Visual Stimulation Blocks

I made this set of visual stimulation blocks for Little Kicker while I was making the color blocks for Caroline. I followed the same steps, except I didn't think about painting the first blocks, so they don't look at nice. Also, I decided to use 3 different sizes of blocks for added visual interest. I haven't finished these blocks because I plan to put black and white pictures of each of us (including Little Kicker) on them, so I'm waiting until after she's born (obviously!) to do that :) These blocks will be one of her handmade Christmas gifts.
I left the blocks on O's table after I took the pictures, and she was immediately drawn to them :)

Personalized Color Blocks

I think this is my favorite handmade gift yet! The blocks took forever to make, but I really enjoyed it :) Here's how to do it...

1) buy your blocks :) I ordered mine from Casey's Wood Products
2) sand the edges and corners of the blocks
3) paint the edges and corners of the blocks white
4) cut scrapbook paper, pictures, printed letters and numbers, etc. to fit the blocks
5) paint the blocks with a layer of mod podge and place a picture on the mod podge
6) wait a day or so until they are dry and paint a layer of mod podge over the top of the pictures

This was fun and easy, and I hope I can streamline the process so it doesn't take quite so long next time. I have a new appreciation as to why handmade gifts are often so expensive! Here are a few more pics :)

Washable Markers & Water Art

O colored with washable markers on a piece of cardstock and then misted it with the water hose to create a masterpiece. What a simple and fun way to make art!

Matching Animals to Their Tracks

This activity came from Montessori for Everyone. First we played the animal tracks game in the sand tray, and then I showed O how to match the cards.

 
Checking her work.

 

Matchy, Matchy...Shirts for Sisters

Appliqueing shirts may be my new craft obsession! It's so much fun, and it's so fast and easy! The patterns and directions are from this book. The directions indicated that the edges did not need to be sewn, so I just hope the edges don't fray. O is VERY excited to have shirts to match her sister's shirts.


 






 







I also made another "O" shirt for O since hers will soon be too small.




You will definitely be seeing more matching appliqued shirts if you continue to read this blog! O has requested a horse shirt next :)

A Montessori Morning

We've been spending so much time playing on the beach in the mornings this week that we've had very little time to do our Montessori work (we sing our circle time songs while playing on the beach on the mornings that we skip circle time). Since we got an early start Thursday morning, we were able to have "school" for about 45 minutes after coming in from 2 hours on the beach. O really enjoyed her work!

Matching balloon textures.


 




Hammering golf tees. She always chooses this activity.


 




Completing the What doesn't belong? cards.


 

Matching triangles







She chose several other activities, and we took turns doing several things. When it was my turn, she ran to get her wooden camera so she could take a picture of me :)

Wool Felt Baby Shoes

I recently made this pair of shoes for Little Kicker using a pattern from this book. They aren't perfect, but I'm happy with the end result, and I can't wait to make more. I just need to order more wool felt!

Collecting a Rainbow of Nature's Colors

This activity was on many, many blogs last summer, and I've been wanting to do it ever since! I painted a cardboard egg carton with different colors of the rainbow. O and I went on a nature walk/scavenger hunt to find items of various colors to match the colors in her box. We had a great time, and I'm sure this will be a summer long activity :)

Have You Seen My Duckling?

Our book of the week is Have You Seen My Duckling? by Nancy Tafuri. We've enjoyed reading the book along with several other "duck" books and discussing the stories. We've done several simple things for story stretchers from this book. We learned the Spanish word for duck and the sign for duck, and we sang "5 Little Ducks Went out to Play." O matched miniature plastic insects to the insects in the book as we read the book.
We went outside to see the ducks. We didn't see any ducks, but O had fun trying to catch minnows. We also played "Have you seen my duckling?" O was the duckling, and I pretended like I couldn't see her (don't worry mom. She was NEVER out of my sight!), and I asked everything around me "Have you seen my duckling"? This game was a big hit, and we've played it several times since then. O knows, of course, that she is never to be out of our sight while playing in or near the water. We have a very strict rule that we never play hide and seek outside, and she is always amazed when she sees children in books playing hide and seek outside since that is the ultimate in naughty/dangerous behavior :)


 
We took bread out to feed the ducks, but ended up feeding the minnows instead. The minnows were excited. We also practiced being very still. If you stay very still in the water, the minnows will nibble your toes!

O's favorite story stretcher was this pond/lake habitat that we made using beach sand and water. I gave her several ducks, plastic insects, and people to play with, and she was engrossed in this activity for quite a while.

 

Making Butterfly Prints

The idea for this activity came from A Bit of This and That.

To make the butterfly prints, O squeezed paint on the paper, folded it in half, smooshed it, and opened it to see the butterfly. O LOVED this activity! I loved hearing her explain exactly how she did it to Elliott when he got home from work :)




Here is her favorite butterfly.




We used double sided tape to attach it to a toilet paper roll to make a butterfly that could fly around the room :)