Indoor Sand and Water Play

When we went to the Children's Museum last month, two areas that the boys really enjoyed were the fishing/water area and the moon sand table, so I thought I would try to recreate those environments at home. We are blessed with a huge sunporch off the back of the house, so that was the perfect location for this messy activity area.

I purchased two of these 41qt Storage Totes, one for "sand" and one for water. (They were a little pricy at $11.99 each, but I knew we could clean them up and use them for under the bed storage later, so I didn't mind. ) We already had two of these tables from IKEA, and when put together, they are the perfect size for holding one of the storage totes. I also purchased two turquoise rubber baskets from Hobby Lobby to hold sand and water toys. (They were only $6.99 each, and I was able to use a 40% off coupon on one!)

So here it is all nice and pretty, waiting for two little boys to come and turn it into this...

No worries. It's nothing that a little vacuuming can't get up! 

Instead of using regular sand or purchasing (expensive) moon sand, I made up a batch of cloud dough to try out.

Basically, you add 1 cup of oil (some use baby oil, I used vegetable oil) to 8 cups of flour. Mix it together with your hands and when it is thoroughly combined, it will resemble dry sand, but will hold the shape of sand molds like damp sand would. The initial making of the cloud dough is pretty messy because you are dealing with flour, but after it is combined, it barely even sticks to their hands. To fill up my 41qt container, I used a 5lb bag of flour and 2 1/4 cups of vegetable oil. The boys love it!

I got a little smarter and added a vinyl tablecloth underneath to protect the carpet from getting the cloud dough mashed in.

When we want to switch to water play, I simply put the lid on the "sand" tote and set it aside, and fill up the other tote with water. We were talking about Noah's Ark that day, so we made a little boat for all of the animals.

I gave the boys some flat colored marble stones, and the boys absolutely LOVED playing with these in the water!

On pretty days like we have been having, I move the water tote outside to a little table we have out there. The boys love playing with the water outside and using it alongside their mudpie kitchen.

On the days that the weather isn't pretty, the indoor "sand" and water table will get plenty of use!

Always, 

Amanda

March Sensory Bin and Play Dough

Yesterday we made green glitter play dough for March. We used this recipe and simply added green food coloring and glitter.

For our sensory bin, I didn't have to buy anything. I just went around the playroom, through the activity closet and art cabinet to find green objects that I thought would be fun to touch and add to the play dough. I added some different types of objects this month like popsicle sticks, cars, and dinosaurs.

The boys played with it forever yesterday and it captured their attention again today for a good amount of  time. Jean over at Artful Parent recently posted 39 Ways to Play and Learn with Playdough. You should check it out!

I was thumbing through one of my favorite educational books, Playful Learning, and in the math section, she talks about graphing with children. 

"Children love to collect data. Introducing your child to the skill of creating and reading graphs offers him a wonderful way to organize and make sense of the information he gathers. Graphing common objects is a great way for children to learn mathematical concepts such as creating and interpreting graphs, making predictions, and drawing conclusions. As you discuss your child's discoveries with him, you can also introduce him to valuable mathematical vocabulary such as greater than, less than, least, most, and fewer."

So I made a simple table graph in Microsoft Word, and Buddy and I worked for a few moments on graphing and counting various objects in the sensory bin.

I love the idea of introducing "greater than, less than, least, most, and fewer" in a natural conversational way as we continue to do this together.

And I love to watch Buddy's little hands at work as he creates. One of my favorite things he says to me right now is..."Mom, an idea just flew into my head!' And then he goes off to tinkering to make whatever it is he's thinking about.

I chose green as our color this month obviously because of St. Patrick's Day. This year, I want to go beyond just celebrating St. Patrick's Day with wearing green and doing a craft. I recently listened to two sermon podcasts by Chris Seay of Ecclessia Church on "The Celtic Way of Evangelism", where he talks about St. Patrick and how the Celtic Christians were known for their hospitality. You can find the sermons here, just scroll down to April of 2011. I plan to listen to them again, and plan out a way to teach the boys about St. Patrick and the Celtic Christians, and then put that same hospitality into practice by inviting someone over for dinner. Maybe I will even cook up an Irish-themed meal like Christina over at The Andrews Update. Hmmm....

If you have any creative ways that you celebrate St. Patrick's Day, please share in the comments!

Always,

Amanda

Homemade Play Dough Valentines

As you know, my One Word for 2012 is Be, as in Be a Friend. One of the ways I have tried to put this into practice is by starting a moms playgroup at our church. We meet once a month at my house, once at another mom's house, and also try to schedule in one monthly outing. It has been a great way for me to connect with other moms, and the boys are also getting an opportunity to play and connect with other kids their age.

Today, we had a fun little Valentine's Day Party at our house. I served heart shaped peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwiches, pretzels (which are naturally heart shaped), and fresh fruit. I made strawberry cupcakes with strawberry icing and garnished them with strawberry halves.

The kiddos had fun playing with our Valentine's Day Sensory Bin and Play Dough.

The kids also exchanged valentines. The night before, Buddy and I made some for him and Little Man to give to their friends.

I thought all of the kids would enjoy taking some of the sparkly pink play dough home with them. I found great little plastic heart-shaped containers, and pink and red foam letters in the Target $1 aisle. Buddy and I made up another batch of playdough and filled the containers.

Here's my Valentine's Play Dough recipe...

1 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Salt
1 Cup Water
2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil 
2 Tablespoons Cream of Tartar
Red Food Coloring
Red Glitter

Mix flour, salt, oil and cream of tartar. Slowly add water. Cook over medium heat, stirring until dough stiffens and begins to pull away from pan. Turn out onto wax paper and let cool. Knead the playdough with your hands until proper consistency. Add a few drops of red food coloring and glitter, and continue to knead dough until it is mixed thoroughly.


I thought I would emphasize a little natural letter learning while we made the valentines. First, I laid out basic letter flash cards across the table and we sang the ABC song. Then I gave Buddy the bowl of foam letters and we sorted them out, saying each letter as we placed them on the matching card.

Then I took out a dry erase board and wrote the child's name that he was making the Valentine for. He would look at the name, find the right letters, and stick them to a piece of white cardstock. He did a really great job!

After he finished all of the kid's names, we hot glued the play dough filled plastic hearts onto the cards. Then I wrote out the boys names in pencil and let Buddy trace their names with a marker. He had a lot of fun making the valentines for the kids and couldn't wait to hand them out today.

Hope you are having a great week!

Always,

Amanda

Our Cardboard Pirate Ship {The SS Home Depot}

Buddy asked me several times last week to help him make a pirate ship. I remembered seeing this one on Pinterest, so I emailed a picture of it to my husband and asked if he would pick up a few cardboard boxes on his way home from work. These boys are so blessed to have a creative Daddy. As soon as he came home, he got right to work building their pirate ship.

Buddy and I made an anchor from scrap cardboard, painted it yellow and added gold glitter. I tied on some jute rope and threaded it through a hole on the side. I made a few knots on the other end, but when Little Man showed us that he could successfully pull the knots through the hole, I pinched a binder clip over the knot. See if you can pull that through Little Man! (He probably will.)

Buddy also wanted a telescope/canon so we painted an old paper towel tube and I added a little cardboard loop on the front of the ship to hold it in place. He used this to "shoot" ping pong balls.

When the ping pong balls would get stuck, he found a way to push them through using his tinker toys.

Love the tongue poking out of his mouth as he concentrates!

I came up with a little number game to play with Buddy using the ping pong balls. I drew the numbers 1-12 on twelve ping pong balls and put them in an old egg carton. Then I sat in front of the boat and said, ( in my best pirate voice)...

"Aaaargggh, shoot me out the number ______."

And then Buddy would find that number and shoot it out the "canon" and I would try to catch it in a hat. He really enjoyed this game and it was a great way to squeeze in a little number learning for the day, since we ditched our lesson plans in favor of creative play.

The next day, their Daddy added a sail made from PVC pipe. I covered it with drawing paper, and then Little Man promptly tore it to pieces. I think he thought he was unwrapping a gift.

I might try to cover it with a pillowcase or something instead. Or I might just leave it the way it is. It kind of looks like a ship that has made it through a rough storm. And it kind of has. To survive a few days of play with two energetic little boys is no easy feat.

Always,

Amanda

February Sensory Activities and A Few Other Things

When Buddy turned three, I started getting more serious about our learning activities. I'm the kind of person that throws myself into things 110%, so I kind of went over the top trying to fill up each day with tons of themed learning activities. I quickly fizzled and went the complete opposite direction, with each day being unplanned and random, which explains the absence of Learning at Home posts. Over the last year I have learned a lot about myself in regards to educating my children.

I am not good at following a strict schedule.

I am not disciplined enough to do heavy planning/preparation. There are amazing homeschool moms that write curriculum's and make awesome printables. I am not one of those moms.

It has been hard for me to find anything that lined up with the way I want to teach which is why I felt the need to create my own. (Fail.) Most preschool blogs use a ton of themed printables and that's not really my thing. I think it's a waste of paper, and I would rather use real objects if possible. Although I am very drawn to Montessori, it is still a little too structured for me, and difficult to recreate in the home. I love and appreciate Waldorf, but after a year of trying to fit myself into the Waldorf mold, I have come to accept that I will never be a true Waldorf mom. I read Charlotte Mason's Towards a Philosophy of Education in Modern English, and very much agree with her philosophy, but I know there are many aspects that I will not be able to follow in reality. Although I will definitely incorporate things from all three of those theories into our education, I find myself most drawn to the Reggio Emilia style of learning, because I feel like it lines up naturally with the way our family already operates. To better understand the Reggio Emilia method of education, you can check out these blogs.

Irresistable Ideas for Play-based Learning
Play at Home Mom
Teacher Tom

True Reggio Emilia is all about the learning environment, and I have done my best to create that in my home, but there are limitations. I will post more on this in a few days.

Coming full circle, there are still aspects of traditional preschool that I do like. I am so excited that I found an amazing homeschool mom blogger that has free simple lesson plans that are exactly the way I would plan out our week if I had the self-discipline.

Her lessons are Bible Story based, but not too heavily themed. There are only three lessons per week, so it's not too much. There are a couple of optional printables, but most of the activities are play-based, and teach numbers, shapes, colors, and the alphabet in simple and natural ways. She is also big on reading and environmental print versus traditional letter of the week, which I love.

So in addition to trying to have a creative and natural learning environment in our home, we will be following her lessons each week.

I am also going to create a themed sensory bin with play dough each month for the boys. I think I can handle that. This month our theme is Valentine's Day. (Big surprise.)

Sensory Bin

I filled a small  plastic bin with a lot of red and pink items that we already had on hand.

• Red Heart Silicone Ice Cube Tray (IKEA)
• Plastic Heart Shaped Cookie Cutters (From my box of Wilton's 101 Cookie Cutters)
• Pipe Cleaners and Beads
• Snap Cubes
• Counting Bears
• Other items from the Target $1 aisle and Party City

Play Dough

We also made pink peppermint scented play dough with red glitter. (It didn't photograph very well.)

  

I used this recipe and added red food coloring, peppermint extract, and red glitter. I introduced the sensory bin and play dough this morning and it has kept the boys attention for most of the day so far.

Sometimes it is easy to read a blog and feel like the blogger is some kind of Supermom or has this perfect little life, because we often write about and photograph nice and pretty things and experiences. There are blogs that I have had to stop reading because I just ended up comparing myself to them and feeling bad about myself. I don't ever want that to happen to any of my readers, so I want to be REAL with you.

When we do these learning activities, it isn't all smiles and sunshine. We are not living in a Barney episode where everyone says and does the perfect and well-mannered thing with a sparkling smile.

So here is my behind-the-scenes reality check...

When I brought out the sensory bin, Buddy complained about there being too many red items or something like that, and I lectured him on being grateful and thanking me for making him a sensory bin. Little Man thew all of the sensory bin items on the floor instead of playing with them at the table. While we were playing with the play dough, Little Man kept trying to throw it in the trash can and then in the dishwasher.

I started the day in a grumpy mood, so I was not as pleasant during those experiences as I would have preferred to be. Now I am letting them watch Netflix, while I drink some coffee and have some quiet time to try to work on improving my attitude.

So there you have it.

Always,

Amanda

Why I Want To Raise Creative Children

To me, creativity is bigger than being crafty. It is bigger than having some type of artistic ability.

Creativity is a mindset.

When a creative person looks at something, he doesn't just see what is in front of him. He sees the possibilities of what it could be and how it could be used.

When someone tells a creative person that something is impossible, she will figure out a way to make it happen.

When a creative person doesn't have the money or exact items necessary, he will use what he has and make it work well.

A creative person doesn't care how something has always been done. She will think of a better and more efficient way to do it.

It is very important to me to raise creative children. I do not want my boys to limit themselves to what they see around them.

I want my boys to...

Be resourceful.

Think outside of the box.

Dream big.

Not let proper technique and/or training scare them away. I want them to paint, draw, tie, glue, build, write, and make things that they love.

I don't want my boys to feel the need to copy or compare themselves to others. I want them to be unique, and to be bold and confident in their individuality.

So as their mama, I am going to live creatively in front of them, and I am going to do my best to cultivate creativity in their lives.

Always,

Amanda

Recycled Crayons

My boys love to watch Fireman Sam on Netflix. Little Man is nothing short of obsessed with the show and runs around the house saying "Watch Ham" all day. There are times when it would be nice to let them "Watch Ham" all day, so I could get tons of stuff done, but that would be the easy way out. I usually let them watch it for about an hour or so after dinner before we put them to bed, and an occasional episode during the day if I am truly at my wit's end.

Today was a cold and rainy day, and I was very tempted to let them "Watch Ham" all day. Instead of completely giving in, I tried to balance "Ham" with a few fun activities. One of the activities we all enjoyed was this little crayon project.

My boys do not like to color with crayons. They are marker people. So I thought we would have a little fun with their crayons in a different way. I laid out a big sheet of drawing paper on the kitchen floor and the three of us sat there and tore the paper off all their crayons and broke them into smaller pieces. This held their attention for quite some time.

Then I greased my mini muffin pan and we sorted the crayons into little color families. This was my favorite part. I probably got a little too into it. (I recommend Cooking Spray for your pan, but I was out so I used my Wilton's Cake Release.)

While we were working on this, I had the oven preheating to 250 degrees. When we finished sorting our colors, I placed the muffin pan in the oven for about 10 minutes. Once the crayons had melted, I pulled the pan out and let it cool for a while. When the pan was cool to the touch, I placed it in the fridge for about an hour. After that, all I had to do was turn the pan over and the crayons fell right out.

I am thinking that maybe these shapes will interest the boys a bit more than the traditional crayons, especially for our big sheets of paper. And I think these will be great for doing crayon rubbings of leaves and other objects.

I think these would make great birthday party favors too. And if you had a heart shaped mini muffin pan, you could make them for Valentine's Day!

Even if my boys still don't care to use them, they sure will look cute on display in a mason jar in the playroom. The important thing is that we had fun making them together. And for me, it is much about the process as it is the product.

Always,

Amanda

Christmas Card Photo Album Project for Kids

If you are having trouble deciding what to do with all of the Christmas cards that you received last month, here's an idea...

Buddy loves to carry a little photo album around with random pictures, so I thought we would make a new album using all of the photos from the Christmas cards we received. I found a great little album with a removable cover insert for $1 at Wal-Mart.

I gave Buddy a stack of photo cards and his safety scissors. I let him cut out the pictures and place them in the album. When his hands got tired of cutting, I cut them out for him while he continued to arrange them in the album.

He was so funny, because he wouldn't put two pictures in the same slot even if they were tiny. He said "No 2 by 2's". He always refers to two things as "2 by 2". Very Noah's Ark of him. :)

When he was finished, I let him draw a picture on the back side of the cover insert that came in the album. Above is a picture of Fireman Sam, which is his and Little Man's favorite show on Netflix. Little Man calls him "Ham".

Speaking of Little Man, he also is enjoying looking at his new little photo album of our friends and family while rocking his Nacho Libre fleece longies!

All of my non-photo Christmas Cards are going in a large box where I keep magazines and scrapbook paper for various cutting projects like collages and art journaling.

This turned out to be a fun little activity for us this morning.

What do you do with your Christmas Cards once Christmas is over?

Always,

Amanda

Our Gratitude Tree

Last Thanksgiving, we started the tradition of making a gratitude project to take over to my in-laws house for our family Thanksgiving meal. Last year, we made watercolors leaves and each member of the family wrote what they were thankful for on a leaf and hung it on a branch. Then after dinner, we took turns sharing what we wrote.

This year, I thought it would be fun for the boys to paint a tree because painting is probably their most favorite thing to do.

My husband had a piece of scrap wood that he sanded smooth for us. I went ahead and painted a tree trunk and branches using brown acrylic paint.

After the that paint dried, Buddy and I began mixing colors for the hand print leaves. Even though the acrylic paints make nicer shades, acrylic is very hard to wash off of the hands, so I decided to use Tempera paints. Our temperas are very bright so Buddy and I toned them down by doing a little custom color creation. While we were standing side by side, he leaned over and kissed my hand. He is a sweetheart!

We made a nice brownish red, a reddish orange, and golden yellow. To not further mix the colors and end up with a solid color tree, I gave the boys their own paper plate with one color.

They each worked with their color and then switched sides so that the colors were pretty even.

We started out with the idea of doing hand prints, but ended up just letting them do their own thing. They did some hand prints, some smearing and used brushes.

I told Little Man to smile for me. This is what I got...

When they were finished with the main two colors, I sat out the plate of golden yellow and let them add that in.

The tree turned out to be quite a piece of art. I added "Medlin Family Thanksgiving 2011" up the side to commemorate the day.

I brought a bunch of Sharpies with us to dinner, and each member of the family wrote what they were thankful for on the leaves of the tree. After dinner, we all took turns sharing. Buddy was sitting on my lap and whispered to me that he wanted to share. When it was his turn, he said that he was thankful for...

Captain America

His Toys

His Mom, Dad and Brother

It was so cool to see that he understood what was going on and chose to participate completely on his own. My baby is growing up!

Today we hung out around the house, ate leftovers and hung the icicle lights outside the house. Buddy ran out and exclaimed "It looks beautiful!", which made every second of it worthwhile. Have you started decorating for Christmas?

Always, 

Amanda