sorting

Materials:

Several small objects of same color  ( I got these small baby favors at Dollar Tree)

This lesson was entirely impromptu.  Not planned at all.  I was getting things ready for an upcoming baby shower and keeping my 2 and 3 year olds out of it was impossible.  I decided to let them help me sort the colors.  

I had forgotten what an important math skill this is.  They had so much fun sorting into sets that I think I may go get more after the shower!

What amazed me is I was being so narrow-minded and said lets sort these by color.  My two-year old did this for a while and said,  "Mommy,  we can put all the bears together too."  
There are so many math lessons you could teach with these.....I look forward to sharing them with you!

puzzle fun

Materials:

*Premade boxed puzzle (24-25 pieces)

I know I'm not telling you about anything new and groundbreaking here......but thought I'd remind you about puzzles.

I thought my kids would only want to play with the board puzzles designed for preschoolers.  Imagine my surprise when one day I pulled out a more complicated one for us to work on together.  My two-year old loves putting them together.  I do have to assist her but she puts many of the pieces together all by herself!  She loves bragging to me that she is "very good at puzzle games".

This is a fun thing for the 3 of us to do together for some quality quiet time.  

super letter of the day

One thing my kids love to do is to pick a letter each day for us to talk about.  It is an easy, fun way to reinforce the alphabet.

Materials:

Recycled container ( I used an old coffee container)

Letters (You can make your own or buy pre-made...Dollar Tree often has them)

Directions:

Pick a letter each day.  I let both of my kids each pick one.  I then let them tape them to the wall.  We then sing the coordinating song from our alphabet chart and cd.  

I love our chart and cd but you could easily do this without it.  Try listing words that start with the letter or practice "writing" the letter with play-dough,  sand,  etc.

easy Christmas crafts

These easy crafts are simple enough for a one,  two, and three year old to make!  I had the joy of doing this with my kiddos and one of our favorite neighbor and friend.

Materials needed for Santa face:

Santa face template ( got mine from DLTK kids)

cotton balls

glue

Basically you glue cotton balls to the beard,  I remember doing this in elementary school myself.  I put the glue in small bowls and had the children "dip it, dip it, then stick it" to their pages.  It is amazing that something this simple is so fun for all kids.
Materials for Christmas letter picture:

Paper

Marker

Christmas themed stickers

Write the first letter of the child's name on a sheet of paper.  Let them "trace" their letter with the stickers.  Older kids could do their whole name and write it themselves.

thanksgiving turkey

Thanks to my mom for making this very cute turkey with Zander last weekend!

pilgrim faces

This is an easy, quick, fun Thanksgiving activity!

Materials:

template of pilgrims

googly eyes

pom-poms

glitter glue

glue dots(if you want to make it really quick and easy) or glue

Print out the templates.  Let your child make a face on his or her pilgrim using materials provided.  They LOVE the google eyes and pom-poms.  You could also use markers,  crayons, paints or the medium of your choice.  We then made glitter mouths.  Once everything was dry, I taped their pilgrims to the wall....they have loved looking at them!

leafy art

I'm finally back to posting kid's projects. We've had a lot of fun doing Thanksgiving/Fall art lately!

Yesterday we enjoyed making leafy art. This is very messy.....We crunched up our leaves and decorated our paper out in the garage. That made the cleanup much easier. The kids LOVED doing this. This is an easy project you can do with all ages.

Materials needed:
Dried leaves
Bowl
Paper
Squeeze Glue

Directions:
Collect leaves and let completely dry if needed. Crumble up leaves over a bowl or container. Squirt a "glue design" on paper. Shake the dried leaves over the design (similar to shaking glitter). Shake off excess leaves and let dry.