Crafty Mommy Monday- G and Apples

Welcome to Crafty Mommy Monday! (finally!)

Campbell and I have had lots of fun this week with all of our F activities.  We especially like our new magnets.  (Even if I'm completely paranoid that she's going to put one or two in her mouth and swallow them.)

Here we used them to make the letter F. (from http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2009/11/prek-letter-f.html)

I also found this sheet that I had printed when we did Very Hungry Caterpillar (from http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/HungryCaterpillarMagnetPages.htm) and we used our magnets with it too...

Next we used the magnets to work on patterning.  This week tried different AB patterns (ex. yellow, blue or red, blue).  Next week we might try an ABC pattern (ex. red, blue, green).

We also did a craft with pieces of red and green tissue paper and an apple outline I drew.  Campbell had fun gluing the pieces of tissue paper to the apple and even was able to understand that the red went on the apple part and the green on the leaf.  Unfortunately there is no picture because after we finished Maggie started crying so I went to get her and when I returned, Campbell had torn off all the pieces of tissue paper.  *sigh*

For the upcoming week we will be focusing on letter G.  I know I had said that we would be following the Handwriting Without Tears letter order but I changed my mind (again).  Since Campbell  isn't really ready to write letters, it's not imperative to use HWT yet.  Instead I'll focus on the 5 letters that Campbell has trouble identifying consistently (G, J, V, Y, U).  Once she's mastered those, I'll re-evaluate.  One of the first things I learned about teaching is that a good teacher must "monitor and adjust".  I'll probably change how I plan these activities again, it just depends on Campbell's needs :)

Letter G Activities:

Gumball Magnet Page  

(from  http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/01/prek-letter-g.html)

Gg Do-A-Dot Worksheet

We also got out our Leapfrog Fridge Magnet toy and put out the letters we will be working on.

Apple activities

We will continue playing with the apple tree play dough (see last week's CMM post)

For a craft, we will make an apple tree out of construction paper and using her fingerprint with a stamp pad to make the apples.

Felt Board:

I was planning to make an apple tree felt board activity (had this great idea to cut out several trees and lots of apples and put a different number on each tree and she would put the correct number of apples on each).  Well, Campbell is currently obsessed with the songs 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on a Bed and 5 Little Monkeys Swinging From a Tree.  I found this set and then made a bed out of some flannel scraps I had.  Although it doesn't go with any theme we're doing now, it's worth it because she has been playing more with this felt board than any other set we've done!

Crafty Mommy Monday

Please check back tomorrow for CMM...we're having a combination of technical difficulties (I can't find the memory card from my camera...oops) and a fussy baby.

 But, since we never seem to post without at least one picture, I thought I'd show off this cute picture of Maggie since she never gets included in CMM (at least not yet).  It was during one of her rare happy moments today.

(please excuse my cheesy smile, I was trying to get her to smile back at me for the picture)

Can you spot the baby?

You may remember my post about "babywearing" (see it here).  This is a picture Robbie took of me and Maggie tonight at Olive Garden.  Pretty much any time we eat out, or really any time Maggie goes anywhere for a period of time, she ends up in the Baby K'tan carrier. 

Looks comfy, doesn't she?

Campbell sings

Crafty Mommy Monday- Apples and Letter F

Welcome to Crafty Mommy Monday!

I've recently been spending a lot of time thinking through how I will organize Campbell's activities.  I think that the way I'll try is to do a "theme" for a month which can be seasonal or based on a book and then choose letters to focus on 1 at a time for reading and writing.  As I said last week, I won't go in alphabetical order, rather I'll go in the order that the letters are taught in the Handwriting Without Tears program.

Our current theme (no real time limit on how long I'll keep it....) is Apples in honor of going back to school and for the approaching Fall.  We'll be doing crafts and other fun activities with this theme.  I'm trying to think of an interactive Sensory Box to use with this theme.  Let me know if you have any great ideas!

Apple Activities:

Play doh:   Apple trees

I used craft foam "paper" to make the trees.  Unfortunately I didn't have brown so we had to color the white with markers to make the trunks.  This activity is great for fine motor skills.  She has to pinch off a small amount of play doh and roll it into balls.  Here is the recipe Campbell and I used to make the play doh.

Letter F:

• Shaving cream in a bag (sorry the picture is sideways I tried flipping it and it wouldn't work)

• F alphabet book from readinga-z.com
• Making it with play doh and Popsicle sticks
• Using my new magnets with this page on a cookie sheet (from http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2009/11/prek-letter-f.html)

• Sorting objects into beginning sounds /f/ or not (I just love this serving tray I got at Dollar General!)

 Some other activities we've done that are just kind of random...

Alphabet sponge painting with water on construction paper (but be warned...if you leave a two year old with these sponges while you go clean the kitchen, you may return to find several of the sponges torn to pieces)

A new twist on using her favorite blocks

Also, I don't know about y'all, but I have been struggling to figure out how to store all of our materials in a way that is easy to access, organized, and doesn't take up much room.  I read somewhere about people using over the door shoe hangers and it's perfect for all of the small items we use!  I got 2 and here is a picture of one of them:

Our girls' first laughter

Here is a video from 2 years ago of Campbell laughing...

Here is a video we took today of Maggie laughing...

Maggie- 3 Months

Maggie is 3 month old!

She weighs a little over 13 pounds.

This month Maggie is smiling even more and laughing!  It is so much fun to see.  We wish she liked sleeping a little better, but we're working on it ;)

Crafty Mommy Monday

PSA- Go ASAP to Target's $1 section!  They have tons of fun learning materials right now.  I got alphabet stickers, letter, number, and color/shape flashcards, foam 3D shapes, and craft gems.

Here we used those alphabet stickers to work on her name.  I wrote the letters in crayon and she matched the sticker letters to each one.

We also have been working on writing.  Right now we are just focusing on pre-writing strokes lines down, up, and across.  This is in preparation for us working on writing letters.  Here she was practicing writing a line down...she was drawing the "string" for each balloon.  You can see where I used a yellow highlighter for her to trace with her crayon.

In this picture she's just playing with the highlighter and extra letter stickers she put on the paper.

When we do start letters, we will use a program called Handwriting Without Tears. I used this in my classroom with great success and I think Campbell is almost ready to begin.  I like the program because it is multi-sensory and teaches explicitly how to form each letter. 

On that note, I wanted to mention that I think I will be changing how I plan Campbell's activities.  Rather than doing literature- or theme=based units, I think we'll focus on Letters of the Week.  I used to do this in my classroom for handwriting and I think I can incorporate it well into Campbell's activities.  One of our readers suggested a website ( http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/) that uses this method and it has tons of free downloadable activities (or you can pay $10 for the whole set so you don't have to download each one).  I have also found some other great blogs/websites that have free Letters of the Week activities that look great: http://lovemylifex4.blogspot.com/2009/08/alphabet-fun-letter.html

http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/search/label/Preschool%20Corner/

One big difference in the way I'm thinking of structuring it however, is that instead of going in ABC order,  I will go in the order that the Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) program teaches capital letters.  For example, rather than starting with the letter A, I will start with the letter F which is the first letter in HWT.  

Another big change to Campbell's activities is that I'm beginning to plan to teach her some simple reading skills.  She's done so well with learning her letters and numbers, that I think she'll pick up some simple sight words quickly.  I have a membership to http://www.readinga-z.com/ which has a huge selection of simple leveled readers that I can print out.  I'm excited about this, but realistic that she's only 2 and 1/2 and might not be ready, but I'd like to try...

Check back next week to hear more about these plans...

Brownies

I have a special little baking helper...

By the way...don't ever ruin a perfectly good pan of brownies by using pureed black beans instead of oil and eggs...no matter what lies Weight Watchers tells you ;)

Preemie Get Together

Y'all have all heard me talk about my preemie mom friends that I've "met" on a message board on the internet. Last year I was lucky enough to meet some of them and their children (click here to see the blog post).  This year even more families came and we had a great time!  It was so neat to see how all the kids had grown over the past year...and to think last year I was about a week pregnant with Maggie :)

Friday night we met in Baltimore for dinner.  Here is a cute video of Campbell and Marino running and playing after dinner...you can tell these 2 year olds needed to burn off some energy!

Saturday we went to the National Zoo.  Have you ever tried to take a picture of 7 toddlers?

We finally gave up and decided to let the dads take pictures of the moms holding the kids...hard to believe these kids were all preemies, isn't it?

Campbell and Marino

Cameron, Evan, Brandon, and Campbell (along with some "flat friends")

Campbell and Marino checking out the prairie dog tunnels

Saturday night, we left the kids with the dads and had mom's night out.  It was so nice to get to have some grown up talk with these ladies! 

Crafty Mommy...errr Daddy Monday

This week's post is all about Daddy!  Today Robbie did a cute activity with Campbell that I think is a great example of how it's not all up to Mommy!

We have this book:

While trying to distract Campbell (I was trying to take a shower and she is obsessed with getting in the shower), Robbie got out the book and some raisins.  He and Campbell had a great time playing together.
Think of all the skills this book works on:

-matching

-imitation

-visual discrimination

-counting

And since Robbie is such a tolerant loving husband, he took pictures and an adorable video...

Happy Baby

Maggie has been smiling for a few weeks now, but this week she has started giving us big grins and starting to laugh.  I love it!

Crafty Mommy Monday- Zoo

Sorry this post is a day late.  We have been very busy and I'm just now getting a chance to sit down and write this up.

This weekend we will traveling to Washington DC to visit my sister and her family as well as some very special friends...some of my fellow Preemie moms and their families. On Saturday we will be going to the National Zoo so I thought this week and next would be the perfect time to talk about zoo animals.

Some of the activities we'll be doing:

Sensory box: I'll leave in the dried beans and add in the animals from the Rainforest Toob.  I've been trying to think of how to make these sensory boxes more interactive (inspired by this awesome blog) so I'm going to add in some plastic trees we have from another play set.  Any more ideas?

Craft:  I'll cut out zebra shapes and use a marble or golfball with black paint to paint stripes.  I'll put the zebra cutout and the ball in a box and let Campbell roll it around to make the stripes.  I wish I could remember the blog where I saw this idea to give them credit...  Edited: I remembered: http://www.preschooleducation.com/azoo.shtml

Gross motor/imaginative play: we have several stuffed zoo animals (panda, lion, elephant, bear) that I got out for Campbell to play with.  While I was digging them out, Campbell spotted the tunnel and tent we got at IKEA last year.  So, she spent a long time taking her animals through the tunnel and putting them into her tent.  I think we'll have lots of fun this week playing with this set up.

I also love love this visual discrimination activity to use with the craft pompoms we have.

Check back next week for more zoo fun!

Campbell's Top Ten

It's been quite a while since we did a top ten of  Campbell's favorite things.  I thought it was high time for an update!

#10  Her handmade outfits, including this seersucker dress, from Daffodils and Daisies.  Ok....maybe these are actually mommy's favorites ;)

#9 Maggie's Boppy Travel Swing...she finally is not freaking out when Maggie gets in it 

#8  Dot Paints (really any paints!)

#7  Her water table...however, to Campbell it's a mini-pool on legs :)

#6  Wood Foam Blocks

I found these blocks at Dollar General ($8 rather than the $16 on Amazon).  Campbell loves them, especially in the bathtub because they stick together and it's easier to build with them.

#5  Books

We are so lucky in our area to have access to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.   This program sends all children under the age of 5 a new free book each month.  Some of Campbell's favorite books are ones she's gotten from them.  Check to see if it's available in your area! 

#4  Abby Cadabby Quilt

One of my co-workers is an amazingly talented quilter.  She made Campbell and Maggie quilts to celebrate Maggie's birth.  When she asked me what Campbell would like, all I could think was Sesame Street.  So, she made this beautiful quilt for Campbell and Maggie has a smaller quilt with Abby in a different pose.  Campbell loves it so much that she insists upon sleeping on top of her bedspread with her Abby quilt covering her.

#3  Bows

Campbell is definitely a "girly girl".  Every day when I dress her, she insists on having a bow (normally this is great, but when she's wearing a bathing suit to go to the pool, the bow can be a bit much).  Some of our current favorites are these bows that are handmade with her initial on them. You can see more bottle cap creations from our friend Missy: http://www.facebook.com/#!/KustomKapKreations.

#2  Baby Dolls

Campbell loves baby dolls of all kinds.  She's not snobby...in this picture she's piled her American Girl doll right along with cheap-o dolls of all kinds.

#1 Anything Sesame Street

Campbell currently owns dolls for almost the whole Sesame Street cast.  Most mornings we'll hear her playing with the dolls in her bed.  As soon as we find a doll for Bert, she'll have everyone (and believe me, she knows he's missing).

Adventure to Edventure

Last week Campbell, Maggie, and I traveled to Columbia to go to Edventure Children's Museum with a great friend from college, Anna, and her little boy, Hampton. 

It was the first time Anna and I had met each others' children and we were so surprised when they looked like brother and sister. 

Here they are pretending to drum (there was a camera that showed them drumming on drums)

Edventure has an actual Fire truck that the kids can play on and explore.  Hampton and Campbell enjoyed dressing up like firefighters and pretending to drive the truck.

 They also had a VW Beetle that they enjoyed "driving".

We had a great time!