Week 10

 

E.B. White you sure do know how to spin a wonderful adventure from your web of the English language.

 

We are well into Charlotte's Web and I'm not sure who is enjoying it more, me or Emma!

To go along with the story, we've made some crafts.

 

Wilbur (the pig) is made out of paper plates.

 

Charlotte (the spider) is made from one of Brooklyn's baby food containers and some pipe cleaners.

 

Templeton (the rat) is made from felt.

 

And two of Charlotte's web messages "Some Pig" and "Terrific" were made out paper plates and some yarn.

 

She loves talking about this story and even likes to act out some of the scenes we've read about!

 

Such an imagination this one has!

 

***

She's also been extremely interested in learning sign language.

 

We tried to teach her when she was a baby, but she started talking so early that she never bothered with it.  However, now, she wants to know what EVERYTHING is in sign language! 

 

So we are starting to teach both girls some basic signs.  The "I love you" one is Emma's favorite.

 

***

She is so curious about dinosaurs, STILL.  So this week, we learned about the dinosaur food chain.  I took some of Brooklyn's baby food containers and labeled 5 of them in this order:

 

PLANTS

 

ANTS

 

LIZARDS

 

VELOCIRAPTOR

 

T-REX

 

And here is a video of how it works:

I love when she pauses after velociraptor, because you can almost see those wheels in her head trying to remember and figure out if T-Rex is next or not.

 

***

 

PRACTICAL LIFE 

This week's practical life lesson came from a chore that needed to be done.  Our roses bloomed and had a bunch of dead buds.  So we got out our pruning shears and learned how to Prune Roses. 

 

She did great!  I was holding my breath the entire time she used the very sharp scissors.  But I had no need to worry, she was extremely calm, careful, and focused on the task at hand.

 

***

Continuing with our outdoor time, we invented a game called ABC hopscotch!

She would start at the front door and hop on each letter till she got to the driveway!  So much fun!!!  Even Brooklyn got a kick out of watching her hop back and forth.

 

***

 

SENSORY RUG 

Speaking of Brooklyn.  I made her a sensory rug using my scrap yarn and an old carpet leftover.  This is very bright, colorful, and soft.  I was afraid she was just going to destroy it, but just the opposite happened actually.  This rug is so soft and comfy, it seems to act as a calming rug.  Who knew???

 

MORE SENSORY PLAY

And since my yarn basket was out, she helped her self to a ball of yarn.  She must be part cat or just following in her grandmothers' fascination with yarn.  (She gets it on both sides of the family!)  That ball of yarn is permanently a knot of yarn. 

 

Reminds of the scene from Christmas Vacation where Clark hands Rusty the ball of lights and says, "Whoop, got a little knot here... you work on that."

 

BAHWHAHAHA - Oh I love that movie!

 

Yeah, that ball of yarn is probably never getting untangled.  Oh well, did you see how much fun she was having with it?  Totally worth it.

 

***

When she's not playing with my yarn she's pretty busy with any thing she can shove in her mouth...

 

 

Or at least smack herself in the face with.

 

Yep, got another tooth coming in.  Working on #3.

 

Hope you all enjoyed our week at school.

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave lots of comments! :)

Emma and I love reading them.

 

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This LUPIE (me) would definitely be grateful.

♥

 

Week 4 - Fine Motor skills, Sensory bins, and a Little Bit of Engineering

This week we visited our local Library!

 

We even attended their preschool story hour.

I was so impressed with this program.  Emma had a blast!  During the singing part, she kept turning around to tell me how fun it was!

I don't know how, but Brooklyn slept through the entire thing!

Afterwards, we headed to the main area to get our little reader her very own library card!!!

Now there is a special place in her room to keep track of all her books.

 

***

 

We were super busy this week!  In between our field trip and two play dates, we managed to get in some great activities.

 

FINE MOTOR SKILLS

Top Middle: Use a toy claw to pick up small blocks

Top Right:  Arrange plastic flowers in foam block

Bottom Left:  Trace letters

Bottom Right:  Place tees in foam tray and balance a marble on each tee (idea from this BLOG)

***

 

I had a friend ask me if I had a designated area for work activities vs just free play.

 

All of her toys are in one room.  So what works for us is placing 4 activities for the day that I think she might like to do in each of these corners outlined by the blue tape.  Then I just let her choose what she wants.

 

 

This is great because she is not so overwhelmed with EVERY. SINGLE. ITEM. that is available for her to play with.  Instead, she can see her options and pick according to her interests that day.

And I can put Brooklyn in the middle and keep an eye on both of them.  Once Emma finishes a project, she just moves to the next corner and continues her work.

 

***

 

SENSORY PLAY

Top LEFT:  clean scratch pads

Bottom LEFT:  Different types of fabric in an old Kleenex box

Top and Bottom MIDDLE:  Floating feathers

Top and Bottom RIGHT: Easter eggs and grass in plastic bin

 

The floating feathers was definitely a favorite for both girls!  They enjoyed laying underneath and watching them fall.

 

***

 

STOMP and CATCH

 Idea came from this BLOG and being that Brian and I are both engineers, we couldn't resist making this!!!

 

Emma chose what color to paint the board and what fabric she wanted her bean bags made out of.  Then we worked all afternoon getting all the supplies ready for when Brian got home, so he could assemble the board and pvc pipe.

Seriously. SO. MUCH. FUN.

I love the looks on both of their faces!  I highly recommend this game.  Cheap. Easy to make. And really fun.

 

***

Brook-Brook is getting so big these days.  She's sitting in her high chair, eating rice cereal, squash, sweet potato puffs and giggling a lot when you hold her upside down.

 

Be sure to check in next week!  Lots of fun Easter activities planned and possibly another trip to the zoo!

Week 2 - Sensory bins and a trip to the Zoo

This week I wanted to do a couple of sensory bins to see how Emma liked them. 

 

Rainbow Rice

We spent Sunday afternoon making our rice.  Super easy! 

 

Put about 4-5 cups of rice, a bunch of food coloring, and a few tablespoons of rubbing alcohol in a gallon size bag. 

 

Close it good. 

 

Then give to your child to squeeze it all around to mix it up. 

 

And let it dry on cookie sheets. 

 

Do this for each color.

 

 I let it dry over night to make sure all the moisture was gone.  I also stirred it around a few times to help it along.

 

She LOVED it!  And she was such a good helper afterwards.  Even swept up the mess she made on the floor.

 

Free Samples

While at Home Depot, I checked out what free samples they had in the flooring and carpet areas.

I figured the wood samples could be used as a gradient in color exercise and the other flooring samples are textured so I was going to use those for another sensory project.  And with Brooklyn getting strong enough to hold onto things, I thought she might like the feel of the different types of carpet samples!

 

And these were all free for the taking at Home Depot!  YAY!!!

 

Piano Lessons 

We have started our musical journey!

I found a great video about teaching toddlers how to play the piano and used their suggestion of having them start off by identifying and playing the different types of keys:  

all the 2 black key sets

all the 3 black key sets

all the white keys

 

Hey Mom, does the photo on the left look a little familiar?  I'll have to look in my photo album, but I'm almost positive I have a picture of me at the piano and you standing behind me showing me how to play something. ♥

She did great her first week!  Our lessons only last as long as she's interested.  As soon as I sense her starting to drift away, we stop and I give her stickers to put in her record book.

 

 

LA Zoo

So we finally made it to the zoo! 

Emma has been working really hard on her lapbooks.   I think I'm going to rename them "Fact Folders"  It seems like a better description to me.  Anyway, she was so eager to go to the zoo that the morning we were going, she spent most of it showing Brooklyn everything in her Fact Folders.  She would hold up the tiger and say, "Brooklyn this is a mommy tiger.  It's called a tigress.  And a baby tiger is called a cub.  Brooklyn you are a cub."   Seriously, the cutest thing ever.  So sweet!

I've been to the zoo a lot in my life, but I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing it with a 3 year old.  Watching her take pictures and ask questions to the zoo tour guides and just marveling at the awesomeness of these animals was an experience I'll treasure always.  It was so neat to see the zoo through her eyes.

And exhausting!  Have you ever pushed a double stroller with about 50 lbs worth of children and another 15 lbs worth of stuff???? My body was aching the next day!

Brooklyn was a trooper till about noon, then every time I'd look at her, she'd give me this look.  bawhahhahahha - but she never cried or complained.  She just kept giving me *the look*.

 

 

Fluffy Stuff

I saw this on Pinterest from this blog:  Play Create Explore

This stuff is really fun to play with!  It's made from cornstarch and shaving cream.  Put the two ingredients together and let your child start mixing it up.  Eventually it becomes mold-able and you can make whatever you want.  Then just mash it down and crumble it up again.

She even experimented with different toys, objects, and body parts to see what would happen.

She sat here for at least an hour.  Completely absorbed in this activity.  I absolutely love sitting back and watching her explore new things or ideas.

 

 

Art Lesson

And one more activity for the week.  We learned about Primary and Secondary colors!

I wish I could have taken a picture of her expression when she put the connection together that:

 

 red + yellow = orange

 

It was just priceless.

 

It's been a busy week this week, but lots of fun!

Thanks for stopping by!!!