Koolaid painting

We've been meaning to do some koolaid paintings for a long time.  Boy was it a wonderful smell as we painted.  We just bought a variety of koolaid colors and added a little bit of water to each one.  The colors turned out great and the paintings smell great too.

Apple cups

 

I found this idea in Family Fun magazine.  K and I used a melon baller to carve out apples into little cups.  we filled the apples with cranberry and apple juice.  They were fun to drink out of and then eat. Even L enjoyed himself as one of the cups was made into applesauce for him.  :)

Circle Time

 

A friend of mine started a wonderful little circle time at our local nature center.  Each week the kids (from about 6 families) meet at the nature center.  First the kids take a walk through the woods (in all weather).  Often time they find sticks and laves to carry with them.  The walk ends at the backdoor of the nature center where the children gather for a circle of seasonal rhymes,  songs, poems, and stories.  Afterwords the kids sometimes do a seasonal craft (one week they made pictures out of beans and seeds, another week they laminated fall leaves that they had found.  This coming week we plan on making flags for the children to wave on their walks).  When circle time is over the children often share a snack and wonder through the nature center visiting with the animals and playing with their friends. 

Kindess Tree

I know I've posted in the past about the Kindness tree that K and I were making.  We first water colored paper in fall leaf colors.  I then cut out 27 maple leaves from the paper.  Then I put a random act of kindness on each leaf.  some examples are:
hold the door open for someone
draw someone a picture
sing someone a song
leave some quarters in a public place
Then I laminated all the leaves and put strings in them to hang them.  On Nov. 1st we hung them all over our ficus tree.  Each day (when we haven't been traveling or busy with visiting family/friends we've picked a leaf and done what it says for the day.  My original plan was to have it as a count down to thanksgiving, but in the end I decided we'd just finish the tree when we finished it.  So far it has been a lot of fun.  K surprised his great grandmas one day by calling them each and singing to them.  He spent one day running around the house turing off lights (to save the earth).  :)

pond update

K and I have been working hard on our pond habitat.  K helped me sew lilly pads on the water.  We also made a little fishing pole for the gnome.  I'm hoping to make a little fisherman soon.  We also just made the little dock out of twigs we found on a walk.  

I still plan on making a little row boat with oars, more fish, and a willow tree.  Kalan also really wants a frog so I'll have to think about how to do that one.  Oh and I think I might make a log for the turtle to sit on.  

Halloween sensory bin

I just made my first sensory bin.  Here are some pictures from when I first set it out.  I used red lentils and black beans and believe it or not I actually had all the other little things on hand. 

So I put this bin together and handed it to my 3 yr old.  He messed around with it for about 5mins and then walked away.  My 1st thought was that this was just not going to work for my little guy. 

Well the next day my mom brought me a pack of electric tea lights.  I added some of those to the bin along with some more little containers and a spoon to scoop and dump.  BINGO!  Now he can't get enough of this bin!  The lights are so fun in the evening.  I think I'll be adding those to our next bin too (well if it make sense). 

So now I can't stop thinking of other ideas for bins.  I know K would love a gardening bin (he keeps pretending this one is a garden) and a construction vehicle bin.   I have no idea what I'll do next, but it will probably depend on what sorts of materials I run into.

muffin tin lunch

Muffin tin lunch.  Ok its not a terribly creative muffin tin lunch but it was my first so I figured I'd post a picture, besides I just love this muffin tin.  I found it at a garage sale some time back.  K hasn't been eating much, but loved this idea so much he actually had a good sized meal.  Hopefully I'll be able to get a little more creative in the future.