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. :)

 

 

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"!

 

Post Its and Upcycled Posters

Sharing link to my Katy Trail Creations post:
https://slfinnell1965.wordpress.com/2014/10/25/web-of-post-its/
Early Childhood topic for your classroom.
 Hope you'll check it out.

 

And Go KC Royals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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.