stART - Reverse Barn Shadows

A Story + Art = a great stART!!!

We have been reading many Farm Themed books over the last two weeks... the book we did this particular day was Barn Dance! by Pat Hutchins..... it is about a Pig, a Cow and a Sheep that get up in the middle of the night to dance while their babies are sleeping... for one reason or another they go back to bed... at which time... the babies decide to dance... my kids really like the rhyming in this...

For our project this week...we did reverse barn shadows...or...I put some painter's tape down on some paper...in what I thought may resemble a barn... the kids painted all over the paper...then we removed the tape...

Braeden loved doing this project...
and was so proud to show his picture to Daddy when he came home!

The girls also did this project in K4... the projects in general came out very similar.. however...it was actually much more messy with the older kids...

Everyone was excited to use the rollers to apply the paint...

The papers eventually got completely (more or less) covered with the paint...

Some of the finished barns...in reverse shadow... after the tape had been removed... you can see it, right? :-)

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

Messy Summer Fun... Week 4... Very Messy

This week for messy summer fun one of the things I had the kids do was paint with frozen paint ice cubes... that I made in the shape of Hawaiian masks... I made them by putting a little bit of washable paint in the ice cube tray...added some water... stirred and put in the freezer for 15 minutes... took them out... stirred again... and put them back in the freezer until I was ready to use them... All the kids had a great time with these... they liked both the texture... and the vivid colors...

It was fun to see the colors "melt" onto the paper...

Overall... messy... but definitely not so messy that it couldn't be done inside...without me panicking...

Loved the project....

The next activity I had the kids do I would strongly encourage you not to do in your house...seriously... very messy...

I filled water balloons up with shaving cream... they were awesome... when they popped... the shaving cream held the shape of the balloons...

Also when they popped... the shaving cream went everywhere...

EVERYWHERE!!!

The kids seemed to be upset when we ran out of them... but no worries.. it was not long before they went back to the water fun...

And other backyard toys...

Some peaceful reflection... or observing the water fight...

To see what others did this week check out Tot School at 1+1+1=1; Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations; Mom 2 lil Posh Divas; Beneath the Rowan Tree and the Weekly Wrap-up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

School Daze ... Rr is for Rainbows...and Ryleigh...

This week in both classes we celebrated Dr. Seuss's Birthday...by making a fun craft, reading some Dr. Seuss Books...and... eating cupcakes...

In Tot School Beginnings I switched over the sensory bin for more of a St. Patrick's Day theme... I think I am going to re-vamp it again for next week... I kind of ran out of time this week so I didn't get a chance to make it what I actually wanted it to be... They also built with big blocks, played playdough, made an art project by using rollers to paint, and did parachute (with bubbles)...

New in Braeden's world this week: His vocabulary is exploding....also he is getting more teeth - he has had the 7 for the longest time but now is getting 10 all at once...

Braeden with some of his friends at the sensory tub... he is getting much better about not throwing the rice... its still pretty frequent... but I see progress...Playing Playdough... he made his friend a "cupcake"...

The kids painting... for a full explanation of this project- check out my stART post...

The TOTS enjoying the cupcakes (I made them minis) in honor of Dr. Seuss....

After preschool one afternoon the girls were playing with a miniature dollhouse...then Braeden got up from his nap...and I thought it was going to be mass chaos...but he played right along with them... I truly envisioned the doll house being picked up and thrown....

Our stART project this week Ryleigh's finished hat has 4 stripes and Braeden's has 3....

In Preschool this week for Calendar time we did the letter Rr, number 15, sight words "can" and "some", reviewed our Spanish colors and numbers (we are learning the Spanish numbers 1-20), and started learning the US States in alphabetical order... so far we are up to Connecticut..
We also worked on telling time to the hour, our Letter of the Week Craft, and I Spy bottles...I have included some highlights from our week:

The girls all ate lunch together after Music class before school started... they had a very giggly time...

Working on her alpha book...

The girls enjoyed doing Roll a Rainbow and a Color by Number Rainbow from Confessions of a Homeschooler...

Completing the rainbow...

Color by number is always a hit...

Ryleigh working on telling time...she caught right on to the nearest hour...

The girls had fun with our new oil pastels and created a color wheel...it was very cute to see their expressions when they made new colors...

One of my favorite blogs is Counting Coconuts... recently she put up a tutorial of how to make homemade I Spy Bottles... so very helpful. I have made 3....so far...I used some of the rice from last months sensory bin...test tube like bottles from A.C.Moore and alphabet beads (each bottle has a different type)... I then hot glued the tops on... These were a huge hit... I made an ABC sheet to go with them, so they could cross off the letters as they found them. The picture isn't great...but you get the idea...

Ryleigh had the rainbow bead bottle....here she is crossing off the letters as she finds them...

Ryleigh enjoying a cupcake...for Dr. Suess...

For our Letter of the Week Craft we did "r" is for rainbow! To make this I made an "r" template...and then cut it down for each color....

The finished "r" is for rainbow!

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.
To see more Rr activities check out The Attached Mama.

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 - The reverse snowflake....

A Story + Art = A great stART!!!!For our story this week, we read Chaucer's first Winter....so cute...about a bear cub who is supposed to be sleeping all winter but was so excited to see the snow that he stays up to play with his friends....

For our project this week...we did what I am now calling the reverse snowflake....sometimes I come up with projects on the spur of the moment...with the best intentions...that don't always work out as planned... anyway...the reverse snowflake... I had the girls fold and rip designs in a piece of paper...(FYI...this did not go well...)...then we used the "template" to cover a second sheet of paper..then used different shaped sponges to put paint on.... All in all...I think they had fun...and they came out cute... but the project definitely took a turn somewhere... :-)

Ready to get started...
The girls tearing their papers ....

We then used the "template" to make our reversed snowflakes...

Ryleigh carefully sponging on some paint...

The finished projects....

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