Santa Christmas Countdown

My mother-in-law made these with my kids over the weekend and I wanted to share it with you all! It takes so little--lined paper, red construction paper, and white construction paper. Add some scissors and glue. Then you just number the paper lines! Cut one line off each day.

Turkey Lacing Craft

This is an art project and a fine motor skills project all in one!

You need:

• paper bag or brown paper
• colored paper
• glue
• scissors
• hole punch
• yarn

Cut out the pieces. Punch holes around the perimeter of the turkey. 

Have your child assemble the turkey. When she is done, have her string the yarn through the holes. 

Thanksgiving Round-up 2012

Here is the round-up for our previous Thanksgiving posts:

Apple Turkey

Cute, yummy, fruit, fine motor development, patterns...all good.

Cornucopia of Thankfulness

Focus on what you are thankful for this year.

Pilgrim Cookies

A ymmy treat.

Thankful Basket

For teaching Gratitude.











Paper Plate Turkey

This is a super cute craft that teaches colors, counting, fine motor, and following instructions.








Pumpkin Turkey

This is another cute decoration for your Thanksgiving holiday!








Involving Young Children on Thanksgiving Day
Tips for getting your young children involved in this holiday that can seem ambiguous to them.

Making a Menu
Have your children make a menu for the big meal.

TeePee

Thanksgiving isn't just about learning about the pilgrims!

Thankful Place Mat
Have your children make a place mat to eat off of that shows the things they are thankful for.

Positional Words: A Thanksgiving Game
A game for all ages.

Thanksgiving Turkey Card

A cute keepsake.

Top 5 Pinterest Thanksgiving Finds

Five great Thanksgiving ideas we found on Pinterest.

Turkey Countdown to Thanksgiving

A fun way to count down to Thanksgiving!

Turkey Table Toppers

Make some center pieces for your meal.











Thankful Drawing

Get the whole family involved in drawing a picture of the things you are thankful for.







Thanksgiving Books
Thanksgiving Books 2009
Thanksgiving Books 2010
Thanksgiving Books 2011

Monster Family

Here is a fun way to make monsters.

Have your child splatter blobs of paint on a piece of paper. Before it dries, add eyes. Then she has made her own monster family :)

Bringing out the artist in your child

One of my daughter's extra-curricular type activities is an art class at the co-op we go to on Tuesdays. Each week they learn a little about a new artist and do some sort of art project. I was thinking about easy ways to extend what she has learned to help her remember and I came across a website (I wish I could remember where....) that took famous works of art and turned them into color sheets for their kids.
So, along those lines, I came across a fun activity that used Picasa (a free photo program) to change photos into pencil drawings. Like this:

So, I googled Georgia O'Keeffe, let Charis pick a flower she liked, and turned it into a pencil sketch via Picasa. You can do straight coloring, or work on colors, shading, etc.

Or..

 

Or take your own picture of flowers outside (of a goldfish if working with Matisse, etc).

Go Away Big Green Monster! (book and activity)

Go Away, Big Green Monster! is a fun book to read this time of year. It is also very helpful if your child is having fears of something scary being around (like monsters). It helps give the child the idea that she is in control, not the monster.

Here is a fun activity to go along with reading this book.

Your child can make her own monster.

Supplies needed:

• construction paper
• paint
• paper the same color as the paint

Have your child put a blob of paint on the paper--right in the middle. Then have her fold it in half. This will make a shape for the face of the monster. Then have her add pieces of paper for eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and whatever else her monster has. Then she has her own monster to tell to go away!

Seasonal Clouds

I don't know if you've ever noticed before (I hadn't until my husband pointed it out), but the sky seems to change as the seasons change, too. The Fall and Winter sky looks different than the Spring and Summer sky. We've had many night already to just stand in awe and watch the amazing colors and cloud shapes.

My personal experience is that the summer sky seems to be great for cloud shapes and the "What does that cloud look like?" game. The fall and winter skies, though, are my favorite. The color show we've seen, sunsets, and patterns of light have been amazing. So take a look---take your kids out, watch the skies, and compare. These pictures were all taken on the same night. Every few minutes we'd get a different view from the same portion of sky. So, go out, lay in the grass, play ball, play "Captain Hook" (which is why my little one is running), take a walk, and talk about it!

Top 5 Pinterest Halloween Finds

Here are some great ideas for Halloween!

50 Spooky Treats
by Sixsistersstuff

Pumpkin Scented Paint
by Growing a Jeweled Rose

22 Fall Sensory Play Ideas
by Your Kids Table

55 Halloween Crafts
by I Heart Naptime

31 Ideas for an Active October
by Toddler Approved

See more of what I pinned for Halloween here: http://pinterest.com/valplowman/learning-ideas-holidays/ and here: http://pinterest.com/valplowman/halloween/

Letter Tracer Pages

DLTK-teach.com is a great resource for learning activities. I recently ran across their tracer pages and had a great idea. I have been printing them off and laminating them. I print them double sided--so A and B are on the same paper, C and D, and so forth. Then I laminate. Then my girls can use either a dry erase or a wet erase marker and practice letters. You can also use a permanent marker and erase with finger nail polish remover, but I am not the type to hand my kids  permanent  markers. 

This is a great thing to have on hand for learning time. It is also great when you are cooking something in the kitchen and your child needs something to do.

Simple for Mom: Do a Dot Letter

Since I have a newborn at home, I need activities that can be fast for me to prep yet fun for my 3 year old to do. She loves do-a-dots right now. One day, I quickly wrote this block letter M out on a paper, gave her the do-a-dots, and let her decorate the M (the first letter in her name). She fully loved it!

Apple Math

This last week, we did an apple theme here. I came up with a couple new pages for the week and thought I would share them here.

The first was inspired by Raegan's: 

Apple File Folder Game- Counting

I wanted to do this, but didn't want to do the file folder thing. So I made this. I printed it and laminated it. I can write whatever I want on the baskets with a dry erase or wet erase marker. I think you can print from the image, but if not, here is the link in my google documents.

I had her first sort the skittles into three different bowls, then she put the correct number into each basket.

This was inspired by my 

Apple Seed Counting

I wanted to put the seeds on the apple and have the kids do math with them. The idea here is you put seeds in each apple, then the child counts and writes how many under the apple. You decide if the child is doing addition, subtraction, multiplication, division...write that in the square between the apples. The child writes the answer on the provided line. I liked this because I can use the same sheet for all three of my children. I laminated it so I don't have to do a bunch of printouts. My kids get a big kick out of using the markers to write. Here is the link in Google Documents.

Apple Unit Ideas

We must love apples around here because we have lots of ideas for you with apples.

Baked Apples with Cranberries

Paper Plate Apple {plus fine motor bonus}

Simple Apple Sort

Blast from the Past: Apple Prints

Apple Books

Handprint Apple Tree

Apple Seed Counting

Apple File Folder Game- Counting

Apple Sort

Fruit Bowl Math

Miniature Candy-ish Apples

Turkey Apple

Fall Craft: Apples & Thankfulness

Apple Unit for Toddlers

And how about some ideas from Pinterest

Diagram of an Apple

Apple-Themed Activity Pack

Apple Unit (First Grade)

Long List of Apple Ideas

Apple Printables