Been Livin it Up!!!

"Where have you BEEN all summer?" you ask... my answer is, "LIVING!"

I can't believe we've only got a week of summer left. This time has truly sped by! Perhaps it is because we have seen so much growth, learning, completed projects, and a healthy dose of fun?

Emmett went from scooting in an army crawl...to full on crawl...to pulling himself up and toddling his first steps with a walker! He's in the "troublemaker" phase of life and we LOVE it!

Caroline went from crazy athletic bundle of energy to a crazy athletic bundle of energy who is pretty much ready for preschool (she has been working on her letter recognition and early reading) and she is looking so grown up in her FIRST haircut ever!

Gwen went from being scared to put her face in the water to swimming like a fish (actually, she insists she swims like a mermaid) and trying to see how long she can stay underwater. She also went from a toddler bike (her gangly legs were WAY to long for it) to getting a big 20 inch bike that she can balance on up and down hills without training wheels! (We haven't put the pedals on yet, so can't officially say she rides a bike... yet). She's really excited to start 1st grade and show off her reading and math skills that she's been honing with daddy all summer! 

Both girls also learned a few sewing skills this summer. From small hand-stitched pillows to mini quilts...but the crowning achievement was definitely Gwen's completed cute little bag! Yes, she sewed that herself! (I helped with the cutting, ironing, and turning it right side out. whew getting the whole bag through that tube was a chore, I tell ya!)

As a family, we took a trip to Virginia for a Hart family reunion---  we experienced the Atlantic Ocean for the first time!

  So here's to a great summer, as it begins its departure. The Ohio Allans have definitely enjoyed it! 

Veggies and Gardening Preschool

I love to garden. Love it. I'm going to blame (thank) my dad for that. He is a passionate gardener and I have vivid memories of summer mornings spent out in the garden pulling up rocks (10 cents per 5 gallon bucket. Ugh. We hated that injustice. :) But I learned to love having my hands dirty and cultivating something til fruition. All kinds of wonderful lessons there. 

We have a modest family garden and our kids enjoy helping us with that. Of course, at their ages they are not yet doing the 'hard' work of the garden, but we are hoping to start them loving gardening and self-sufficiency early. I was really excited to do this week of science-y seeds, veggies, and gardening with Caroline!

I LOVE this free printable! It is perfect for this time of year when Caroline is pretty strong on recognition of letters but needs practice on the sounds they produce. This is a beginning sounds veggie clip sheet with upper case letters on one side and lower case letters on the other. You could alternatively cut out each card to make clip cards, but we opted for easy here. Those candies are "carrots":) free printable from Pinay Homeschooler

pumpkin life cycle word trace printable

I happened to have these wonky shaped pipe cleaners that were PERFECT little carrots! Caroline rolled the die and harvested that many carrots. Then she did it again and replanted. We harvested and planted repeatedly bc she really loved this activity! idea for pipe cleaner carrots from Sorting Sprinkles.

Books we read:

Rah Rah Radishes

Creepy Carrots (which the girls really thought was hilarious. They quote it now and bust up laughing every time. Kid humor is hilarious. I thought it was cute but didn't realize it was THAT funny!)

For our Veggie/Gardening book club: 

Books: 

The Carrot Seed

Carrot Soup

Tops and Bottoms

After The Carrot Seed we sang "This is they way we plant the seed" (...so early in the morning) with all kinds of carrot-appropriate verses that we made up on the fly!

-plant the seed

-water the seed

-sun shines down

-pull the weeds

-patiently wait

-harvest the carrots

-wash the carrots

-peel the carrots

-eat the carrots!

After reading Carrot Soup we did wheelbarrow races which the kids thoroughly enjoyed!

After Tops and Bottoms we shared our favorite vegetable and named whether it was a top, bottom, or middle. 

I was originally going to do some carrot art with mud paint with 2 equally awesome options:

real mud plus glue:

mud-copycat paint: 

I still think both those ideas are great and would like to do them in the future. 

But when I got RSVPs back for over 16 kids, I decided I didn't want to do a messy art project at our kitchen table. So instead we planted seeds in wet paper towels that the kids could take home and watch grow in a window. 

 look at those 'octopus' roots!

It is so fun to have Caroline checking on the progress of her seed every day, multiple times a day!

Our snack was, naturally, raw veggies with ranch. We sampled carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, sweet peppers, snap peas, garden-grown baby spinach, and even an avocado. The kids loved tasting a garden! :)

and unrelated to preschool or book club, but relating to gardens... here is a pic of our seeds coming up! the girls helped plant all of this before we put up the bunny fence.

 Sweet Candy onions

Amethyst beans (they are deep purple!)

our dwarf lemon tree is happy to be outside after a bleak winter!

Do you garden with your kids?

Spring Exploring

Spring is upon us (finally!) and we are loving the color and outdoor exploration!

flower-themed ABC practice

flower pattern-making

little daffodils (these were made at book club--- all the kids wanted to use these mini cupcake liners because they were so cute, though the flower size would look better with regular sized liners)

Gwen has been enjoying our rainbow of flowers

Caroline is loving running around outside and looking at the dirt in the sidewalks

trees need to be smacked by sticks. It is a right of childhood passage, I think. 

We had a week themed around rain and rainbows. I happened to have found these rainbow water beads on clearance (SCORE!!!) and pulled em out to do a little 'science' activity. See how small they start out? This is awesome...

Caroline and I talked about what she thought was going to happen and defined that as a 'hypothesis'. 

She was pretty excited to see them growing bigger only 20 minutes later. 

 

After 2 hours, they were huge! and they have this AMAZING tactile feel that just demanded exploration. Lots of squishing and sorting ensued. 

They tried to sort out which colors grew the largest and which ones remained the smallest. 

Moving the beads from one receptacle to another was just pure joy. I couldn't believe that these 15 cent things could keep my kiddos entertained for OVER AN HOUR!!!! Now THAT is a fabulous kid activity! :)

ps. you know what else is cool? They shrink back down as the water evaporates! 

Princess, Knights and Dragons Preschool--- Learning when NOT at our best

I realize I am so very NOT up-to-date on documenting our preschool, book club, and after school activities. This is sad for numerous reasons, most of them only important to me, but especially for extended family who never got a chuckle out of seeing my kids doin their educational 'thang'. So, for the grandmas. And anyone else that doesn't mind going BACK a couple months. This post about dragons, knights, and princesses is for you!

Dragon week was right around Lunar New Year (otherwise known as Chinese New Year, but that smacks of exclusivity for a holiday celebrated all over East Asia and parts of SE Asia and, frankly, my Korean sensitivity forbids me from using that phrase!).  Our dragon week was NOT about the holiday, though we DID read some books about it. Gwen really likes How to Train Your Dragon and I knew her Toothless obsession would play well into fun 'generic' dragon activities. We were ill in one form or another for about 3 weeks, so I didn't take as many pictures of all our adventures. But here's a skimming of our activities! 

We used 3Dinosaurs free printable medieval (includes lots of dragons) pack to play a little ABC game together. 

of course the rainbow writing

 Then we had a button sorting activity. The black and green were dragon scales, the red and orange were dragon fire. The girls loved doing this simple, simple, simple (basically no prep) activity!

 We made our very own dragons out of TP. Originally I wanted to do a plastic cup version because they are so much cuter, but in the end, I opted for cheap (free). 

 first the painting

 Gwen was meticulous with her painting.

glue on a little tissue paper fire and you're done!

 They didn't 'blow' their fire quite the way I'd hoped, but the girls loved them anyway!

You've got to check out this video to see the jewel details Gwen put on her dragon and to see what Caroline decided her dragon looked like!

 ha ha! squid! (she's right, though! Don't you agree?)

 Caroline's dry-erase coloring of a 'water' princess. Every day she drew a few different 'themed' princesses. It was fun to see what she came up with!

 We did some jewels on the ABCs (focus on phonics that time) bc princesses need their bling!

 Then some jewel patterns, which were a big hit with both girls.

 Gwen was very proud of her 'advanced' patterning.

 For 2 out of the 3 weeks, we had to cancel book club because of illness. So for the 3rd we kind of did a 'combo' dragon-knight-princess theme and our friends came dressed up as one of the three! See the cute dragon to the right, there? And on the left you've got a 'knight-ninja'!!!

handprint castles that we made. Idea credit goes here. 

 The girls begged Eric to dress up as a prince and play with them. He's such an accommodating daddy! :)

 Caroline's origami frog became 'queen' and held court with her retinue... that's when you know your kids really enjoyed the theme!

You see the amazing crown-bed Caroline designed for...

...princess lizard! 

We survived the less-than-ideal three weeks of illness and managed to have some fun along the way. It was during one of Gwen's 'sick' days that she had to stay home from Kindergarten and got to play with us. Apparently it made a lasting impression, prompting this journal entry months later:

(translation: "I like to be at my sister's preschool. I like to draw pictures. I also like to put jewels on letters.")

and THAT is why I love preparing learning activities, even when it would be easy to say 'not today'. Carpe diem, right? Keeping up preschool when we were all so tired--- and tired of each other--- for all those weeks was challenging. But seeing Gwen's opinion book made it all worth it. Now if only I could go back in time and take more pictures. But we were not at our best, so I am grateful for the pictures we got at all. :) Hope this inspires you (and me!) to keep up the learning activities when we'd rather just plop em in front of the tv! 

(though we do that too). 

:)