Hooray for the Red, White, and Blue Muffin Tin

Today's theme on Muffin Tin Monday was Patriotic, so we went red, white, and blue. Bekah woke up today saying, "It's muffin tin monday!" I hadn't even told her yet, so I'm not sure how she knew, but she did. She really loves participating! I had a really hard time coming up with blue food, but this is what we came up with:

Top row: Strawberry, mini marshmallow, and blueberry "kabobs"; American cheese stars, and white milk. Bottom row: make your own pasta bar- sauce, elbow macaroni, and parmesan cheese.

Bekah ate almost all of her lunch, but she especially liked the mini marshmallows!




We also made a craft to go with our patriotic muffin tin. Red, White, and Blue Stars. You need: a covered work surface (we used newspaper), cut out red white and blue stars, glue, and glitter.



Put glue on your star.



If your child is old enough, they can put the glue on themselves.



Add glitter. (Warning - this got quite messy. It may be better to do this project outside.)



Let dry. We plan on hanging these on our window later.


You can learn more about Muffin Tin Monday at Her Cup Overfloweth.

Bubble Time

The other day Bekah wanted to go outside to play. We were looking for something new to do when I remembered seeing this bubble blower craft at A Mommy's Adventures. I had the straws on hand, so we quickly put it together. I have to admit, it was a little bit tricky getting the straws cut all the same size, but we finally got it and then went outside to try it out. Let me tell you, she had more fun with this than with the bubble blower kit I spent $4.00 on (and that was at half price)! All you need are straws, tape (we used packing tape), and bubbles.



All I did was cut the straws all the same length. Then I taped them together (in a honeycomb style). Then we put some bubbles in a small bowl and had fun. I had to keep reminding her not to put the end that she dipped in the bubbles into her mouth, but she did well.

Love for Music

Daddy and Bekah "practicing" violin.

Since my husband and I are both professional musicians we really wanted to instill a love of music into our daughter. We won't push her to become a musician herself, but want her to at least appreciate and enjoy it. Bekah has been around music since she was in the womb. I was a K-5 music teacher when I was pregnant. We really work to introduce different styles of music to her. I wanted to share some of our favorite cd's and dvd's which help us do this.

We LOVE Laurie Berkner cd's. Our favorite right now is Buzz Buzz. Bekah goes around the house singing songs like "The Pretzel Song", "These Are My Glasses", and "Chocolate Ice Cream". What's even better, I like the songs too. There's something about Laurie Berkner's voice - it's so easy to listen to.

We also love classical music. My husband and I are classically trained, so we listen to it quite a bit. The best way to introduce classical music is through Baby Einstein dvd's. Bekah is going to be 3 and still watches them! We recently went to my husbands orchestra concert and when a song by Mozart started she exclaimed, "Baby Kangaroo!" She was so excited! We love all of them, she really doesn't have a favorite.

If your child likes Sesame Street, they also have wonderful music products. Our favorite kid's classical cd is Elmo and the Orchestra and our favorite musical dvd is Elmo's Musical Adventure: Peter and the Wolf.



Here's Bekah listening to a Vivaldi cello concerto on my husband's IPod. (Note - it's turned down almost all the way)

A great way to try new cd's is to visit your local library. Ours has a great children's section and we've tried many cd's this way. One winner we've found was this cd, Jazz For Kids. It's a cd of great jazz musicians singing children's songs (Ella Fitzgerald sings Old MacDonald Had a Farm). It was a hit right from the first song.

Anyway you go about doing it, it's so important to introduce your child to different styles of music. It will give them a lifetime of musical enjoyment. What's your child's favorite music?

Hot and Cold

I recently put together this great book from File Folder Fun for Bekah. She has been having so much fun with it lately that I just had to share. It takes no time at all to put together. You just print off the pages and cut out the pieces. I did use clear contact paper to keep them from getting torn. You could also laminate them if you have access to one. Then you simply glue (I used double sided tape) to a file folder and have your child put the cards into their correct side. It turned into a great lesson for us. Bekah didn't know what some things were (volcano, dessert, and igloo), so it was a wonderful (and cheap) learning experience.

Bekah and I working on her new "game."

Strawberry Picking Part 2

I wanted to post some pictures of us picking the strawberries today. We had so much fun. Bekah ate more berries than she put in the bucket and her hands are still red even hours later. It was a wonderful family activity!




Happy Summer!

Strawberry Picking

Today we went strawberry picking at a local farm. We love to go every year from the time Bekah was 1. She hated the tractor the first year, but now loves it. I had seen this craft on No Time for Flashcards a long time ago and decided to keep it in mind for when we go strawberry picking. Well, today was finally the day. We did things a little bit different, but it was basically the same idea.
You need:

a piece of cardboard (I used the inside of a cereal box)with a strawberry drawn on it, red and green paint, a large paint brush, glue, and bird seed.

Have your child paint the strawberry red with a green stem.


Drizzle glue all over the strawberry. Bekah had fun doing this!


Now sprinkle on the birdseed.

After it drys you can cut it out.

Muffin Tin Monday

We really enjoy muffin tin monday. When I first saw the idea for this, I thought, she'd never go for it. Well, I brought out the muffin tin lunch and she went wild with excitment. Who knew a lunch in a muffin tin would bring such joy! You can learn more about muffin tin monday at Her Cup Overfloweth. This muffin tin monday we were learning about big and small. So, even though the theme on muffin tin monday was "copy cat" we did something different. We did a big and small muffin tin meal.
(Top - Big ladybug made from an apple cut in half. I made the lady bugs head from some leftover chocolate icing and the spots from mini brown m&m's. Next to the big ladybug is a small ladybug made from half of a strawberry. She also has a small juice box in this row.
Bottom row - Big grilled cheese star. Small grilled cheese star.)
We had a lot of fun making this. My husband even really got into it. Bekah loved eating it. She couldn't wait for it to be done!

Happy Muffin Tin Monday!

Elmer

This past week we made a trip to the library. As we walked into the childrens section she saw him. A colorful, checkered, stuffed animal elephant named Elmer. I immediately knew we were in trouble. We can't borrow stuffed animals from the library....what was I to do? She had already fallen in love! Well, I remembered seeing a post on My Two Happy Homeschoolers and so we went to find the book Elmer by David McKee. Thankfully, we found it right away and everything was fine when it was time to leave. Bekah had such a fun time making this cute elephant once we got home and we've been enjoying this book every day.


Sorry I don't have pictures of the process. It was very easy to make, though. Cut a sponge into squares. I then let Bekah pick out the colors by looking at the picture of Elmer on the book cover. I then put the paint on a paint plate and let her dip the sponge squares in the paint and stamp them onto an elephant I drew by hand. Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect! We let the paint dry and then glued Elmer together.

Shape Sorting

Bekah loves those foam stickers, so one rainy day we picked some up at the store and I immediately thought of this idea. Unfortunately, I realized when we got home that they were not stickers. That was okay, though, we practiced using glue. She really enjoyed doing this and was so proud to show her Daddy.

I divided the piece of cardstock into 5 sections for each shape (heart, circle, triangle, square, and rectangle. I then put all of the shape pieces into a bowl and let Bekah sort them. She had a lot of fun doing this. It was a simple and very inexpensive project.

My First Blog

Well, here I am. My very first blog. I figured I spend so much time reading blogs, why not try my own. I'm K-5 music teacher turned SAHM. Our beautiful daughter, Bekah, is almost 3 years old....my how time flies! I have been married to my college sweetheart for coming up on 5 years. I love teaching Bekah through music, arts and crafts, books, and all different activities. Thanks for joining us on our journey of learning.