Activities and More

Sweetheart loves art projects. After one project is done she asks for more. I do have Halloween foamies to do. But waiting until next week. I bought a ghost for the kids. Even the 10 month old. I thought she would enjoy foamy stickers. Already did one with her. May have the kids paint theres. Or big kids use markers and Smiles paint. Smiles seemed to like the foamy stickers.  Smiles loves painting and playdough. With playdough she does try and put in her mouth.  I just tell her "use your fingers". She just smiles and laughs at me. I am sure someday she will not put it in her mouth. Thank goodness I have bosses who are open to messy art projects and display them as well.

Yesterday Smartypants and Sweetheart glued their flower buttons on their tree. I first told them 12 buttons. Sinse it was before nap. Though once we got on a roll they ended up doing all the bottons. Smartypants love to stack the buttons. In the end they way he stacked them looked really good. Sweetheart then started to stack as well. I am really proud of these creations.  Now in the next 2 weeks the kids are making one for the grandparents.  I can't wait to see how the next 2 turn out. 
I am thinking for Valentine's to make them again. Just have to make sure we have the sticks. As there will be snow on the ground.  So, a stick collecting we will go in the next few weeks. Who knows what I will do.  I want to do something. Maybe, I will paint their arms and fingers brown and then they can glues hearts of some kind.

The other day I was shopping at Michaels. My friend mentioned there are now ducktape sheets. So, next week we will do a ducksheet creation. I have a feeling this will be popular activity, I will have Smartypants trace and cut. I will have Sweetheart chose her stentils. I will have her try and trace. Then I will cut. I will even have Smiles do her own as well. Then they can put it on foamy board. I am beginning to love foamy board.

I saw this idea on  http://4herreras.blogspot.com/2011/09/velcro-craft-sticks-and-bottle-lidsoh.html
I will be posting pictures of Smarypants creations sometime in the next week.

Be sure to check out time for play on FB. Great ideas. And yet so simple. 

On top of art activites i am working on some fun other activites.

Sandpaper and yarn letter practice Fabric and Duck Sheet Creations

I saw this idea on . http://www.amazingmess.com/2011/09/preschool-basics-yarn-sand-paper-letter.html
Be sure to check out the other ideas of letter ideas at the bottom of the page. I plan to take this one step further and give Smartypants and Sweetheart yarn and have them create a picture themselves.  I will also use this time to have them cut the yarn as well. Thinking I will chose fall colors this time around.
The other idea I saw and liked was having precut straws and have them glue them onto words and letters. For younger children you can do shapes and numbers.   About 8 months ago I had them cut straws and this was a big hit. I will be doing this acitivity again.  I am also thinking having them create a creation with colored straws.  Wonder what they would create with pom poms and straws. The ideas are endless. 

I also saw a familiar idea where you have premade numbers,letters shapes etc. Then use little stickers. I can't wait to try this one. This acitivity would also be good to do when I am making lunch or dinner.

I really need to find a way to keep track of all the activities I want to do. Have a list of ideas and their supplies. I think I will be investing in 5 colored bags which will represent each day of the week. In the bag will be the activity or 2 of the day.

Quick and easy activities before lunch

It all stated last year when I would pick up the oldest from pre-school. We would come home and the 2 older would get into mischief. So, I started coming up with activites they can do while I made lunch. One of the biggest hits was jigsaw puzzles. Smartpants loved doing 24, 48,63 and 100 pieces. Sweetheart mastered 24, 48 and 63 pieces. The $$ store has had great puzzles. I also got several at Goodwill.
Another activity they loved was geobards. I found a great deal at Goodwill. I bought 4 of them at .49. Then rubber bands from the $$ store. 


My new favorite toy for Smarypants and Sweetheart are biggie beads. The beads are big perfect for their fingers.  There is a board to create creations. Smartpants has already made some really cool creations.  Sweetheart likes to scoop and dump. There is even a pincer to pick up the beads. Which is great for eye hand coordination.

We took a break over the summer and now will start doing activites again before lunch. Since the weather has been great. I send the kids out back to play after school.  I noticed Smartpants behavior change once he was able to be outside. Being in Kindergarten time outside is limited.  So, now I am getting ready for rainy days and colder weather. Both kids love love new projects. Now, I am on the lookout seeking new ideas.



Stay tune for geoboard pictures. I will post once I take them out again and they make their creations.

Another fun activity is very simple. Craft sticks and velcro circles.

Foamy Stickers

I love foamy sheets, various shapes and stickers. Tonight while sitting I had the kids decorate the ghosts as well as plain sheets. Foamy stickers as good from toddler and on up.  I plan to have Smiles do a ghost  and foamy sheets as well.  I like to have her involved when ever possible.

Smiles did her ghost and had fun. I had her in my lap and took the wrapper off. I stuck it too her her fingers. I would say put it on the ghost. She tried. I helped her a bit. Now when I say where's your ghost she will look at the window where I taped it. I should mention she Smiles when she sees her creation. So, the way I see it. If I do foamy stickers often she will be able to do it herself in the next few months. Just in time for the upcoming holidays. 

2.5 yr old

5 yr old

Just a few months ago my friend and I cleaned out my garage. I came across tons and tons of foamy stickers. When I am seeking foamies to my garage I will go.

I also did foamy sitckers with the kids I sit for on the weekends.

Fabric and Duck Sheet Creations

On this day Sweetheart created a flower fabric creation. She traced the shapes and I cut what she traced. She put them where she wanted. Smartypants did some tracing. Most of it was just cutting the fabric how she wanted. Then she clued them on the canvas.



here is Smartpants creation.




To mine surprize Sweetheart had no trouble at cutting. I guess she wanted to surprize me. For the last 2 weeks she has been cutting and glueing.

On the same day they both did duck tape sheets. Sweetheart traced. I cut. She put them on the foam board. She traced an apple, circle and I cut various shapes.







Smartypants cut what and how he wanted. He also did a bit of tracing as well.


I really liked the fabric and duck tape creations. I think next time, I will have more options for them and see what they can create.

remember its the process that is imporant not the product.

I am not a big fan of art creations. Where everything is precut and they are told where to put all the pieces. They are limit in the amount of glue and items they used.

I am in the process of saving milk caps and other caps from bottle. Once I have enough I plan to give them a big cardboard and let them create.

Tracing Stencils

Tracing and More Tracing. I found some stencils. Sweetheart had fun tracing circles, an apple, flower and a boat. The next one she traced was a sun, flower and the word flower. Then she traced circles, circles and more circles.  I really liked how she overlapped them.  The last picture are the markers she used.  Paint markers. Just dipped them in water and paint, trace and create away.

Reading, Reading, and more Reading

I love to read to kids. I believe its important to start at a very young age. In one nanny position I started reading at age 3 months. By 8 months he know what books he liked and did not like.  When i would read Jamberry he would sit back and suck his thumb. When read Peach Pear Plum he would arch his back and cry. He preferred rhyming books.

I love rhyming books as well for kids. I am going to provide a list of top ten for each age group. I will start with infants. 
Infants

1. Jamberry
2. Mr. Moo Can Moo Can You
3. Tumble Bumble

This list is on going