A Little Farmyard Fun!

This February weather is taking a toll at our house!! Everyone is just a bit more irritable (myself included), and I am constantly trying to prevent bickering between the older two.  They always start out playing so well together.  Then thirty seconds later, it all changes...

So to try and be a bit more productive, today we read one of my absolute favorite books, made a fun and easy craft, and even worked on retelling the story!! The kids were totally engaged in this for a WHOLE HOUR! This was a win in itself!  Plus the end result was so cute and they had fun TOGETHER!!

We read the book, "Gobble Gobble, Mooo Tractor Book" by Jez Alborough.  This is such a cute story about some farm animals taking turns "driving" the tractor, while using their animal sounds to make it go! All of my kids LOVE repeating the animal sounds throughout the book.  It is the perfect read aloud for any age!!

https://a4291.myubam.com/p/1110/gobble-gobble-moooooo-tractor-book

We started out reading the book two times.  The kids are very familiar with this story, as we have read it many times!! Then we decided to make each of the farm animals!  It was such an easy craft because all we really needed were paper plates, construction paper (although paint would have worked), glue, cotton balls and scissors!  We happened to have all of these things in the house!!  (I love when there is little to no prep!)

Connor and Ellie each picked 3 animals and got started. I helped a bit with tracing the shapes, but for the most part, they could do this independently!  I love doing crafts that allow them both to work at their own level, while reinforcing skills they both need! Yes I am/was a teacher...

The end result was adorable!! Although they tried to stick to the illustrations of the animals in the book, Connor was so excited to make a "Thanksgiving Turkey".  I let him go to town.

Now the kids got to spend some time "retelling" the story using the characters they made.  Connor has been working on this in school and Ellie naturally loves to retell stories! They had so much fun trying out the characters.  Of course they fought just a bit about who made the best sounds :)

I truly love when we have an afternoon like today! The kids are having fun, learning and working together! What can beat that?!

A Little Valentine's Cuddle!

With Valentine's Day, just around the corner, we decided for a fun and "loveable" craft.  Today, we waited until my son, Connor, was home from school, so he was able to join in on the fun!!

We started with one of the sweetest books ever, "Cuddle Bear".  This is a story about a little bear who cheers everyone up, with just a cuddle! The illustrations are adorable and it is a great story for your younger kids! This is also a great book for anyone who might need an extra hug, especially kids!!

http://a4291.myubam.com/p/1350/cuddle-bear

After reading this story, we started on a craft to make our own cuddle bears!! (These would make great grandparent gifts too!)  It was really easy and all of the supplies were things I had around the house!!  

Prior to starting, I did make my own little "tracers" for the bear and heart.  I found a gift box from Christmas and just quickly sketched them out!  This allowed my son to be a bit more independent.  He could then trace, cut, glue and move at his own pace. (He also made 2 more after we finished the first together!)  I traced the shapes for my daughter, and she was able to practice cutting smaller shapes on her own.  

After all of the tracing and cutting was complete, the kids glued the bears on to a separate piece of paper!!  Their bears were "cuddling"a heart and of course they said, "I Love You Beary Much!".  For such a simple craft, it really worked on a lot of skills for the kids. Tracing, cutting, writing, gluing, etc.  Plus, they loved making these!! They both made multiple bears as gifts for mom & dad, a teacher and grandparents!! Anytime I can get them to work together, for an extended period of time, I am one happy mom!!

Our First "Kid Review"!!!

A big thank you to Christian for his review of our "Muddle and Match" books!!!  Christian just turned three and has quite a collection of books!! How adorable is he?!?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3xYw--5yZY

https://a4291.myubam.com/p/5141/muddle-and-match-complete-collection-4

A Little "Wintery" Fun!!

Being that the temperature is hovering right around zero, I felt it only appropriate to do a winter-themed craft today!! There are so many fun options for both books, and crafts!!  We have been cooped up inside, so I chose more of a sensory activity for my girls!!

First we chose two of our favorite Usborne titles!!  The first is one of our popular flashlight books, "Secrets of Winter."  If you are not familiar with our Shine-A-Light books, the are such fun and unique books for your kids!! You simply read the story, shine a light through the pages, and an image will appear!!  This particular version explores animals in winter!!

https://a4291.myubam.com/p/5005/shine-a-light-secrets-of-winter)

The next book we read is a "secret gem" of Usborne books.  This is one I did not know anything about for the first year and a half with the company.  Yet, it is now one I highly recommend.  It is called, "Waiting for Winter" and is absolutely adorable.  From the amazing illustrations, to the story, it is truly such a sweet book!!  It is about a squirrel trying to stay awake to see snow.  He is met by other friends who also try to stay awake to witness snow! 

 

 rhttps://a4291.myubam.com/p/895/waiting-for-winter

After we read both stories, we started on our craft, "snow dough".  This was such an easy activity, and kept my girls entertained for over 30 minutes.  That is always a winner in my book :) 

The only ingredients you need include:

Flour

Baby Oil

Measuring Cup

Some bowl/Casserole dish/etc to contain the dough

To make the snow, we combined 4 cups of flour with 3/4 a cup of baby oil. I let the kids measure and pour themselves.  Then I allowed the girls to mix by hand!  The consistency of the dough is soft and moldable.  It is fun to build with, cut and just play!!  I eventually gave them some cookie cutters to use as well!  For this purpose, as snow, we kept it white. Yet, with a little food coloring, you could make it any color you want!! Plus, you can keep this to use again, and again!!

 Their attempt at a snowman!

Laney made a little mess! :)

Yay for my first post!!!

Today we did a fun activity relating to one of our NEW favorite titles!!! The book is, "I'm a Hungry Dinosaur", and is the next new title after, "I'm a Dirty Dinosaur."  It is truly such a fun book that combines simple, yet adorable illustrations, with rhyme and rhythm.  I challenge you to read it a few times WITHOUT singing it in your head!

So a fun fact for all of you "Dinosaur" fans, the illustrator uses actual frosting and sprinkles for the illustrations! And yes, she uses actual mud for "Dirty Dinosaur"! If you look closely at the illustrations you will see the sprinkles!!  This made my first activity pretty easy to do!! Of course, we first read the book together.  It was a good excuse to discuss the job of the author versus the illustrator!! We then gathered up some easy supplies that we had around the house.  This included peppermint frosting (it was 80% off at Target after Christmas), sprinkles, food coloring, and cupcake liners.

Then I basically let the girls go to town!!  Laney was more interested in eating the frosting (which I am sure is a huge shocker to all who know her)!  Ellie was excited to draw her dinosaur and rainbow!!  It was so fun and SO EASY for the girls.  It also teaches them how to use different mediums for art!!

 Fortunately for me, the ground is frozen and we had to skip the "art with mud".  Maybe in the spring...

 Tomorrow we are going to extend the activity a bit more, and make some cake, just like the dinosaur.  Of course we will be using our Usborne Cupcake Kit for that too :)  Here are just a few pictures of the fun!!

Her new favorite "cheese" face! 

Hi everyone!!! Thanks so much for visiting my blog! I am by no means a "writer", but wanted to find a means to share some more of our books, activities and specials!  I will be posting videos to share an inside look at many of our books! I am going to share a weekly book and craft that I do with my kids!! I will also, occasionally, be posting some prizes and giveaways!!  Please feel free to share, comment or add anything you want to the blog! This is all so new to me, so bear with me as I learn!!