I am Hungry!

Another SUPER easy meal!

I call it BUBBLE PIZZA!

(remember the amounts of ingredients that i use are to feed an average of 10 kids)

Ingredients:

2 cans of pillsbury biscuits (10 in a can)

2 cups of cheese (more if you like lots of cheese)

1 jar of your favorite pizza/spaghetti sauce

-pizza ingerdients (whatever your favorites are, we keep it simple with pepperoni, and sausage)

Instructions:

In a large mixing bowl combine ALL ingredients EXCEPT 1 cup of cheese

- I like to tear each biscuit in half. 

Then i just mix everything together! 

Pour everything into a greased 9X13 pan

Throw in the oven for 20mins

Then after 20mins I add the rest of the cheese

Through it back into the oven for another 10mins or until golden brown
I don't have a finished picture because I had straving children!  But the pan was empty and I heard lots of mmmms, this is yummy, more please!

This is another simple meal that the whole crew LOVES and eats it all gone!

Linking up with Watcha making Wednesday 

Advent Calendar

I hear and see everyone talk about their advent calendars and starting that tradition with their kids.  I have never done this before and really didn't know what an advent calendar was.  So I did a little research and came up with a whole lot of information! 

What I discovered is that an advent calendar can be what you want it to be during the holiday season, its pretty much a countdown of what is to come "an arrival"

Starting Dec. 1st I will have 17 daycare days (this doesn't include weekends and 1 other day because I am closed) so I made a 17 day advent chain link calendar.  On each link is 1 or 2 activites that we will be doing that day to celebrate this wonderful season!

Here is my list of activities:

Day 1:  Have a Dance Party and Decorate a Gingerbread Man!

Day 2:  Read to the children Matthew 1:18-25 and do a coloring page while I read.

Day 3:  Paint Christmas Ornaments while we listen to Christmas Music!

Day 4:  NO NAP DAY!  (i will regret this) make a Christmas Frame!

Day 5:  Play with Wrapping Paper and Listen to different books on Christmas

Day 6:  Watch a Christmas Movie

Day 7:  Decorate Christmas cookies

Day 8:  Make a Santa Handprint

Day 9:  Bring the Snow in to Play with! (I hope there is snow by then...not really I don't care for the snow but its all about the kids...right?!?)

Day 10:  NO SOCK DAY!  this is fun trust me!  and we will make choc. spoons!!

Day 11:  Read from the Bible Luke 2: 1-14 and make an ornament out of pipecleaners and beads!

Day 12:  Make Pretzel Snacks

Day 13:  Nativity Scene Craft

Day 14:  Open a Present (which will be a new book) which we will than read!

Day 15:  Make a button ornament!

Day 16:  Make a Reindeer Handprint

Day 17:  Read from the Bible Luke 2:15-20 and do a coloring page.

I am sure there will be more things that we add that wont be on our advent calendar but  this will keep us plenty busy!

Here is our chain link advent calendar!

I hope you enjoy our ideas and be sure to come back to check it all out!!

(hopefully I will be finding the time to document everything we do! and then some!)

Whats on your advent calendar??

linking up with show n tell 78, and linky party #7

The Final Turkey Projects

Thanksgiving is over, and the Christmas season has began (at least in this house it has), but I wanted to share 2 turkey projects before we began all our Christmas Projects!

The first one is our paper plate turkey

-although I just cut out circles on white paper because I was out of paper plates-

I then cut out another circle for the face and then some feathers and some feet.

The kiddos painted the body, drew the face, and glued on the feathers and feet!

Here is a pic of our beautiful turkeys!

the faces that they drew make me smile! 

Then we did the handprint turkey!

I don't think any explantion is needed for this :)

I let the older kids paint their own hands, and I painted the younger kids hands.

The older kids found that it was very hard to paint their hands but LOVED doing it!

The younger kids thought it was very tickly, and cold!

Finally we ended our Thanksgiving week with feather painting.

We painted using both sides of the feather, the tip and the "bigger end" 

I found the older kids enjoyed using the tip of the feather where the younger kids enjoyed using the bigger end of the feather. 

This is the last of our
"fall themed" projects...now its time to move on to Christmas/Winter!
We have a lot planned to come back for all of our exciting projects!

The Thankful Turkey

About the 2nd week of November I decided that we needed to start talking about what we are thankful for!  So I decided to make "The Thankful Turkey"

The Turkey had no "feathers" when we started at each day or whenever the kids asked we would add more

 "thankful feathers" to the turkey!

It was a great activity for all the ages to talk about what being thankful was and all the different things we are thankful for.  We had everything from being thankful for God, to being thankful for their my little ponies!

Here are some photos of our "Thankful Turkey" and some of our "thankful feathers"

This was the highlight of my day these past weeks, I loved hearing from the kids and what they were thankful for!  I loved listening to the "little" kids really think and answer the question!

My favorite was a little guy that is OBSSESSED with his grandpa and his cows!  So the very first time we did this, I asked him what he was thankful for, no answer, so I replied what makes you so HAPPY and thankful!  He answered "The moo cows in granpas pasture!"  Seriously these kids make my day!!

Linking up with Show and Tell #77

What are you Thankful for today?

I am Hungry - Chicken on Noodles

I decided to start posting some of the food we eat around here! 

I hear the words "I am Hungry" at least 20 times a day!  I mean I will just have breakfast cleaned up and already the first kid is telling me they are hungry!  Its crazy! 

Because I am the only one that works here I am not only the childcare provider but I am also the cook (and many other titles)  I find being the cook the hardest job because I have to keep an on all the children and get the food ready for all these hungry kids!  It can be my most stressful part of the day!  But after 3 years of doing daycare I am learning to prepare in advance to make my life a little simplier!  I was tired and feeling guilty of the hotdogs, the mac n cheese, and other junk I was feeding the kids!  So after getting some inspriation from a few blogs not only to cook for my own family but my daycare family as well!  So here is my first blog post on a meal (i have done other blog posts on treats)

I have no pics because by the time I thought to take a pic the food was gone!  Which made me think to blog it! :)

I have no idea what to call this other than "yummy chicken in some cream stuff on egg noodles!"

SOOOO easy to make and super YUMMY!!

 2LBS chicken (i used 1 bag of frozen chicken breasts)

2 cans cream of Chicken Soup (duh isn't cream of something in every dish!)

1 can Cheddar Cheese (i was a little hesitant buying cheese in a can)

put everything on crockpot 6-8 hours...low

I shredded my chicken when it was done to make it easier for the little kids to eat! 

--I don't want to have to use my cpr skills anytime soon--

I served this over egg noodles (cook egg noodles according to the package!)

I normally don't eat the "daycare food" but this smelt so yummy I put it on a bun (the noodles were gone) and ate it....SOOOOOO good!!!

This is a must make for anyone, not just small kids!

I am by NO MEANS a food blogger but I know many mothers out there that struggle to feed their kids or do the fast food thing because its easier, so hopefully my little food ideas will help some mothers and other daycare providers out!  and this was easy, yummy and when kids empty their plates and ask for seconds I know its a "winner, winner, chicken dinner!"

What are some of your kids favorite meals??

ABC

I found this website with these great printable ABC letters.  They are cute and the kids really enjoy doing them! 

I don't know how educational it is but right now my daycare kiddos are into coloring actual coloring pages so I figred these are possibly better than some coloring book page!  and they are FREE! 

Click HERE to go to the website so you can get pages like this:

-bragging moment-- my daughter colored this page, she did such a great job!-

I decided once a week we will do a different letter, but not just crayons, but different "tools"  to make it a little more fun and not so much like we are doing a work sheet!

Sing-A-Song Sunday

Everynight during dinner time we ask our daughter what she is Thankful for.

And every night she sings

We are Thankful

We are Thankful

For our Food

For our Food

And our Many Blessings

And our Many Blessings

AMEN!  AMEN

We are so thankful over here and have many many Blessings!

we now sing this song before we eat our lunch during daycare!

The Shapecrows

I really wanted to make scarecrows with the kids but couldn't find something I LOVED or that didn't invovle cutting out to much or was to difficult for a group of kids with all different ages...

Then I saw a scarecrow on pinterest and thought hey its made of shapes, shapes are always easy to cut out, so I guess my idea came from pinterest (imagine that).

We didn't call these scarecrows but instead we called them shapecrows!

I really wanted to make something and then have the kids make the same thing by looking at mine.  I was sooo impressed with what the kids were able to do.  The oldest did it with NO help!!  As the age of the child got younger they needed more help but for the most part they were able to look at the model and figure out what was next!  They turned out awesome, and the kids really enjoyed this project!

Funny story before we get to the pics, but I told the kids it was time to clean up and that after clean up time we would do a craft!  They all looked at me like "whats a craft?"  So then I said its like a project!  to which they picked up as fast as they could and off to "project time"!  I just love my group of  kids!!

Here are a few pics of the kids hard at work!!

the kids were bothered that my shapecrow didn't have straw coming out of his hat, so they of course all added the straw!  :)

We just love our happy little shapecrows!!

The shapes we used:

Head - Circle

Hat - Triangle, and rectangle

Body - Square

Arms - Rectangles

Legs - Rectangles

Straw - Tiny Rectangles

Hope everyone is having a happy relaxing weekend!!

Glue + Watercolor =

A little bit of super fun!!

We haven't painted a whole lot lately and I couldn't remember the last time we did watercolors

Along with this activity we read the book

During their project time I pulled up youtube and we played songs about the fall!

The kids LOVED this!!!!

What you need:

paint, glue, paper, watercolors, and paintbrushes

I choose brown paint to stick with the fallish theme colors!

I just added brown paint to white glue...super easy!  again you can use whatever color you want and this activity can be done for so many different things not jsut a fall/leaf themed activity!

Then make whatever floats your boat that day...

(i would give it at least 8 hours to dry)

i made these while the kids were playing playdough the day before

I also made one that said "FALL"

After it dries, you will be ready to go with some painting!

Here are the kiddos busy being creative!

This activity lasted over an hour.  When the kids were done with their fall themed paper they were given blank pieces of paper and painted and painted while listening to fall songs!

What fall themed projects are you working on?

Linking up with A Story + Art = A Great Start

pLaYdOuGh

PLAYDOUGH...do you love it or do you hate it

Kids:

imagination

creativity

fun

messy

discovering

busy

Parents:

its a mess to clean up

it gets every where

it allows my child to use their imagination

my child is learning and doesn't even know it

my child is making the muscles in their hands stronger for all those other fine motor activities like WRITING

my child is happy

my child is busy

--yes playdough is messy and can be a pain but can we put that aside for all the positivies that come along with it?--

my lists are small, playdough is fun for all ages, and so much can be done with playdough!

From free play, to forming letters out of the playdough!

Again no pics...lazy lady! 

But I do want to share with you my FAVORITE playdough recipie!  Its the best for your basic playdough!

The Best Cooked Play Dough Recipe
This recipe makes long-lasting play dough.

1 cup flour
1 cup water
½ cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
1 tablespoon oil
Food coloring

Mix dry ingredients and mix wet ingredients(i add the food coloring to the oil this will keep from staining hands), then stir together. Stir constantly over medium heat until the ingredients change from a lumpy paste into more of a rubbery blob. The color will also change a bit, turning less pastel: If you use red dye it will become less pink and more red. Turn out onto a working surface and knead the dough. After making the dough store it in zipper-style bag!

I usually have to add a little more flour to it after I take it off the heat...I keep adding until its no longer sticky but just nice and soft!

--if you don't like food coloring you could add a packet of koolaid instead, it will make a great color and smell wonderful (be prepared the kids might try eat it because it smells so good!)

This playdough will last a long time and will get many uses out of it!!

Now go make some playdough so your child can learn!!!

whoo, whoo, whoo!!

I felt like we hadn't painted for awhile...

I have been a tad lazy...

today we painted with brown...

i think the kids thought...BORING...

but painting is NEVER boring...

We got busy...

and then SURPRISE...

we painted our feet...

you see feet painting over here is fun, funny, and makes me happy...

cold paint, a brush that tickles, wet rag...

the squeals, the giggles, the pulling away but wanting me to pull back...

little kids learning self-help skills...

taking socks off...

putting socks on...

painting is messy, but by the end of the day everyone is happy...

I didn't take pics of the process because again just a tad lazy...

so here is the after...

easy, fun, cute..

what do you love about painting?

Sing-A-Song-Sunday

Twinkle, Twinkle, Traffic Light

-to the tune of Twinkle Little Star-

Twinkle, Twinkle, Traffic Light

Around the Corner

Shinning Bright

Red Means STOP!

Green Means GO!!

Yellow Means Very, Very, SLOW!!!

-i do sign language for red, stop, green, go, yellow, and slow- 

I STINK!

"I Stink" is the book that we have been reading all week and often since its a very favorite of ours! 

I love the book because it is funny, uses new and different words, and has an alphabet "rap" in it! and its just cute!

While reading a blog post with a super cute idea I kinda made my own version of it!

In that blog post the blogger made a monster, but for our project to go along with our book we made a garbage truck!

The garbage truck is hungry all the time and LOVES to eat names and the alphabet!

Here are a few pics of our garbage truck in the making and the after look:

I used a klennex box, wrapped it in black paper

It doesn't look that great since I am using tape as my reinforcments but it will do the job!

add some eyes and some things on the top to give it a truck/ears look :)

We also decided it needed wheels so on the side i cut out cirlces and added the wheels!  The kids were disappointed they didn't spin so i might have to uprade him and get some reinforcements to make his wheels spin!  :)  The things we do for kids!

Very simple and easy to make and the kids just love our garbage truck!

We then played a few games with it,  I wrote all the names down of the kids and then the kids would have to find the names of the kids I called out and feed it to the garbage truck!

FEED ME!  STRAIGHT INTO MY HOOPER!

(when you say that as the kids are putting in the names it makes the game all that much more exciting!)

CRUSH THEM, MASH THEM, SMASH THEM!!

this was a GREAT way for the kids to recognize their names and the names of their freinds!

They LOVED the game and got super excited when the kids would "feed" the garbage truck their names! 

We also played another game feeding the garbage truck all the letters of the alphabet!  I put a sticker on a milk lidS and then the kids would have to find the letters and feed them to the garbage truck!  A very simple but a fun game! 

Also to go along with the book we have been painting with "trash" Check out this post and this post.

I linked up with A Story + Art = A Great Start

I also linked up with Show and Tell #76

This is just a fun way for the kids to learn their alphabet and start some reading! 

What are some fun things you do to help children learn their alphabet or start reading familiar words!

recycled materials

If you read this blog post you will learn that we are reading the book "I Stink" and are having fun painting with "trash" its actually recycled materials but it is stuff that the garbage truck would take away.

If you have not read "I stink" you must get to it!!  Such a fun cute book!!

Anyways today we did a different but yet very fun project that again invovled mixing colors like my last post!  Its like a 2 for 1 deal over here :). 

What you need is anytype of clear plastic bottle WITH a lid, and some paint!

Then you need some kids with LOTS of energy to shake these bottles up!

What we did was paint the INSIDE of a bottle!  It really is SUPER easy, takes very little time, but yet its a new and different experience and the kids loved it!

Here are some photos:

this little guy checking his paint out after he shook it!

Yes I trusted the kids to squirt the paint in themselves

(i will admit I had a VERY difficult time doing this)

-this was MORE than enough paint!

watching al lthe colors mix together!

was somewhat annoyed that the colors he choose made pink (red and white) lesson learned! :)

"cool!"

showing me how he is going to shake his paint up!"

all of our different bottles and their paints!

I highly recommend this activity for younger children, children that need to use up a little energy, and chidlren that have a short attention span because if they want to be done after 5 shakes thats totally fine and if they want to hang onto it until I rip it out of their hands so they can eat their lunch...totally cool!!! 

What recycled materials do you use??