Fun Facts about Crayons and Our Exploration of Crayon Racing

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

If you have kids, you have crayons. Most restaurants give kids some crayons to keep them busy while their food is being prepared. I know we have quite a supply from over the years. But have you ever really thought about crayons? What are they? I decided to gather some fun facts for you about the childhood staple and then I have a fun book to share with you to give you a use for the crayons sitting around your house.

Cottontail Rabbits -- Who's In the Backyard? Series

I haven't done a Who's In The Backyard? Post in awhile. I had planned on doing my rabbits weeks ago but was having internet issues as well as a busy life. So here it finally is!! In our backyard we have cottontails. They are probably Eastern Cottontails, but there is a slight chance they could be New England Cottontails. So my focus is going to be on both species and the differences. 

Making Learning Fun for Homeschool or the Summer Slide

Disclosure: I was sent these items to review free of charge from MindWare. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. Note: Many of these products are no longer available. I am providing links for the ones that are or something similar. 

Now I have mentioned that I have not been posting since so much of my time has been going to homeschooling Hazel for the last six weeks of school. Her school year officially ends this Friday (at least at her old school). However, the items I am sharing today we will continue to use all summer because they make learning fun!! Now we needed to continue with her spelling which we had from her school, her math workbook (which is really boring) to do money and fractions plus keep her addition and subtraction facts fresh, then in science plants and space and in social studies continue with the states which has been an ongoing activity and finish up Massachusetts history. Well, MindWare came to my rescue to do some of these things and make them fun!! In fact Hazel wants to continue using these resources during the summer as well!! To start with learning about money we got the game Loose Change. Loose Change is no longer available. Amazon has some money counting games.


In this game the players take turns to add a card to get it to equal $1. If you can get it exactly to $1 you will get a point but if you have to go over you will lose a point. Once $1 is reached (or passed) you start again. Throughout the game the players are announcing the total in play.

The cards have nickels, dimes, quarters and half dollar coins as well as special cards that have multiple coin amounts. This game reinforces the coins as well as practice in adding money and finding ways to equal $1. The game could easily be changed to use subtracting or even going to higher amounts. And the best part is Hazel and I like playing it!!




To keep up with her addition I got her Double Addition Decoders: Addition by Evelyn B. Christensen. (This is no longer available.) There are three types of decoder puzzles. Each has double digit addition problems to do and then there is an activity to do with your answers. Each activity allows for learning or practicing more math skills as well. The first helps learn about directions. With the answers there are instructions to move the spaces that correspond to the letters above the tens place and ones place (N, S, E, or W).


There are also ones with pictures. The user does the problems and then finds the square that corresponds with the answer and colors the square the color written above the problem. This is a good pre-Cartesian plane activity.


The third type is to follow the row or column until you find your new answer.


Hazel likes this last one a lot. She liked that you could check your answers by finding it in your row or column.




Our final math item is Grid Perplexors: Level A. (They have some Perplexors still available here.) These are beginning logic puzzles. I LOVE logic puzzles and thought Hazel might like them as well. This book is written for ages 8 to 9 which is perfect for Hazel. She loves them as well and has done quite a few on her own. I did the first one with her, but she has done seven more by herself and often just does them without being asked. She just likes them like I do. And personally, I think it is great to start kids learning about deductive reasoning at a young age. It will get them far to understand it.


Now we will look at some of the fun activities to learn more about the states. The first thing to share is actually a bit of math (counting) as well as learning about the states. It is Extreme Dot-to-Dot: Around the USA.

Hazel former second grade teacher gave the kids these puzzles all the time. Hazel asked for this one. She loves doing them and of course counting over 1000 for some of the puzzles helps her learn her higher numbers. Since we just went to the Statue of Liberty during her April vacation we started with that dot-to-dot.


I had her start on the USS Constitution since it is part of the Freedom Trail in Boston which we started visiting recently, but haven't gotten to the USS Constitution (which is drydocked until 2018). She unfortunately hasn't finished it yet, so I took a picture of some of the solutions so you could see the completed puzzles.


You can see there are puzzles from all over the country. This is perfect for studying the states and the special places in them. Plus it helps them with their visual skills and counting skills.

To learn about the states, it is also important to learn where the states are. To help with this geography lesson we got Color Chart: United States. (Note: This product is no longer available, but you can see similar ones here.) It is a large map (40" by 28") of the United States to color in. It comes with markers and a picture hunt.


Hazel colored in a few of her favorite states as well as the ones we have been focusing on. Each state has pictures to show different things about the state from animals, nature and more! Once we are done coloring them in she is going to hang it in her bedroom!




Another fun way to learn about where the states are and something special in each state is DestiNation USA. (This amazing game is no longer available.) This gameboard is a map of the United States. The players have car game pieces and start on different states. The goal is to get to the special destination which is picked by a card and to visit the most states. To travel one has to be next to the state and have the right cards. We really LOVE this game and played it with one of my co-workers who also really liked it.



I had trouble getting a picture since we got so involved in the game. There are little disks for each state and before playing they have to be put on the board in the correct place. There are different driving cards to move around the board and then the destination cards which tells where the specified destination is. The game instructions say to play for five destination cards or when the 48 state disks have been collected. We often play more than five destination cards because we do not want to stop. We have never gotten all the state disks off. This is a new favorite game here and we will continue to play it. I love how it helps Hazel learn the location of the states as well as the special points of interest in each one (the destination cards). Talk about learning that is fun!! Some other great resources we have for the studying the states are these books.



 

Our final item is Extreme Mazes: Book 5. (Note: Extreme Mazes are no longer available. Amazon has these extreme maze books.) I will admit I got this one because Hazel really wanted it. She wanted this book the last time we got things from MindWare and I had gotten a different one instead. Oops!! Of course, these mazes teach problem solving, fine motor control, and visual motor skills. These are pretty extreme mazes. She however seems to love doing them!!




She has done quite a few of them but I will just share one. The details in the pictures and mazes are quite amazing. I think my eyes would go a bit batty doing them!!


This week we will be sharing many of the resources I have gotten to help with our homeschooling month and that help bring some learning to home and summertime. One project I hope to do is put together a United States postcard exchange. Would you be interested in sending 49 postcards from your state and getting one from each of the other 49 states? If you are, drop me a note and tell me what state you can do. I have Massachusetts covered!! It will be first come first served for states!!

Sharing Saturday 16-45

Wow, it is already November!! This fall is flying by. It is time for Sharing Saturday!! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts, crafts made for kids, activities and lessons as well as your parenting and/or teaching posts. On Sunday night we also host Crafty Weekends for all your crafts (done by any age), patterns, and craft product reviews! It is the perfect place to share your creative side!! And for all of your cultural posts come share them at the monthly Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop. 

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! I always love seeing what everyone has been up to and your creative ideas!! Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week we have two groups of features: Pumpkin Recipes and Lessons & Party Features.

Summertime Fun Supplies -- Where to Buy

Disclosure: I will receive thank you products for writing this post. All opinions are my own. I have not received or used any of these supplies, but am sharing ideas with you.
 
Where do you get all of your supplies for Summertime Fun? My go to place is Oriental Trading. They have great prices and lots of fun things. Many people know them for their party supplies, but they have so much more!! Of course they have everything you need for your picnics and barbecues as well as for any luaus you may want to throw. And of course they have everything for Vacation Bible School (or just some Bible learning at home). Every Sunday School teacher knows that Oriental Trading is the place to go for Bible crafts and religious toys.

However some of my favorite things are to get your kids active and outside enjoying the beautiful weather!! Perhaps you could set up an obstacle course with products like these Crawl Through Arches and Tropical Potato Sacks (there are many different designs to choose from but I liked these) which are available in the Games & Activities. 

Sharing Saturday 16-3

Last week we had many amazing ideas shared!! Thank you to everyone who shared with us!! Our features are just a sampling of the wonderful things shared, so if you haven't checked out the rest you should!! The features for this week include Holiday Features (Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the US), Winter Features and Educational & Family Features. I have also host a craft link party (the crafts just have to be family appropriate and not necessarily kid related) and it is a place to share crafts, reviews of patterns, craft books, etc. and patterns. I hope you will come check it out Sunday.  This month's Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop is beginning Sunday morning for all your posts that are culture (multicultural) related!

Merry Chrsitmas, Hello Kitty! Activity Book & All I Want for Christmas Is You -- Book Reviews

Disclosure: Penguin Random House Books gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.  As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Are you getting ready for Christmas? Here are two fun books to help your little ones get ready. The first is a wonderful activity book, Merry Christmas, Hello Kitty by Leigh Olsen. 

This sticker activity book is packed full of activities, crafts, games, recipes and more! It comes with a poster as well as postcards.

Monstrous Fun: A Doodle & Activity Book -- Product Review

Disclosure: Penguin Kids gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review in return for an honest review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.  As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Well, Hazel is often scared of things like monsters, but there are some she likes (Elmo, Cookie Monster, etc.). This year her fears seem worse than usual, but this monster activity book she is enjoying! Monstrous Fun: A Doodle & Activity Book by Travis Nichols comes with a warning. It is for monsters only. Hazel finds the warning amusing. Once you turn past the title page with the warning the book is divided up into sections of various monster holidays. Each holiday has different activities, coloring, find the differences, matching, mazes and more! It begins with All Hallow's Eve of course. After all Halloween is a monster's holiday lately. The next holiday is Fangsgiving. It is a feast to celebrate when the Noobs and Lil'Grims met. 

Sharing Saturday 15-21

Thank  you to everyone who shared last week!! This week there were so many great ideas!! People are kicking into summer mode and I know this is a busy time around my house. How about with you? This week's features are Summer Plans & Travel, Art & Crafts and a few of my favorites. These are only a sampling of what was shared. Be sure to go back to last week's party to see even more great ideas.

Mermaid Play Date

So to end summer on a positive note, we had a Mermaid Play Date. Hazel originally wanted a mermaid birthday party, but had trouble choosing between Frozen and mermaid. We decided since we would only want girls at the mermaid one it was a better play date. (Several of her best friends are boys.) So we sent out an e-vite.  Yes, they have a free mermaid e-vite! We invited the three girls from Hazel's Pre-K class and her friend from gymnastics. We asked everyone to bring an 18-inch doll or stuffed animal. Unfortunately, only one of her girlfriends and her older sister could come, but the three girls had a blast. 

Hazel and I had big plans for the play date, but they did not all happen due to our busy schedule leading up to it. I did make all the 18-inch dolls a mermaid tail. We had them at the kids table with seats for the girls and the dolls. I provided a tutorial and pattern for the tail. I also cut out felt tails and sewed on ribbon for the girls. I estimated the older sister's size and guessed pretty well. The girls started by decorating their felt tails with glitter glue, stickers, shells, etc.

Next the girls had a potato sack/pillow case trial. We thought it would be like walking like a mermaid if she could leave the water. We just did a fun trial and no race since two of the girls were five.

Then the girls wanted a snack, so we headed back to the patio and to the snack table.

On our snack table are green grape seaweed skewers, oyster cookies, sand dollar cookies, and three kinds of Goldfish. Plus for decoration we have a foam mermaid castle. I bought the kit for the castle at Michaels when it was on sale. Hazel likes to pretend it is another dollhouse. We had planned to bake cookies, but with limited time, we improvised.

Our oyster cookies are Golden Oreos opened with a yogurt covered raisin in them. We added blue sugar sprinkles for looks and then closed them up. The yogurt covered raisins were the only white roundish things I could find at the store quickly. 

For our sand dollar cookies, we opened the Golden Oreos and Hazel ate the lids. Then we used a toothpick to trace the flower design into the filling. Hazel enjoyed making both of our sea cookies and the grape seaweed. She also loved picking out the Goldfish. We also bought some mixed berry juice boxes because they were blue. If I had time we would have made covers for them, but we didn't have the time. After a snack the girls did the final craft. It was a handprint mermaid on a little tote bag.

For the face we used a small play dough lid. Then the girls used the glitter glue for the faces and hair. While these dried the girls played in the yard and in Hazel's new clubhouse. Hazel was excited for her friends to see it. 

We did some quick decorating with green crepe paper. We made seaweed on the walls and stairs.

Hazel and I decided we would try this theme again for a play date and get more of our ideas completed!! Maybe next summer. 

For more mermaid ideas check out:

• 18-inch Doll Mermaid Tail Pattern and Tutorial
• Paper Mermaid Craft
• Mermaid Treasure Box
• Mermaid Bedroom
• Framed Mermaids
• DIY Mermaid T-Shirt
• Sukey and the Mermaid 
• My Mermaid Crafts and Party Idea Pinterest Board

Virtual Book Club for Kids: In the Tall, Tall Grass by Denise Fleming

Today we are going to share our April book for Virtual Book Club for Kids. This month's author is Denise Fleming. We had not read many Denise Fleming books previously, but found them to be fun. Her books have few words but beautiful pictures. She has a wonderful website full of activities to go with her books. 

Flamingo Friday--First Day of School Jitters with a Flamingo Book

Today we are sharing a book by Jamie Harper, Miss Mingo and the First Day of School. Now the teacher of the class is the only flamingo in the book, however this is a fun book with many interesting animal facts. Miss Mingo's class consists of many animals including an ant to an elephant and a giraffe. Plus she even has a narwhal and an octopus. The theme of the first day of school is to tel what makes you special. Miss Mingo starts with how she eats upside down and her food makes her pink. Slowly the students begin to share something special about themselves and warm up to each other. The day ends with a pool party in pelican's pouch and using giraffe's tongue as a slide. 

This book is a fun reminder how each of us is special in our own way. I know many students and teachers are anxious about the first day of school each year. I know Hazel is extra anxious since we are switching her school. This book shows how many are shy and that is all right and if you open up and are yourself you will have fun.

To go with this book, I made up a little memory game. Hazel and I had fun playing it. The cards have each animal on them with their special characteristic in small print. To download your own copy in Word, click the picture below.

I know many schools have started or are starting next week. Hazel's new school does not start until after Labor Day, so we still are enjoying another week of summer. The change of schools has caused quite a bit of anxiety in Hazel, but we know it is the right thing for all of us. She has been very clingy this summer because she is afraid of the unknown.

Now I know I have not shared much as to why we have made the decision to switch schools. We had a bit of a discipline/communication issue last year. There was one student who had a few impulse issues and Hazel had a few run-ins with him. One being something inappropriate said to her. I found out about it from another child or that Hazel had cried quite a bit that day and it took me two hours to find out why from her. Then towards the end of the year she told me that the same boy was going under the snack table and biting her legs and pinching her. The teacher's response was that she thought it was only pinching but biting was unacceptable. Now pinching was unacceptable to me and the fact that it was happening quite often and I had not been told anything by anyone. Now many of the students had issues with this boy (one refused to come to school anymore even after he was kicked out). But what bothered us most was how it was dealt with and that we heard stories that it was not the only time where they had these kind of issues. We decided then that this was not the place for our innocent, shy, rule following (to a fault) daughter and looked for something else. We went to the opposite type of school and now she is going to be attending a traditional Christian school. She is excited that she will learn to read this year, but scared to be leaving what she has known. 

To ease this transition, we have read books about the first day of school, we have had playdates with a few of the students in the new school and we have had several visits to the school. Today she got to spend some time talking to one of the teachers when we stopped by for a visit. I think this helped. There are several blogs that have wonderful lists of books to read, so I am going to leave a few links for you in case you want to ease the day as well.

Lists of First Day of School Books

• Buggy and Buddy
• Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas for preschoolers, kindergarten and first grade
• KC Edventures for preschool through middle school
• Play Dr. Mom

So that is our story on going back to school. We have truly found Miss Mingo and the First Day of School enjoyable to read and educational. Plus it has enabled me to have many conversations about the first day of school and making new friends. 

Easter and Spring Match Games & More!

Today I thought I would share some Easter and spring games I made up with free printables. The first is a sequence game of the Easter story.

Surviving Hurricane Sandy & More Crafts

Have you entered my Best Halloween Costume Contest yet? Please stop by to enter and to vote for your favorite!!

Today I thank God that my family and friends are fine after Hurricane Sandy.

Well, as you know I live on the East Coast so we have been hit by Hurricane Sandy. My dear husband is working like a madman to get people's power turned on in Massachusetts. The part I really hate about storms is how much he has to work and how angry people get about not having power. When I see how hard he and his colleagues work I realize that they are doing what they can. Anyway, that is another whole story. Today I will tell you about Hazel and mine experience of the storm.

It started sprinkling/misty on Sunday here, but really was not bad. The news said the worst part would start around noon on Monday. So on Monday morning we went out to run a few errands that we had to do. Now just about every school was closed and so was the library, state offices, etc. But most stores were not, so off we went. Then Hazel had an unheard of two hour nap. She doesn't usually nap anymore and when she does we pay for it at bedtime. I figured I would let her sleep since I needed some sleep and she hadn't really gotten to see Steve and he would be working late.

Shortly after she woke up, we lost power. And of course it was almost dinner time. Of course any problem with power here is dealt with a phone call to Steve. He called me back to let me know no one had reported it and gave me the number to report it. Then he called back to let me know it was a major area out (the local highway with all the stores were out as well) so I better figure something out for dinner since all the close restaurants were closed. I called one pizza place and was told delivery would take at least an hour, so I called another one and we got pizza in half an hour from the neighboring town. Hazel and I had a picnic in our family room. While we waited for the pizza to come we played many board games.

Normally after dinner we start to get Hazel ready for bed, however with her nap she was not ready for that step, so we did some crafts. We had candles lit for when it got dark outside. Then I remembered the lanterns and found them. The dark picture above is without the flash so you could get a sense of what we were dealing with as we crafted.  Hazel decorated some felt bags and a felt owl and pumpkin using stickers and glitter glue. Then I used two of the felt bags to make a tic tac toe board. I bought some wooden hearts and stars after seeing a tic tac toe board at the craft fair and loved the idea. I thought of the bags to hold the pieces. I had these felt bags for something (I think I got them on clearance). Hazel saw them and wanted to do some as well.

Then I liked this idea so much I went back to Michaels. They did not have anymore felt bags, but I found some canvas ones that had a pull string.  I bought some smaller wooden pieces for the smaller bags and used some fabric paint on them. I made a bunch for the Holiday Fair's Wee Folk Shop. Now I have all my required donations to bring tomorrow. Then I'll probably work on some more for them.

Teddy Bear Picnic Activities

Yesterday I shared our food preparation for our Teddy Bear Picnic. Today I'm going to share some of our activities. 

As the children arrived we gave them a teddy bear frame to color. I found this great picture at Twisty Noodle. I resized it and put two on a page and then added Teddy Bear Picnic 2012 onto it. I Mod Podged it to cardboard and cut them out and cut out a circle for the face so we can add the kids' pictures. My plan was to Mod Podge over their coloring, but none of them really finished them. Then I planned to add a magnet to the back.

We also had music playing. I burned a CD with any song I could find that mentioned teddy bear or just bear. Most of them came from Teddy Bear Tunes by Georgiana Stewart, and then we used some from The Wiggles (Let's Wiggle, Racing to the Rainbow, Pop Go The Wiggles, Go Bananas! and Hot Potatoes: The Best Of The Wiggles albums),The Countdown Kids; 150 Fun Songs For Kids (Disc 3), David Polansky's Animal Alphabet Songs, and VeggieTales' 25 Favorite Toddler Songs! We had these songs playing but we also used them for some games.

Another activity was to decorate teddy bear sugar cookies. The kids had a great time with this. I shared this yesterday as well. The decorated cookies above are Hazel's. We also dropped those capsules that melt into sponge animals into cups of hot water. Each one was a different teddy bear sponge. Each child got to do four.

Then the kids sat in a circle (a few of us moms also did since we only had three kids) and we played Teddy Bear to the Wonder Ball game. (If you do not know the Wonder Ball Game you can check it out here.) We changed a few words and used a slightly different wording of it to be:

Teddy Bear (to Wonder Ball pass teddy bear around circle)

The teddy bear, goes round and round
To pass it quickly, you are bound
If you’re the one, to hold it last
The game for you has surely past, and you are out
O-U-T spells OUT!

And we passed a teddy bear around. The person who won the game got to keep the teddy bear. I had bought it at Ocean State Job Lot for $3 or $4.

Next we played Pin the Tail on the Teddy. I hand drew a teddy bear in a sideways position and penciled in his tail. We blindfolded the kids or had them close their eyes (the younger ones did not like being blindfolded) and spun them around and had them tape tails onto the poster. I had written their names on a tail. Hazel won this one! She already got her prize which was this purple teddy sippy cup.

Then we played a game of Musical Teddy Bears. Everyone brought a teddy bear to the circle and placed them in the middle and then we removed one. I played music and had the kids walk around the blanket. When the music stopped they had to grab a bear (it did not have to be their own). If they did not get a bear, they were out. The person who won this one got the same sippy cup Hazel did. I found them at CVS Pharmacy.

It worked out that each child won one game. I love when it works out that way. Then we gave each child felt pieces to put together a two-dimensional teddy. They each got two colors of bows and could make boy or girl teddy bears. Each child also got two teddy clips.

The kids of course also played tag and on the swings. They had a great time! 

We had a few more activities to do, but didn't get to them. One is the Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear Turn Around Dance. There are several different versions on-line. A couple can be found at Can Teach with some other teddy bear songs/poems. Songs for Teaching has Jack Hartmann's version. I also had a couple of books including Michael Hague's Illustrated The Teddy Bear Picnic by Jimmy Kennedy. There are so many great teddy bear books out there that there a lot from which to choose.

So now I need to start planning our butterfly party. Stay tuned for what we do at that.