Creating Art on the Light Table

I got this idea from the Play at Home Moms. I bought some frames from the Dollar Tree and I already had the gems. We used clear glue to get the best results. The kids really had fun doing this. I need to buy more frames! Disclaimer: I know I've said this before, but I feel I need to reiterate: Callie dresses herself. Currently she has this need to wear Josh's undershirts. We have a very odd child! :) I love her quirkiness.

Pouring the glue on.

Starting to create.

Callie decided to write her name on hers...

so Josh decided he needed to also.

The finished products, with no help from me.

After they were done, I pulled out some words made for the overhead projector and Callie and I had fun creating silly sentences and reading them to each other. Josh also had fun just putting the words in various orders and having me read them.

Fun in the Snow

We got a couple inches of snow a few days ago. I had seen on a blog (can't remember which one) where they had painted the snow. I thought we would give it a try. I set out paints and paint brushes and the kiddos headed outside. Well, it didn't work! I think our snow is too dry because the paint brush would just brush right through the snow and not leave any paint behind. Bummer. Callie decided they should paint the sidewalk instead! She stayed out for quite awhile. Josh was only out for about 15 min or so. He is not my adventurous one. Callie takes life by the reigns and says "Giddy-up!"

I asked Callie if she decided to change the spelling of her name to a "K" instead of a "C". She said, "No mom, that spells Kaylie!" Lol!!!

Masterpieces

My little artist.

Trying to build a snowman.

Some Light Table Fun

I was browsing pinterest one day and spotted these awesome treasure rocks from Growing a Jeweled Rose. They looked like lots of fun, so I decided to make some for the kiddos. They were super easy to make, just baking soda, food coloring, and water. I found various treasures from around the house to hide in the middle. I let them dry over night and the kids played with them on the light table the next day. They really enjoyed it.

Just ignore the sorry looking red rock!

Touching them to see what they felt like.

Spraying the vinegar onto the rocks.

"I think I see something!"

Finding the treasure. I love Josh's expression in this one.

Digging in the rocks to find more treasure.

Spraying was too slow, so we just dumped the rest of the vinegar in.

When they were done with the treasure rock, I cleaned out the tub and poured our water beads in it. They grabbed a couple of their plastic cups and started scooping and pouring. I really need to figure out how to take better pictures with my camera because the water beads look awesome on the light table, but I just couldn't capture it. The kids enjoyed playing with these for awhile before they got too bored.

Oh the concentration!

And of course I can't sign off without showing a few pics of our newest member. We don't do school time with her, so she just doesn't get in on all the pictures!

Sleeping Beauty

Two of my loves.

Number Writing

I have been working with Callie on writing her numbers. I was trying to come up with a fun way to do it. I would have liked to do more of a matching game like I did with Josh and his letters, but unfortunately I don't have magnetic numbers up to 100! I don't even think they make them. I just decided to write the numbers on the white board and then skip some and have her fill in the missing numbers. She did really well. I've never had her go to 60 before, but figured she could probably do it. She didn't complete this all at once. She did it in two parts during the day, which was fine. I didn't want her to hate doing it, so I let her complete it on her own time. She actually did enjoy it though and was very proud of her completed work!

She made a mistake and skipped a number (you can see she wrote 60 when it should have been 59), so she erased them, fixed the lines, and wrote the correct numbers. She didn't originally realize she had made a mistake. I asked her to point to the numbers and count the bottom line. When she did this, she saw her mistake and fixed it on her own.

Writing the correct numbers.

All done!

Baking Soda and Vinegar Fun

We have a nature and science museum here in Denver that we have a membership to. One day we went and saw a movie there about volcanoes. They gave us a toy volcano when we went. I pulled it out the other day and the kiddos had a good time taking turns dropping vinegar into it. I had placed baking soda in the bottom and it bubbled up each time. This turned into an extended play. I pulled out a couple cookie sheets and dumped baking soda onto them. I gave them some food coloring and a bowl of vinegar with a dropper. They played with this for about 20 min. So much fun!

Playing with our volcano.

Dropping in food coloring

Adding vinegar

He's not having any fun!

All the colors started mixing together. It looked pretty cool.

Josh just pretty much emptied all his food coloring and it just turned black.

 A fun pictured to leave you with. I love these kiddos!