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Thursday, February 24, 2011

stART

Welcome to stART! I hope that you will enjoy our story and art project and maybe even share your own too. All I ask is that you link back to A Mommy’s Adventures somewhere in your post by either adding my button or a text link, so that others can see all the other great projects that everyone shares too! The linky will be open all week.  Be sure to stop by and visit the different links…every week there are so many different and fun book and craft ideas!

Check out the  stART tab in my navigation bar where you can find our past stART projects.  All the books that we have read and did a stART project for are listed in alphabetical order.

This has been a very busy week for us and we did not get to a stART project for this week.  I thought it would be fun to highlight some of the fun projects from last week instead. 

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Check out the amazing art, math and book project that love2learn2day did with her children to go along with I Spy Shapes in Art, by Lucy Micklethwait.  I can’t wait to see if I can get a copy of this book from the library for Emily and Juliette to read!

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You have to see the beautiful art pieces that The Day It Rained Hearts, by Felicia Bond inspired at The Chocolate Muffin Tree

Now it is your turn…what story inspired art projects have you done with your children this week???

Thursday, February 17, 2011

stART ~ Lots of Dots

 

Welcome to stART! I hope that you will enjoy our story and art project and maybe even share your own too. All I ask is that you link back to A Mommy’s Adventures somewhere in your post by either adding my button or a text link, so that others can see all the other great projects that everyone shares too! The linky will be open all week.  Be sure to stop by and visit the different links…every week there are so many different and fun book and craft ideas!

Check out the  stART tab in my navigation bar where you can find our past stART projects.  All the books that we have read and did a stART project for are listed in alphabetical order.

 

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This week we read Lots of Dots, by Craig Frazier.  When I saw this book at the library I knew it would be perfect for a stART project!This is a simple book with a catchy rhyming text that makes it so much fun to read.  The bright colors against the white page makes the illustrations pop adds to the enjoyment of this book.  Both Emily and Juliette enjoyed reading it with me.

For our art project I knew right away we would be using our Dot Stickers.   I gave Emily and Juliette large and small dot stickers and had them use them to make their own dot illustration inspired by the book.

IMG_7540 Emily working on her Dot Project

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Emily told me this picture was of our family by our car.  The large dots are the wheels and the small dot is the horn. 

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Juliette has fun putting the dots on the paper.  Emily gave her the pencil so she could draw too.

IMG_7546Juliette’s finished dot picture 

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Emily’s Cookie Decorating 4th Birthday Party

  I had so much fun planning Emily’s birthday party this year.  After going to a friends “Baking” birthday party at a cooking place, I thought I could totally do this at my own house for a fraction of the cost.  When I asked if she wanted to do a baking party at our house she was so excited.

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The day before the party Emily, Juliette, Aunt Christina and I worked together to bake giant circle sugar cookies.  I used a large round cookie cutter to make them and after they were baked they were about 5 inches in diameter.IMG_7408

On the day of the party I had small cake boxes that would fit the cookie for the kids to decorate.  I found really cute stickers at A.C. Moore that were perfect for this.  They had all different sweets on them and words like “Sweet Treat” and “Delicious”  They also used markers.  I couldn’t believe how long all of the kids spent decorating their boxes.  I could have stopped the party their and they would have been perfectly happy.  Although I am sure they are really glad that I didn’t since next up was decorating their cookies!!

IMG_7404I had Chocolate, Vanilla and Pink Frosting all ready for them to ice their cookies. 

IMG_7403   Next they each got a tray with 4 toppings.  Rainbow Sprinkles, Mini Chocolate Chips, Funfetti (they were on the top of the frosting containers) and crushed Oreos.  I also put out M&M’s and Mini Cookies for them to decorate their giant cookie with.

Let the Decorating Begin…

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Once they were finished we put their cookie right into their decorated box. IMG_7418Emily’s Finished Cookie

Next the kids played, we had pizza and cupcakes.IMG_7425 Of course the kids were able to decorate their cupcakes too!IMG_7426 IMG_7427

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For a favor I found these really cute giant coloring books, Princess and Fairy ones for the girls and Dinosaurs for the Boys with a homemade star shaped crayon.   And of course their giant cookies!

Emily said it was the best Birthday ever which made it all worth it!

Muffin Tin Monday ~ Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

This week for Muffin Tin Monday the theme was Valentine’s Day and we had fun celebrating Valentine’s Day with 2, yes I said 2 muffin tin meals!!

For breakfast both Emily and Juliette had:

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A Heart Shaped Waffle with Syrup, Yogurt and Blueberries and Grapes all in our Wilton Heart Silicone Baking Cups, 12 Count.

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Emily and Juliette enjoying their Muffin Tin Breakfast.

For Dinner I surprised Emily with another Muffin Tin Meal

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My dad got us these cute Heart Shaped Ravioli’s from our local Italian Deli and I made Emily Cesar Salad and put it in our Heart Muffin Cups.  She was so excited to have 2 muffin tin meals in one day!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

stART ~ Who Wants a Valentine?

Welcome to stART! I hope that you will enjoy our story and art project and maybe even share your own too. All I ask is that you link back to A Mommy’s Adventures somewhere in your post by either adding my button or a text link, so that others can see all the other great projects that everyone shares too! The linky will be open all week.  Be sure to stop by and visit the different links…every week there are so many different and fun book and craft ideas!

Check out the  stART tab in my navigation bar where you can find our past stART projects.  All the books that we have read and did a stART project for are listed in alphabetical order.

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This week we read Who Wants a Valentine? , by Linda Lowery and Richard Keep.  This is a simple rhyming story about a little boy who does not want to be a part of all the Valentine’s festivities, until someone changes his mind.  This story is fun to read and has great cut paper illustrations. 

This week Emily did her art project with Aunt Christina.  She made a cute Heart Wreath that I thought went perfectly with this book!

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To make the wreath they cut out pink hearts from construction paper.  Aunt Christina helped Emily right some Valentine’s Day words on the hearts.  Finally they glued them together to make a wreath.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Heart People

Last year we made a cute “Little Miss Valentine” which motivated this years heart person.  Instead of accordion paper arms and legs we used pipe cleaners and beads, for a great fine motor skill art project.

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To make these I cut out a large heart out of pink foam and 4 smaller hearts from pink, white and red foam.IMG_7342 Emily used markers to decorate the heart.  Then I used a hole puncher to make holes for the arms and legs.  Emily picked out what color pipe cleaner she wanted for the arms and legs.  We used a half a pipe cleaner for each arm and leg.  Once the pipe cleaners were attached she was able to use whichever beads she wanted to decorate the arms and legs.   Emily picked which color smaller hearts she wanted for the hands and feet and I helped her attach them, by twisting the pipe cleaner through the hole in the smaller hearts.  Finally, Emily glued on wiggly eyes and drew a nose and mouth.

She was very proud of her heart person and could not wait to show it to Daddy when he got home from work!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Muffin Tin Monday

There was not theme for Muffin Tin Monday this week, but Grandpa got Emily and Juliette a bag of Jolie Raviolis.  These are little really cute fun shaped ravioli's and I thought they would make the perfect Muffin Tin Lunch!
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Top Row: Apple Sauce, Chocolate Cake, Salad
Emily loving her Muffin Tin Monday Meal!
Juliette’s Muffin Tin Monday Lunch
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Top Row: Apple Sauce Cup and Salad
Bottom Row: Chocolate Cake and Bear Shaped Ravioli
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Juliette dug right in…
IMG_7368…and soon realized that she needed to use two utensils to get the applesauce in her mouth fast enough!  

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Having Fun Learning

Our Week Having Fun Learning Together!!!
Emily is 47 months old and Juliette is 18 months old
This week we had a great week.  We did a lot of different activities and games,music class, had our first Tot School Beginnings and art group.   And of course did a lot of playing, pretending and having fun!
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I took out this Felt Snowman that I made for Emily last year.  She loved dressing it and we even made some new clothes to add to his collection.
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Juliette is obsessed with Perfection .  We play this game many times during the day.  She is able to put all of the pieces in, we just do not turn on the timer.  She also loves to do it with the timer on when we help her.  When we take it out she keeps saying “pop, pop” since that is what it does when the timer runs out.
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Emily and I made yarn hearts for Valentine’s Day decorations.  This was a very sticky, but fun project.
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Both Emily and Juliette love to help sweep the floors and use the dust buster.
We had our first official Tot School Beginnings this week at our friend Sarah’s house.  She set up 3 activities for the little ones to explore and then they were able to play.
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Juliette enjoyed the play dough.  She liked poking it with the fork the best.
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Although she liked the Rice Sensory Tub, it drove me crazy since she kept putting the rice in her mouth.  I think she would have eaten it by the fistfuls if I wasn’t watching her. IMG_7330
Finally the did a simple craft.  Juliette liked sticking the tissue paper squares onto contact paper.  This is a great first art activity for toddlers.
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While Juliette was playing Emily was very entertained by her own little sensory bucket that Sarah had set up for the big sisters!
After that, Emily was able to join in with Preschool Activities and Elmo’s Birthday Party!
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Emily made a quilt for the letter Q
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She enjoyed this Elmo color by number that Sarah made.
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She also did an Elmo Do a Dot page.
We also had cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday To Elmo.  You can see the different activities we did here.
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We made some coffee filter hearts that were inspired by the Artful Parent.  We actually did this with our art group and all of the kids had a great time.  Even the babies were able to participate!
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Emily was obsessed with our chocolate play dough.  She sat at the counter working with it for over an hour!  I stored it in the empty Hershey’s Cocoa container, which worked out really well!
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Finally after dinner with Aunt Christina and Uncle Scott, Emily and Juliette were able to try out Skype.  This was the first time I had tried it and was really impressed with how clear it was.  We definitely can’t wait to test it out again!
Our favorite books from this week:

Check out the great things that others are doing with their children by clicking these buttons!!
Tot School