First Sorting

Earlier this month I blogged about a soccer ball drop and I mentioned that I fancied it up, so we could do an extension activity later in the month.  Well, here is our extension activity.  I introduced sorting to the Wee One. 

First I showed her a football and said, "This is a football."  I then showed her a soccer ball and said, "This is a soccer ball."  I repeated it a few times and then showed her the football container and the soccer ball container.  Together, we put in a few footballs in the correct container and a few soccer balls in the correct container.  It was a ambitious activity, but sometimes a little stretch doesn't hurt. 

While she was dropping the balls, I realized that the footballs had to be put in upright.  This also gave her a challenge.

Wordless Wednesday - The Gang's All Here

Dessert For Dinner

Okay, it wasn't really dessert, but it could have been dessert because it was that good - BLT Pizza.  Not the most nutritious dinner, but you gotta live a little. 

Ingredients  - Use as much or as little as you would like. 

Pizza dough or pre-made pizza (We used the bread maker pizza dough recipe)
1 onion - diced
2 tomatoes - diced
8 bacon slices (cooked on skillet)
Mozzarella cheese - to taste
Sharp Cheddar - to taste
Monterey Jack - to taste
Mayo about 1/4 cup
Lettuce - shredded
Ranch Dressing

Spread the mayo on the bottom of the pizza crust and add some mozzarella cheese.  Sprinkle on the onions, tomato, and crispy bacon.  Top with the remaining cheese and bake at 425 until bubbly and crust is finished.  After you remove it from the oven add the lettuce and drizzle on ranch dressing. 

Before it was baked.

The finished pie.

Number - O

Recently Ladybug and I were working on initial sounds and when we came to the numbers six and ten, she was stumped.  I realized that we needed to work on number recognition, so we played number bingo or Number - O as I like to call it. 

I wrote the numbers 0-10 and "Free" on stickers and they placed the stickers on their Number - O cards.  After we reviewed the numbers, we played a few games (I did not show them the number cards).  This not only served as fun, but also an assessment.  It was easy for me to see which numbers they were confusing and which ones they just didn't know. 

Mister and Ladybug had to cover their entire card and tell me each number.  Their prize for winning was half a Life Saver.  We play big or go home.

Ladybug was stumped when it came to the six and the nine, so she put the stickers on the Number - O cards and counted. 

Two Confessions

Confession 1:  I love my husband, but he is thrifty cheap.  He is so cheap; he has been called the cheapest of the cheap.  Now before you think I am an evil wife, know that he is proud of his cheapness, it has rubbed off on me, and that's not a bad thing.  It means less waste, fewer material possessions and thinking that I can do anything.  I am good enough, smart enough,...

Confession 2:  When I was teenager I would laugh and roll my eyes at my mom for two reasons: rugs and wreaths.  She has always had a new rug and a wreath on her door.  Can you guess who loves wreaths?  If I could I would put a wreath on every door because they are that much fun.  I suppose it's a bit like the circle of life; becoming your parents.

Put confession one and confession two together and you have an attempt at Crafty McCrafterson.  Between Pinterst and ETSY, I have spent a good portion of my time obsessing over wreaths.  Recently, I stumbled on the mother load of wreaths and I had to have one.  It was only $55.  Only $55. 

Now, knowing my husband is beyond thrifty, there is no way he would tell me a $55 is a good deal and in all honesty, I don't blame him.  So, here is my version of the wreath.  I won't bore you with a tutorial since I believe your Googling skills are good, but I think it's pretty cute.  I may have gone a little overboard on the felt flowers (14 to be exact) but once you hot glue them, they are on for good.

Welcome Fall!

Pulling Double Duty

What's better when you take an ordinary object and turn it into a game? It's when two different age groups can use the same thing, but in different and appropriate ways.  That's what happened when I cut a huge hole (bigger than I anticipated, but you know when you are trying to get a straight line and it keeps getting larger and larger and larger...) in a gallon milk jug.

Toddler - The Wee One is inserting cotton balls into the top.  She quickly figured out that she couldn't just drop them in, but had to push.  She loved the big retrieval hole.

By day a fine motor skill activity and by night a hat.

Preschool - Mister and Ladybug did a beanbag toss using the milk jug.  Each beanbag has a number 1-3 and when they made a basket, they put that many counters in their cup.  When we played a few rounds, we counted up how many were in each cup.

I placed the brown mat a few different places, so they would experience success, but it wouldn't be too easy. 

The counters and cups.

Wordless Wednesday - Who's That Peekin' In There?