Trick or Treat

Happy Falling Leaves! The weather was a gorgeous Fall day, and we didn't even realize it until we went outside to check the mail. SO, we jumped in the car and went straight to the park.

Trick or Treat...Miss K went as Wilma and one of her best buds Gabe went as Fred! They were by far the cutest couple! I made K's "costume"..I know, Wilma wears white, but when I saw this fabric I had to have it. I didn't use a pattern, just winged it. (If I would have remembered how to use my machine it only would have taken me about 20 minutes, but it was more like 2 hours, because I couldn't remember what was causing me all the  thread problems.)  Her necklace is just cotton balls on a string. That's my cutie!

 

Happy Halloween, everyone! We t Trick or Treated our neighbors (about 5 houses) the Friday before Halloween. On Halloween we met up with Gabe and did the "Ghost walk" event at Wal-Mart.

Ok, Seriously! Have you ever seen anything cuter than this right here??

November Crafts

Happy November!

I actually got an email from a friend who wanted to know how in the world I have so many craft and things to do with Katelyn!?! So, I told her I'd post them for her this month. Most of the crafts I get from other sites, (or at least get inspired from them). I usually have a list of 20 for the first half of the month, and then I'll add some more depending on how many we actually do of the first list.

I'm an organizer by nature. So, I surf the net (usually using Pinterest for easy saving) - and collect a bunch of fun looking crafts and games. Then I'll copy and paste the materials needed, as well as the instructions with a picture of each product on a single page in a WORD document. (Sometimes, I get inspired by something and I'll make my own material list/instructions.)  Each project gets it's own page, and then I print them off, give them a 3-hole punch, and file them away behind the appropriate tab in my project binder. I'll make a list of crafts and games to put at the front of the binder, so I have a quick list to reference when needing an idea for something to do. (I'll make a shopping list, and start at the dollar store for as much as possible.)

 Most projects require the same materials, so it makes things simple to keep everything stashed away or tossed in a bucket. Then I can glance at my list, and pull out what I need. This month uses a lot of feathers and cut outs, so I have most of those already precut.

Here are our November crafts with a supply list for you:
(I've included a link to sites I used for you, although I encourage creative freedom.)

1. Candy Corn Footprint/Handprint (Paint in three stage colors, and print)
2. Fall Wreath (Paint paper plate brown, cut out middle, glue leaves (real or cutouts) around.)
3. Milk Jug Turkey (Brenna Phillips, Children's Ministry)
4. Confetti Leaf (Glue confetti on a felt/foam leaf)
5. Marker Print Turkey (Using the Monster Marker Print from Housing a Forest)
6. Pumpkin Moon Sand (Growing a Jeweled Rose)
7. Stuffed Football (No Time for Flashcards)
8. Mosaic Indian Corn (No Time for Flashcards)
9. Turkey Baster Painting (No Time for Flashcards)
10. Shape Scarecrow (No Time for Flashcards)
11. Bubble Wrap Corn (Pink and Green Mama)
12. Feather Counting (Draw turkey with numbers, glue on that many paper feathers)
13. Clothes Pin Turkey (Fun in ECSE)
14. Marshmallow Corn (Creekside Learning)
15. Glitter Leaf (6th Street Design)
16. Glowing Rock Path (Paint rocks with glow paint, and put outside.)
17. Turkey Hats (Miss Maren's Monkeys)
18. Foot/Hand Print Turkey (Snails and Puppy Dog Tails)
19. TP Roll Turkey (ABC Home Preschool)
20. Tissue Paper Crow (Cut out bird shape, glue on tissue paper balls.)
21. PB and TP Roll Birdfeeder (Spread on PB and roll it in the birdseed, attach string, and hang outside.)
22. Falling Leaves Art (Cut out a tree, glue on paper, apply falling leaves.) K actually did a Fall tree in Sept. So, I thought it would be neat to make on to represent how she sees the leaves now.

Work Trays:
1. Bead Tree (Print a leafless tree, add color dots, and match beads to the colors)
2. Bead Pitcher Transfer (Put beads in one pitcher, transfer to the other.)
3. Nature Drawing (Have nature items in a dish, explore them, and then draw them.)
4. Leaf Drop Bucket  (Clip cloth leaves to clothes pins, drop intp bucket from varying heights.)
5. Pumpkin Seeds:
       a. Shapes (draw shapes on, and match)
       b. Colors (color dots on, and sort.)
       c. Name (Spell out name on seeds, put in order.)
       d. Painting
6.  Sensory Bin #1 (Fall)
        a. Acorns
        b. Pinecones
        c. Corn Kernels
        d. Leaves
        e. Sticks
7. Sensory Bin #2 (Military)
        a. Colored Sand and Shave Cream
        b. Army Men (and women)
        c. Star shaped glasses
        d. Army vehicles
8. I Spy Cards
    (*I make these myself by cutting put different pictures from magazines and gluing them to a large index card. I'll ask K to find an object on the card.)

Materials Needed for Crafts:

Tape, Glue, Stapler (optional) Scissors

Fall Colored Construction Paper
Paint (in all colors, but most definitely in Fall colors)
Googly Eyes
5-8 Clothes pins (squeeze clip-on)
Mini Marshmallows
Glitter
String/Yarn
Paper plates
Glow in the dark paint
Rocks
Turkey Baster
Bubble Wrap (small piece is fine)
Play sand
Corn starch
Pumpkin Pie spice
Food coloring (Orange)
Paper grocery bag
Scrap Newsprint
White paper
Markers
Piece of Cardboard
Milk Jug
Felt/Foam Leaves
Confetti
Coffee Filter
Tissue Paper (Black and Yellow)
Pumpkin Seeds
 Shave Cream
Army Men (and women)
Star shaped glasses
Army vehicles
Wooden beads
Small Pitchers (2)
Colored Pencils
TP Rolls
Peanut butter
Bird Seed

Printed Tree with Colors

Acorns
Pinecones
Corn Kernels
Leaves
 Sticks

Balloon Painting

I filled one with air, one with water, and one with flour (well...I probably should have read to find a real method for doing so, but the peanut sized balloon worked well, because we worked on our sizes.)

She started strong, but after a few minutes she decided to grab a real paint brush and make me a flower. (Too sweet!)

Pretend play, Sticker face, Goop play, and Pumpkin fun

Yes, we watched the Calliou episode where they go the Planetarium and dress up for the best robot costume. So...we decided to have a dress up day ourselves. I suggested the wings, K picked out the helmet, apron, and boots....Rosie wears oven mitts, and they were the first thing K asked for.

Mommy had to dress up, too.

Another fun time waster...stickers bought in bulk, and a clean face...that's all you need.

And after nap time...Katelyn LOVES seeing either the 'mess cloth' or the 'paint drop' on the floor when she wakes up. She starts to squeal if she is awake and sees me pulling one of them out. This is our goop bin. I wash it out and reuse it for other games and bins.

Goop is simple to make. It is a box (or two) of corn starch and water. I added paint to make it more colorful for her, but food coloring works, or you don't have to add anything. Fun is Fun is Fun.

And it didn't take long for her to think all her limbs had to be in the bin.

"No, no, no--- back on the cloth, please!" Sometimes I shake my head, wondering what on earth I was thinking using such messy things.

 

A pumpkin patch magically grew over the weekend at school...and K got to 'pick' her own pumpkin. We decided to paint them after dinner. Daddy helped K a little, and I painted the one she got last week at the school party.

 

Katelyn calls this "Fire Ghost".

 

A Ghost Train Playdate

Every year the Steam Museum has a super kid-friendly"Ghost Train" ride. K's buddy Gabe's mom hosted a super fun play date with craft out there.

(With Gabe)

Just starting the craft..."Mummified Monsters!" Ahhh....

You'll need a glue stick, some gauze, and a paper monster. They came out awesome.

 

 

(At the station on the train)

That train is a lot bigger than I remember from this summer.

Pile it on...

A quick catch up...

We studied the leaves from the front yard and their different colors and sizes. (Never mind my poor grammar!...brain clearly not working.)  

It was such a beautiful day, that there was no dragging K into the house even after it got dark and cold. She was having fun on her walking beam. ;)

The dolly needed some makeup she said...

Apparently, so did she... haha!

Her costume for the Halloween party at school..(and her bag of treats and pumpkin they decorated.)

Ok, so I had to show someone...I purposely put her in the zebra shirt under her tiger costume...the zebra was in the tigers belly...hahaha!

 

Today's Invitation-to-Play! We made spider headbands, but apparently I didn't take any picture of the process. I had the legs cut, so all she had to help do was "crinkle" them, and glue everything on.

Ta-Da! She loves it!

Hehe, this is how daddy plays with our baby!

Who's going to London? K wants to go back. You can take her in your carry-on.

More Monsters & Early Play Station

Using TP rolls...to make a Monster Mobile...and other monsters.

While the TP rolls dried Miss K made a hand spider...it's a spider. It only looks like a crab because of it's color...=) (but she really wanted a red spider!)

(Ok, just painting a paper plate, that we later added some random eyeballs to, but it got ripped.)

While gluing on the eyes, K created her own game of "drop the eyes into the hole."

 

Here it is hanging in the doorway, and it is super cute.

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The night before I had some extra energy after cleaning, so I put together a quick station for Miss K in the morning. Her skill for putting that glue where it needs to be is pretty good.

We worked on the letter 'S' because I had some extra spiders hanging around that I wanted to use up.

After school we spent a lot of time building "choo-choo tunnels".

Oven Fajitas

 

Using the same homemade tortilla recipe I used before, I made these Oven Fajitas to fill them up with...and both are absolutely delicious.   

1, 2, 3...Class Playdate

Katelyn loves waking up, or coming home to a neat play station. Today we work on our numbers. I've made cards that have the numbers spelled out in both English and Spanish, and then the number. They use these charts at school, so I thought it would be nice to have so she would already be familiar with some of the station. She used the Halloween stamps to complete the chart.

After she completed the chart, we worked together to put the correct number of stamps on each card hanging on the wall.

She thought this activity was super cool.

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You've already read about Rory's Park...Now, we've even had a class play date there! Rory's mom set it up, and it was really nice to meet the other Montessori parents...and the children that K talks about all the time.