A Movement Birthday Party Theme

Two years is a long time without posting on this blog. But I'm about to return with regular posts. Short and sweet but easy to digest our latest adventures on Honeysuckle Road 🏡

A birthday party was in order at the beginning of September. Our theme? Movement!! Pictured above is a parachute game called "Parachute Gulp!". All ages dearly loved this one and we'll be saving it for future days when weather keeps us indoors. Check back again for more good times!!

All photos property of KatyTrailCreations©

Stirring the Pot

Hope you'll head on over to Stephanie's Stuff and read about our newest cooking experience with the children. We are keeping up with our Child-Directed activities and Letting the Kids Do It. Cabbage Soup was the topic and having a wide range of sensory experiences came with it.

• Taste - the obvious
• Smell- We had the Before and After of Cooking scents
• Touch - Bumpy and crisp raw/ and the opposite cooked
• Hear - Listen to the sound of it vegetables being cut, broth being poured, the sound of our voices wanting to 'be next' to help
• See- How much cabbage you get when it's piled up in the pot!

Child-directed learning promotes the natural development of self-confidence, initiative, perseverance and life satisfaction.

Have A Wonderful Week!

Cookbooks in Early Childhood

Sharing a post on the Stephanie's Stuff blog about a cooking experience. But I also want to give a little frugal thought to buying educational material for early childhood ideas in your kitchen.

This was $1 at a local antique store. It's copyright is 1932. The pictures are very clear on measurements giving children a good idea at what 1 cup looks like for instance. Those little hole-in-the-wall places have such cool things just waiting for reuse.

Check out your little stores and support small business. 

The Apple of My Eye

The poem of the week for our Apple Theme is pictured here from Pinterest.

 

 Sharing with you some of the "apples of My eye".

 

Our upcycled Apple tree before the leaves are added.

Pardon my primitive artistic ability.

I have a 'little' stash of Red Bags from last Christmas.

Perfect for the trunk and the apples.

I am my mother's daughter. I save stuff.

 Apple paper punches could be a big hit, but ours are pretty hard for little fingers.  So we improvised and turned the punches into strips.

This became cutting practice and letter recognition introduction all wrapped up in one.

Remember it's the process, not the product.

Learning rules like: keep Thumbs Up, only cut paper, start slowly & more.

Some of the strips were used for apple rubbings.

 Feeling and finding the bumps under a sheet of paper is also a texture/sensory experience.

 

The Sorting A/a Activity

     I

 

       See

            You!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An August Snow Event

Last winter after one of our larger snowfalls, I took a couple 2 gallon freezer bags outdoors and stuffed them full of the fluffy stuff, sealed them up and found a spot for them in my deep freeze.

Fast forward to the first week of August. You know, the time of year when everyone has exhausted all their summer ideas. We went through the bucket list and nothing sounded good for the umpteenth time. Boredom officially reared its' ugly head. After I made sure vacations were over with all the families, and we'd have all hands on deck, I pulled these bags of awesomeness out. I had several sets of watercolor paints and brushes and we proceeded to experiment with a Pinterest idea. We found out:

*you can indeed paint on snow with watercolor but it helps to first dip brush in bottom of container where there's a bit of thawed out snow. Once that technique was discovered, there was a moment of silent (yes it can happen in a room of children) artistry.

After awhile they naturally were tired of the project so we decided to finish it off outdoors in the

 80 degree heat.

(It's pretty ironic that a couple of my families had been playing in the sand in Florida the previous week and were now dipping their feet in snow)

 

A couple other 'snow' ideas we implemented in our theme were

"Watch Out Snowmen!" bowling

(Cat not meant to be included)

And.....

Their grand masterpieces, "Snow Paint" i.e. shaving cream paint.

Sorry peeps, these aren't for sale :)

 

 

 

Just Going To The Dentist

Our Theme this week was "Healthy Teeth" for the week preceding Valentine's Day. For fun I did a little Conversation Starter with the boys and I got some interesting answers.
We had a "before" and "after" session to see what we learned. Here's how it went

"Before the theme" Conversation Starter: To make sure our teeth are healthy, we visit a dentist. What happens during a check up? Do you like going to the dentist? Why?  (note: none of the children have went to the dentist before so keep this in perspective)

Macoy (age 3) I get something - Yes - Get medicine there

Ben (age 2) Night - yes - Night * I think he had a short nights' sleep before daycare that day in his defense*

Hadley (age 3) We go to the doctor - Yes - Because we have to go to the doctor *he will be a very disciplined adult I believe :)

Weston: (age 4) You can get a toy - Yes - Because you can get new teeth * so there is some hope

"AFter the theme" same Conversation Starter:

Ben: (age 2)  Sad dentist - yes - Doctor get a sucker * in the story we read on Wednesday little Ben has retained that Little Critter was a bit sad and in the end he got a sucker. After all, candy is a big deal at age 2!!

Hadley: (age 3) We be happy?  -No- Because  * It seems my 'disciplined theory' is challenged

Macoy: (age 3) Get a toy at the dentist - Yes - Get a dot on your finger * Still remembering his painful doctor's visit poor guy

Weston: (age 4) You close your eyes tight because you don't want to see a needle - Yes - You can get bubble gum * again a story memory of that darned needle. Ug! of all the story parts to remember.

In conclusion......alas, my work here is not done.

Door Prize

Ron and I traveled 2 hours November 1st for a training in Springfield, Missouri. So it was one of those Saturdays I just kept my normal schedule....up at 5:30 a.m. Ug. But trainings are a requirement for my license. And honesty, sometimes they really are interesting. 

The best part of this training came with the ticket at the door....

 

Ron's ticket that is.

 

He won the seasonal turkey basket. Not a real turkey unfortunately, but this pack of turkeys in the basket.

 Here's the actual basket.

The goodies

 

More foamies

And Chenille stems/pipe cleaners (depending on where you're from) for stringing, sorting, and multiple other crafts.

(they are also used in my home to clean the pressure cooker valve hole.)

 

My door prize.

Paper.

A small but useful item.

Thanks to the Council of Churches of the Ozarks Child Care Food Program!

Awesome training :)

And the grand result is our passel of turkey ornaments.  

The kind of turkeys that won't crowd your freezer space. :)

 

 

Hudson's 1st Birthday

http://slfinnell1965.wordpress.com/2014/11/08/on-the-occasion-of-hudsons-1st-birthday/
Please click the link to see my latest blog post on "Hudson's Birthday"!