A lesson about Letter B is for Bus (school bus) and Shapes

This week we talked about Shapes and the Letter B.

After explaining the 4 basic shapes (Triangle, Circle, Rectangle and Square), I gave each kid one Triangles, four Squares, three Rectangles and two Circles.

(you can download and print this example)

Then I asked them to take the big yellow rectangle. Then the small yellow rectangle and glue it like the example I had brought. 

Now they had to look for a blue rectangle (and don't confuse it with the blue squares! :)

The 4 squares were the most fun to glue! They could already see the bus in shape!

Triangle was a little tricky but yet they did a great job!

And then the 2 circles so the bus could drive away! 

bruuuuuummmmm!!! :)

Letter A craft Activity for Preschoolers

Letter A for....APPLE TREE, just in time for the season!

Craft:

This is a fun activity to do with your little one. You only need some green and red paint. Paper and a brown crayon/marker.

1.- Have a paper and draw a tree trunk

If you want you can color it.

Next step is kind of messy but kids LOVE this! 

2. -Let your kid put one of his hands in the paint. (I used some paper plates to pour the paint). 

3. -Let them put their hand on top of the trunk so they make the crown of the tree (leaves).

4. -Then, with their clean hand, just using one finger and the red paint, some dots here and there...and there you go...Apple Tree

Books we will read this week:

Tangled Birthday

 It’s been a long and lovely break but it’s great to be back posting here again. Today I’m sharing about my daughter’s  5th birthday. We had a Tangled inspired Party. Since I have so many new things I want to post, I am going to show you more picture and less words! :) Hope you enjoy this and all of my posts.

The invitations was just a Flynn Ryder Coloring Page but substituded his name with the words "Wanted your presence at ______'s birthday Party: We'll get tangled up in fun!"

At the bottom the date and time, address (at ______'s Tower) and RSVP. Easy and really inexpensive.

Garland Template

We made a beautiful banner-garland using purple colored cardboard and to make the sun we made a handmade stamp using a potato and some yellow paint. So easy!

Here you can download a template I made for you to use. 

My daughter loved it!

We put some activity tables together. This table was Coloring Table. We used the "Tangled Activity Kit" that you can download here.

We bought some super cute lanterns and some watercolor paint at on Oriental Trading and let the children color them.

"Pascal" need some color too! This was really a hit! These little Pascal-almost-look-a-like can be found also on Oriental Trading's website. They have super fun stuff!

We decorated the playground with purple and yellow streamers.

My daughter's rainbow lantern.

I used a drying rack to let the lanterns and Pascal dry.

Kids used the streamers to pretend to have very long long hair (this was something they invented and I thought it was really cute)

"Rapunzel, let your hair down!"

This was a really fun birthday! I put some glow in the dark sticks ( Oriental Trading) in the goody bags so they could put them inside the lantern.

Thank you for coming to the party!!! 

(Girls and boys Thank You bookmark)

Painted Pine Cones - Christmas Ornament

Thanks to MG for this excellent idea!

All you need for this Christmas Ornament is :

1. Pine Cones
2. Paint, glitter
3. Kids willing to get painted, dirty and have fun!

Paint here...

Glitter there...

All you need to do after that is let is dry. (Have the kids take a bath). Some ribbon and Voila!

You could also make Christmas Tree Ornaments with them. 

Amazon's Deal of the Day

Check out Amazon's Deal of the day! These 2 scholastic storybooks classics dvd collection!  
I don't like television for my kids, but I allow them to watch a show on rainy days for a half hour normally, so these dvd's would be perfect now that fall has arrived!

A is for Acorn - Acorn Paper Garland

This week is letter A week...we decided that since it is fall season (just started), we would make something special to decorate our house! We made an acorn garland. This is how:

We fold the paper accordian style. You have to make sure that the squared are the same size of the template. 

I made this template you can download. You are free to use it. Remember to put the fold-line on the edge of the paper and NOT to cut where the dots are. 

Open the garland and paint (My daughter made a "blue" squirrel)

We used water colors. They are perfect for this kind of craft.

Enjoy!

Lanterns

Decoupage Ikea Drawer with my kids

Question of the day: What can I do with this Fira Drawer from Ikea?  I really want to put some color on it. I don't want to use paint...

Answer: I asked my daughter to cut out of magazines all the things she liked. Then we used glue, water and a brush... and voila! We made a beautifull collage on a simple drawer. She uses this to put all her paint supply. 

This tecchnique is called decoupage and is really simple. I haven't tried it with the special glue they sell for this. I used regular classroom glue and a little water. The bad thing is that the magazine paper gets really wet and you have to be very careful that it dries before putting the next coat. Next time I will use the Mod Podge Satin All-In-One Decoupage Sealer / Glue / Finish (8 fl. oz. ) . They say it's excellent! 

 

Eggcartons flowers

This project is so easy and so beautiful! Just cut out the cartons and each egg holder is just a flower. Make some petals and paint! It's a very nice activity and cheap! Here is what we did.

My daughter cut out the flowers

The flowers after making some petals

Putting some colors 

Best Teachers present ever!

In the center we glued some colored cotton balls and made the stem with wooden skewers. My daughter's teacher was so happy with this present!! And my daughter so happy to have made it all by herself. 

Happy San Valentine!

I know...it's San Valentine. But laundry has to be done. Now here is the real story...

I had some towels for laundry...and accidentally trow a red something in the machine (don't remember what it was). This is what came out of my whites...including my daughter stuffed animal. At first I thought my daughter would cry when she would see her favorite stuffed animal....but when I saw her face, waiting for "Manolo" to be ready, I said: Happy San Valentine! 

Her face went from surprised to super happy! Now she has a pink Manolo!! What better than a pink dog and on San Valentine??? Perfect present! 

Sometimes bad things happen for a reason...always positive!