P for penguin craft

Alligator and I are working on a penguin unit this week.

Today we decorated a capital and lowercase P with penguin foot prints. Alligator is a little intimidated with paint. He is so worried he will get messy. So it takes a lot of coaxing. Near the end of the exercise I added a clip to the foot print so he would be more interested in touching it.

I cut the foot print stamp out of a sponge.

Then we used the number penguins from 1+1+1=1 (Alligator loves letters and numbers so it is so much easier to get him to participate if things have letters or numbers. Also they have to be in order, so that meant he had to put all 10 on, which was probably the longest he has ever worked on a craft.

The P’s came from a Time for Tots Kit.

There they are proudly displayed.

Alphabet Christmas Tree

Alligator is obsessed with letters. So we decided to decorate his personal Christmas tree with the alphabet.

We have tons of letters from different things hanging around, so we found one of each letter and tied them on with string.

 

 

It really turned out cute!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope you have a relaxing holiday!

Turkey feather painting

I know it is a bit late, but if you are still looking for a turkey craft, that is a little more on the open-ended side, then check this one out.

I gave the boys a printout of  feathers ( I got my copy from The Mailbox, but you could draw your own),with paints on a plate, and each a feather.

They painted the turkey feathers with a feather. I was amazed that Alligator was semi-interested in this. He actually painted a bit.

 

Monkey chose to fill in each of his feathers with a different color.

   

Here are Alligator and Monkey’s finished paintings

 

Then once the dried we cut them out and glued them to a turkey cut out (again from The Mailbox, and you could draw your own).

Here is Alligators. Monkey is still working on his!

Turkey craft

Monkey is home from school today with a stomach virus. So he and I got the chance to make this turkey craft. This craft is inspired by someone’s post, but I can’t remember where. If you do, please let me know!

The coolest thing about this craft, is that you cut a triangle out of the paper plate before you start, for the nose. I love this idea!!!! (if only I could remember whose idea it was?!?!?!)

Then we painted the nose the face, and around the sides.

We cut a gobbler out of craft foam, and used pom-poms for eyes (with a dot of paint, for the iris). Then we glued on some feathers.

 

   

I love monkey’s turkey, it turned out so cool and crazy looking! Reminds me of one of our favorite books:

I hope you enjoy!

Favorite post of the week

This week my favorite post come from Praises of a Wife and Mommy. It is a cooking post, with a thanksgiving theme. She made pilgram hats out of marshmellos and cookies. They are dipped in chocolate and so cute and delicious.

Check it out!

Read and enjoy!

Find the feathers – gross motor thanksgiving game

These turkey’s have lost there feathers:

 

Can you help them find them?

YAY!!!! We got the turkey’s feather’s back!

 

We played the game sort of like an Easter egg hunt. Someone hid the feathers, then the boys were sent off to find them.  You can declare a winner, and that person hides them the next time, or if you are playing with little kids you can have the older kids help the little kids find their feathers.

 

Even my husband and I had a good time playing… This would be fun with lots of kids on Thanksgiving, a way to get some energy out. Even the adults will enjoy it

You could also play outside.

You could put the feathers in a bowl and have the kids go through an obstacle course to get each feather. They start again to collect the next one.

Tot School

I haven’t done a tot school post in a while, so here is what we have been up to since our last post.
We made Turkey Soup (see the post here). Both of my boys loved this activity. It was all pretend, it wasn’t exactly edible, but fun!

We match fall themed items (this is from a Time For Tots Kit).

We also played with a sensory tub, working on spooning (items came from TFT kit).

We are just getting back into a good schedule with our tot school activities. Come back to see more. I will be featuring a sensory activity, a gross motor activity, an art activity, and a feature toy each week. So come back and check us out! I’d love it if you’d follow us. Leave a comment and I’ll follow you back!
Check out what others are doing for TOT SCHOOL this week.

Turkey Soup… Sensory Activity

It is really good for toddlers and preschoolers (really all children) to be exposed to different sensory activities. I put a theme to it (since it is close to Thanksgiving) and told the boys we’d be making Turkey Soup.

Here is what I used:

• Muffin tins with different materials in them. We used: green stones, foam beads, cut up plastic lacing string, foam leafs, some beans, pom-poms, and a feather….(it is Turkey soup after all…so 1 big “turkey” feather.

 

• I used a big pot of warm water  (not hot, but warm, again for the sensory sensation. They have all played in cool water in pools and stuff, but warm water was a newer sensation.
• I also had a small plastic bowl, in case they wanted to ladle out some soup for “tasting”

  

 

• I also set out a variety of spoons, measuring cups.
• Also I used an old shaker, and put flour in it for the boys to shake in their soup, as well as a little bottle of blue water (extra flavoring)
• You’ll notice I had 2 of everything set out. I thought for this activity it would be best that they made their own, and didn’t have to share, we’ll work on that another time.

 

Once I had all the materials out I let Alligator go at it. I have never seen him play with something this long. He really enjoyed it!

Some items floated while others sank, he seemed to like testing to see what would happen.

 

 

There was a lot of spooning, which is great for fine motor.

He also loved the shaker!

   

Here is a close up of his Turkey Soup.

Both boys really enjoyed this activity. It is definitely something we will do again!

 

Nero Kwik Media Review

Here is a screen shot of the cover of my book. Look at my Darling Alligator!

 

I recently had the opportunity to review some software from Nero Kwik Media. This software allows you to create a photo book, and then order them.

Here are some of the things I loved about this product:

1. You install the FREE software on your computer. In doing so, it uploads your photos to it automatically. Previously I used an online photo book provider and you had to pick out the pictures and then upload them and then select. This was so much easier with Nero Kwik Media. Plus, your pictures are not stored on the web somewhere.

2. I always make a yearly photo book for each of my boys. This software will automatically place the pictures in your book in date order. WOW…what a time saver that is!

3. They have some great templates to choose from, including soft cover books to leather. Great choices.

4. Once your photos are put in the book, then you can go through and add text, or change the photos around. It is so easy to do.

5. I love how you can drag a photo to your workspace, if you still want to use it, but you want to find a better place for it.

6. The book is really high quality, and a wonderful keepsake for years to come

 

My only negative is that I wish the search help menu was a bit less specific. You have to be very specific with your key words. I found this slightly hard to maneuver. I did, however figure it out in the end.

I really enjoyed making this book. It was quick and easy. I can’t tell you how much time it saved me that you can automatically place the pictures in the book—Such a time Saver!

 

Disclosure: This post is part of a SocialMoms product evaluation, for which I’ve been selected. One free photo book was made available to me for review purposes. I’ve been compensated for my time with a $100 PayPal payment. The opinions expressed in this post are mine and don’t necessarily reflect the opinions of SocialMoms or Nero.

Spread Some Holiday Cheer

Can you believe Christmas is right around the corner. Didn’t school just start? Nope, Thanksgiving is next week…NEXT WEEK! Once Thanksgiving comes the radio starts with the Christmas Carols, and people start decorating trees.

 

One of our family traditions, is that each night of advent, an elf visits our house. He is pretty sneaky, but if you can find him when you wake, you’ll find a surprise that he left for you. In our house the elf might leave a piece of candy for both Alligator and Monkey, or he might leave a small toy, or a book, or an art activity for us to do together.

Another tradition is our countdown calendar. Normally it is just a piece of paper with a Christmas tree on it. The kids take turns marking down the days till Christmas.

We live to give back as well. I think it is good to show the kids how important it is to give to others. So on our eating out night, instead of going to our favorite restaurant. We eat a pbj, and then take the kids to Wal-Mart, where we spend the money we would have spent on eating out, and we buy toys for those who are less fortunate than us.

One of the other favorite things to do around Christmas is to visit the stores, and see what is new this year. Hasbro has a product called KRE-O and they are building sets.

Hear are my top 3 reasons why the Kre-o would be a great gift for someone on your Christmas List.

1. Transformers!!! Do you have a transformer fan in your family…Ugh…YES! Well they have several sets some that are basic (and therefore easier for the younger child, around six) to complex.

This is one of the easier sets, and Monkey will flip when this is under our tree.

2. These blocks will work with other leading block sets that are out there. So you don’t have to keep them separate, and you don’t have to worry that your little builder will get frustrated when he/she tries to make additions to Bumble-bee with blocks he/she already has.

3.The cost! The sets run from $7.99 and up. So this isn’t a huge investment. I mean really, who doesn’t need to manage their budget these days. And this will fit right in!

You can check out Kre-o at http://www.hasbro.com/kre-o/en_US/, while your letting your turkey settle this week. Then get ready for Christmas with some new, and some favorite holiday traditions!

“I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Hasbro blogging program, for 8,000 My SocialMoms Rewards Points and a KRE-O gift. The opinions expressed in this post are mine and don’t necessarily reflect the opinions of SocialMoms or Hasbro. For more information on how you can participate, click here.”