Roly-Poly Egg Book and Craft

My daughter and I really enjoy our library visits and then reading all the books we find.  Some are real treasures like this one by Kali Stileman called, Roly-Poly Egg.  This is a cute book about a bird named Splotch who lays an egg, an absolutely perfect and beautiful egg of course.  But the egg rolls away and begins an adventure rolling, somersaulting and flying all while meeting some new animal friends along the way.

Besides reading books we also enjoy pairing them with crafts.  We both thought it would be fun to paint our very own Splotch and egg.  Here's what we used and how it turned out:

You will need:
Paper
Paint
Paint brushes
Googly eyes
Craft foam

We happened to have red paint just like the color of Splotch in the book.  But, if you do not have red paint,  you can make your very own unique Splotch with any colors you have on hand.  What's great about this painting is that Splotch is just that a 'splotch' or a 'glob' so really easy for even the littlest of kiddos to paint!

Start off by painting Splotch

Add some googly eyes

Next add the tree by painting the tree branch and some leaves.

My daughter also wanted to paint Splotch's egg AND the baby bird after it hatched.  We kept a page in the book open so that she could have something to work from.

The egg was fun to paint, especially sticking on the colored dots.  I cut out small circles from craft foam to use as the dots for the egg.

I wanted in on the fun too so I also painted a version of Splotch and his egg.

Mom's finished painting.....

Tiffany's finished painting.....

Teacher Appreciation Gift

My children's school celebrates Teacher Appreciation Week this week.  It's a wonderful opportunity to show our great teachers how much we thank them for all they do for our children.

I purchased this flower pot from Etsy and filled it with gift cards and scratch off lottery tickets.

Here's what I added and supplies needed:

• Floral foam 
• Skewer sticks
• Foam flowers
• Hot glue gun
• Tape
• Artificial grass

I cut the floral foam to size and placed it into the bottom of the pot.  Next, I cut out some flowers from craft foam and hot glued them to the skewer sticks.  I then stuck the skewer sticks into the foam and added the gift cards to the fronts of the flowers.  Finally, I topped it off by adding some artificial grass.

My hope was to give my child's teacher a gift that she would be able to enjoy now; the gift cards and then the flower pot, hopefully something she'll be able to use for years to come.  

Know though that showing your child's teacher appreciation doesn't have to cost alot or anything at all.  In addition to the flower pot I helped the children learn a quick and easy song to sing to their teacher.  I think the song was the real winner!!  

Lets remember our teachers!!

Who Am I? A National Geographic Kids Book Activity

Each month my daughter brings home the Scholastic book order forms.  I love how she sits down and circles the books that she wants.  One of the books she circles every time are these National Geographic Kids books.  My daughter is in kindergarten and the books are perfect because they are in line for pre-readers.  This series of books are great for kids as they explore a child's interest and motivate their minds to want to read.  National Geographic for Kids is considered informational reading, which is critical to success as the child progresses through school.  This series of informational books also helps a child learn about the world, while helping them with reading comprehension.  There was also another book I included not in the National Geographic Kids series, which goes to show that you can do this activity with any of your childs favorite book(s)

This Who Am I activity was an extension to these books to help with comprehension skills.

I simply copied the covers of each of the books we ordered, laminated them, cut out and attached popsicle sticks to them.

Next, I made up a list of questions.  Things like: "which animal hibernates in the winter."  OR "which animal is an amphibian."  I made sure to ask questions about each of the animals in the series we have.

It really made my daughter think about the animals we read in each book, working on her comprehension skills.

We also tied a craft into this activity by using the frog book and made our very own frog craft.

What you'll need to make this paper plate frog:

Paper plate

Green Construction paper

White Construction paper

Green paint

Paint brush

Tape

Scissors

Black crayon or marker

Hands

Pencil

Yarn

Start off by painting your plate green.
While your paper plate is drying help your child trace their hands.  Once the plate is completely dry, use some tape and attach your child's cut out hands to the bottom of the plate.  This will be the frog's feet.
Next, cut out 2 circles from the white construction paper to serve as the frog's eyes and draw black dots in the center of each circle.  Attach to the top of the paper plate.
Take your black marker or black crayon and draw a smiley face.
Finally, take your yarn, attach to the back of the paper plate and hang up.

If you are looking for an educational book series for your pre-reader this National Geographic series is highly recommended.  

Note: The thoughts in this post are strictly my own

Sight Word Game

My daughters kindergarten class is in full blown sight word learning mode!  Each week the students learn a new sight word and my daughter comes home with worksheets that I keep so that we can practice at home.  I decided to use these words and make up a game to make learning/memorizing these new words more fun.

Before Easter I picked up these paper Easter eggs from the dollar section at Target.  I then wrote the sight words on a piece of paper, laminated them and cut them out.  I also added a GO card and a STOP card just to make the game a bit more interesting. The laminating part is optional. 

The rules of the game are simple.  All the sight words are put into a pile and each player draws one of the cards.  If the player can read the sight word they take an egg.  If a STOP card gets drawn, the player loses a turn and can't go again until they draw a GO card.  If the GO card is drawn first, the player holds onto the card and can use it if they draw a STOP card. The player with the most eggs at the end of the game, wins.

I used the eggs because it was around the Easter season but anything can be used.  Other ideas could be matchbox cars, pom-pom's, candies, anything that will catch the attention of your child.

Trying to read one of the sight word cards

Yay......she read the word!!

Their are so many fun ways to learn/memorize sight words.  For more ideas, check out my Sight Words Pinterest board. 

Books That Will Make Your Kids Giggle

I love to read books with my 5 year old.  We visit the library about once every 2-3 weeks and usually borrow about 25 books at a time.  We've been doing this for about 2 years and over the course of this time I've seen how my daughter has evolved from the board book section to the non board book section.  She's learning to look at her book choices in a different way and it's really fun to watch how she decides on whether a book is to her liking or not.

We've read many books, some that bring smiles, laughter, tears and sleepy eyes.  For bedtime reading I try and choose books that have a more calming tone to them.  Here are a list of our favorite bedtime stories.

I love watching my daughter as I read to her and her reaction to the story.  I especially love the stories that make her giggle or out right laugh.  Here is a list of books that we have read that might make your little ones giggle too!

Bark, George


Knuffle Bunny


The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog


The Duckling Gets a Cookie


There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves


Peanut Butter & Cupcake


These are just a few of our favorite 'giggle' books.  Mo Willems especially has a line of not just funny but hilarious books guaranteed to make your little ones laugh.

I hope you enjoy our favorites as much as we do!  Happy reading!

First Signs of Spring

This is such a wonderful time of the year.  As the long cold days of winter begin to end we start to get outside more, enjoying warmer weather and witnessing the first signs of spring.

We live in the Northeast and this time of year is very welcome!  We take advantage of this weather by heading outdoors and searching for the first signs of spring.  This is such a fun activity to do with your child.  This activity requires no set up and teaches a child so much.

Your child will use their sensory skills as they smell fresh flowers and the fresh spring air.  They will use their hearing and sight as they watch and listen to the birds.

Lots of talking goes on with this activity which is great for your child's vocabulary.

Lately when we head outside my daughter loves it even more because she feels like she is going on a hunt, searching for new signs of spring.

Here are some of the signs we have found:

Buds on the tree!

Tulip coming up!

Leftover tomato seed from last season!

Tiger lilies sprouting!

More tree buds!

Beginning a new season is a good time to go over the different seasons with your child.  My daughter learned about the different seasons with our Learning Seasons activity. 

How about making your very own first sign of spring with a Birds Nest.   We had such fun making this craft!

Spring is a beautiful season so welcome it with open arms!

 

Sequencing with Nursery Rhymes

Sequencing is important as it helps a child comprehend what is read and identify with the beginning, middle and end of what they are reading.

We have done sequencing with storybooks and with nursery rhymes.  Nursery rhymes are most familiar to children and are a go to for parents, caregivers and teachers so they are a good place to start with a sequence activity.  A child's favorite story would also be good to use since the child will be familiar with the story line.

I used a piece of cardboard to make a book board which works very nicely for this kind of activity.  However, using a book board is absolutely not necessary and simply laying out the cards on a table or floor will work just as well!

Materials we used:

Cardboard
Velcro
Printed photos of nursery rhymes
Laminator (optional)

Remember if you are not using a book board simply print some photos or cut from magazines and/or newspapers.  Laminating is also not necessary it just preserves the photos.  

Teachers Pay Teachers is a great site and is where I found these nursery rhyme printables.  Once the nursery rhyme photos are printed:

• Laminate them
• Cut them out
• Put some velcro on the cardboard and on the back of the printables
•   Keep in mind if not using a book board just skip this part.

Sequencing on our book board

Sequencing without book board - just laid out on table

Figuring out order of Hey Diddle Diddle and Jack and Jill

Reciting the Nursery Rhymes

We also used one of our favorite stories, Hush, Little Ones by John Butler.  I printed off pictures of the  animals in the story and had my daughter arrange the animals in order as they are in the book. 

Sequencing does not need to be done only by using nursery rhymes or books.  If you don't have a printer to print off pictures, try cutting pictures from the newspaper or magazines and do a picture sequence.

You could sequence things like the life cycle of a caterpillar or bedtime routine. Be sure to use words like, "first", "next" and "last".

Sequencing might seem simple to teach but keep in mind it is a skill that is carried over to other areas so take the time necessary to ensure your child fully understands.