Melted Snowmen

I wanted the kids to fingerpaint yesterday, and painting a melted snowman is a good project for that.

It feels nice to slop paint around with a finger.  Freedom!

I cut some snowman parts out of paper earlier. 

The kids added them to their melted snowman.

 The kids thought it was funny to make a melted snowman! 

They were proud of their art.

At the little red table for two days now we have been playing with pom poms, assorted cups and clothespins.  It's amazing how much time they will play with this!

Out in the vegetable garden, the pumpkin still stands.  In the winter of 2013, we left a pumpkin to see what would happen.  It decomposed and grew more pumpkin vines.  I thought we should do it again, this time with this beautiful bumpy variety.  Oh how wonderful it would be if we can grow another bumpy pumpkin!!  We continue to watch it for any changes. 

♥♥♥Happy Friday!♥♥♥

Mind Blowing Science

Boy did we do a lot yesterday!  First, we noticed more crows outside than normal.  We put some nuts outside on the front railing for them and waited to see if they would come and take them.  

They are still on the rail.  

On the little red table we had some foam dough.  This is a great manipulative!

I ordered this in December for preschool.  It includes almost everything to complete the projects.  We completed one of them yesterday!

We created giant jiggly crystals.  

We placed a tiny scoop of crystals into the test tube.  The kids learned how to use the pipette to draw water and squirt water.  We measured 5ML each time.  

This project took some time, because we had to wait 15 minutes to observe what the warm water would do to the small crystals.  

This is what they looked like in the beginning.  Very small!

We set our crystals aside and created a quick cheerio bird feeder!  The birds population has been heavy lately!  First the kids filled up one pipe cleaner with cheerios.  Next, I added a second pipe cleaner to the first, and twisted it around at the center point.  

We paused after fifteen minutes to add more water to our crystals. 

Once the pipe cleaners were full, we twisted all of the ends together into a ball.

We added some yarn for easy hanging.

I put mine outside so the kids could watch the birds.

It was the crows who showed the most interest!

Petra kept chasing them away.  The feeder is still out there, untouched.

Smudge missed the whole thing.  He was napping away on the dryer.  That has been his spot for a couple of weeks.

We continued to add water to the crystals until they had grown and reached the top of the test tube.  See inside of the small scoop?  That is how small each crystal was when we began.  The kids were very surprised! 

We dumped them out for the kids to squish and poke.  Jiggly crystals are pretty neat!  The best part?  I have enough to complete this project twenty more times, at least.  You can purchase your own science kit HERE AT AMAZON.  

It was worth every penny, and a steal at around $16.00.

♥♥♥Happy Thursday!♥♥♥

Back To Normal

The pencils have come out of the cabinet.  The kids can all hold the crayon correctly, and since the crayon is a little bit larger and easier to learn with- that is what we use to write with for the first few months of preschool.  We have now switched to pencils.

We are now working on the letter Ii and the number 8.

We completed a simple task for the letter Ii.  The kids glued the ice cream cone together onto their papers and moved on to trace and write their own letter i's. 

Those who can do it, wrote their name using a fine tip marker.  I have three preschoolers right now who will start kindergarten in September.  How will my heart go on?

They are so smart!

At the little red table, the kids enjoyed the geoboards and rubber bands. 

Meanwhile, we had a crazy sloppy storm in Washington that caused flooding.  

This is the state of our back yard all winter, every winter.  MUD.

I think he's hiding from the mud.

I miss gardening.  Now that the Wisteria has dropped it's leaves, I can prune it.  The pruned apple tree needs pruning again, too.  I'm very happy that I received a new set of garden pruners for Christmas.  My old ones were held together by an ill fitting screw- one we found in the garage to help it hang on for just....  one... more....snip... 

Hey!!  Something amazing has happened-- the new Annie soundtrack.  I have not seen the movie, but I can tell you I was pretty nervous about the remake because the original soundtrack is so dear to me.  I love the new version.   The kids have a dance party every time "Hard Knock Life" comes on, and Cameron Diaz does a wonderful job with "Little Girls".  (Believe me, I was skeptical.) 

♪Brilliantly done!!  I love a good remake. ♪

♥♥♥Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥

Calendar Art

Happy New Year!  I am extremely thrilled that preschool is back in session!  Now that Christmas has passed, I can share with you the calendar art that we worked on as Christmas gifts to parents.   I have completed this project before with Henle House, but it has been a few years.  I ordered the set of twelve blank calendars HERE AT DISCOUNT SCHOOL SUPPLY.  Here is what I love the most about them= they are completely blank, so when I have leftovers they are good to use for any year.  I spent some time filling in all of the days for each calendar. 

We created eight calendars, one for each enrolled child.  I loved the art so much this time that I should've had one of my kids create one for me.  I didn't though- and now I regret that!  I use one of these calendars each year for tax purposes to keep track of my hours each day.  We created handprint penguins for January.

A Valentine for February.

A painted rainbow with a pot of gold for March.

Two Spring ducks for April.

Fingerprint poppies for May.

A clown fish in a tank for June.

Each child in a hot air balloon for July. 

A night owl for August.

♥A fingerpaint Fall tree for September! ♥

Two bats for October.

A thankful turkey for November.

And last, but not least, a torn paper snowman for December.  

The kids each wrapped their special art calendar to take home and place under the Christmas tree.  It was so much work!! We managed to finish it all in two crazy weeks.  

♥♥♥Happy Monday!♥♥♥