Lego Club Party!

We had a wonderful time being part of the Lego Club this past year, it was really fun. For the end of the year I did a lego party the boys really did a wonderful job helping me plan it. For fun we gave out these lego crayons or Lego Key chains (see the bottom) I made them. The boys did wonderful at making they crayons they were easy but very time consuming 

We also read about crayons and how they are made in this awesome book called Transformed!

They boys also helped me make bean bags for the lego bean bag toss. The older two have used the sewing mating before, they did the peddle while I did the top this time both Ethan and Aaron did pretty good on there own, just have to go slow! the younger two I helped. (I did all the circles though)

The younger two loved to fill them with beans then we sewed them closed.

At the lego party these were the games we played… Lego Memory game. The boys build this board with lego mini figures doing things, we let them look at it, then we covered it, and let them guess to see what they could remember.

kids loved this. I thought about doing a fun action display but the boys wanted to do this, and it was easier :)

Here each kid got an equal about of legos in a dish, and they had different build challenges - like tallest tower in 10 second, or use only 2 brick and build - etc. I did not run this table so I did not come up with them but they were super fast and easy.

Here was the lego bean bag toss I made these four squares with duplo legos and they were to try to match the bag to the square. (orange went with yellow though) I thought it would be to easy but it was harder then the kids thought- they enjoyed the challenge.

Here are the lego keys chains I made. I had my wonderful husband drill holes in the legos, I added a ring, and chain that I got at hobby lobby, then added a key chain ring also hobby lobby. The tags I made with just finding images on line, then adding info under them in word, and printed them out cut them into shape of a tag laminated them, cut out again and added an i-let, because I have way to much scrapbook stuff that I will never use :) they were easy, and not to expensive but did take a lot of time. Mostly a lot of the time was deciding how I was going to do it.

Everyone has sooo much fun and that makes me happy! We also had pop corn and watched a short lego movie.

Penguins & Arctic Study

For the past couple months we have been doing Artic Animal study we learned about a lot of different animals, that live in the Artic, but penguins and polar bears were the favorites. My kids really love penguins so we did more activities for this animal then other Arctic animals. At the end of learning about them we watched the movie March of the Penguins. 

This was a craft where you make the outside shape of half a penguin and then fold it in half. To make a whole penguin. Then they used cotton balls to make snow, Ryan's has en egg in his pouch, and Aaron's is in a wind and snow storm, and Ethan's is on an ice burg.

To also help learn some basic "creative" skills we made these stuffed penguins. The boys designed them. I drew it out on packing paper then we used that as a pattern to cut out and sew together our penguins. The boys were really involved with this, I was thinking of doing a basic square or rectangle with the colors of a penguin and we could add a face but noooo, they wanted it shaped like a penguin. Then Ryan said he wanted a pouch to put the egg in, and Aaron wanted a fish to feed his penguin. This project took way way way longer then I had intended, but it was great to see them involved, they also sat with me and help sew them, they stuffed them, and played with them tons, and now sleep with them too. 

one side of the baby is an egg the other side a baby penguin- that was my addition to the ideas flowing... love love love fostering creativity and showing them how they can make things happen. Ethan designed the feet idea too.

not really at all about animals, but just for fun since we were learning about snowy places. Bananas, apple, grape, carrots and raisins. Saw this in family fun magazine, and I did it with out candy :)

We also learned about polar bears this were some cute masks I saw on pinterest, made with a paper plates, Popsicle stick, cotton balls, felt for the nose, and you mix shaving cream and Elmer's glue I think they said equal parts but I just guessed, it did take a long time to dry but was really fun.

we also watched Arctic Tale at the end of our Arctic Study.

Snowflakes

We have been learning about animal life in the cold areas of the world like the Artic Tundra and Antartica. Our curriculum has us do a few snow activites and since we live where this is.no.snow.... we make our own!!!! thank goodness for snow cone maching! ha haThe boys measuring snow, then they measured it again when it had melted. They also like to play in it for fun.
We made snow flakes our of pasta, and decorated the house with them, we also read THIS wonderful book on snowflake Bentley.
We also have and read THIS book about what snowmen do at night - I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book! There is another one about what snowmen do at christmas time which is also really cute

we have still lots more artic winter study lessons to come!

F is for....

Here is just a sneak peek into a few things we did this past week - giving a focus on the letter F, as Ryan is learning his letters, and what they say, and mean.

I chose to study both upper and lowercase at the same time. With my last two boys they were taught upper then lower, and I still struggle with telling them to write lowercase. So with Ryan I am teaching them at the same time. A mommy letter and a little letter, with a slight focus on the lowercase because it is used WAY more!

So far it's working well. Also- I pick what letter to work on, based on what will go along with what the other boys are learning. (so it is very random)

the older boys are learning about wet-land's plants, trees, and animals.

So we learned all about Frogs- and did this fun craft. The boys sat on my lap and pushed the petal and helped me sew these- they love them. I got this from a Animal craft book I got on ebay.

F is for Flowers .... we did this experiment in science this week, learning about flowers and how they drink and grow. We got this idea from the kids science book, a book that is part of our science curriculum
the boys working in their science note books drawing a picture of what happened and then writing about it.
F is for Fish... I got these cute printables at Confession of a Homeschooler - love that site. GREAT abc printables- I DO do them all for each letter- I just pick one two. I printed extra little fish so he could practice making patters too. He enjoyed that.
F is for FOOD! we did this really cute lace story hungry Caterpillar from confessions of a homeschooler, and then ate some fancy food that the kids never tried before, like apple-pear, star fruit, and persimmon. This was a great activity for counting as well.

We as always read chick-a-chick-a boom boom and put the letter F f on our alphabet tree.

I try to find books to go along with whatever we are letter we are learning about and if I can't we just keep our eye out for that letter when we are reading. I will say- "Ryan do you see any F's" as we read- it is fun.

O is for Owl

This week we learned about the letter O

Here is just a list of some things we did this week -

again we always start the week by singing chick-a-chick-a boom boom and putting that letter on our alphabet tree- inspired by THIS - I made my own- no pictures yet....

Then each day I try to something involving that letter...

We took a nature walk Outdoors

made the letter O in our squishy bags (see crafts with kids)

Made Orange Muffins - yummy (recipe to come) & played with Orange play-dough

we learned about Owls and made an owl craft. we used the kids hand prints for the wings, and Popsicle sticks for the back and "bones" of the wings. We also had a yummy owl lunch- PB& J with a cheese beak, apple and grape eyes and carrot stick feathers. The boys LOVED this!

Read about Octopus- and planed a game but did not get to it.

Squishy Bags

We made these it was fun, we use them to practice letters and numbers Ethan does spelling words. They are supper easy and all you need is gel, and a zip lock bag, we also added glitter because I had some on hand. I also duck tapes mine closed. The important thing is to get out all the air!! I did not go a good job on Ryan's, but it still works great. If you need more instructions just google or search pintrest for squishy bags.

supper easy bird feeders- here is how to make them!

I made these bird feeders a while ago with the kids, and they LOVED them, we did them again this past week, and they still want to make them again. They are so easy, the they love watching the birds enjoy them! Here is how they are super-easy!

what you need: bird seeds (I got the cheapest kind at wal-mart) Ice cream cones, peanut butter, a pipe cleaner and scissors.
1. Cut a the tip of the ice cream cone.

2. Fold your pipe cleaners in half, and then twist the end to make a ball/knot.
3. spread the peanut butter all over the cone (not to thick)
4. Cover the cone with the seeds. (I dumped them in a big container, and then had the kids sprinkle the on, and press them on)
5. Lace the pipe cleaner through the hole, and your done!

6. Hang in the tree! MAKE SURE TO HANG IT NEAR OTHER BRANCHES THAT THEY CAN STAND ON TO EAT IT.

WATCH THE BIRDS ENJOY IT!

let me know how yours turns out!

Easy 4th of July firework shirts!

Here is how we made these-

craft paint

pipe cleaners

shirts

I got these shirts at salvation army for about 50 cents each- making this a cheap craft too!

Bend the pipe cleaners in have and then twist to make a loop. (I did only two or three, and cut them in half so my "fireworks" would be smaller.

i used a sponge brush to apply the paint to the pipe cleaners but you can also dip them, I just like having more control with the amount of pain on the "stamp"

HERE is a link to the video to see how they are done.