Bekah's New Favorite Game

I love all the printables available here on Nick Jr. I saw this Team Umizoomi scavenger hunt and printed it out for us to play some time. It has become Bekah's new favorite thing to do. The one Saturday night we pulled it out and she played it again and again.

Then, as soon as she woke up Sunday morning she wanted to play again. It has become such a fun activity for all 3 of us to play.

She was so surprised to wake up the other morning to find the pieces hidden around our living room. Before Daddy had left for work he hid the scavenger shapes for her to find. She had a blast looking for them!

You can print off this great game here.

Preschool - Letter H

This week we had a lot of fun with the letter H.

We made a H is for house from Totally Tots.

From our Raising Rock Stars Preschool our verse of the week was "Honor your Father and your Mother." Exodus 20:12.

She also made a little book called Hearts and Hands.

Cut out her letter H cards.

A favorite of the week was the power point show from the members only section of Raising Rock Stars Preschool. It is totally worth the money!

Another fun activity we printed off from 1+1+1=1 was this pom pom number matching. Bekah really had fun with this.


We used more printables from Confessions of a Homeschooler.
The number cards are still her favorite. She actually pulls these out herself to play with during the week.

Hippo sequencing.

A new activity for us. Bekah had to use a push pin to poke holes in the letter H. She loved this!

Here she is holding it up to see the light shine through her holes.

DLTK had a cut and paste hippo that Bekah put together.

I printed these animal homes matching cards. Bekah loved this activity. We actually just matched them up and glued them on paper, but they could also be made into a matching game. I cannot locate where I printed these from, but will try to find and add a link.

This hot and safe sorting was something I copied out of the most recent Kindergarten Mailbox magazine. It would be very easy to recreate. All that's needed is clip art of things that are hot (candle, oven, match, fire, etc. and things that are safe teddy bear, pillow, table, chair, etc.) I then had Bekah sort the things that were hot and the things that are safe.

One of our fun activities was that Bekah played a lot with her Splaster. She really loves the art section, but there are also great learning games on here.

We did a lot more activities and had a great time in Preschool this week!

stART - House for Hermit Crab

This week we've been working on the letter H. A book we've really been enjoying is A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle. Bekah LOVES any of his books, so you just can't go wrong with this one!

I found a cute project at homeschool share that went along with this book. They actually have a whole lapbook that you can put together, but we just made the art project.

The story in the book is about a hermit crab who has outgrown his home. He finds a new shell to live in, but it is very plain. He decorates it with sea stars, sea urchins, and many more things.

Our project was to decorate the Hermit Crabs new home with whatever Bekah saw fit. We added stickers, feathers, sequins, and buttons. She really got creative and had a blast!

She spent a long time working on her beautiful hermit crab picture.

You can see what others are doing at A Mommy's Adventures and over at Kids Get Crafty.

Preschool - Letter T

We're finally all over the sinus infection that invaded our house! It was nice to get back into more of a routine. It was, however, tough to get Bekah into preschool work this week. We worked at her own speed on Monday and Tuesday. By Wednesday she was back into the swing of things and loving preschool. Here are some highlights from our week.

I like to start Monday morning with a toy that Bekah hasn't played with in awhile. This bear puzzle was too hard for her when we bought it, so I put it away until now. She did much better with it this time.

This week we worked on the verse "Thou shall not steal." Exodus 20:15. We discussed what this means and Bekah memorized her verse. We're loving the Raising Rock Stars Preschool curriculum from 1+1+1=1!

Here she is writing the letter T.

Our T is for Tractor from Totally Tots.

We also used a lot of the printables from Confessions of a Homeschooler. Bekah loved the turtle theme!

Here she is counting and connecting paperclips to the turtle. This was a wonderful fine motor and math skills activity.

Matching the color word with the color on the turtle.

This was the favorite activity of the week. I would call out the number and she would have to jump to it. We did this again and again!

Counting turtles.


I also began introducing telling time this week. We worked on learning what hour it was with this clock printable I found at Home Grown Hearts.

I also had this time matching sheet I had printed off from an old Mailbox magazine. I get mine from the library.

Bekah loves the computer. One morning while on www.playhousedisney.com she went to Handy Manny and created toys. She was so proud to print off her toys and color them.

One of our favorite books this week was Trashy Town by . I found great ideas to go along with this book at Totally Tots.

We also did this cute trash can shape match-up from 2 Teaching Mommies.

I found these cute labels from 1+1+1=1 to learn words. Bekah loved helping me label our house. I wonder what hubby is going to think when he gets home!

Our cute little turtle.


Hope you all had a wonderful week!
You can see what others are up to at Homeschool Creations
and 1+1+1=1.

Apple Pie Play Dough

WARNING....this stuff is highly addictive! I could just sit and sniff it all day! It really smells like the real thing! Thankfully, my daughter is old enough to know not to eat it!

I found this recipe for apple pie play dough over at Along the Way. We've made pumpkin pie play dough in the past, but never apple pie play dough. However, I made a HUGE mistake when making this. I told my daughter I was going to make it the next day. After I did that I kept hearing the question, "can we make apple pie play dough now??" So, I finally gave in and made it that night.

I ran out of regular red food coloring, but had the Wilton gel food coloring left from when I took a cake decorating class (about 5 years ago!). Needless to say, the gel coloring was all clumpy and I ended up having to knead it in. I ended up with pink hands! Just make sure you have enough red food coloring before you make this! =)
Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

* 1 cup of flour
* 1/2 cup of salt
* 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
* 1 tablespoon of cream of tarter
* 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
* 1/4 teaspoon of allspice
* 1/2 cup of water
* 1/2 cup of apple juice
* red food coloring (add until you get desired color)

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a large sauce pan.
2. Place on medium high heat on the stove
3. Stir frequently until the dough starts pulling away from the sides of the pan.
4. Remove from the stove.
5. Once the dough has cooled enough to handle knead the dough.
6. Place it in an airtight container.

Freight Train - stART Project

This week we've been learning about the letter T. A book that has been one of our favorites for awhile is Freight Train by Donald Crews. An idea I've had bookmarked is this Shape Train from My Two Happy Homeschoolers.

It was very simple to make and I really made an effort not to help Bekah. I wanted her to be able to make it herself (even if it wasn't perfect). I think she did a great job. Yes, it drove me crazy that the wheels were on top of the train, but this is HER train....not mine. Does anyone else struggle with this? Anyhow, she did wonderful and I love that it was made by her.


You can see what others are reading at A Mommy's Adventures.

Neighborhood Bingo

We had a terrible sinus infection that attacked our house last week! My husband came home from school a week ago Friday sick. Bekah came down with the same thing on Tuesday (except with throwing up as well) and I got it by the next Friday. Let me just say, YUCK! We spent a lot of time sleeping and watching movies.

Thankfully, we're all feeling much better and are able to get back into some preschool activities. I'll be posting more of these later, but here's a great idea we were able to get to before illness hit our home. It's a neighborhood bingo game that we've played 3 times already!

I found this family fun activity over at 2 Teaching Mommies. I love their new blog....they have a ton of great ideas and free printables. Our family loves taking walks around our neighborhood together, so I immediately printed this when I saw it.

Here's Bekah showing how she found everything on her list! (she got a m&m as a prize for finding everything!)

Sarah's Nursery

Thought I would give you all a little peek at baby Sarah's nursery. It was our goal to get this room all ready for her before Nathan went back to teaching this Fall. I am pleased to say that we were able to do it!

We were blessed to find her "new" furniture on craigslist and my mom bought her the adorable bassinet. This will make it's way into our master bedroom once she arrives.

I can't wait to meet our tiny princess...although I feel like I already know her so well!