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!