Animals Day 4

Today was a pretty laid back day.  The girls have been working on their workbooks and playing with their bottle animals all morning!

This afternoon we made the girls' names with animals!  I printed a whole bunch of letters and animal pictures off the computer and let them have at it.  They had to figure out which animals went with the letters in their names and put it all together on their boards.  They enjoyed cutting and gluing they enjoy anything with scissors and glue!

You could also do this same idea with the whole alphabet and have your kiddos match up the animals to the letters.  I was originally going to do that, but ran out of time (and printer ink) so we went with names!  They are turning out pretty adorable!

They are still working on their names, so obviously the above pic isn't the finished project.  However, I have a hot date with my birthday hubby tonight and wanted to get this post up before we left!

Have a great weekend!

Animals Day 3 - Safari and Masks

Today we had a Safari Hunt!  On one of my friend's private blogs, I saw her do this with her kids and knew my girls would love it!  Thanks Ruby!

I had the girls go round up all the little animals they could find.  We had everything from Little People farm animals to Webkinz, to Sea World animals that they play with in the bath!  I had them go into my room while I hid the animals all over the family room and dining room.

My little monkey even put on her monkey costume to get into the spirit of the game!

They had so much fun looking for animals!  It felt like an Easter Egg hunt!  It was great!

When we were pretty sure we had found all the animals (I am sure we will be finding little animals hiding for a while!) I had the girls sort the animals into groups ex. farm animals, pets, sea creatures, ect.

It was a good learning game, especially for my little one!

Then to clean it all up, I had them play 'toss' into the baskets.  Even this they enjoyed!  I haven't ever seen them clean up so quickly!

After our Safari, we made animal masks that I printed off of http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ .  The girls colored them and we glued them to popsicle sticks.

Animals Day Two

Today I wanted the girls to work on actual school readiness.  I found these workbooks at Target in the Dollar Section my favorite part of Target!  They tie in perfectly with our Animal theme for the week!

The girls are enjoying the books and it is nice to know they are stimulating their brains a little!

We also finished our recycled bottle animals!  The girls painted them and we used stickers for the eyes and mouths the sheets of stickers I also found at Target!  We used foam for the ears and other body parts we needed.  I think they turned out super cute!

The piggy is one of my favs!  It is just adorable!

I also kind of love the little mouse!

 The crazy cow creature is super funny too!

 We love our new little friends!

My girls were getting bored with me taking pics of their animals, and started having staring contests!  Silly girls!

 I had my doubts as to how well these would actually turn out.  I was pleasantly surprised!  They are so cute and my girls have been playing with them all morning!  Bonus!  Day two was a success!

 

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Summertime week 3 - Animals

Welcome to Week 3 of Summertime!

We are learning all about animals this week!

Starting off with a trip to the Library, we found lots of fun books about animals.  We have been talking about what a mammal is, what reptiles are, and fun facts about all sorts of animals.

I found a fun project on http://www.looledo.com/ that I wanted to try out with the girls.

We are making Paper Mache animals by recycling old bottles!

The website has you use masking tape, but I wanted to try out the paper mache, so we did!

I use one part water, one part Elmer's Glue to make the paste.  I had my girls rip up a bunch of newspapers and we got busy!

My little one wanted a pig, so we used a Karo Syrup bottle to use as the pig's body, and old tp tubes cut on a diagonal for the legs.  Then we stuffed more newspaper into the tube to help it hold it's shape better.

Then another layer of Glue-y newspaper!

We let the animals dry overnight to make sure they are nice and dry.  Then we did another layer of plain white paper and ModPodge!  This way it will be easier to paint and decorate!

They are still drying, but stay tuned for the finished project tomorrow!

Pioneers Day 4 & 5

This week has been so crazy, chaotic, and full of pioneers!

I am the Primary Secretary at our Church, and so I have been busy getting things ready for our Friday night activity, and Saturday morning Parade!  I was able to get all of our aprons and bonnets finished (Friday at about midnight!) and we had a great time!

Our Primary Activity was amazing!  The kids went on a 'trek' leaving Nauvoo (in the gym) and walking around our church grounds (in the 100+ heat) for about a half hour, stopping for Pioneer stories and activities.  None of the kids complained!  It was amazing!

Then we went inside for some Pioneer Fun!  We made homemade butter (in baby food jars), went berry picking (little baggies of gummy berries hanging in trees), hammered nails and sawed wood, and then had root beer floats!

It was such a fun activity and I could tell the kids loved it!

THEN...

Saturday morning we participated in our Tri-Stake Pioneer Parade!

Here is our little float!  The title is "They Came By..."

The Pioneers came by boat, wagon, train, and by foot.

I made the train (with the help of the Sr. Primary kids!).  I think it turned out pretty cute!  It is all cardboard, so it was a little tricky to keep it all together! :)

The Primary kids all sat on the trailer and threw candy to the onlookers.  It was sooo hot!  We kept the kids full of otter pops and water!

(This is a horrible picture of my sweaty self!  But I was drenched with sweat!  I almost forgot to get a picture of all of us together in our 'costumes'!)

After the parade, there was a bunch of booths set up at the park and in the Church building.  My hubby and I took the girls inside to cool off (after grabbing a snow cone!)  The got to play some more games and make a candle!

We ended our Pioneer weekend today at church.  We had a combined Primary and had stories and treats.

I am exhausted!  Physically, and mentally! 

 But I am so honored to have the opportunity to teach these little ones about the church's heritage and the sacrifices that were made for us!  I asked my girls if the had a fun weekend, and they both respond with an enthusiastic 'Yes'!   Even through the hot weather, the things we had them do to experience some of the trials, they got something out of it!  That makes it all worth it!

Happy Pioneer Day!

Pioneers Day Three - homemade beaded necklaces

Our project today was homemade jewelry!  We got this idea from this book:

First we took some 6x6 papers and cut them into triangle strips.

If you measure two inches in and then every two inches on one side,

then one inch in and then every two inches, you will be able to connect the dots and have perfect triangles!

I cut about four papers into triangles, which seemed to be plenty for my girls.  You may need more or less, depending on your kiddos!

 Then you wrap the triangles around a pencil and add a little dab of glue at the end to hold it in place.

Then I let my girls color some noodles with permanent markers.  Scary, I know!  But it seemed easier than getting out the rubbing alcohol and food dye just to color a few noodles!

Then they threaded the noodles and beads onto some plastic string and Waalaa!

Pioneer Jewelry! :)

Here is my little models!

 And a sweet moment shared by my girls - it actually happens once and a while!

Easy craft!

I have been super busy trying to get our bonnets and aprons done!  I have all of our bonnets ready to go, and the aprons are almost finished, they just need a few finishing touches.  I will try to get pics up today, at least.  I will have a tutorial on the bonnets, because it was so hard to find an easy, free pattern.

Pioneers Day 2 - Old West Mobile

We got this idea from the book "Wild West Days".

Gotta love the library!

To start, I found some images on line and printed them off.

Then I traced them onto card stock and cut them out.

(I did two sets of the pics - one for each of my girls)

Then I let the girls go at it and color, decorate, and bedazzle to their hearts desire!

Yeah, I could have made them stay true to what they would have looked like in the ol' days - but what fun is that!?!

When they were done coloring their pics, I hung them up on a wooden dowel.

Here are the results:

It is really hard to take a picture when they are spinning around! :)

It was a fun and easy craft to do!