What do you have planned for the 4th? My family traditionally has gone to a local parade and then to the lake for the day! I thought that the boys might like some “Flare” for the parade this year… Something to wave at the passersby. Something patriotic! I altered a project I traditionally do around Mother’s Day for the 4th and I think they will work perfectly. We make “coffee filter” flowers for our mom’s sometimes in Kindergarten. They are pretty easy once you get the hang of it and you can whip out a bunch of them in no time! My boys made the ones pictured, but you could also make a bunch to hand out to friends! You could also just plop them in a vase and use them as a centerpiece, I think they kind of look like fireworks! I’m sure you’ll think of something creative to do with them! Here’s the scoop:
4th of July Flare…
1 JulHandprint Sunflowers
24 Jun
My husband Ben, coaches high school baseball. Did you know that on your resume for coaching you need to indicate whether you “spit seeds” or not? I guess it’s a prerequisite for coaching the sport of baseball, who knew???? Well baseball season is over, but for some reason, spitting season is not. Just for the record, I am not a fan of seed spitting. I will, however, tolerate this as I live with four dudes and I’d much rather they spit seeds then spit ANYTHING else… Needless to say, the seed spitting habit has brought about a few questions around our house… Where do sunflower seeds come from? Where do sunflowers grow? How big do they get? Should we pick some? As you know, I like to use every opportunity I can as a teachable moment, so Daddy’s “habit” was turned into a quick lesson on sunflowers. This project came about after our lesson! To duplicate the project you will need:
white construction paper
Yellow & green tempera paint & brushes
white glue
sunflower seeds
I simply painted my boys hands with the yellow paint and lightly pressed their gooey fingers on the paper to make a hand petal! I repeated this four times in opposing directions to mimic the shape of a flower. I then let them paint their own stems and leaves. Once our pictures had dried we used white glue to attach a few (don’t worry Daddy) of Mister’s sunflower seeds to the center of our flowers… Viola, handprint sunflowers! I think we’ll keep these up all summer, they are so sunny!
Bath Paints
22 Jun
Are your kids filthy? It seems like we are taking so many baths now that summer has arrived. I mean between sunscreen, bug spray and chlorine, we have to rid them of all chemicals on a daily basis! To spice it up a little bit I found this “recipe” for bath paints that I thought would be fun. Basically you mix shaving cream (you might want to use sensitive skin/unscented) and food coloring together. I did it in a muffin tin just for ease, but you could mix them in little bowls too…. I just filled the tins with foaming shaving cream and then added one to two drops of food coloring. I know, I was a little worried it would STAIN my tub, but it didn’t. I know you are thinking, “but when I drip a little on my counter it is hard to get off…” I thought the same thing… Even as I was mixing this last night, my hands turned green! Why does the green always leak???? My theory is this: Food coloring loses its staining power once it is mixed with something… You see, play dough doesn’t stain, frosting doesn’t stain, colored water doesn’t stain, and shaving cream doesn’t stain… It didn’t stain our tub and the boys had a blast! By the end of bath time they had covered the walls, their brushes and their belly buttons with shaving cream! I had to empty the tub in order to give them a “real bath” once they were done. It was so worth it, however, because they played in the tub for a good hour + (so I took this fine opportunity to clean their bathroom, YUCK). This morning they woke up asking if they could paint in the tub again… I am going to try another bath paint recipe this week just to mix it up for them, but I assure you, this was a hit!
Garden Labels
21 Jun
Summer in Minnesota is amazing… The weather, the lakes and the gardens! I just love it! This year the boys have had a great time planting and watching (well it’s just sprouting) the garden! Last year we didn’t plant as many vegetables because we were part of a CSA, but this year we have a large garden at the lake! Shaeffer definitely has the “greener” thumb, planting all of the corn and cucumbers(his two favorites) himself, but they are both interested just the same. I also just love their names for the veggies. For example, cucumbers are “pickles”, watermelon is just “melon”, corn is “corn on the cob” even if it’s just corn, and onions are “youngyons”. Today was a little bit of a rainy day so I gave the boys some note cards and had them make labels for the garden. I insisted they use crayon for no other reason except that I think kid drawing in crayon is adorable! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE their depictions of the vegetables and they insisted that “pumpkin” has two p’s in it… I love that! We mad a ton of cards and still don’t have enough for all of the rows… I am planning to laminate the cards (so they hold up better in the rain) and nail them to the stakes that mark each row. This is a picture of a few of the cards and I will try to snap one of the rows with the finished product attached once I laminate them! I think they turned out rather cute! You could even attach them to popsicle sticks and plop them in the dirt of a potted plant or container garden! Either way, the boys were busy for about an hour trying to “remember” all of our plants, insisting we had broccoli (which we don’t), refusing to do asparagus (YUCK) and needing bribing for tomatoes (but you love ketchup)… We forgot about rhubarb, peppers, and cantaloupe, but we can always do more! That is the luxury of an easy project! Let me know how yours turn out!
Summer Journal or Life Book
9 Jun
So many parents have asked me how to keep up the academics over the summer. One idea that I have came from my own classroom. I used to job share 2nd grade with my dear friend Kim and we did this with our students. It really can be adapted for any age or academic ability and it’s super simple! Here is how it works…… Each day take a picture of your child doing something. Maybe you’re at the zoo or maybe you are playing with the hose in your back yard. Maybe you are on a family trip to Mount Rushmore or doing puzzles on a rainy day. What ever it is, snap a quick picture and print it off… Tape the picture to a piece of paper and have your child write about what they are doing in the pic. If you don’t have the ability to print the picture, just show it to your child and have them write about it. You can always add the picture later. Its’ a great way to remember your summer and practice your writing while you’re at it. Younger children may only write one or two words where older children may chronicle their day in paragraphs. You can bind your “life book” together in a binder and have a collection of summer memories to look back on. We are starting our Life Book next week and I can hardly wait! It will be fun to look back at each summer and not only see what we did each day, but see how our writing has improved. You can do a journal entry each day, every other, or even just a couple times a week…. Adapt it to fit your family!
A Great Day for BUBBLES….
1 Jun
Homemade Bubble Recipe
2 Cups Dish Soap (I have found Joy works the best, but any are fine)
6 Cups Water
¾ Cup White Karo Syrup or 2T glycerin (available at drugstore)
Combine, shake, and let settle for 4 hours before using. Again, we’ve used this right away I just don’t shake it as much…
Store covered in the refrigerator to extend suds shelf life. Then allow warming before using. I store it in my garage and it seems “perfect”
Bubble Tips
• Do not stir wand in suds, this avoids foaming.
• If foam develops, scrape off with stiff card.
• Keep suds clean, avoid dirt, grass, bugs etc.
• Use a 9×13 cake an or pizza pan for suds.
• Bubbles are best on humid days
• Joy and Karo syrup work best. Other brands will work, just maybe not as “awesome”
• Direct sun light weakens suds.
• If bubbles get in eyes, Rinse with water
BUBBLE WAND: Bend a metal hanger or even just a pipe cleaner into desired shape (but the bubbles will still be round)…For small wands tie a twist tie to a straw.
Who doesn’t love bubbles?
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Project
30 May
This month in Kindergarten we celebrated the books by Eric Carle. He has so many fun books for kids with amazing illustrations. At home, my boys LOVE Eric Carle. Shaeffer has actually had an Eric Carle birthday party a few years back…. One of their favorite stories is “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. Here is a project to go along with the book… It was relatively easy and I think they turned out so cute!
You’ll need:
White construction paper
Water Paints
Scissors
Google Eyes (optional)
Balloons
Tempera Paint
markers (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS:
On a small plate poor a little bit of green tempera paint. On a second plate pour a little bit of red tempera paint. Blow up the balloons to about the size of a grapefruit. Use the balloon as your “paint brush” and dip it into the paint. We used green for the body and red for the head to resemble the caterpillar in the story. I actually tried mixing a little blue in with the green and a little yellow in with the red to give it a blended look, but in the end it didn’t matter too much! Allow your caterpillar to dry and then add google eyes, mouth etc.. with either paint or markers. While your caterpillar is drying or on a separate day, draw some fruit that the caterpillar might enjoy eating. Cut out your fruit and paint it using water paints! I let my 5 year olds do the drawing and they did a remarkable job! I just instructed them to make the fruit “BIG”… Once both projects are dry, cut out your caterpillar and either tape it to the fruit or add two slits (as seen) and weave it through the fruit… I think this one is framable, I just love the colors! These three were made courtesy of three friends from Kindergarten. I posted them because I love how different they are! Good Job Friends!
Potty in the Park….
16 May
If you are a mom of a boy or several boys you might be able to relate… I myself do not have any brothers so having three boys has been a learning experience to say the least… I guess one of my first lessons as a mom of boys relates to the potty… Potty training boys is a bit of a different experience than I expected, but it is one I have survived (at least for two of the three). Lets jump ahead a couple years post potty training… Lets jump ahead to today, May 16, 2011. I have my three boys; 5, 4 and 6 months at my oldest son’s t-ball game. My husband is not with me because he is at his own baseball game. The process of bringing my 5 year old to t-ball should not be a hard one, right? It’s an hour long game, there is a playground right next to the field, and the weather is perfect, what more could a mom ask for???? I’ve set up shop with our stroller, blanket, snacks and water! We are ready for the next two innings (t-ball is a two inning game, love that). Did I mention I’m at this game alone, meaning no husband? Well I am and I’m pretty sure I’m the only “single” mom in the bunch. To be perfectly honest, I’m pretty sure I’m the only one without a grandparent, aunt, cousin or even neighbor with me and for sure the only one without “THE DAD”. I quickly get over the loneliness and am enjoying my son’s game. I do feel a little bit like “that mom”, however… You know the one….The one with the three kids, sitting in the back, baby fussing, 4 year old whining for a snack, and trying her best to cheer on her eldest son! BUT, I also feel a sense of power, a sense of hey I can do this, a sense of pride… But then it happens, that one thing they always ask you about at job interviews… My t-ball player pulls down his pants to go potty… Potty in the park, why not?… I mean why wouldn’t you just go right there? When you’ve gotta go you’ve gotta go… I pee in my grandpa’s yard, I pee on the side of the road on long trips, I pee in the woods… Why wouldn’t I pee at the ballpark? It makes perfect sense! Unfortunately, the poor boy didn’t actually get to “go” because the 40 plus fans who were watching the game all started laughing and of course I’m yelling “no buddy, there is a potty here”… In all of the hubbub he got embarrassed and started running away. So now here I am running with a baby in my arms and a 4 year old chasing after me all to try and catch up to my runaway streaker. To top it off “that Dad” starts chasing us… You know the one, the dad who is all buff and in shape, the one that’s wife is adorable, the one who has the cutest kids… Yep that Dad… He catches up to my son and says to him “stop crying and start running with me”. The two of them high tail it over to the potty and take care of business. In the mean time I’ve “dumped” my baby in the lap of some mom I’ve never met, my 4 year old is crying because he’s not sure what just happened and I’m pretty sure the other Mom’s are thankful this didn’t just happen to them. I thank “That Dad” for his help and jog back to the field….I got my ball player back in position just in time for the last batter! He smiles at me, gives me a little wave and is back in his ready position! I gather up my belongings (meaning my other two children) and act like this is no big deal, but I’m pretty sure this is a day I will never forget. As for my slugger…. I’m pretty sure the cookies and juice he got after the game have erased all memories of any embarrassment he felt. Someday I’ll tell you about what happened after the cookies and juice……. but maybe only if you’re interviewing me for a job!
TAKE A HIKE…
11 May
This Minnesota girl is soaking up this spring weather like I were a sponge in water! I guess that’s what happens when you’ve spent the last several months cooped up! One week ago we were dealing with snow in May, I had to turn my heat on to keep our tootsies warm. Yesterday our tootsies were sticking together and my boys were begging to go swimming in “G’s” lake. Much to their surprise, they got a quick lesson in “hypothermia” and the importance of the sun in warming our lakes! Today my mind has shifted from swimming in ice cold water to spending some time hiking around and taking in the natural wonders our state (whose birthday it is today) has to offer. I encourage you to “Take a Hike” in the next couple of days… We’ve taken fun hikes around some of our outstanding parks, trails, and lakes. I also love the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and Richardson Nature Center. Both have so much ‘nature’ to offer as well as some amazing summer classes for kids! Taking a hike is a great way to build family traditions, values, and learn about our surroundings in a hands on way! So go on now, go take a hike!
Charlie the Ranch Dog
4 May
Like many of you, I stalk the website/blog of “The Pioneer Woman”. I am constantly amazed by her witty banter, creativity, and amazing meals! I am especially in love with two of her dogs, Charlie and Walter (her new puppy). You see, I have always wanted a Basset Hound. Growing up, my Uncle Kirk had one named “Boggie”. Among other things, one of my favorite “Boggie” stories is that he would howl when my uncle played the piano, as if he were singing along. Boggie would call us on our birthday’s and “sing” happy birthday to us, it was one of my favorite birthday treats! The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, has written a children’s book about one of her lovable dogs, Charlie. The book is adorable! She actually reads it online at Barnes and Noble’s “online story time”, as well. My class and I watched the story yesterday and they have been asking for it again and again (which is so uncommon). Needless to say, I think it’s a hit! I can’t wait to get it for the boys! 2 of my favorite things in one; cute basset hounds and children’s literature!
ABOUT ME
Hi, My name is Shannon Dodds! I am the wife of Ben, mommy of the S brothers and legal guardian of Wrigley. I have taught elementary school for 12 years, have a hard time keeping my house clean, love warm weather, gardens, and a good book! Join us on our adventure!
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