Marbled Eggs

We created marbled eggs yesterday. :) 

To create the marble effect, (Which turned out more like a speckled egg, really) just add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil to the egg coloring.  Mix the oil into the water vigorously immediately before lowering an egg into the mixture.  Leave the egg in for at least 30 seconds, remove it and add it to another color. 

Kind of fun! 

To make sure we didn't get our eggs mixed up, we used crayons to write names on the eggs beforehand. 

The only thing I didn't like about the oil was that I had to clean the eggs off afterward.  I let them sit for a few minutes so my cleaning wouldn't wipe too much of the color away.

The kids each dyed two eggs. They fit nicely into snack sized ziplock bags.  Easy peasy!

♥♥♥Happy Easter!♥♥♥

Jesus Lives

John chapter 20 will tell you the story of Jesus and his resurrection.  The kids are learning that Jesus came back alive. I don't know if they get it.  That's alright!

I prepared the crosses ahead of time.  This time I just cut out the cross frame and stuck it to the contact paper, and then trimmed the excess off.  

The kids chose what colors they wanted to use.  Again, tissue paper works the best if you want to allow light to come in through your stained glass art.

I wrote Jesus Lives on mine.  I thought that they might not even understand that.

On theirs I wrote Jesus Is Alive, but then I didn't want them to think that he is walking the earth.  I keep mentioning that he is in heaven and that he came back alive after he died on the cross.  Sometimes my mind feels like it's going to explode if I can't get them to understand something.  Then I remember, most of them are 2 and 3 years old.  It's alright. 

Don't they look beautiful? 

♥♥♥Happy Thursday!♥♥♥

Planning Ahead

Yesterday was a beautiful day.  It was the perfect opportunity to sit down and plan out the entire summer as far as Henle House goes.  The kids had a great hour of outside time in the sun, and I got my planning done!

I have several books that have been acquired here and there over the past couple of years.  These are great go-to's when I am in a bind.  Summer activity and art planning is somewhat different than preschool planning.  Summer is more relaxed.  We don't do art every day, but in place of that I have an organized activity in mind to use as a back up plan.  It's good to have something to fall back on!

Here's what it looks like.  Just calendar filled in with an idea for an art project or and activity.  Of course, if we have a fun idea on the actual day, we will just do that instead.  Sometimes my brain just stops coming up with stuff to do. (Surprise!  Actually, that is MOST of the time.)  That is why I love to have a plan written out for myself in advance to refer to.  I don't think there is anything worse with a house full of kids than for the kids to be bored or bouncing off the walls, with NOTHING planned to offset that. 

I like to save past ideas that have been found.  I keep my notes, too.   We are now ready! 

I think this could be good for stay at home moms with kids in the summer, too! Just a simple list of fun activities to refer to later, only even BETTER, because those families may have the option of getting out more than we do.  So the importance of keeping busy and entertained is GREAT at Henle House. 

Hooray for Spring!  Out came the rope chair a couple of days ago.  I love to sit here and look at the blossoms, listen to the birds singing and watching the ducks and fisherman on the lake.  The chair is hanging in the precise location where the sunshine is the warmest in the afternoon. Perfect!

♥♥♥Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥

Challenging Myself By Preaching

I forgot to take photos yesterday. I thought I would just share with you what I have been up to lately.  I'm taking the path I never thought I would take as an adult- a Teaching, Preaching and Witnessing class that our church offers. Yes- that means I have to preach.  In front of people.  Whom I will then have to see again afterward.  Let's just not mention the panic that I have about messing up God's word in front of people who are seasoned speakers.  Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!

I have become shy over the past 18 years when it comes to speaking to adults.  I think that my line of work with children has not exactly helped me.  I am used to having conversations with three year olds.  In high school I loved speech and debate.  I actually won an award for an impromptu speech.  In fact, I won awards in improvisation  as well.  Now I can't stand to play Cranium because I know I may have to act something out- I would rather not.  When I signed up for this class- I was sure I was just going to die.   We are four classes in- and while I feel a little bit more comfortable speaking to the small group of people who have been in class all of this time- preaching to them freaks me out.  Keep in mind- I will never actually be a preacher. (Thank you, God.)  I believe that God's design for the church is that a man should lead it.  

 Life can get so boring without a challenge.  I need this class.  Even if I mess it all up, I will feel better knowing that if I am brave enough to get up and preach in front of people, everything else I have to say in front of people will be a piece of cake.  Being in a position at church where I am usually standing next to my husband youth pastor, I need to be able to communicate with people.  It is our job to spread the good news about God and to encourage others to do the same, regardless of where we are or what we do.  I hope to gain that boldness.

One thing I know for sure, God is my rock.  I will be clinging to Him throughout this whole process. 

Interested in free Bible college? 

Click on this link for information.

♥♥♥Happy Tuesday!♥♥♥

Snow Morning

They could not wait to get out into the snowstorm we had on Friday. 

Is it time yet?

We had a morning snack and then bundled up to go play. :)

Gloves kept disappearing, boots kept falling off, but everyone was thrilled about the snow!  We did not get snow this past winter.

Stomp, stomp, throw, squish, watch, they enjoyed it.

I was worried about the flowers that had recently bloomed in the gardens.  Silly me, as if God didn't make them strong enough to withstand the snow he created..

Here is the same yard 6 hours later!  The snow was here and gone, all on a Spring day. :)

♥♥♥Happy Monday!♥♥♥

Free Play/SNOW DAY

Free play is important!  It's a time to learn how to share, how to use imagination.  We have free play in the morning and at the end of our day.  Too much free play results in bored kids, so it is rare to have a day of just free play.  I think I would go crazy!

Riding horsey and flying the superhero around.  Sound effects, too.

Hmm, how does this go?

There we go!  Now that I have my fix it gear on, we can get down to baking. ♥ I LOVE it!

 Look at the silly prank the weather pulled this morning?  I think my sunshine dreams have been dashed. Yes, I'm lamenting. Big time.

I must find a way to save my gardens.  They are really looking beautiful right now!  Dear snow, please die.

The kids are arriving with snow gear! It will be a fun day for them.  I will spend it dressing them and undressing them from the wet gear, that is a full time job in itself. :)  Right? 

♥♥♥Happy Friday!♥♥♥

Patterning

We have been practicing patterning lately. :)

We began with a simple one yesterday.

I cut out some shapes to use over the next couple of weeks.

They caught on pretty quickly! I think that even some of the young 4 year olds are 

already ready for kindergarten.

 This guy worked independently on his paper.  He did a great job!

This is a good way to reinforce the shapes and colors as well.

While the younger ones are not ready to identify a pattern, they do enjoy the act of gluing shapes onto the paper.  It's fine motor skill development!  At her age, she is already learning to hold a crayon. CORRECTLY!  Never discount the simple act of gluing paper together. ♥

Smudge was "printer kitty" all morning.  

Happy Spring!  Yesterday was the first day of Spring, and boy did we celebrate!

♥With fresh chocolate chip cookies.♥

♥♥♥Happy Thursday!♥♥♥

Fifteen

Every child should be able to get some preschool experience.  I keep learning about more and more local in home childcare providers who do not implement preschool into their daily schedules.  I'm not sure why that is. I find preschool to be so much fun.  Not only do we play and learn, but it helps the day move along more quickly and we feel a sense of completion.  If you are a childcare provider who wants to start something up, feel free to contact me and I will help you out! 

We glued the number 15 onto our paper, colored it and then glued 15 paper pieces onto the 15.

I like how colorful the 15 is.  It brightens up the art wall!  

It is pouring rain today, good thing we swapped out some of the playroom toys last night for some awesome ones they haven't seen in a while.  Boy did they all have tunnel vision this morning when they saw the change!

♥♥♥Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥

Now playing; 'On Top Of The World' by Imagine Dragons.  I am on top of the world. ♥

O Is For Owl

Oo is for owl, we decided to throw  out the boring worksheet and create hand print owls.  The kids glued on a tree branch. We used black paper to create the night sky because owls are nocturnal.

They kids love to have their hands painted! 

One upside down hand print, two eyes, a beak and two claw feet later, we had a snow owl!

They added some green leaves for color.  We are very happy that spring is on it's way.  We have been checking the trees outside for new leaves.

Owls are a hoot! (eye roll here.. LOL)

I LOVE the owls, how sweet. ♥

Some of us learned how to play the memory game yesterday.  This is such a great game- very simple, yet highly entertaining to a child.  It was very cold yesterday- they wanted to come inside from afternoon outside time.  This game was perfect.

♥♥♥Happy Tuesday!♥♥♥