WHERE YOUR CHILD CENTERED IDEAS
are the STARS of the show!
are the STARS of the show!
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
Summer Fun: Painting Seashells
Nothing says summer like the beach!
Recently I took a fabulous "Mommy's Only" trip to Sanibel, FL where I collected many, many fabulous seashells. The Lil Divas were super excited to get their hands on these gorgeous shells and get crafty. Over the summer I hope to do a few different activities with our shells but the 1st thing the Lil Divas wanted to do was paint some of them. They even insisted we put it on our Summer Fun List to ensure we made time for it.
This was such a tranquil activity - perfect after a day of swim lessons and playdates at the park.
Painting Seashells
I gave the Lil Divas free reign for this activity.
They picked the shells they wanted to use as their canvas and got painting.
They chose plain white seashells
& opted to use lots and lots of color!
The result?
Colorful,
Cheerful,
Beautiful seashells!
Now, what should we do with them?
Bern
A few of our favorite related Books:
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Shaving Cream Marbelized Mister Sea Horse Craft (Eric Carle)
I love the book Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle and the Lil Divas enjoy the overlays and illustrations in the story. I hadn't expected to do another activity to go with this particular story (we were just re-reading it for fun) but I was inspired by the illustrations to make our own funky seahorses by using marbelized shaving cream.
Shaving Cream Marbelized Seahorses
What You Need:
shaving cream
paint
shallow dish/container
seahorse cut out
What To Do:
1. Pour shaving cream onto your dish/plate/container.
2. Add paint (I keep it at 3-4 colors for best results)
3. Swirl gently
4. Place cut-out on top of shaving cream and press gently to ensure it is covered with your mixture.
5. Lift and let sit for a few minutes
6. Use a plastic lid, napkin, index card or squeegee to remove excess shaving cream.
That's it - check out what a marvelous result you got!
Don't forget to check out our Happy Birthday Eric Carle linky for tons more activities!
Bern
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Puffy Paint Cloud Art with Eric Carle's Little Cloud
We are celebrating Eric Carle's birthday this week!
One of the Lil Diva's favorite books is Eric Carle's Little Cloud - Draw-it-with-Chalk Book. They enjoy adding their own illustrations to the story so I knew they would enjoy making their own Puffy Paint Cloud Art.Puffy Paint Cloud Art
Making this type of puffy paint is super easy - just mix glue and shaving cream. I don't measure but the trick is to make sure it's still nice and fluffy so you still get a nice puffy picture after it dries.
The Lil Divas made butterfly and flower clouds.
Then of course they wanted to play with shaving cream.
They LOVE it!
Yay!
Messy!
Fun!
Don't forget to check out our Eric Carle Linky
Bern
Monday, June 25, 2012
Happy Birthday Eric Carle: Books, Activities & A Linky
My girls have always enjoyed Eric Carle's books so in honor of his birthday I wanted to have another Eric Carle celebration like the one I hosted last year. This year I have teamed up with some amazing bloggers to bring you what I hope will be a wonderful resource of Eric Carle related activities/links.
To kick off our official Happy Birthday Eric Carle week I am going to recap some Carle activities we have done with a few of our favorite books. During the week, I will be sharing a few new ones with you. We had a lot of fun reading some Carle books we hadn't read before like Pancakes, Pancakes, Walter the Baker and their newly found favorite - Hello, Red Fox.
To kick off our official Happy Birthday Eric Carle week I am going to recap some Carle activities we have done with a few of our favorite books. During the week, I will be sharing a few new ones with you. We had a lot of fun reading some Carle books we hadn't read before like Pancakes, Pancakes, Walter the Baker and their newly found favorite - Hello, Red Fox.
The Lil Divas decorated a hermit crab's shell after reading A House for Hermit Crab, made a coffee grounds Brown Bear, Brown Bear, a clicking, flipping Clumsy Click Beetle, painted a Watercolor Seahorse Carle Inspired Scene, learned to tell time to the hour with Paper Plate Grouchy Ladybug Clocks, made a classic Egg Carton Very Hungry Caterpillars and had fun with Puffy Paint Polar Bears.
I can't wait to share what we have been up to with the new books we have read. For now, I leave you with this resource of links being co-hosted by the following blogs -
Participating Blogs:
Sunday, June 24, 2012
A Lil Diva Week in Review - TP Roll Binoculars, Mo Willems, Sight Word Fun and More
The Lil Divas had a fun week,
even all the rain we are having could not stop our Summer Fun!
The Lil Divas made some TP Roll Binoculars and enjoyed an exploratory nature walk through our neighborhood.
Amidst swim classes and playdates we also enjoyed a wonderful trip to our local Children's Art Museum for lots of hands on fun.
We kicked off the Summer Virtual Book Club with some Mo Willems themed fun.
and practiced some Sight Words with a fun game on our dry erase boards.
How was your week?
Bern
Saturday, June 23, 2012
The Sunday Showcase: Math Themed Fun for Kids
WHERE YOUR CHILD CENTERED IDEAS
are the STARS of the show!
are the STARS of the show!
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Play to Learn: Erase the Sight Word Game
Even though it's summer, I remain focused on keeping the learning alive & active in our home. As always, I try to keep things fun and easy so that the Lil Divas want to participate. One of my favorite things to do is to make whatever we are learning - a game. My girls love to play games so I can always entice them this way, no matter what it is.
Here's a super simple game we have been playing to practice sight words -
What I love about this game is the minimal set-up and materials required. You can use a dry erase board like we do or use a chalk board or magnetic doodle pad - whatever you have handy.
How to Play:
1. Choose your target sight words, spelling words, vocabulary words, etc and write them on your board/pad. We use this to practice sight words and spelling so I like to write each word twice - once with the correct spelling and a second time with an incorrect spelling.
2. To play I call out a word and the Lil Diva has to erase the correctly spelled sight word.
3. Continue until all words have been called out.
This is such an easy game to set-up and play and it is a great way to have a quick review. The Lil Divas are always excited to play with dry erase boards and markers and by turning this into a game it becomes fun versus being just an ordinary/boring review.
What learning games do you play with dry erase boards, chalkboards or magnetic doodle pads? They are such fabulous learning tools/aids!
Bern
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
{Wordless Wednesday} Summer Fun: Young at Art Children's Museum
We LOVE visiting children's museums. There's just something so freeing about being not only "able to" but invited to touch and play with everything. Combine that with an art museum that provides opportunities to create and explore different mediums of art and you have the potential for some serious FUN!
Here's a peek at some of the Lil Divas hands-on fun at Young at Art Museum in Davie, FL. They provide such awesome opportunity for artistic expression, learning, exploration and hands-on fun.
What a great day!
We can't wait to go back.
Bern
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