Tot School - Ff is for Flowers Week 2

We jumped right back into Tot School this week. 

SENSORY BIN:

The girls LOVE this!  They'll sit and play at my feet while I cook meals.  It does take some time to clean up  all the rice that we track through the house, but I love watching them play and learn.  I'm thinking that getting one of those plastic baby pools to put inside to play in might help contain the mess.

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW:

We played this game again this week along with singing the song, "What Do Plants Need" from Homeschool Creations Garden Preschool Packs.

FLOWER MATCH GARDEN PATCH: by Guidecraft

What a wonderful toy/learning resource.  "M" practiced copying some of the patterns and also made some flowers of her own!

CRAFT: Painting Flowers with Plastic Bottles, Toilet Paper Rolls, and Pipe Cleaners

Here was my example for the girls:

Making their own creations:

CRAFT: "Sun-Catcher" Vase

Directions: Glue pieces of tissue paper to a glass jar (we used an old jelly jar).  Add flowers and water, place in windowsill, and enjoy the sun shining through!

 

Make-It-Monday: Take-Along Car/Transportation Play Mat

Looking for something you can toss in the diaper bag and pull out in waiting rooms or restaurants to entertain your toddler?  I saw a neat idea for a Kids Car Game on Pinterest, and put my own little spin on it.  Here is what I came up with (I made 2 different sizes):

All rolled up and ready to go!

Ready to play.  There are 6 pockets on the larger mat and 5 pockets on the smaller mat.  I plan on putting cars in most of the pockets, and maybe some small yield, stop, or other traffic signs in a pocket.

TUTORIAL:
Sorry, there are no pictures, but it is a pretty easy project so hopefully you'll be able to figure it out.  You can use whatever dimensions you'd like, but I'll share with you the dimensions for the larger playmat just to give you an idea.  I will probably make a few more of these and will try to remember to take pictures to update this with.
Material you need:
* 15"x20" piece of material with cars and roads on it (I found this at Walmart).  You could sew on your own roads/landmarks using scraps or felt.
*15" x 20" piece of coordinating fabric
*15" x 20" felt or filler material
*15" x 5" piece of coordinating fabric for the pocket
*4 - 15" x 3" strips of coordinating fabric for the ties (this was probably a little long.... 11"x3" should be fine)

Directions:
*Fold each of the four strips in half lengthwise (right sides together).  Pin or iron and sew a 1/4" seam allowance around one short side and the long side (leaving the one short side open for turning).  Turn and press.  Repeat for all four strips.  You know have your four ties.
*Place cars fabric on top of felt (right side facing up).  Place the pocket material (wrong side down, right side facing up) on top of the cars fabric (lining it up at the bottom).  Pin everything in place.
*Mark vertical lines along the pocket material at even intervals (or as even as you can get it, accounting for seam allowances.  I used 2 3/4", 5 1/4", 7 3/4", 10 1/4", 12 3/4").  Sew along the vertical lines (going  through all three layers).
*Pin the ties where you want them along the top (open side towards the top, and the rest should hang down towards the pocket... it's the opposite of how you think it should go, but remember you are going to flip the material).  Baste the ties in place.
*Place the coordinating piece of fabric on top of the cars fabric (right sides together).
*Sew around outside, leaving room to turn.
*Turn and stitch (whip stitch, blind stitch, or even machine stitch if you wish) opening closed
*Stuff pockets with cars and trucks and enjoy!

Frugal Fridays - Stay-cation

We definitely could not afford to go away for the entire two weeks that Hubby had R&R (plus it is sometimes nice to relax at home), so we planned a stay-cation for the second part of his leave.  We found cheap (or free!) things to do around town.  We did treat ourselves to some extra meals out, but were also able to save money by cooking some meals at home.  Here are a couple of the highlights:

PEABODY PARK:

This is a very nice (and free) park in downtown Little Rock with water fountains for the children to play in and a very intricate playground with tunnels, slides, boulders, and ladders.



LITTLE ROCK ZOO:

We buy and annual pass each year and for us it has definitely been worth it!  Hubby was away when the zoo opened the new penguin exhibit, so this was his first time seeing them.  They are always fun to watch!

"M" is roaring like a lion.

Thankful Thursday - Date Nights

I absolutely LOVE our children.  I find it extremely difficult to leave them with anyone at all and really feel as though part of me is missing when they are not around.  But, I LOVE my husband, too.  The hardest part for me as a new mommy was to find the balance between my duty as wife and mom (and I'm certainly not perfect at it yet).  I am thankful that my husband still takes me on dates.  Those quiet moments that we steal away together have done wonders for our marriage.  It is a time for us to reconnect and to focus on us as husband and wife - to share our dreams, vision, and heart with one another. 

So, what did he have planned for our date?  It started with a bike ride on the newly finished bike trail (along the riverfront), was followed by a lovely dinner (we had to stop home for me to feed Bekkah, so we changed clothes and cleaned up), and ended with coffee at our local bookstore :o)  For us, it was the perfect evening!

Some dear we saw along the trail.  So peaceful and beautiful!

Tot School Tuesday: Ff is for Flower

We are probably going to be spending a few weeks on Ff is for Flower because of some special company coming in for a couple weeks.  We got off to a good start this week though.  Here are some of the highlights:

ON OUR SHELVES:

Flower Button Board:

I made this by sewing some buttons onto fabric, gluing the fabric to a piece of cardboard, and cutting some flowers out of felt.

 FRUIT BASKET:

We sing this song with these:
"Way up high in the (apple) tree,

Two little (apples) smiled at me.

I shook that tree as hard as I could;

Down came the (apples),

Mmmm, they were good"

FRUIT BLOCK PUZZLE:

 PUZZLE:

This is very easy for "M", but "Boo" is starting to play with it.

SENSORY BIN:

Hours of fun!

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW:

We played this game along with singing the song, "What Do Plants Need" from Homeschool Creations Garden Preschool Packs.

LETTER "F" CRAFT:

I forgot to take a picture of the final product (maybe I'll have one next week), but we made the letter "F" look like a flower.  The craft was inspired by Our Country Road (they made a lowercase a "f").