Joyfully Weary

Early this week I posted some of our favorite Independence Day books and thought also share some of the activities we've been doing as well. As I've mentioned before, these activities are geared for my children ages three to six. They are used as a supplement to Big Buddy's (age 6) first grade curriculum which you can read about here . Flag themed rhyming cards   I've made the pdf available  here . Language - Nomenclature cards and definitions.  I've made the pdf available  here . If you would like to create three piece cards just print two copies and cut the names off the ends.  Flag themed rhyming cards.   I've made the pdf available  here .

Over the last two weeks, in Big Buddy's history curriculum , we've been reading about Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar. History is probably Big Buddy's favorite subject; he enjoys hearing old stories and learning about ancient cultures. As we make are way through the The Story of the World: Ancient Times , I've been very impressed with Big Buddy's ability to remember details and his continual thirst for me knowledge. I supplement with lots of other books and Big Buddy is constantly asking me to read him another book/chapter.  After reading about The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, I thought Big Buddy would enjoy creating his own version. I'm constantly saving interesting junk and had some cardboard toy packaging pieces from Christmas that I thought would be the perfect base. I then gathered up a few other craft materials and set Big Buddy free to design his own hanging gardens.  Our Supplies Other than setting out a book for Big Buddy to reference I ...

We are finally past Ancient Egypt in our history book ( Story of the World ), but before we move on we decided to make some Egyptian Collars. The Ancient Egyptian's cloths were pretty simple, linen skirts or dresses, but they did have a flair for accessories and jewelry. The children had commented  on the collars in some of the books we read and I thought it be a fun way to end our unit.  Supplies: felt, chalk, scissors, tacky glue, paint brush, acrylic gemstones , and if desired large & small circles for tracing.  Step 1 : use chalk to trace a large circle on to the felt about the size of the child's shoulders. Also use chalk to trace a small circle for the child's neck with an opening in the back. Step 2 : cut out circles. Since cutting felt can be a little tricky I did this part. Step 3 : spread tacky glue on the back of jewels and then lay them on felt to create your own design. Since tacky glue can be a little tricky to get out of the bot...

In Big Buddy's history book, The Story of the World , we've spent a lot of time studying Ancient Egypt. One of the coloring pages from last week was of some Hyksos jewelry and the kids thought it be fun to make some of their own. Hyksos, are known for their work with bronze, but we made ours gold because those were the materials I had on hand.  Our Supplies: paper roll tube, scissors, acrylic paint, brush,  Sculpey clay , nail, and a hot glue gun.  Step 1: have each child press their clay (i gave each child 1/4 of the Sculpey cube) in to an oval shape. Then have child use a nail to decorate their clay with hieroglyphics . I had each child try to make their initial in hieroglyph, the rest is just their own design.  Step 2: bake clay pendants at 225° for 20 minutes or until clay is hard.  Step 3: while clay is baking, cut vertically down the paper roll tube and then cut horizontally to make bracelets - we were able to make 4 br...

Big Buddy has moved on to three-digit numbers in his math book and it was suggested to get a Base-10 set . We debated purchasing one for awhile; having hands-on math counters has really helped Big Buddy, and our other children, grasp math facts. We have some  unifix cubes , an abacus , and we have made our own montessori bead bars  and 100 board tiles . The idea of spending almost $30 on another somewhat bulky math counter didn't seem like the wisest decision. I knew, however, that having counters would make learning how to add and subtract three digit numbers a lot more straightforward for Big Buddy. I debated making some more montessori number beads (see ours here ) when I ran across our colored matchsticks . We have used them for counting and building shapes before (as well as some crafts) and we still had plenty left make some 100 counters - at no cost! We grouped sets of tens together and secured them with some small rubber bands (from Dollar Tree). Once we had made...

This past month we've been learning a little bit about winter - original, I know! We've done a winter theme is the past and I've been rotated some of those activities on our shelves as well as adding some new ones. In addition to my three kids (2, 4, & 6) I also babysit a 5-year-old girl. These activities are designed for their various ability levels. For my oldest, Big Buddy, these are a supplement to his first grade curriculum.  Here are the new items I have added, you can see our previous winter theme unit, here .  Language lower case and capital letter mitten matching: i've hung a rope across one of our doorways and  the  children match the letters and then use the clothespins to hang them.  *i've made the pdf available here . homophone mitten matching: follows the same process listed above but with homophones. I have made the pdf available here. snowball letters: depending on the child, they can either ...

One of my favorite wintertime picture books is the the Caldecott winner,  Owl Moon . The illustrations are, of course, fantastic but I also enjoy the excitement and magic the the girl in the story feels for this "adventure" with her father. All three of my children sat with anticipation as I read it too them. They also, all three of them, now want to go owl hunting. Especially Little Lady - I think she's asked me over a dozen times when we get to go. After finishing the story we looked up the Great Horned Owl in our  Encyclopedia of North American Animal s to learn a little more about them. The boys were very impressed that it has such sharp talons and that it dares to eat skunks....boys :) After we finished our research, we set out to make our own Great Horned Owls out of a lunch sack. Our supplies: paper lunch sack, two newspaper sheets, glue, brown/black markers, scissors, brown/black/yellow construction paper.  Step 1:  draw wings on the b...