Sunday, February 3, 2013

Get Well Soon Card

Honey Pot’s uncle has been in the hospital for a couple of weeks. I thought it would be nice for her to hear this and do something for him that might bring a smile to his face. I found this cute idea floating around Pinterest, originating from Flickr, and altered it slightly.

First, Honey Pot dipped a heart-shaped sponge into red paint, and stamped it onto a blank card.



She did this two more times, and we waited for it to dry.


Then she attached three band-aids onto the card wherever she pleased.


And finally, she glued on some googly eyes.



I think it came out adorable, and I’m sure her Uncle enjoyed it!



Bubbles!

Theme: Bubbles
Honey Pot is 2 years and 9 months old
Little M&M is 10 months old

Books

We checked out two books from the library about bubbles this week, and combined that with a simple one we already had at home. What FUN books! I really wasn’t expecting much of them, to be honest. But I thoroughly enjoyed reading these again and again; and Honey Pot requested them often this week!

Bubbles, Bubbles, a Sesame Beginnings Book
Baby Piggy and the Giant Bubble, by Dina Anastasio
Bubble Trouble, by Stephen Krensky


Lava Lamp Experiment

While visiting my sister and her daughter, Honey Pot did a wonderful science experiment! We had so much fun with it, that we kept it and reused it for our theme this week. First, we filled a small water bottle 1/3 of the way with water, and added food coloring. Honey Pot chose blue! Then we filled the bottle the rest of the way with vegetable oil. We noted how the vegetable oil and water stayed separated, and how the blue coloring only mixed with the water. Then, I broke up an alka seltzer tablet into two pieces so that it would fit in the opening. Honey Pot dropped them in.


Then it began to bubble!





What a great experiment! We added a second tablet so we could watch it again.



Once it all settles, you can put the lid back on and reuse it another day, as we did.

Blowing Bubbles

Last summer, Honey Pot made bubbles snakes. What an awesome way to blow bubbles! If you haven’t yet tried that, I highly recommend it!


Since we’re a little out of season for bubbles, I didn’t want to do anything extravagant. But I did want Honey Pot to be able to blow some bubbles. A blog called Spoonful had just the idea for me. I rubber banded a few drinking straws together as a bubble wand.


She dipped it into her bubble solution (leftover from her Elmo birthday party!) and blew multiple bubbles at once.





Then as I was cleaning up, she wanted to try the regular bubble wand as well.




Bubble Wrap Game

What kid doesn’t love popping bubble wrap? I found a blog on Pinterest called Apartment Therapy that came up with a travel game using bubble wrap. I was inspired by their idea to create my own game, a Tot School review, if you will. I wrote down all of the letters, numbers and shapes that we have covered in Tot School so far, and placed a piece of bubble wrap over it. (I just so happen to keep some bubble wrap in my craft supplies for such an occasion as this! With the rest, we may try some bubble wrap painting!)


Then Honey Pot went on a hunt around the house for each of these things! She went right to her room to search, and was very successful there.



A number on her 3 Little Pigs house…


A shape in her play food set…


A letter on her alphabet puzzle (good thing she didn’t cheat and think to use this puzzle for every letter in the alphabet)…


She found a book in the shape of a rectangle…


A heart mirror in her Minnie Mouse house…


Such a great review, and I was very pleased with Honey Pot’s eagerness to go on this scavenger hunt. She loved popping the bubble wrap too!

Frozen Bubbles

Science Made Fun, which I found on Pinterest of course, demonstrates an amazing activity to do with bubbles in the wintertime. Simply dip your wand into the bubble solution and catch it back on the wand. Then wait for it to freeze. It really only takes a few seconds! We found that smaller bubbles worked best.


Here is Honey Pot feeling it and popping it!


Awesome! We will be doing this again for sure!


Bubble Painting Thank You Cards

We actually made these a couple of weeks ago, but it most certainly fits into this week’s bubble theme. This was inspired by a post I saw on Meet The Dubiens. We made thank you cards for the kids’ Christmas presents with bubble painting! First we put a glob of paint into the bottom of a few cups. Honey Pot chose pink, purple, blue and green. Then I added just a splash of water and stirred them up. Honey Pot blew bubbles through straws (as she is so keen on doing in her milk)!



Then I had her blot the cards onto the bubbles.


Repeat with other colors. Then wait for them to dry…


And admire your work! They came out great, and we got many compliments on them.



Extra Bubbly Bath

The kids always have bubbles in their baths, but this time we did it up! They had SO MUCH FUN!
  





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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

The Letter K

Theme: The Letter K
Honey Pot is 2 years and 8 months old

Leap Frog Fridge Phonics

As usual, we began our theme by listening to Scout’s little ditty about how the letter K sounds. I would have continued with a “Which is K?” game, as I've done with other letters; however, before I could do so, the K had become our first ever LOST TOY!


AlphaBuddy King

This cute craft comes from a site I frequent called DLTK Kids. I printed the template, cut it out and then we got started. First, I let Honey Pot color in the letter and pieces using any medium she wished – dot markers, crayons and markers. She used each of them! I helped a little bit, as the joint effort helps to keep her interested for longer.



Then she glued down the K and all of its pieces!




Ta da! I made dotted letters along the bottom for her to trace the word “KING.” I guided her hand, but I think it is wonderful writing practice for her.


What Begins with K?

During dinner one night this week, Honey Pot’s Daddy quizzed her on the letter K. He gave her multiple choice questions such as this: “Which word begins with K: punch, kick or run?” And: “…dog, bear or koala?” She would answer correctly most of the time! I was thoroughly impressed!

K Lunch

I found this idea at an awesome blog called Meet the Dubiens. Super cute kid food ideas there under the “Fun Food Friday” tab. Check it out! So here is our letter K version:


K is for Kite!

I am so excited about this craft as it involves painting, lacing, letter recognition and counting all in one! First I cut out a kite shape from a piece of chipboard. Then I let Honey Pot choose three or four paint colors for her kite. She chose pink, purple and blue. I asked her to paint the whole thing.




After her nap it had dried completely. I used a hole-punch to poke holes all the way around it, and gave her a long piece of string. In the past I had used a shoelace, which I feel is easier for her little hands to thread, but it wouldn't have been long enough. So I just rolled some tape around the edge of the string. And it worked great!



Next, to enforce the idea that the word KITE begins with K, I wrote down a series of letters on some circle stickers that I happen to have in surplus. Seven of these were K’s.


I asked her if she could find a letter K. She did without any help! The X threw her off once though.


As she pointed to each one, I peeled them up and had her place them onto the kite.


Finally, I asked her to count up all the K’s. Seven. Perfect!


I love how this came out, and we have it hanging up in the kitchen!


Play-Doh Fun

No letter theme would be complete without some cookie cutter + play-doh fun! Honey Pot always loves this activity, and chooses multiple play-doh colors to make the cutouts again and again.





This time, we also made some “K monsters” with googly eyes and chenille stems that are in her play-doh supplies…




And some “K soup” as well! Yum!





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