Monday nights are busy at our house so a couple months ago we started doing muffin tin dinners. Muffin tin meals are usually just a fancy way to serve leftovers, but this week I made a back to school muffin tin meal to celebrate the first day of school! It was very simple to do. I used kitchen scissors to cut out the sandwiches in the shape of a notebook and wrote ABC on the top with an icing pen. I saw the super cute idea for the cheese pencil … [Read more...]
Sand and Cornstarch Dinosaur Fossils
I hosted an at-home summer camp day full of dino fun last month! We started the day by being palenotologists at a fossil dig and it was a super cool experience. Two nights before dino camp I made a batch of sand and cornstarch fossils. I hadn't made these in years so I kinda winged it and luckily it turned out fine. How to Make Sand and Cornstarch Fossils: Mix 1 cup of sand, 1/2 cup of cornstarch, and 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar in a … [Read more...]
Fizzy Dinosaur Egg Fossils
This summer we had lots of fun doing summer camp at home with a neighbor family. The other mom and I took turns hosting all of the kids for a day of activity themed fun and we all had a blast! I planned camping themed activities for the first camp day at my house and decided dinosaurs would be perfect for the second. One of the coolest things we did was dissolve dinosaur egg fossils. We started by reading the book Dinosaur Eggs by Susan H. Gray. … [Read more...]
Camping Themed Kids Activities
Is anyone else shocked at how fast this summer is flying by? It seems like the last day of school was just yesterday. One of our favorite activities this summer has been doing Camp Whamma Jamma with some of our friends. The mom had asked me if we wanted to participate in a mom-run home summer camp and I couldn't say yes fast enough! We picked a couple days in the month of July and took turns hosting a themed camp. I had the first session and did … [Read more...]
Fingerprint and Footprint Flags!
Last year we made these fun fingerprint and footprint flags for Flag Day! The kids had a blast and they hung on our back doors through the 4th of July. This was the one my then 5 year old made. She only used one foot for the footprints so she wouldn't get red paint on the white stripes. :) The then 3 year old obviously had to put both feet in the paint, but still managed to walk in a pretty straight line! They also did 50 blue fingerprints to … [Read more...]
Dine with a Character: Muffin Tins with Moose!
We have been taking part in My Little Bookcase's The Little Book Adventure and really enjoyed challenge #2, leaving letters in library books for the next reader. This month's challenge is to dine with a book character--so much fun! We could not wait to get started! We actually chose which character we were going to dine with one night while we were eating. We have been doing Muffin Tin Mondays and the kids decided that a muffin tin meal would be … [Read more...]
Practice Reading with a Whisper Reader
One of my kindergartener's favorite ways to practice reading is with our whisper readers. A whisper reader is like a little "phone" kids can whisper read into and hear their words amplified in their ears. It is a great way to build fluency and it lots of fun to use! Yep. That is PVC piping you're looking at! Whisper readers are super easy to make--all you have to do is connect two 1 1/2 inch corners together. Re-reading text helps kids build … [Read more...]
Little Book Adventure: Library Letters
My Little Bookcase has organized The Little Book Adventure to celebrate Australia's National Year of Reading. She's created 10 monthly adventures for readers to participate in to explore books and promote a reading culture. This month's project is Spread Your Love for Books. She has a fantastic explanation of the challenge and her inspiration for it on the blog, but basically it is to leave a note in your favorite library book for the next … [Read more...]