Monoprinting

I have been wanting to monoprint with the kiddos since I first saw it done on The Artful Parent. All you need is paint, rollers, q-tips, a tray of some sort, and paper cut to size.

These trays are AMAZING! I my newest favorite item! They can be used in so many different ways!

First, roll the paint on the tray.

Then take a q-tip and draw whatever you desire.

Press on your paper and made sure to rub it good.

Then lift your paper off.

My kids LOVED this project! They did it over and over again!

Lyssy made some flowers.


Aidman made a tiger.

High Five

One of the BEST gifts we have ever received is from our Great Nana. For the past two Christmases, she has bought the kids a subscription of Highlights High Five Magazine. My kids LOVE it!! I love it too because not only is there stories, but there is also songs, crafts, cooking, and building to be done together. We spent the entire morning reading and doing activities for the magazine. Oh and the best thing was that this took NO planning on my part! And I had everything on hand so that was awesome too!

First, was to make a colorful, fuzzy mobile. I like that it list everything needed through word and picture, so while I was standing in the craft closet, the kids read off what I needed to get out.

It was great for those fine motor skills.

We added a few things I had on hand to make it our own.

It looks really pretty too!

Then we got to the build it section. They had built an apartment building.

This is what ours looked like! BTW, other than me taping the containers together with their help, they did this entirely on their own. They are still playing with this and adding more to it.

Finally, it was lunch time. The cooking section listed a recipe for Maple-Cinnamon French toast. Again they called out what we needed while I dug it out of the fridge.

They made it by them selves, except for the stove top cooking which I did.

Looks Yummy!!

So what I'm trying to say with all this is that you SHOULD get this magazine!! It really is one of our favorite gifts because if gives something every month and it is so educational!

Imagination at Work

My kids have nap time every day, but they don't always sleep. As long as they are quiet in their rooms, I really don't care what they do (both of their rooms are completely childproof, plus I can hear everything they are doing). Today Aidman came out of the room and really wanted to show me something. I came in the room to see this...

an apple tree

a motorcycle ramp

a motorcycle garage

a soft monster

and a pointy monster.

What a nice surprise!! Aidman had been in his room quietly working on this masterpiece!!

Easter Story and Craft

Like everyone else in the US, we've been talking about Easter this week. In our house we leave the Easter Bunny out of Easter and focus on talking about what Jesus did for us.

Today we read The Story of Easter by Patricia A Pingry. The kids really like this simple book and I really like how it explains why churches have crosses.

Then we did our Resurrection Eggs. If you don't have them, GO GET THEM! We LOVE this and the kids want to do it over and over again. They do a wonderful job of telling the Easter story for young children.

Then we made these Beautiful crosses. Thank you to Teaching Two for this wonderful project idea! I took 1/2 of a black construction paper and cut a cross into the middle. Then we placed it on contact paper, and the kiddos added tissue paper squares, and we covered the other side with more contact paper. The end result is just beautiful!!!

ABC Puzzles

The other day my Mother in Law brought the kids a Spice Box Early Learning Puzzle Set. It has a set of ABC puzzles, Opposites puzzles, and Numbers puzzles. The kiddos really like it.

I like the fact that it has upper and lower case letters and that it shows the picture and has the written word. They are sturdy cardboard and are alittle larger than a flash card. These puzzles could easily be made by cutting flashcards.

I like watching how my kiddos are different. You can see that Aidman stacked all of his puzzles, while Lyssy laid her out for all to see. Aidman was faster, but lost interest quicker so they both ended up doing the same amount of letters.

Toys we LOVE!

Pattern Blocks!!! We love to play with pattern blocks! We sort them by color, we build things with them, we count them, we sort by shape, we make patterns with them, we make fun designs out of them, it's even fun to make holes in foam paper plates with them because it's cool to make them stand up. They are such a great learning tool! I found this great website that has printables for pattern blocks (some examples below) called Prekinders.