Is your Mama a Llama?

If you haven't heard of this book - where have you been? I got the book on CD from the library (the books on CD are a great way to get some variety in reading books, so they don't always
have to hear my boring voice)

Anyways, the llama is looking for his mama, and asks all the other animals, "Is your mama a llama?" They all say no, then descibe (with really good adjectives) what their mama looks like.

After we read the book, we pulled out all the stuffed animals, threw them all on a blanket. Then began sorting.

I would ask who can find a duck? Who can find another? I went through, until all the animals were matched up.

During this, I also asked the kids to describe details about each animal, for example:

What color is the penguins tummy?

What does the duck say?

How many bears are there?

So on and so forth.

And of course they put them ALL away before we finished.

(this activity is very similer to my other animal sort, I just used a book to help)

Go to Target!!

I love it! Everything on here was 1$ (Educational puzzles, workbooks for pre-k, letter bingo, and whiteboards with lines for writing, I could have bought more, but I kept picturing my husband shaking his head at me)
Before the school year starts, they have so many educational materials. They are great if you're doing some teaching at home. Or they are great for church, car rides, or general boredom during the summer months. So head over to your 1$ spot at Target asap!

Nature

We try to take walks about 3 times a week with the girls. Its burns some calories for Mama after dinner, and it gets that last bit of energy out so they crash at bedtime.

Well our walk time has turned into Riley's collection time of rocks, leaves, sticks, acorns, flowers, you name it.

I was getting tired of finding them all around the house and the washer from putting them in her pockets, hence " My Nature Collection"

She can dump everything in there. She tried to get me to keep it in her room. No way. It stays in the backyard.

I used a big giant empty can, but you could use a shoebox or a jar or something. Get some craft paper, write some words and easy peasy. All that nature stuff is out of your hair.

Do as I'm Doing

Our church has been doing this song since I was a kid. Its one of those songs to fill the time and get the wiggles out. Its really cute, and the kids never get sick of it.



I let each child take a turn being the leader and picking an action, The actions of this morning were:

Spinning in a circle
Marching
Twirling our arms
Jumping
Tapping our heads


Here's the song:

Do as I'm doing
Follow, follow me
Do as I'm doing
Follow, follow me


If I do it high or low (the kids do their motions high and low while singing)
If I do it fast or slow( the kids do it Fast and slow while singing)


Do as I'm doing
Follow, Follow me
Do as I'm doing
Follow, follow me



Ri being the leader (jumping)



Chloe being the leader (marching)


Click here to hear the songs melody

Water Paint

I first saw his a the Childrens Discovery Museum, then At my friend Melissa's house. And this was almost 3 years ago! I can't believe its taken me this long. Anyways, its simple!

Materials:

Paint brushes

Water

Cement

I got these paintbrushes for $4.97 at Walmart

Fill up a container with water and have them paint on the cement!

Its cool because there really is no clean up and the kids can get their paint on!

My 4 year old liked this for maybe 5 minutes, but my 2 year old and our 3 year old friend played for almost a half hour. So its pretty much geared towards the younger toddler.

Buttons in a Can

Materials:

Old Buttons

A big can (or small, if you want to make it hard)

Tape (optional)

1. Put a can somewhere in or out of the house
2. Put some tape on the ground, so the kids know where to stand

3. Make them line up and take turns, take a button, and have them try to toss it into the can.
( I gave them 3 tries)
4. Leave it up all day, they liked just throwing things in there all day

**This is a really good opportunity to teach the skill of "standing in line and waiting their turn." I'm often amazed at how much these kids DON'T understand how to do this!

Paper Plate Feelings

You gotta love paper plates. So many art projects come home from school , made from paper plates.

Well, here's another!

1. Draw some faces with different facial expressions on paper plates. You don't have to be an artist - look at mine.

2. Read a book about feelings. I had this one:

(I wish I had this book : The Way I Feel by Janan Cain, I thought I did, but I didn't)

3. Show the kids each paper plate, and ask what the feeling is, then ask them what makes them feel that way. Have them make their own faces too!

For example: What is something that makes you happy? Her answer: Horses

What is something that makes you sad? Her answer: Time Outs

(My 2 year old just copied everything Ri said, but no worries, she'll get there one day)

4. Then, let them pick a plate and put it on their face, and have them act out the feeling.

We really liked this activity, we all laughed when everyone was making their "feelings faces"