Calendar Time

(31 Months)

I've been wanting to making this board for several weeks now.  Calendar time offers so much learning in one confined space.  For the past few weeks, after the kidabunks were asleep in bed for the night I searched blog after blog, Pinterest board after board, looking for ideas.  The process seemed to be too time-consuming to tackle during a once-a-day, hour long nap.  Then, one wonderful day last week they took a two-hour nap (two glorious uninterrupted hours).  It was the jump start I needed to get this project underway.  Once I started, it actually came together pretty quickly (although not as fast as homemade play-doh).  

I had certain goals that I wanted to accomplish in using this board, which determined the material that I placed on the board.  My goals over the next year+ are to practice learning:

• the days of the week (in order)
• the months of the year (in order)
• the concept of yesterday, today and tomorrow
• what the weather is outside (cloudy, sunny, rainy)
• the names of the seasons and our current season
• learning about each number 
• learning numbers in sequence, through a real-world number line
• begin learning about word families
• understand that there are several ways to draw a basic shape
• practice in forming letters (out of shaving cream, play doh, blocks, sticks, pom poms) 
• -this one is for me, I wanted a board that requires little time to update, and that will grow with the kidabunks for the next two plus years.

The board is finally finished!  The ideas and inspiration came from my Pinterest board and Today's Weather is a free printable from Homeschool Creations (thank you, to all of you incredible mommies out there for posting your terrific ideas).  We're going to start using the board tomorrow and I have a lot of fun activities planned for us that I'm so excited to share with the kidabunks.

We sing the Days of the Week song to the tune of "Oh My Darlin'"-
There are seven days,
there are seven days, 
there are seven days in a week.
There are seven days,
there are seven days,
there are seven days in a week.
Sunday, Monday
Tuesday, Wednesday
Thursday, Friday
Saturday.

Sunday, Monday

Tuesday, Wednesday

Thursday, Friday

Saturday.

We sing the Months of the Year song to the tune of "Ten Little Indians" - 

January, February, March and April

May, June, July and August

September, October, November, December

Those are the months of the year

(repeat two or three more times)

I'm so excited for tomorrow!

Organizing the Chaos

(27 Months)

What a mess?  An absolute disaster area!  This used to be part of my bedroom.  My kiddie craft supplies ran amok, and took over my room, the kitchen and the playroom.  I had stuff everywhere.

I started researching organizing craft areas and came across several cute pictures on Pinterest.  Then after some measuring, and evaluating what type of storage will work, we headed down to Ikea to pick up our storage solutions.

When we got to "Ikea's House" (that's what the kids kept calling it, I guess because of all the rooms that look like a house), we first sat on the potty - we're potty training.  Nothing.  We went straight upstairs and went to the restroom AND Wild One peed on the potty!  Woo hoo- Wild One peed on the potty!  I knew Little Miss wouldn't have to go, she doesn't pee until we put her diaper on for nap time.  Then we shopped.  Here was our inspiration.  Isn't it beautiful?

A little over an hour later and ta-da!!!!  Everything has a home.  Plus I have room for a few more sensory bins on top of the one on the right.  A big thank you to my amazing hubby for putting the shelving units together while I organized and filled the bins - all done during nap time (the most productive 75 minutes ever).