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.

Collage Story Telling and download

Grab some old magazines, glue sticks, and scissors and let the kids spend an hour putting together an art collage story.  I tried explaining to Olive that the pictures could be whatever she wanted and glued in any direction she would like. This is how her neat collage turned out....

I then had her tell me a story with the photos she chose for her collage. I loved it, but it was a very long story. I asked her to tell me another story prompting her with these "about" questions and she came up with a very funny one.

Who: A tall girl named Curly.

What: She wanted to travel, but was too busy with work so she snuck out of work to go.

Where: She traveled to Italy.

When: Yesterday, but she liked it so much she decided to stay.

Why: It was so pretty and she had a big house.


If you would like to download this idea, please click on the below image.

It may be my years as a reporter, but getting to the meat and bones of a story is important.

 

  

Jem loves to cut and paste too...her collage is a little more abstract!

Early Bird Homeschool has some great ideas for making story logs, here.

Chopstick fun

There are so many fun things that we do with chopsticks...around here they are not just for eating. The girls love to pick up poms-poms, little toys, and snack food. Olive thinks that chopstick make everything more fun. Plus, I like them because they are good for hand- eye coordination.

 

You can find some great ideas from Chasing Cheerios here and Counting Coconuts here on how they use chopstick to enhance their Montessori learning environment.

Sidewalk chalk fun- mazes and activities

MY E-MAIL IS WORKING NOW! SIPPYCUPCENTRAL@GMAIL.COM 

Mommy had a fun weekend with her college roommates and my Buzz Lightyear took care of the kiddos....I know, he's great! It was a nice weekend and he made all sorts of fun games on the driveway with sidewalk chalk.

- Jem enjoyed driving her tractor through the many chalk mazes.

-They also played "choose you"-like tag, played on scooters, but with a chalk circle for a "safe" spot.

-Another funny activity was "pool noodle jousting!"  Gotta love the creative ideas.

-Chalk city was a big hit- drawn with a street to bike on and chalk stops like church, the grocery store, grammy's house, etc. Daddy would say, "can you please pick me up bread and the grocery store," or "go say your prayers at church." The girls rode their bikes and scooters all through the chalk city, this was a big hit. Two thumbs up for Buzz!

Pot Holders- Old school fun.

Do you remember making pot holders as a kid? Well, I sure do and my mom and aunt still use the ones I made in 5th grade. Olive received a pot holder loom for Christmas from Grammy and makes about one pot holder a week. I'll hear her say "over-under" as she starts each row. I thought it would be too hard for her, but she loves selecting the perfect color loop to add next. Here is her most recent creation that she made for me.

 

  

You can find these looms and loops at Michael's or Hobby Lobby.