Fishing

We're going letter/word fishing!

Mixing Play-doh

In general I'd say I'm mostly a "let's have fun", "let's make a mess" kind of a mom - and my house shows it. My one exception is play-doh. I don't know what my deal is, but I'm a play-doh purist! I like my play-doh pure and unmixed!
So when I got a bunch of little play-dohs from a friend, I told the kids they could take as many colors as they wished and mix them if they wanted. They didn't believe me, "mix them?", "I don't believe it!", "as many as we want?" It was hilarious.
And they had a blast!

Emmett is doing a great job sounding out words. We played with these magnets. I'd put down "AT" for example and have him sound that out. Then I'd add a "B" or a "C" to make "BAT" or "CAT". He was sounding out words so well! I'm so proud of him!

Day with Nana

It was one of those days when we fit in all kinds of fun things.
Easter egg dying.

Skateboard track building.


Music making.

The best part was that we did it with Nana!

Pop Beads!

Pop Beads!
Encourages fine motor skills.
Enhances creativity.
All the kids love it!
The little kit I bought has animal pieces so Emmett can make dogs or star fish.
Eisley likes to make jewelry.

All in a Day's Play

My friend, yes that you Heidi, gave us a bunch of wild animals work books, flashcards and games. Emmett asked, "How did she know I love wild animals!?" Today we read the flashcards and worked in the workbook.

Played the animal matching game. Basically it's a bunch of animals cut in half. The kids had to find the matching top and bottom half of the animals. The 4 year old loved it, the 3 year old and 2 year old females were able to do it with a bit of assistance and the 2 year old male enjoyed being part of the excitement.

Then we filled the tub with water and tried not to flood the bathroom.

Barney, Blanket bounce and Story Time

This morning started with the attempt to exercise. I looked on Netflix instant play and the closest thing to a child exercise video I could find was a Barney Sing and Dance video. It's really hard to stay crabby when you're dancing!

Then onto core-muscle building activities! Today we made a trampoline for our stuffed animals. In the past we've done this with a big sheet but with the smaller kids it actually worked better with this receiving blanket.

Then we sat together and told a joint story. We threw the ball to whomever would add the next part of the story. Since the kids didn't really develop the plot, I would provide very leading statements like, "When they got to the zoo, the first animal Prince Emmett wanted to see was the..." The kids had an absolute blast and wanted to do it over and over.

Isn't Eisley's face darling when she's thinking and talking.

"And...."

Emmett was being a monkey.

And then just to capture the less pleasant part of our day...yes, it's not all smiles and giggles!

Clubhouse

Today the kids worked on their "clubhouse" (is that one word or two?)

Love is in the air!

Multi-purpose Marshmallows

Another full and fun day in our home.

I've had my nanny kids almost 2 years so it's fun to look back at old photos and videos. Here are all the kids captivated as we watched home videos.

Then we did wheel barrel races to put clothes on a doll.

Good old fashioned marshmallows and toothpicks sculptures.

Then we put the marshmallows to good use, making heart shaped rice krispie treats! I saw this idea on a blog somewhere but I can not for the life of me find which blog. I'll post the link if I can track it down.

The kids did a great job helping and REALLY enjoyed the fruits of their labor!

We packaged a few up to give away.

Coins

Coins! We've worked on coins before but it didn't seem to stick. I'm realizing that much of this parenting/teaching thing just means to introduce topics over and over and in different ways. It's ok if they don't get it the first time, or if it seems it goes over their head.

So Emmett did coin rubbings and wrote the coin names.

Eisley pulled coins out of her putty (basically silly putty). The two year olds tried to do the coin rubbings but it didn't work very well. That's ok! They still have fun being part of the group.

And I finished my pillow, following THIS fabulous tutorial.

Snow inside!

I love playing OUTSIDE in the snow.

But sometimes playing INSIDE in the snow is even better!

Ender even got to play!