Oooooooh! Spooooooky spider! That's what my kids say every time they see the spider my husband made last year for Halloween. We were re-landscaping our yard right before Halloween last year and we didn't get our outside decor up until the last minute. Our neighbors go crazy with decorations and the kids did not think out house was spooky enough so my husband made this cool DIY spider lawn decor inspired by one we saw on the old Family … [Read more...]
Spoon Feelings Activity for Kids
We have been having so much fun participating in the Virtual Book Club for Kids! This month's author, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, was new to us and we excited to see her book Spoon in the Scholastic book order last month. (affiliate link) Spoon is the story of a little spoon who begins to fret that his friends, Knife, Fork, and Chopsticks, have it so much better than him. His friends think he is the lucky one, but he can only see the things that … [Read more...]
Pumpkin Face Puppet and Halloween Finger Play
We have been having so much fun with our pumpkin face puppets! My two year old is very excited that she knows all her shapes so we made our faces out of different shapes. The puppets couldn't be easier to make. All you need are a bunch of paper shapes, orange paper plates, and craft sticks. Here was her favorite one--she is a big fan of the oval mouth! Then the older kids and I taught her the Pumpkin Face song and finger play. And she … [Read more...]
Handprint Kid Crafts for Halloween
This morning we were pulling out our Halloween decorations and came across these adorable handprint crafts the kids have made over the years. They are easy to make and fun to decorate with. Plus you get to reminisce each year about how tiny their little hands were! Handprint Bat The spider is simple to do, my 6 year old made this one when she was 20 months old! Just paint the palm and fingers with black paint and press on paper. Then reapply … [Read more...]
Fire Hose Fact Practice Game
My first grader needs to work on her addition fact speed as part of her homework this month. We also have been talking about fire safety and today it occurred to me to combine the two--after all what better reason to go quickly than a fire? I wrote some of the sums the 6 year old was working on the fence with sidewalk chalk and drew flames around them. I also wrote letters and sight words in "flames" so my 2 and 4 year olds could play too. My … [Read more...]
Practice Questioning with a Question Ball
Good readers need to be able to recall and make sense of, or comprehend, what they read. One of the best ways to increase comprehension in readers of any age is with the Questioning Strategy. In order to better understand the text kids learn how to create teacher-like questions about what they have read. Sounds simple, right? All it takes is practice! This is where the Question Ball comes in! How to use a Question Ball to increase reading … [Read more...]
Pumpkin Themed Play Date and a Blog Hop
We invited some friends over on Saturday for a pumpkin play date! It was a great way to celebrate the first day of fall and definitely got us in the mood for fall. The best part? It was fun for the kids and super easy to put together! Pumpkin Books: We started the play date with a pumpkin story, the book Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell. The story follows a little girl and her family as they enjoy many fun fall activities. This is one of … [Read more...]
Kid Drawn Pet Portraits
We finally joined in the fun at Kids Get Arty and I cannot believe we have waited this long! The artist we chose to study is Brooke Churchill who does these crazy cool pet portraits in a style she calls her Signature Mosaic Technique. If you've never seen any of her work you have to go and check out her website--the whimsical details in her work are simply amazing! We spent a lot of time looking at the different pet portraits she has on her site … [Read more...]
