Egg Carton Spiders

O and I recently made egg carton spiders. I cut the cups out of a cardboard egg carton. O painted the spiders and glued on the eyes. I cut slits in the side and put the pipe cleaners through them for legs. O had fun playing with her spiders in the rice pit.

Salt Dough Halloween "Cookie" Magnets

O and I made salt dough Halloween "cookies" a few weeks ago and finally painted them on Tuesday. We plan to glue magnets to the backs of the "cookies" and give them to her grandparents for special Halloween gifts :)

To make the salt dough you need 1 cup of salt, 1 cup of flour, and a half cup of water. Mix the salt and flour and add the water in slowly while stirring. Knead the dough and roll it out! We had a lot of fun making the "cookies," but O's favorite part of the activity was playing with the dough. She loves to experience different textures :)

Halloween Transferring Activity

O enjoyed this Halloween transferring activity since she really likes skeletons (while in the car last night she said "when I turn my head, my skeleton moves, too!). She used the chopsticks to transfer the squishy skeletons from one bowl to the next. The skeletons are in a bowl with black beans, and the beans tended to stick to the skeletons which was annoying. I've really enjoyed doing Holiday themed activities with O this month, and I'm looking forward to starting a few new non-Halloween activities soon :)

Patterning with Beads

We used Halloween colors to make bead patterns today (my bag of 1200 pony beads didn't have any black beads!). I made two patterns on pipe cleaners with the beads, which O copied. Then she created her own pattern on the 3rd pipe cleaner. This was a fun activity that helps strengthen fine motor skills, hand/eye coordination, concentration, and attention to detail.

Halloween Sticker Story

O has enjoyed making "art" with her Halloween craft foam stickers. After she made this picture, she told me a story about it. I typed and printed the story for her. One day I'll put all of her stories in a book for her.

Balancing a Broom

We did it! After seeing this balancing broom trick on Pink and Green Mama, we decided to give it a try! After a few tries, the broom balanced perfectly. We left it up to surprise Guh-guh, and she WAS surprised!

Halloween Lacing Cards

Here's another fun activity to do with greeting cards! I cut the covers off the cards and punched holes around the edges with a hole puncher. Done! O had a great time lacing the cards :)

Back to Work

I went back to work on Thursday for the 1st time since Ema was born (I work one day per week as a School Psychologist). It was much harder to leave the girls than I expected. I woke Ema up to nurse her before we left for work, and I started crying as soon as I picked her up. She was so warm and cuddly, and she nuzzled her sweet face into my neck. The girls had a great day with Guh-guh, and I had a good day at work. I was so glad to come home to them. O and I read a chapter of Pippi Longstocking before cuddling and singing before she went to sleep, and Ema has spent the last 4 hours either nursing or sleeping on my chest. There's nothing better than mama's arms!

On a side note...Ema pooped in the potty today!!! O and Guh-guh took her to the potty and cued her and she pottied. My mom said that O was THRILLED!!! We love EC!

Halloween Number Sequencing

This activity was inspired by a similar activity on My Montessori Journey. O put the numbers in order from 1 to 12. She used the number line to help her since she is sometimes still unsure of her numbers (she couldn't remember what a 4 looked like today). She really enjoyed this work, and I plan on making the same activity using leaves (just like the one from Laura's blog) after Halloween. After she completed the sequencing activity, she pointed to each number as she counted in English and in Spanish.

Halloween Greeting Card Puzzles

I presented O with this tray of 4 greeting card puzzles, and she really enjoyed putting them together this morning. Elliott bought the cards from Dollar General (2 for a dollar), and I cut the front off of the cards and used my scrapbook paper cutter to cut them into puzzle pieces. This was a quick, inexpensive way to make holiday puzzles, and I'm planning to make a few for each holiday!

Our 1st EC Success!!!

We've have been cuing and watching Ema's potty signals since she was about 3 weeks old. Today I held her over the big potty for the 1st time. O and I cued her and she pee-peed! We were so proud :) O was especially excited! Click here to learn more about EC. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in using this method with your baby. We were lucky that our local library had a copy!

Paper Plate Pumpkin Craft

O had fun making a paper plate pumpkin this morning! The idea for this activity came from My Montessori Journey. I gave O a paper plate, strips of orange construction paper, a glue stick, scissors, and a green pipe cleaner. I told her she could use either side of the plate, and she chose to use the back. She also had the option of tearing or cutting the orange strips, and she chose to cut them. She really enjoyed cutting the paper and glueing the pieces to the plate to make her pumpkin. I made a hole in the top of the plate, and she threaded the pipe cleaner through the hole to make a stem that doubles as a hook for hanging. Quick, fun, and easy!

A Footprint Ghost Wreath

Last year we made footprint ghost cards, and this year we made a wreath. The idea for a wreath came from My Montessori Journey. Adding in Ema's footprint was a last minute decision, and I'm SO glad that we did. I LOVE this wreath, and I hope that it will be a lasting Halloween decoration for the next 30 years or so :) O was excited about making the wreath and was proud of her ghosts having only one eye each!

Another Halloween Puppet

I'm SO glad that I stocked up on these Martha Stewart puppet kits after Halloween last year. O LOVES making the puppets, and it's SO nice to have a quick and easy activity ready to go at any time :) She doesn't play with puppets that much after they are made, but she really enjoys the process of making them. We accidentally left her cat puppet at Guh-guh and Grandpa's house, and she was SO upset because she wanted to show it to her daddy :(

Lots of Unschooling this Weekend!

O is obsessed with all things medical, and she LOVES to play "first day" (first aid). We were on vacation this weekend with her grandparents, and she was thrilled to play "first day" with her grandaddy for hours and hours. Her grandaddy is a volunteer fire fighter who has a well stocked first aid kit. O had a great time "organizing" it, and she taught Ema all about gauze, blood stopper, sterile bandages, eye irrigation, thermal blankets, etc. I have to admit that I was a little surprised when O excitedly asked to play "heart compressions!" She often plays "broken leg, broken arm, and having a baby," but I'd never heard her ask to play heart compressions. Funny girl!

She is also VERY interested in learning about electricity, so she was thrilled to wake up on our first morning at the beach to find a bucket truck working on the power lines directly in front of our house.

There were lots of other fun learning experiences this weekend, but these were the highlights!