Fun Day Sunday!

Today's book is about a quiltmaker, but that's not the best thing about it. The BEST thing about this book is that it illustrates in a beautiful way the joy we derive from giving to others!

First, snuggle up and read the book with your child. This week's comprehension questions might include "Why was the quiltmaker so happy if she didn't have any money?" Your child is sure to have grasped the concept that it gives us great joy to give to others and the joy is doubled if it's something handmade!

And now for the gift-making activity...it's Christmas in July!! Since the recipient's name will not appear on the ornament, your child can make a gift for his/her teacher, bus driver, cafeteria worker (whoever touches his/her life!) and store it for holiday gift giving.

I used a rubber ring from a Target prescription bottle (as I did for Zoey's Family Tree), but if you don't have those, just cut a ring out of tagboard. Your child can choose a color of tissue paper and cut a strip. It won't matter if the strip is wonky-looking or if it's even one continuous strip. Let him/her help you wrap the ring...I spritzed my ring with temporary adhesive spray, but you could just hold the tissue on there to get it started:

Have your child to give it a couple of coats of Mod Podge, allowing the ring to dry between coats. (I hung my wet ring from a piece of wire so that it didn't glue itself to the plate as it dried.)When it's dry, the real fun begins! Have your child choose some clip art the recipient. I made an ornament for a hard-working school bus driver, but the possibilities are limitless. Let your child use a hole punch to make circles for holly berries and cut out some little holly leaves...

Let your child choose some clipart -print it on tagboard or on regular paper and then glue it to tagboard to make it sturdy. Help your child trace around an unwrapped ring to get a cut line. Before you cut it, adhere (using temporary adhesive spray) some cheery fabric to the back of the clip art. Then cut on your traced line and use Elmer's to glue it to the back of the wrapped ring!

That's it! Just don't forget to attach something to hang it with. I ran a piece of embroidery floss through the ring before I attached the back.

I hope your child enjoys the book and the activity and is excited about the joy we feel from giving handmade gifts! Thanks for stopping by!

Fun Day Sunday!

YAY! It's time to start gathering our materials for another fun weekend learning activity for you and your little one to do together!

This week, we'll be reading an old favorite:

I just can't say enough good things about P.D. Eastman's book Are You My Mother? ! The story of the frantic lost baby bird who is returned to his nest by the big "SNORT" just in time to meet his mom never fails to draw the little ones in. Heck, that story draws ME in! It's a classic and it should be readily available at your public library.

However, in case it's checked out, here's P.D.'s backup plan:

The illustrations may be dated, but both of these stories are just excellent! If you can't find locate one of these classics, choose any fiction (or nonfiction!) bird-themed book that seems interesting.

Step One is always the same: find a comfy place to snuggle up with your little one on your lap, so he/she can see both the pictures and the words as you read. Read the book, stopping at key places and asking your easy comprehension question, "Oooooh, what do you think is going to happen NEXT?!" You probably remember that this simple question encourages your child to make predictions, which is an important comprehension strategy. Step One always ends with you and your child discussing the book...what's your child's favorite part AND WHY, or how would the story have been different if the main character had been a different animal (don't be afraid to introduce story vocabulary, such as 'character') or how could the story have ended differently...or even take turns with your little one, retelling the events in the story in order.

Step Two is always something active, like an art activity or a cooking activity. In this case, it's a cooking activity. This week, we are making
Bird's Nest Cookies!
You may be familiar with them...some people call them 'Haystacks'. They are usually made with a combination of chocolate and butterscotch chips, which is a great recipe, but pretty sweet. For my (somewhat healthier) version, you will need:

1 tablespoon of creamy peanut butter, 1 tablespoon of chocolate chips, approximately 1/3 cup chow mein noodles and a few jellybeans (which were somehow left out of the picture.) I used speckled jellybeans that kind of look like eggs.

Zap the peanut butter and chocolate chips in a bowl in the microwave to melt the chips. Zap one minute at a time and stir, because the chips tend to hold their shape and if you're waiting for them to look melted, they will taste burnt. When the mixture is combined, stir in the chow mein noodles and drop onto wax paper on top of a cookie sheet. Use a spoon to make a little depression and press a couple of jellybeans into it. Put the cookie sheet with the cookies into the refrigerator till they cool and harden up.

This recipe made the three cookies pictured below; of course, you can double (or triple or quadruple, LOL) the recipe. If peanuts present an allergy issue or if peanut butter is just not going to work for you, you can make these cookies using the traditional recipe of equal parts butterscotch chips and chocolate chips. Or you can even just use all chocolate chips.

Allow your child to do as much of the cooking as he/she can...help him or her with the measuring, stirring, etc, but definitely let him/her push in those jellybeans. Be aware that whether you use my recipe or the traditional one, these cookies MELT RAPIDLY WHEN CLUTCHED IN HOT LITTLE HANDS. This is definitely a snack to be enjoyed at a table with plenty of napkins/wet paper towels/wipes at the ready!

Here are the 'recipe' cards I made. Be kind about the picture on card #2. As usual, email me if you'd like a pdf of the cards.

I hope you and your child enjoy your UNPLUGGED fun bird-y activity! Check back each week for our Fun Day Sunday activity!

Fun Day Sunday!

So this week's fun learning activity to do with your child over the upcoming weekend is...LADYBUGS! First you'll read a book together and then you'll "cook" and enjoy a snack together. Your child will have a blast and you will have sneaked in a lot of learning in the process!

First, locate the book: any children's book about ladybugs will do. Our local public library lists 21 ladybug books in the juvenile section, both fiction and nonfiction. A favorite fiction ladybug book of mine, which should be readily available at your local library, is Eric Carle's The Grouchy Ladybug. Other great fiction books include The Very Lazy Ladybug by Isobel Finn and Ladybug Girl by Jacky Davis (Ladybug Girl actually stars in an entire series off books now.) There's also a really good nonfiction ladybug book by Melvin and Gilda Berger that's called Grub to Ladybug. Check out your local library to see what they have!

For the snack, you will need the following ingredients:

round crackers (such as Ritz), strawberry cream cheese (or strawberry frosting if cream cheese is not going to work for you), red licorice laces (or licorice bites cut into strips...black licorice is more accurate, if your child likes the taste) and raisins (or chocolate chips).

Assemble the ingredients, then grab the book, get comfy with your child on the couch or snuggle up in a chair together and READ. Ask this question every so often (this works better in fiction than nonfiction books), "What do you think will happen NEXT?!" Asking that simple comprehension question will help your child learn to make predictions as he/she reads - and that's a very valuable reading skill. Once the book is finished you and your child can take turns making up different endings or talking about how the story would change if it were about a different insect, or a spider or even an animal.

Next, the snack!! Here are some pics of how the snack is assembled. Remember to allow your child to do everything he/she is able. Who cares if the cream cheese is not spread evenly and the legs all wind up on the same side. Symmetry is a developmental concept that your child will understand better as he/she gets older.

The crackers...

the cream cheese...

the licorice laces...

The finished ladybug!

If your child will not eat the raisins or chocolate chips, have him/her count them out and put them on anyway. Same with the legs. Any items he/she won't eat can be picked off. For that matter, if he/she doesn't want to eat the finished product at all, so be it! Maybe someone in your house (if all else fails, the DOG) will enjoy the snack. The important part is that you have spent some quality time with your child, UNPLUGGED from electronics, communicating and most of all, having fun together. This snack activity covers a whole host of educational concepts...following oral directions and counting objects, to name two. Here is a pic of some recipe cards I created. If you would like a full-sized copy, email me and I'll send you a pdf to print and cut out for use with the snack activity. Enjoy!