Sidewalk Bowling

Sharing a fun activity from the past summer. Hope you enjoy!

Sidewalk bowling is full of learning skills. Eye/hand coordination, large muscle strengthening, math skills including counting, and team work. These are just the beginning. This activity can be also recreated at home by saving those water bottles and gluing the caps on for safety--or even just stacking up a pile of blocks. 

Letter Reinforcement Activity for Early Childhood

Want an activity to keep our hands busy and our minds intent on a project? Try this one!

Lacing Letters is the activity of last Friday morning that captured the attention of these little guys. Ours are created from cereal boxes so no need to worry about them being overly 'loved'.

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!

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 :)

 

 

 

Stars but No Stripes

Just a few days behind on sharing our Stencil Painting project on the front driveway.

Our ages ranged from 20 months (above)

to 6 years (below)

But then there's the cat (age unknown)

She adopted us when her owner, a neighbor, passed away.

She is our silent participant in most outdoor activities. 

Hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Independence Day!

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.

Upcycling wallpaper

You know those wallpaper sample books you can get for free at your local paint store? That is if your town/city still has one with all the large chain stores. (cough Lowe's, Home Depot, Menards, etc)

WE still have a couple here. My dad being a painter by trade during his life, this was a popular spot for us to shop. So... throw in a few decades later and you have me, painter's daughter doing childcare. And this is one of those ideas I use those sample books for.

Here's one example.

So we tear them out for this activity and use 'masking tape' (another painter's utensil) to attach them together. Thus, saving me $$$ from buying butcher block paper and also keeping my costs for families from skyrocketing due to needing more supplies. That( could be a whole other blog post)

 

 

 Now for the writing we picked out all the basic colors to keep track of them in case our little friend Hudson decided to run off with one to practice chewing :) And also, notice the print on the back is not a deterrent to the drawing going on.

 

In fact I used it to my advantage and created a writing prompt for Ben, age 2. Here's his little story.

Hope you enjoy our tutorial and story.

 

 

 

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. :)

 

 

Reading Aloud

Reading to Children has always been a highlight of our day. No matter what the schedule holds, we always have time for a story. It's just the way it is.

 

Lately, those children who don't fall asleep as soon as their heads hit the sack have been very receptive to my chapter book reading.

 

We started with some short stories from fairy tale collection books. These are Huge, Thick books that have some stories that are appropriate and some that are just way beyond their years. So I select the ones they'll hopefully love and leave the rest for another age group (summertime and school agers)

 

But it's been fun grabbing their attention right before they doze off to sleep.

 

This one was copyrighted 1991. We have diligently read each of the stories for the last few weeks.

Of course Princess stories are favorites.

 

 

This book was one of my favorites from childhood. My 3rd grade teacher ironically was named Edith White and I thought for the longest time she wrote it.

 Imagine my horror that she did not. :(

We have read the first 4 chapters so far and I have once again captured their eagerness to see what happens next.

 I Love My Job!!!

 

 

Does Reading Aloud Really matter?

                                                                   Click and see for yourself.

 



Gracie's FairyTale

A fun end to Gracie's Party:

Miss Gracie turned 5 this week!!!
We had a lil' birthday concert style party with a new microphone gift addition for her to enjoy at home. Little did we know, Mom had purchased a Pink guitar too.
We also played some games like "stick the jewel on the crown"

And the Birthday Feelie Bag was a hit....Everything in the bag was "Party" related.

• A Birthday napkin
• A Party Hat
• A dessert cup
• A spork (recycling those take out restaurant items)
• A Styrofoam bowl
• A Birthday Card

And the "Singing" was grand!!! Happy Birthday Gracie!

An October Saturday

 

Can you guess where I spent a day last Saturday?

Traveled to Springfield for a childcare training with my

Food Program Reps.

Their theme was pretty darn cute.

 

This is a folder full of ideas & recipes.

I'll be sharing :)

 

 

Can you say Door Prize Winner???

 

(Yes, took this pic yesterday.)

 

 

While we were gone, my daughter thoughtfully purchased an item for the children.

Thank you Rachel. It's adorable.

 

Can you say Golden Glove Winners??

The Royals had 3 announced yesterday!!!!

Pretty awesome dontchathink?

 

Molina is still my favorite catcher in baseball.

Alas, sigh, he's a Cardinal.





It's October!!

Monday began with making a scarecrow.

Ours is donning a Garfield shirt. Thanks Mr. Ron for the donation.

We caught a tomato worm and planned to feed it for a few days. But it had other plans......

It made its cocoon and so now we wait and watch.

Have you ever painted on paper towels?

 

The highlite of the week was Macoy's #2 Birthday party.

We had to go with a Farm party.

After all, our letter of the week was "F".

 

Sorry if the sideways pic makes you dizzy. Imagine how the "bowling pins" feel

 

 

 

 

Mrs. Wishy-Washy is a favorite.

 

 

Macoy's gift set the theme. A gator with sound buttons.

 

Mom & Dad will know where he is :)