Baking with Ryleigh...Chocolate Chip Cookies...

During class the girls made Chocolate Chip Cookies (Nestle Tollhouse- recipe on the back of the package of chips)... great way to use many skills- listening and following directions, colors (I color coordinate the bowls), fine motor, math (measuring) and science (how and why do the cookies rise?)... but best of all they are just yummy!
The girls adding their eggs...

Using lots of arm strength to stir the dough...

Spooning in the flour...

Adding the chips...

Luckily...Braeden woke up from his nap... just in time to help taste the cookies with the girls... my favorite part is the hair...

Here he is saying..."cookieeeeeeeeeeeeee"....

Taking a bite...

Grumpy that it is not more chocolate-ie ....

Decides to eat it anyway... but decides he will not be happy about it...

For more fun science projects go check out Adventures in Mommydom.....

School Daze.... Tt is for Train...

This week we had so much fun in our classes... with so many kids "signed up" for Tot School Beginnings...hopefully once the warm weather hits we can do some stations outside... I should start looking at backyard swing sets for them to practice gross motor skills...

TOT SCHOOL BEGINNINGS
Braeden is 18 Months

This picture is from this week...if it looks like Braeden is eating the paint.... it is because he is...*sigh*... I just happened to capture it on film...the picture I was taking was of him stamping with the paint...I just happened to snap it at the same time he thought he should taste it...

Last week I had the toddlers put stickers on paper- a great fine motor activity....Braeden really liked it...and not so messy...

They also painted with water only...on construction paper... Braeden LOVED this one...

At the end of "class" we did parachute and bubbles... it is of course...the highlight...

PRESCHOOL
Ryleigh is 45 Months

I made a color by number Winter Scene Printable...the girls enjoyed coloring it...

We starting Rhyming puzzles this week (Melissa and Doug)... I really like these types of puzzles because they are easily self check-able (if the pieces fit together it is right)

NIGHT SCHOOL.... Ryleigh had a playdate on one of the nights I prepped some of the projects for school... instead of playing the whole time (which they still did plenty of)...they came over and wanted to practice measuring things.... (which is not what I was prepping)... so I got out our fun Insect Pattern Kit and some rulers...

Ryleigh practicing the pom pom transfer with training chopsticks...

We made ginormous squishy crystals... to see how check out my detailed post...

Ryleigh working on her alpha book...

The girls enjoyed doing this connect the (alphabet) dots to make a "T" that I found from making learning fun...

Our sight word this week was "said"... her Ryleigh is working on a book from Hubbards Cupboard...she is underling the word through out the story...

Our finished "t" is for train Letter of the Week Craft...

To see what others did this week check out Tot School at 1+1+1=1; Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations; and the Weekly Wrap-up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

stART- Shape Train

At our house Braeden is in LOVE with Thomas the Train.... pretty much as equally as Ryleigh was at his age with Winnie the Pooh.... anyway- we have a lovely collection of Thomas the Train stories in a hard cover book...I cannot find the picture online...and as Braeden is currently sleeping...there is no way I am going in his room to grab it to take a picture.... so you will have to take my word for it. It is about trains. Perfect for our "Tt" week.... For our project we made a train...out of shapes...because I like to multi-task learning.... :-)

Three Rectangles, One Square, Three Little Circles, One Big Circle,
One Triangle and the letter "t"....
Ryleigh gluing the start of the project...

As we did the project, I called out the shapes...much multitasking in this activity...if you will...listening and following directions, letters, art, shapes, colors....gluing... lots of fun!

The finished shape train...the "t" is the smoke stack...

For more great stART posts check out A Mommy's Adventures!
For more fun projects check out My Delicious Ambiguity , ABC and 123... Red Ted Art and JDaniel4's Mom

Gianormous Squishy Crystals

This week for our science experiment we made Gianormous Squishy Crystals.... the girls loved this fun project. You will need: a teaspoon of polyacrylamide crystals, a test tube (or glass) and some warm water. To start the project put the crystals in a test tube or glass and add 5 ML of warm water... put it aside for 15 minutes.... repeat until the water is no longer absorbed (we did ours for over an hour and they got huge!!)

After putting in a Teaspoon of polyacrylamide crystals, we added in 5 ML of warm water and set the test tube aside for 15 Minutes...After 15 minutes-

Adding 5 ML of warm water to the forming crystals

After 45 Minutes-

Although the crystals appear to be hard...they are actual soft and squish-ish...The girls had fun playing with the crystals. I had them try and break them apart, bounce them, slide them and squish them around.

The girls found that they were slippery, squishy and hard to break...bounced great...

For more fun science projects go check out Adventures in Mommydom.....

School Daze.... Vv is for Valentine....

TOT SCHOOL BEGINNINGS
Braeden is 17 Months
This week I had 9 kids come over to play with projects...I had stations for a sensory bin (rice with Valentine themed items); a fine motor- straw in the Parmesan cheese container- Braeden didn't do this one, so I don't have pictures of it; play-dough; and sponge painting... we ended with parachute time and bubbles... for the most part it was pretty quiet (surprising!) and calm....

Braeden sharing the sensory bin...with multiple friends... a complete 180 from last week...

Look at me...being brave... having so many toddlers paint in my living room... things seemed to be going really well.... Braeden was loving it...I had them use sponges to paint with...

Braeden was totally into this project.... loved it very much...and then it was time for cleaning up...then the throwing of the paint project started.... it could have been worse...it was washable paint and things are cleanable.... the important part was that he loved it.... we will be venturing at this again....

The quiet after the storm... playing with some play-dough....having been calmed down and distracted by another mommy while I frantically cleaned up paint from the floor....

The play-dough held his attention for a little while...plus I really like this picture...

Braeden...having a conversation with his new friend during parachute time...I have no idea what they were talking about...

Lots and lots of bubbles....and kids... :-)

Braeden at Art class at my friend Michelle's house...(pre-haircut)...here he is decorating a heart...

Also at art class- thank you for the picture Michelle! Here he is using watercolor to paint a coffee filter heart...personally I think Michelle is very brave to give him so much paint... but he LOVED it...and did it for a very long time...and got very messy....but Michelle says it is the process not the product...

Watching a game tucked in Daddy's pocket...he sits there a lot...

PRESCHOOL
Ryleigh is 45 Months Old
This week we did the Letter Vv.... and did many Valentine themed activities....

For our Letter of the Week Craft, they did "v" is for valentine.... to see the step by step (ish) process, check out our stART post for this week....

Ryleigh at Art Class-Thanks for the Picture Michelle! ...She painted with watercolor on a heart shaped coffee filter....So pretty!!!

Ryleigh using come glitter glue and stickers to make a Valentine....

Using Bingo Markers to do this do-a-dot V that I printed from Confessions of a Homeschooler...

Working on these number cards- I printed them and then laminated them for lots of future use! I also got these from Confessions of a Homeschooler

I had the girls look for different letters and then match these valentine themed alphabet tiles...(I made them from scrap-booking stickers...I just flipped the sticker back around to make them permanent...)

Beading beads onto the stick part of what I think is supposed to be a floral decoration for Valentine's day...either way...great fine motor activity...

Some cutting practice...this sheet happens to be also from Confessions of a Homeschooler...but I find them all over the web...or I make my own....by drawing lines... :-)

Putting heart stickers on "Vv"....another great fine motor activity...

The girls started measuring this week...I used some inch (1-4 inches) worms from my gigantic math tackle box for them to practice on....they did really well and picked up the concept right away....

Ryleigh practicing telling time (to the hour)... after she figured this out...she has been doing it the rest of the week....perhaps I will introduce half-hours in the near future...

Using training chopsticks to transfer pom poms from a fruit cup container to a heart shaped ice cube tray/muffin tin that I found at the target dollar spot....

To see what others did this week check out Tot School at 1+1+1=1; Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations; and the Weekly Wrap-up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.