Hey, are we going to paint with...

So I have been collecting lids to everything, and I had a pile of them sitting on my counter after unloading the dishwasher.  I sent one of the kids to the kitchen to put a sippy cup in the fridge and when she came back down she hollered "Hey, are we going to paint with all those fun lids on the counter?"  Well I actually wasn't planning on it but since she brought it up...YOU BET!!!

So today we painted with lids! -- If you haven't noticed yet we paint with EVERYTHING and the kids have picked up on this and have started finding stuff and asking "Hey can we paint with..." 

Here are some pics of the kiddos painting with lids!

After the painting was done, I usually get stuck with clean up duty,

But today I had 2 volunteers that cleaned their little hearts out!

I love having the kids help with clean up! 

I usually get yippies and horrays, but as the kids get older I get grumbles and sighs! If only the yippies and horrays would last forever when it comes to cleaning and chores!

Do your kids have daily/weekly chores?

Milk Magic

Today was finally the day to try out this "milk magic" activity I stumbled across.  I wasn't so sure about it since I would be "wasting" my precious milk for this acitivity (have you seen milk prices...ridic!)
Anyways I got over it and used about 1cup and it was worth it because the kids went nuts over this experiment. 

What you will Need: 

- A tray of some kind...you just need an edge to keep your milk in

-food coloring

-tooth picks

-dish soap

-milk (i heard whole milk worked the best so thats what we used)

Put a couple drop of food coloring into the milk

then dip the toothpick into the soap, and dip the toothpick into the food coloring spots in the milk

WATCH WHAT HAPPENS!

so coool!!!  the kids LOVED this and after the milk and turned all green and the experiment no longer worked we were done! and the kids were bummed!

I will let the photos do the talking but let me tell you the photos don't show exactly what happened so I say get out the stuff you need and see for yourself what happens!

What simple experiments do you do with your kids?

fall trees

Autumn is offically here!  The weather has been wonderful.

The leaves on the trees have been changing colors for the last few weeks and the kids have really been noticing so today I decided we would make our own fall trees.

here are the supplies that I used.  The item we used to make the leaves was an egg carton cut up in 3 sections.

here are the kiddos gluing their tree parts on and painting their leaves

Working on writing our names and holding our wiriting utensil correctly!

I have been encouraging the children to write their own names on their papers instead of me doing it!  I have seen great improvment over the last few weeks of doing this!

Finished product of one of the kids!

After the babies woke up from their naps we did little foot print leaf trees as well! 

The babies were a little unsure of the cold wet paint squishing between their toes.  A few giggles, and a few tears!

See you Later, Alligator!

File Folder

I have decided to start making some file folder games and last night I got busy making a file folder matching game.  There is a lot of cutting on this one but already this morning my Natalie has played it multiple times!

I got the printable from HERE

After everything was printed I cut, (i printed in color) and then used contact paper to secure everything!  I also contacted everything to a file folder, I used a folder with hooks so that when not in use I can put it away in a file cabniet!  :) 

This is a great matching game and it can be used during quiet time!

What things do you do to keep your kids queit?

Busy Bodies

Who would have thought that giving kids some scissors, glue, papers and markers they would be busy for over an hour making a whole lot of EVERYTHING and ANYTHING!

During the process the girls learned:

- to control the small muscles in their hands (another great activity for this is playdough)

-used LOTS of imagination and creativity

 We worked very hard on keeping our thumbs up!  The girls did a GREAT job!!

 Concentrating VERY hard.

 Busy little Girls!

Being Silly!!!!

Hope everyone is having a WONDERFUL Weekend!!!

Felt Board Friday

Another Friday and Another Felt Board Story!

A couple weeks ago I mentioned we loved The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and have read the story and acted out scenes outside on the slides and even inside as I chased children all over the place!  So I decided I needed to make the story out of Felt! 

Here is my beautiful creation!

Now I was sooo proud of this especially since I am not very crafty, but then my daughter and I had this conversation

Natalie: "What's that?"  --pointing to the troll
Me: "Thats the Big scary Troll!"
Natalie: "he's green, thats weird.  Why does he have red hair?"
Me: my feelings now hurt - "well mommy thought green and red would make him look mean and scary."
Natalie: "He isn't very Big is he?"
Me: "Well he is kinda big...?"
Natalie: "I guess I will just pretend he is big and scary because he isn't!"
Me: "ok." :(

  ---I MUST create a new bigger and better and SCARIER troll--

Any ideas for me on how to accomplish this??

Apples, Apples, Apples

Tis the season that kids are spending time out at the apple orchard, picking apples, eating apples, ect...

So we have been doing lots of different things with apples lately!

We did an apple collage of different colored apples and different sizes.

One may think this is a very simple activity but lots is being done in a child's brain when a child is working on a "simple" collage. 

Not only are the children working on thier fine motor skills by gluing and picking up the pieces of paper but they are also learning

- about size, texture, shapes, and location

- how to create patterns and designs

- the use of imagination and creativity

Here are a few photos:

these are the colors and sizes I used

I have a wonderful thing called the cricut!  I use it often and it cut out all these lvely apples for me!  If you don't have a cricuit and you like to do crafts, decorate, or scrap you NEED to have one or get a friend who has one!

The next acitivity we did with apples was a sorting game i made during naptime.

Sorting is a great skill!

The girls caught on right away and were able to match the words and then the colors!  The little boys needed a little direction but once they realized what was going on they also caught on to sorting and matching.

They noticed the details, likeness, and differences, they understood the concept of color, and used logical reasoning!

here are our white apples

here are the dots that i made

working together!

gluing the dots

my Natalie is a lot like her father and focused all her time on one apple!  Her focus was on green only while the other kiddos ran back and forth with all different colors!

Teamwork!

Finished Product!

Share some of your apple activities...

When I easel paint, I learn...

This week i finally took out my easel which has been shoved away for far to long! 

Easel painting is a different skill than just sitting at the table and painting.

When children paint they are learning:

- to use their imagination and creativity

- to develop eye-hand coordination

- to express feelings and ideas

- relationships of space and size

- concepts of symmetry, balance, and design

Here are some of the kiddos learning away!

Don't mind the mess in the laundry room where I put the kids to do this activity so that they can become smarter!

I know that they are getting smarter by the minute!

To your House, Quiet Mouse!

ABC

I will meet you at the top of the coconut tree!  Chicka Chicka BOOM BOOM!  Such  a favorite of everyone here!  I just had to do an activity for this story!  So we made a coconut tree and used my cookie cutter letters to decorate!

Here are a few photos of the kids working on their trees!

The kids kept very busy with this activity!  Most of the time I let the kids do projects until the paper runs out, but this time when I said only 1 they were super bummed! 

Linking up with a Story + Art = a Great Start

A Mommy's Adventures 

What are some acitivies that you do with your kids for this story?

Bounce Around!

On days when the kids are going crazy and using me as a jungle gym are the days that this bad boys gets put to use...

Today was that day and the kids used up their energy in this bounce around house! 

What do you do with your kids when they are going crazy and you can't get outside because weather isn't allowing?

Apple Stamping

My family and I went to the apple orchard this weekend and had a great time picking apples!  But while we were out searching for the best apple (i have no clue what that actually is) we found LOTS with spots, and bruises laying in the grass and so I thought to myself I am going to snag a couple of these to stamp with!  When I told Natalie this she got super excited!  Painting with food is sooo fun ya know!

So Monday rolled around and we got the Red, Yellow, and Green paint ready and I cut 3 apples in half and the kids ooohhhed and ahhhhed over the inside and the seeds, and then I remembered that when you cut the apple in the other half there would be a star in the center so we cut 2 more apples the other way and sure enough the kids went nuts over the star!!  -- then the stamping began!

of course the kids had a blast doing this and did multiple sheets of them!  I am running out of room on where to hang everything!  because if I choose not to hang certain pics the kids feelings are hurt!  So I hang EVERYTHING!

One of the finished products!

I linked up with Show and Tell  Check it out!

What projects do you do during the apple season??

Creative Catch-up

We have been so busy this week I haven't been able to share everything we have been doing!  So this post may be long with lots of pics but I just want to do a little catchingup!

Apple HandPrints

The first thing we did this week was make apples!  This kept the older kids very busy and was a great activity to work on their fine motor skills! 

Finished Product!!

Cookie Cutter Shapes

The next activity we did for the week was cookie cutter painting!  Its so easy and fun!  We did shape cookie cutters!  We talked about all the different shapes, and how many sides each shape has, ect.

I found a box of  110 cookie cutters so I have a feeling we willl be doing lots of cookie cutter painting!!

Rice Shakers

This next activity gave me a little anxiety since I am not a huge fan of a mess on the floor!  This activity created a HUGE mess on my floor!  But I made the decision before I started the activity that I would stay cool and the mess would be an easy clean up, and to just let the kids have fun!!

And they had a blast!  they have asked everyday since then if we can do it again!

(but I have said no I am not ready for the mess again)

don't mind the few cheerios in the mix of all the rice and sequence! 

Yes, this is what landed on the floor!  I am still finding more rice! 

How to make colored rice...

You can do the whole alcohol and food coloring but I found that koolaid works just as great!

-- Put 2 cups of rice in a ziploc bag

-- Mix a packet of koolaid in 1/4 cup of water and stir briskly!

-- Poor mixture into ziploc bag and mix it together!

-- Poor out over paper towels or a towel (it will stain) and let dry after a few hours/overnight.

The colors are bright and it smells great!

Well that is a quick recap of some of the things I never got a chance to share!  Hope you enjoyed!

To Your House, Quiet Mouse!