Watercolor Art Project

Last night I poured over a number of art activities found in The Artful Parent and decided to try a few. So today, we made our own watercolor paints and tried watercolor resist with contact paper.

I learned that Des was too young to be around for the paint-making process. I should have mixed the paint ingredients with Aislin while Des was engrossed in doing something downstairs, and then brought him up when it was time to paint. I also learned that making our own watercolor paints used a lot of our baking materials, and that, unless I owned baking soda, corn starch and everything else in big Costco-sized cans, buying a set of watercolor paints would probably be cheaper than making our own!

 This was taken after we had finished painting, which is why the yellow and green paints no longer look yellow and green! I now need to buy a new bottle of white vinegar and a new can of corn starch....

In spite of the bumps we ran into, including trying to use a muffin baking pan for the paints and then realizing the cups were too small for mixing the ingredients, the project itself was a lot of fun :) Des enjoyed naming the shapes I made out of contact paper and then smashing the paintbrush into his construction paper...while Aislin enjoyed putting drops of food coloring on top of her watercolor strokes.

Letting our work dry with the contact paper still on. 

I think my kids got a little carried away with the watercolors because, although their contact paper-shapes were firmly pressed onto their papers, the paint still seeped under the contact paper.

Desmond's work after his shapes were peeled off.

 After it dried.

You can see some of the shapes pretty well, but I think they might would have been clearer if he had also tried playing with the food coloring. But he was content spreading the yellow and green around :)

Aisin's work after her shapes were peeled off.

After it dried.

I love all the colors! The paint definitely seeped under her shapes so you have to look closely for a heart, a triangle and the letter B! 

My work after my stars were peeled off.

After it dried.

Stinkin' awesome!! I used the first picture as my phone's wallpaper lol :D

Plan for next time: 

Buy a set of watercolor paints and watercolor paper, and try a new activity...perhaps Leaf Paint and Print or Yarn Painting! 

Aislin the Artist

A few days ago, my husband and I were talking about what we could do to nurture our daughter's interests. She's the type who (and don't think I'm bragging here because, believe me, I sometimes get embarrassed by this...) gets bored easily when something doesn't strike her interest, is below her developmental level or has been taught to her enough times that she doesn't see the need to sit through another lesson. Today at a preschool library story time, for example, the librarian had chosen books that weren't really stimulating for a 4-year-old but were useful for interacting with a group of kids...so Aislin interacted, and then chose to stand up and start skipping around the room while everyone else sat and faced forward. (While having the discipline and respectfulness to endure a boring moment is definitely something my husband and I want her to learn...you can't help but sympathize with the kid!)

What we had determined was that Aislin's strongest interests are in science and art. And today our hypothesis was confirmed :)

 Aislin's play-dough flower made at the end of story time

Sometimes it kind of breaks my heart knowing that she's not as interested in story time, or books in general, as I am...but I'm so proud of her for the interests she does have. I was really impressed that she made that play-dough flower by herself, and I bet she even named each part as she put it all together ;)

Oh, and...gotta love that imagination, too :)

"These peas are for you!" 

A Great Day at Home

I feel like, with co-op preschool and library story times, we haven't had as much time to do our thing at home. When we do, it's usually pretty short--a group time activity, handwriting practice, a skill building activity, etc...and usually just the one thing for the day.
But today was busy, and the kids enjoyed and appreciated doing one thing after the next. We used the same transition tool, too, that I had used when I taught co-op last week: the checklist. In fact, our entire schedule was the same, starting with an opening exercise (which, for Des, was a printout of different shapes that I helped him identify and color) followed by Circle Time (which included a lesson on cleanliness and a reading of The Berenstain Bears' Come Clean for School), a yummy snack, handwriting practice and, finally, a wind-down activity (blowing bubbles on the deck).
Today was GREAT :)

During the opening exercise, Aislin insisted on having the same shapes worksheet as her brother. After finishing it, I told her that she could color on the back until she was ready to start on her own worksheet. 

This is the super cool picture she made of apple trees, a grassy field and flowers :)

The next picture shows what she did for her Opening Exercise. On the other side is her name and the letters Aa through Hh with space beside them for her own handwriting. I told her to choose between that page and the numbers page, and she chose to start with numbers. The other side was used for Handwriting Practice.

I think she's pretty amazing :)

Opening Exercise/Handwriting Practice Worksheet

The Berenstain Bears' Come Clean for School

Nice little breakdown of "Cleanliness" lesson

Toddler Story Time

Cheeeeese!!

Today was our first day at a toddler story time--just Des and me! Turns out that the couple teaching today was only substituting, but I remember seeing them before and adore them. The Mr. leads the music with his gentle guitar chords and the Mrs. leads the storytelling and group participation with her sunny personality. In fact, I think her first name was actually Sunny!!

In his own quiet way, Des really enjoyed the event. Since he's not really the spastic excitable type, I had to crane my neck around his head (he was facing the performers while sitting on my lap) to look at his face. He was grinning from ear to ear :)

Afterwards, they brought out the toys and puzzles...and Des was all about the puzzles! He noticed the train set a little too late (just as we were leaving), but not before he got to play with a few Melissa & Doug puzzles he had never tried before. 

I remember setting a puzzle in front of him thinking I'd have a few minutes to check my phone, but he was done in no time! I looked up to find him walking towards me with a completed puzzle on the floor behind him. 

I'm glad we had this time together and that Des got to explore new puzzles. The number of kids that were there today was a little overwhelming for me, but he handled the crowd and noise well. I guess next week we'll have to make a beeline for the train set first!  

Ms. Anna

This week, I taught co-op preschool for the very first time...and loved it! I'm glad I agreed to be part of it since, not too long ago, I told the friend who extended the invitation that the thought of teaching preschool to children other than my own...scared me! Although there were definitely times when it took a minute to get the class to refocus or to keep their voices down, it was a lot more fun than teaching only my children. Plus I got to watch my kids cooperate, learn and function with the rest of the group. For me personally, though, learning to effectively teach a group of 4-year-old's was both stimulating and challenging :)
In short, I...had...FUN.

I won't go into too much detail because I don't have many pictures to post, and I don't want to betray the privacy of these kids or their families, but here's a breakdown of what we did this week:

(Letter/number of the week: C and 3; Theme: Safety; Concept: Health)

Upon arrival: opening exercise

1. Practiced writing first name, Aa and Bb to review, and 1 and 2

• Used sheet protectors and dry-erase markers on Monday to a) save paper and b) give the kids a chance to practice without the mess of eraser bits. On Wednesday they used pencil so that they could take their work home and their parents could see their progress/challenges.

Transition: Checklist
I printed out and laminated six strips with a check box on one side, the title of the activity in the middle (Name and Review, Circle Time, etc.), and a picture on the right. The kids figured out pretty quickly what each picture meant, and understood the concept and purpose of the checklist with hardly any instruction. I picked a well-behaved kid to check off each activity as they were completed. This helped the kids refocus after finishing the opening exercise and get ready to head downstairs for Circle Time.

Circle Time

Our "Months" boards: each month is laminated and easily attached to/detached from its poster board with sticky-back velcro!

1. Calendar, "Days of the Week" song, Season, Weather, Pledge of Allegiance
2. Seasons: we distinguished each season based on the changes in weather. For each season, we came up with actions/gestures to help us remember that Fall is when the leaves fall (fingers flail to the floor) from their trees, Winter is when it's freezing (shiver), Spring is when the flowers bloom (cup our hands and then open them upwards) and rain falls, and Summer is when it gets super hot (fan ourselves with our hands)!
3. Months: each season and month had its own card on the wall with a picture beside its title (snowman for winter/Christmas tree for December), so the kids identified each month based on its picture. Most of them symbolized a holiday or special day, like Valentine's Day, or something indicative of its season e.g. a brown leaf for September. 
4. Wiggle song: Hokey Pokey
5. Car safety: we simply went over the rules of being safe passengers: buckle up as soon as you get in the car; make sure everyone else is buckled, too; don't kick the seat in front of you; keep your voice down, no fighting with siblings.
6. Game: Red Light, Green Light (and Yellow Light)
7. 9-1-1 Message: I showed them a sign that had "9-1-1" in the middle and a picture of an ambulance, firetruck, police car, and band-aids in each corner. We talked about the different emergencies for which they'd need to dial 9-1-1, and then we used our hands as phones and went through phone call scenarios. (I wish I had an old rotary phone to let them practice with, but I haven't even held one in over ten years!!) Each child was given a scenario (house fire, bad guy trying to break in, etc.) and practiced speaking to a dispatcher by stating his/her full name, the nature of the emergency and also saying his/her address (by reading it off of a card). 

This was a lot to do in a short amount of time, which is why we reviewed in on Wednesday, too, instead of moving on to another topic. Still, they enjoyed each activity, particularly the Seasons game we played on Wednesday (where they were each asked to identify a season and also the three months that belonged to them, which they got to stick on the wall themselves) and the 911 phone call scenarios!

Snack Time: Crackers and Honey Crisp Apples. I guess carrots would've been a healthy "C" snack, too, but all I could think of were crackers and apples!!

Handwriting Practice: Cc and 3

I noticed that some of the kids were either hesitant or completely intimidated by trying to write the number 3 without the help of the tracer number, while others were simply against accepting help because they believed that they knew exactly what they were doing. So it took a lot of soft words, gentle coercion, and the promise that if they didn't get it right the first time they'd have plenty of opportunity to keep trying. Once they let me help them, though, their attempts showed a ton of improvement! These kids are so intelligent and competent. The only challenge in teaching them (thus far) is getting them to let me. 

Art: Car and circles (wheels) that they glued onto construction paper and colored...after we had, for the 100th time, talked about the two sounds the letter "C" makes :) These kids are amazing at retaining what we've been teaching them through the Spalding system.

Wind-down Activity: Play-dough


Dailies were written in during Snack Time and Art, and a report of each day's lesson plan was e-mailed to the moms afterwards.

Okay, so I guess this post wasn't exactly short :P Like I said, I had a lot of fun and I guess I was too excited about the experience to not include my lesson plan! I'm excited for Aislin to start at someone else's house next week so I can work with my son and take him to his own library storytime, but I also can't wait until I teach again in October!

Finis!

Our leaf art is now complete! And the kids and I LOVE the finished product :)

Aislin's leaf

My boring leaf, which looks much cooler in this bronze frame!

 Our Fall wall

*All frames purchased at the Dollar Tree. $4 (plus tax) for super cute wall decor!  

The above art work, by the way, was made with washable paints in condiment bottles and a spray bottle, contact paper, and leaves snipped from the neighborhood trees! See post Leaf Art.

Leaf Art

I'm in love with this art project.

Desmond's leaf

At first I was worried that I'd have to discreetly throw out the kids' work...because when we were all done, theirs barely looked like anything. Aislin had so much fun squirting and mixing the paint, and spraying paint on her paper, that it was a wet calamity by the time she was done. And Des' leaf had moved around so much on his paper that you could hardly tell there was ever a leaf to begin with! Once they had started to dry, though, it was my art that turned out totally...boring :P

So neat it was hardly interesting, huh?

Aislin's awesome art work :)

The beginning photos:

It may have turned out boring afterwards but I had fun spreading the paint with my fingers heehee ;)

I heart condiment bottles!!! 

The plan is to hit up the dollar store and buy little frames for our fall art. Since mine is dull, I'll have to find a poem or something to cut and glue onto the page. And for the kids' work, I'm thinking of getting little 4x6 or 5x7 frames and separating their leaves. Little frames of children's art work are adorable, and I'll show you what I mean once their up on the wall!

A First

Aislin's first day of co-op preschool was yesterday! Sadly I had to miss her first drop-off, so Tim took her instead and snapped a few pictures for me.

According to her teacher today, she was "well-behaved;" and according to Aislin, she "didn't have any accidents!"
I know she had a great day just by how happy and well-adjusted she looked when I went to pick her up in the afternoon...and how she acted anything but "well-behaved" after walking out the door! I thought, maybe she's just cranky--it is the middle of the day, after all. Then my husband suggested that maybe she just had so much fun during preschool that she didn't want to leave. I think it was a little of both...mixed with the unease of such a quick pick-up. I didn't go inside the house, I just waited outside the door, and tried to rush her into putting her papers in her backpack and getting her backpack on. I was tired, had a busy morning, and was reminded by the car seat in her teacher's hands that I would have to carry it to my car.
I had arrived at that doorstep with very little patience and in need of a nap as much, if not more so, than my kids :(

I was disappointed with our first pick-up experience because (in spite of being tired) I was really excited to see her and hear about her first day. We talked about these things when we got home, and then munched on animal crackers until lunch was ready. I'm so glad for animal crackers...and for being able to practice this new routine every week!

After I had taken a short nap, she asked if we could play "school." Really?? She hardly ever asks to play school (unless we're doing a home preschool thing and she insists on being the teacher), but this time she wanted to be a student...in a class of stuffed animals :) All I did was write numbers on the white board and ask her to identify them and then cross them out, but she enjoyed it. I'd say she had a good first day of preschool :)

One more thing! Since Aislin just had a birthday, it was decided that she'd be the first "spotlight" student. So her teacher gave her a stuffed panda in a cute little wicker basket, along with a notebook for me to jot down the fun games she played with "Pandy." Then on Wednesday, she'll get to bring in a treat to share with her class, and say "goodbye" to Pandy so he (she?) can be passed on to the next spotlight student.

Aislin was delighted!

It was determined that Pandy had a cough, so she took him to the doctor for medicine...and a shot on the wrist. Then she fed him soup.

Where was Des in all this, you ask? Soaking up Mom's attention at home :) Oh, and learning about shapes and seasons! Basically we did a lot of talking, identifying objects and repeating words--all of which he's getting so much better at every day. 

And we managed to squeeze in some dramatic play:

(It's a steering wheel.)

It took about 10 seconds to draw that steering wheel and horn on a paper plate, but Des would've played with it for hours if I had given him the time that morning! He seriously LOVED "driving" with it and wouldn't share it with me. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised that he wouldn't let me drive his car lol :P 

Today may have had its stressful moments, but the day gave my kids and I some great experiences. Having the kids do separate things in separate places, and for two hours, was definitely a first for us...but I know each of us appreciated the change!

To the Library, We Go

"Early Learning Resources: Every Child Ready to Read and Rock!" with musician Nancy Stewart at the Mukilteo Library 

Today was the first time since summer started that the kids and I attended a library event. I remember what it was like before summer--having to bring snacks just to appease the kids, who were antsy about being in such a busy room with so many busy kids. Aislin was often disinterested in the stories and Des felt overwhelmed by all the noise and movement. Sometimes we'd have to leave early and just hang out in the kids' area of the library, and that was only if I hadn't brought enough snacks to last through the story/singing time portion before the toys were brought out.
So today, I was a little nervous about bringing them to this event. I was expecting to have a reluctant 4-year-old to deal with before even leaving the house. I was expecting whining at the library or even fighting between the siblings.
Nope!
It turned out to be an awesome morning! I told Aislin there would be a library event today where there would be singing and stories, and she got excited. Getting her dressed and brushing her teeth was a cinch! I brought a couple fruit snacks for the kids, which I of course ended up using, but they were sufficient. No whining for more and no cries of disbelief when I said there were no more in my purse.

Aislin participated in the singing and dancing, especially when the group was asked questions she had answers to, like:

"What do you do in the morning after you wake up?" 

Aislin's answer: "Eat lots and lots of food!"

Des was pretty shy up until the last five minutes of the event. He hardly left my lap and preferred not to participate in even the smallest actions, like clapping his hands. But he wasn't upset. In fact, he had a little grin on his face the whole time :) I could tell he was enjoying the music and the excitement in the room. He was just shy ;)

Afterwards, the library attendant brought out a few toy bins with blocks, foam letters and other things. My kids happily played with the blocks until I said it was time to head into the main library and into the kids' area.

 He wanted to make a car out of the blocks (???) but I convinced him to make a house instead. He was more than happy to make a very tall house :)

Aislin spelled her name with the foam letters, and then tried to spell Des'; but since there wasn't an extra "s" the library attendant gave her different letters to try. Aislin thought it was hysterical to botch her brother's name :-P Her favorite version of his name was "Deb" :)

Once we were in the kids' area of the library, Aislin had fun playing with the other preschool-aged children. Des enjoyed sitting at a little table, un-harassed by his sister, and playing with those great Melissa & Doug handcrafted puzzles. They each had their separate activities, their space, and were perfectly content. Rather than leaving early because someone was whining or they had started fighting, we left when I decided to! (And I wanted to make sure we left before we pushed our luck!) 

With the kids back on the preschool wagon and our first library event checked off, I'd say we've completed our transition into a new home preschool year :)

And a special thank you to the Sno-Isle Library System for providing these awesome and ongoing events!

Sometimes Simple is Best

Who would've thought a deck of cards would be so effective, and fun, in teaching preschool lessons?! I bought the cheapest deck of cards I could find and started out teaching my daughter to sort the cards by color and suite...until I realized we could do so much more. So I taught her how to play Slap-Jack, except I had her read off the numbers as I threw them down. She didn't mind having to identify each number out loud because the joy she got when she finally saw a Jack was so gratifying!

 Inspired by "Fun with Cards" in The Mailbox magazine, Aug./Sept. 2012, page 23.

We also tried adding some math into this activity...which I was nervous about trying, but it went smoothly! We each got two cards and added them up, and whomever had the greatest total won. I think this was the first lesson we've done in learning the concept of "greater than/lesser than."

This week we also tried a couple timed activities, which my daughter had a blast with since she loves racing and being under that kind of pressure. My son, however, was a whole different story... Anytime he was asked to wait his turn or if his sister grabbed a card before he could (which was totally okay since there were so many other cards to choose from!) he'd pout, sprawl out on the floor and decide he didn't want to play anymore. Did I mention he recently turned two? Anyway, the first game we tried involved matching shapes (which was mostly for my son's benefit but, because he threw a fit on the floor, turned out to be a game only my daughter enjoyed). Basically, you place a few cutouts of different shapes into a pocket chart, then place a pile of a few matching cutouts of each shape at the other end of the room. The goal is for the kids to run from the pocket chart to the pile, run back, and place the cutout in its appropriate column. Like this:

The Mailbox magazine, Aug./Sept. 2012, page 43.

We didn't use a timer for this activity because Aislin had fun just racing against herself! Maybe I'll try this activity with my son again, like when Aislin's at preschool, and see if he enjoys it then? As much as I'd love to teach him the concept of taking turns, I want him to enjoy games like these. I wonder at what age toddlers are developmentally ready to understand the concept of taking turns?

The other timed activity was just like the previous one, except it involved upper- and lowercase letters. Instead of shapes in the pocket chart, I used six capital letters...and their lowercase counterparts were dispersed around the room. The goal was to have the kids search for any lowercase letter they could find, and then run back to the pocket chart and place it under its matching uppercase letter...all while under a 3-minute timer. Like this:

Aislin LOVED this game. She'd grab a card I had set on the couch or somewhere else around the room, identify it, and then race back to the pocket chart to find its pair. After each set of cards she'd ask if she could do it again, so I happily placed six more cards in the chart while she waited in the other room for me to  "hide" the lowercase letters. We got through the entire alphabet with this game! And she was always so excited to check the hourglass to see if she "beat" it :)

Co-op, After All!

It's official--Aislin and I have joined a co-op preschool! No, this doesn't mean that I'm donating all my preschool materials to the co-op or ending my home preschool plans. It just means that on Monday and Wednesday mornings, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Aislin will be learning with four other kids at somebody else's house. That is, unless it's my turn to teach! Yep, I'll be teaching the kids at my house every five weeks...and although I was terrified at the idea, I'm actually pretty stoked now :)
Last week, four moms from my church and I got together and discussed our ideas and came up with a general plan for the school year. Our lessons will include:

• A new letter and number each week
• A student spotlight every Wednesday
• A monthly theme (September's will be Safety, November's: Thankfulness, December's: Giving, etc.)
• Lessons on health, world studies, and science
• And your typical Group/Circle Time, Singing Time, Activity/Lesson, and Art routine

We're even going to attempt one field trip a month! This month, in accordance with the Safety theme, the kids will be visiting the local fire station.

I know Aislin's going to love this experience and appreciate being able to work and learn with other kids her age. I know Des and I will appreciate these twice-a-week preschool days because it will give us time together before the baby is born. My sweet little boy doesn't quite understand that a new baby is coming, but he senses a change nonetheless. I think those two hours together every Monday and Wednesday will help calm his anxiety, and also give me the opportunity to work with him, 1-on-1, on his speech.

September 10th, here we come!!