Rr is for Rocket

Today we made Rockets for the letter Rr. The kiddos are having a fun time flying them around.

First I cut out shapes on colored paper and wrote a number (1-7) on them, then I took a piece of paper and drew the shapes and numbers on it. See the faint pencil on the black paper?

Then the kiddos put the correct number shape on the paper and glued it on.

It's very simple, but the kids have been counting on the shapes and then screaming BLASTOFF and flying the rocket around.

Orange Juice

We LOVE orange juice in this house, especially freshly squeezed oj. Maybe it's because we have grown up surrounded by orange groves.

We had some oranges that needed to be used so I got out all my juicers. Each of the kiddos go to try each method of juicing.

A manual juicer.

An electric juicer.

Hand squeezed juicing.

The kiddos had so much fun making the orange juice and even more fun drinking it!

Rainbow Rice

Today we made colored rice to put in the sensory table for the letter Rr. As soon as it was in the bucket Aidman says "hey mom, it's the colors of a rainbow!".

To get it colored, put rice in Ziploc bags. Add a capful of rubbing alcohol and 4 or 5 drops of food coloring. Shake the bag around to get the color mixed good, then put it in an open container and let it dry for about an hour so the alcohol smell will go away.

If you've never let your kids play with uncooked rice before, you should! Lyssy played with it for over an hour and a half throughout the day. She LOVED it. We even took it to Aidman's t-ball game to occupy her while he played.

Red Ribbon Rr

I don't know where I got it or when, but I had this paper ribbon in my craft closet. So I let the kiddos Rip Red Ribbon and incidentally they were Rectangles.

Aidman is ALWAYS making funny faces! Especially when he's doing projects.

Letter Rr Lessons

This weeks letter is Rr. You may notice that I don't seem to go in any sort of order with the alphabet. It's because I go along with whatever letter Aidman's 2 day a week preschool is doing and I try to make sure that I'm not doing the same activities. This is great for reinforcing what they are doing there as well as getting Lyssy involved.

Rr

Art:
-Red Ribbon Rr
-Shape Robot and Rocket
-Rainbow Mural

Science:
-Rice in sensory tub
-Plant Radish seeds
-Recycle and Reuse

Math:
-Ramps and Racetracks
-Count and sort (by size) Rocks that we find outside
-Red Rectangle Hunt (around house)
-Color chip Rainbows

Cooking:
-Rice Krispie Treats
-Go to a Restaurant

Movement/Outside:
-Run a Race

Literacy:
-Rhyming

Muffin Tin Monday!

I could not have Dreamed of a better Muffin Tin Monday today! There was no theme today. I was dying for some Warm Cheesy Spinach Artichoke Dip today so I decided to see if the kids would even taste it. I wasn't very hopeful and was prepared to pull out the peanut butter. Boy, was I wrong!! My kiddos (especially Aidman) LOVED it!! I WILL be making this again for lunch, even though it's technically an appetizer.

We had spinach artichoke dip, celery, squash and zucchini, flips (pretzel crackers), tomatoes, cucumbers. I am blessed to have kiddos who like fruits and veggies, the only thing here that they wouldn't eat was squash and zucchini.

Car Wash

We had out the spray bottle for an art project today (I'll post it after it dries) and afterwards it disappeared. I walk into Aidman's room to find him squirting down his trucks. "What are you doing?" I ask. In a deep (trying to be manly) voice he says, "I'm cleaning my Trucks".


In hopes of him NOT ruining his carpets, I have him set up a "station" in the kitchen, ON TOP of a towel. He happily washed 3 of his trucks for well over 30 minutes. Man, those suckers were clean when he was done! I think I need to get him outside washing Mommy's truck!

As I'm trying to get him to look up at me and smile he says "I can't smile at you, I'm doing my work". Oh the concentration it takes to wash a truck!

Krazy Kites

It seems like kites have taken over this week for the letter Kk. We've been watching the wind to see when we can go outside to fly our kits, we've had kite puzzles and counting, and now we've made sun catcher kites.

It's been a while since I've taken out the contact paper, so the kiddos had a fun time with the whole sticky paper factor.

The nice thing about these sun catchers is that they can be made/cut into anything. So naturally, for the letter Kk, we made kites.

Aidman thought it was fun to fly his kite around the house.

Kabobs

We are always trying to beat lunchtime boredom. Often, I allow the kiddos to make their own lunch and that adds alot of fun to it. If I can incorporate the letter of the week it's even better!


Today we made Kabobs for the letter Kk. I found 4 inch skewers at the store that are perfect for little hands. I set out trays of cheese, summer sausage, grapes, star fruit, pineapple, apples, and crackers. The kiddos thought it was so much fun to put their food on a stick.

Rainbow Making

We have been all about the Rainbows for the last couple of weeks, so when I saw this idea I knew my kiddos would love it! Basically, it's just 5 colored 1/2 pipe cleaners, 10 beads of each color, a styrofoam piece cut in two (I glues it to a piece of paper because it kept slipping).

The kiddos stick one end of the pipe cleaner into a styrofoam piece and add the beads, then stick the other end of the pipe cleaner into the other piece of styrofoam. Very simple and fun project that can be done over and over again!

Kk is for Kite Math

Kk was a difficult letter to find household items for our math projects, so I made a few things. First, I made counting kites by cutting diamond and bow shapes out of pattern paper. Then I attached a piece of yarn to the diamond and wrote a number 1-10 on each of the kites. The kiddos job is to put the correct number of bows onto each kite string.

Aidman did 1-10, while Lyssy did 1-5.

Next, I made Kite puzzles. I cut diamond shapes out of pattern paper and then cut each diamond into 2 pieces in zigzag patterns. Both kiddos had a difficult time with this (I think I gave then too many at once (10), plus neither of them are really into puzzles), so I glued one piece of each puzzle to a solid color diamond and this seemed to help them more.

Orange you Hungry?

Today was Orange Day for Muffin Tin Monday. There are always ALOT of cheers around here for MTM, and today there was even more because chips were in it! We had orange juice, grilled cheese sandwich, carrots, nacho chips, and tangerines (the last of them from our tree). It was a yummy Orange lunch! Lyssy said "can we have muffin tin tomorrow with chips and tangerines?", she had to think about the "tomorrow" part because we always call it muffin tin MONDAY.

Kool-Aid is Kool!

Today was ALL about the Kool-Aid for the letter Kk.

First we painted with Kool-Aid. Just mix 2 tablespoons of water with a pack of Kool-Aid. Then get started painting! It smells SO good!

The kiddos painted beautiful Kk's with their cherry Kool-Aid paint.

WARNING!!! Kool-Aid STAINS bad!! Put newspaper or a vinyl table cloth on your table, put your kiddos in smocks or undress them, and be prepared to have stained hands for a day or two.

Tip: Write the letter in permanent marker and NOT washable marker. The washable will run.

Tip: Because it stains so much, we like to stain our wood projects with kool-aid. Just mix it with alittle water and paint it onto the wood and it will make a nice stained look with whatever color you choose.

Next, we made Kool-Aid to drink. This was a BIG treat for my kiddos since they never get to drink it.

Then, we made Kool-Aid play dough. This is so simple to make (the kids made it today!) and it smells so good!

Kool-Aid Play dough:

2 cups flour (plus alittle more if needed)

1/2 cup salt

3 tablespoons oil

1 packet Kool-Aid

1 cup hot water

Mix all ingredients together and kneed. Then let the kiddos have fun!

My kiddos played with the play dough for an HOUR!!! Whoa! That was so nice!

Kk Lesson

Art:
-Kool-Aid painting on Kk
-kaleidoscope out of a toilet paper tube and a coffee filter
-sun catcher kite
-kiss on paper (Lyssy thought it was so funny for me to kiss the paper, so when Aidman is at school I will let her put on my lipstick to kiss with)

Science:
-Kool-Aid play dough
-koalas, kangaroos, and kittens

Math:
-# kites, match correct # of bows to kite
-keys, lock and unlock doors
-kite puzzles

Cooking:
-kabobs
-Kool-Aid

Movement/Outside:
-kick a kickball
-karate chop
-fly kites at the park