Have a POTATO Day!

Why? You ask.  Why not.  Because there is a lot of learning you can do with potatoes.  Here are some activities that I had fun sharing with little man and his one year old buddy!

1. Play hot potato.  Old but goodie.  I sat the little one on my lap and she helped me pass a ball back and forth to little man.  The giggles and squeels were awesome!



2.  One Potato, Two.  Sing a hand-rhyme.

One Potato, Two

One potato, two potato, three potato, four
Five potato, six potato, seven, potato, more
Eight potato, nine potato, ten potato, then
Let’s start over and do it again.

(pound your right fist on your left fist and then left over right- repeat to rhythm of poem)
 
Source....

3.  Color Mr. Potato Head or play with Mr. Potato Head toy.  Name the different parts: eyes, ears, mouth, hands, feet, etc.

printable

 

 

4. Spud observations:  Take out an actual potato. 

Let your little one observe and feel the different texture of the potato. 

Talk about it and where it grows. 

What do they see on the potato? 

If they are old enough, they can draw their observations.

 

5. Potato Painting

I cut an old potato in half and let little man paint with it.  He enjoyed this activity.  We were focusing on the color red this week, so I gave him red paint.  Then he asked for yellow and being he asked nicely.. yellow he got. 

 

 

More ideas..

*Roll Mr. Potato Head Game and printable.
*Magnetic Mr. Potato Head with printable.
*Potato activities from Make Learning Fun.

And then we have couple of funny potato posts from this blog...

Over-baked potato!

Mr. Potato Head

 

 

 

 

Any more fun potato ideas for little ones?

Jen

 

Thank you to Church House Clipart for the cute potato image!

Pinterest Find: Fall Tree Paintings

Some may think it is a little early to be painting fall trees, but when I saw this art project on Pinterest, I just had to do it with my son and a couple of new friends.  It was a hit with all three of the kids who thought that it was pretty cool to paint with q-tips.  

La classe della maestra estre Valentina

The above pic is the pin that I used as a guide for this project.  Please be sure to visit the link above to view the process. 


Artwork by LM(2.5) and M(3)

I think we'll be painting with q-tips again... easy clean up for sure! Have you started any fall crafts with your kiddos?

Jen

EXTREME Fingerpainting!



Fingerpainting Gone Wild! 
 Creative and Curious Kids! 2011



Any family crafts gone wild in your house lately?  Messy, but fun!!

Have a great weekend!

Jen

The Magic of a Box

What is it that makes a simple box so magical? Is it because there are so many possibilities? It can be whatever you want it to be! Maybe a car or a house, a puppet theater, or a bed, or a plane or a .... The list is endless.


Yesterday, I bought a vacuum. (I've been going crazy without one for weeks. Yeesh!) Sunshine was so excited when she saw the empty box, but not so thrilled when Dad was about to throw it away.


"Stop! I'm creating something with that box!"


Dad mumbled something.
Daughter whined.
Mom intervened.
Dad rolls eyes.
Child smiles.

All is happy in just a minute after I remind Dad about my philosophy regarding creative thinking! In his defense, we do have A LOT of clutter around the house, but how can I say no to a brand new BOX and it's fun for FREE.


Well, what did Sunshine do with this box-

First, she laid in it like it was a coffin with a pillow and all. I asked her if she was a vampire. What was I thinking, because then she walked around the house acting like Dracula for part of the morning! Then Peanut had to get in on the action...

Another lesson that this "box" taught Sunshine, was persistance and teamwork. She had to take all of the shiny paper off of the box before she painted it. This peeling took forever, so Mom decided to join her team and help her with this tedious job.

More Box Fun: A Blast from our past...

Sunshine- age 1

Sunshine-age 6

Peanut-age 4

Do you have any posts that focus on creative play or play with boxes?  If so, I'd love for you to link up below and show off your kiddos having fun with boxes or other items around the house!  I linked up two past posts relating to free play and creativity. 

Take Care,

Jen

Painting with Dandelions

After a bit of inspiration from Jen at The Ramblings of a Crazy Woman. I decided to try something that I have never tried before. The girls looked curiously at the paint and dandelions and wondered how they were going to paint with the bright colored weed. After dipping the tip of the dandelion in water, the girls painted small construction paper eggs with the plant by dabbing it into watercolors and then onto the paper. They used a variety of colors to paint the eggs. After the eggs dried, we glued them around the border of a colored paper plate. (I cut out the center circle and cut into an egg for them to decorate later. No waste, here!) Last, I tied a ribbon on the top to hang it. Wallah- a colorful Easter wreath! They turned out really cute. To get a better idea of how to create your own wreath, be sure to stop by Jen's blog. If I can get this computer to work better, I'll be sure to post our project.

Yeah! I was actually able to upload my pics!












Happy Easter and many blessings!

Jen