Thanksgiving Book

Today we went to Barnes and Noble to find a really good Thanksgiving Book. I have a few books from my teaching days but I wanted a really simplistic "I am thankful for" book. I need a book like this to better explain next week's activity. I found a book called "Thanks for Thanksgiving" and I love it. It simply states things kids are thankful for. I will read this book to her at least once a day between now and Thursday. On Monday I plan on starting our own Thankful Book. I will read the book and then help guide her to what she is thankful for each day until Thanksgiving. She will draw the picture and then I will record what she is thankful for under her picture. Because we are doing the same activity each day next week, I won't post everyday. I will just post our finished product at the end of the week.

Turkey Hand Feathers

I should really think of better names for the activities that I do. Names that sound exciting would be much better. I am not the most creative person in the world so these names work.

Today we completed our art project from yesterday. I made Audrey's project first. I did this for two reasons. First, Audrey is not able to use a glue stick yet. Second, I want Claire to be able to practice following directions from a model. Most of our projects allow her to do whatever she would like but sometimes it is good for her to see a finished project and follow directions from that. She did great! While Claire worked on the turkey Audrey painted with water on construction paper. She loved it! My friend gave me that idea and it was awesome and paint wasn't everywhere when we were done.

Scissors

Today we got ready for tomorrow's art project. I traced Claire and Audrey's hands on different colors of construction paper for our turkey project. They loved getting their hands traced! I cut out the hands while Claire practiced with her own scissors on construction paper. The scissors that came in my art tub are wonderful! They are totally plastic but still actually cut. I would highly recommend this art kit from Barnes and Noble. I got it super cheap at one of their table sales. It has everything you need!

The Big Book of Exclamation

Today we didn't have an activity. We read books and played without any structured activity time. And that was fun. However, I did want to mention this book that a speech therapist showed me. It is called The Big Book of Exclamation and it is a tool used to develop language. The pictures are awesome and it will be one of Claire's Christmas presents. Here is the website where you can purchase the book:

http://thebigbookofexclamations.com/

Jello

Today I decided it was again time for another cooking project. My original plan was for us to make pudding together. However I saw a box of jello in my cupboard and thought that would be something fun and different. (I also remembered that I had some oh-so-adorable individual jello molds.) Claire really enjoys cooking and baking with me but Audrey makes it a little more difficult. Today Audrey slept a little longer than usual and we were able to finish the whole project without any distractions. :)

Clearly something I did not think about was that Jello is not something that is ready immediately for tasting. Claire loved making it until she realized she couldn't eat it right away. The last picture is how our project ended. Perhaps pudding would have been better. :)

Potty Training

We started potty training this week and let me tell you, it is not my favorite parenting activity. However, today I am pleased to report Claire has been accident free and has gone to the bathroom when she has needed to! Hooray for Claire!

Because our days have basically revolved around the bathroom, our activities have not been our main focus. Today we did Play-Doh circles and I am pleased to announce she now can identify a circle. I know this because I looked through different magazines and ads for pictures containing circles. I then showed them to Claire and asked her what the object was in the picture. She knew! Even though I am her mom, I still want to be able to find ways to creatively assess her learning. She got a kick out of looking at ads and I got to see her progress. A win-win situation.

My Day!!!

Today I took a little mommy vacation to the Sewing Expo at the convention center and let me tell you...today will forever be one of my favorite days. My older sister flew in from Montana for the expo and my mother-in-law watched the girls. My mom, my older sister, younger sister and I all got coffee in the morning and then headed to the convention to be inspired. AND we were!!!! My first class was on making girl clothes and doll clothes to match. I can't wait to try! My second class was on making a collage tote. It wasn't my favorite fabric but I got to sew on a $9,000 machine. Oh my goodness! I did things that I have never done and I was inspired by other people's creativity. I will never be the world's greatest seamstress but I can hold my own. :)

To top the day off, we met my dad at the Oak Grill for a family dinner. It was just the original party of five. Dad, mom, Holly, Heidi, Jill. It hasn't been just the five of us for 10 years! We sat for two hours laughing and reminiscing days of old. :) I loved every minute and it is a memory I will cherish.

Today I was refreshed. It was a good day.

My Finished Tote!!!

Hand Trees

Today we went over to Mikayla's house to do our activity. I got this idea from my friend Alyssa's blog. We made a tree trunk and branches using Claire's arm and then she watercolor painted the leaves on the tree. This activity would have been better to do when there are actual leaves on the trees, but it was still fun. :) Thanks Mikayla for having us at your house!!!

Circle Painting

To emphasize what we learned about circles yesterday, we will be finger painting circle shapes. We are in the midst of potty training and I needed an easy art project. Finger paint is so popular in this house and it doesn't require much prep from me. Love it!

Circle Collage

This week we will be focusing on circles! We talk about shapes here and there but we haven't spent a lot of time focusing on them. This week I hope Claire will really begin to identify this shape on her own! Our activity today is a circle collage. I just punched out circles with a punch and put them through my sticker maker. I will read a book about shapes and then let her put her circle stickers on paper.

Turkey Feathers

This is a craft I used to do in my kindergarten classroom. Back then, I didn't have feathers so I cut them out of construction paper instead. We happen to have feathers which made this activity even more fun for Claire!

Turkey Color Sort

This is a pretty easy activity to explain. You just match the correct clothespin to the right turkey. The clothespins used to just have only the color word written on it, but I made it easier by also coloring the tip of the pin with the correct color. Pinching the clothespin was tough for Claire so I let her just put the pin on top of the turkey. We will keep working on this though because pinching a clothespin is great fine motor practice! :)

Frog Sorting

Today's little activity is sorting frogs. Sorting fosters good problem solving skills and it also encourages kids to recognize similarities and differences. These frogs were something I bought for my kindergarten classroom years ago. I LOVE them. They are the only toy in our house that is literally played with everyday. They are also the reason Claire learned her colors. You can find these frogs at Lakeshore Learning. Today we are sorting the frogs by colors. I wrote the color words on index cards and Claire was in charge of sorting the bucket. She typically would not want to sort the whole bucket, but because I had her do it standing on a chair at the counter she loved it! Sometimes just a change in scenery allows a simple activity to be exciting. :) If you don't have something to sort like frogs, you could have your child sort crayons and markers into basic colors or even small toys. This was a pretty simple activity for Claire but what I like about things like about it is that it gives her the feeling of success. Sorting objects will get more challenging and this simple sort activity gives her confidence she will need for more difficult tasks.

Turkey Hands

This is a craft that I am pretty sure all kindergarten teachers use in their classroom. I LOVE hand print art for kids and if you google hand print crafts you will find ideas for every month. I decided to try it with both of my girls and it worked really well! Audrey even had fun! I had our wipes ready after each color or finger was painted. I also didn't do the whole hand at once. I did each color separately and waited for the paper to dry. So adorable. My friend displays her hand print art in frames each month. Such a cute decoration!

Name Matching

Last week I made this name card for Claire. My goal is that she begins to become familiar with the letters in her name. I just took a piece of thick card stock and traced the magnetic letters. I laminated it so that it was more durable and so that I could wipe it off. I leave this out only in the morning for Claire. It gives her something to do while I make breakfast. I also know the key to this activity is that I put it away after breakfast. Then it becomes something new and not just another toy on the shelf. :) I leave the letters scattered on the table and then she tries to put the letters on the paper in the right order. She often gets the c, l, i, and r correct but doesn't always differentiate between the a and e.