Wordless Wednesday: Cereal Bowl Head

Really, buddy?  I really wasn't planning on bathing you this morning, but now that you have milk on your head, I guess that's the new plan.

Little man is very creative with his head gear.  Did you see him with the bucket on his head?  He's even been caught with a lamp shade at one time or another. 

Look at me Mom, I can balance it on my head!

Don't worry- I know that I grabbed the camera to take pics, but I still made time to have a discussion with my 2 year old about why we don't put cereal bowls on our heads.  Sometimes I just can't help myself and I have to get that funny pic.

Happy (almost) Wordless Wednesday!

For more W.W. fun be sure to visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Happy Leap Day, too! Take a peek at our leap day plans, if you didn't get a chance to visit this week.

Jen

Leap Day Scavenger Hunt

Leaping Lizards! (or Frogs, I should say)  Leap Day is just around the corner.  Why do we have a leap year?  Send your kids on a scavenger hunt to answer this question and to learn more about this year's leap day!

Leap Year Scavenger Hunt
Using the websites below, have your child research the following questions...

Highlight Kids
KidsGeo
Enchanted Learning

1.  When do we celebrate leap year?

2.  Why is an extra day added to our calendar?

3.  Who were the first to add a leap day to the calendar?

4.  Some say a tradition started in the 5th century relating    to women?

5.  We add an extra day to the calendar this year, so how many days will be in our year?

6.  What is a person born on leap day sometimes called?

7.  How many people are born on leap day?

8. When was the last leap year?

9. How is Julius Caesar related to Leap Year?

10. Would you have liked to be born on a leap day- why or why not?

Answer Key
1. Every 4 years.
2  We match the calendar with the solar year, because it takes the Earth 365 days, 5 hrs, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds to complete it's orbit.  These extra minutes add up!
3. Some say the Egyptians were the first to add an extra day.
4. A woman is allowed to propose to men only once every 4 years on leap day.
5. 366
6. a leapling
7. 1 in 1,461
8. 2008
9. He worked on reforming the Roman Calendar.
10.  No right or wrong answer. 

Other Leap Day fun... 

1. How about rope "leaping"  with a fun poem?

THE JUMP ROPE RHYME

Leap Year, Leap Year
When will you be?
Every four years
Then you'll see.


You want more?
We do too!
How many more
can you Leap to?

by Raenell Dawn

2. Leap Frog is always fun for all ages! With little ones who may not be able to hop over each other, make Lily pads and have your little one jump from pad to pad. 

3.  Learn about other animals that leap with these fun activities.  Many more links on this website as well with ideas for Leap Day. Teach With Me

My children don't know a lot about Leap Year, so I'm excited to do some of these activities with them this Wednesday.  Do you have any leap year activities planned?  If so, please comment- I love hearing and learning from you!

Jen

clip art sources: Animal Clipart.net and About. com

Free Alphabet Printables

Alphabet Poster from Jan Brett

Alphabet flash cards from Jan Brett

Toothpick Alphabet Flags by Jan Brett

Alphabet flashcard printable from Homemade by Jill

Preschool ABC Printable from 1+1+1=1

Alphabet poster from Sprik Space 

So many wonderful ABC resources online. 
I hope that you enjoy some of my favorites!!
Jen

5 Fun Pattern Activities

Patterns can be found everywhere in our world including music, math, and art!  There are so many fun ways to share patterns with kids.  We discovered this wonderful book- Pattern Fish by Trudy Harris.  It was enjoyed by both my toddler and 2nd grader.  Fun and interactive! Bubble-bubble-pop...

1. Create colorful pattern fish using stickers, markers, or crayons.  Great creative thinking activity.

fish printable

2.  Using colored fish manipulatives or goldfish crackers, have your child create patterns.  AB pattern- yellow, red, yellow, red... or ABBA green, yellow, yellow, green. Our crafts N things used dappers to create fish patterns- awesome idea!

3. At education.com, I found the article Preschool Math: Exploring Patterns.  Many wonderful ideas!  One of my favorite is Movement Patterns- jump, skip, jump, skip..... What  a fun way to get moving and teach patterns at the same time!

4. Make a colored pasta or cereal(fruit loops) pattern necklace.

5.  This pattern snake activity caught my eye on Pinterest! (mess for less)

Happy Patterning with your little one!

Jen

Tt is for Turtle...

Little man loves the letter Tt!  Do you want to know why?

Well, I'll  show you....

Do you know how stinkin' cute it was to hear him trying to sing this- oh my goodness!

Well, after that, I just had to do a Tt craft with him.

Turtle Craft

Materials: green and yellow construction paper, google eyes, glue, brown paint, and a sponge or large pom pom

After cutting out a half a circle for the shell, I  had little man paint brown spots on it.  He used a large pom pom. Cut out the other parts of the turtle. Cut a yellow Tt.

Let the shell dry before helping your child glue the parts together.

Last, with assistance help glue the Tt on the turtle.  Talk about the letter and the sound.

He's so proud of his Tt  turtle!

Turtle song

I had a tiny turtle,

His name was Tiny Tim.

I put him in the bathtub,

to see if he could swim.

He drank up all of the water,

He ate up all the soap,

He tied to swallow the bathtub,

But it wouldn't fit down his throat!

(different versions online)

I made a paper bathtub and acted out the song with a stuffed animal and the bathtub. I think I had more fun with this than little man.  Oh well!  Maybe your little one will like it! 

Have fun learning

with the

letter  Tt!

A Gem of an Activity

Gems, gems, gems.... Little man has had his eyes on these gems for quite some time now!  I actually use them for my positive behavior jars for the girls.  Something that you'd hear around our house....

"Thank you for putting your dish in the sink-  put a gem in the gem jar." 

Anyways, little man finally got his hands on them, so I let him play a sorting activity with his older sister. He loved it!  Great for sensory development and fun with different colors.

Afterwards, Sissy decided to make a one-hundredth day poster for school.  She counted out 100 gems for her poster.  

Do you have any more ideas for these sparkly gems?  Please share your ideas!!!

Jen

 

St. Patrick's Day Giveaway!

St. Patrick's Day Themed Learning Kit

The Activity Mom is generously giving away one of her awesome kits from her store Time for Tots! Be sure to stop on by and enter and check out all of the learning kits that she has in her store. 


We love our Sesame Street themed kit that we purchased. (shown below)

Good luck!

Jen

Great Resource- Printables and More

One of the things that I love about the education blogging world is the willingness to share ideas!  So today I'm going to share a site that I came across this week that I think will benefit educators/parents. 

Kiz  Club

The story & props link features great books with manipulatives that you can use for a felt or magnet board.  I printed out the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree with letters to laminate for little man.

I hope that you enjoy this resource. Let me know if you find anything useful!

Jen

Rr is for Robot ...

Little man LOVES robots, so it was easy for me to pick my Rr craft for him- a life size robot.  Well, at least toddler size! 

Make your own robot...

Materials: glue stick, construction paper, and scissors.  Pre-cute shapes and the letter Rr. 

Directions:
Talk to your child about the letter Rr.  Show him or her the parts of the robot.  Discuss the shapes and colors as your child glues the parts together. 

Robot coloring page

I'm sure you can find something better, but this page I drew made little man happy!

We also pretended to be robots and walked around singing..
"I'm a little robot.  I'm a little robot."


Robots Around the Web....

JDaniel4smom- Valentine's Day Robot

Down With Clutter- Card Board Robots

Homeschool Creations- Robot Preschool Pack

Nick Jr. - Widget's Build a Robot (ages 4-6)

Books I want to explore...

Robot ideas or links?  Please share!

Jen



happy valentine's day

LOVE from Creative and Curious Kids!

Thank you Leticia's Photography for the awesome idea!

XOXOXO

Jen

Acrostic Poetry for Learning

image source

 An acrostic poem is a type of poem that uses a word vertically relating to a particular topic or theme.  Each phrase of the poem should relate to the original word.

This type of poem is a great way to start beginning writing, because it can be simple or complex.  Here's an example of a simple acrostic poem for the name Sally.

Silly
Always smiling
Loves dogs
Likable
Young

Writing acrostic poetry can help students to think about new subject matter.  For example, my daughter wrote a poem about the Amazon River for Social Studies. What a creative way to learn!

The Amazon River

Amazingly long
Magnificent creatures
Animals by its side
Zig Zags through Brazil
Often Rains
Nile is slightly shorter

Radiant Water
Is the longest river in South America
Vacant is not in its vocabulary
Extraordinary People
Rarely Dry                                                   

By Sunshine (age 9)

My other daughter read a story about fireflies for Language Arts and was asked to write an acrostic poem about fireflies. She adores writing, so was excited to do this project.

Fireflies

Flashing green light

I think they are pretty

Raining all day, they think it's a pity

Everywhere they go, I see a light

Flashing so fiery, just like the night

Light glows like the moon

Yes, they are fireflies

By Peanut (age 7)

So what do you think- do I have two inspiring poets on my hands? Well, I thought I'd give it a shot with a different subject matter. So, presenting my Science poem about Magnets...

Magnets

Magnetic force
Attracts iron and steel
Greece-origin of word
Never without its magnetic field
Earth- a large magnet
Two poles, north and south

Create an Acrostic poem online at Read,Write, Think!
What type of poetry do your kids like to write? 

Jen

Fine Motor Fun

Little man is distracted by SWIPER here- such a funny pic! He's obsessed with Dora and Diego lately. 

Another activity he's been enjoyed this week... 



           Plastic coffee stirrer from Dollar Tree

Ziploc plastic container

Poke holes

Fine motor fun for little one!

Enjoy your day!

Jen

Valentine Book Picks!

 Oh, I've always loved Amelia Bedelia, so I was excited to see her as a child in this Valentine story.

 Have you met Eloise?  This spunky character is a cross between Pippi Longstocking and Junie B. Jones and is very hard not to love!

 Oh, Poor old Mister Whiskers is just beside himself in this story.  Who keeps giving him these mushy Valentine's?

Burt loves pigeons and pigs love mud, but Elmo loves.....YOU!

What Valentine books are you enjoying? 

Please share your favorite in the comments below. :)

Jen

Valentine Rice Play

Little man is having fun today playing with rice and Valentine toys today!

 


Have a wonderful Tuesday!
Jen

Creative Book Projects

Lately, I've been posting a plethora of Pre-K activities, so I thought it was time to throw in a couple of ideas for our older kiddos.  Of course, ideas can always be adapted for different levels with a little creativity!  Today I'm going to share Peanut's 2nd grade book project and Sunshine's 4th grade project.  I thought they did a great job!



Created by Peanut- age 7

 Storybook Diorama: After reading Heroes of the Vegetable Patch, my daughter created this diorama.  It includes one of the scenes from the story and the characters present.  Below is an image of the book and stuffed aimals that can be purchased with the book.  Both can be found at IKEA.  Adorable!  We have the broccoli character.

Sunshine read Night of the Twisters and then created a movie poster- see below.....



Created by Sunshine- age 9

Movie Marque Poster:  Here is another creative way to share a book report. Using information from the book- create a movie poster to persuade others!

Looking for even more creative book report ideas....
Ten Great Creative Book Reports from Minds in Bloom
Fresh Ideas for Creative Book Reports from Education World

What fun project ideas have you been doing with your kids?  Share, share, share!  Don't be shy-Iove hearing from my readers!

Jen