Mother's Day Interview

I saw this Mother's Day Interview on Let's Explore, and I just had to try it with O. It was like pulling teeth to get her to participate, but once she was finally ready, she seemed to enjoy it. I asked the questions several times because she often said "I don't know," or she'd say a made up word. Then I asked her a couple of more times once she got going just because it was fun!

To do these interviews, I cut and pasted the sentence starters from Let's Explore. Then I sat at the computer, read them to O, and typed her answers while she ran around and played. This is definitely something we'll do again! She's already asked when we are going to do the Father's Day questions!

I really love it when my mom looks like a dada.

My mom likes to laugh.

My mom always tells me, "You have to do shelf work."

The best thing she does is rock me.

It makes her happy when she do the computer...she puts nose spray in her nose

My mom loves to relax by me.

I like it when she does things.

The best thing she cooks is chicken.

When my mom shops she likes to buy bananas.

My mom’s favorite household chore is painting.

My mom’s favorite TV show is at the hotel. At the hotel, you love Baby Mama!

If she could go on a trip, she would go to North Carolina.

I love my mom because she makes felt things.


Since O was enjoying this so much, we decided to keep going with Guh-guh...



I really love it when my GG plays with me.

My GG likes to spin.

My GG always tells me stories.

The best thing she does work on the computer with me.

It makes her happy when she does take pictures of me.

My GG loves to relax by me.

I like it when she plays games with me.

The best thing she cooks is chicken.

When GG shops she likes to buy bananas.

My GG’s favorite household chore is bananas.

My GG’s favorite TV show is I don't know.

If she could go on a trip, she would go to Shan.

I love my GG because she does nice things.


She didn't want to stop, so I asked her questions about her Grandmother...


I really love it when my G gives me money for my money bank.

My G likes to play with me...and Grandaddy Harry.

My G always tells me to do something not very nice.

The best thing she does is work paper.

It makes her happy when she does I don't know.

My G loves to relax by lies on the couch.

I like it when she I don't know.

The best thing she cooks is chicken wings.

When my G shops she likes to buy showers.

My G's favorite household chore is i don't know.

My G’s favorite TV show is Ranch Flower.

If she could go on a trip, she would go to South Carolina.

I love my G because she smells flowers.


When I told O that we were finished, she said "ask about me, ask about me," so these are her answers...

I really love it when I does something not very nice.

I like to do a b (drawing a b in the sand).

I always tell my mom, "I want some chocolate."

The best thing I do is play.

It makes me happy when I eat.

I love to relax by dada.

I like it when you relax by me.

The best thing I cook is Ranch (dip-dip).

When I shop I like to buy silks.

My favorite household chore is paint.

My favorite TV show is Ranch.

If I could go on a trip, I would go to SC.

I love me because I do naughty things!

Letter Fishing

O and I went fishing for letters in her rice pit this morning! Unfortunately, the magnets on the letters aren't that strong, so they only worked if they were turned upside down, and it was a little frustrating for O. We took turns fishing for a letter, and we then named the sound, letter, and listed words that start with the letter. After playing for 5 to 10 minutes, O was ready to put the letters away and play with her rice pit toys. The rice pit is one of her FAVORITE things!

A Busy Monday

O and I are still at G & G's. We planned to go home on Sunday, but since we wanted to be here Tuesday morning, it didn't make any sense to go all the way home for just one day. Everyone around here was either at work or out of town today, so we had the place to ourselves :) Last night O said she wanted to do homeschool today, so we had a morning full of fun activities.

We sorted the nesting dolls by size and then put them back together.







We worked with this fun clock puzzle and discussed shapes, numbers, and telling time while we played.


 




We did lots of puzzles- farm puzzles, matching letters to pictures puzzle, matching numbers to items puzzle, practiced transfer dry pasta with tongs, colored a picture, practiced cutting skills, and took a nature walk.
After the nature walk, O worked on a nature collage. I taped contact paper to the door, and she put bark, flowers, leaves, etc on the contact paper to make a nature collage.





THEN Grandaddy Lewis came over, and we all went to see our cousin's new baby horse. The horse was so sweet and friendly :)





When we got back to G & G's we blew bubbles, played on the slide, and exercised on the ball.





Then M came over to play. The girls played for a while, and then took a fun bubble bath! Phew! It's been a long day :)

Who Needs Toys...

when you have tons of bubble wrap?!!!

Since I'm having Spring Break this week, O and I decided to spend the week at G & G's house. O has had a fantastic time playing with her cousin, M, for hours and hours each day. We've also attended storytime at the library (our library no longer has storytime) and M's playgroup. It's been a busy and exciting week!

Matching Pictures to Letters

O is really into learning her letters and letter sounds lately, so she loves all alphabet activities. Luckily, my mom had this fun letter activity that she let us borrow :) I put out 7 letters at a time and handed O the little pictures to match to the letters. The pictures are fabric and they stick to the letters using velcro. This was a lot of fun! The letters are made by Lakeshore, but I was unable to find them on their website, so they may not make them anymore.

Where does it come from?

 
I introduced these "Where does it come from?" puzzle cards to O last week, and we really enjoyed doing this activity together. The cards include many things that she would not have a clue about (gum comes from trees, newspaper comes from trees, etc.), so I didn't have any expectation of her doing this activity independently. It was fun to discuss the pictures and teach her about where things come from. I'm looking forward to doing this activity with her again soon :)
I printed and laminated these cards close to a year ago, and I have no idea where they came from! If anyone knows, let me know.

Fun with Pattern Blocks

O was not interested in these pattern blocks at first, and I thought that perhaps it was too difficult since I had so many blocks out for her. It turns out she just wasn't interested that day :) When she decided to complete the patterns on her own, she had no problems and REALLY enjoyed herself. My niece (who is almost 5) also LOVES the pattern blocks :)

Another Color Match with Clothespins

To make this activity, I put color dot stickers around a bowl and matching color dot stickers on the clothes pins. O matches the clothes pin with the correct color dot to the dot on the bowl.






This activity was very difficult for O at first because she was using her left hand, and it is not as strong as her right hand. I suggested that she try her right hand, and she was able to complete the task. She was VERY proud because she had planned to give up after the first try. I was proud of her for persisting until she finished :)






This activity is great for improving fine motor skills, hand-eye cooordination, and concentration. Enjoy!

Decorating Blown Eggs

Decorating blown eggs is a tradition that my mom started with us when we were kids, and she still has a few left. I'm hoping to find them when we go to her house this weekend.

I decided to continue the tradition by having O decorate 2 or 3 blown eggs (and we'll date them), and I'll decorate 1 or 2 special eggs for her. We'll hang them on the egg tree (that we don't have yet, so that tradition will start next year), and when she is grown she can have her special eggs for her own home and children. I'm planning on coating the eggs with mod podge to strengthen them in the hopes that they'll last a long time. Here are our creations:

I decoupaged pictures from some of our favorite picture books onto the egg. It didn't turn out very well, and I was pretty disappointed. I should have used smaller pictures and next time I'll try to choose pictures that are printed on thinner paper.







I painted this egg with leftover chalkboard paint. I think it will be fun to decorate and write messages on it each year.







Here is one of O's creations. She painted 2 eggs and colored 1 with markers.








My mom and sister made an egg for each girl (O and my niece) using tissue paper and mod podge. They wrote their names on the eggs, and they are very pretty.

Thanks to Jo for the idea to use skewers to hold the eggs! It made painting and decorating the eggs so much easier!

A Grassy Centerpiece

O and I planted grass for our Easter/Spring centerpiece. She had fun finding her eggs in the grass :)











Gracie was especially excited about the grass. We're going to find a much larger container and keep grass all summer for Gracie to enjoy (on the 2nd story deck since she is an inside cat).

 

Sorting By Color

O was not interested in sorting by color today, but she joined in with me a little once I started the activity. I hope she'll enjoy it more next time :)

Learning about Muscles, Bones, etc.

Elliott bought this human anatomy flip chart book years and years ago for our future children, and I'm so glad that he did! I found it this weekend buried on a shelf in the top of O's closet, and we looked at the pictures while working on her beleduc body puzzle. We matched the puzzle pieces to the pictures and discussed the names of different muscles and bones. O was especially interested in talking about biceps, and she showed me how strong she was by flexing her muscles :)




    O was THRILLED when she turned the page on the flip chart and discovered the pictures of the baby in the belly! While looking at the tiniest picture, I reminded her that we always tell her that she started off smaller than a lentil (when we tell her birth story, which is something we do almost nightly), and that there was a picture of a baby who was smaller than a lentil. She ran to get a lentil to compare it to the picture, and sure enough, the baby was smaller!




After discusing the pictures and completing the puzzle, O laid down on 2 sheets of paper (taped together) and I traced her. She then had fun coloring her picure. This activity is in almost every toddler activity book that I have seen, and I was so glad to finally do it with O. It was surprisingly difficult to find a big, blank paper book (most of the big books I found were coloring books).