A Homemade Christmas

When I was a little girl my mother made a lot of my gifts.  I had this Barbie cloak in navy blue with a snap and a Peter Pan collar.  It was my favorite outfit for Barbie.  Sometimes the best gifts aren't purchased, but made with love.  So, this year I have tried to make some things for my children.  I just finished a cake stand for their felt cakes, which will go in their bakery.

To make this cake stand you  need a wooden plate found in the clock making section and a wooden candle holder.  I painted and coated it with a clear satin finish, predrilled two holes and then drilled in the screw.  It took no time and was really inexpensive.

King Kabobs

For our letter K we made king crowns and had a special kabob lunch.  They loved the lunch and have asked a million times to do it again.  I loved it because it was quick and very little clean up.

Kissing Kites

G and H love to get into chap lips or lipstick, so I gave them a chance to really put their love of lipstick to good use.  They put on copious amounts of lip gloss and kissed a letter K.  We also made kites because you can't learn the letter K without making a kite.

Keys

One of our letter K activities was key matching.  I found a bag of random keys in a cabinet, so I traced 5 different keys and had them match the keys to the outlines.  They enjoyed the activity, but what they enjoyed even more was using the keys to drive their cars.

Markers Everywhere!

I hate markers.  There, I said it.  I hate the way they get all over hands, on tables, and tops are never put back on.  However, my children, as most children, love them.  I was tired of seeing markers spread all over and most without their tops. 

So, I put together an activity, a mini lesson, on how to match and snap markers.  I modeled how to match the tops and then listen for the snap.  Genius, right?  Yeah well the markers are left without their tops, but at least I tried.  I suppose we will be repeating this activity often.

Latkes

If you haven't ever had a latkes, then you are missing out.  What is there not to love about potatoes and onions fried?  For the start of Chanukah we made latkes and enjoyed our latke smelling house for the next few days. 

December Sensory Bin

Well, I never did get around to putting together a November sensory bin.  It seemed that the entire month was over before it really started. 

This month in our bin we have fake flowers for sticking in foam, bows, bells, garland, and Christmas ornaments.  If I had the time I would have filled the bin with bells, but for some reason I couldn't get motivated to buy that many bells...I can't imagine why.

Table Decorations

I always like to have something made by my children for our holiday table.  This year for Thanksgiving we covered candle holders with tissue paper and glue.  They turned were beautiful when lit. 

Jump and Jiggle

Eeks I am really behind on posting because I have been in a felt food craze.  If you haven't made felt food, you must.  It is easy and fun.

Anyway during our letter J study I made a J activity die.  On each side was one of the verbs jump, jiggle, jerk, jive, juggle, and jig.  We took turns (I participated) throwing the die and then doing the activity.  The jerk was their favorite. 

Jars

We had our monthly big clean out the fridge where all the dribs and drabs get tossed.  Lucky for me there were a lot of jars, so after I washed and dried them I had G & H find the lids that matched the jars.  Perfect for their fine motor skills and the letter J.  The best part was while doing the activity they realized the jars smelled.  It was fun for them to guess what had been in the jar.

Jelly Bean Counting

This activity was a bit of a stretch for G and H since there were multiple steps.  It took a lot of guidance from me, but they kept working on it.  They loved eating some jelly beans when we were finished and giggling about the word jelly bean later on. 

Art for the Wee Ones

I am back after going on a hunt to find the picture card reader.  I put it in a special place so the children wouldn't play with it and I forgot where that special place was until today. 

This week was my husband's birthday.  My daughter suggested we get him a Dora guitar so she could play with it and my son agreed that would be good.  Instead I had them make some art for his office.  If I had been thinking I would have picked up the watercolor canvases when they were on sale a few weeks back, but I can't remember half the things on my grocery list when I have the list in my  hand. 

I started by asking them what are some things they like to do with their daddy.  After we generated a list I had them chose one and paint a picture.  On the back I had them tell me what it was and I wrote it, so in 5 years we won't be scratching our heads.  Even the baby made one.

Cheesy Roll Up

I have been blessed with very good eaters and they love to help in the kitchen too.  One of their favorite things is a cheesy roll up and who can blame them?  What is there not to like about cheese?  We practiced spreading beans on the tortilla and then added our onions, tomatoes, and cheese. 

Jumping Jack/Jane

We are still working on the letter J, so I put together a J craft.  We made jump rope Jack/Jane who wears a jazzy jacket and jeans.  I cut up an old pair of jeans for the jeans and copied the jacket off the internet.  You can find the paper doll at http://www.makingfriends.com/  This is a great site to print off paper dolls for the Flat Stanly project too.  The best part was G was actually excited for this one. 

After we were finished with our craft we watched a few double dutch videos on YouTube.  They were amazed.

J is for Jellybeans

G and H sorted jellybeans into ones with dots and ones without dots.  Before they sorted I grabbed 2 jellybeans and asked them if they were the same or different.  I guided them to tell me they were different because one had dots (their word) and one didn't.  I then grabbed two same colored jellybeans, but one with dots and one without dots and asked if they were the same or different.  After they sorted they tasted a few.

J is for Jack-o-Lantern

I saw this activity on another blog, but can't remember which one and it looked like a lot of fun.  H loves jack-o-lanterns and since jack-o-lantern starts with the letter J we were in business.

I cut out shapes for eyes, nose, and mouth out of black felt and a pumpkin.  I made different jack-o-lanterns and took pictures of them.  G and H picked a card and made the same face in the picture on their pumpkin. 

Pumpkin Transfer

I love transferring activities because they are so open ended.  While H was doing this activity she realized they smelled like sugar.

Letter J

We started working on the letter J this week.  H already knows most of her letters and their sounds, but she loves the activities.  G isn't as interested in letters or activities, but he loves being with his sister.

Jack - o - Lanterns on the letter J

Halloween Candy

G and H are allowed one piece of candy from their Halloween stash.  Since 2 year olds have a hard time picking, I put a few pieces in their Halloween boxes. 



I am a glutton for punishment

The boxes only took 3 days to dry. 

Pumpkins and Jack-O-Lanterns

We are starting out Halloween with a bang.  We have a porch full of mums, cornstalks, and critter food  pumpkins.

The squirrls have found a new place to dine and it isn't our bird feeders.

I started off the day by reading "Pumpkin Eye" and then talking about how a pumpkins turns into a jack o lantern when you carve it.  I think we had a lot of fun.


We started by describing the pumpkin.  I have been trying to get G and H to use descriptive words other than good. 

After I cut the top off, I had G and H pull out the pulp and seeds.  They described how the inside of the pumpkin felt.  They came up with great words like "gooey".

G and H helped prepare the seeds by brushing on olive oil and sprinkling salt.  When the seeds were finished roasting G and H determined they tasted like popcorn.

They each drew part of the face on the pumpkin.  This was the hardest part because they had to think about how it should look when I cut it.  As you can see it doesn't really look like a face.

G and H helped me carve the face on the pumpkin.  We then took it to the bathroom and put in a candle to really see it.

We wrapped up the activity by making jack-o-lanterns out of paper plates, paint, and precut shapes.  I had a variety of shapes for the eyes, nose, and mouth for G and H to pick since we are still practicing with scissors.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

We have been reading The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Iza Trapini.  It is a great extension to the nursery rhyme.  We made spiders to go along with the book and circled all the i's.