Unplugged Project ~ Books

Greeting Card Book

This weeks Unplugged Project was "Books." Emily really enjoys getting cards in the mail and I feel bad about throwing them away when the special occasion or holiday is over. I have been saving them to use for craft projects, but when I saw the theme for this weeks Unplugged Project I knew what we were going to do with them! I made a Greeting Card Book with all of Emily's Special Cards.

To make the book all I did was find a large binder ring and hole punch a hole in the top left corner of each card. I put them on the ring closed it up and the book was ready for Emily to read!

Emily likes looking at all of the pictures and naming the things she sees. I can add new cards as she gets them too!

Peeps Painting

Marshmallow Peeps Bunny Painting

Emily enjoys sponge painting and when I saw this box of these PEEPS in the store I immediately thought of how much fun Emily would have using them to PAINT with. We decided to paint on white gift bags to use instead of Easter Baskets or Buckets for her cousins.

Here is what we did to have a great time painting and printing with Peeps Marshmallow Bunnies.

First, I put paint onto a take out container lid and gave Emily a Peep for each color.

Emily pressed the Peeps in the paint and then onto the bag.

I used black puff paint to make the eyes and the nose

When we were all finished Emily used the rest of the paint to make her own painting. She saw the Easter Grass I had out from last year and wanted to glue it on.

Her picture looks like Peeps in Easter Grass!!

TOTSchool

Our week in TOTSchool.
Emily is 25 months old

This week TOTSchool was basically non-existent, however we did do a lot of fun and educational things outside of the house that I didn't get pictures of. My husband is doing work in the house during the week so I was not able to stay home with Emily like we normally do.

We did get to do some painting. Emily enjoyed painting with her hands on this large piece of packing paper.

Emily did a lot of puzzles. This Abby Cadabby Puzzle
is one of her favorites!

Music Class: My amazing friend does a music class for all the kids in our playgroup once a week. She always has a different theme and incorporates counting, singing, movement and different kinds of instruments. She even got a parachute to use with the kids like at Gymboree. Emily's favorite part is going under it!

Playgroup: A group of us met at the Library when our kids were only about 9 months old. When the Library Program ended decided to get together at each other's houses during the break in the program. Every week we get together at a different house and the kids get to play and the mommies get to share ideas, talk and play with the kids. It has been such a great support system!

Parent-Child Workshop at the Library: Our local library is amazing. Emily loves going to pick out books and play with the toys. They also run a lot of different programs during the year. Some are one time and the other's meet weekly. This Workshop meets weekly and the kids get to play, and there is usually a craft of project for the kids to do, then the librarians read a story and do some songs. Each week they also have a resource person, such as a nutritionist or a speech pathologist come in to be available to answer any questions the parents may have. This week they had a music specialist come and do a music program with the kids which Emily LOVED!

Our favorite books from this week:

• Harold and the Purple Crayon ~ Crockett Johnson
• Hug ~Jez Alborough
• A Splendid Friend, Indeed ~ Suzanne Bloom
• Alphabeep : A Zipping, Zooming ABC ~ Debora Pearson

Check out what others are doing in their TOTSchools by clicking the button at the top of this page!!

Muffin Tin Monday

This is the first time that we have participated in Muffin Tin Monday at Her Cup Overfloweth. I have seen other peoples and thought it was such a cute and fun idea, but didn't think Emily would ever eat enough food to put in a muffin tin. Well, I am so glad I finally gave it a try! Emily ate everything and thought that it was so cool that we had lunch in something other than her plate.

Here is our Muffin Tin Monday Meal:

Top Row: Cucumber sticks, Egg Salad Crackers, Pineapple Cottage Cheese

Bottom Row: Same as the top!

Daddy's Little Helper

We, actually my husband has been doing some work on the house, and we now have a new laundry room (yippee!!) Emily is really enjoying watching Daddy do the work. She even helped him get the outlet covers so he could put them on. She was very proud of herself!

Unfortunately because of all the work and yucky paint smell we have been out of the house. Emily really missed doing "projects" this week. Although we did have fun playing and doing other things outside of the house!

Hand Print Butterfly

Cute Little Hands Make a Cute Little Butterfly!

Emily loves the butterfly at the end of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, written by Eric Carle, so today we made a Hand Print Butterfly.

First, I put yellow, magenta and white paint on the lid of a take out container large enough for Emily's hand. (I like using these lids instead of paper plates because they are reusable and we have a large collection of them.) Emily blended the colors with a Popsicle stick.

Next, Emily put her hand in the paint and made a print on the white paper. I helped her position them.

After we had two prints next to each other we waited for them to dry.

Emily glued on a foam piece for the body, two googly eyes and a pipe cleaner for the antenna

This is how we waited for the paint to dry!!

Emily had fun using the rest of the paint to finger/hand print on a large piece of packing paper I had saved from a recent package we received!

TOTSchool

Our Week in TOTSchool
Emily is 25 months old.

Emily enjoyed doing her fishing puzzle. It actually has a fishing rod that picks up the magnetic fish. We use it to practice colors, I tell her which one to fish for and then she gets it.

We added split peas to our sensory tub and this time I gave her a teapot and some teacups to practice filling and pouring.

I have this cake stand that you can change the ribbons in. So for each holiday I put a different ribbon in. Emily was wathing me do this and really wanted to help, so I showed her how to do it and she practiced lacing!

Emily did some reading in her Book Nook.

Our favorite books from this week:

• Wake Up, It's Spring ~Lisa Campbell Ernst
• It Looked Like Spilt Milk ~ Charles G. Shaw
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar ~ Eric Carle
• Duck On A Bike ~ David Shannon
  

Check out what others are doing in their TOTSchools by clicking the button at the top of this page!!

Out Like a Lamb

Emily's Hand and Reinforcement Lamb

We did our In Like a Lion project at the beginning of March and now that is is nearing the end of March I figured it was time to make our Out Like a Lamb project. I saw this on The Ramblings of a Crazy Woman and thought it was such a great idea since Emily LOVES peeling and putting stickers on paper.

First I traced and cut out Emily's hand.

Emily glued on a googly eye and then went to work sticking on a sheet of reinforcement.

Our Finished Projects

March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb!!

Yippee!!!

I Am So Excited!!

I got this Award last week from Amber at Hey, I'm Just the Nanny , and was so excited that people are enjoying my blog. It is so much fun to read and get ideas from everyone else. I am glad people feel the same way about mine!!

The rules of the award are as follows:
1) Put the logo on your blog or post.
2) Nominate at least 10 blogs that show great attitude or gratitude.
3) Link to your nominees within your post.
4) Let the nominees know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5) Share the love and link to the person from who you received your award.

Here are 10 of the many blogs that I enjoy reading:

1. 1+1+1=1
2. Chasing Cheerios
3. Just For Fun
4. No time for flash cards
5. Teachingtinytots: Mommy School
6. Having Fun at Home
7. Ramblings of a Crazy Woman
8. My Two Happy Homeschoolers
9. Growing Great Kids
10. Tiny Tots Learning and Growing

A Beautiful Bouquet

Hand Print Lilies

I saw the idea for these cute Hand-Print Lilies in Emily's Turtle Magazine and FamilyFun.com. Emily loves having her hand traced so I knew that we had to try making these. They came out so cute I am going to make a bunch for the table for Easter and for her Grandparents and Great-Grandma's too!

I traced Emily's hand (which she loved!) Then I had Emily color over the paper with chalk.

I cut out and assembled the rest of the lilies on my own while Emily practiced cutting the scrap papers. (I can't believe how good she is getting at using the scissors!)

*I am thinking of using the bubble print paper we did earlier to make some more. I think the pastel colors will look really pretty, plus it will give that piece of artwork a new life!!

To Make the Hand-print Lilies:

You will need

• Pencil
• Construction Paper - I used white and green
• Scissors
• Green plastic Straw
• Hole punch
• Pipe Cleaner - I used yellow
• Tape

First, I traced Emily's hand onto a piece of white construction paper and had her color them in with chalk. While she was coloring I cut two double leaves from green construction paper and punched a hole in the center where the leaves met.

Next, I curled the paper fingers and leaves by wrapping them around a pencil.

Then, I wrapped the hand around the top of a green plastic straw and secured it with a piece of tape. I slid the leaves onto the straw and taped them in place.

Finally, I folded half of a yellow pipe cleaner in half, curled the ends and put it into the the straw.

Unplugged Project ~ Water

Spring in a Bottle

This weeks Unplugged project was "Water." Emily and I made a Spring No-Snow Globe, that I found in the March Family Fun Magazine.

Emily helped pour the water into the jar.

Emily cut the green paper to make grass.

Emily liked shaking it up and watching the glitter and beads move around in the water.

Our Book Nook

A Tent To Read In

In our house we LOVE to read! We pretty much read anywhere in the house, since we have books all throughout the house. However, Emily really enjoys being rocked in her rocking chair and listening to a good bedtime book or when we read in the pop-up tent that she got for Christmas this year. It is right next to her bookcase and bookworm reading record. Emily loves picking out a book...well actually 5 or 6 books so she can read them in her little nook with me.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

We were HUNGRY for St. Patrick's Day!!

Today we had some tasty St. Patrick's Day inspired treats for breakfast and lunch.

I colored our pancake batter green and poured them in the shape of shamrocks for breakfast. Emily loves fruit so we also had some diced peaches.

Emily really enjoyed her breakfast today!

For lunch I made Shamrock Toasties. When I saw this recipe in my FamilyFun magazine I knew I had to try it for lunch on St. Patrick's Day. They were really easy to make and tasted great too! All you need are English muffins, cheddar cheese and a green pepper.

Emily ate the green pepper first and then the rest of it, and I thought that the green pepper was going to get left behind!! What a nice surprise :0)

TOTSchool

Our week in TOTSchool.

Emily is 25 months old

Emily enjoyed practicing pouring with her rice tub. We used this almost every day this week!

Emily practiced making some letters and shapes in our Mess-Free painting bag.

We have been counting down the days until Easter with our Easter Lamb Countdown. Emily loves looking for the number each day and gluing a piece of cotton onto it.

Emily and I took turns reading Bible Stories to each other and Emily especially enjoyed reading to Beau!

Emily cooked all different yummy foods for Mommy. She loves pretending to cook and eat too!

We also did a lot of singing. Emily is really getting good at actually singing some of our favorite songs and she loves to do the hand motions.

Some of our favorite songs from this week were:

• Old McDonald Had A Farm ~ Emily likes to pick the animals
• If Your Happy and You Know It
• Skinamarink
• Happy Birthday To You ~ Ever since her birthday this is one of the songs we sing at least 10 times a day :0)

Our favorite books from this week:

• St. Patrick's Day Countdown ~ Salina Yoon
• Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed ~ Eileen Christelow
• If You Give A Mouse A Cookie ~ Laura Joffe Numeroff
• Little Lamb ~ Piers Harper

Check out what others are doing in their TOTSchools by clicking the button at the top of this page!!