Draw a Bunny Dice Game

Olive and her Daisy Troop enjoyed earning a petal by learning how to be honest and fair. They played a variety of games to help teach these concepts, but this fun rabbit dice game took the "carrot!"

Check out Homeschool Creations here for a download.  I laminated the game so they can play over and over.  Each girl took a turn rolling the die, but number 6 was their favorite as they got to do the bunny hop!

Circle Ideas

Olive's art class read the book Round Is A Pancake, by Joan Baranski at Co-op last week. The class did all sorts of fun things with items shaped like circles.

The group used coffee cans, toilet paper rolls, lids, cups, foam, and different colored paint to make circle collages. Everyone was different, here is what Olive's looked like.

This book is a good one to add to your collection. We also went around the house and counted everything shaped like a circle, For more cirlce and shape hunting ideas check out
Chasing Cheerios here.

Coloring with many crayons

I needed something to occupy Jem while I was unpacking from a fun weekend wedding trip to New Orleans. First let me say, it was my first time in the "Big Easy" and eye opening on Bourbon Street. It's a fascinating city, where you almost feel as if you are in a different country. The kids stayed at home with wonderful Buzz.
Now for the coloring with many colors....I just taped a bunch of crayons together and she thought it looked "cool." It helped keep her busy for about 30 minutes, which was just enough time.

Let's Explore has some other cute ideas for using many crayons here.

Card puzzles and cutting

Jem enjoys puzzles so before I threw out these old birthday cards I cut them into three sections for her to put back together. She was done with the cards in about three minutes and then just wanted to cut them with scissors.

Chaising Cheerios has used this idea for holiday cards as well.

Bunny Ears and bunny hop

It's the easiest craft for Easter and the girls love it....bunny ears look cute on any kid!
Bunny Hop:
Put your right foot forward
Put your left foot out,
Do the bunny hop, hop, hop, hop
All across the nation,
It's a new sensation.
Do the bunny hop, hop, hop, hop.

Easter bunny's with Draw, Write, Now

We have enjoyed using Draw, Write, Now as part of our curriculum this year. Olive has always enjoyed making letters and drawing so this program is perfect for her. Each book (1-7) is set up like a unit study, for example- farm animals, arctic, pioneers.

The rabbit is from book 1, which we have been working on this year.
My Montessori Journey here  also has a chicken drawing tutorial.

 Here is some copy work that goes along with the book that Olive did.

Easter Songs and crafts

 The girls made these easy "Hosanna" branches to use in church on Palm Sunday, but we also use them as Easter Egg holders.  Just use a sheet of green construction paper, fringe it with scissors, wrap the paper around a toilet paper roll, and secure with tape for a "Hosanna" branch.

Add an Easter Egg for an egg holder... we also like to have races around the house with this one. If the egg falls out, you have to go back to the front door and start again.

I can't believe Easter is just 2 weeks away. I discovered this site on Friday and it's really great. Delicious Ambiguity has a wonderful Easter song book to download here.

You can also find some other ideas to go with this bunny book here at Ramblings of a Crazy Woman.

International Day Favorites

Our homeschool co-op put on a fun international day and I thought these were super cool ideas.

Paris class:  Eiffel Tower made out of plastic cups, divided by square cardboard and then glued  together.

Mexico class: This was Olive's class and they made Indigenous Mexican Indian vests with paper bags from the grocery store and decorated them. Be sure to cut out a head and fringe on the bottom.

Spain class: These flowers were made out of tissue paper,  layer the paper, grab in the middle, and give a good twist, then tie together with a pipe cleaner.

I Won!

I can't believe that I won this over at Counting Coconuts! Thank-you so much, this is my first blog win. I can't wait to receive a lovely "cherry quartz mama" necklace from Moon Dog Farms in Maine. I will take a photo when it arrives in the mail and tell you all about it.

First "real" art show

Olive enjoyed taking a 6 week art class and made all sorts of fun projects, but her favorite was this recycled Picasso guitar. It is made totally from recycled products like paper bags, toilet paper holders, and a box.

 The curator of the art exhibit told Olive that "hundreds of people have viewed your art, people pay thousands of dollars to have their work displayed here" and she got a huge smile. The show was really well done and now all she wants to do this week is draw and create.

Savannah St. Patrick's Day Parade

The girls and I took off to the Savannah St. Patrick's Day Parade....it was great-park and ride, no worries, stay away from River and Bay Street to avoid the crazies, and you'll be all set.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Recycled Paint Trays

My girls can paint for hours, but they get upset when paint runs together. The solution to this problem came while baking Manicotti last week....I know, you're thinking where is this going! The pasta tubes came in these neat plastic trays, which are just perfect for keeping each paint color separated until they are ready to be mixed into a work of art.

So be sure to save your plastic trays from pasta, crackers, and cookies...they sure recycle well as paint trays.

Ladybug projects

I'm a Little Ladybug
(to the tune of: I'm a little teapot)
I'm a little ladybug, as you can see.
I am a beetle, pretty as can be.
I am brightly colored, red and black.
Look at the pretty spots on my back.

I picked this cute idea up from a craft store. You will need a small flower pot, red and black paint, eyes, pipe cleaner, paint brushes, and hot glue. We used a small pom-pom to dot on the spots. These pots will be a great grandparent gift. I also thought that you could easily make them into bunnies for Easter and fill them with grass and candy.

We are just about to order our ladybug kits from Insect Lore here . It's always fun to watch them grow and set them free in our garden.

Ladybug
(author unknown)
Ladybugs all dressed in red,
Strolling through the flower bed.
If I were tiny, just like you...
I'd creep among the flowers too!

Busy Bug Day

The Insect Song
(sung to the tune of: Wheels on the Bus)

The bees in the hive go buzz, buzz, buzz
Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz
The bees in the hive go buzz, buzz, buzz
All through the town.

Then:
-The butterflies in the flowers go flit, flit, flit
-The ants in the grass go march, march, march
-The fireflies in the night go blink, blink, blink
-The caterpillar in the field goes creep, creep, creep

We made "ants on a log" to eat with celery, peanut butter, and raisins.

Here is an easy paper plate bumbled bee that we made with a plate, yellow and black paint, and freezer paper for the wings.

These hand print butterflies were also a big hit. We used a pop stick, a pipe cleaner, and construction paper for tracing hands.

5 Hungry Ants Song

5 Hungry Ants Marching in a line
Came upon a picnic where they could all dine.
They marched into the salad,
They marched into the cake,
They marched into the pepper...
Uh Oh, that was a mistake!
Ahhchoo
Then:
Count down to 1

We used the letter of the week to learn (A for ant, B for bug, and C for caterpillar) from Confessions of a Homeschooler here .
Also be sure to check out KidsSoup for fun bug activities here and Kids Craft Weekly here.

We have so many more bug activities coming this week, the girls and I can't wait to show you!

Girl Scouts

In honor of Girl Scouts every where I wanted to say Happy Belated Birthday. Olive just joined a Daisy troop and is so excited to learn the Girl Scout promise. They made these adorable bracelets at their first meeting. Each colored bead represents a different Daisy trait.

Nature Walk

 How lucky we are to be friends with a local nature tour guide. The girls and I learned about edible plants, alligators, fiddler crabs, and even spotted deer footprints in the marsh at a nearby island.

I was so amazed with all the "life" that lived in the marsh. My girls just love being in nature and exploring their surrounding. It was a great field trip!

No training wheels!

It's been a big week for for Olive...she can ride her bike with no training wheel! She asked us to them off and then as soon as we did, she asked us to put them back on again. I told her she should try and with big old tears she reluctantly did. The first day we practiced on the street and the second day we went to the beach. Can you imagine a more perfect place to learn to ride your bike?

Jem played in the sand and looked on as her big sis learned to ride.
I must say it was one of those perfect days....the kind that make you feel blessed for everything in your life.

Whip It UP Wednesday- Super Hero Capes

I whipped up these cool super hero capes for the girls over the weekend. Olive always says she has "word" power and Jem has "flying" power. They love running around in these capes and I think they are super cute.

Even if you're not handy with the sewing machine they are pretty easy to make. For a no sew craft you could always use felt for the cape and strong glue to adhere the felt emblem.
For a good tutorial check out Puking Pastelles here.

"My First Needlepoint" with a bit of recycling!

Those red plastic bags that many apples and oranges come in at the grocery store are perfect for this "My First Needlepoint" project.  All you need to do is cut the bag in half, use a needlepoint hoop, a length of yarn, and tape to make a needle head.

The girls really enjoyed making their own pattern, but next time I plan to drawn a simply shape, like a heart, so they can see a final shape.

 

 

Plus, Olive thinks it's cool that we recycled all those fruit bags for a fun craft.

Let's Explore has another great needlepoint idea for kids.