Avast Ye Maties!

Arr... it be Andalen's birthday! We went to an indoor pirate playground. All the kids LOVED it! Then came lunch at O'Charleys and a trip to Learning Express. What a super fun (and long) day!

The Birthday Girl

Busy Toddlers (Leyton and Sam)

Sam dumping

Sam Climbing

Gunman Jake

Gunman Lian

 

If Sam were just a bit taller!

Oops?

The kids before leaving

What a bunch!

Buzzzzzz...

It's bug week!  We're continuing our Animal Kingdom segment this week and learning about insects.  Jake is not a big fan of bugs.  I'm going to try to convince him to journey out with me in a few days to do some catching and observing, but we'll see.  Today Jake got his hair 'buzzed' and we learned about bees.

Here's Jake, folding paper to make a bee body.  I got this project idea from a Chick-fil-a Kids Meal book.

The finished products... aren't they goofy?  All three of them!

We're going to switch it up and do some pirate activities this afternoon because we're going to a special pirate playground for our friend, Andalen's 5th birthday tomorrow!

Wordless Wednesday

Pics from park day yesterday....

Sam started walking while we were there yesterday.

We Flip for Phonics (Blog Candy - scroll down to enter!)

Check it out... we made a Phonics Flipper to practice our blends and small words:

Here's how you can make your own Phonics Flipper:

You will need:

Colored card stock
Book rings (1")
Wooden dowel (3/8" x 12")
Wooden dowel caps (1")
Die-cut letters (I used my Cricut)
Hole punch (3/16")
Adhesive (I used Sookwang double-sided tacky tape)
Wood glue
Laminate (I used my Xyron)

 1)  Choose your colors and plan your patterns.

 2)  Choose what letters you would like to include in your flipper.  I used the following:

First:  b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, qu, r, s, t, v, w, y, z
Second:  a, e, i, o, u (of course)
Third:  b, c, d, f, g, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, x, z

 3)  Cut your letters and set them aside (I cut mine at 3 1/2")

 4)  Cut your "flippers" out of cardstock (3 5/8" x 4 1/4")

 5)  Adhere your letters to your flippers

 6)  Punch 2 holes in the top of each of your flippers.  I took a same-sized piece of scrap paper, folded it in half (longways) and punched one hole about 1/4 of the way in from the non-folded edge.  Open it up and you have a great, symmetrical template to work with.  I also punched multiple cards at a time.  I'm not that patient.

 8)  Make a front and back cover as desired.  I used half a sheet of card stock for each (4 1/4" x 11).

 9)  Laminate your covers.

10) Punch holes through your covers.  I kinda eyeballed this, using my flippers and template as guides.

11)  Loop the book rings through your covers and flippers.

12)  Slide the dowel through, add a little wood glue and cap both ends.

... and VOILA!

Sound a little laborious?  Don't have the supplies on hand?  Then enter to win your very own phonics flipper - handmade with love by yours truly!  Here's how it goes:

• You must follow my blog publicly to be eligible
• Earn 1 entry by commenting on this post
• Earn 3 entries if you grab my blog button and post it on your blog

Giveaway ends 9/17/10 @ 11:59 PM eastern time. US only. Winner will be picked and announced the following day. Please respond within 48 hours, or a new winner will be chosen. 

Yay!  My very first lovingandlearningathome.com giveaway!  I used to be a rubber stamping blogger and a lot of our giveaways were things that we made :)  Thanks y'all.  Enjoy the long weekend!

Kente Paper Weaving

We are continuing to learn about Africa and the animals that can be found there.  Today we discussed people and traditions.  Jake made a woven paper tapestry in traditional colors.  As I was preparing this craft, I had doubts that he could do it without getting frustrated.  But he was a champ.  I'm so proud... and so is he!

 

This craft gave us an excuse to discuss and learn about patterns. 

Check out the MICKEY EARS!!!

The proud boy and the finished product:

Tot School

Sam had fun helping to build towers and knock them over on our new Melissa & Doug set I found at Goodwill for a dollar something.  See that tongue?  That's the "thinking tongue".  It runs on my side of the family ;-)

He amazes me.  He's so careful and patient.  Then, when it starts to fall down, he massacres it!  ;-)

Since we're learning about Animals in Africa this week, Jake was set to read Sam a book about wild animals.  Sam wanted no part of it, so I handed him his own 'touchy-feely' book.  Then Jake got upset, because his book wasn't 'touchy-feely'.

So they shared for a bit...

But it didn't last long.  Sammy was a bully...

First, he pushed Jake's hand out of the way and then tried to hog the whole thing.  I was proud of Jake for not retaliating!

The Lion King

Today we learned about various mammals found in Africa and we read The Lion King, of course. We'll all watch the movie later on.  We each made lion masks, how fun!

Here's Jake and his mask:

Oh, here's Jake:

And here's my mask, hanging to dry.  So girly ;-)  Hey, I'm outnumbered 3 to 1 (if you don't count the dog and the hamster).  I love any chance to make girly stuff!  Jake refused to give his lion any jewelry or glitter.  Such a boy.

Did you notice the Mickey Mouse earrings?  Yeah, come on!

Got this template from "The Kids Multicultural Art Book: Craft Experiences Around the World".

Picked it up at Goodwill for $0.38.  We'll also be using this for our Epcot series next month!


Take care, y'all!