Sticker Lightning Bugs

(4 1/2 Years)

Last Christmas, Bella (our Elf on the Shelf) gave Little Miss and Wild One a going away present.  It was a three-month gift to Kiwi Crate.  These little gift box gems are PERFECT for those times when you want (or need- you know those times) a project that they can work on semi-independently.  Today was the day; we painted, we built, we played with the kinetic sand, we made the volcano erupt- again, and it was only 10:30!  Out came the kit with everything in it.  I handed the kids their bottles, and colored stickers, and let them have fun decorating.

Quick!  Throw in a load of wash, load the dishwasher, start organizing the craft area (again!).  

It took less than ten minutes for them to decorate their bottles.  I thought it was going 

to take two or three minutes, but I saw how carefully they were working and I 

seized the opportunity to get a few chores done.

Wild One created a collage of color, overlapping some stickers.  Whereas, Little Miss 

created rows of the same color, making sure to space them apart ever so slightly.  Twins.

 I love how proud she is of her work!

 I helped them attach the straw, wings and feet.  They added the goggly eyes.

All finished!

 Time to make them fly.

Let's do it again!

 Experimenting the differing rates of speed if the string is held at a steeper decline.  

They loved this.  I did too!  

Swirled Art Easter Egg Decorations

(4 Years)

We love playing with shaving cream.  Especially with colored shaving cream!  It's so much fun to squish your hands through the foam.  Last year we made swirled art Easter eggs, the kids and Grandpa were amazed at the beautiful results (see here).  This year, we decided to make swirled art Easter egg decorations for our palm tree.

We used the same process that we used last year (see here) and when the paintings were dry, I cut them into smaller eggs shapes, attached a loop of yarn with tape and then Wild One went around hanging them up!

The process is so simple:

Fill a tray with about an inch of shaving cream.  Add drops of different colored food dye.

Swirl with a chopstick or the end of a paint brush.

Place the construction paper on top of the swirled shaving cream.  Lightly pat it down (making sure that the paper is covered in shaving cream).

Carefully peel the paper from the shaving cream.  Allow to set for a minute or two.  Then scrape off using a window squeegee or a bench scraper or a ruler or a craft stick, wiping off the shaving cream from the scraper each time you swipe.  Allow your creation to dry and then you are ready to decorate!  Save those scraps of pretty paper, I'll show you why tomorrow.

Here are a few more fun ways to play with shaving cream:

Colored Foam with Ice

Hidden Water Beads in Shaving Cream

Fluffy Cloud Dough

Rainbow Bath Paint

Car (Toy) Wash 

We always stock up on shaving cream when it's on sale, but in a pinch we'll pick up some cans at The Dollar Tree - I love that place!  Don't you?

More Sight Word Fun

(44 Months)

We have been having a lot of fun playing our sight word games (see here).  I've been trying to sneak in an extra few minutes of playing throughout the day here and there to reinforce those sight words.  We are only working on a few at a time.  I'm pulling the list mostly from the BOB books:
           the
           and
           is
           has
           said
           that
           his
           her

Last May, we worked on a b, d, p, q letter identification matching game (see here).  To help us practice our sight words, here is another activity and it involves stickers.  My kids love stickers!  It's almost guaranteed that if I create a learning activity that incorporates stickers, they are going to participate. By the way, this is quick and easy activity can also be used as a formal assessment (for those of you who need to document progress).

At first Wild One did not want to come to the table.  That's fine.  I knew the lure of stickers would get him there.  Sure enough, "What are doing?"

 Aaahhh, yes the elusive smile.  It amazes me how horrible I am at taking pictures, I can never get a smile picture that isn't blurry.

Heh heh heh, sticker lure worked!

Dot markers are another fun way to work on this activity.  Since we were on our way out the door this morning, I chose a less messy option.

b,d,p,q Identification Game and Assessment

(39 Months)

I never really paid attention to all of the different ways we write and type our letters (fonts), until I started pointing out the subtle differences to my kids.  You have got to be kidding me!  Talk about quick and simple, all you need is a sheet of paper, marker, dot stickers (or character sticker) and that's it.    The object is to place the assigned colored dot on the respective letter.  Yay sticker fun!

Then to make learning their letters and numbers even more challenging, there are the symbols that could be a letter or a number.  A straight vertical line could be a one, an I or a lowercase L.  How did that happen?  Especially when faced with the question, "but, why do they all look the same when they are all different?"   Ummm, hmmmm, ummmmm.

We've played a couple of letter matching games in the past (see here for a great fine motor skill game that focuses on upper and lower case matching), but I haven't tackled b, d, p and q isolated in a group.   I decided to create a fun game and assessment to see if we really know these letters, or are they guessing really well.  My inspiration came from Rockabye Butterfly, she did a fun following directions game using this format with numbers.

As soon as Little Miss and Wild One saw the stickers they were ready to get started- it's amazing how kids love stickers.   I tried to do a quick presentation on the different letters, but they were too eager to get started.  Normally, I'd have them hold off but I really wanted to see who knew what.

A few minutes into playing, Little Miss decided that she wanted to make designs with the stickers instead of placing each sticker where it belonged.  That's odd for her, she's the one who usually wants to sit and do her "work" for long periods of time.  Oh well, I didn't feel like paying the bills today and put that off.  Some people would argue that she needs to sit and finish a project, maybe when she's a bit older I might agree.  At age three, she's done when she's done.  Look at that sad face, how can I say no to letting her do an art project instead of practicing her letters?