Spring Flowers

Books

We borrowed these six books from the library this week to help us psych up for spring and flowers! Little M&M asked me to read Huck Runs Amuck and Fran's Flower every day, multiple times a day. They made us laugh, and were super cute. Another I must mention is My Garden, because we love Kevin Henkes!

Quiet Bin

With the busy holidays and winter season, we allowed our quiet bin routine to slow down. But recently both kids have been asking for them; they just love the activities! So I threw just one bin together for our flower theme, and we used it when we had time.

First up was a Flower Number Line. I used my flower cutouts and taped them to toothpicks for the kids to practice number order with floral styrofoam. For Honey Pot, we also extended this into addition practice.

Also in the bin I included this invitation to use stamps and ink pads. The kids love using stamps from my paper scrapbooking supplies. They had fun with these.

And finally, Little M&M helped me to make a new batch of playdoh, and we used it alongside two flower cutters, a plastic flower pot and our playdoh tools and accessories.

The two kids had a lot of fun making and decorating cutouts.

Two kiddos hard at work!

Color-Changing Flowers - Science Experiment

I had been wanting to try this experiment out for a while. One day I finally brought home a bunch of white carnations from the grocery store, and asked the kids to help me dye water with food coloring.

We placed a couple carnations in each glass, and watched them gradually change color. The blue was the first to begin to change, within just a couple hours!

Over the next few days, we started to see some other colors as well.

Over the course of a week or so, we trimmed the stems down, and changed how many flowers shared a glass, to try to get optimal color changes. It was so fun to watch!

Fruit Loop Craft

Little M&M has been asking to do a craft with Fruit Loops. He really enjoyed making rainbows for St. Patrick's Day last year, and has wanted to use them again ever since! I decided the kids and I should make some flowers with them.

Honey Pot and I added other elements to our pictures, such as the sun and butterflies. They all turned out very cute!

To look back at our G is for Garden week, click here!

The Good Dinosaur Birthday Party!

Little M&M chose The Good Dinosaur as his party theme this year. Scroll on to see the party details!

Invitation

I created this in Photoshop Elements. Pardon where I whited out his name and our address.

Decorations

I created this sign and hung it on the door where our guests would arrive.

Foam hats are $1 each at Michaels, so I purchased a few in our party colors and easily made them into dinosaur heads with googly eyes and white foam. Super quick project and the kids enjoyed wearing them at the party!

Here are two such dinos, my daughter Honey Pot and her big cousin!

And the birthday boy wearing his, as well as a Good Dinosaur t-shirt we bought on Amazon.

This is the display I made for behind the beverage/dessert table. The banner I purchased from Oriental Trading. The posterboard I turned into a glowing #4 using Christmas lights, to imitate the firefly scene in the movie.

Here are the two beverages we offered to the kids. Lava Punch and River Water, with labels I created.

And the desserts! I made funfetti cupcakes with chocolate frosting, chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting and sugar and spice cookies with dinosaur footprints.

Also on this table was this firefly in a jar, which we purchased from Amazon, and it is so cute and realistic, flitting around in there!

Here is the table where all of the kids sat to eat their snacks. Good dinosaur plates and cups are from Oriental Trading. We had some Skinny Pop and grapes set up on the table. All other food was on a table nearby.

The Food

Our party time was 2-4, so we just served a few snack foods. For any guests who remained into the evening, we ordered pizza later. I made Herbivore and Carnivore signs for this table. We served sliced apples with caramel dip, strawberry mango salsa with cinnamon chips, maple bacon crack, meatballs and a really cool nacho volcano!!

We followed the instructions at this blog.

Party Games and Activities

We had a few coloring pages and mazes set up at a small table for the kids to do while they waited for others to finish eating. I printed those from here.

Here are some pictures from the first two games we played. Dino Says (Simon Says) and Hot Dino Egg (Hot Potato). We also handed out these crunch bar "medals" to the winners, inspired by this blog.

As a last minute addition to the party, I created this "river" out of a blue Dollar Tree tablecloth and some stones we had out in our yard. The idea was for the kids to carefully cross the stones without falling into the river, and they could "make their mark" on the other end. I had taped a Good Dinosaur picture there (yanked out of the banner I had purchased), and traced my son's hand on it. The kids had so much fun with this simple activity! It was played with throughout the party and through the weekend even, with our overnight guests.

As a final party game, my husband created a dinosaur out of balloons. Since we had young kids, and we were indoors, we didn't want to use darts. So my husband taped a thumbtack behind each balloon. One at a time, each child threw bean bags at the balloons, and if they hit one, it'd POP! Such a fun and exciting game. Inside some of the balloons were numbers, and whoever had the highest total from all the balloons they popped would win the last chocolate bar medal. This was a favorite game for all, I think, and a huge success. The inspiration for this game came from this blog.

Party Favors

For party favors this year I created dinosaur eggs. I followed a paper mache tutorial from here, making two layers and leaving the bottom of my balloons uncovered. Once they had dried, I cut the balloon and took it out. I filled with my party favors and sealed back up with more paper mache. Once dry, I painted them and placed them in a nest I made out of laundry basket and brown craft paper. I had fun doing the paper mache, but it was definitely a time-consuming project!

At the end of our party, the kids went outside and cracked open their eggs. Seeing the fun they were having made the whole project so worth it! They loved this!

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The Arctic

Books

We borrowed these books from the library this week. We were trying to showcase a variety of arctic animals, and I think we were successful in finding these! Our favorites were A Splendid Friend, Indeed and Over in the Arctic.

Arctic Small World Sensory Bin

I finally bought the Safari Arctic Toob, after having it on my wishlist for many months. I am so glad that I did. My children, especially Honey Pot, loved this activity! I borrowed the idea to leave a hole for a pond from No Time for Flashcards, and it added so much to their imaginative play. I even tinted the water a little blue and threw in some fish from a different toy for the animals to eat.

We stuck this in the freezer and kept it for a couple of weeks. They brought this out day after day!

Race Across the Arctic - Gross Motor Game

I created a little game in Photoshop Elements to play. Each side of the die had a particular arctic animal on it, and some action to complete (i.e. crawl like a walrus and waddle like an emperor penguin). We each had a gem as a game piece and continued across the arctic till one of us reached the end. It was a fun game!

Could you use one? Right-click below:

Icicle Scissor Skills

This was a simple invitation I created, having been inspired by Sugar Aunts.

Water, Land and Air - Arctic Animal Sort

This idea came from Stay at Home Educator. It opened up great conversation about blubber vs. fur vs. feathers.

And speaking of blubber, we had done a blubber science experiment (using Crisco) a couple years ago that would also fit into this unit nicely. Take a look here to see that!

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