The Home Teacher

Noteshelf App: My New Digital Home Binder

2012-01-26T00:31:00.000-08:00

I am addicted to binders. I have a house organizational binder, a binder with my daughter's curriculum ideas, a binder with our FHE plans (just realized I am 2 weeks behind on those... nice!), a binder with baby educational ideas, ... you get the idea. And then there are all the countless notebooks- containing everything from my daughters journals to the 10 I have stashed everywhere for my to do lists.

My organizational bliss needed a makeover.

And I think I found the answer in the form of an iPad app. Noteshelf.

Let me first tell you that I was not compensated for writing this review- I think this app is so amazing that I want to shout about it from the rooftops.
Noteshelf is an app that was designed for, well, taking notes! But it goes to the next level, with the ability to create custom pages (you will see much more of this feature throughout my review), exporting finished notes as pdfs, and it has the all important cute factor. Which is a big deal!

Pros:
Ability to sort notes into notebooks. And notebooks can be grouped together. Think of it this way: the groups are like your binders. And the notebooks are like the tabs within those binders.

My "Home Planner" group of notebooks

Noteshelf app front page

For example, all the items in my old home binder were sorted by tabs....now they are individual notebooks, under the "home planner"group. I can easily open up the home planner group and pull up the January notebook to see what we have going on during the month, just as easily as the old tab/binder system.

My daughter has her own notebook group. Within her group she has two notebooks: her chore chart and journal.

My daughter's notebooks are grouped together in her own collection.

And do I worry that she might accidentally delete all her cute journal entries, since she has easy access to her notebook? No, and here's why:

Noteshelf has the ability to easily copy pages. And not only copy the page into the current notebook, but I can move the page into any other existing notebook that I created. So in my personal notebook group I have a copy of all her journal entries, safe and snug.

In the finder view you can easily see all the pages in your notebook. You can copy, move, delete, and export pages from the finder!

Boo's journal is one of my favorite notebooks. I love that she loves to write in her journal now, she has access to several ink colors/pen widths/stickers, and I can quickly type a description on the same page. I love that I can now email her journal entries- so if there is an especially cute one about grandma, I can send her a copy right away. And for those that have the iPad2 (so jealous!) you can take a pic and insert it right into the note. Those of us with a regular iPad can insert pics from the photo album. I think my days of binding notebooks for my daughter to use as journals (and end up only using half of the notebook because it gets lost) are over. At least for now. I just love the idea of having an instant digital copy of my daughter's work. How cute would it be to make a shutterfly book of all her journal entries! Ahhhh I am rambling- back to Noteshelf....
I LOVE having my daughter's chore chart on Noteshelf. As I mentioned earlier, you have the ability to add custom pages by importing jpgs. I used the GIMP to save all my pdfs to jpgs and I was good to go! After creating the chore chart custom page, I added it to her notebook. Now she can immediately add a digital sticker to her jobs as she completes them, and when we are done for the week we can clear the page and start over! (Once you create a custom page, you can easily insert it at anytime into any notebook) No money spent on stickers- or time spent searching for those aforementioned stickers... I love it. This also works for our scripture reading chart as well!

Digital chore chart

With the ability to create custom pages, I have been able to use all my old binder planner pdfs. So nifty! My monthly menu plan, my special days lists, my birthday calendar,... everything! Just think of all the money you could save by not printing a gazillion lists! And you never have to reprint... its all digital. And no more lugging around your 2 pound binder everywhere.

The finder view of all the pages in our January notebook. You can see the variety of pages!

A close up view of our weekly cleaning page in our January notebook. (You can download this for free- scroll down to the bottom of this post!)

Other pros: you can tag pages, so if you are looking for a page in a notebook and you don't remember where it is, you can search by the tag. And I do believe you can do a search for text, if it has been typed. You can export pages to evernote/dropbox. I don't use these services so it doesn't mean anything to me, but I know a lot of people might find this feature useful! You can send a page directly to facebook, and that might be of use someday.... Another pro is that it offers wrist protection- which basically means you can set your wrist down on your ipad while writing and the app won't think your wrist is writing too. You can password lock notebooks and notebook groups- PERFECT for your personal journal, or any notebook entitled "Gift Ideas". You can also zoom in on your notebook for more fine tuned handwriting.

Zoom feature for handwritten text

And those lucky ipad2 folks can take pics of children's calendars from school or other important notes and send them directly into a notebook so you can truly be paper free!

Cons: I have to mention a few. First, I would love the ability to import pdfs directly, instead of having to save them as a jpg. I don't mind the extra work because I love the result, but it would make life a bit easier. I would also love to see the ability to insert links and images directly from the internet. I created a Pinterest page with the projects I want to work on during the month, but I had to save the pics of each project to my ipad before importing them into the notebook.

Pinterest notebook page- A great place to add pics and text of potential projects for the month.

Also, I would really like to be able to make custom notebook covers. And it would be cool to have that handwriting to text conversion that I have seen in other notebook apps. None of those are deal breakers for me- it is pretty nitty gritty stuff.

Here is a free download you can import right away as a custom page in your Noteshelf app(or you can print it, I won't mind)

When all is said and done, this app is a must have. Let the trend of digital binders begin!!!

Happy TECHing! (and yes, I left the "a" out on purpose!)

Chinese New Year Fun

2012-01-24T22:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Chinese New Year and I thought I would share with you all some of the fun things we did to celebrate!

-We played dragon tag. Basically it was regular tag, but the "it"person was called the dragon instead. So creative, I know. :)

-My daughter and I made several paper lanterns and hung them throughout the house. They are SO easy and added such a festive flair!

-Boo also wore a chinese butterfly dress we picked up in Toronto when she was 18 months. It's a size 2, and she's 4.... so yes, it was super tight. But she wanted to wear "her super flyer dress".

-Watched the Chinese New Year episode of Kai Lan. Riveting entertainment right there.

-We ate Chinese food, of course! I have been on a mission to find the perfect orange chicken recipe. This was attempt #2- not bad, but not quite perfection. I also whipped up (ha- I mean slaved over!!) some ham fried rice that was super yummy.

-My daughter helped me make fortune cookies. I had no idea they were so tricky to make! Geez!

Boo wrote the fortunes- well, scribbled them. She told me that all the fortunes said "Do what ever your child says". I think she is trying to tell us something, wouldn't you agree? :)

I thought I would be clever and write one fortune "Lucky you! You get to do the dishes!" And guess who ended up getting THAT fortune cookie. Me. My super plan to get someone else on dish duty backfired. Luckily my family helped anyway :)

-We also played the Chinese New Year level on Angry Birds Seasons. Cuz we are SO techy like that. Those frustrated feathered friends are the center of one too many of our family night activities.

Hope you all had a wonderful Chinese New Year. Bring on Valentines Day! :)
Happy Teaching!

Valentine Mailboxes

2012-01-24T08:54:00.000-08:00

Valentines Day is coming up! Yes, I am excited!!! And not because I am expecting flowers or chocolate (although hubby if you are reading this post I would love them!) I absolutely love celebrating the holidays with children. There are so many fun ideas and creative projects that are out there (thank you Pinterest), and I delight in seeing the excitement in my daughter's eyes.

We have LOTS of Valentines plans this year. One of the new traditions we are starting is sending each other love notes throughout the month of February. I found these cute mailboxes in the dollar section at Target and I already had the pink mailbox letters.

Although the letters have a sticky back, I added a little krazy glue to ensure they would stay. So far so good....

I put the finished mailboxes on some candlestick holders. I think they turned out really cute and I am excited to start using them! And the entire project cost me three bucks- while the messages that will be left inside of them will be priceless :)

Cheesy, I know.

Happy Valentines Day!

Human Body: Circulatory System

2012-01-22T00:51:00.000-08:00

It's time for another post on the human body! Today we talked about the circulatory system.... more specifically the heart, arteries, veins, and lungs. Before we set out for our activities I had two goals: First, I wanted my daughter to know that the red arteries deliver oxygen, while the blue veins carry out the "garbage" (the term carbon dioxide was not part of today's lesson!!) The second goal was to add the circulatory system to our human body.

Two ways to teach your child about the circulatory system:
I drew an enormous chalk figure of the human body in our unfinished basement, and made sure to include the trachea, lungs, heart, arteries, and veins. I also pulled out my red and blue unifix cubes for the blood. I also grabbed some cans of silly string we had sitting around.
Example #1: We tossed all the red cubes in a ginormous dump truck from my daughter's sandbox. I told Boo that the blood goes to the lungs to get air, then we blew on the red blocks. We delivered red oxygenated blood by "driving" the truck down the arteries and tossing red blocks throughout the body.

Dispersing the oxygenated blood by driving the truck down the artery path.

The dump truck then turned around, and drove up the veins while Boo picked up the blue blocks- AKA garbage (for older kids I would use the term carbon dioxide!).

Collecting the garbage (carbon dioxide) into the dump truck and driving it back to the heart up the vein path.

When the truck got back to the lungs, it dumped out the garbage, then we ran it up the trachea and breathed it out! I know a lot of the technical stuff may not be remembered, but we had fun...and at the end of the day, thats what counts.

Example #2: We cleaned up the blocks and played the game again, but this time we used silly string. And it was a lot more captivating. We started at the heart, went to the lungs to get our air, then back down the heart and into the arteries. My daughter enjoyed squirting the silly string throughout the body, although she had a difficult time pushing down on the valve. The silly string...I mean oxygen.... was picked up in the trusty dump truck along the vein path and hauled away to the lungs, were it was exhaled.

After picking up the carbon dioxide (silly string), Boo dumped it into the lungs. Right after doing this, she picked up the silly string and exhaled it by running up the trachea and out the mouth.

After our kinesthetic illustrations of the circulatory system, we went upstairs and added the components to our human body chart. The heart was printed out from this site, and the veins and arteries were pieces of old embroidery floss (yarn would work just as well).

Look at our body develop- this is turning out to be such a fun project!!

We had plans to make a stethoscope and listen to our heart beats, but that didn't happen.... we were able to feel our heart beats with our hands before and after running around. This is a great time to discuss why our heart beats increase when we exercise and the importance of oxygen to our muscles.

I couldn't resist adding this cute School House Rock video on the circulatory system. It's classic, educational film at it's best.

For more ideas on the human body, follow my board on pinterest!

Happy Teaching!

Dollar Store Valentine Handprint Plate

2012-01-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

I am really excited for Valentines Day! My daughter and I recently made a handprint heart plate. It is super easy, cheap, and I think it looks pretty darn cute!

Materials:

red paint
white paper
pink tissue paper squares
glass plate from the dollar store
modpodge/ foam brush

Using red paint, have your child stamp their handprints in a heart shape. Then cut out the paper in the shape of a heart.

Turn the plate over (so the back is facing you). Put the heart facedown on the back of the plate. Then modpodge it on until the heart sticks to the plate.

Modpodge the tissue paper squares on to the back of the plate to fill in the gaps. Be careful not to rip or tear the tissue paper during this process.

After the plate was covered in tissue paper squares, I modpodged a paper on the back of the heart that has my daughter's name and age.

Follow my handprint art board on Pinterest for more ideas:

It is always so fun to craft with my Boo and make something that will always remind me of her. :)

Happy Teaching!

SOPA

2012-01-17T22:32:00.000-08:00

Valentine Apothecary Jars

2012-01-16T20:35:00.000-08:00

I had to do a quick post on our Valentine Apothecary jars. You can read more about them here. Despite the fact that it is still the middle of January, I was antsy to decorate with hearts! And all the items I used to fill the jars was purchased at the dollar store. :) I bought conversation hearts, cherry gummy hearts (YUM), and little plastic heart boxes. Oh and the ribbon was from the dollar store, too! Yay for a good deal!

I just love how they look all snuggled in my mantle nook.

Do you see those red mailboxes on the right? They are our next family craft project- I will have to post more about that when we are done!

For more ideas on how to decorate apothecary jars, click on the pic below to go to my Pinterest board dedicated to this subject.

Happy Teaching!

Human Body: Respiratory System

2012-01-15T21:57:00.000-08:00

The past couple of days we tackled the respiratory system. It was a bit of a challenge to get Boo excited to learn about lungs... honestly, how many four year olds are excited to learn about lungs! And although she was convinced our lung activities would be boring, we ended up having a pretty good time. And I think we actually learned a few things along the way!!!

We started our breathing exploration playing a fun game called Oxygen Cycle. I adapted the game I found at PE Central to meet the needs of my four year old. To play this game I drew an outline of a person with sidewalk chalk... making sure to add a mouth, trachea, lungs, and muscles. The only supplies you need are beanbags. The oxygen (pile of beanbags) started out at the mouth. Boo would run to the mouth, get some oxygen, run down the trachea path, through the lungs, and then to a muscle. When she got to the muscle she would have to perform a little exercise- like arm circles, jump in place, etc- until she ran out of oxygen. Then it was back through the lungs, trachea, and to the mouth to get more oxygen and repeat the process. And while we were playing Boo made some adjustments- like deciding it was much more efficient to ride her bike down the trachea path instead of running. And then piling her bike with ALL the beanbags instead of going back and forth. :) We both had a good time, and that's what counts!

We watched an episode of Blue's Clue's that talks about taking a deep breath when you feel frustrated. Not that my Sweet Pea is ever frustrated- ha! Good lesson on how deep breathing relaxes our body. (For those that are curious and want to watch this with your little ones it is Season 2 Episode 18)

Our little family spent an evening doing various lung activities (found here). We took a straw and taped string on the end. Boo blew into the straw and watched the string elevate. The longer/deeper the breaths were, the longer the string would float.

The same concept was also illustrated by blowing into a harmonica. Deeper breaths would play longer notes, and shorter breaths would play shorter notes.

We practiced blowing feathers with deep/short breaths.

And then we made a lung! It was SO much fun! A must-do if you are planning on teaching your child about the respiratory system. I followed the steps found here and it worked perfectly. A great visual of the trachea, lungs, and diaphragm. And how the diaphragm contracts during the breathing process. Boo was able to see that the diaphragm goes down to create room for the lungs as they expand.

We couldn't forget to add lungs to our body (Boo has named her Bony. What a name, right?)

We glued some bubble wrap on top of the lung picture (since there is air in our lungs) and added a diaphragm.

Last but not least... a great resource in teaching kids yoga breathing techniques (as well as lots of other yoga poses).

For more ideas check out my Pinterest board on the human body:

Tomorrow we talk about the circulatory system! Boo told me tonight she wants to add meat to her body chart...any suggestions? :)
Happy Teaching!

Human Body: Lymphatic System

2012-01-12T22:23:00.000-08:00

What child isn't fascinated with germs? Today we talked about the lymphatic system- more specifically how our body gets rid of those germy bugs!

Disclaimer: I am not in the medical field and I hope what I am teaching my daughter is somewhat accurate!! Ha!

We looked at the lymph nodes in our human body encyclopedia (my daughter refers to the nodes as "beans", which makes sense because they are so small!). We talked about white blood cells: how they are the guys that fight the germies and that some of these cells are stored in the lymph nodes.

I then had a visual to show my daughter why lymph nodes get swollen. We inserted white blood cells (aka cotton balls) into the lymph node (aka balloon). The more white blood cells, the bigger the balloon got!

We then pulled out our body chart. Lymph nodes were added using green thumbprints- and although they are found throughout the entire body, we just stuck them in a few spots.

We couldn't forget to add white blood cells- little dots of white paint with a q-tip.

Boo decided it was time for a break.....

Then it was back to work taping on the lymph vessels using green embroidery floss.

The last thing we added was the spleen. We talked about how one of the jobs of the spleen (referred to as the "big bean") is to store extra white blood cells. We might go back tomorrow and actually paint some cells on the spleen!

Boo and I played a quick game of Germ Attack... germs entered various parts of the body and the white blood cells (cotton balls) raced along the lymph vessel to attack the germs!

We tried watching the Once Upon a Time video on the lymphatic system- but we only got through the first part (it's a three part series). This would be much more entertaining for an older child!

Here is a closer look at our body with the lymphatic system:

For more ideas check out my Pinterest board on the human body:

Happy Teaching!

Human Body: Brain

2012-01-11T22:57:00.000-08:00

Day 2 of our human body exploration was all about the brain.
I first asked Boo if she knew what the skull protected. The response was a glazed over "HUH?" look- I am sure all you teachers out there have seen this look before! I told Boo to look inside the skull for the answer. She lifted the flap and.....

what do you know, the skull protects the brain!
In order to demonstrate the importance of the skull, we did a little experiment with eggs. I told my daughter a made-up on the spot story about a girl who was playing with baby ibexes on a tall mountain and then suddenly slipped and fell. At this point I told Boo to drop an egg on the floor. She was a bit hesitant at first- thinking it MUST be some type of joke to just throw food on the floor on purpose- but after seeing I was serious about it down came the egg. And what a mess it made. A great visual on why our brains need protection! We did drop another egg that was wrapped up with cotton and snuggled inside a plastic easter egg shell. It suffered only minor injuries- a small crack- nothing serious. Our brains need protection: lesson learned.

Later that day we watched a VERY cute video on the nervous system from School House Rock. My daughter loved it and so we watched it a few times. A great visual on how the brain sends signals to the rest of our body. This would be a great way to introduce the role of the spinal cord and nerves... we briefly talked about them, but our objective today was about the brain. Maybe when Boo is 5 we will have a more detailed discussion about the nervous system! :)

There are SO many fun ideas out there on teaching your kiddo about the brain. Follow my board on Pinterest for more ideas.

Tomorrow we tackle the lymph nodes!!
Happy Teaching!

Human Body: Skeleton

2012-01-10T22:43:00.000-08:00

My four year old is a very scientific little girl who is extremely interested in learning about the human body. We just started a fun little mini unit on the body- so prepare yourself for A LOT of posts on this subject!
You can't talk about the human body without talking about the skeleton. I mean, without it we would be a lump of squishy organs and skin! Ha! To get us ready for our skeleton learning journey I decided to make a child-size paper body chart.

At first I had great intentions of making separate body charts for each of the different systems- muscles, nervous, circulatory, digestive, etc BUT I decided as we learned about each system we would add it to just one paper body.
To make the paper body I traced my daughter on brown packing paper (thank you Amazon for shipping your products with SO much extra paper!!)
I searched online for a human skeleton cut out and was so thrilled to find this child-size skeleton printout. I had to make some adjustments- my daughter isn't quite that tall yet, so I shrunk the size a bit before printing. Due to size issues, I also had to add a different pelvic bone (found here), ribs (found here), and I ended up drawing a skull.

Skull opens to make room for the brain

Ribs open to make room for some internal organs

The ribs are cut open so I can insert different organs as we learn about them, and the skull is actually two papers taped together at the top so I can put the brain inside. I am super excited about how this project is turning out! We will be adding to this paper body as we learn about different organs and systems.

Putting the skeleton together was a family event- Boo is happily stirring juice while intently staring at the bones as we talk about them. And FYI: gluing bones on a body outline that is not a perfect match is tricky!

We watched a School House Rock video on the skeleton, talked about calcium, and I printed out some X-Ray cards found at Chasing Marcus. We tried watching the Once Upon a Time series on the skeleton- not my favorite, but someone out there in the blogosphere might enjoy watching it.

Boo watching skeleton movies online--don't look too closely at my super messy desk!

For more skeleton fun- check out my blog post on skeletons- it is definitely Halloween-ish, but it can be educational! There is also a post on a glow-in-the dark skeleton game that was lots of fun.

Next post will be about the human brain!
Happy Teaching!

Year of Gratitude: I am thankful for Heavenly Father

2012-01-01T08:59:00.000-08:00

Our family's new year resolution is to work on gratitude (read more about it here). During the month of January we will be focusing on learning more about our Heavenly Father, why we are grateful for Him, and different ways we can express that gratitude to Him.

Each week we will discuss one of the following topics. I have also included a brief list of some of the resources we will be using to teach each topic. Many of the resources come from the Primary Partners/ Sunday Savers sharing time books that I bought years ago at Seagull Book for $2. Other ideas I found while searching online.

Heavenly Father/ I am a child of God (make heavenly princess crown for Boo see Sharing Fun Treasures: My Eternal Family page 1, sing I am a child of God, great FHE I am a Child of God lesson from Lara Goold)
Prayer (prayer rock see Sharing Fun Treasures: My Eternal Family page 56 and prayer board game see Sharing Time Treasures: I am a Child of God page 80, another great FHE prayer lesson from Lara Goold)
Commandments (Commandment Concentration see Sharing Time Treasures: I'll Follow Him in Faith page 30, Lara Goold's FHE lesson on the 10 commandments)
Obedience to God (Page Heninger and Lara Goold's FHE lesson on obedience)
Reverence (my hero Lara Goold's FHE lesson on reverence, happy and sad chapel activity from Tina Felt's FHE lesson on reverence, Little LDS ideas has a cute reverence jar activity)

I am sure there are a million other cute ideas on these topics out there and if you know of any I would love to hear them!

Happy Teaching!

A Year of Gratitude: Our Family's New Year Resolution

2011-12-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

A lot has happened of good things have happened to our family the past 6 months- my husband graduated from college, got a new job, we moved into a new house,... things were looking great! I knew I wanted to work on expressing gratitude as a New Year's resolution. We had SO much to be thankful for! And I knew that I didn't want this to just be a personal goal- but something we could all work on as a family. I envisioned a whole year of meaningful journal writing and all our FHE lessons centered on gratitude.

And then we were hit with an unexpected trial (I won't go into detail about it now, let's just say it's a road bump on our blissful journey). I wanted to wallow in self pity, but knew in my heart that now more than ever my family needed to focus on gratitude.

Lift up your hearts in praise to God;

Let your rejoicings never cease.

Though tribulations rage abroad,

Christ says, “In me ye shall have peace.”

Hymn #122: Though Deepening Trials

I am hoping that the focus of our year of gratitude will help us to more easily recognize all of our blessings, express gratitude to others & in our prayers for specific blessings, and strengthen our family. We have already built a foundation of teaching polite behaviors with our daughter, but I want to immerse her in the deep happiness that comes when we are truly grateful. Including recognizing and expressing gratitude when things aren't going our way.

Here is our plan:

We have 12 monthly gratitude themes that are centered around gospel teachings: Heavenly Father, Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ, Prophets, Scriptures, Bodies, Country/Home, Covenants, Plan of Salvation, Family, Extended Family/ancestors, and Service. Each monthly theme also has sub topics in gray shaded boxes. (I went through old family home evening books and highlighted topics of gospel study I knew our family needed, then just inserted them throughout the year.)

You can't have a family home evening planner without a binder!

Inside the binder are our individual gratitude journals where we will be writing down things that we are grateful for each week and lesson plan ideas for each theme.

Our 12 monthly themes divider pages for the gratitude binder.

Here is a free printable for you- print the pic below and create your own gratitude journal!

Well it is almost 1:30 AM and I am grateful for my nice warm bed that I am about to jump into! If there are any files that you would like a copy of, please feel free to email me and I will send them your way.

Happy Teaching!

New Years Countdown Clocks for Kids

2011-12-30T14:40:00.000-08:00

Ring in the New Year with your little ones by creating some fun countdown bags! I originally read about this idea here and fell in love! I love that this idea helps to teach kids about telling time!!!! Yay for fun math/party integration!

Each bag contains a simple surprise- it can be a treat (yes I will raid the old Halloween candy for this!), a game/puzzle to do together, even a familiar toy who snuck inside the bag to celebrate New Years with my Boo. I will have the bags all mixed up- every hour during the countdown I will tell her the time and she will have to locate the correct bag in order to get the surprise. But of course she will get it anyway!

There are some adorable clock bag printables (click here) but I wanted to make some kid-friendly ones. Feel free to just click on the pic, download, and use to celebrate New Years!

I created some half hour clocks too- I was going to try them with my daughter, but thought that they might be a little too much this year.

FYI I was told by my husband that the hour hand on the clock is behind the minute hand. Oops :)

Happy Teaching!

North Pole Breakfast & Reindeer Report

2011-12-20T20:36:00.000-08:00

I found this DARLING idea on Pinterest to have a special North Pole breakfast each year to introduce Elf on the Shelf and just get in the spirit of Christmas (thank you Little Pumpkin Grace!).

North Pole Breakfast complete with a special letter from Rudolph

Well we did it and it was fun! However, I am too cheap to buy an elf, so we customized it with something I had bought back in November for $5.... a reindeer.

Introducing the Reindeer Report. Each night Rudolph magically flies to the North Pole and gives Santa a report on if Boo is being nice or naughty. And she (I was informed it's a girl) hides when she come back from the great white north, so we have fun searching for her in the morning. It works for us- it gives us the magic I love plus it incorporates an animal my daughter LOVES!

Letter to Boo from Rudolph

I also made a little reindeer book with a two sided nose- it stays red if Boo is being nice, but it quickly flips over to a black nose if she is making bad choices.

I hope you are all enjoying the MAGIC of the season! Merry Christmas!

Peppermint Bark

2011-12-19T22:27:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! We are just settling into our new home and starting some fun new traditions. One new tradition will be this extremely simple yet so DIVINE recipe for peppermint bark by Taste of Home. I am in Christmas heaven every time I take a bite! And my little Boo can help me with the recipe- YAY!

Ingredients:
6 squares (1 ounce each) white baking chocolate
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup crushed peppermint candies

1. In a microwave safe bowl, melt white chocolate at 70% power; stir until smooth. Repeat with chocolate chips.

2. Stir 6 tablespoons of crushed candies into each bowl.

Boo unwrapping and crushing peppermint candies.

3. Drop white chocolate and semisweet chocolate in alternating spoonfuls onto a waxed paper-lined baking sheet.

4. With a metal spatula, cut through the chocolate to a swirl.

5. Sprinkle with remaining crushed candies.

6. Chill until firm. Break into pieces. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator (if there is any left! ha!)

They are as tasty as they look! And SO super simple! Enjoy!
Happy Teaching and Merry Christmas!

A New House and Life Without Internet (Is there such a thing?)

2011-12-13T20:38:00.000-08:00

Our little family has just moved, and for the past three weeks we have been internet-less. How have we survived? It is a little painful, but in all honestly a good thing for our family. We are the techno-geeks that spend more time than we would like to admit on the computer. I have spent less time (well, actually NO time) on Netflix and more time unpacking boxes. No time has been spent searching on line for lesson plans, but much time has been spent playing with my daughter. Our house has been eerily quiet without the hum of technology....

I am grateful for our time away from the internet, but I am more grateful to be getting it back! :)

Stay tuned for more pics of our new home and my new craft/school room! It is going to be so much fun to have more room to spread out all my teacher stuff! :)

Here's hoping for a more balanced life!

Happy Teaching!

Dollar Store Turkey Handprint Plate

2011-11-15T21:11:00.001-08:00

I LOVE the dollar store. Sadly, it is probably my favorite place to shop. I am a sucker for a good deal! I wanted to make a Thanksgiving craft with my daughter, and this is what we came up with:

This was so easy and inexpensive to make!
Materials:

Dollar store glass plate
Colored paper (I used construction paper without thinking about the fade factor- if I were to do this over, I would definitely use scrapbook paper!)
Tissue paper cut into small squares (I happened to use an old sewing paper, but any tissue paper will work!)
Mod Podge
Foam Brush
Scissors

1. First, trace your child's hand on 5 different papers. These will be the turkey's feathers.

2. Cut out a brown oval, orange triangle, and white and black circles for the turkey's body. And cut a red squigly shape for the wattle (is this the right word?) Wattle not shown in picture- I forgot about it until a later step :). Glue the face together.

3. Your turkey parts are complete! Glue the little guy together. Wattle shown.

4. Now for the fun Mod Podge part. I am seriously impaired when it comes to this gluey stuff! Turn the plate over so you are working on the back. Flip the turkey over and place on the plate. Mod Podge like crazy to get the turkey to stick to the plate.

Once the turkey is on, add your tissue paper squares to fill in the gaps. I would add a layer of Mod Podge, then stick on the tissue paper.

My mind is spinning with the possibilities of plate projects- you could make one for every holiday using different handprint art. These would be fabulous christmas presents for the grandparents! Heck, I even like them for myself!

Happy crafting with your kiddos!

Our Fall Apothecary Jars

2011-11-11T20:52:00.001-08:00

I love this time of year! I decorated my apothecary jars with some fun fall items- this is a wonderful way to display all those autumn treasures you and your child find on walks! I have to be honest... my items were all found at craft stores... BUT I love the thought of a happy mother/daughter harvest nature walk versus walking up and down the aisle with a screaming child at Michaels! :)

Happy Holidays!

Cultural Activities- More on Montessori

2011-11-10T20:03:00.000-08:00

I started writing a series of posts on Montessori and only recently realized that I had never finished...oops! I was originally going to do separate posts for Science and Culture and I don't remember why. From what I remember from David Gettman's book Basic Montessori: Learning Activities for Under-Fives culture includes science (please correct me if I am wrong.. it's been over a year since I read the book!)

David Gettman suggests the following sequence for teaching culture. Included in the list are some activities that I have found online. Enjoy!

Period One:

land and water presentation- download land form cards from montessorimom.com, download water form cards from montessorimom.com and make your own land and water forms from Shannon's Sharings

Period Two:

land and water exercises
first maps
places classified pictures- classification pictures (scroll down to see some Places cards) from montessori materials
preliminary work for classification of a leaf- some great ideas for leaf projects and simple classifying from montessori preschool at home

Period Three:

all maps- map printouts from montessori mom links of the day and there are some GREAT map apps HERE
places picture folders- Life is Bella shared her continent photo folders and Montessori Materials has continent animal cards
past and present
stories about the past
air
water
magnetism
classifying animals- Montessori Materials has animal classification labels. These would work great as 3-part classification card activity!
classifying leaves leaf shapes and leaf forms 1,2, and 3 from montessori materials and for the advanced child- check out this incredible pdf of leaves from Temple of Ganesha- everything from a bazillion different leaf shapes to leaf venation. Wow.
parts of animals- Montessori Materials has some animal anatomy cards
parts of leaves- Montessori Materials has a great pdf on the learning the parts of leaves and ETC has another well done pdf on leaf parts

Period Four:

gravity
sand
optics- Montessori Mom shares a list of different light, color and optics activities
places artifacts- continent boxes from montessori for everyone

Period Five:

plant life cycles- online tutorial for kids on the plant life cycle- from seed to dispersal. Youtube also has several different time lapse videos of seeds growing that are pretty cool!
time line

Period Six:

reading classified cards in geography, nature studies, and history
fact books from the library

Period Seven:

definition stages of classified cards in geography, nature studies, and history
field nature observation work

You must check out this detailed scope and sequence of geography pdf. It is amazing!
Happy Teaching!

Gift Opening Practice

2011-11-09T22:06:00.000-08:00

Like many of you, I want my daughter to be gracious and kind. Especially when given a gift. To avoid any potential acts of ingratitude during her birthday party, we practiced opening presents. It was a totally fun game and it provided my kiddo with the learning experience I desired! This would be a fun activity to do with your kids right before a birthday, Christmas, or other times of gift exchanging!

My daughter had a surprise party with some of her stuffed animals in attendance. Each animal brought a gift (misc toys found in her playroom).

Some gifts were good- like her favorite dinosaurs or pillow pet.

the "good" gifts

Others were not so good- rolls of toilet paper and random food storage items from our pantry.

the "not so good" gifts

We sat in a circle and one at a time each animal would give their gift. Boo would open the present, say one thing she liked about the gift, and "thank you". Even when the gift was not so good.

I love Boo's facial expression when she received dry soup mix from her unicorn!

The day of the birthday party came- and my daughter got lost in the excitement of all the presents- but I think she was as gracious as a 4 year old could be with a stack of so many fun toys to play with! This is one reason I LOVE opening gifts throughout the entire day instead of one fast paced session. :)

This unhappy tiger was tuckered out from opening gifts.

Happy Teaching!

Muddy Buddies

2011-11-07T21:21:00.000-08:00

Want to make a yummy snack with your kiddos? Muddy Buddies are simple and oh so scrumptious!

Ingredients:
9 Cups Chex Cereal
1 Cup Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
1/4 Cup Margarine/Butter
1 tsp Vanilla
1 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar

Directions:
1. Pour Chex into a large bowl.
2. Combine chocolate chips, peanut butter, and margarine in a separate bowl. Microwave on high 1 to 1 1/2 minutes until smooth, stirring after 1 minute. Stir in vanilla.
3. Pour chocolate mix over cereal, stirring until all pieces are evenly coated.

4. Pour cereal into large ziplock bag with powdered sugar. Seal and shake until all pieces are well coated.

5. Spread on wax paper to cool.

You can then just pick up the ends of the wax paper and place it into a bowl. Easy clean up!

Enjoy!

Birthday Party Planning Pages

2011-11-05T04:00:00.000-07:00

Confession: I am addicted to planning. And I just can't make mental plans or jot ideas in a notebook. I crave the organizational high that I get from seeing all my ideas and itineraries printed out on well designed forms and placed in a folder or binder. Here is one of my latest organizational creation: birthday party planning pages.

Click here to download the planner from our wiki. Enjoy!

DIY Christmas Ideas: Reposts

2011-11-04T20:27:00.000-07:00

As I am starting to compile my list of homemade Christmas gifts to make this year, I thought I would share some of our favorite gifts we have made from the past. Just click on the name of each item to be redirected to the instructional post! Have fun!

Family Yahtzee

No-Sew Fleece Blanket

Jingle Bell Tu-Tu

Christmas Tree Popsicle Stick Ornaments

Handprint Reindeers

Nativity Blocks

We LOVE these blocks!

Second set had the bible and book of mormon nativity blocks

Nativity Dice

Enjoy!

Spooky Safari Halloween Birthday Party

2011-11-03T22:28:00.000-07:00

My daughter's birthday is on Halloween- it's so fun! We try and have a Halloweenish birthday party for her every year. We had an "ABC's of Halloween" party when my daughter was into her alphabet, and a "Bibbety Bobbety Boo" princess Halloween party when she loved Cinderella. This year we went with a safari theme since my Boo is totally into animals! She loves the weird animals no one has ever heard of- like the ibex and the okapi. Boo even wanted to be one of them for Halloween- but poor Mom had no idea how to make either - and luckily for me she ended up choosing a tiger costume. Phew!

The Invitation
Simple and fun! I got the clipart from Shannon's Digital Scrapbooking.

The Guest List
When asked who to invite to her party- my daughter told me "everyone". We opted to just invite some close friends, family, and friends from her church class and preschool.

The Food
You can't just have pizza and salad on animal safari! We braved it up and ate predator pizza, safari salad, and skeleton bone breadsticks. Drinks were found at the water hole, and although I forgot to tell people the official name during the party- we had ibex ice cream sundaes.
Treat jars included tiger eyes (eye ball candy from the Dollar Tree) and okapi brains (gunny worms).

The Decorations
Green and black streamers gave us the scary jungle feel. We listened to Halloween music- including Halloween background music that actually sounds like a haunted forest so it was PERFECT for our spooky safari! I hung skeletons and Halloween decorations from the dollar store. The kids table had little Halloween pails with animal crackers. There were signs for all the food- as well as a welcome sign and animal footprints leading guests to the party room(since the party was held at our church).

The Games
Every year we read a story at the party. Two of the years I actually made books! This year I was lucky enough to find the book Jungle Halloween. It was a perfect book for the young audience (3-5) and it went so nicely with our theme!

After the story, we went to the gym and played hippos in mud (similar to musical chairs but kids walk around in a circle and try to get stuck on brown pieces of construction paper-aka mud).

We also had a jungle frog jumping contest with frogs bought at the dollar store. This was a riot! The frogs were also part of the party favors for the kids to take home.

On your mark...., get set....., go!

After the frog jumping contest the kids huddled together and played with the frogs :)

We played a short game of animal charades. I had pictures of different jungle animals folded up in a basket, and guests would pick an animal and act it out while everyone else tried to guess.

We took a short cake/ice cream/open presents break, then it was time for our final game! The kids went on an animal safari to three different parts of our spooky jungle- the snake pit, the haunted forest, and bugs & bones land. Each room had plastic creatures (animals/snakes/bugs/skeletons....based on the theme) that the kids could hunt for. I had purchased what I THOUGHT was a bag of little spotting scopes for the kids to take with them on their hunt- but they ended up being little noisemaker whistles (why do some party stores not label their favors!) So if I were to do anything different- i would have made sure that the kids take a scope or toy binoculars to take with them! The kids had a blast with the safari and it was a great culminating activity before the kids went home.

Happy Teaching!

Book Themed Baby Shower

2011-11-02T21:49:00.000-07:00

I had the most wonderful opportunity to host a baby shower for my brother in law and his wife. I LOVE planning!!! (Check out my post on Baby Shower Planning Pages). And I just couldn't resist hosting an educational based party. After looking around the internet (and my new favorite site Pinterest) I found adorable book- themed baby showers. What an inspiration! Two sites that I gleaned the most creative juices from is Aesthetic Nest and Bowtied's Etsy shop. Guests were encouraged to bring their favorite book as a gift. (I made a cute Dr Seuss-ish invitation but I don't have a pic to show. Included in the invitation were bookplates so baby would always remember who gave her each book)

The setup with my cute mother in law in the background. She was kind enough to host the big party at her lovely home.

Banner made out of an old book- I am thinking this would be cute to hang in my daughter's playroom. Yay for multi-purpose crafts!

Each guest picked a letter and designed their own alphabet page for baby's first ABC book. It was SO fun!

Side table decorations- I couldn't resist putting the "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish" sign next to a jar of swedish fish. There are also extra bookplates for guests in case they lost the one included in their invitation

The "Snack Snack Eat a Snack" sign didn't motivate enough people to eat the treats- but it was still cute!

Cupcakes made by my cute sister in law with the book toppers from Aesthetic Nest.

I love sneaking in learning and literature in any activity! :) For more inspiration, check out my Party Board on Pinterest.

Enjoy!

Apple Pumpkin

2011-10-30T20:56:00.000-07:00

Steve Jobs- this one is for you.

I ♥ Apple.

Big Pumpkin Printables

2011-10-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

One of our most favorite Halloween stories EVER is Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman. We have probably read this book at least 50 times this year (if not more!) We love the silly storyline, the flow of the text, and the lessons on cooperation. Those who embrace literacy know that when you find a book you love, you just don't read it... you celebrate it!
I put together some fun learning activities that go along with Big Pumpkin that I wanted to share with you. Just click on the titles of each activity to download the file. Enjoy!!

Big Pumpkin nomenclature cards- This was one of our favorite activities! Recently we tried our hand at some pumpkin nomenclature cards, and while they were fun- they were also frustrating (lots of words that looked very similar, small font, too many cards). This time we played it like a game.

First, my daughter picked three cards (with both pic and word) from the pile. It was her idea to turn the cards face down- to give it an element of surprise. She also wanted to sit on her pink stool during the game which meant a lot of bending down...silly girl! Then she found the picture card match. The last step was to find the word match. I love that she had the decision power to pick her cards. And there were less cards to match. And of course it went with one of our dearest Halloween books!

To make the game- print out two copies of both sheets. Cut out the pics and words together on one copy, and cut the pics and words separate on the other copy. Then you are ready to find the matches!

Big Pumpkin pocket chart cards. This is a great way to look at how individual words make up a sentence as well as becoming familiar with punctuation (we had fun reading sentences with a "period" voice and an "exclamation point" voice). My daughter was able to switch out the witch/ghost/vampire/ and mummy cards on the chart as we talked about each of the characters trying to get the pumpkin off the vine.

Story summary paper book- Just a simple retell of the story as a printable book. There are no pictures so your kiddos can create their own illustrations!

Trace & Write word boxes- These boxes are great for kids learning to correctly write short and tall letters. I created these pages to go with Big Pumpkin because handwriting is a big focus of our "school time".

Halloween Word Ladder- A very simple word activity where the word "bag" changes to "cat" (one letter at a time) in just two steps! Like I said, very simple....

Retell cards (no file here, go to the clipart site to download images and print)- I am in LOVE with the cutest Halloween clipart from Phillip Martin. It is adorable! Not only have we used it in our activities above, but I printed out each of the images on card stock as a visual aid while telling the story. (It's destiny that Phillip Martin has super darling clipart for all the characters of Big Pumpkin!)

Fun story retell with pumpkin basket, paper bat, ghost potato head, and witch, vampire, and mummy rubber duckies. And the Little People house is the witch's house, where she goes to make the pumpkin pie. :)

Happy Teaching!

Bat Words: Playing with the -at Word Family

2011-10-24T23:30:00.000-07:00

Have fun learning all those -at words with these fun Halloween bats!

Playtime ideas:

Place bats around the room. Shout out one of the at words, and have your kiddo run and find the bat with that word. If your child found the correct bat, do a happy bat dance! If not, encourage and cheer them on until they do!
Play a batty game of I spy. "I spy a word that begins with c and ends with the -at sound. Can you find it?"
Once your child has mastered a word, hang that bat from the ceiling above their bed. Praise your little one for reaching to the sky! And just think, they will be waking up to -at words each morning! Yay for literacy!! :)

Happy Teaching!

Halloween Montessori 3-Part Cards

2011-10-21T21:41:00.000-07:00

From the time I first learned about Montessori nomenclature 3-part cards, I have wanted to try them with my daughter. For those that don't know, this is an activity where kids take one card with both a picture and word label, then find and match the picture card AND the word label card. A great way to get kids looking at word similarities and differences. And I thought what better way to sneak in some learning then during a Halloween game!

I searched online for free Halloween 3 part cards. I was lucky enough to find these pumpkin cards from Kidsparkz. While they were made for a concentration activity, they work great as nomenclature cards! I just printed two copies and cut the words and pictures apart on one of the sheets. Very simple. We did this activity as part of our pumpkin day festivities, and while it was a little difficult because we had never done anything like this before, my Boo did a great job. Hint: for those kiddos trying this activity for the first time: start with a small amount of cards. Please learn from my mistake!

I also found some Halloween cards that would work well as nomenclature 3 part cards from Have Fun Teaching (don't you love the name of the site!) This link will take you to all their holiday cards- so if you want to do Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines Day, St Patricks Day, Easter, or birthday 3-part cards.... this is the site for you! The only thing with these cards is that they are designed differently than the typical Montessori nomenclature cards. Instead of the word label being directly below the picture, it is found to the right of the picture. BUT I still think they will work just fine. I don't think the Montessori police will come after you if the activity looks a little different.....

Check out The Little List for more sites with free nomenclature 3-part cards! I especially like the farm cards from Montessori Moments.

Happy Teaching!

my BOO apothecary jars

2011-10-19T22:57:00.000-07:00

Decorating for the holidays is quickly becoming one of my favorite things to do. I saw THIS idea from Uncommon on Pinterest (I seriously am obsessed with this site). Once I saw this project, I fell in love!! I made a quick run to Hobby Lobby to get the materials. I grabbed some jars and letters... but needed the candlestick bases and finials. My father in law was SO kind to make some for me. The initial plan was to paint all the wood black... but after seeing the beauty of the natural wood, I changed my mind. Aren't they BEAUTIFUL!!! He did such an incredible job and I am so thankful for his help. I just love the way they look! I painted the letters, filled the jars with candy corn, added the ribbon, and they were done! I found the cool orange glitter ribbon to hang the letters at Michaels... so sparkly!

Although you might have seen these jars around the web, here are some additional creative tips for this project (thanks again to my father in law and his wife!!).

~In order to use less candy corn, I put cans of tomato paste in the center of each jar. It's our hidden stash of food storage :).

~I didn't want the jar to break and then have to somehow remove broken pieces of glass glued to the candlestick base. To solve this problem, the base has grooves designed specifically to keep the jar in place without the glue. So cool!

~My husband wanted the ability to remove the finial- in case we wanted to use the jars for another project. The finials have magnet inserts so it easily will stick to the magnetic top of the hobby lobby jar. These magnetic finials have already come in handy when I attached the ribbon... I was able to place it right under the magnet! Love it!

There are two things that I love the most, however- first is the incredible service provided by my father in law, and second is that I can use these jars for every season! Pinecones or nuts in the fall, ornaments in December, red heart candy in February, plastic easter eggs in the spring...the list goes on!

I know this is completely unrelated to teaching- but I just had to share! We have had a little lesson on cavities after nibbling away at the candy corn....

Happy Teaching!

Project Orange

2011-10-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, an incredible mother/blogger passed away last December shortly after Christmas. Those that knew Kristi from her Orange Juice blog would comment on her funny personality, her creativity, and most importantly the love that she had for her husband and little boy. She adored being a mother. I was always so impressed with all the learning activities and field trips she planned for her little man.

With the holidays approaching, I wanted to do something in memory of Kristi. I know that this has to be such an incredibly hard time for her family- since it will be the first Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas that she is no longer with us. I am calling it Project Orange- partly because of the name of her blog, and partly because the color orange represents energy, vitality, and endurance- all qualities she possessed.

Project Orange is a chance for all of us to participate (with our families if possible) in community service- particularly doing something for the youth. It starts now and will go until the end of December. Make a plan to accomplish at least one service project. If possible, incorporate the color orange in your service project somehow... bake cookies with orange frosting, or tie an orange ribbon around the gift you donate... etc.

Some ideas for a service activity would be:

donating books to a library, school, or a neighbor in need

volunteering your time at a school

read to a child

carve a pumpkin with a child that might not get a chance otherwise

donate gifts or money to a family in need for Christmas

donate a turkey to a family in need for Thanksgiving

invite children to your house to make cookies to give away

donate clothes, toys, money to a children or family shelter

write an anonymous letter to someone you know needs cheering up

pray for those in need

make a plan to spend more time with your family- then do it

create family night kits for neighbors, encouraging them to spend more quality time at home

make donations to charities or those in need

let someone know how much you love and appreciate them

share your talents with someone- whatever they might be

participate in a charity walk/run

make baby blankets to donate to the hospital

volunteer to babysit a friend's kids so she can relax or go on a date with her husband

There are no rules, no guidelines. There will be no winner for the most hours spent giving service, only the pure satisfaction and joy that comes from helping and serving others.

All I ask is that whatever project you choose, that you do it in Kristi's memory or in the memory of someone who will not be able to spend the holidays with their family.

I would love to hear about your experiences with your service project. Send me an email, or comment to this post. If you like, you can add this image to your post to share the awareness of our project.

Thank you so much- I know this will be a great opportunity for you and your family to provide service, and it will be a special tribute to an amazing person.

13 Day Countdown to Halloween... Ready to Go!

2011-10-17T21:58:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow (October 18) is the first day of our Halloween countdown! I am SO excited! It's not to late to join in the fun....Here is a recap of our countdown ideas (Mummy on the Move, 13 themes, pumpkin patch numbers. Education Cube countdown blocks, and a song) as well as a link to the cover of our Halloween Countdown folder.

First, to aid us in our countdown is our Mummy on the Move (Halloween version of Elf on the Shelf). I read my daughter the little poem I wrote like 7 times before she went to bed.... and she was SO excited to wake up so she could find where the mummy was hiding!! So much so that she had a difficult time falling asleep. (Do you remember those days when you were filled with so much anticipation that sleeping was difficult? :) I HIGHLY recommend doing this with your little ones- I can tell this will be a wonderful new tradition for our little family!

Our 13 day countdown consists of 13 themes to help us celebrate this fun, festive season! Click on the links below to go to my blog post about each theme! Each post is FULL of great ideas I gathered on Pinterest and google searches. (Click HERE to go to my Pinterest board dedicated to the 13 day countdown to Halloween- there are some new pins that weren't included in the posts!)

There are 13 pumpkins that will help us count down (you can download the pumpkin numbers file from this post) I taped the pumpkins to a wall in our kitchen... classy, I know :). The idea is that every day my daughter will pick the numbered pumpkin from the pumpkin patch that corresponds with the number of days left to Halloween. So tomorrow she will pick 13 since there are 13 days until Halloween, and then Wednesday she will pick 12, etc.

I also put together simple and kid friendly Halloween Countdown blocks using my Education Cubes.

Click HERE to get a song I wrote that goes along with our 13 day countdown.

And finally- While I was getting everything ready for our witch day tomorrow, I thought it would be a good idea to put all our themed activity pages (and any crafts or games that will fit) in a folder. Here is a link to the cover for our folder.

I am going to show my daughter this special, spooky folder and hype it up as much as I can- she is sorda on strike from learning pages right now. The goal of this activity is to just have fun! Plain and simple!!

Happy Haunting!!!

Quiet Kits: Uppercase and Lowercase Letters Sort

2011-10-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

Awhile ago I posted about our Sunday Sorts (sorting folder activity- perfect for quiet kits or just plain educational fun!). These sorts are simple, and only require the cards and a folder. We like these parent/teacher communication folders because of the clear inside and outside pockets!

You can download the cover for our Sunday Sorts HERE.

The first sort was healthy and unhealthy foods. I think I mentioned in that post that my daughter LOVED it. (Click HERE to download that sort!) Something about holding a card and figuring out where it goes..... simple organization at work! :)

Our next Sunday Sort is capital and lowercase letters. I have all the letter cards and folder labels available for download HERE (can also be found on our wiki). You can also change it up a bit by sorting vowels and consonants (easy since all the vowels are in red!), letters in name and letters not in name, letters I know and letters I don't know, etc.... It's all about becoming familiar with the alphabet!

Happy Sorting and Happy Teaching!

On a completely random note- my husband and I watched the first episode of Walking Dead (well, I actually only watched the very beginning before a near panic attack).... now I am paranoid of a zombie attack! Augh! Scariest show EVER!!

Countdown to Halloween Blocks for Kids

2011-10-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

Can you tell by all the bazillion posts this month that we are excited for Halloween! As most of you might already know, Halloween is my daughter's birthday. So we go all out and celebrate! (completely random info: i used to hate Halloween until I became a mom. i love having holiday fun with my little family!)
I had a craft day with some neighborhood friends and made these darling countdown to Halloween blocks.

I wanted my daughter to have a set in her room that would be child proof- so she could countdown right along with Mommy! And as soon as I thought about making a countdown set, I KNEW I needed to use my Education Cubes! (Seriously love these- they are an amazing tool for all those kids that need hands on learning!)
I used the number cards in the Education Cube set. One cube has the digits 0-5 and the other cube has the digits 0, 1, 2, 6 (which also doubles as a 9), 7, and 8.
I made the base out of a kleenex box, and since we didn't have any empty ones, well.... let's just say this countdown will come in handy if my daughter has a runny nose :)

You can download the kleenex box cover HERE, or easily make your own.
Then voila! You have an easy, kid friendly, educational (think of the counting backwards lessons...) Halloween countdown! Wahoo!

Happy Teaching!

visit the Show & Tell to get and share Education Cube ideas

Mummy on the Move! (Halloween version of Elf on the Shelf)

2011-10-13T20:30:00.000-07:00

I have heard about the Elf on the Shelf Christmas idea for awhile now. I have never read the book, but from what I have gathered, there is an elf that moves around every night watching the kids and reporting back to Santa if they have been naughty or nice. Sounds fun, and I would love to do that for Christmas this year.

And Halloween.

I searched around online and couldn't find anything, so I had to kick my creative gears into motion and come up with my own idea. I came across this fun and pretty easy tutorial on movable mummies from Family Chic which I made. (I added batting to make the mummy more poofy since my husband said the mummy looked anorexic! ha!). Any mummy doll would work- preferably the ones that bend, because then you can have more fun! Amazon has a little mummy doll that is part of a Halloween set that looks fun, and Toys R Us has a mummy plush doll.

Here is the plan: The night before our first day of our Halloween countdown, I will read my daughter this short Mummy on the Move story I wrote (I have to add that I haven't read the Elf on the Shelf yet, so any similarities are purely coincidental!).

During the night I will hide the mummy somewhere in our house. In the morning, my Boo will search the house and find him (it is a boy, since according to her all the bad or scary guys are boys!)

I am really super excited to have our little mummy on the move at our house! This is just another fun holiday activity to get us excited for Halloween!

Happy Haunting and as always... Happy Teaching!

Glow in the Dark Bone Recognition Game

2011-10-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

My little family and I spent an evening at the dollar store (fun times- those dollar stores!) I bought a glow in the dark skeleton thinking it would be so cool to hang in my daughter's room- like a Halloween night light!
Well, you get what you pay for. The dollar store skeleton didn't GLOW very well. But that's OK. Because we were able to come up with this fun and very educational activity!

Glow in the Dark Bone Recognition Game

Boo highlighting the femur during our Bone Recognition Game

Supplies:
dollar store glow in the dark skeleton
flashlight
knowledge of bone names

Pregame stuff:
Hang up the skeleton (so your kids can reach the skull- for a non-example look at the pic above!) Tell your kiddo that you are going to play a glow in the dark game with the skeleton! How fun, right! Show 'em how you highlight an area of the skeleton by shining the flashlight directly on top it. It's like you are painting the bones with light.

If your skeleton is a cheap one like mine, only the bone that was highlighted with direct light will glow... and not for a very long time, either.

Game:
Have one child step out of the room. Give another child a flashlight, and tell her to highlight the femur (or any other bone) on the skeleton with the flashlight (remember direct light for a few minutes). Bring the first child back into the room and tell her to quickly point to the femur (She shouldn't be able to tell which one was highlighted). After she guesses, turn the lights out to see if she guessed correctly! Remember to play fast!

There are also game adaptions-

For those just learning the bone names, you can have them highlight a bone and then talk about it.
You can use the everyday names (shoulder, foot, backbone) instead of the scientific names for those young learners.
YOU can highlight a bone, turn the lights off, and have a young child state the everyday name(shoulder, foot, backbone) and an older child state the scientific name.

Happy Teaching!

Candy Corn (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

2011-10-10T22:38:00.000-07:00

I decided to do a fun Halloween countdown with my daughter (read more about it HERE). While we aren't starting quite yet, I wanted to compile all my ideas by October 18th so I am ready to go. Each day has it's own Halloween theme. Enjoy!

Our thirteenth (and last!) theme for our 13 day countdown is candy corn. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. There are SO many fun candy corn ideas!! Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) and some I have found through google searches.

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas...but with a Halloween twist!)

Make one of the MANY candy corn treat ideas to share with a neighbor/friend
Take a friend to a corn maze
Help neighbors with their gardens

Literature

Julius's Candy Corn Good, simple book about candy corn. Can easily integrate counting ideas with this book. (Check out Primary School@ Suite 101 for a post about using this book to teach math)

Learning Time Fun

Candy Corn Wonderland (I have a feeling this would be a great site to visit if you like candy corn! Ha!) shares some ideas for using these candies to help teach math.

First School has a page dedicated to candy corn ideas... the handwriting pages are always helpful!

Mrs. Freshwater's Class has a cute candy corn numbers download. Darling!

Creative and Curious Kids shared some great math activities centered around candy corn. I love her ideas with estimation, addition and subtraction, sorting, and patterns. (OK, I love ALL the ideas.)

The Activity Idea Place has some great ideas for preschoolers centered around candy corns. Don't be fooled by the simplicity of the site- the ideas are fantastic!

Treats & Eats
Food Family Finds posted this very sweet idea of candy corn marshmallow pops. So cute!

Taste and Tell shared a recipe for candy corn fudge... it sounds delicious!

How yummy do these candy corn sugar cookies look? Great idea from Kathie Cooks.

Kitchen Daily posted her recipe for candy corn jello. Step aside green jello, you have some competition.

Parents shared this healthy vegetable snack in a healthy candy corn display.

The Curvy Carrot posted this fun way to frost cupcakes.

I Heart Cuppycakes shared her candy corn cupcake recipe.

Sharon Bower's posted this recipe for candy corn pizza on the Oprah site.

Serious Eats posted this recipe to make homemade candy corn- I had no idea this was even a possibility!

I love this candy corn pudding idea from Paper Jewels. It looks delicious!

Our Best Bites (amazing site!!) has a recipe and step-by-step directions for these delectable candy corn cupcakes.

Just looking at these homemade butterfingers with candy corn from In Katrina's Kitchen is making me hungry. Mmmmmm......

I love this candy corn cheesecake from Wilton. You do need a checkerboard cake pan (must put this on my wish list!)

I LOVE this idea for Rice Krispies candy corn treats from Lick the Bowl Good. Man, I am officially starving and will need to take a snack break!

Arts & Crafts
Better Homes and Gardens shared this fun idea of making a candy corn garland- would be a fun craft for kids!

Visit the Teacher Wife to learn how to make a darling candy corn art project.

How cute are these candy corn treat holders from Skip to My Lou? Her site has a great tutorial to make these!

Better Homes and Gardens shared this fun way to paint your pumpkins to look like candy corns. Simple, but I love it!

DLTK has a printable candy corn man art project- I think it would be fun to use this idea, but without the template (it would make for more original art!)

Games

Make some of these fabulous candy corn cones (image and tutorial found at Zakka Life) using old orange soccer cones. Have your kiddos run around the cones or come up with simple relays to add some gross motor activities to the Halloween season! Love it! (Also check out her cute knit candy corns- perfect for a play kitchen!)

Fingerplays and Songs

I was left to my own creative juices to come up with this fingerplay about candy corn.

Candy Corn
Candy corn looks like this (put fingers together like a triangle)
and is very good to eat, (rub your tummy)
I like to taste it right away (pretend to eat)
It's my very favorite treat! (put hand on heart)

Misc

An entire book dedicated to Candy Corn poems from James Stevenson. Wow.

Happy Haunting!

Owls (13 Days of Halloween)

2011-10-09T21:50:00.000-07:00

Our twelfth theme for our 13 day countdown is owls. All of these ideas would be great not only for Halloween, but all through the fall season. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) some are on my wiki, and some I have found through google searches.

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas...but with a Halloween twist!)

Make donations to a local bird refugee , aviary, or nature center
Make owl treats and share with a friend/neighbor- write "thanks for being a hoot!"
Talk about ways to keep the skies clean and free from pollutants and make a plan as a family to implement one of the ideas

Literature

Owl Moon, Owl Babies, and The Littlest Owl are all great books about owls. While they aren't Halloweenish at all, they are still great books!

Learning Time Fun

Making Learning Fun has a GREAT selection of owl themed learning activities. We like the dot-to-dots, handprint owl idea, and these cute magnet pages.

WOW- Our Little Monkeys has an Owl Tot Pack post FILLED with great owl ideas/links. This is a must visit site for anyone wanting owl ideas!!! She has art ideas, food ideas, plus her learning pack. :)

Treats & Eats
Superheroes and Princesses has a WONDERFUL idea for owl pancakes. She also has posts on healthy owl snacks and a cute little owl mask for the kids to make.

Look at these cute owl treats from Family Fun!

Amy at Living Locurto has a recipe for these darling owl smores. And oh my goodness, she has the cutest owl party set. So cute!!!

Life With the Depews posted an owl smores idea, too. These are stinkin' cute!

Arts & Crafts
Womens Day has directions for this simple candy corn owl craft.

While She Naps (I can totally relate to the title of this blog!) posted a cute paperbag owl puppet.

I absolutely love these owl treat bags from Work In Progress Kits. Darling!

Visit Crafts by Amanda for a paper plate owl tutorial.

I Heart Crafty Things made these super cute owls with her kids after reading Owl Babies. Would be fun to do something similar with thumbprints!

Lee, Me, & the Girls posted these adorable owl thank you cards.. made by her kids! I love this idea!

Fingerplays and Songs

This song was found at KidnKaboodle.

Halloween
(tune: Mary Had a Little Lamb)
Halloween is coming soon,
Coming soon, coming soon
Halloween is coming soon,
Boo, boo, boo!

See the owl flying high
Flying high, flying high
See the owl flying high,
Hoot, hoot, hoot!

Misc

I am in the market right now for bookends for my daughter's room.... i just LOVE the look of these from The Little Appleseed!

Happy Haunting!

Haunted House (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

2011-10-08T22:35:00.000-07:00

Our eleventh theme for our 13 day countdown is haunted houses. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) some are on my wiki, and some I have found through google searches.

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas...but with a Halloween twist!)

Have your little ones clean up their house so it isn't haunted by clutter!
Take a walk outside and straighten up any untidy homes in your neighborhood (such as picking up litter, sweeping porches, raking leaves, etc!)

Literature

Inside a House That Is Haunted: A Rebus Read-Along Story This is a book we actually have! Think of this as a Halloween twist on the classic "This is the house that Jack built" story. It would be fun to have older kids come up with their own haunted house rebus stories.

Learning Time Fun

Learn English Kids has an online I spy game where kids search for objects in a haunted house. Great game for those learning letters.

Teach your little ones their street address so they know where their haunted house is!

This is a GREAT time to sit down with your family and make a fire escape plan. Draw a simple map of your house on large paper, and have your kids (with your help) come up with at least two escape routes.

Treats & Eats
Kraft Foods posted a haunted house cake recipe- looks delicious!

What's For Lunch at Our House posted this fun haunted house lunch. Be careful when visiting this site- you can easily get sucked into the most adorable lunch ideas EVER.

I love this no bake haunted house kit from Williams-Sonoma. I think Target might sell something similar- good practice for the gingerbread houses during Christmas!

Arts & Crafts
Super cute haunted house project made from a brown paper bag from Busy Bee Kids Crafts. I think this would be fun family home evening project- make an entire neighborhood of haunted houses!

Popsicle stick haunted house from All Kids Network. Would be fun to make into a magnet!

All Kids Network also posted these easy haunted house lift the flap art project. I know my almost 4 year old would enjoy making this- and how fun would it be to add words- like a bat sticker and the word bat.. just trying to keep things educational. :)

I love this magnetic haunted house craft posted by No Time For Flash Cards (love this site!)... a nice quiet activity that is perfect for the Halloween season!

Games

Create your own haunted reading nook!

Decorate the area by displaying spooky self portraits made by your little ones
Make a spider web by stretching cotton batting in corners- add spiders!
Play eerie music or scary sound effects
Bundle all your Halloween books into a Boo basket (don't forget to check the library)
Dim the lights, grab a flashlight, and have a bone-rattling read-a-thon!

Eat a candlelight dinner with the house lights off. Eat frightening food (check out our other 13 Days of Halloween posts for some delicious ideas) and don't forget the spooky background music!

Fingerplays and Songs
All of these were found at Kid'n'Kaboodle.

The Haunted House
(Tune of "Wheels on the Bus")
The ghost in the house goes "Boo! Boo! Boo!"
"Boo! Boo! Boo!, Boo! Boo! Boo!"
The ghost in the house goes "Boo! Boo! Boo!"
On Halloween.
The steps in the house goes "Creek, creek, creek..."
The cats in the house go "Meow, meow, meow..."
The mice in the house go "Squeak, squeak, squeak.."
The people in the house go "Eek, eek, eek..."

Haunted House...
(Pop Goes The Weasel)
All around the haunted house,
The bat chased the goblin.
The ghost floated overhead.
Scat! went the black cat.

The Ghost in the House
(tune: "The Wheels on the Bus")
The ghost in the house goes "boo boo boo,
Boo boo boo, boo boo boo"
The ghost in the house goes "boo boo boo"
On Halloween
Other verses:
The steps in the house go "creak creak creak"
The cats in the house go "meow meow meow"
The mice in the house go "squeak squeak squeak"
The people in the house go "eak eak eak"
We also added other creatures ( monsters, skeletons, mummies etc.) and made up our own sounds for them!

Oh, Haunted House
(Sung to: O Tannenbaum)
Oh, haunted house,
Oh, haunted house
the mansion stands so proudly,
Oh haunted house
Oh, haunted house
its shutters bang so loudly
It’s wooden staircase groans and creaks
It’s doors have lots of eerie squeaks
Oh, haunted house
Oh, haunted house
The mansion stands so proudly

Misc

This is a fun mommy craft from Better Homes and Gardens. What a fun place to put Halloween candy!

Happy Haunting!

Monsters (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

2011-10-07T23:30:00.000-07:00

Our tenth theme for our 13 day countdown is monsters. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) some are on my wiki, and some I have found through google searches.

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas...but with a Halloween twist!)

Have your kiddo tame their inner monster for a moment and perform an anonymous act of service
Embrace your inner monster and spend the afternoon running, jumping, and climbing at a nearby park- even if the weather is a bit blustery.

Literature

Go Away Big Green Monster Although this isn't necessarily a Halloween book, it is a fun book about monsters. It would be fun to have your little one create their own monsters after reading this book!

Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli It sounds like a fun read! It has received great reviews on Amazon! I think this book is geared for the picky eater (I know we all have one in our family!).

Learning Time Fun

1+1+1=1 (an AMAZING resource for any parent!) has a whole monster themed learning pack suitable for the kindergartener. She also has a link to other monster related teaching materials..... very nice!

Homeschool Share has another cute Monster learning pack.

Treats & Eats
From Glitter to Gumdrops posted this idea for transforming brownies to monsters.. and they are pretty cute, too!

How fun are these mini monster cupcakes from the Decorated Cookie! What a talented gal!

Pickles & Paisleys shared a fun monster themed birthday party- I especially like this simple idea of adding googly eyes to paper cups.

Arts & Crafts
These cards are ADORABLE from Angela Sgro Designs- I love them! What a clever way to use paint chip cards!

Blissfully Domestic made these fun monster blobs.

I like this idea from House of Baby Piranha - wiggly eyes and play doh. Simple and fun!

House of Baby Piranha has another fun idea- shape monsters! Darling!

Giggles Galore has a great way to handle tattling- tattle monsters! Check out her site for a great tutorial to make this project!

Games

Classroom Freebies has a fun Monster dice game.

Play musical chairs to the song Monster Mash

Fingerplays and Songs
The first song was found at Kid'nKaboodle, and the Monster Mash video was found while searching YouTube!

In The Graveyard
(Tune: Clementine)
In the graveyard,
In the graveyard,
When the moon
Begins to shine
There's a doctor
Crazy doctor
And his monster,
Frankenstein.

Oh, my monster,
Oh, my monster,
Oh, my monster,
Frankenstein
You are very,
Very scary
Don't come near me
Frankenstein.

Monster Mash
Classic, catchy song- and the cartoon is great for kids of all ages!

Misc

Sesame Street + R.E.M. = Furry Happy Monsters. Love it.

Happy Haunting!

Mummies (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

2011-10-06T23:05:00.000-07:00

Our ninth theme for our 13 day countdown is mummies. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) some are on my wiki, and some I have found through google searches.

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas...but with a Halloween twist!)

Write your mummy a note telling her how much you appreciate her!
Make a mummy treat (or other Halloween yummies) to share with a mom in your neighborhood who may need a little cheering up- include notes of gratitude and why you think they are special mummies!
Tell your kiddos why you are glad that you are their mummy
Have your kiddos write notes of love and appreciate to their grand-mummies

Literature

Where's My Mummy This book looks darling! I can handle the cute mummies.

Learning Time Fun

There are some printable activities from Print Activities (such a suitable name for this site, right?) These pages are more for the older elementary aged child.

Treats & Eats
Recipe Girl shares a recipe for mummy head treat using rice krispies. Cute and yummy!

Aren't these mummy Nutter Butter cookies from Four Girlies adorable? And with just three ingredients- this is definitely a recipe I can handle!

How Does She posted a recipe for these mummy cookie suckers. And they are made with Oreos...mmm!

If you really want mummy food, go to Betty Crocker's site. They have recipes for mummy lasagne, ground beef mummy bread, baked potato mummies, chicken enchilada mummies, crunchy mummies (celery sticks), crunchy mummy fingers, and two different mummy cookie recipes. Geesh! This is like one stop shopping for a mummy dinner!

The Idea Room had a birthday party with a mummy theme- so there are lots of great ideas! I like the mummy pretzel sticks. They also posted darling mummy dogs and mummy mini pizzas!

Bright Ideas also had a cute mummy pretzel stick recipe.

How cute are these mummy drinks from One Charming Party?

I never thought a mummy looked cuter than this fun lasagne recipe from The Knead for Speed.

Imagine shared a fun idea of wrapping juice boxes to make drinkable mummies!

Arts & Crafts
Family Chic posted this movable mummy craft. The fact that it is movable got me thinking... how cute would this be to make and then move around every day during our Halloween countdown? Like the Christmas Elf on the Shelf- but with Halloween flair. And it could be called "Mummy on the Move". I am totally trying this out... I think this could be the beginning of a new trend :)

I love this craft stick mummy project from Family Fun.

Parents has a mummy treat holder craft- darling!

Busy Bee Kids Crafts has a mummy craft using a toilet paper roll and a paper towel- all things we have on hand!

Skip to my Lou posted this idea for easy candy bar covers.

These mummy treat boxes from Groppi Girls are simply to die for!

Games

Family fun posted two fun games- A Gift from Mummy (unrolling toilet paper to find treats) and the classic Mummy Wrap Game. I don't see myself doing either of these but they do seem fun! (I can see my Boo thinking unraveling toilet paper ALL the time would be fun- don't want to give her any ideas!)

Fingerplays and Songs

I had to make up my own mummy song. Not too shabby, I have to say. :)

Mummies
(to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot)
I'm a little mummy dressed in white,
Look at me- I'm quite a sight!
If you chance to meet me Halloween night,
I will give you such a fright!

Misc

I love this mommy craft from TLC- it is super cute!

And you can't mention mummies without saying something about Thriller by Michael Jackson. I won't be showing this to my four year old- I get a little scared watching it!

Happy Haunting!

Spiders (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

2011-10-05T23:44:00.000-07:00

Our eight theme for our 13 day countdown is spiders. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) some are on my wiki, and some I have found through google searches.

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas...but with a Halloween twist!)

Spend all day browsing the web... ha! I am totally kidding!
Help someone dust cobwebs
Make spider treats to share with friends/neighbors

Literature

The Very Busy Spider Fun little spider book. While it has nothing to do with Halloween, it's a great spider book- especially for those little tots!

How Spider Saved Halloween This is a highly recommended book how Spider saves Halloween from disaster. If you can't tell, I haven't read it and I am just writing what the little blurb on Amazon says.

Learning Time Fun

Mathwire has a whole page of spider themed math activities! Cool!

I added two spider pages to my wiki- fact and opinion, and a printable book.

Check out the spider theme from First School- lots of great printables!

Making Learning Fun (I think I pull up this site a million times a day!) has a lot of really cute spider ideas. I like the roll a spider game and their instructions on making a dixie cup spider/treat holder!

Treats & Eats
Fahrenheit 350 shared a simple way to add a little spider to your drinks!

I found some DARLING spider recipes from Our Best Bites (I just love this site!) They posted an easy way to make spider cookies as well as a trick to make your dip spider-licious!

Another fun tutorial from Our Best Bites... how to give your cookies a spiderweb makeover!

Kitchen Fun With My Three Sons made these fun spiders with a plum and dark grapes.

Gourmet Mom on the Go posted a simple recipe for making mini spider web pizzas... they would be so much fun for lunch!

How cute are these donut spiders from Prepared Not Scared. She suggests tying strings to these babies and having family members try to eat the entire thing with no hands. Fun!

Arts & Crafts
Crafty Crafted posted a great spider paper plate craft that is not only a decoration- but it also doubles as a treat holder! Too cute!

I also love these spider suckers from Ohdeedoh... I love that she cuts up a garbage bag to make the spiders black... how resourceful!

My Delicious Ambiguity (another site that I love!) shared a sweet spider handprint art project. I love this because it is a keepsake of those lovable little handprints.

House of Baby Piranha posted a cute marble spiderweb and spider craft. They also posted a darling spider hat and spider pop craft!

Let your little spiders spin their own webs with this idea from Preschool Rock.

Games

One Charming Party shared a simple spider toss game. (They also have a cute idea of putting spider toothpicks on cheese and crackers.)

Have your children try to keep their balance while walking across the spider swamp... this idea came from Parents.

Have a fun spider relay by crab-walking- great idea from TipJunkie!

Prepared Not Scared shares an adorable spider leg dice (mod podge needed!)

Fingerplays and Songs

These were found at Kid'n'Kaboodle and Making Learning Fun.

The Spider Spins a Web
(tune: The Farmer and the Dell)
The spider spins a web,
The spider spins a web,
Round, round, up and down,
The spider spins a web.
Additional Verses:
She spins it in and out.
She spins it back and forth.
She spins it good and strong.
Spin, Spin, Little Spider
Sung to Ten Little Indians
Spin, spin, little spider,
Spin, spin, wider, wider.
Spin, spin, little spider,
Early in the morning.
Dance, dance, little spider,
Dance, dance, dance out wider.
Dance, dance, little spider,
Early in the morning.
Additional verses: Run, run little spider; Crawl, crawl, little spider;
Jump, jump, little spider.

Little Spider
See the little spider
Climbing up the wall(crawl finger up arm)
See the little spider
Stumble and fall (crawl fingers down arm)
See the little spider
Tumble down the street.(crawl finger down leg)
See the little spider
Stop down at your feet.

Spider, Spider
(tune: Wheels on the Bus)
Spider, Spider, (Lock thumbs together, wiggle fingers)
weave and weave. (Spin hand over hand)
Spider, Spider, (Lock thumbs together, wiggle fingers)
weave and weave. (Spin hand over hand)
Spider, Spider, (Lock thumbs together, wiggle fingers)
Weave and weave(Spin hand over hand)
It’s time to spin your web.

Misc

Tip Junkie posted this cute DIY spider web plate! LOVE it!

I also love this video! So cool to see a spider in action!

Spider web timelapse from Doug Jensen on Vimeo.

Happy Haunting!

Pumpkin Candy Corn Popcorn Balls

2011-10-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

I recently learned that you can use candy corn (and a little butter) to make popcorn balls (Thanks Shirley).

I also saw this recipe for pumpkin shaped popcorn balls from Bee in our Bonnet (spotted this one on Pinterest!) that are super cute.

So I thought... what the heck? Why not combine them into one glorious treat? And so I did! And they are SCRUMPTIOUS! And besides the taste- the ingredients for this recipe will appease all you budget minded people out there!

Ingredients:

marshmallows and butter not pictured....

1 9 oz. bag of candy corn (bought at the dollar store)
1 bag of microwavable popcorn (we didn't have any popcorn kernels- or we would have gone the homemade route!)
Butter (about 4 tablespoons)
Handful of mini marshmallows
Tootsie Rolls (bought at the dollar store)
1 Green Apple Airhead Candy

Directions:
Make the popcorn. Place popcorn in bowl and toss in a handful of candy corn.

Over medium heat, melt butter and the rest of the candy corn. Stir constantly!

Pour the hot (I have to add that adjective because I kept burning myself!) melted candy corn over popcorn.

It was at this point when I realized I needed a little more STICKINESS. So I ran back to the stove and melted a handful of marshmallows with 2 tablespoons butter. I quickly then poured that mixture on top of the popcorn/candy corn. (It might be easier to just melt the marshmallows and candy corn together at the beginning ... but I am not a chef and I don't know if that would completely mess up the entire recipe!)

Carefully (because of the heat) form popcorn into balls.

My hands were getting burnt at this stage so there are no pictures...

Form several leaves from the Airhead Candy (I threw mine into the microwave for 5 seconds to soften it).

Place candy leaves and unwrapped tootsie rolls on top of your popcorn balls to complete your pumpkin look!

Can you spot that large chewy candy corn inside the popcorn ball? Biting into those pieces gave it an extra sweet taste!

Some of the popcorn balls got a "spray tan" with orange food color mist. It was a nice touch, but not necessary!

These were simple, fast, and purely delicious.
Enjoy!

Black Cats (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

2011-10-04T22:26:00.000-07:00

Our seventh theme for our 13 day countdown is black cats. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) some are on my wiki, and some I have found through google searches.

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas...but with a Halloween twist!)

Make a donation to an animal shelter
Make a black cat treat to share with a friend/neighbor

Literature

Moonlight: The Halloween Cat A book about a cat's perspective of Halloween. It has gotten great reviews. (This is on our still need to read list!)

Scaredy Cat Splat Splat wants to be scary, but he keeps getting scared. (Yet another book on our still need to read list)

Learning Time Fun

1+1+1=1 has a whole pack of cat learning activities! My favorite are the nomenclature cards and complete the pattern activity... plus a lot of great tracing pages!

Treats & Eats
Hungry Halloween (love the name of this site!) posted a recipe for black cat rice krispies treat pops.... yummy!

All Recipes shared a black cat cookie recipe- it must be pretty good because it has excellent reviews!

Arts & Crafts
I love this simple, yet adorable, pipe cleaner finger puppet craft from Craft Jr.

Easy Child Care Crafts posted a simple cat craft using a toilet paper roll.

If you have an extra wooden lying around, you can use it to make this black cat craft from Activity Village.

Check out this link to 123 Child for a cute cat fingerprint art idea. (this isn't a Halloween cat- but you can easily change that by using black paint!)

Games

Check out this black cat treasure hunt game from Family Fun. Simply hide clues on black cats, on a mission to find the hidden candy treasure! I am thinking of adapting this to fit into my daughter's safari birthday party.

My daughter LOVES the game "The Old Gray Cat is Sleeping" (a version similar to the one we play can be found here). You could make it a Halloween game by changing the cat from gray to black!

Fingerplays and Songs

These were found at Kid'n'Kaboodle and CanTeach- there is a lot more Halloween poems and songs on these super sites!

Black Cat
(Tune: Mary Had a Little Lamb)
We saw a black cat, black cat, black cat.
We saw a black cat on Halloween.
He was stretching his paws, his paws, his paws.
He was stretching his paws on Halloween.

Cat
Cat,
Cat,
Your eyes are bright and green,
Where have you been
What have you done
So skittery-scary this Hallowe'en?
And where did you get
that pointed hat?
Tell me that,
Cat!

Black Cat!
Black cat, black cat
Looking for a witch.
All around the
Night is dark as pitch.
You can see because
Your eyes are greee.
Black cat, Black cat
This is Hallowe'en!

Hallowe'en is Coming Soon
(can be sung to the tune of London Bridge)
Hallowe'en is coming soon, coming soon, coming soon,
Hallowe'en is coming soon,
Oh, what fun!
Black cats sitting on a fence, on a fence, on a fence,
Black cats sitting on a fence,
Meow! Meow! Meow!
Owl's a-hooting in the trees, in the trees, in the trees,
Owl's a-hooting in the trees,
Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!
Witches flying on their brooms, on their brooms, on their brooms,
Witches flying on their brooms,
Eee! Eee! Eee!
Jack o'lanterns grin at you, grin at you, grin at you,
Jack o'lanterns grin at you,
Oh! Oh! Oh!
Hallowe'en is coming soon, coming soon, coming soon,
Hallowe'en is coming soon,
Oh, what fun!

Misc

Womans Day posted these DARLING black cat pillows (definitely a Mommy craft). Cuteness!

Happy Haunting!

Bats (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

2011-10-03T21:24:00.000-07:00

Our sixth theme for our 13 day countdown is bats. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) some are on my wiki, and some I have found through google searches.

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas...but with a Halloween twist!)

Write kind notes on paper bats and hang on someone's porch!
Make bat treats to share with a friend/neighbor.

Literature

Stellaluna This is a good book teaching a great lesson that we should accept each other's differences. I haven't read this to my daughter yet, but I know she will love it. And right after we read it, she will want to role play the story (Boo is into these role playing activities now).

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat We love this book... a fun Halloween version of a classic tale.

Learning Time Fun

Cross Rhodes Academy posted an educational bat lapbook... I love the study of diurnal and nocturnal animals. Great for older kids (although I think I could adapt it for my little one)

Making Learning Fun has a great section on bat activities and printables. I love the bat dot-to-dot, tangram page, roll and add bat, dot marker page, and -at word family bats. So many ideas!

Write sight words on paper bats and hang them from the ceiling... a fun and creative way to see those words! You could play games- like stand under the word "the", or listen to music and fly around the room from bat to bat ...when the music stops, you must shout out the bat word nearest you. (I am sensing a family night activity...)

Bat shaped paper printable from Story It. Would be fun to have kiddos write facts about bats, a haunted bat poem, or a bat fictional story.

A Kids Heart has a whole page devoted to the learning of bats- would be great for older kids.

Treats & Eats
Woman's Day posted a boo-a-licious (yes I just made up that word bat cupcake. I have never worked with fondant, but for those brave souls out there this could be fun!

Cute bat treats from Rice Krispies.... boy just typing the name of that site is making me hungry!

Yummers! I love these oreo bat cookie pops from the Party Animal.

Bat bites recipe from My Recipes. This would be a great appetizer or snack!

Arts & Crafts
This darling craft/treat from Skip to my Lou (LOVE this site!) would be a fun gift to give to neighbors and friends. There is a regular size and a mini candy bar version (free pdf download). The cutting would most likely rest on my shoulders... but my Boo would like to help inserting the candy bar! I just better make sure it stays there!

Better Homes and Gardens posted a bat cone that can hold treats. Great for a party favor, or just a little basket to stash more candy.

Another Better Homes and Gardens find.... bat drink stirrers. How fun would this bat stick be with marshmallows.... a perfect stirrer for hot chocolate (I think... this idea has yet to be tested!)

Purely for fun posted a paper plate bat project.

Thrifty Decor Chick has a fun post on decorating for Halloween on a budget... including this idea to cut out paper bats and hang them on the wall. Simple, yet brilliant.

Ideas 4 Kids posted a simple bat finger puppet. Would be cute to use in a Halloween puppet show for family night!

DLTK has some fun bat crafts.. I like these handprint bats!

Games

Bats Brew game from Parents Connect- so easy, so fun, and kids can help make in the game preparation! I love that this can be played with a small number of people.. great for our little family! (note to self: adapt this game for my daughter's safari/Halloween themed birthday party)

Fingerplays and Songs

This was found at Kid'n'Kaboodle.

Five Little Bats
One little bat was trying to behave.
He hung upside down from his feet in a cave.
Another bat flew in, and said, "How do you do?"
The second joined the first, and then there were 2!
2 little bats were trying to behave.
They hung upside down from their feet in a cave.
To help pass the time, they sang "Do re me"
Another bat joined the song, and then there were 3.
3 little bats were trying to behave
They hung upside down from their feet in a cave
From their cave perch, they looked down at the floor,
A new bat joined the game, and then there were 4.
4 little bats were trying to behave.
They hung upside down from their feet in a cave.
One little bat zoomed inside and did a dive.
He stayed to take a rest, and with him there were 5.

Misc

Bat Dots... I love to see our candy is getting ready for the holiday!

Happy Haunting!

Halloween Jar Candles

2011-10-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

I love Halloween! There are so many fun kid crafts to make- including these darling painted jars from Family Fun! I knew I had to have my kiddo and I try our hand at these!

The first step is to collect all your supplies.

-clean empty glass jars

-masking tape

-acrylic paint

-paintbrushes

Cut the masking tape into face shapes. We made jack-o-lanterns and ghosts- so we cut out a bunch of triangles and circles.
Have your little one help you apply the masking tape faces onto the jars. So easy, fun, and shapes are repositional if needed!
Your child can then have fun painting away!

painting is such hard work!

Once the paint is dry, peel away the tape.

jars before the tape is removed

Add a tealight inside the jar as a finishing touch, and you have a glowing masterpiece!

This idea was found on Pinterest!!

Happy Haunting!

Vampires (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

2011-10-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

Our fifth theme for our 13 day countdown is vampires. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) some are on my wiki, and some I have found through google searches.

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas...but with a Halloween twist!)

Make some vampire cookies (see recipe below) to share with a friend/neighbor
Donate blood (adults only!)
Donate bandaids to a shelter

Literature

A Vampire is Coming to Dinner!: 10 Rules to Follow This Halloween lift the flap book is about a boy's surprise visit from a vampire. We haven't read it yet, but it has great reviews. It would be fun to have your kiddo come up with their own version- like "A Monster is Coming to Recess" or something similar!

Learning Time Fun

Vampire puppet found on our wiki....

Go on a vampire hunt with this fun pdf from San Jose Unified School District ...bring your binoculars and capes!

Vampire printables can be found at Print Activities.

Also a good time to teach those little ones about the importance of not biting other people :)

Treats & Eats
Baking Bites made these vampire cookies that I could just bite into! She also posted a vampire cupcake recipe that looks pretty good, too!

What a cute vampire pizza! This was found at Hungry Halloween... this will be a site worth checking out!

Bright Ideas shared a scrumptious Vampire Bites cookie recipe.

Look at this cute Vampire sandwich from Little Nummies!

If you plan on throwing a vampire themed party, check out All You. They have a lot of fun (and spooky) ideas. While they are mainly geared for adults, they have some kid friendly suggestions such as decorating family pics with vampire teeth and these cute blood juice bottles.

Or So She Says has a post giving the directions for blood rimmed cups. We have done this in the past and it really is easy and adds to the Halloween atmosphere!

Arts & Crafts
DLTK has a few Vampire crafts- my favorite is the sucker cover.

Make a garbage bag vampire from eHow (I had no idea this site had crafts!)

Family Fun has this darling vampire box made out of paper- it does look a bit tricky for those young hands though. Might be fun to make and hide it for my daughter to find- like a vampire treasure hunt!

Funschool posted simple steps to create wearable blood... just in case you are planning to be something gory for Halloween!

Going back in time to my school teaching days..... here is a vampire craft we did every year. Have students cut out a large half circle to be used as the cape. One piece of black construction paper with a slit will be the pant legs. Kiddos trace their hands on red paper for the hands. Use the handout found HERE for the face, or have kids make their own. When you open up the vampire's arms, we always wrote halloween safety tips- but you can write anything! Sorry there isn't a better pic of this idea!

Easy Child Crafts has a cute little vampire and coffin craft.

Games

One of my favorite sites... Prepared Not Scared.... shares this fun and spooky game called "Vampires at Dark". It's like an indoor hide and seek game IN THE DARK! I need to remember to play this with my Boo at her birthday party....

Fingerplays and Songs

I couldn't find anything to fit this category so I had to make one up on my own! I am expecting a grammy award for this masterpiece...

Vampire
(to the tune of Where, Oh Where, Did My Little Dog Go)
Where, oh where did that vampire go
Oh where, oh where can he be?
with his hair cut short
and his teeth cut long
Oh where, oh where can he be?
(whisper...oh please, oh please don't bite me!)

Misc

You can't mention vampires without thinking of The Count (thank you Sesame Street!) Here is a classic clip that will transition us into our day of bats tomorrow!

Happy Haunting!

Skeletons (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

2011-10-01T23:30:00.000-07:00

Our fourth theme for our 13 day countdown is skeletons. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) some are on my wiki, and some I have found through google searches.

On a completely unrelated note- my daughter lost her favorite blanket today... I think I am more distraught than she is! After spending the last hour BAWLING (how pathetic am I) and searching online for a replacement (but can there be a replacement?!!) I have finally come back to this post....

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas...but with a Halloween twist!)

Help an older neighbor with heavy lifting
Make some skeleton cookies and chocolate milk to share with friends (since milk makes your bones strong!)
Perform a kind deed for someone and leave a note saying "No bones about it! I think you are amazing!"

Literature

Skeleton Hiccups This is a silly skeleton book about trying to get rid of the hiccups.

Dem Bones Fun for the whole family! We love this book! You can sing along with the text, if you know the song. I like all the little bone facts dispersed throughout the text. And you can always watch the Youtube video...

Learning Time Fun

Skeleton Antonyms found on our wiki.

Making Learning Fun has free Bones & X-ray printables.

Treats & Eats
Veggie Skelton from Feeding Frenzy. A refreshing snack after all that Halloween candy.

The most adorable skeleton gingerbread cookies I have ever seen! The first pic is from Family Fun (love the cat!) and the second pic is from 7 Layer Studio (she has a recipe for delicious gingerbread)

Three kinds of skeleton cupcakes were found at My Recipes, Edible Crafts, and Little Elephants. All very different, and yet all so fun!

OK, just one more cupcake from Holidash... so creative!

Arts & Crafts
Paper plate skeleton tutorial at Pick Up Some Creativity.

The Crafty Crow has a similar skeleton- using paper instead of plates.

Stuff by Ash made q-tip skeletons with her daughter, and can I say I just love the bows!

Ramblings of a Crazy Woman posted this fun skeleton made with plastic utensils :)

LittleLadyIrish sells these skeleton clothespins... cute idea, and doesn't look too hard to make....

Frugal Family Fun shared a tutorial on making kid friendly bones.

Games

Jacque at the Lilypad (digital scrapbook store) sells a cute skeleton set that she has made into magnets to help her daughter learn the proper names of the human bones. Super cute!

Fingerplays and Songs

These were found at Kid'n'Kaboodle- and they have a whole lot more!

For This Is Halloween
(tune:10 Little Indians)
One little skeleton hopping up and down,
One little skeleton hopping up and down,
One little skeleton hopping up and down,
For this is Halloween.

Two little children playing trick or treat...
Three little pumpkins standing in a row...
Four little goblins running all around...
Five little witches flying through the air...

Skeleton Parade
The skeletons are out tonight
They march about the street
With bony bodies, bony heads
And bony hands and feet.
Bony bony bony bones
With nothing in between
Up and down and all around
They march on Halloween.

Misc

This would be a great time to tie in skeletons from other animals... these kits would be perfect (However the dollar store sells already put together dinosaur skeletons that will work just fine)

Happy Haunting!

13 NIghts of Halloween Song

2011-10-01T22:42:00.000-07:00

Here is a little song I wrote to go along with our 13 Days of Halloween. (Inspired by a similar song found at Perpetual Preschool.) A little something fun to sing at night after spending the day having fun with each theme.

13 Nights of Halloween (sung to the tune of 12 Days of Christmas)
On the first night of Halloween my goblin (or la bruja, zombie, werewolf, or my favorite...Mommy :) ) gave to me,
A witch tangled up in a tree.

On the second night of Halloween my goblin gave to me,
Two spooky ghosts, and a witch tangled up in a tree.

On the third night of Halloween my goblin gave to me,
Three jack-o-lanterns, two spooky ghosts, and a witch tangled up in a tree.

On the fourth night of Halloween my goblin gave to me,
Four silly skeletons, three jack-o-lanterns, two spooky ghosts, and a witch tangled up in a tree.

On the fifth night of Halloween my goblin gave to me,
Five vampire bites, four silly skeletons, three jack-o-lanterns, two spooky ghosts, and a witch tangled up in a tree.

On the sixth night of Halloween my goblin gave to me,
Six bats a flying, five vampire bites, four silly skeletons, three jack-o-lanterns, two spooky ghosts, and a witch tangled up in a tree.

On the seventh night of Halloween my goblin gave to me,
Seven black cats hissing, six bats a flying, five vampire bites, four silly skeletons, three jack-o-lanterns, two spooky ghosts, and a witch tangled up in a tree.

On the eighth night of Halloween my goblin gave to me,
Eight spiders spinning, seven black cats hissing, six bats a flying, five vampire bites, four silly skeletons, three jack-o-lanterns, two spooky ghosts, and a witch tangled up in a tree.

On the ninth night of Halloween my goblin gave to me,
Nine mummies waving, eight spiders spinning, seven black cats hissing, six bats a flying, five vampire bites, four silly skeletons, three jack-o-lanterns, two spooky ghosts, and a witch tangled up in a tree.

On the tenth night of Halloween my goblin gave to me,
Ten monsters chasing, nine mummies waving, eight spiders spinning, seven black cats hissing, six bats a flying, five vampire bites, four silly skeletons, three jack-o-lanterns, two spooky ghosts, and a witch tangled up in a tree.

On the eleventh night of Halloween my goblin gave to me,
Eleven houses haunting, ten monsters chasing, nine mummies waving, eight spiders spinning, seven black cats hissing, six bats a flying, five vampire bites, four silly skeletons, three jack-o-lanterns, two spooky ghosts, and a witch tangled up in a tree.

On the twelfth night of Halloween my goblin gave to me,
Twelve owls fluttering, eleven houses haunting, ten monsters chasing, nine mummies waving, eight spiders spinning, seven black cats hissing, six bats a flying, five vampire bites, four silly skeletons, three jack-o-lanterns, two spooky ghosts, and a witch tangled up in a tree.

On the thirteenth night of Halloween my goblin gave to me,
Thirteen treats I'm chewing, twelve owls fluttering, eleven houses haunting, ten monsters chasing, nine mummies waving, eight spiders spinning, seven black cats hissing, six bats a flying, five vampire bites, four silly skeletons, three jack-o-lanterns, two spooky ghosts, and a witch tangled up in a tree.

Happy Haunting!

Pumpkins (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

2011-09-30T22:48:00.000-07:00

Our third theme for our 13 day countdown is pumpkins. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) some are on my wiki, and some I have found through google searches.

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas...but with a Halloween twist!)

Carve a jack-o-lantern and fill it with treats and leave them on a friend's doorstep.
Volunteer to help kids in a community school or shelter carve pumpkins (and if necessary donate some pumpkins for the cause)
Make some pumpkin treats to share with a friend!

Literature

Big Pumpkin- this has to be one of the greatest Halloween books of all time. The recording of this book is whimsical and fun- unfortunately it is hard to find... however there is a copy of the audio recording on Youtube!

The Biggest Pumpkin Ever- another cute pumpkin story- would be fun to read before carving a pumpkin!

Learning Time Fun

Mathwire has a whole section of great pumpkin math activities. I love the symmetrical pumpkin, a pumpkin farm game (similar to battleship- learning about coordinate pairs), and the pumpkin jumble game which teaches kids about pattern blocks and probability. I have a feeling this is one incredible math site!

File Folder Fun has a cute phonics pumpkin game.

Prek-8 has a pumpkin odd one out game... great for talking about similarities and differences!

A site that I have come to LOVE is Making Learning Fun. They have a great, great, great section of pumpkin stuff. Pocket chart activities, magnet pages, tracing pages, printable books, easy pumpkin recipes for kiddos, math and science activities... this site is like one stop shopping!

Our wiki also has a bunch of free printables centered around the pumpkin theme- including this idea for finding the missing number, a pumpkin puppet, creative writing pages, and expanded notation math!

More cute pumpkin printables from Kidsparkz!

First School has a whole section of pumpkin learning ideas and crafts- lots of free printables!

Treats & Eats
The Creative Mama shared a healthy (yet delicious) pumpkin snack. I never thought about carving a banana to look like a jack-o-lantern's smile- cute!

Bee in our Bonnet wrote a guest post on eighteen25 about her jack-o-lantern in a jar. She describes it like an edible Halloween version of Mr Potato Head (and so much cuter). Very fun for the kids!

Bee in our Bonnet also posted these scrumptious pumpkin popcorn balls!

I loved these pumpkin soda bottles from Jaco'lyn Murphy. Simple yet pumpkiny festive!

All Recipes has a delectable recipe for iced pumpkin cookies.

Don't forget to snack on pumpkin seeds! My personal favorite treat all year long!

Arts & Crafts
Billy Bear 4 Kids has a super cute pumpkin fingerprint activity.

Cute pumpkin craft from East Coast Mommy that can be made in about 5 minutes. Great lacing activity for little hands, too!

A Faithful Attempt posted a glue line watercolor project that is just darling! These pics look so professional!

Simple paper pumpkin project from Craftiness is Not Optional.

I really like this pumpkin stained glass art project from Kaboose- simple enough for my preschooler, and I like the look of the sun shining through.

Fun pumpkin mosaic from Pebbles in my Pocket. She also has posts about pumpkin cupcakes and twirly pumpkins. Very cute blog!!

Family Fun posted a fun painting pumpkin project that I think my Boo would love. Best part- they light up!

Paper mache pumpkins from Enchanted Learning.

Pumpkin Carving Fun
Power tools and pumpkins? Great idea Play at Home Mom! Love it!!!

Brown Paper Packages brings mod podge to the table with these monogrammed pumpkins. While she has carving on one side and the monogram on the other, I think just the monogram by itself is super cute!

Fresh Home Ideas suggests using cookie cutters to carve pumpkins. This is a great way to get those perfect shapes.

Better Homes and Gardens has a whole slideshow of some of the cutest painted pumpkins I have ever seen! Oh my goodness! I am just posting a couple to wet your appetite...

Games

Pumpkin grid game from Mama Jenn. (If you haven't checked out her Education Cubes site, you must!)

Pumpkin Nook (by the name of their site alone I am sure they have tons of pumpkin ideas!) shared a pumpkin golf game. Just carve a pumpkin and make an extra big mouth, and with the aid of a cardboard ramp start golfing!

Fingerplays and Songs

These were all found at Kid'n'Kaboodle- and they have a whole lot more!

October Time
October time is pumpkin time,
The nicest time of the year.
When all the pumpkins light their eyes
(encircle eyes)
And grin from ear to ear.
(big grin)
Because they know at Halloween
They'll have lots of fun,
Peeking through the windowpanes
(put hands over eyes and look)
Watching children run!

Once There Was a Pumpkin
Once there was a pumpkin (Make small pumpkin with hands)
And it grew (Make bigger pumpkin)
And grew (Bigger)
And grew (Bigger)
Now it's a jack-o-lantern
And it smiles at you (Point to smile)
And you (Point to child)
And you! (Point to next child)
(I usually speed up and point to all the children). And they point at each other and me!
I Am A Pumpkin
I am a pumpkin big and round
Once upon a time I grew on the ground
Abut now I have mouth, two eyes and a nose
What are they for, do you suppose?
When I have a candle inside, shining bright
I'll be a jack-o-lantern on Halloween night!

Cut Into A Pumpkin
Cut into a pumpkin (Make motion as if cutting)
Scoop it with a spoon (Make scooping motion)
Carve a little mouth that turns endwise like a moon (Pretend to cut a moon)
Cut two eyes to twinkle
And a big three-cornered nose.
Use for teeth, 10 shiny seeds
Place them in grinning rows (Hold up ten fingers)
Light a little candle
And when the shadows fall
Set the jolly fellow in the darkest hall. (Pretend to set the pumpkin down)
Listen for the laughter as folds spy him (Put a hand behind your ear)
Grinning down at us all!

Five Little Pumpkins...
(Hold up fingers for pumpkins)
Pumpkin, Pumpkin...
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Sitting on a wall;
(have a child sit down)
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Tip and Fall;
(have child tip over)
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Rolling down the street;
(child rolls on floor)
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Trick or Treat!!!

Pumpkin Bells
(Sung to the tune Jingle Bells)
Dashing through the streets
In our costumes bright as day!
To each house we go
Laughing all the way!
Halloween is here
Making spirits bright!
What fun it is to trick - or - treat
And sing pumpkin carols tonight!
(Chorus)
Oh, Pumpkin bells
Pumpkin bells
Ringing loud and clear!
Oh what fun Great Pumpkin brings when Halloween is hear!

Five Little Pumpkins
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate
The first one said, “Oh, my it’s getting late.”
The second one said, “There are witches in the air”.
The third one said,”But we don’t care!”
The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run”.
The fifth one said, “I’m ready for some fun!”
Wooooo, went the wind
And out went the light
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

There are also pumpkin songs for wee ones from Activity Mom.

Misc

Uncommon posted a pic of these darling pumpkin pillows. While I couldn't find a tutorial (and let's face it, I am no seamstress) I thought they were too cute not to post! Maybe they will inspire someone else out there in the blogosphere...

And last, but not least...
Don't forget to watch Charlie Brown's Halloween episode... The Great Pumpkin. That is a classic!

Happy Haunting!

Ghosts (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

2011-09-29T23:53:00.000-07:00

Our second theme for our 13 day countdown is ghosts. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) some are on my wiki, and some I have found through google searches.

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas...but with a Halloween twist!)

Perform an anonymous act of service for someone and leave a note saying "The ghost of Halloween has visited! You are a "boo"tiful person!
Make a ghostly treat to share with a neighbor

Literature

10 Timid Ghosts While we haven't read this book YET, it has gotten great reviews and I look forward to reading it! Katie's Nesting Spot shared this great art project that goes along with this text:

Learning Time Fun

Child Care Land has some free Ghost prewriting cards.

Our wiki has some ghost learning pages, including a ghost synonym page.

Making Learning Fun has some cute ghost printables... a ghost scissor practice page and ghost blower activity using paper ghosts and coffee stir sticks (can be used as a game, but educational ideas for this activity are also included).

Treats & Eats
I LOVE this ghosty pizza- the recipe from My Recipes. Yummy!

This is something that I have to make from Gourmet Mom on the Go... ghost pancakes! Love 'em!

Cute little Halloween Peeps in a jar or baggie- directions found over at Southern Vogue. Spooky and sweet!

Better Homes and Gardens showed a simple way to transform frosted plastic gift bags into ghostly treat bags.

Arts & Crafts
Cute and easy ghost windsock from DLTK.

I am in love with this fabulous hanging ghost from Everyday is a Crafting Day. It doesn't seem too hard to make, and the kiddos might enjoy helping out...especially after seeing the outcome!

Paper plate ghost from Kaboose. Easy enough for all ages!

Play at Home Mommy (love this site!) showed a simple way to make Halloween candles with the kiddos. Great step by step pics.

Anchor Mommy posted a cheap and simple tissue paper ghost wreath.

The Crafting Chicks posted a tutorial on making handprint ghosts with your kids.

Enchanted Learning posted a balloon ghost craft using a balloon and 2 plastic grocery bags.

Games

Prepared Not Scared has some free printables for a Ghost Hunt game and Ghost Story Dice...super cute! This is one amazing site!!

Just Preschool Themes has instructions for three Halloween games: Bobbing for Ghosts, Find that Ghost, and Bowling for Ghosts.

Ghost in the Graveyard game instructions (can be adapted for younger kids)

Fingerplays and Songs

These were all found at Kid'n'Kaboodle- and they have a whole lot more!

One Little Ghost
One little ghost flew down the street.
(Wave hand through the air.)
"I wonder," he said, "what I will meet--
(Place finger to temple, thinking.)
One hairy spider,
(Hold up one finger, then move hand like spider.)
Two black cats,
(Hold up two fingers, then put two fingers from each hand on head for cat ears.)
Three wild witches with pointy hats,
(Hold up three fingers, then place fingertips of hands together to form hat.)
Four old owls in a hollow tree,
(Hold up four fingers, then form an oval with both hands for eyes to look through.)
And five brother bats to fly with me!
(Hold up five fingers, then hook thumbs of both hands together and flap fingers for bat wings.)

We Three Ghosts
(tune: We Three Kings)
We three ghosts of Halloween are
Scaring kids who wander too far.
Trick or treating, candy eating,
Beware the Halloween Star.
Oh...oh...
Star of darkness, star of fright.
Star of every gruesome sight.
West winds howling, cats a-yowling,
Let us play some tricks tonight!

Halloween Ghost
There once was a ghost, (extend hand and wiggle fingers)
Who lived in a cave. (form hollow with palm for "cave")
She scared all the people (point to children)
And the animals away.
She said "Boo" to a fox, (point)
She said "Boo" to a bee, (point)
She said "Boo" to a bear, (nod head "yes")
She said "Boo" to me! (point at self)
Well, she scared that fox, (nod head "yes")
And she scared that bee. (nod head "yes")
She scared that bear, (nod head "yes")
But she didn't scare me! (shake head "no")

Five Little Ghosts
Five little ghosts flying through the door,
One flew away and then there were four.
Four little ghosts spooky as can be,
One flew away and then there were three.
Three little ghosts drinking Halloween brew,
One flew away and then there were two.
Two little ghosts having lots of fun,
One went home and then there was one.
One little ghosts a real superhero,
Went to help a friend and then were was zero!

This Old Ghost
(tune: This Old Man) also use obvious actions
This old ghost, he played one,
He played peek-a-boo on the run
With a boo! boo! boo! and a clap, clap, clap
This old ghost is a friendly chap
Two: peek-a-boo in a shoe
Three: peek-a-boo behind a tree
Four: peek-a-boo near a door

The Ghost in the House
(tune: "The Wheels on the Bus")
The ghost in the house goes "boo boo boo,
Boo boo boo, boo boo boo"
The ghost in the house goes "boo boo boo"
On Halloween

Other verses:
The steps in the house go "creak creak creak"
The cats in the house go "meow meow meow"
The mice in the house go "squeak squeak squeak"
The people in the house go "eak eak eak"
We also added other creatures ( monsters, skeletons, mummies etc.) and made up our own sounds for them!

Misc

Read our "Bibbety Bobbety Boo" post about throwing a princess Halloween birthday party

A fabulous idea from Thrifty Decor Chick... this mirror looks amazing. I am going to have to spend more time on this site... it looks like there are lots of fun projects!

Happy Haunting!