Fish Fingers

We made Fish from Fingerprints to learn more about the letter F today. The Punk pressed his fingerprints in the watered down paint to make the water and a few goldfish, and Mommy added the fish details (fins, eyes and tails). I saw a similar idea here, and added it to our Art Wall (which is somehow becoming an Alphabet Wall with all of our letter projects!). The letter we printed was from here, and then we backed it with construction paper before hanging it to dry.

This post was linked to: Preschool Corner

Hoppy Easter to all our Peeps!

We made a quick and easy Easter lapbook today. Some of the content was borrowed from Confessions of a Homeschooler. Some was borrowed from Squidoo. And some was just plain Googled and put together by Me!

We sorted Peeps, and then made Peep Patterns. The Punk had no idea what a Peep was, so I must make a mental note to get him a pack of Peeps for his basket.

We played the Egg Matching Game, and I was amazed at how well he did. Some of the patterns/colors are very similar, but he matched every one of them correctly.

We then helped the chocolate bunny find his way into the Easter Basket. this is a Word Template I created and I change the clip art to/from for whatever suits our lesson. He's getting much better at staying on the lines. I feel bad that he gets so frustrated with himself when he goes out of the line, but he's so darn proud when he does a good job that I keep giving him more chances to work on this.

Our first maze EVER. Look at that kid! He traced the path with his finger the first time, and then he "knew" how to get there. He is very excited to show Daddy this one.

Our cutting work today was a lesson on "fringing". It was hard for him to not cut all the way through, he loves snipping and shredding paper. He finally "got" it when I showed him we were making Easter Egg Grass.

I printed a simple egg template from Google images, and had him decorate some eggs. We picked his favorite ones, and hid them in the grass he had cut. Then we drew some happy clouds, and he asked me to make "some gwitter-y ones!", so I added a few glitter glue clouds to the back.

The lapbook came together fairly quickly this morning. We ended the lesson by reading Happy Easter Little Critter before his nap.

Easy: E

Eggs, Easter Bunnies, Ears, Eyes, Eyelashes, Elbows, Elephant's Trunk, and Ellen (The Punk calls her Ellen Magellan).

This post linked to: Tot School

Eggs in a Nest

This week we made bird seed feeders, and molded them into egg shapes using last year's plastic Easter Eggs. You can find a ton of mold-able bird seed recipes online, but we used this one and it came out great.
I had intended for the walnuts to be stashed inside some of the seed eggs as a base to attach yarn, and also a little surprise for the squirrels after the seed was gone, but that didn't go exactly as planned.

It's a sticky mixture! Unflavored gelatin and bird seed WILL get on your work surface, hair, under your nails, on your clothes. It's rather easy to clean up, but it does stick to everything.

Inserting some seed mix into the plastic eggs. Once this was done we put the eggs in the refrigerator to "set" the gelatin for a while. How long? Long enough for me to clean up and the Punk to take a nap!

Then we set about making our bird nest. We used the yarn and a balloon technique with a bit of Elmer's glue. Sloppy, gloopy, messy, and FUN! Just cut the yarn into 8 to 12 inch strings, dip in the glue and drape over the balloon (placed in a bowl so it wouldn't roll around).

Hey look! Our eggs are done! We "cracked" them out of the plastic molds, and put them on a cookie rack to dry for a few days. The ones where I used walnuts inside broke in half and the walnuts fell out. So, I don't recommend that after all. But, we still managed to use them by gluing them back together with peanut butter. Waste not!

After the nest seemed mostly dry we took it off the balloon and gave it another good coat of glue. It was a little on the flimsy side, so the extra coat made it stiffen up and seem sturdier.

And here is the Punk holding his lovely nest and one of his lovely bird eggs. He was so proud of this craft. It took several days with all the drying time, but he was very patient and worked hard on each step of the process.

We packed the nest and eggs up and took them to my Mother's house. He stayed the night, and they took a little walk around her yard and finished the nest with all sorts of Nature Findings.

Leaves, acorns, flowers, berries and a bed of grass to lie on... could a little seed egg ask for more?

This post was linked to: No Time for Flash Cards and Peanuts are Evil

C is for Confetti

C is for Confetti! I had considered candy, cookies and cranberries - but I was afraid those would be a.) eaten before/during the gluing session, and b.) not something I want hanging on the Art Wall to attract insects. So - Confetti it is! We hole punched and cut paper to make lots of tiny sprinkings. It was fun, and now I am excited about introducing the Punk to confetti eggs this Easter!

Linking to Tot School... , Linking to Ultimate Alphabet Craft Collection...