Letter Ss Week(s)

For the past two weeks Letter Ss has been our focus. It was inspired by our recent vacation to Snow Mountain and the Georgia Aquarium. Juilan got to see snow for the first time and went tubing and then at the aquarium he got to touch and feed, stingrays, sea urchins and sharks.

Some of the things we did this week:

• Exercise: Stomping, swinging our arms, skipping (not pictured)
• Music: Singing songs (not pictured)
• Science: Spring into Spring (planted a smalll garden) and make our sea life.
• Geography: South Africa - We went to Busch Gardens and talked about the entire continent, but labeled South Africa - more to come on geography.
• Reading: My "S" Sound Box, Mister Seahorse, The Secret Science Project That Almost Ate the School
• Math: Sorting objects by patterns, textures, colors and size and counted using stickers. Trace different shapes.

• Arts & Crafts: Stamping, stickers letters, sponge painting.

This was our first week participating in Muffin Tin Mondays.

Since there was no theme this week, we did our own.

Keeping in theme with our letter of the week.

• Soup
• Strawberries
• Spam (which I know I have an avid fan of spam!! LOL)
• Scoopy Doo Snacks

This sea urchin was made using tin foil and toothpicks. He decided to paint it purple since most of the sea urchins he saw at the aquarium are purple.

Ok, so its not officially spring, but I wanted to get started on the spring garden and the back of the veggie envelope said to plant our carrots, tomatoes and beans in March. So we did. They have already started to poke out!

Sink or Float

I bought a $1 book from the dollar bins at Target and it was about Reptiles - Snakes, crocs & lizards. As we were reading this book there was a section about Basalik lizards and how they can run on water. Julian thought that was a hoot and asked to see videos of how they do that (which I love that he asked that on his own). While we were watching the video he came up with the idea of testing things that would sink or float.

It became a whirlwind and before I knew HE had set up everything for this experiment (except the water and the labels).

I asked him to predict what would float and what would sink. Then after we talked about why certain things float / sink.

Bird Feeder

Inspired by the bird feeder that Julian gave me as a present for Christmas, he decided he wanted to make his own.

He lathered a toilet paper roll in peanut butter and rolled it in bird seeds.

It turned out to be a cute quick FREE craft.

Caroling at Park Club Nursing Home

We had a nice time singing a few carols for the seniors at the home.

Creative uses for holiday cards..

The hostess of this playdate had the great idea to re-use holiday cards and cut them out, arrange them like a stable / manager scene and add some fun decor.

Wonderful activity for fine motor skills.

I didn't get a picture of the final product,

but you can see Julian working on his above.

Open Ended Art - Christmas Stocking

I was in crunch mode yesterday studying for my final exam (ugh!) so their craft today was open ended art (Click here for an explanation of what open ended art is for kids).

Yesterday, I set out green & red paper, christmas scrapbooking paper, cotton balls, crayons, markers, paint dabbers, glue and scissors and I let their imagination take off.

I always like Open Ended Art because it takes them time to complete their project (thus giving me time to study).

Julian's stocking...so cute.

Candy Cane Lane

We went to a playdate called "Candy Cane Lane". It started off with the host reading a book called J is for Jesus (you can find it here on Amazon, I highly recommend it).

Then, the kids made a candy cane craft and had some cookies (candy cane of course).

Christmas Parade

We got our spots early and camped out like it was the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. LOL

Cookie Cutter Kids

At this playdate, the kids had the opportunity to roll out cookie dough (and eat some too) and use Christmas-y cookie cutters.

Holiday Walkabout

The first activity in our Advent Calendar was to go to the Holiday Walkabout in Lakeland.

Holiday Walkabout is the official kick off to the Christmas season.

Julian standing in front of our house, which he is now calling candy land because of the candy canes.

Munn Park during Christmas

We couldn't leave the Holiday Walkabout without visiting the ponies and taking a ride.
We also rode this wagon pulled by two big beautiful horses.



Julian had a healthy fear of the grinch. LOL

O Christmas Tree

First off, let me apologize for the poor quality of pictures. I bought a really cheap camera on Black Friday and it produced cheap pictures! So I returned it and got a better one. (SORRY!)

Monday, the kids made a Christmas tree using our bingo dotters and then painted a star (cereal cardboard). We practiced singing "O Christmas Tree" to get ready for our Christmas caroling later this month at the nursing home.

The bingo dotters are perfect for Claire's hands to hold.

The finished product turned out very cute.