A Snowman Snack

O LOVES bananas so this snowman snack was perfect for her! I cut a banana into 3 pieces to make the body of the snowman. I pu them on a straw, but the straw was really unnecessary. I used a piece of orange for the hat, dark chocolate chips for his eyes and buttons, and a raisin for his nose. Easy, delicious, and fun!

Bell Activity

I brought this activity out of our Montessori rotation box since I thought was appropriate for the season. O enjoyed doing this work...until I borrowed a couple of bells for a handmade gift :)

The idea for this activity came from The Wonder Years. It's a simple and fun activity which was easy to put together. I took 10 bells and removed the balls from the centers of 5 of them. Then I put them in a bowl together. O picks up one bell at a time, shakes it, and determines if it should go on the sound side or no sound side.

Glittery Letter Ornaments

We had a GREAT time making glittery letter ornaments! First, we sanded the edges of the letters (bought from Hobby Lobby in packs of 2 for a dollar).

Then she painted the letters with glue.

Then she went crazy with the glitter. I was distracted by a phone call during this activity, and we somehow ended up with glitter EVERYWHERE in our house...even in the toilets! Next time, I'll just let the phone ring :)

O made ornaments for herself, her baby sister, and one of her favorite people.

I'm glad she had fun making these ornaments because I think it's the last time we'll use glitter for a while...if Elliott has his way!

Candy Activities

I bought a candy cane filled with Christmas star candy for us to use for various activities. We used them for a couple of days before I let O in on the secret that the stars were actually candy (she was calling them beads). She was amazed and thrilled!

She's gotten quite good at using the chopsticks. She likes to create a pattern when transferring the stars.

For this activity, she counted out the correct number of stars to match the numbers. I was surprised by how much she enjoyed this activity. I only had the numbers out to 5, but she insisted on doing the numbers up to 9. (Hopefully, her early interest in numbers indicates that she'll be better at math than I am!)

Christmas Card Puzzles

O loves to do these Christmas card puzzles! To make the puzzles, I cut 1 or 2 rectangles out of each card (using an x-acto knife). I put the rectangles in a bowl and the cards in a stack and gave them to O. She had fun matching the pictures to complete the puzzles. The idea for this activity came from Let's Explore. (Please excuse O's dirty table...it's covered with paint and glittery glue :)

Christmas Number Sequencing

Can you tell that I really like Holiday themed counting activities? O really enjoys these activities, and they are easy to put together. For this activity I used foam shapes (from a pin making kit) and wrote the numbers on them. O used the number line to help her put them in order. We counted in English and Spanish. Baby sister participated in this activity, and O was thrilled to "teach" baby sister!

Winter Wonderland Sensory Box

I introduced the Christmas/winter sensory box to O today, and she was very excited. The box is filled cotton balls and dollhouse Christmas decorations (bought from Hearthsong this summer...deeply discounted). O had a great time decorating the Christmas trees and playing with this box. I'm sure that her peg doll family and other toys will be migrating into the box soon. The idea for a winter wonderland box came from Pink and Green Mama.

Puzzle Fun

O has really been enjoying these jigsaw tray puzzles lately. She especially likes this map puzzle (I bought this puzzle from the dollar section at Target a few months ago), and she almost always does the puzzle at least 3 times in a row. She likes to do it the right way a couple of times and then "mix it up" and do it the "nonsense way" (her words). She pretends to be the teacher and shows her baby dolls how to do things the wrong way, and they have to figure out what to do by asking questions. She likes for me to "talk" the baby dolls and have them ask questions. After she completes the puzzle, we have fun pointing to each continent while we sing the continents song.

A List Poem Gift

O's Grandaddy Harry had a birthday recently, and O wrote a list poem for him. She adores her Grandaddy Harry, and she was excited to write a poem for him. I typed as she dictated the poem to me. She was ready to stop after the first 6 lines, so I asked her a couple of leading questions to help her think of a few more lines. She chose the color for the words, and I printed the poem for her to illustrate. We framed the poem, and she was SO proud to give it to her Grandaddy.

The idea for writing list poems came from Amy at Let's Explore. We've enjoyed writing several list poems over the last month, and I'm looking forward to hearing more of O's poems in the future. (The clothes pin in the picture is covering O's name).

Fall Greeting Card Puzzles

I made a couple more puzzles using greeting cards for O. She really enjoys these puzzles, and they are so cheap and easy to make. I need to go to the dollar store soon to find Christmas cards to make a few Christmas puzzles and lacing cards!

Counting the House

Counting the house is fun activity in which you count various objects around your house and write the number beside the correspondng picture on your list. This great activity came from Let's Explore. The list is available for download at Let's Explore...Thanks, Amy!!! After printing the list, I laminated it so that O can use a wipe-off marker to "count the house" and use the sheet over and over again. We walked around our house together counting the various items. She enjoyed holding the clipboard "like a teacher." O LOVED this activity, and I think it's one that we'll do often. I may also make an outdoor version :)

O's Obsession..

O is obsessed with the medical profession :) She loves to play "broken arm," "broken leg," "heart compressions," "blood," "having a baby," "surgery," etc. She was excited to match these body parts stickers on these body chart posters, and I'm really glad that Elliott bought this body chart set for our kids long before they were born :) O will be getting a "Doctor's Office in a Box" for Christmas, and I can't wait to see her face when she opens it!

Playdough Turkey

We haven't done very many Thanksgiving activities this month, but O did enjoy making a playdough turkey a few days ago. I gave her the bowl of playdough, a container of feathers, and 2 googly eyes. Her turkey looked a little like a snake with feathers, but she didn't mind :)

Number Sequencing with Leaves

This leaf sequencing activity was quick, easy, and cheap to put together. I bought a pack of silk leaves for a dollar, and I had enough for our Thankful Tree and this activity. I used a permanent pen to write the numbers 1 through 10 on the leaves for O to put in order. She used the number line to self-check. After she ordered the leaves from 1 to 10, she pointed to each number as she said the number in English and Spanish. This was a fun seasonal activity that is easily customizable to the season or holiday. I'm also planning on making a Christmas version of this activity.

Fruit or Vegetable File Folder Game

Here is another file folder game. In this game, you sort the food as to whether it is a fruit or vegetable. We love file folder games! I downloaded the game at File Folder Fun.

Matching Silly Animal Pictures

I recently made O another matching activity from a mini calendar. (Here is the butterfly activity that is similar to this one). I cut the calendar apart and laminated the pages. Then I cut the tiny pictures (that were on the back of the calendar) out for O to match to the bigger pictures. She used a magnifying glass to look at the tiny pictures before matching them. This was a fun activity especially since the animal pictures are so silly.

Egg Carton Shake-Up

This fun idea for practicing number recognition came from Mommies Wise Little Bookworms. I made a few slight changes...I wrote the numbers 1 through 6 (2 times each) on circle stickers and stuck each number into an egg cup of an egg carton. We placed a bead in the egg carton and shook it. O identified the number that the bead was on. I'm going to have to remake this game since I used an egg carton that had holes in the top. I knew it was going to be a problem, but I was ready to try this fun idea and didn't have an enclosed egg carton :(

I think this game would also be a fun way to practice color recognition by placing different colored sticker dots in the egg cartons instead of numbers (I need to remember this in about a year for Ema!). I also think this could be a fun simple addition activity...use 2 beads and have the child add the numbers that the beads land on. I may also make an letter recognition egg carton shake-up game soon. We could use it with a bead to shake and then label the letters, and it would also be fun to sort tiny objects in the letter egg carton according to their initial sounds.

Phonics Bag Sorting

O had a great time sorting her phonics bag miniatures according to their initial sounds. We emptied the objects from 3 phonics bags into a pile and picked up one object at a time. She labeled each object and decided under which letter to place each object. What a great, fun way to practice phonics!

Animal Groups File Folder Game

I've finally made a few file folder games for O (I printed the pages and started working on them months and months ago!), and she really enjoyed them! In this game, she sorted animals into the categories of reptiles/birds and mammals. I found the game at File Folder Fun.

Mixing Colors with Shaving Cream

O LOVES to play with shaving cream! We decided to mix yellow and red to make orange in honor of Autumn. We placed cardstock on top of the shaving cream and food coloring to make marblized art. However, O was not very interested in making artwork. She just loved playing with the shaving cream. She mixed it around with spoons, spatulas, and forks. She put it in her plastic ice cream cones and "sold" me an ice cream cone :) She also hid tiny plastic animals in the shaving cream. This kept her happily occupied while I cleaned the kitchen :)