Unwrap A Christmas Book A Day

I thought about this idea for the kids to unwrap some items around the house and thought, what better gifts to unwrap than library books?  They get to open one Christmas book a day.  I wrapped about six books for now, but plan on getting more from the library. 

 It is so fun to see the kids open one a day to see what we get to read for story time!  I used my stamp set to write the name for each number, as Harmony is learning new numeral sight words in school.  I also used newspaper for the wrapping, which I thought turned out beautifully!  The best part about this Christmas fun is that it is FREE and didn't take me but five minutes to wrap the books up and toss them under our tree. 

If you need Christmas book ideas, visit Silly Eagle Books.  :)

Happy Holidays!

Candice S

Truth in the Tinsel: The Christmas Story

This Christmas I wanted to share something special with Harmony.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to create a new "advent calendar" tradition or to just experience something unique and enlightening with her.  For the Holidays, my husband and I have decided that we want to teach patience, giving, sharing, and appreciation.  So much of these qualities diminish throughout the holiday season because we all get so caught up in gift giving and seasonal purchases.  It is too easy getting lost in the clutter and crowds, isn't it?  My goal is to establish the sense of loving our belongings that we have now, instead of constantly begging for more, and taking the time during this holiday season to have fellowship amongst our families.  Fellowship is something that always gets left on the back burner when it's the gifts and wrapping paper that should be.  Well, not literally of course! 

Our Snowflake Advent Tree that has "clues" on the back leading us to the next part of the story..



In my search of advent calendars and other family traditions, I kept hearing all of these wonderful things about this book called, "Truth in the Tinsel: An advent experience for little hands."  This book includes daily activities that share the story of Jesus and his birth, as well as an ornament a day to go along with each part of the story.  Although our household is by far a religious household, I want Harmony to experience The Christmas Story firsthand, rather than guessing or wondering what the differences between Baby Jesus and Santa Clause are. 

Day 1:  Candle Ornament: "The Light"

This book is an absolute depiction of the Christmas Story, detailed on explaining most of the story through the creation of a daily ornament.  Harmony and I have had fun making our ornaments.  It has been rather hard keeping her "involved" in the story long enough to really explain what everything means, as some of elements and passages read in the bible are not too accommodating for a younger child but we read the scripture's none the less and discussed what it is we think the meaning of it might be. 



Day 5:  Mary

So, what have we learned?  I figured if Harmony didn't take anything else away from this fun experience than at least I could use it as a moral lesson on teaching kindness, giving, forgiveness, and to appreciate what we have.  "We should share our spark and our light to the entire world."  This is something that we have been saying a lot in our house and I don't mind that positive encouragement and enlightenment one bit.  :)

If you're interested in doing it with us and thousands of others, feel free to stop by and get Amanda's book here.  I promise, it is not time consuming unless you want it to be nor is it tedious.  You can use the materials you have on hand to create your ornaments and spend as little to no time everyday before or after your kids go to school.  The book is beyond worth it!! 

Happy Holidays!

Candice S

Tot Spot: Montessori Sensory Basket

I read How To Raise An Amazing Child the Montessori Way at the beginning of the year and fell in love with quite a bit of Dr. Montessori's methods for teaching small children and the emphasis of importance she placed on supporting the learning environment from birth and beyond.  Simple techniques are discussed, as well as ideas's for extremely simple sensory play examples using items from the home.

  Creating a nature basket is an idea that is recommended for babies.  I have found that most of our learning toys, textures, and objects laying around the house have become favorites for our basket.  About once a month I change out the books, toys, and textures so we can explore something new.

Sensory Basket

Straws with a small, medium, and large cup used for nesting.  My 18 month old loves nesting cups and placing objects (straws) inside of them so this idea was super simple and he LOVES it! 

Pom Pom Game.  A recycled tub of butter becomes a game by stuffing pom pom's inside the hole, which promotes coordination.  Mark's attention span is astonishing while playing this game.

Texture Swatch/Sample.  A sewing swatch with a picture on it for Mark Jr. to feel, see, and explore.  The picture is of Mommy and Ni Ni (Sister)

Nesting Caps.  Various bottle cap sizes to use as a nesting toy.  **Beware of smaller bottle caps as babies enjoy placing these in their mouths.

V Tech Record and Learn Photo Album is definitely one of our favorite items.  You can record a personalized story and change out the photo's as often as you'd like.  This product also plays music and explores sights and sounds... 

I included some our Sock Puppet's for role play.. and to use while reading the following stories!  Mark loves using these and growling..  "Rooooaaarrr"





What are some of your favorite activities to do with your toddlers?

Candice S

Spunky Ramona- The Book Collection

Beverly Cleary started writing the Ramona series with the first book "Beezus and Ramona" setting Ramona's age at four years old.  Harmony and I have been reading this collection based off of our love for the movie that came out in 2010, Ramona and Beezus .

Ramona is full of love, character, and spunk.  She and Harmony are very much alike (which is why Harmony adores the books).  Ramona is always finding herself in predicaments or conflicts because of her curiosity, and often, she is told that she just needs to "grow up".  You can read about her adventures through Pre-K until she is much older.  This series is also about family, siblings, and unconditional love no matter what your transgressions might be.

The best part of all?  It leaves my little five year old wanting more, chapter after chapter! 

What chapter books do you enjoy reading with your children?

Candice S



All About Flowers: Growing from Seeds

For our Botany/Flower Thematic Unit, we decided to do some experimenting with seedlings and germination.  Using beans right from your pantry are perfect for this lesson!! 




                         Here's what we did....                        


We used approximately five or six Pinto Beans and soaked them overnight. 

The next day we placed them into an zip-lock bag (sealed half way) with a dampened paper towel.

  You can place directly in sunlight.

After about three days they usually start sprouting so we decided to let them grow for an additional day or so. We planted the seeds at about a week after germination.

Harmony planted the seeds herself.  She was so proud!  We are still recording to every single day on the progress that the plants are making. They stand about four inches high at the present.

Unfortunately, we only had two seedlings that were successful but so far so good. 

After they reach a certain height it is recommended that you provide them with support so they do not topple over and snap in half. 

Harmony loves taking care of her plants, watering, and seeing how big they've grown!

Here are a few other botany/flower related lesson plans, books, and idea's for children. 

Teacher Vision

Kinder Plans Lessons: Plants is excellent for flower and plant crafts, activities, and the printable PDF version of the above botany recording book that we used!

Here are some excellent, excellent books that we also checked out at our local library!  Our favorite was Planting a Rainbow.. even though we read and re-read each at least twice.

Happy Tuesday!

Candice S.

Bird and Sun Art (Inspired by Eric Carle's "The Tiny Seed")

 Thee last month we have been working on learning about flowers so we have read so many brilliantly and beautifully written books that have inspired our preschool lessons and our craft time. 

We have re-read The Tiny Seed (World of Eric Carle) several times.  I adore the beautiful illustrations.  

I sat down this evening after putting the kids together and wanted to put some of my idea's to work.  The sun piece is actually very similar to what I saw Vanessa from Silly Eagle Book's put together.  I am still aw-struck by her stunning piece and her ability to portray images so uniquely as she selects them from her books. 

So, I decided it was time to get creative.  I took two mirrors that were purchased at a garage sale a couple years ago and cut scrap book paper to fit.  The bright pieces that I used in the sun image are from a magazine.  I also used scrapbook images to decorate the frames along with tempura paint.  My original idea was to spray paint the frame's red, but then decided it would be too much contrast.

So, what do you think?  :)  I'm pretty happy with the way they came out and I cannot wait to show Harmony in the AM!  I'm pretty sure she'll tell me that she is "impressed" .. Happy Friday!

Candice S.

I'm linking my bird art to...

Reading List for February

Here's our nice fun pile of books that we are pursuing for this month!  Usually we keep our books anywhere between 1-2 weeks (an average of 12-20 books) and read most over and over again.  There are some books that are geared towards our thematic units for preschool, while other's we read a chapter or two on a daily basis.  

Charlotte's Web is a "big girl" book that Harmony and I have been reading during storytime in the day and in the evening before bed.  Although, as I read I ponder if the realistic farm life is a little too difficult for my little mini-me to grasp.  She's intrigued, none the less and loves hearing about Wilbur's adventures.  

Harmony loves the Fancy Nancy Series.  We recently checked out Fancy Nancy: Every Day Is Earth Day (I Can Read Book 1) and Fancy Nancy at the Museum (I Can Read Book 1).  We have read almost all of the Fancy Nancy Books, and I cannot find one reason why every preschool girl who enjoys dress up and succumbing to the princess inside of them cannot enjoy the pleasurable experiences of these books.  

If You Give a Pig a Party (If You Give...)

Too Cute!  We have "If you give a pig a pancake"..It discusses the adventures of pigs and the "fun" ..and some trouble that come along with them.  Such a fun book!

Our thematic units for this week are birds and how to tell time.  I do not go strictly to every single aspect of our lessons having geared towards our "theme" but I do try to keep the direction pretty clear, as to not confuse us.  The following books will help us with coordinate with our lesson plans.

Little Red Hen Big Book

Grumpy Bird

My First Book of Time

Owl Moon

It's About Time! (MathStart 1)

Valentine's Day (Rookie Read-About Holidays)

The Graphic Alphabet (Caldecott Honor Book)

Little Wolf's Song

Arthur's Teacher Trouble (Arthur Adventure Series)

Charming Opal (Toot & Puddle)

Will You Still Love Me?

I can't wait to see how amazing these books are!  

..And last but not least.. Some awesome baby books that Mark Jr. and I have been enjoying from our own personal library.

Baby Faces (Look Baby! Books)

Pooh First Songs (A Play-A-Song Book)

One Bear in the Bedroom (Leap Frog Little Touch)

If you know of any great Valentine's Day books or more books on learning how to tell time, please share!!

Have a great Wednesday!

Candice S.