Post office

This past week Addie and I have been playing post office. We set up a letter making station that can be easily put away in a box; I made a post office box out of an old box and a small letter carrier bag out of some scrap fabric. The letter making station consists of paper, stickers, pretend stamps, markers, envelopes, and letter stamps.
We talked about what kinds of things need to go on a letter; name, address, stamp and where item goes on the envelope. It is also good practice for Addie to spell her name, work on her address and hear about where others live. We also talk about community helpers , people who live and work in the community and provide services.
Next we will work on creating mailboxes for her to deliver the mail to. We can work on matching the envelopes to the mailboxes by color, letter, shape or whatever concept we want, the possibilities are endless with this and it is so much fun.

Painting crafts

Our group we meet with for crafts has done three projects this month that were very successful with our kiddos and lots of fun. They were painting activities so naturally the kids had a good time. The first was a symmetrical heart. The kids painted the heart and then folded it in half and when the opened it up, it was the same on both sides. Addie made three of them. This was so easy and with almost no prep at all. All we did was cut out the hearts as the kids asked for them.

The second one we did was painting with ice cube paints. I simply used an older ice tray and put different colored paints in the sections; I added a small craft stick to each cube for a holder and then put it all in the freezer. When we were ready to paint I took it out, popped the ice paints into a tray and let the kids go to town. We painted on tin foil, but you could probably paint on paper as well.

The third craft was painting icicles with Q-tips; these are a wonderful tool for painting when you want them to paint in a smaller area, not use too much paint, and for those who are still learning to hold with a proper grip. We will cut them out when they dry and hang them up in the window.

Art time fun at the children's museum

Addie and I were playing at the children's museum and we ended up in the art area. Addie found herself paper, glue, scissors and puzzle pieces to decorate with. I think she is a little young for cutting with scissors but she wanted to practice so who was I to stop her. I showed her the correct way to hold the scissors, walk with the scissors, and cut with the scissors. Most importantly we talked about what we cut with scissors, which is paper, only paper! She had a struggled quite a bit with keeping the scissors on her fingers but didn't give up; practice makes perfect.

Curriculum Froggy Get dressed

To start off this section we read the book froggy get dressed. We talked about all of different clothing items that Froggy got dressed with; a scarf, pants, boots, etc. Addie got to post the pictures on a felt board. We also looked through our winter clothing bin and Addie got to try on all of her winter clothing just like Froggy.

Two winter stories to read along with this book are Jan Brett's The Hat and The Mitten. We made pictures of the characters and held them up when they appeared in the book.

We talked about how white mittens are hard to find in the snow, so she chose the colors and painted her mittens so she could always find them. We also painted a tree with a marble to look like winter, basically just painted it white.

Here are the before and after pictures.

Books of the Week

For the past several month reading books has become a large part of our bedtime routine. Every Monday Addie and I go to the library and find 5 books to bring home and then for that week we (Daddy, mommy and Addie) each read one story before bedtime. This has become one of my favorite times during the day, and no it's not because I'm putting my little darling to bed, but because she loves to read her own book. I love listening to her make up a story or towards the end of the week actually remembering sequences of the story that Daddy or I have read before and retelling the story herself! It is so fun to listen to her retell the story in her own words; I get so surprised when I hear her tell so much of the story correctly.
Well, my real point in creating this post is to start a list of children's books that I really enjoy reading. So without anymore of my rambling about how much I love listening to Addie read...

Books of the Week:

I'm A Big SisterI by Joanna Cole
Easy, simple language about a new baby coming and great openers for discussion about being a big sister. The baby is also gender neutral- so it can be a baby brother or sister.


Tell Me About Your Day Today by Mem Fox
I love the illustrations in this book. It is also has a lot of repetition for remembering the lines. It can be read with the youngest of reader for just the pictures to older children for the concepts of who, what, why, way and perspective of the speaker. It is also about a little boy going to bed, so perfect for bedtime!

DIY Magnetic Number Board

Addie has been doing her magnetic letter board really well, so I thought I would change things up on her a little bit and make a number one as well. So simple!! Excel- type numbers, one in each cell; you can color coordinate the numbers to the number magnets, then print. Then just add stickers to each box according to the number. A counting and letter identification activity in one. Of course if you want to make it last, I would laminate it then add four little magnets to each corner and you have another great learning activity. The great thing about this is that you can tailor it to your child. Use the stickers that they like most or even better have then make the board with you and add the stickers themselves.

Must Be Santa

We took a little vacation to grandma's house and are now trying to get back into the swing of things. Christmas is now just around the corner and we are excited about doing all kinds of Christmas crafts, books and songs. Below are two of the crafts we've done so far at our Mommy's-R-Us group.

The Christmas Bell: It counts down the days until Christmas. We attached bells at the top and a fun little poem and then added all of the chain links. Addie chose the colored paper and I taped them together.

 Paper Plate Santa: Addie chose a nose (fuzzy ball), two wiggle eyes, rosey cheeks, and a hat. Then we stretched the cotton balls out and glued them on the santa hat and face. Stretching cottonballs is a great fine motor activity for kids; they have to move slowly and need to keep moving their hands to find different places to pull the cotton ball. If they just pull it into little pieces, that okay too.

We also decided that field trips were getting to be a little difficult now that the cold weather is here, so we came up with cooking activities for Fridays. We'll have to come up with a better name but for now it is what it is. This past Friday we made smoothies. We talked about the different kinds of fruit we were putting into the blender. We talked about loud and quiet; the blender was loud. I don't think there was a drop of smoothie left, plus the moms got to enjoy a delicious smoothie drink too.

At home Addie and I have been keeping busy with a song and felt board pieces, "Must Be Santa" by Rafi. Addie puts up the pieces during the song and when she is finished she's created a Santa scene.

Lastly, I found a DIY Christmas book on Pinterest, The Very Hungry Reindeer. Yes, it's very similar to Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but his books are so great that why wouldn't you make all kinds of them. The language is repetitive so many kids can "read" the story. Addie enjoys putting the pieces on and saying, "But he was still hungry." So cute!