Paper Garden

The hot air balloons are always floating over our house because we are next to Blackmans Lake.  It is still exciting, nearly EVERY time.  We can hear the heat as it shoots up into the balloon.  I took this sometime last week, but this morning there were two balloons above us.  

I have been cleaning out magazines.  I have a short attention span when it comes to magazine subscriptions.  It's usually Country Gardens, HGTV and or Taste Of Home magazines that I subscribe to.  The Country Gardens magazines are great for creating garden collages.

Since not all of the kids here can use scissors safely, I spent some morning time cutting out pretty photos of gardens.  I also looked for people enjoying the gardens, garden chairs, watering cans and supplies, veggies and animals that might visit the garden.  

The kids enjoy when they get to pick and choose what they like.

The older kids used scissors to search for and cut out their own pictures.

We talked about who likes to visit a garden. "Worms!"  "Bugs!"  "Butterflies!"  I reminded them that moles also like the garden, cats enjoy it, birds, squirrels, even deer.  They were surprised.

We talked about how not everyone has a garden, and not everyone enjoys having a garden.  We all have our own hobbies.  I love to look at the garden.  Not just my own, either.  Here is Snohomish when I go on my walk, there are so many beautiful gardens to enjoy along the way.

I encouraged the kids to fill up the paper as much as possible.

I was happy that they even chose to use the photos of people enjoying or working in the gardens.  Working in them is just as much fun for me as watching them grow.

It was a simple project, and much more useful than just tossing the magazines in the recycle bin.

We had a string of beautiful gardens!

Something glorious arrived-- my first Scholastic order in two years.  My favorite thing about Scholastic is when they offer paperback books for $1.00.  I usually order enough of those to give one to each preschooler.  Plus, when I order, it earns me some points that I can use towards a future order.  Children's books are so wonderful!  I think that reading stories with the kids in group time is my favorite part of my work day.  I probably order more books for the Autumn season than any other.  The prices just can't be beat, and I love that they just arrive at my door.  Hooray for Scholastic!!

♥♥♥Happy Tuesday!♥♥♥