Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Christmas Exploration Box


I couldn't wait to put this together for my little man!  It was so simple, too.  I used items around the house and some thrifty dollar store finds.  Gotta love the Dollar Tree




Contents: pom poms, snow flakes, bows, jingle bells, mini garland(cut),
wrapped toilet paper roll, mini stocking, Christmas gift box



Embrace this beautiful season,
Jen

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Curious about Turkeys?

Shared these fun turkey vocabulary words with my kiddos!  Even quizzed the turkey hunter in the family and he didn't know all of them.

Caruncle - brightly colored growths on the throat region. Turns bright red when the turkey is upset or during courtship.

Gizzard - a part of a bird's stomach that contains tiny stones. It helps them grind up food for digestion.

Hen - a female turkey.

Poult - a baby turkey. A chick.

Snood - the flap of skin that hangs over the turkey's beak. Turns bright red when the turkey is upset or during courtship.

Tom - a male turkey. Also known as a gobbler.

Wattle - the flap of skin under the turkey's chin. Turns bright red when the turkey is upset or during courtship.


Scientific genus and species: Meleagris gallopavo


Info. Source: http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/turkey.htm


Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_turkey

Pretty cool, huh?

More fun resources:
Enchanted learning
turkey printout 



National Geographic
Hear a wild turkey here!
Gobble, gobble.........


Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!


Jen






Monday, November 21, 2011

Write a Turkey Tale!


image- source

As you stuff the turkey and prepare the Thanksgiving goodies, why not give your kids a fun activity to keep them entertained?  Here are 10 creative story starters for your kiddos or they can create their own ideas!



1. The turkeys were restless the week before Thanksgiving

2. Once upon a time, there was a turkey who never...

3. On Thanksgiving, my family...

4. There were turkeys feathers everywhere, but no turkey in the barn...

5. My favorite Thanksgiving memory is..

6. On the first Thanksgiving, the children were playing in the woods when..

7. My grandmother was cooking the turkey when all of a sudden..

8. The turkey dressed as a pilgrim and cleverly fooled the people.

9.  Thanksgiving morning, I looked out the window and saw...

10. The Thanksgiving parade was so much fun, we saw....

Enjoy your Thanksgiving with your families!
Many blessings,
Jen

Friday, November 18, 2011

Ee is for elephant....



Little man had a little bit too much fun creating this elephant puppet!  How much fun?  Well, enough that he decided to paint himself as well.  This is the danger of leaving the room for a couple of minutes to check on the older kids' school work.  Also, he dumped the water on his lap- yeesh. 




So after his painting - you know where little man went...

straight to the bath tub!! 

Literature:

The Saggy Baggy Elephant
by K. Jackson & B. Jackson


















Music/Pretend Play

Can you stomp around the room like an elephant??  The things we do to make our kids happy! 
Jen

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Wordless Wednesday: Predator and Prey?

The spider and the fly... Sunshine girl must be the spider and Peanut her prey.  Eeeek!

We had a really good time recently at our local zoo.  It was such a beautiful day- this is the play area that they have for the kids. 
I can't help but share a cute pic of little man, too!  So here goes.........
Awe- look at him on the mushroom!- my little guy.

Happy Wordless Wednesday!
For more W.W., be sure to visit..

Jen

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Monday, November 14, 2011

Little Angels- Giveaway!

It's not too late to enter!  There are many chances to win.  I actually have extra copies, so I now have 6 videos to give away.  3 on this site and 3 on my other blog.  Be sure to enter at both blogs for more chances to win. 

Enter here and here.

I am going to give this giveaway one more week- deadline- November 21st. 

Good Luck!! 

Jen

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Goodnight Gorilla




I've heard of this book before, but have never read it.  This morning little man and I came across it on youtube- adorable! 
I recommend this story for little ones.  I love the humor in the story and it was perfect timing for this video, because we just visited the zoo a couple of days ago and little man just adored the gorillas.  Yesterday, he had fun making a gorilla stick puppet.  He can even say "gorilla"- well sort of- he says - "orilla, orilla"  He made me play the video over and over.  "more, more!"

More fun...

Enjoy your day!
Jen

Monday, November 7, 2011

The Letter Oo

Little man loves the letter Oo.  I decided to skip to Oo and do some fun activities with him, being he likes this letter for some reason.  I love the way he says it- Ooooooooo.  Here are a few ideas for the letter Oo..

Bingo Dabber Oo

Oo is for ORANGE

Oo is for Octopus: Color Match

At first Little man put the blue on the pink octopus, but he found it on his second guess!    
  
These adorable octopi can be found at ....www.spelloutloud.com





Octopus coloring sheet- fun with markers!
You can find this coloring page here!

More Oo ideas..
-Cheerio fun- scoop, count, eat
-Oo with movement- make big shape with arms above head and sing O, oh, O, oh, O
-Put paint or pudding on wax paper and fingerpaint Oo
Jen :)


Friday, November 4, 2011

November Sensory Bin and Leaf Play!




I just love the dollar store.  I found these silk leaves there, as well as the fake gourds/pumpkins.  It was very easy to change over my Spooky bin from October to our November fall bin.  Little man loves the silk leaves and really has been enjoying the sensory bins that I've been making for him.  Often, I catch the older girls playing in the bins as well- which is pretty cool.


Here are a few or more ideas for silk leaves....

*Toss them around the room for indoor fall play.

*Counting

*Sorting- green and orange.

*Create math problems.  (Sally picked up 5 leaves, but 2 blew away in the wind.  How many does she have now?)  Use the leaves as manipulatives to solve the math problem.

*Beginning multiplication.  3 groups of 4 leaves= 4x3=12  Use the leaves as manipulatives to count groups.

*I think I've seen letters written on the leaves with permanent marker.  This would be fun during the fall months for ABC practice or spelling practice. (if you have extra leaves for more letters)

*Create a thankful tree.  After sharing what you are thankful for, add a leaf to the tree each day. 

Okay, your turn!  What are your ideas for these wonderful $ tree leaves??

And for more sensory play ideas, be sure to visit...
Every Day Sensory Play

Take Care,
Jen

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Little Angels Review and Giveaway!

I am very pleased to have the privilege of introducing the new animated video series- Little Angels.  Little Angels comes to you from executive producer- Roma Downing(Touched by and Angel)  and writer Phil Lollar (Adventures in Odyssey).  Created for preschoolers to teach not only ABC and 123's, but also moral lessons and biblical principals. Little man (22 months) enjoys the music and colorful characters.  Some children older than preschoolers may enjoy the videos as well.  My 7 year old is attracted to the angel characters and pointed out to me her favorites. 

Little Alex and Zoe are blessed to have their very own angels looking over them.  The angels come to their aid when they need them the most. Imagine how comforting this would be for a preschooler to know that God sends helpers to watch over them.

 

Would you like to meet some of the Little Angels?  Here are just a few..... 

 


Uriel
The Angel of Creativity- He carries a palette and a painter.




Charmeine
A female cherubim. Angel of Harmony. She carries a harp and sings, teaching everyone to harmonize - and to get along together.






Gabriel
An archangel, second in command to Michael, blond hair, blue eyes. Gabriel is the Messenger Angel - whenever the little angels wish to announce something very important, they give the job to Gabriel.







Haley
Do you love animals? If you do, Hayley will be one of your favorite Little Angels! She knows them all.








Share the Little Angel's with your little ones!
To purchase-Christianbook.com or


To WIN.....
Luckily, I have 2 DVDs to give away on this website and 2 more  to give away on my other blog- God's Shining Stars.

Enter on this site  by leaving a comment below with the name of your favorite angel!
 If entering on God's Shining Stars- click the above link, follow and leave a comment.


Extra entries:
(2) Blog about the Little Angel's giveaway and link back to this post.
(1) Tweet about this giveaway and link back to this post.
(1) Follow Little Angel's on Facebook.
(1) Follow Creative and Curious Kids via google connect.
(1) Follow Creative and Curious Kids on Facebook. (Like above)

For extra entries- be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry.

Good Luck!
Jen

Discloser- I wasn't given monetary compensation for the above review.  I was given one DVD for my own personal use and four DVD's to give away to my readers.  The opinion above is my own and others may disagree with my review.




Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Little Angels!

On Sale Today!
Stay tuned for my review and giveaway!
Jen