Sunflower, Skeleton, Robot and More!

17 and 39 months

We only have 1 more week of 'summer' tot school before we start our 'official' tot school!

Brianna made these sunflower prints with a real sunflower! Go here to see how.
She also somehow got the cereal box off of the table, brought it into the living room and poured it out onto the floor. This is what i saw when i walked in there.
She then proceeded to clean it up (and stop eating it) when i walked in.
We had this cool skeleton for a snack one day,

and for a Tot Tray, Connor colored this picture with his Elmers Go Paint. This is great because they are special paintbrushes that look clear, but the color only shows up on the special Go Paint paper, nowhere else!

He loved this and was so into it. He spent way more time on this than i thought he would have. It was so good to see him put so much concentration into something i thought wouldve been a quick craft for him.
Connor did this puzzle lots of times:

and colored on different surfaces. See here for more on that.
Connor also played with his Leap Pad quite a bit, which i always love since its so educational.

Saturday morning my hubbie got the idea to make connor a robot costume from a diaper box. I was weary of how this would turn out but boy did he shock me! Here's what he made!
Isnt that so cute?! Here are some basic instructions: First he tirned a diaper box inside out and taped it back together.
Then he let connor paint it. Connor had to paint the whole thing green of course. He worked so long and hard to get the whole front green. It was so cute.

Then mike cut holes out of the top and sides for the arms and head. And he used emtpy tissue boxes for the shoes and somehow cut along an empty milk jug for the helmet. I think he cut off the handle area. And used plastic to tape on the front of the helmet, and green pipe cleaners for the antennae at the top. Oh, and brianna of course threw a fit because she didnt have cool shoes. It was quite comical. So here she is as a robot.
She also colored a picture of a robot,
but spent most of that time taking crayons out of the wipes container i keep them in, and putting them back in.


Go here to see what everyone else did this week!

Coloring On Different Surfaces

To see more arts and crafts, see my Tot School label :)

This weeks Open Ended Art was yellow and crayons. I was blanking on anything other than just coloring with crayons. I started asking Connor what we should do with the crayons and he started saying things like "Lets color on the wall! Lets color on the floor!" Ummm no, i thought. But then i thought hmm, maybe he could! So i gave him a white piece of paper and a yellow crayon and let him 'color' anywhere he could, but with the paper over it of course :) This ended up being a good 'texture' lesson because as he ran from one thing to the next, i was able to ask him what he thought it would feel like to color on that surface and then what it actually felt like. Oh, and dont let the brown crayon fool you, its a double sided crayon with yellow on one side and brown on the other. He colored on...

a wall,


a door,


the bumpy step stool,


a stair,


a vent,


a bench,


a fan,


And much more!! Go here to see what others did with crayons :)

Do We Enjoy Our Kids?

So i had a "Gods trying to teach me something" moment today. I was giving the kiddos a bath tonight and looking back over our day. I felt proud thinking we had a good accomplished day, got alot done and the kids had fun. And i enjoyed them alot today. Wait, hmmm. Did i enjoy them today??

Sure, i took them alot of fun places, taught them lessons when i got the chance and read them books. But did i actually enjoy them? Or did i go through the day rushing to get everything done and just doing what i had to do?

Did i stop for even 5 min to enjoy my kids by playing on the floor with them or making them laugh or letting them make me laugh? Did i smile at them every chance i got? Did i think about what amazing blessings they are and how i am the luckiest mom in the world?

Sadly, i didn't do any of those things today. I dragged them around and let them play on their own because i just had to get this done or finish that. I just did my 'mommy duties' and put them to bed.

I know we all have days like this, but i am so thankful for an awesome God who gives me these eye opening moments and reminds me that after Him, all of my attention is supposed to be on my husband and kids. They come before chores, friends, exercise, errands, blogging and even before myself and my needs.

We would lay our lives down for our children, but will we even make an effort to enjoy them? I hope the answer tomorrow, and every day after, is a big Y-E-S!!

Painting With A Sunflower

This was an easy craft i thought up when i was getting ready to throw some sunflowers away that were pretty much dead (i kill every green leafy thing, just by looking at it). I snipped off the top of one that wasn't that wilted yet, leaving part of the stem to 'hold onto'. I then put some brown paint on a plate and swirled some yellow paint around it (with a spoon) like so:
Then i showed Brianna how to dip the flower into the paint and then to push it onto the paper.
Here it is all finished:
This craft was originally intended for my 3 yr old, Connor. But he told me he didn't want to do it and that Brianna should instead. I was weary of how she would do with it but she did great! She loved doing the painting but her favorite part was pulling all the petals off and saying "here go momma".

Skeleton

This weeks MTM theme was People and Faces. Here is the skeleton creation i copied from kraft foods:
We used ranch dressing, a lettuce leaf, celery, baby carrots, leaves from the celery, red peppers, zucchini, green pepper and cherry tomatoes. Between my husband and my 2 kids, this entire snack was gone in 10 min!! Im so glad they enjoyed something so healthy and loved it that much. This theme worked out so well because we had been learning a little about the Skeletal System this week between his Leap Pad and a trip to the museum looking at fossils and dinosaur bones. And none of this was planned! Love it.

Go here to see some other creations!

Bird Feeder, Window Paint, Toothpicks and More!

17 and 39 months

I hope everyone had a good Tot School week! We did!

We saw bats at the Buffalo Zoo. (Among many other things! But Connor has been really into bats because of the book Stellaluna.) See them in the back corner?


Connor and i played a game with these alphabet flash cards. He knows most of his uppercase letters but needs to learn his lowercase. So i had him find the matching uppercase and lowercase letters and tell me which was which.


Connor made a cheerio bird feeder out of a pipe cleaner. We hung on a tree outside and within 24 hours the cheerios were gone! It was exciting to show him that.



Both kids enjoyed creating window paintings.



We did an activity with Brianna where Connor stuck different items to a sticky laminating sheet

and then we had Bri come over and take them off. It was cute watching her try. She would get some off then shake it like crazy trying to get more off.

I had to show her how to pull them off at one point and then she got the rest off.


Connor worked in his PreK workbook,


helped me make oatmeal cookies,



and did this puzzle about 10 (thousand) times. I got it recently for a dollar at Target. And its sooo cuutte! Oh how i love thee Target dollar section!!

(The first few times he needed help but every time since then he has been able to do it on his own!)
Bri worked on a puzzle too.

She however isnt as patient as Connor. Here she is throwing a fit because the rooster wouldnt go in...

She did this 2 other times as well. We obviously need to work on patience puzzles a little more.

Connor also did two Tot Trays this week. A summer stickers tray,


and this one with heart and star clips i bought at Staples for $1.

He had a hard time with these clips. The size and shape of these clips made it too hard for him to open them. And he tried so hard, the poor guy. So we did it together. The next time i use these clips it will be for him to spoon or lay them on the matching color. He probably wont be able to pinch them open for awhile. In the meantime i will get some easier clips for him :)

Brianna practiced using a spoon,


colored,


and pushed toothpicks into styrofoam stuff, took them out and put them in a baggy. She loved this activity.



Looks safe doesnt it? lol. Even though Brianna didnt have any problems, you of course need to use caution, as the toothpicks are sharp!

Connor made spaceships


and a sun on his easel.


And lastly, mommy made her own project:

A fun, cute way to hang the kids artwork :) Click here to see more of this.

To see other Tot School posts, go here.

See you all next week!