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Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts

Sharing Saturday 14-48

Congratulations to Lori H. for winning 
the 4 Christmas DVDs!
Sharing Saturday Button


Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! I had such a hard time choosing the features this week since there were so many amazing ideas!! I hope you will take the time to check them all out! We had a tie for most clicked.


1) From Krafts and Kiddos: CD Turkey Craft

2) From Stimulating Learning with Rachel (",): Aliens, Robots and Monsters (lots of great learning ideas here!)

Since we set our Christmas tree up today I am getting into the Christmas spirit. I have been thinking about Christmas cookies, how to bring Jesus into Christmas more and we received an Elf on the Shelf yesterday as a gift (I was avoiding them for as long as I could an much rather our Mouse and the Miracle), so knowing that you will understand some of the features I picked this week. We have our Christmas Features and our non-Christmas Features!

Sharing Saturday 14-7


Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! We had over 100 posts shared!! I know I have been visiting and pinning away with all the great ideas shared! I am always so inspired by what everyone shares. If you have not had a chance to check them out, you really should! This week we had a most clicked. It is from Crafty Journal: Sweetheart Angel.

Winter Crafts Round-Up


I had so many incomplete ideas for my post today. Since they were all incomplete, I considered just not posting, but then I remembered I wanted to do a winter round-up since so many of you have not been following since 2011 when we began. So here it is, our past winter activities, crafts and books and a movie. Enjoy!!

Snow, Snowflakes Crafts and Books


Hazel is so fascinated with snow. Last week we got close to two feet, but most of it melted and then it got bitter cold. Today feels warm and it is in the 30's. Unfortunately Hazel has been sick since Christmas and has not gotten to play too much in the snow. She keeps asking me, "What is snow?" My broad answers have not been enough, so I found a book at the library to help us understand it better, The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter's Wonders by Mark Cassino with Jon Nelson, Ph.D.

This book explains the science behind snow and has amazing photographs!! In the end it gives an activity of collecting and looking at snowflakes with hints on catching them.
The One I Made

While shopping I noticed some snowflake tealight holders on the clearance rack for post-Christmas. I bought a couple and went back and bought some more for gifts. Hazel and I decorated them with glitter glue and gem stickers (which I also got on clearance for post-Christmas). 


Supplies
First we put glitter glue on them and left them to dry. Then we added the stickers. Then Hazel had fun with the other four I bought.
Hazel's First Two

The Rest of Hazel's
Both of Hazel's grandmother's birthdays are coming up,so I figured these could make nice gifts for them. Maybe we will give her teachers one each as well. For 50 cents each, not bad gifts. Here is how mine looks with a battery candle.

We also took Snow Sounds: An Onomatopoeic Story by David A. Johnson out of the library. It is a wonderful book just with the sounds you might hear during a snow storm. The plows, the shovels, the school bus coming, etc.


Then some other fun snow books from our bookshelf:

Are you enjoying snow? Or making some snow crafts? For some other snow craft ideas check out:

Sharing Saturday 14-1


Wow, did you have a chance to check out the amazing ideas shared over the last two weeks? Last week I had a few features and I have some this week as well. There are some great ideas for Christmas, New Year's and every day as well as some round-ups of 2013 bests. The most clicked is from Afterschool for Smarty Pants: 6 Ways to Prepare for New Year with Children.

Sharing Saturday 13-50



Thank you to everyone who shared last week and who visited last week's posts. The party is still open because of the holidays!! So today I am going to feature a few from last week and continue the party!! So plenty of time to go visit all the great posts shared and get inspired this week!! This week's features are in three themes: New Year's, my life (math, birthday, and Jamaican food) and winter. I hope you will stop by and visit them and some of the other blogs who share with us!

Winter Solstice



On Saturday winter begins where we live although with the weather this week, I think winter is already here. We have had two snowstorms since Saturday. Hazel has made her first snowman of the season! However the snow was a bit icy to make snow angels at least in the first storm. The second one she has not gotten to play as much since she got sick (after playing in the first snowstorm). We have been talking about the shorter days. Of course Hazel is trying to figure out what that means--are there less hours in the day?


Picture of Our Back Yard This Afternoon
To get ready for the first official day  of winter, I thought we would read some winter books and try a few crafts. After reading some winter books, Hazel decided we needed to make some paper snowflakes. This is one of her favorite things to do.



Then we read some more books. We went to the library and found a huge selection of winter books and here are some we got as well as some of our favorites from our own collection.



Although I keep explaining about there being less sunlight on the winter solstice, I am not sure Hazel gets the concept yet. I hoped some of these books would help her. The first two books in this collection are about multiple seasons. The third, Winter is the Warmest Season by Lauren Stringer may sound confusing, however the story is told by a boy who explains how his world becomes warm (for example, hot chocolate instead of cold milk, pajamas with feet) because of the cold temperature outside.



We also had to look at some books about snow. After all that is the best and the worst part of winter.  Red Sled by Rita Judge and The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats are two of our favorite snowy/winter books.


Three of these books have activities and/or crafts in them. The top two are just about crafts and activities. It's Winter by Linda Glaser has some winter activities and explorations to do at the end of the story. It goes through what the animals are doing while it is cold outside. In the Seasonal Crafts series, Winter by Gillian Chapman has crafts for many holidays and events. The craft we decided to do was make construction paper finger puppets to go with stories that the Inuit women tell on winter nights to pass the time.






Now the Inuit people live in the Arctic. As we can imagine their winter days are long and dark.  To pass time they shared stories. Many were about the animals they lived with and ate: the caribou, the walrus and seals. Then of course there are stories about the sun, moon and the Aurora Borealis. The Inuit traditionally lived in igloos in the winter.


Iglu 1 1999-04-02
Source: By Ansgar Walk (photo taken by Ansgar Walk) [CC-BY-SA-2.5], via Wikimedia Commons
 How would you like to live in here for the winter?

Addition on the Winter Solstice: We read the best book for the winter solstice tonight. It is The Winter Solstice by Ellen Jackson. It goes through history on how the winter solstice was celebrated as well as giving an experiment to try to understand the seasons. I highly recommend checking this one out!!






 





Looking for more winter ideas check out:
Winter Solstice
Let It Snow! Winter Wonderland Tea Party
A Wonderful Winter Book: Red Sled
My Winter Pinterest Board

Christmas Crafts Round-Up from 2011 - 2013





Last week I did a round-up of some of our favorite Christmas books that really share the story of Christmas or the giving spirit. This week I thought I would share a round-up of the Christmas crafts we have done since Crafty Moms Share started. But before we share our past crafts here is a clip angel we made for one of Hazel's angel crafts from her Advent calendar this year. I was inspired by the Easy Paperclip Angel Ornament on Crafty Journal that I saw on Pinterest.


We used glittery pipe cleaners instead of ribbon and wooden beads instead of pearls.
I think the pipe cleaner made it easier for Hazel to do on her own. We made two before breakfast one morning. Now as I was going through my Christmas crafts of the past, I discovered I had too many for just one collage (Picmonkey wouldn't let me put them in one), so I made four. Two are general Christmas crafts, one is nativity crafts and one is "gingerbread" house crafts.



1) Felt  Peace Dove (Advent Week 2: Peace)
2) Paper Star Bag (Christmas Prep)
3) Felt Covered Ornaments
4) More Felt Covered Ornaments (Simple Christmas Ornaments/Decorations)
5) Snow Globes (apparently I didn't share these before, but they have liquid in them)
6) Painted Wooden Ornaments
7)  Painted Cardboard/Paper Mache Ornaments
8) Paper Advent Wreath
9) Coffee Cup Christmas Tree
10) Coffee Cup Angel
11) Kenyan-inspired Clay Ornaments
12) Kenyan-inspired Wire Ornament
13) Simple Christmas Cards (Operation Christmas)
14) Felt St. Nicholas
15) Felt Candy Cane Mouse (Holiday Stroll)
16)  Hope Ornament (Hope--First Week of Advent)




1) Felt Sheep
2) Our Salt Dough Ornaments
3) Angels, Angels Everywhere and Angels with a Toddler and  Some Angels
4) Pasta Wreath
5) Pasta Tree
6) Needle Felted Dala Horse
7) Needle Felted Elf
8)  Mini Advent Wreath (Advent Calendars -- Start of Advent)
9) Popsicle Stick & Button Trees
10) Button Tree Card
11) Straw Christmas Tree (Christmas Crafts for Kids ebook Review)
12) Snow Globes (Busy Day Getting Ready for Christmas)
13) Jingle Bell Crafts
14) Punched Paper Chain
15) Felt Ornaments
16) Fruit Candy Cane (Christmas Crafts for Kids ebook Review)
17) Toddler Fun Tongue Depressor Elf
18) Stick Reindeer (A Lovely Visit)
19) Christmas Book Ornaments (A Lovely Visit)
20) Beaded Wreath Pin
21) Winter Flower Fairies
22) Poinsettia Fairy
23) Painted Pine Cones
24) Applesauce and Cinnamon Ornaments
25) More Salt Dough Ornaments


Foam Trees and Gingerbread Men

Beaded Candy Canes


Beaded Candy Canes







Nativity Crafts

1)  Nativity Bracelet (Oriental Trading Christmas Craft Kit Review)
2) Foam Nativity Kit
3) Cloth Nativity
4) Toilet Paper Roll Nativity (Focus on the Nativity and
5) Wooden Nativity Pieces (Advent Week 2: Peace and Advent Calendars--Start of Advent)
6) Craft Stick & Felt Nativity (Focus on the Nativity and Busy Weekend)
7) Felt Nativity Ornament
8) Needle Felted Nativity (Sharing Christmas and Needle Felting)
9) Treble Clef Savior (Hope--First Week of Advent)
10) Gingerbread Graham Cracker Creche (Hope--First Week of Advent)
11) Wooden Nativity Craft (Oriental Trading Christmas Craft Kit Review)
12) Nativity Earrings (Oriental Trading Christmas Craft Kit Review)
13) Colored Wooden Nativity (Operation Christmas)
14) Nativity Story Stones
15) Printable Nativity (Focus on the Nativity and Sharing Saturday with Free Printables)



1) Toddler "Gingerbread" House
2) Valentine's Day Gingerbread House
3) Valentine's Day Gingerbread House
4) Gingerbread Train
5) Christmas Prep 2012
6) Post Christmas Gingerbread House
7) Mortimer's Gingerbread House (Virtual Book Club for Kids: Mortimer's Christmas Manger)

Picture a Tree--Book Inspired Art


Today we are sharing a wonderful book, Picture a Tree, by Barbara Reid. This book is a fun book that looks at the different ways to picture a tree for example trees look differently in the four seasons. Through its wonderful story and picture it compares spring trees to paint or art class and it compares trees to other things like a tunnel, an ocean and more. It also looks at how trees can be used as homes and as toys (for example pirate ship, or clubhouse). It is a fun book to get you noticing and thinking about trees and nature more. 


How do you picture a tree? We decided to paint some trees. Here is how Hazel was picturing trees this day.
Hazel's first tree was pretty basic, but I was happy to see how her painting could actually look like something and not just a mess of colors. After this tree I asked her what trees look like in the fall. She added a tree to the painting.

She however decided to make it with unusual colors for the leaves. As you can see she had fall color paints, but used blue, pink, yellow and silver. At least I know she is creative.

After painting two trees she wanted to paint her old way--just colors everywhere, but she was practicing mixing colors. So that is our simple way to think about trees. How do you picture a tree?

Lady Winter and Sister Spring



So I have been trying to focus on Easter and other religious posts for my Sundays lately, however with the week we have had, I had to share this post instead. Late last spring we discovered what has become my favorite change of season book, How Robin Saved Spring by Debbie Ouellet. I needle felted Hazel the two main characters in the book at this time.
This story is about how two sisters, Lady Winter and Sister Spring, live. Sister Spring sleeps through winter and awakens to begin the spring weather and season. Lady Winter wants to stay in control with blankets of white snow everywhere, so she knits a magic blanket that will keep her younger sister sleeping while she is under it. The animals and trees want spring to begin, so they try to wake Sister Spring. Throughout the story the reader hears how certain characteristics of animals and the tree came to be. Finally the robin manages to wake Sister Spring with some sun rays, however he got burnt getting them and thus the red breast. For more information you can visit the author's site which is where I got the picture of the book since I cannot seem to find our copy. 
 
Now our weather this week the weather predictions have been a bit tough. The weather reports seemed to say that there was a chance of 3-6 inches of snow but near the coast it would be mostly rain. We live in a coastal town, but not near the coast, so we figured at most a few inches of snow. They did say the storm would last from Wednesday evening to Friday morning. My mother had been in the hospital and was suppose to be getting out between Wednesday through Friday. I was hoping it would be Friday since the storm was suppose to be over before they had to drive two hours home. However she got out on Thursday which now I am very happy about.
On Wednesday we began to have a few snow flurries, but not too much. Thursday the flurries continued but it was not sticking. When I went to bed Thursday night they were still saying 3-6 inches with the rain/snow line being close to the coast. On Friday, Hazel woke up around 5:30 a.m. and I went to get her snack so she would play in her room and listen to stories on CD while I continued to sleep. I turned the television on while getting her snack and there were barely any school cancellations. At 7 a.m. when I got up and we went to have breakfast, I turned the television on to see the weather report and almost every school was delayed. (Luckily Steve was able to work from home and did not have to deal with the horrific commute.) They were saying the snow would slow down by 10 a.m. and stop by noon. Well, at 10 a.m. it got worse. It was still snowing until about 3 p.m. Needless to say the weatherpeople were incorrect all over the place. As it slowed I took Hazel out to play. This is what we faced after our driveway was plowed (now mind you all the snow from the blizzard and other small storms had not melted completely yet).

Hazel has her sledding hill back! She also decided the part to the right looked like a throne. Needless to say she had a great time. I helped her go down the "hill" a few times.
Then I dug her a snow fort/igloo. The first one was too small so we moved to the hill and made a bigger one. She loved it.
She even painted it with her food coloring and water spray bottles. She tried to make purple and orange by spraying some colors. Also she made a doorbell and doorknob with the "paint."
Then she also wanted to have a snowball fight. This was the first snowfall this year that was good snowball snow.


 Then she played some more on her mountain while I tried to shovel out my car. Then Steve came out and finished the shoveling and I went in to take a nap. Hazel ended up playing with our next door neighbor who is eleven.
Mountain Climbing

Almost at the Top
Queen of the Mountain!

However our big discussion was that we would have much rather the robin we saw a few weeks ago had woken Sister Spring and we would have had the rain. Hazel of course enjoyed the snow though! We are hoping Sister Spring will awaken soon and get rid of all this cold and snow! Oh, and there have been mention that we need the other two sisters--Autumn and Summer. We are going to make our own stories up about them!