Fridge Easel

We don't own an easel and I've debated about getting one many times. But, honestly, we haven't really needed one. So, if you're like me, you tend to be creative with the places in your home that you choose to do art.

For example, if you don't have an easel, you can use the fridge!

I just taped paper from a package I received in the mail onto the fridge. An excellent way of reusing!



I found this great idea on The Artful Parent.

Photo of the Week

Houseplay

Letter of the Week

Last week, we worked on the letter 'K' for kite.

We worked on differentiating between lowercase and capital K by sorting.


T and I colored a 'K is for kite' coloring page.


Her favorite this week was doing a kite number activity. Each kite has a number on it. Then, using some string as the tail, T matched the correct number of ribbons to the number on each kite.


Instead of a craft, I wanted to have T fly her new kite she got for Christmas. (It was the only thing she asked for from Santa and has been wanting to fly it ever since). However, there wasn't any wind at all for her to fly it. I got it out anyway and tried to have her run around with it but she flat out refused. She decided to run around with her Valentine's Day balloon she got from grandma instead. Whatever works.




She took it around on her tricycle as well.


The wonderful blog we used for the letter K printables:
Confessions of a Homeschooler

Popcorn and a Movie

This time of year can be gloomy, cold, and wet. Because of that, we don't get outside as much as we'd like. It's the perfect time for snuggling together on the couch watching a movie with a big bowl of popcorn.

I love popcorn! And I don't mean the microwaveable kind. I pop the popcorn on the stove top. It's a lot simpler than some may think. Just put in 3 Tbsp oil and 1/3 cup popcorn into a big pot. T loves to watch the popcorn pop. I like to add butter, and a little salt. But, the most important ingredient to the way we make popcorn is agave nectar. I just drizzle it on and mix it in to make our popcorn a little sweeter and it's so yummy!

If you don't have agave nectar, you can add honey instead, but it can get a little gooey. So, just stick it into the oven for about 5 minutes or so (flat on a baking sheet) to harden it up. Tastes like caramel popcorn!



- Special thanks to my sister-in-law for giving us these popcorn ideas!

Photo of the Week

Valentine's gift from my mom

Spring is coming, spring is coming
birdies build your nest.
weave together straw and feather
doing each your best.

Spring is coming, spring is coming
flowers are waking, too.
daisies, lilies, and daffodils
now are coming through.

Spring is coming, spring is coming
all around is fair.
shimmer, glimmer on the meadow,
joy is everywhere.

When daddy is away...

I try to keep T pretty busy and spend some quality one-on-one time with her. Now that L is here, it makes it a little harder, but we definitely found some fun things to do. One thing we haven’t done in a while was build a fort!

T loved it! She kept bringing more items into the fort; a pillow, a blanket, her books, her twilight turtle, some toys…

I know this is not a new concept to many, but I wanted to share anyway. You can never go wrong with a homemade fort.

Rice Box

I made T a rice box a few months ago. I got this idea from other blogs and thought it would be a great idea! It's really a simple thing to do and kids love them. I try to put in things that will entertain her and work on her motor skills, such as pouring, scooping, etc. Rice boxes also introduce children to different textures.


This month I changed it up a bit and added some Valentine themed items, along with some dried chickpeas. She was busy playing with it for a good 30 minutes. I think I will begin to change up the objects each month now, because she seems to lose interest quick when the objects in the box stay the same each time.

Just a note; we put a towel underneath the box when we use it. It still makes a mess, but the towel helps. I do have to vaccuum after each use though.

Photo of the Week

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day cookies

Valentine's Day wouldn't be what it is without the sweets. But, I wanted to make something with T besides the typical sugar cookie. Once again, I found just what I was looking for from The Artful Parent. You may have noticed that I love her blog as a lot of my ideas come from it.

T helped me mix the batter.


Then, we used our rolling pins and heart cookie cutters.


T's rolling pin is from her Melissa and Dough playdough set.


The cookies turned out great and were just what I was looking for to make with T!(The picture below is of pre-baked cookies.)

X.O.X.O.

It’s almost Valentine’s Day! I’m not sure T fully understands what Valentine’s Day really is yet, but we’re both having fun making lots of hearts. While I was cutting out hearts for the front window and a garland, T wanted to practice her cutting skills with her scissors. This kept her busy while I cut out a bunch of hearts out of pretty paper. Notice T's festive sunglasses?



I wrote Valentine sayings on the garland hearts. It's hard to read though in these pictures.





T helped me stick the hearts onto the window. She did the bottom hearts and I did the ones on the top.





The red wooden heart is special because it was painted by my grandma H. She was quite the artist and this was one of her many gifts she made for my family. My mom passed it down to me this year and I will continue to put it out every Valentine’s Day.



We also made some Valentine’s for my parents. I got the idea here: make and takes
T traced a heart and then I cut out the heart for her.





We laced it with some yarn and then T decorated each heart herself. She chose to draw my dad and mom on each heart so we know which one belongs to whom.



Then we filled them both with chocolate candy hearts!



And yes, we ate some ourselves as well.

Another day this past week, my brother came over to visit. I set out our watercolors (pink, fuchsia, purple, and red) and coffee filters and cut out a bunch of hearts, similar to snowflakes. This was another craft that I found: The Artful Parent

We all cut out some designs and then my brother and T painted them all.



Our home is now ready for Valentine’s Day!

Photo of the Week

Precious Moments

T's Book Review

We head to the library at least once a month. Daddy watches L so mommy can spend some special mommy/daughter time with T. It’s become something we both look forward to. We get about 6-10 books each visit and some books she likes, while others we read over and over and over some more. I figured that I would do a little book review with T of her favorite library book each month in case anyone else is looking for a new book to read with their child. I thought it’d be fun to have a child’s perspective of a story book rather than just an adult’s opinion. Here is our short interview…

What library book is your favorite?
Smelly Socks
Why is it your favorite?
It’s just funny.
What happens in this story?
(while holding her nose) She’s smelly because she picked out green, yellow and red socks. Her socks stink! Uh-oh, her mom might see her smelly socks and then she got clean socks. (She is telling me all this while showing me the pictures of it happening.)


Smelly Socks by Robert Munsch









I also enjoyed reading this book with T and we love the author as well. We have read many of his books.

Other books we read quite frequently last month include:

Quack Shack by Harriet Ziefert
Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss