Some of This & Some of That

Ghost Shirt

2011-10-22T12:08:00.001-06:00

Thanks for still following me. Life sometimes gets in the way of all of the things we want to do, like blogging. I still plan on posting occasionally, but it will be few and farther between posts. But if your here, thanks for sticking with me!

This cute little ghost shirt is adorable. I saw this post on pinterest and I really wanted to make one. I had the felt and the ribbon on hand so the only cost of this project was the white shirt and that was $3.88 from Walmart.

It only took me about 10 minutes to pull it together. Cut your felt, pin it and sew it. Easy Peasy! The bow is not actually sewed onto the shirt. It is attached with a safety pin. That way I can take it off after Halloween and use the shirt as a layering shirt.

Just wanted to pass along a fun idea!

Bobcat Trail

2011-08-29T11:01:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to share, incase any of you are cubscout moms! I made up this little handout to give my boys, who are entering Wolves. It's the first 7 requirements to passing off the Bobcat Trail. The only thing it does not cover is the Child Protection Exercises. Click on the image above to download.

I am hoping the boys will keep them and refer to them often as a reminder of all the things a cubscout stands for!

Make a Bouncy Ball

2011-07-04T16:28:00.001-06:00

This was a fun little project. I got the idea and instructions off of The Idea Door. They were not very bouncy :(. The kids loved doing it though and played with them for hours. Super fun project for your science lover. The only ingredient I didn't have on hand was Borax. If you don't have Borax in your house, you will want to make sure to get some. It's great stuff!

River of Time Trilogy

2011-06-22T18:17:00.001-06:00

I love to read! It's my favorite past time. I don't get to do much of that during the school year, but I've done a lot of it this summer. I've read a bunch of good books. I seem drawn to Young Adult Fiction this summer.

This trilogy, River of Time, hooked me with the first book! And dang it all, I'm just about ready to commit to not reading trilogies, because I go crazy wondering what is going to happen in the next book. Luckily, the third book, Torrent, comes out in September of this year! (I won't really stop reading trilogies, just wait for them to all be out!)

The books are about teenage sisters who accidentally find a way to travel through time. They travel back to 14th Century Italy. They come during a time of violent war and find themselves fighting for their lives. They both learn a lot about themselves there. They also learn about love!

The books are action packed and keep you anticipating every move that Gabi will make. Whether she is fighting for her life or fighting for the man of her dreams. The characters are rich and full of depth. I'm especially fond of Luca. Which is slightly funny as he is not the main love interest. However, I just like his character immensely.

It's a beautifully portrayed piece of historical fiction. I am attached to the characters and find them entertaining. I love the girls, because they are strong women and I think that is important to portray to young girls.

Overall, this is a great summer read. I would recommend them to any teenage girl! If you have read it, I would love you to comment and hear what you thought!

Wooden Spoon Puppets

2011-06-17T09:05:00.000-06:00

This was a fun and cheap project. I picked up 4 packs of wooden spoon s at the dollar store. Turned the kids loose with acrylic paint and craft supplies. And wala, we have our very own wooden puppet brigade! This was the best picture I could get with all of them. I had 4 pairs of hands behind the theater, so it was a little squished!

This project took up several hours, because after the puppets were done, we had to have a puppet show!

My little boy was doing Potter Puppet Pals! It was hillarious. It's fun to see how the kids will us their imagination and the things they come up and oh, the things they say! This was a great boredom buster and it cost me $2.00! That makes it even better!!

Tangled Party Favors

2011-06-09T21:59:00.000-06:00

How cute are these? I can take no credit for them. My cute sissy-in-law Maggie made them for my little girls Tangled birthday party. I can hardly wait to see all the little girls faces when they see them!

Would you be intersted in a tutorial? I bet I could get her do one if there is enough interest. I think she's done all of the princesses. Leave some comment love if your interested.

What a GREAT and YUMMY idea!!

2011-05-27T08:18:00.000-06:00

Have you seen Pintrest? I'm kinda hooked! Well, looking at it anyway. I'm afraid to get started because I am afraid it will become an obsession! I saw this awesome idea on there and had to share! All you do is pour some Capri Sun into a popsicle mold and add sliced fruit. It's so pretty, I don't know if I would eat it!

If you haven't checked out Pintrest, you must! It is a wealth of ideas!!

Easy and Cheap Graduation Gift

2011-05-25T08:26:00.000-06:00

I spent 3 years recently serving in the Young Women's program in our church. This year I've been hit with a wave of graduates! Which is good, but it can get expensive. The dilemma I was facing, do I give them all 5 dollars, and really what is 5 bucks in the scheme of things or do I come up with something fun and affordable I can give to everyone. I opted for fun and affordable! I went with the old adage, "just popping in", but there was a lot of fun stuff that fell under the word pop.

I filled each bucket with fun crinkly paper and then added the goods. Everything here came from the dollar store, even the cute buckets! We have Otter Pops, Ring Pops, Pop Rocks, popcorn and soda pop! I also considered, Cracker Jacks, Blow pops, Tootsie pops, bubble gum, because it goes POP! You could go a lot of different directions with this. Each basket cost me about $6.00 to make. You could go way cheap, and just do it and give out single items. Or use a cute cellophane bag and put in a single packet of popcorn, a single pop rock and a tootsie pops. Tie it up with cute ribbon and a tag. Perfect, easy and cheap!

I used glue dots to attach the tag to a colored Popsicle stick. Then I used glue dots again to attach the Popsicle stick to the backs of the popcorn boxes.

The best part is, that these can be used for anything. Teacher appreciation, neighbor gifts, birthday gifts, and just about anything you might want to celebrate!

2011-05-06T08:03:00.000-06:00

I really want to win this. That's why I'm posting about it here on the blog! Some of you know that I am a food storage junkie!! However, I don't yet have an electril mill, which is sad, because I have lots of wheat! I'm to lazy to use a hand grinder so I just buy flour. I figure if we ever need the wheat, we'll just eat it as berries or break out the handgrinder :). Go to Take It From Me for a chance to win one of these babies! I'm crossing my fingers for this one!

Put Me in the Zoo

2011-05-04T23:55:00.000-06:00

Today we read Put Me in the Zoo. Then we put some dots on our faces with face paint.

The kids loved it! It was a lot of fun.

Fun With Milk

2011-04-29T00:12:00.000-06:00

We have been doing a farm unit this week. The kids have been loving it. We talked today about cows and milk! We used whipping cream to make butter. We finger painted a cow picture with pudding and we let the kids make a mess with a glass of milk. Definitely very messy, but oh so fun! I just hope they don't do it at the dinner table. The kids loved it!

String Art

2011-04-28T14:04:00.000-06:00

Super easy and fun, as long as the kids are willing to get messy! Take some white glue and water it down a bit. Have the kids pieces of string into the glue and then use their fingers to squeeze the excess off the string. Then they can make a picture with the string! It's fun and easy art!

Rock Pets for Earth Day

2011-04-21T13:34:00.000-06:00

We made these cute little guys yesterday. We celebrated Earth Day yesterday due to an Easter party today. The kids loved painting them and were so excited to take them home!

Chick Keepsake

2011-04-19T18:08:00.000-06:00

First of all, sorry about the bad picture. I took it with my cellphone. I forgot my camera today and I was hurrying quick to catch a picture of these cuties! I found the template on Kaboose. They have some great ideas on here for Easter. I may be doing a few more of their projectes between now and Sunday!

Coffee Filter Umbrellas

2011-04-15T23:09:00.000-06:00

These were fun to make. We had these coffee filters (can't remember the specific style) that were quite small on top. They were perfect to make umbrellas out of. We gave the kids watercolors and had them paint them (the paint bled through to the opposite side) and slid a pipe cleaner through the top for the handle. Easy and cute!

Sour Cream Banana Bread

2011-04-12T13:16:00.000-06:00

First of all, I have to say, that I don't really care much for banana bread. I don't really like banana's. I have to be in the right mood to eat them. My sister made this bread and asked me try it, and it was AMAZING! I can't really taste the banana's, and it is very moist and crumbly. It reminds me more of a pound cake! Oh, it's so good! This is my new recipe for banana bread!

Sour Cream Banana Bread

1 cup Margarine

1 & 1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 & 1/2 cup mashed bananas

4 cups + 2 Tbsp. flour

1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 & 1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup walnuts chopped (optional)

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat. Add bananas and beat. Mix dry ingredients together in a small bowl and add to the creamed mixture. Add sour cream, beat until smooth, stir in nuts. Pour batter into 2 large greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. To test for doneness insert a sharp knife into the center of the bread. If it comes out clean the bread is done.

This bread is very moist and freezes well.

Volcano

2011-04-11T08:01:00.000-06:00

I think, this one might be my very favorite page yet. Although, the W page is going to be way cute too. And of course, we had to make volcano's out of baking soda and vinegar. The kids really enjoyed the V week.

T is for......

2011-04-06T07:59:00.002-06:00

Turkey!!

Plant a Garden

2011-04-05T07:17:00.000-06:00

I'm skipping around a bit. I have a lot of posts that I would love to do, but I can't seem to keep up with my life!! Thanks for sticking around even when I only post once a week :).

It's warm where we live. We've been in the 70's for the past week. It's been wonderful. We've been talking about spring and how things grow. Last week we planted veggies. The kids loved it. The cute planter sticks came from Oriental Trader.

Of course, the on the day we planted veggies, the wind was howling and it was the only cold day in the week. So we rolled with it and planted inside. The mess was colossal!!! But the kids loved it. In fact the next day we planted flowers, but I don't have any pictures. That was a little crazy! I just know that I am done with potting soil for a few weeks!

These Make Me Happy

2011-04-01T09:18:00.000-06:00

This is a stretch from my normal posting, but I bought these, and they make me really happy. I've used them probably 6 times this week and they make me happy. I made bread this morning and they made me smile so I had to share. They have like every measurement available, even 1/8 tsp and they have a 3/4 cup! It's the coolest thing ever! And I love, love the green. It's so bright and fun! Best part is they were on sale! Just wanted to share what is making me smile today, although hot bread slathered in butter may be part of that happy feeling :)! Happy Friday everyone!

Race Car Painting

2011-03-29T23:14:00.000-06:00

Again, not another new idea, but a fun oldie. Let the kids paint with matchbox cars and trucks! It will provide hours of entertainment. A slightly messy kind of entertainment, but fun anyway!

Toilet Paper Roll Race car

2011-03-26T16:49:00.000-06:00

Do you ever see something and think, "Wow, that's totally cute, I'm so gonna make it!"? And then you think afterward, "What was I thinking?". That was totally this craft. Holy schamolie!! Making these with 18 preschoolers was hard. I won't lie, it was REALLY hard, but the boys totally loved it! This one was made by my 6-year-old that night. He totally loved it, but I had to help even him.

I won't repost it, because the great idea can be found here.

Jello, Salt & Sugar

2011-03-25T08:39:00.001-06:00

Everyday things, found right in your home, make for the best craft supplies. This was a few months ago. Tyson needed to decorate a flag for a school project. I forgot about picking stuff up over the Christmas break and the night before he went back, we were racking our brains to figure out what to do.

We've used Jell-o at preschool before and the kids loved it. So I broke out the Jell-o and the rock salt. The Jell-o bled a bit into the rock salt, so we used sugar to put a light coat over the top of the salt. It looked really cool and it smelled great too!

Restaurant

2011-03-24T12:46:00.000-06:00

For R week we had a day where we did one center as Restaurant. It was so much fun. We made up a menu for the kids and slipped it into a page protector so that the kids could circle what they wanted to have with a dry erase marker. We had half of the kids be the servers and the other half the customers and then we switched. We let the servers wear aprons and chef hats, because essentially they were being both!

On our menu we had ritz crackers, vanilla wafers, marshmallows, licorice, bannana's, cheese sticks, carrot sticks and chocolate chip cookies. We gave the kids a menue and let them circle what they wanted and while they waited, they colored a placemat at their seat.

It was a lot of fun. I didn't get many pictures because it was cRaZy!!! The kids loved it!

Simplify

2011-03-22T22:19:00.000-06:00

"We women have a lot to learn about simplifying our lives. We have to decide what is important and then move along at a pace that is comfortable for us. We have to develop the maturity to stop trying to prove something. We have to learn to be content with what we are." ~Marjorie Pay Hinckley~

I love this quote. Need some inspiration? Visit Chocolate on my Cranium!

Fun with Shaving Cream

2011-03-14T13:19:00.000-06:00

This is not a new idea by any means. It is an oldie, but a goodie. Kids love to stick their hands in the foamy shaving cream and draw and write. It's a great way to encourage writing their names.

It is however, soooo messy! But that is what makes it half the fun!

Plus, my sister swears that it cleans table tops really well!

A little leave......

2011-03-08T17:54:00.000-07:00

I'm sick! So sick and today my 3-year-old is threw up in the car! It's not been a pretty couple of day's at my house. Plus we are coming up on our spring break.

That being said, I am going to talke a little leave of absence. Excuse me for a week or so, while we get better, spring clean, go camping and spend some quality time with family!

Thanks guys!

R is for Rabbitt

2011-03-07T11:17:00.001-07:00

Another alphabet page for our book!

It Feels...

2011-03-04T11:02:00.000-07:00

This is another 5-senses activity. We did 10 different materials, ranging from feathers to sandpaper and everything in between. We had the kids feel each piece of material and then had them glue them onto the hands. We asked the kids to describe the material and what if felt like to them. I LOVE the answers that we got from some of the kids. My own little girl, had some that made me crack up. The sandpaper felt like Poppa's face, the fake leather felt like a couch and one of them felt like her dog Brody. It was fun to hear their answers.

Fabric stores are great to look for material for this project. A remnant can go a long way when your talking about 1 inch pieces. Also look at the craft supplies and hardware stores. We used sponges and Brillo pads, the possibilities are endless.

It Smells Like......

2011-03-03T09:23:00.000-07:00

I wish I had a better picture to share with you. This is another way fun activity that takes A LOT of work, but the kids love it.

The paper says, mmmmmm...smells good! It has a picture to represent these scents;
cherry, strawberry, tangerine, lime, peppermint, cinnamon, licorice, rootbeer, chocolate, banana, peach, and grape.

We used the candy flavoring oils to make our scents. What we did was dab a little bit of each scent on a piece of cotton, which we then glued to the paper, next to the picture that represented it. I had the kids smell each cotton ball to try and decide where it went.

The kids loved it. The only thing about this activity is that you need to stress to the kids, DON'T TOUCH YOUR FACE! There is alwasy one who doesn't listen and touches their eyes. It hurts like the dickens when they do it, but you can pretty much expect one of them to do it.

Green Eggs & Ham and Sneetches

2011-03-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

Today we ate Green Eggs and Ham. I thought the kids would enjoy this version a little bit better than real green eggs! It is a small scoop of lime sherbet with whip cream sprayed around it. We also gave them vanilla wafers as pretend ham. They loved it!

We also had Sam juice. (green kool-aid)

We watched this video, and made Star Belly sneetches belts. I just googled star clip art and found a big enough template. Had the kids color them and then attached them to a strip of poster board that we had cut into strips. I hole punched to holes in the back and laced them with string to make a tie in the back, that way they could take them on and off.

After our snack of Green Eggs & Ham we sent outside and had Sneetch races. We had them run, skip, jump and twirl. It was a lot of fun!

There's a Wocket in my Pocket craft

2011-03-01T06:42:00.000-07:00

This is so cute! I had to hurry and share. I will also share our Green Eggs and Ham stuff this afternoon if I get a chance. I cut two pockets out of construction paper and stapled them together. My kids LOVE to use the stapler, but you could just glue it or use glue dots. I found the wockets at Southern Plate (the cupcakes are way cute too) and printed them off. Leave an opening at the bottom of the pocket and attach the wocket to a straw with some tape. Then the kids can slide the wocket in and out of the pocket. Add a cute little tag and your done!

I was having a hard time coming up with an idea for this book. I saw the wockets and knew I had to make them. Hope this is helpful to someone!

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess!!

2011-02-27T14:28:00.005-07:00

March 2nd is Dr. Suess's birthday! It makes for a fun week at preschool! I just wanted to share some great sights, full of great Dr. Suess themed ideas!

Click on the above link to visit ObSEUSSed! This girl defiently loves her Cat in The Hat!

Visit Oopsey Daisy for a ton of fun party ideas and activities. These could easily be adapted to a classroom setting. She also has a fun Dr. Suess Matching game available for a free download!

Fun in First Grade has a bunch of ideas! These are geared to twoards 1st grad and above, but I was able to get some inspiration and find a few ideas that I could make work for my kiddo's.

2 Teaching Mommies has this huge unit full of fun ideas!

Counting and pattern cards by Our Little Monkeys.

Visit A to Z teacher stuff for loads of ideas.

Available for all grade levels.

Early moments has some great coloring pages.

Erica Bohrer's First Grade has a great page full of links.

One Extra Degree, has some fun links & ideas!

Oh and visit Seussville.

Lot's of goodies available here!

If you know of other sights, please share!

Yummy or Yucky

2011-02-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

This is perhaps my favorite day of preschool!

We provide the kids a variety of food and let them taste

it and see if it's yummy or yucky!

This guy gave us some great faces!

Apparently limes are yucky!

This girlie loved everything we gave her.

Every single thing, she did last year to.

He was our only spitter! It was the cooking chocolate.

We just had a piece of paper that we divided in to two columns. One side said Yummy and the other said Yucky. Add some cute clip art and wala, cute, cute take home sheet. I wish I had a scanner, I would scan it for you, but I don't, sorry. Then we had pictures of the foods that we gave to the kids. They were color copies that we had pre-cut so that they could just glue them on.

This is a huge project. It takes a lot of prep on the teachers part and it is time consuming the day of, but so worth it!

Here is the foods that we had for them to try:

Tootsie rolls, marshmallows, pretzel, peanut butter and cheese crackers, salt and vinegar chips, regular potato chips, popcorn, sugar cubes, lemons, limes, bitter chocolate, goldfish, jelly beans, popcorn, pickles, apples, oranges, almonds, Hershey's bar, red licorice and back licorice. The possibilities are of course endless, but have fun with it. It is one of the funnest days.

Popcorn Popping

2011-02-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

We have been working on 5 senses. It's my very favorite week of the year! That and superhero week! I thought I would share this first, because you could use it with P week or with 5 senses.

Popcorn is great to use during 5 senses week because you can use all 5 senses to experience popcorn. I brought an air popper into the class and had the kids help me make the popcorn. You can hear it bouncing around in the popper, you can smell it, you can see it, you can touch it and the best part - you can taste it!

We used plain popcorn to apply to our "apricot" tree's. I got the template off of Scholastic. You need to have a membership to print from that sight, but it's totally worth getting one if you teach or home school.
We use our painter's pallet to put a little white glue in. Then we give the kids a q-tip to spread the glue. We do this weekly in preschool and the kids love it.

Q is for Quilt

2011-02-23T07:15:00.000-07:00

I don't have a reference for the page that we used. It came from a book, but it was originally used to make patters. I just took some fabric, cut it up and had the kids made quilts. We just used white glue to adhere it to the page.

Can't get blogger to take this picrue if it's not flipped this way :(, but super easy and super cute! You can find the printable, here.

You can find this page, here. We also did a cute little emergent reader, which can be found here.

Q is for Queen

2011-02-21T06:43:00.000-07:00

P is for Pirate Page

2011-02-19T05:26:00.000-07:00

O is for Owl

2011-02-18T05:17:00.000-07:00

So cute! We decided that using the small O's on the eye's would be our O's on the page.

P is for Pirate

2011-02-16T06:09:00.000-07:00

How cute is she? To get the template go to Cottage Industrialist, this page is full of fun pirate printables! Perfect for birthday parties or preschool pirate days!

We also had a treasure hunt, which we had to modify to be indoors thanks to 60 mph winds! It was fun though, the kids loved it. We also made cute pirates out of the letter P, but that's a post for another day!

N is for......

2011-02-15T17:47:00.000-07:00

I am so glad Shelley has a cricuit. It makes life so much easier! We used floral grass for the nest and the kids just glued it and the bird to the letter N.

Super easy and super cute!

P is for Penguin

2011-02-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

The kids loved this! Simply glue goldfish onto the penguins bellies! I got the template from Lakeshore learning and blew it up to the size we needed.

Valentine's Headbands

2011-02-09T07:56:00.000-07:00

This is seriously the easiest craft ever. It is great to do for school party's or just because. We did these with my Kindergartner's class 2 years ago and have done it every year since.

Grab some poster board and cut headbands. Make sure you cut it the long way, or you might end up with to short of headbands. Especially if your kiddo has a big head, which mine does!! That was a lesson I learned the hard way.

Let the kiddo's decorate them any way they want. You can have them color them, glue glitter to them, or we used foam letter stickers to spell out their names. Glue the headbands together. Twist your pipe cleaners around a pen, attach 2 foam hearts or flowers back to back. Stapel the pipe cleaners to the inside of the headband. And now you have cute Valentine Day headbands.

***This is also a repost from last year. We will also be making these for our preschool party. We are using fun cupcake picks, that we found at the dollar store. We popped the glittery styrofoam hearts off the the sticks and hot glued them and then stuck them on a pipe cleaner. Super cute!!

Valentine's Day Shades

2011-02-08T19:54:00.000-07:00

This was not as easy as I thought it would be. I'd say at least a 1st grade level. Not any younger than that or you will be cutting out every single pair. The older kids did fine, it was the younger one's who had me wishing I hadn't attempted it. Although, I had 3 additional kids. So in a small group this would probably not be to bad. This is a great idea for classroom parties. You'll want to print the template on card stock. The only thing I had to pick up was the red cellophane. And I got that at the dollar store. Cheap, Easy and Fun!!

I got the template for these glasses, here. They also have templates for rounded glasses and star glasses, which would be fun to make and decorate for any occasion. the stars would be awesome for the 4th of July!

***This is a repost from last year. We are using these in preschool for our party next week. However, I had a YW, who was looking for service hours and she cut out all 20 pairs! Megan, I LOVE YOU!! The kids are going to love them!

O for Octopus

2011-02-04T06:39:00.001-07:00

The kids loved this! Some of them were so meticulous about putting the cheerios on and others, well they are three!!! You can find this at Making Learning Fun.

This cute little octopus windsock is great for practicing cutting skills. You can find it First School.

O is for Ocean...

2011-02-01T06:20:00.000-07:00

This was a really fun craft to do. Originally I was going to have the kids paint a plate blue, but I found these buried in our supplies. I had the kids pick out stickers and put those on first. I did draw a line on the plate to show them the ocean verses the sand. To make the sand I added 3 parts shaving cream to 1 part white glue and then I added real sand and just kept adding it until I got the consistency that I wanted. It was really thick, but it dried up nice and puffy. Add a few sea shells and you have a nice little beach picture to hang on your wall!

Toilet Paper Roll Painting

2011-01-31T08:33:00.001-07:00

This past week we worked on letter O, circles and ovals. We let the kids make these fun pictures.

Pretty self-explanatory. Dip in paint and stamp on the paper.

The kids loved it. Some of them got really into it. It was a lot of fun. It's amazing how the simiple things are the funnest!

Love in a perfect world

2011-01-29T08:21:00.003-07:00

This. Is. The. Coolest. Thing. EVER!!!!!!

The Love is made out of sugar cookies!

Oh,how I wish that I had the time to do this.

This is what love would look like in my perfect world.

Sweet and tasty, and full sugar and everything nice!

Check it out here.

Just had to share because I think this is so cool!!

M is for....

2011-01-28T17:21:00.000-07:00

Monster and Mustache!!! I totally didn't post this little guy when I was talking about M last week! Oh well, here you go. This is what we had the kids make for our alphabet book. Super easy. Shelley cut them with the cricuit and then we had the kids glue the letter M and the mustache on.

N is for Necktie

2011-01-27T06:14:00.000-07:00

So cute! I wish I could put pictures up of all of our kids wearing them. They turned out great. I got the template here. I cut the tie pieces out themselves and blew them up. The card it cute, but 13 kids and a few who are not the greatest cutter, it just didnt' work for our group. We let them pick out stickers to decorate with. It was fun to see who chose what and even funner were the kids who went with a mixed theme. Fruit salad and footballs......... AWESOME!!

There is my Pip wearing her ballet tie. We also used this writing sheet to go with it.

I Found My Valenties

2011-01-25T07:27:00.000-07:00

I have found my Valentines! Aren't these darling. Found them at One Charming Party! Click on the picture above to be taken to the direct link. They are doing posts for the next few day's with Valentine's Party ideas! Such cute ideas!

N is for Noodle

2011-01-24T10:00:00.001-07:00

So fun! Lot's of white glue is needed to make these stick! You can get the template, here.

2011 Young Womens Theme Block

2011-01-21T09:44:00.001-07:00

Even though it's been months since I was released from Young Women's I still miss it. I got asked to help out with a craft project for New Beginnings and jumped at the chance. These were pretty easy to make. In fact, we had the girls make them. We had them precut and sanded for them. I got the cute subway art from Melinda over at Under My Umbrella. She is seriously talented!!

We used 2x6 boards and cut them into 6 inch blocks. We had the girls paint the entire block black. Then we took a piece of scrapbook paper and modgepodged it onto the board. Then we took the subway art and attached it with modge podge to the front of the block. Add another coat of modge podge, tie a cute bow and you have a way cute reminder of the theme for the year!

I had a blast coming up with them. I tried making them in different sizes, but this was the cutest. It was a great project to be involved in. I came up with the idea and my friend and her hubby did all the gathering, cutting and sanding! I got to go and help the girls make them! It was perfect!

Valentine's Day Printables

2011-01-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

I have been looking back at past Valentine's day posts, and we've got some good stuff!! I had completely forgot about some of these! The glasses are so cute! We may have to do that for preschool.

Here are a few other fun ideas I've seen on the web this year. And this is just a sampling, there may be more to come!

Cute sandwhich baggie toppers.

Found at Living Locurto.

Cute, cute! You can see this one at Elle's Studio.

Family Fun, never fails to inspire!

Marshmallow Sort

2011-01-19T09:29:00.001-07:00

Shelley came up with this idea. We did a Marshmallow sort for the kids. Big and small

They loved it! I had the thought afterwards that next time we will add in the campfire marshmallows, you know the huge ones that you can find occasionally. Then we could do small, bigger and biggest.

This cost us $2.00 to do with the whole group. What a fun idea!

Go Away Big Green Monster

2011-01-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

We did the letter m last week in preschool. We had one day that was Monster themed. It was so much fun. We read the book, Go Away Big Green Monster. The kids loved it. Infact, we read it everyday last week because they begged us to.

We got some green plate and put out a random assortment of craft supplies. We told the kids that they could make their big green monster, any way that they wanted. It was fun to see what each child came up with and how unique they all were.

L is for....

2011-01-17T05:52:00.000-07:00

Lion!

And Lion was hard to make! We defiently will not be doing this one next year! Lot's of little tiny pieces to cut out.

K is for

2011-01-15T17:51:00.002-07:00

KING!!

Hello out there........

2011-01-13T23:52:00.000-07:00

I seem to have lost my blogging motivation. I don 't know why or where it's gone. It seems like is extremely busy these days and I don't even have time to blog on my family blog, let alone my hobby blog. It's sad, really that life gets that way.

I haven't done much lately in crafting, but I do have some great preschool ideas floating around on my computer that I need to share. And okay, so I have done a few crafts, but here is the thing about blogging. I always feel like it's already been done, or I feel like I can't compete. Yeah, I'm having a pity party. It happens.

I don't have school tomorrow, so I am going to try and get some posts up and scheduled to roll out. I don't think that I will be posting as much as I was before. It's to hard. I don't know how the ladies who are the rock stars of the blog world do it! I am certainly not able to. So bare with me and hopefully you will see some new posts soon.

Thanks for sticking with me.

New Years Eve Idea for kids

2010-12-28T10:57:00.001-07:00

An hour, by hour countdown for the kiddo's. So much fun! I think we will be doing this. We were planning on renting some movies and hanging at home, but I think this would be so much fun for my kids. The idea came from The Dating Diva's. You can see this post, by clicking here.

This is a super cute idea! Make a banner and party hat's that the kids can decorate and make themselves. Super cute! Gives them something to do on New Years Day! I found this at Toads Treasures. I already downloaded mine and we are going to start working on them a little later this week. This was a post from last year, but I am still making it, you just neet to trace an extra 1 to add on.

And if your visiting, Toads Treasures, take the time to look around. She has some great ideas!! I spent quite a bit of time on her blog today and now she's in my favorites . Talented lady!!

J is for...

2010-12-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

Sorry to have disappeared. It's been crazy busy with Christmas and break.

Jack-in-the-box. This took me a while to figure out and I am still not completely hap;y with it, but it works.

Magic Reindeer Food

2010-12-15T09:13:00.000-07:00

I made a cute Magic Reindeer Food Tag, that I put on scribd. I can't get a picture to post, but it's cute. It's a different poem than all that I have seen floating around the blog world. My friend had it from years ago when her oldest was in preschool in Washington state.

Magic Reindeer Food

1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup red or green sugar crystals (for cake decorating)

A lot of recipes call for glitter. That depends on how you feel about it. You can make colored sugar by just take some sugar and drop a few drops of food coloring in the sugar. Then take a fork and stir it until the sugar is colored evenly and there are no lumps.

Owl Freebie

2010-12-14T08:10:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been a bit under the weather and still don't feel great. Why don't mom's get sick days? I have some posts I could do, but the ambition is lacking this morning.

However, I wanted to share this cute owl with you. I am an owl lover!!! You can create and download your very own owl calendar, all for free!!! It's the perfect gift for the owl lover in your life. I'm making a couple of them. You can customize each calendar for each giftee! Click on that little cutie to be directed to this fun little project.

Okay, my energy is gone. See you tomorrow. I hope.....

Paperbag Rudolph

2010-12-09T22:47:00.002-07:00

Aren't they cute? These were no small feat with 15 kids, but they all have one ready to go home next week! Whew, what a project. for full instructions, go here.

12 Day's of Service

2010-12-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

I love doing the 12 day's of Christmas. It's a fun tradition. For family home evening this week, we talked about service and how it can brighten the lives of the people we serve and also how it can brighten our lives. We talked about the people in our lives, who might need some kindness this holiday season. We came up with lots of names and I told the kids to think about it.

Well, I have to be honest, I have been stressing about how to pull this tradition off this year. Things are super tight, they always are in December (my husband works on commission), but this year seems extra tight. So I have been trying to think of alternative ideas for the 12 day's. One of the things that has been bothering me is the fact that we know so many people who could use the service and kindness this holiday season.
I came across this post, at I Can Teach My Child and I loved it! 12 day's of random service! Is there a better way to teach service, other than my doing service? I think my kids will love this. I know that I am way excited. We can bless lot's of lives in a short time.
Some of my ideas are:
Take a warm loaf of bread to a neighbor.
Do some cleaning for a friend (vacuum, mop, dust)
Make cookies for the bishops family
Take dinner to a someone who really needs it
Leave a "dinner in a bag" on someones doorstep
Visit an elderly neighbor
Take a friend their favorite candy bar and attach an uplifting quote
Go caroling
Babysit for a friend
Invite friends over for dinner
Have a neighborhood Christmas movie party (for the kids) give the moms a break!
Make an ornament and take it to someone

These are just a few of the ideas going around in my head. We may or may not do some of these. I have to discuss it with my kids in the morning. I am excited to hear what ideas they come up with. I think this will be a great way to teach my kids about service.

Therapy Sacks (aka Wheat Sacks)

2010-12-07T07:45:00.000-07:00

I have made these in mass production this year. I've used these for as long as I can remember. My hubby loves them, so I figured, they would make great Christmas gifts for the men in my life. My kids also love them, because it's a great way to keep toes warm at night.

For those of you have never seen them, they are wheat sacks. You throw them in the microwave for a few minutes, it heats the wheat up and you have a hot pad. If you throw it in the freezer for awhile, you have a cold compress.

They are pretty easy to make. I could go into detail, but you can follow this tutorial and she can guide you. You don't necessarily need to use flannel, but it is much softer on those sore spots.

I for ice cream...

2010-12-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

So cute!!

Got the idea here.

We also made homemade ice cream,

There were no pictures, because it was crazy!

It's a lot of work for 14 kids!

But they loved it.

You can get an easy recipe here.

I made it at home with my kids and we put it in a #10 can.

Then they can just roll the can back and forth.

Letters to Santa

2010-12-03T07:41:00.003-07:00

Letters to Santa! I love them. I love to keep them stashed away and see how much my kids grow and change every year. There are some cute ones available out in the blog world. Cute and Free! Two of my favorite words, they go so well together. Check these out and see if you find something you love!

Have you ever heard of The TomKat Studio? Love this super crafted lady!

You can pick up her free printable at Hostess With The Mostess.

You can find this gem at Living Locurto.

Another of my favorite blogs!

Here is another link to some cute, fill-in-the-blank notes.
This note is darling! She has some cute cookie tags and some tags for reindeer food! I can't get the picture to upload, but it's defiently cute!

Rolled Flower Headbands

2010-12-01T05:52:00.000-07:00

For the tutorial, go to this post.

These are a few that I have made for gifts. I've come along way since I first started making these. I use all sorts of flowers and embellishments now. Feathers and tulle are my favorites! This is one of my favorites. I have made about 20 in the last few weeks and each is really different.

You can make them very simple. Just use the flowers. The headbands come from here. Walgreen's also has some that are a bit nicer. You get 4 for $5.00. This is the better option if you are just going to make a few.
I also bought some of their Kuffi hats, but beware, they are tiny! The small size is for newborns and the large, for maybe a toddler. They fit my 3-year-old, but won't for very long.

I also have made a bunch of these on clips for my littler nieces. You can get a big box of clips for $5.00 at Sally's or a hair supply company.

Have fun!

Tin Can Bow Holder

2010-11-30T07:00:00.002-07:00

These are so easy to make! And chances are, that if your a crafter, you have everything you need at home to make it. I used an empty #10 can. I have a nifty can opener, that takes the tops off, so there is no sharp edges.

Simply adhere cute scrapbook paper around the can with modge podge. Use a hot glue gun to add ribbon running down the sides of the can. I glued the ribbon just inside the lip of the can and under the bottom. Embellish the top of the can as desired and wala, you have this:

A cute bow holder that can be kept anywhere.

Inside the can you put headbands, ponytails, anything that doesn't have a clip.

Homemade Recipe Books

2010-11-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

**This week I want to revisit some of our homemade Christmas gifts of the past. I also have a few new ones to throw in. It's not to late to make gifts! Homemade gifts are the best!! This fun little projects was from 2008.**

Mandee and I made these fun recipe books as Christmas gifts for my sister-in-laws. They turned out so nice and were a lot of fun to make. They were also a ton of work. If you were interested in doing this as a gift, start now!!!! You will type and type. And then type some more. That was the most time consuming part of the whole project was typing the recipes. We figure that there was somewhere around 200 recipe's in each book!!

We made 6 of these. I only got pictures of the last three. To make them we got plain 1 inch binders from the dollar store. We used modge podge to make the covers. I love the way modge podge looks!

I messed up when I did the measurements for the inserts. Each insert was made with 8 x 10 dimensions. Now, being the ditsy person that I am, I didn't even think about a regular sheet of paper being 8 & 1/2 by 11. So each page had to be cut down to 8x10 size and so did each page protector. Hence, they took us oodles of time to make. Had I had the dimensions right it would have been much easier. We used 2-sided, coordinating paper for each insert. That way we could get 1 insert out of each page. On the back of each insert we made a pocket by attaching another sheet of card stock that was 8x5. I should have gotten a picture of that, so you could see how cute they were.

I think that they were well received and that everyone liked them. Homemade gifts are always the best gifts. I have already started on next years gift. It's another big one, but I can't share because too many eye's see this blog if you know what I mean!!!!

Who wants one?

2010-11-22T08:35:00.000-07:00

ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME!!!!!! The silhouette is at the very top of my Christmas wish list!!! Will I be getting it from Santa? Sadly no, other priorities have to come first right now, but that doesn't stop me from wishing! Oh, the things I would do with a silhouette!!! I can't even articulate it, because it gets me so excited!

I entered for a chance to win one over at Tatertots and Jello. Go enter and let's cross our fingers that one of us wins!!! It would be a Christmas miracle ;).

As a side note, I am taking a little Thanksgiving day break! My little boy has surgery on Wednesday and I will have family here all week. So have a Happy Thanksgiving!! Make lots of memories and eat lots of yummy food! See you next week!

Paper Plate Turkey

2010-11-19T11:22:00.000-07:00

I have to share this little guy before Thanksgiving is over. We are making these at school next week. Simply cut a paper plate in half. Let the kiddo's use white glue to spread over the plate. Sprinkle the plate with pieces of tissue paper. I used a 3 inch punch to cut out the brown cirlce. Attatch the beak and feet! So cute and so easy!

H is for House

2010-11-18T07:44:00.000-07:00

Somehow, I skipped our H is for House. Super cute, got this idea from Totally Tots. We also talked about ,hats, hippo's and horses.

Alot of the curriculum that we have been using comes from scholastic and random websites on the web. There is so many home school mom's who so graciously share their printables and curriculum. We also do some of ours from past years.

I'll have to share some of these amazing websites in my next post. Look for it in the next few days.

Igloo's

2010-11-17T01:13:00.000-07:00

These are so much fun to make! The kids had a blast.

(I know she's eating it, but she's cute!

She's mine and she's the baby of the class this year.)

Basically, you take an apple and split it in half. We used Marshmallow creme to spread over the top of the apple and then you put mini-marshmallows on top. We've done this before but with peanut butter. Which in all honesty, works much better. The creme kinda melted, but the kids who were really meticulous and put marshmallows all over the igloo, didn't have any problems.

It's a sticky project, but well worth doing.

Here are some great Igloo worksheets to use with this project.

Easy Puff Paint

2010-11-16T04:44:00.000-07:00

This is a lot of fun. Mix 3/4 cup shaving cream with 1/4 cup white glue. Add some food coloring and you have a fun paint that puffs up when it dries. It feels like foam. It does take a while to dry. We usually let our set overnight. Do this on Halloween and use it to make a ghost on black construction paper. For another puff paint recipe, check out this post from years past. It's fun, but does require a microwave.

G is for.....

2010-11-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

I thought this one was way cute! Super easy compared to the flags and some of our other projects. I don't have anything else for G week. It fell during the week of Halloween and I just didn't get any other G projects done. We were to busy doing Halloween crafts.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-11-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

Nothing says fall like pumpkin cookies!! These have become a staple at our house the past few weeks. It's good and bad. Good as in they are my favorite cookie, bad on the diet!!! I have posted this before, but it's been a few years, thought I would share it again. This is my recipe I have used for years and it's by far the best that I have found!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp milk
2 cups chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla

1) Pre-heat oven to 375
2) Combine sugar and shortening. Add egg and beat well. Add pumpkin and vanilla.
3) Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and mix by hand until combine
4) Dissolve baking soda in milk and add to above.
5) Add chocolate chips. Mix well
6) Bake for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy!

F is for.....

2010-11-09T06:50:00.000-07:00

We painted fall leaves. This is a way fun project. You mix corn syrup with a little bit of food coloring and let the kids paint. It's ooey, gooey fun! It takes a long time for these to dry.

5 Green and Speckled Frogs, sitting on a speckled log eating the most delicious bugs, yum, yum!

Flags! This one was a bit intense. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I can't remember where I saw this idea. I wasn't fond of the Fox and fish letters I had seen and went looking for something different. I wish I knew who to give credit to. Making these letters is going to change a bit. I am trying to think outside the box for them, because I am not necessarily fond of the one's I have seen. We'll see what I can come up with.

Teepe's

2010-11-08T04:00:00.001-07:00

Another cute idea from Family Fun. Frost sugar cones with white icing. Stick some toothpicks in the top. decorate with brown frosting for your door and any designs you may want. Add some candy if you want to and wala!

If I let go of the notion that everything has to be perfect, I think the preschoolers can do this :). In fact, I think we will do it for our Thanksgiving day party!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pie

2010-11-05T14:54:00.000-06:00

You can make these yummy cookies like this, as a frosted cookie. I used toffee sprinkles on top.

Or you can make them into whoopie pies! They are so good. The recipe came from Family Fun.

Pumpkin Cookies:

2 eggs
2 cups light brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 15 oz. can of pumpkin
3 cups flour
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
t tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Filling/Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 tsps. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. milk ( I added this, it was way to thick the other way)
4 to 5 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Beat the eggs, brown sugar, oil and vanilla in a mixing bowl until smooth. Add pumpkin. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to the egg mixture a 1/2 cup at a time, blending each time until smooth. (It will be a very sticky dough)

Drop heaping tbsps. of batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet. bake the cookies for 12 minutes. Cool completely. Fill the middle with cream cheese frosting or frost the top of the cookies.

Emergency Car Care Kit Tutorial

2010-11-04T09:20:00.000-06:00

These are stinkin' cute!

I got one for Christmas last year and I love mine.

I decided to reproduce something similar.

I love the big chunky buttons and the cute potholders.

These cost me $3.50 a piece to make.

First thing will be to find some cute potholders. The one that I got was a larger sized pot holder, but a standard size will work just as well. These came Dollar Tree

Take 6 plastic, zipper seal Ziploc and place them inside the potholder. You will want 3 going out each way. I hope you can see what I mean in the picture. Measure your potholder across to find the center. I used a dry erase marker to draw a line down the center for a sewing guide.

You are going to stitch a zigzag stick right down the center of the bags. This is kinda hard and I messed up the first one, because the bags are slippery to sew on.

Go back and trim the excess off of the bottom of each bag. Trim it as close to the stitching as possible. Be careful not to cut into the stitching.

Sew a cute chunky button on the outside and now fill it with goodies! I put in antibacterial wipes from Walgreen's,a couple of Tylenol packets, band aids, tissue, dental picks, safety pins, nail clippers and a file. You can fill it with whatever you want. Mine had all of these things plus an emergency sewing kit. You can also save a slot to put in some cash. Mine came with a $5.00 bill.

I whipped out 15 of these in 2 hours. All of the filler came from the dollar store and Walgreen's. This is an easy present to mass produce if you want to do them for Christmas.Happy sewing

Silly Jack-o-Lanterns

2010-10-23T07:22:00.000-06:00

These would be a great craft for preschool. In fact, we may do these for our party! We took paper plates and painted them orange with tempera paint. I printed the silly faces from Family Fun. They had a great idea, to print these on sticker paper and let the kids use these to decorate pumpkins, rather than carve pumpkins, but where's the fun in that? I let each of the kids pick out their own face and glue them on. This is what we came up with. They were so easy to make and are so cute!

Spiders

2010-10-22T06:22:00.000-06:00

I got this idea, from here. It's one of my very favorite sights! These were originally Christmas ornaments from the dollar store. They came in packages of 8. They are styrofoam, but whatever is on top of them (glittery paint), stopped the spray paint from melting the styrofoam. They started out white and we spray painted them gray, because well, it was what we had :). You could also paint them with acrylic or tempra paint. We cut pipe cleaners and stuffed them into the styrofoam to make the legs. Add some googly eye's and you've got a cute collection of spiders.

This is a craft that is doable for preschool, but in small groups. I had to really help the two girls, who are both 3. My 6-year-old did great. This would be a great craft for a school party.

We cut pipe cleaners up and pushed them into the styrofoam to make the legs. Add some googly eye's and you've got some nifty spiders!

E is for Elmo and Egg

2010-10-21T07:15:00.001-06:00

Agian, these are for our ABC book. The idea came from here.

This was a last minute time filler. We had done the Cookie Monster faces, and so I thought, "Why not do an Elmo plate?" These were much simpler. Used 2 inch punches for the eyes and nose, a bingo dobber for the black in the eye's and I cute 3 inch circles in half for the mouth.

I have quite a few more E things for you!! Mostly experiments that we did. I will post more of those, possibly next week. I want to make sure to get all the Halloween projects we've been doing posted before the big day. Most of them we have been doing at home to try them out, prior to preschool, just to make sure they are doable. See you tomorrow with some fun stuff!

Mock Halloween Canvas

2010-10-20T23:18:00.000-06:00

I love making these canvases. I've posted about them before. This was a big, nice canvas that I got at DI for $1.50. I painted it black, because believe it or not, it was pink!!! I printed out this fun sign, ripped the edges, and modge podged it to the canvas. It didn't turn out the way I had envisioned, but I think it looks alright. I put it on the top of my mantle, kinda of back in the back. It bubbled a bit, but from a few feet away, you can't tell! That's the perfectionist in me!

There are lots of these kind of signs floating around the web right now. Lot's of fun subway art and great Halloween printables! Good luck deciding which one to make.

Gak

2010-10-19T20:10:00.000-06:00

E is for Experiment!

Gak

1 lb. box of cornstarch
1 & 1/2 cups water

Mix all the constarch and water together in a bowl. If the mixture is really thick, add some more water. The mixture should be slightly runny.

Here is waht is really cool about Gak. When you poke the gak quicky, putting pressure on it, the Gak particles lock together and it acts like a solid. But when you poke at it slowly, this doesn't happen and the Gak still acts like a liquid.

Easy Halloween Costumes

2010-10-18T09:04:00.004-06:00

Haven't figured out a costume for your kiddo yet? Parenting has a great article for you! 35 Easy Homemade costumes, all you need is scissors, glue and paint! I love homemade costumes. I wish I could get my kids to stray away from the commercialized costume business. They are expensive and usually don't last long. This year I only had to buy 1 costume, thank heavens! We borrowed and came up with one for my little girl, but maybe next year I can convince them to make their own.

Today we are doing our traditional Haunted Gingerbread houses! Can't wait! It's a sticky and sweet mess! Have a good Monday!

E is for Listening Ears!

2010-10-17T09:27:00.000-06:00

This was a really fun craft. The kids all looked so cute! I got the ear images from Dltk kids. I printed one out normal and then mirror imaged the second one to get the other ear. Have the kids cut out the ears, while you cut a paper plate in half. You will also want to take a hole punch and make 2 punches in each half, close to the top of the ear. You will thread pipe cleaner through each set and twist them in the back to make the headband. Glue on your ears and color! This is something I have seen done before, I just wasn't sure where to get the ear images.

Yeah for more Halloween Freebies

2010-10-16T07:19:00.000-06:00

There are way to many good ideas out in blog land! How do you pick just one? Here are a couple more great websites full of ideas. I think I'm done looking, I've found lot's of goodies and now it's time to make a few! Happy Saturday to all of you!

Tatertots and Jello has a fabulous list with 20 different printables and some great ideas!

Amy, over at Living Locurto, has a great list going with 15 different fun printables she has found floating around on the web. Everything from cupcake toppers to invitations to banners! She also has a second page full of fun crafts and free printables! This sight is a cauldron full of Halloween fun!

Great Hallowen Freebies

2010-10-15T00:21:00.002-06:00

The web is full of great Halloween ideas! I have been finding them everywhere. There is also a lot of freebies out there. Just wanted to share 2 that I have downloaded with you.

Have you ever seen the blog, Lawteedah? It's my new favorite blog. She has a ton of great ideas for preschool!! I spent a long time today going through the whole blog! She has this great free download kit that has some fun activities. I made up the puzzles and the memory game today. Can't wait to play them with the kids over the next few weeks. We will be using them for the preschool and my Kindergartner's school parties!

This fun freebie is from Green Jello and Carrots! It's a Friday only freebie so it ends tonight at midnight!

Paper Bag Scarecrow

2010-10-13T07:30:00.001-06:00

These are easy. I made them up over the weekend to see how hard it might be for preschoolers. This is definitely not one to do with the preschool kids, but 1st grade up would be fun. I got the idea out of my Family Fun, Boredom Buster book.

Take a brown paper bag. Use crayons to draw on a face. Stuff the inside with newspaper and then staple shut. Use raffia (couldn't find mine) for hair and the hat I printed off from Lakeshore. We tried making these with precut shapes, but the face just didn't look right. They looked like rabbits :).

My older kids (nieces, nephews and neighbors) enjoyed it.

D is for Dinosaurs

2010-10-12T08:26:00.001-06:00

We made dinosaurs, out of letter D's. This is for our Alphabet book. The idea came from, here.

These are suncatchers. I honestly don't remember where I saw this, but I did get the idea from the web. Google the image that you would like to use and trace it out on contact paper. Cut out the shape, peel off the protective paper and let the kids adhere tissue paper to the design. We used pre-cut tissue paper from Lakeshore Learning. You could cut out crepe paper or tissue paper, but that would be a heck of a job. Punch a hole in the top and use string to make your hanger.

This was a lot more involved that I thought it was going to be. I won't do this again next year. In a small group of maybe 4 of 5 kids it would be great. We even did it as a center, but after 13 kids had done it, it was super labor intensive. You have to go back and trim the excess tissue paper off and some of the kids, didn't understand the concept of filling in all the blanks with tissue paper.

But if you want to do this at home with your own kiddo's, it's super cute. I am thinking about having mine make Jack-o-lanterns. Super cute!

D is for Donuts

2010-10-11T16:04:00.000-06:00

Super cute and super easy!

We ate donuts for snacks this day!

This is actually a felt food pattern that I found

on Skip to My Lou.

Click here to get the template.

You can't see it, but I had the word, Donut typed out

in the dot font at the bottom.

So easy and so cute!

C is for Cookie Monster and Clown

2010-10-08T15:12:00.000-06:00

We started out by painting a paper plate blue. We used textured rollers to actually make the paint look like cookie monsters hair. We did this in our first center and then let them dry during recess and finished them in our second set of centers. We used a 2 inch punch to punch out white cardstock for the eye's. Of course you could use black circles for the eye's rather than the pom poms. I drew the mouth and cut out. The cookie was made out of a 2 & 3/4 inch punch. The chocolate chips from brown paper and a regular sized hole punch.

This one was fun. The shapes that make up the face are foam shapes. We had the kids sort through and pick out the shapes. Add a hat and some crinkley paper and wala, you have a fun clown face!

Catepillars, Crabs & Candy Corn

2010-10-07T08:20:00.001-06:00

Somehow, I forgot my camera on B Week.

So we are skipping to C

This is an old stand by. We made Caterpillar's with pom-poms and popsicle sticks. I think we've done this every year. Check out Confessions of a Homeschoolers page for tons of Caterpillar activities. We used a bunch of these this past week! We are using lots of her pages in general.

We made Clumsy Crabs for our Alphabet book!

This was just a filler idea. I found a candy corn template and let the kids cut it out and glue it onto the construction paper. It is amazing, how hard of a skill, cutting is, for kids to master. We cut several times a week. Then we let them glue on random designs with candy corn. Easy peasy!

A for Alligator

2010-10-05T07:22:00.001-06:00

Preschool is in full swing. I thought I would share a few ideas that we have done in the past few weeks.

Every year we make an alphabet book for the kids to take home at the end of the year. I stumbled across this fun alphabet idea and we decided to roll with it and let the kids do one of these for every letter of the alphabet.

One thing that we are doing to help them learn their name is that every day we have a writing center. Usually 2 writing centers, but this is one of them. I bought the font at Lettering Delights. I made each child a template that has their name and on the back side the ABC's. We put them in page protectors and each day the kids use dry erase markers to practice writing their name and the alphabet. It's working great! My 3-year-old who is the youngest in the class, can just about write her name.

I'll be sharing more ideas tomorrow!

Candy Corn Wreath

2010-10-04T06:43:00.000-06:00

I saw this idea in the recent issue of Woman Magazine. It's super easy. I got the wreath at the dollar store and painted it black with acrylic paint. They used black duck tape on theirs, but I already had paint, so it was one less thing to buy.

Once your wreath is dry, use a little hot glue and start gluing your candy corn around the wreath. Start at the same place with each layer. That way if you have any blank spaces it will all be in the same spot. This is where you will put your ribbon at the end.

With every layer of candy corn you will want to change the direction they are facing.

Tie some pretty ribbon around it and you have a fun Halloween wreath. I am not loving the orange ribbon. I am envisioning some wide, black, glittery ribbon, so I will probably go and get it today and change it out. I found all the stuff I needed to make this at the dollar store and spent $3.00 for a cute wreath!

I'm Back!!

2010-10-02T12:08:00.000-06:00

I'm back!!! I've missed blogging so much the last few months. As soon as summer ended, we jumped into preschool and I have lot's of fun posts from school to share with you! I also was the Carnival Committee chair this year for our school carnival. Mandee of course was my right-hand woman :). And I am glad to add, that it was a HUGE success.

I've been so busy and I'm so tired, but next week I will be back with some fun crafts for your kiddo's and maybe, just maybe one for you ladies. It's on the books for today, anyway!

Thanks for still following us, even when we've been absent from the blogesphere!! See you next week!

I HATE Cancer

2010-09-11T16:31:00.002-06:00

Sorry, I have been away for so long....
My families life was turned upside down in the beginning of July. I had just recovered from a nasty wisdom tooth surgery and got a phone call that I will never forget. My brother had been admitted to the hospital with a ruptured colon and had been told that he has Colon cancer. I went up to Salt Lake and spent a week with him and family and waited for results to come back after his surgery. We waited and waited and waited. Watched fireworks for the the 4th of July from his hospital window. Watched the parade from that same window. We laughed, we cried, we worried, and we above all prayed. Several people came and visited him. It was a constant flow of people that it got to the point that they had to turn people away just so he could get some rest.
Well, I had to return home without any results, because of the holiday weekend pathology was behind. I got the phone call the day after I got back (of course) that it was indeed colon cancer and has spread to his liver. I have never felt so angry and sad all at the same time. I really wanted to punch somebody or something. This couldn't be happening to MY brother, my ONLY sibling. It seemed like I was having a nightmare I just couldn't wake up from.
He hasn't started chemo yet because he needs to fully recover from the nasty surgery that he underwent. He looks so much better now than the day he did before going into surgery. We spent last weekend with him and his adorable family. We are all anxiously awaiting the chemo and radiation to start so he can FIGHT this fight and kick it in the ...... (ok I will keep it clean but know I am thinking another word) butt. I love Tony so much and can't even begin to imagine what he is feeling inside. What him and his awesome wife, Jen, think and talk about. I just want to push the "stop" button and make it all stop. I pray and pray and pray more than I ever have. I am scared more than I have ever been. Feelings that have never been felt, fears that we never thought we would ever face. Positive thinking will get him far so that is what we need to do for him and for us. He is my hero and I know that he has what it takes to win.

Thanks for your endless prayers.