First Week - Friday - Kindness

FRIDAY - KINDNESS

Friday is KINDNESS day. I know this one is a little early, but we have a holiday weekend to celebrate! So here is Friday one day early!

Kindness is something that needs to be taught. I have a 3 year old and a one year old and there are many, many, many times throughout the day that I ask my 3 year old to please (please!) be kind to your little sister!! Sometimes she gets it and quickly says sorry for whatever made her little sister cry (or scream) and gives her a very cute (& kind) kiss and cuddle. And there are also times when it's just straight back into it, and you just have to give them a little separate time.

Kindness is something I try to encourage, talk about, participate in, live by example, etc, every day for my kids. I explained to my 3yr old, just this past Monday, why I was dropping off dinner to a new Mom - "We need to help new moms out when they bring their baby home by making them a nice dinner, so they don't have to worry about it. It is a kind thing to do, a nice thing to do - that way they can look after themselves and their little baby."

I also get my 3year old to participate in "acts of kindness" each week by helping me feed the birds (we fill up the bird feeder in the front yard - also get to see the birds from the playroom window - added benefit!).

And she LOVES helping me feed Dixie, our cat. She takes such pride in carefully scooping out the food into the scooper, and so carefully walking it over to the cat dish, and putting it in there without spilling one piece! Then she'll call out for Dixie (who always comes running anytime she hears anything even remotely like her food anyway!) and lets her know her food is ready and to eat it all up (believe me, this cat needs no encouragement!).

And merry wishes you all for a very Happy (& safe) 4th July weekend - we can't wait to see the fireworks with Grandma & Grandpa up at Lake Texoma!

First Week - Thursday - Playfulness

THURSDAY - PLAYFULNESS

Today is Playfulness day.

You are probably wondering "What is this all about? Playfulness? Isn't that a toddler all day?" Well, yes it is, but it also something you can join in with and play with your child. Think of fun little things you can do together, like make up a silly song about bath-time, or chase each other around the couch, or play shadow tag outside. It is a time to connect with one another, enjoy each others' company and silliness, and have fun!

We are playing shadow tag outside today, since my little ones want to swim in their pool as well.




Shadows are a great source of entertainment - what an interesting "companion" we have - this mysterious form that follows us around as long as we are in the sun (or lit area). What happens to it when it is dark? Why does it keep changing it's position? Little minds are very curious and it is always so interesting to watch them as they first discover their own shadow.




So what better way to have fun, be playful, and explore one of those interesting elements of life, than play shadow tag!

TAG - you're it!

“We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.”

- Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.

First Week - Wednesday - Craft

WEDNESDAY - CRAFT

Today is CRAFT day so we are really just limited by our imagination! I want to continue making the horses' craft project by Ann Wood, which we found on this wonderful blog www.designspongeonline.com. I have a spot in my kitchen eating area just perfect to display them, so I guess I need to get busy...

Here is our finished horse for today, and I have reposted the original post, with instructions, etc for you to reference more easily! (well I ran out of wire for these projects - will finish tomorrow and post my pictures up).



Making Horses

Found this wonderful blog www.designspongeonline.com, and on there was this great craft project by Ann Wood that I though would be great to do with my 3 year old.

Basically you are making little cardboard horses to hang up on the wall (or wherever you fancy!). Ann Wood made this project with a goal to make 100 of these horses. They look awesome all together in a group (as Ann Wood has done), and can be done over a period of time. I also really like the idea she had of naming her horses and numbering them. I name and number mine and also date it, and put my little helper's name on it too!

My little girl loved drawing on her horse. We are also going to paint some another day, and I think I'm going to do a few of my own as well. I have the perfect spot in my breakfast area to put them up on the wall. I'm going to theme mine - architectural print on one (from my few years of study that I managed to do), ocean (love the beach), woods, etc, etc.

Love this idea - will update as we do more but here are a few pictures to start. Please check out the design sponge website for all the details on how to make them (www.designspongeonline.com) - all credit goes to Ann Wood, of course!

First Week - Tuesday - Dance

TUESDAY - DANCE

Today is Dance Day. We have some classic music on the radio, and a tutu to put on, some dance shoes and a mirror - that's the perfect equation for some dancing for any toddler! It doesn't matter what kind of music you listen to, kids love to dance. And it's fun to join in too!


We are exploring ballet today. We looked on the internet for some ballet videos (youtube is a great resource) and watched Swan Lake. My 3 year old then wanted to balance on one leg for the rest of the morning!! :)

Our craft for today is to make a dance mobile - I thought this was a good way to show movement with the ballet dancers.

I used color craft paper, an exacto knife to cut out the ballet figures, a cutting board, some paint, ribbon, stapler, bit of tape and two coat hangers I was going to recycle back to the dry cleaner.
First, I went to the internet and did a google image search for ballet images. I found three images showing different dance poses and printed them out. You may need to then photocopy them larger if you wish, or I used Photoshop to enlarge the images. Once I have them printed out I traced them onto the color paper.



You can go over the outline of the image with pencil on the back - this will help leave a faint outline on the page you are tracing the image onto.



From here you get the kiddos to decorate them however they wish. My 3yr old wanted to paint, so paint was it.

Firstly, I cut out the figures and she painted them (very carefully - real skill test there!).

(Exacto knives for adults only please!!!)

Then I also let her just paint the whole page, after I had outlined the figure.


Either way worked, just depends on what you prefer and how your little one handles the figures. I would think drawing would be easier on the whole page rather than just on the cut-out.


We let all the pages dry, then I cut out the figures with an exacto knife.

Then I constructed the mobile hanger. You can do whatever you can think of here, I saw these two coathangers and used them. I tied ribbon around the "necks" to secure them together, and also used a little bit of tape around the bottom where they crossed. If you use hangers you can also decorate it with ribbon (wrap it around the wire), or hang beads from the top arms, or do a design in the triangle area - many possibilities.





Next, I attached each ballet dancer to a piece of ribbon using a stapler and tied the other end on the mobile hanger.


Then trim off the loose ends and wella! There is a ballet dancing mobile!




Please make sure no little ones can grab at it - hang at a safe distance as it could pose as a choking or strangulation threat with the pieces of paper, string and staples, and coathanger. It is just pretty to look at.

First Week - Monday - Sizes

MONDAY - SIZES

It is Monday of our first week. Here is a picture of our School Bus and our projected weekly lesson plan:



Monday is SIZES:

We are using the 4th July as inspiration for the tone of this week's lessons, since it is June 29th today. We are drawing stars of different sizes onto color paper to decorate for our 4th July picture. We are using red, white and blue craft paper, a pen, glue and glitter sprinkles.
Firstly, I draw two different sized stars onto a piece of paper. We look at the smaller star, and I have my toddler point to it.





Next, which is the bigger star?



We use the same shape to discuss sizes, so as not to confuse the toddler with too many variables.

Once we have discussed the sizes of our stars we are ready to cut them out (which I do, scissors are sharp!). I hold all three color pages together and cut as one (cutting through 3 pieces of paper to get 3 stars). We are pasting them onto another piece of paper, ready to decorate with pen (her favorite medium at the moment) and glitter (of course!!).






Here is our finished picture. I like to give it a title, date it and "sign" it (so I know who did it in 20 years time!!).


We also got inspired and made our garland (which I hang over our big window in the playroom). So the theme is 4th July stars. Again, we just used basic color craft paper, scissors, crayons, glue and glitter, and a piece of string and some tape to attach it up to the window.








I staple the stars onto the ribbon.


Once I have a few stars stapled on I hang up one end and staple up the rest. This makes it easier to figure out how long to make the ribbon and where/ how close to place the stars on the ribbon.

Ta-da! Looks very festive!