Xylophone (Music)
Me and My Amazing Body by Joan Sweeney, Joan Sweeney
Ah, Music! by Aliki

Y: Yak and Yardstick (Measuring)
Kami and the Yaks by Andrea Stenn Stryer, Bert Dodson
How Long or How Wide?: A Measuring Guide (Math Is Categorical) by Brian P. Cleary

Z: Zebra (Zoo) and ZZZs
It's Time to Sleep, My Love by Eric Metaxas, Nancy Tillman
The Zebra Said Shhh by M. R. Nelson (Author), Tamia Sheldon (Illustrator)

Playgroup Project: ABC Week...

Well Little Bear's playgroup is doing an ABC book for the summer, which I think its a great idea! In fact, the whole ABC book idea made me plan our own ABC adventures starting in June. (However, more about that later.) For playgroup, each week we will be concentrating on three letters. This week's letters were A B C. We set up stations through the room so each child could go at their own pace. Little Bear wanted to start with A which was Ant.

 

I like how she wrote ant... upside down A T N.
We then made it to B which was for Butterfly.

 

However, we never made it to C for Caterpillar. She got distracted by the other children playing. So of course when we got home she wanted to finish her letters! So, I pulled out the alphabet printables I got from First School and her playgroup letters. I gave her the letters and little pictures to color. When she done with that, she finished the caterpillar.

She loves to glue! She then took the little pictures we cut off the letter printables and glued them to her picture.

 

We got a little notebook at the dollar tree. It has a felt cover and it is filled with white paper. The letters from the printables actually fit perfectly in it, so we decided to make a book just for her letters.

 

After she was done with her caterpillar, we glued the letters in her notebook. I skipped the first page, that way she can see the big and little letters together! I think it would be great to decorate it somehow, but I am not sure. Does anyone have any ideas? By the end of the summer, she will have about 3 ABC books and ready to learn something new!

Dinosaur Party!

I am posting this after the fact. My daughter turned 4 and what does she want for a party? Dinosaurs! I must admit at first I was skeptical, but I loved planning this! This was her first "real" party, with lots of guests (she is in a playgroup). However, a lot of the members of her group are younger then she is, so I had to find things to do that everyone can enjoy! So, now she wanted dinosaurs, but what kind of dinosaurs? So I opened up Amazon (I love Amazon!) typed in Dinosaur party supplies and let my daughter chose which dinosaurs she wanted. She picked Diggin for Dinos!

Which of course is a little grown up, but I loved the vibrant colors and the fact that it actually had the names of the different dinosaurs printed on it. The tablecloth has trails of feet and little fun facts on it. So for the games or activities I planned. I spent hours looking up activities for a dinosaur party. Eventually I decided to let the theme decide for me. A Dinosaur Dig! I bought these cute little skeleton dinosaurs from amazon...

If she was older, I would have gotten a dinosaur skeleton kit that had to be put together, but figured to hard for a 4 year old. Then I bought a bunch of tubs from the Dollar Tree and covered them in green
paper I had cut to look like grass. I filled them with sand I bought at Walmart.

I made the signs with Avery. I printed them on regular paper (my printer will not print on card stock). Then glued the paper on card stock to make them stick. I googled pics of dinosaurs for each of the signs. The children LOVED this activity. They spent most of their time digging up the dinosaurs, reburying them and digging them up again.
However, for variety, I also planned a Dinosaur Egg Hunt. I used leftover Easter Eggs that were camouflage, again bought at the Dollar Tree. I bought these tiny dinosaurs at amazon.

I was planning to make cupcakes and use these as cupcake toppers, but figured they would fit in the eggs perfectly! So I put them in the eggs and then put them in tubs with paper grass over them and filled with fake Easter grass. Since we were at a public park, I did not want to hide the eggs all over the park. This activity was not as well liked as the dinosaur dig, but the children did get a kick out of playing with the dinosaurs.

For the last activity I bought some air dry clay from Michael's and set up an area where they could make "fossils". I used the leftover dinosaur skeletons and tiny dinosaurs for this.

The kids loved this activity too. They spent a lot of time building things with the clay. For the food I wanted to go with the theme.

Jurassic Salad or Carrots and Celery. The carrots were a hit, but not so the celery.

Dinosaur Bones or Pretzels.

Brontosaurs bites or meatballs.

Sandwiches both herbivore (peanut butter and jelly) and carnivores (ham and cheese). I used this awesome sandwich cutter I found on Amazon, to cut the dinosaurs into dinosaur shapes!

Swamp Dip.... Guacamole with chips.

For drinks we had Lava Juice and water.

And of course the cake. I googled dinosaur cakes on Yahoo and found some directions on how to make a dinosaur cake. You bake a cake normally in 2 round pans. With one round cake, cut it in half and place it standing up on a cake board. I used frosting to keep it together. Then with the other round cake, you cut out the tail, legs, and head. Cover in frosting. The spikes for this cake were made with fondant. I bought the fondant at walmart. I rolled it out and cut out the triangles the night before. They way they were nice and hard, which made it easier to place in the cake.

The cake was a total hit!The cake was on a table and leading up to it were these cute little cardboard dinosaurs I bought at Michael's for only a $1. They came two to a pack. The cake box was also bought at Michael's.

As you can see, Little Bear was excited about playing with them and lost the T-rex's tail.

I also made favor bags for the children. I bought these cute little bags from the Dollar Tree. They came in packs of three, which was great! I let Little Bear pick the colors. Then I bought a dinosaur stencil book from Amazon and painted dinosaurs on each book.

I filled the bags with shovels, stamps and bubbles I bought from amazon. The shovels came 3 to a pack which is great when buying for a lot of children. I also put 2 tiny dinosaurs (left over from the egg hunt and fossil making) in each bag. I also made sugar cookies (using the sandwich cutter) to put dinosaur cookies in each bag. I bought ribbon and clear plastic bags from Walmart to put the the cookies in.

Since we were at a park, there was not much need for decorations, however I found the idea for little dinosaur footprints leading up to the party so cute. So I printed out a picture and then cute out card stock footprints. However, instead of taping them to the ground, I used sidewalk chalk and made the footprints leading to the party area. Then let the kids make "caveman drawings" with the sidewalk chalk.

When it was all said and done, the party was a total SUCCESS! I even made thank you cards for my daughter to sign for those who got her gifts. It helped her practice her writing, plus it was dinosaurs which she loves!

I made the cards using Avery and just printed them out at home. I had a blast planning this party. I was so happy that all the kids had a blast. Some, Little Bear included stayed in the party area the whole time and never even went to play on the playground. I can not wait to find out what she wants to do next year!