Van Gogh Art Study Continued

O and I (and occasionally baby E) have continued our study of Vincent van Gogh.  We haven't had as much time to focus on this as I would like, so we are going to continue to do van Gogh related activities for another couple of weeks. 


We came across a mini van Gogh book in a set from Starfall.  O cut the pages, and we stapled them together.  I read the book to her, and then she read it to me.  After we finished reading the book, we found the book on Starfall and read it there.  O really enjoyed this activity. 




After we looked at the Starry Night on the ipad, O painted her own version of the Starry Night.  She loves the art set that her grandparents gave her for Christmas.




Both girls love the Touch the Art books.  Touch the Art: Make Van Gogh's Bed




Starry Night has always been O's favorite painting in this book.  The swirls are raised and glittery, and the girls love to touch them.




This book is also one that we've enjoyed for years.  Vincent's Colors




O recently did this beautiful embroidery at school.  She said she was thinking of The Starry Night when she made it.

Valentine's Day Cheerio Treats

The girls and I made these Valentine's Day Cheerio treats yesterday, and they are DELICIOUS!

We melted the butter (about 3 tablespoons) and mini marshmallows (about 3/4 of a bag) using the microwave.  Then we poured in the Cheerios a little at at time and stirred.  I didn't measure how much Cheerios we used...we just kept adding more until it looked right.




We then added in Valentine's Day m and m's.  Yum!




I pressed the mixture in a glass dish and let them sit over night.



This morning I cut them using metal cookie cutters.  This was NOT easy to do, and it definitely would only work with metal cookie cutters. 

There is only one Cheerio treat left...I'm so tempted to eat it, but I guess I'll be nice and divide it with Elliott and the kids in the morning.

A Basket Full of Valentine's Day Card Making Supplies

O really enjoyed making Valentine's day cards when we were at G and G's house this weekend, so when we got home I put together this basket of card making supplies for her...she was THRILLED and got right to work! 





In the basket are Valentine's Day stickers, a heart puncher, a glue stick, scissors, cookie cutter (to use as stencils, red and pink contruction paper, white cardstock, heart doilies (from the dollar section at Target), folded construction paper with a half heart drawn on the side (so she can independently and successfully cut her own hearts), a stamp pad, and markers.  O loves to make cards so much that I may put together baskets like this for her for all holidays! 

One good thing about this craft is that when she is done, she can just put everything back in the basket which makes clean-up fast and easy. We are keeping the basket in the center of our kitchen table so that it is out of reach of sweet E (except when she climbs on the table!).

Our Nature Bag

We have acres and acres of woods behind our house that are perfect for nature walks.  Now that weather is nicer, we're trying to take several "woods walks" a week. 


O and I painted a squirrel on a drawstring backpack (freezer paper stenciled) that we take with us on our walks.  We have several necessities in our bag...a magnifying glass, crayon rocks, a notebook, and a flashlight.  I intended for O to wear the bag, but it's too big for her.  Last time we took it with us, Elliott wore it (since I am usually wearing either the baby or O...yes, O still fits in the Beco and LOVES it!).



O sat down on a fallen tree to draw what she saw.



Sweet sisters



We have fun inspecting holes with flashlights and looking at fallen trees with a magnifying glass.  It's also fun to find odd trees in the woods.  O was thrilled to see this strange tree...she said it looks just like a climbing wall, and she immediately ran to climb it.



While we are in the woods, we are ALWAYS playing pretend...we are either characters from the Little House on the Prairie books or characters from the American Girl books.  Lately, we've had fun pretending to be the characters from Kaya's books.  Baby E LOVES Kaya and calls her "KyKy," so she was thrilled a few days ago when we were pretending that she was Kaya.  My mom gave O a miniature Kaya doll for Christmas which was the highlight of O's Christmas.  O recently gave the doll to E since E loves Kaya so much.  Her kindness and generosity floored me...I hope they will always love each other so much!

Planting Paperwhite Narcissus Bulbs

The girls and I planted bulbs which grew into these beautiful flowers as an activity from our January box of fun.  I  bought the set including 4 bulbs, a pot, and soil at WM for a little more than a dollar in the after Christmas clearance section.  The girls had fun measuring the water to add to the soil to rehydrate it.  We then planted the bulbs and waited for them to grow and bloom.  They are both very proud of these beautiful flowers.

Learning to Play Chess

I've wanted to learn to play chess for years (so I could teach O how to play), and I finally learned WITH O!  We had a great time learning and playing together!




O's grandparents gave her this Once A Pawn A Time book and chess set for Christmas, and it's a great way to learn to play the game.  O and I went through book 1 in a couple of hours (after we finished I read the back of the box which said that the book is not meant to be finished in one sitting...oops!), and then played our first game.  O was totally focused on this activity the entire time, so I'm glad that I didn't know that the recommendation was to only work on it for 20 minutes at a time. 




After completing the first book, we know the basics of playing chess, and we've played several games.  We are going to play with our basic knowledge for a while before reading the 2nd book and learning the more complicated rules of the game.
Elliott was amazed when he watched us play and listened to O explain the game to him.  I highly recommend this game and books set to anyone who wants to learn to play chess!

The recommended age range for this set is 7 to 15 years, but it worked well for O at 4 and a half years old.  I didn't make any adaptions to the instructions, and she understood perfectly.  It's also great for grown-ups who've always been confused by the seemingly complicated rules (after reading this book, it seems so simple) of chess!

Our Poetry Basket

We recently started a poetry basket, and both girls LOVE it!  When I read about poetry baskets on My Montessori Journey, I knew it was something I wanted to try because it's something I could do with both girls.  I had no idea they would love it as much as they did!



I chose the poem A Chubby Little Snowman for our first poem (found at Can Teach).  I printed the poem and put a dot under each word.  I gathered a snowman, a bunch of carrots, and a rabbit for our basket.  I glued a plastic eyeball to a craft stick, but it fell off the first time we used it (the girls didn't seem to care, but I'll probably glue it back).  I read the poem to the girls while touching each dot under the words and while acting out the poem with the props.  I then read it a second time while they acted it out with the props. 

O was very interested in the poem itself, while E loved acting it out.  I loved watching E make the bunny eat the snowman's nose, and she then pretended like the bunny was eating her nose.  E also liked holding the craft stick and pointing at the words while saying her version of the poem...love it!   I was amazed when O recited the poem after I'd read it to them twice...she was REALLY paying attention.  I expected her to learn it after about a week and had no idea that she'd memorize it immediately.  She has proudly recited the poem each day for her grandparents and daddy.  I guess that shouldn't surprise me since the child has an amazing memory, and I  knew that memorizing a poem would appeal to her since Laura and Mary (from the Little House on the Prairie books) have to recite poems and lessons.  A couple of days after starting this activity, we were reading an American Girl book, and Kirsten had to memorize a poem to recite to her class...that made this activity even more thrilling for O. 

I encourage everyone to do this simple activity with your children.  After seeing how much E has enjoyed this activity at only 16 months old, I wish I'd started doing something like this with O years ago.  I plan to have a new poem and poetry basket for the girls each month, and I'll probably keep a binder of the poems, so we can look back and read and recite them over and over again.



O asked me to make sure her "beautiful ring" was in the picture!

Snowed/Iced In!

We don't have snow very often, so when we do, we are very excited, but not very prepared.  We took the kids out in empty laundry baskets and with cookie sheets for sledding.



School has been canceled for the past 2 days, so we've just been hanging out at my mom's house.  Today, my niece, O, and my mom had lots of fun cutting snowflakes and decorating doll and snowman paper chains. 









They taped all of their decorations on the front door for everyone to see.  They were very proud!

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Poor O started running a fever shortly after they finished the crafts.  Poor baby.  She feels rotten, but I'm hoping she'll feel much better tomorrow.