NYTTJA? I dunno what it means, but I'll take two.

I love IKEA. I have an IKEA problem. I need a 12-Step IKEA program. It's about 45 minutes away from home, but I still manage to go there every other month or so. The stuff is so cheap, I just can't help myself!

A few trips ago I bought a couple of $1.99 frames - with other intentions, of course. They ended up being the wrong size for my original purpose... so I re-purposed!

I made a dry erase board for The Punk! It was easy as pie. Well, a whole lot easier than pie, because pie is actually a fairly complicated pastry to make, but I digress...

I simply put a sheet of printer paper in the frame. Bam! Done! Dry Erase Board!

I feel so accomplished. I think I deserve a pie :)

The "glass" is actually a pretty flexible plastic that I feel pretty safe handing over to The Punk. I doubt it would/could shatter or hurt someone (unless thrown like a Ninja Star) but your mileage may vary.

It's perfect for a kitchen thing. And by kitchen thing - I mean something-to-keep-The-Punk-busy-while-I-load-the-dishwasher toy. Plus it has educational value, and encourages art!

I love IKEA. I love IKEA. I love IKEA. I love IKEA. I love IKEA. I love IKEA. I love IKEA.

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.

If you Give a Mouse a Cookie

Today we finished the work we had left on our If you give a Mouse a Cookie lapbook. Some of the items were taken from this resource, but others were things I made to supplement the lesson. For instance - I made the tracing line work showing the mouse how to get to the cookie. The more we work on these the better he will be at tracing letters and shapes one day.

Match the Cookie Game

Lapbook Cover

Inside: Nursery Rhymes that include mice, cookie matching game, drawing of a mouse, I Spy Circles (in the book), tracing lines, tracking his name, If you give a Boy a Cookie story, and mouse facts (they have tails, ears, etc.).

My favorite part of the lapbook was the If you Give a Boy a Cookie portion. I let the Punk tell me a story while I took dictation - starting with the line

"If you Give a Boy a cookie"...

If you give a Boy a cookie he will want some milk. After that he will want another cookie. Then he will want a napkin to wipe up the milk he spilled, and the crumbs. Then, he will want to go for a walk. They will go to Art Class. If the cars come in the neighborhood they will get smashed so they walk on the sidewalk. They make chalk in Art Class. Then they go home and have a snack and draw on the porch with the chalk.

The End.

Linking this post to Preschool Corner & No Time For Flash Cards