My new Sewing machine is fixed--hurray!

My sewing machine is done now I can make all those great things I have been seen on the web and on pinterest. I have some beanbags all cut out to sew, as well as a pillow case dress for Pitty-pat, and baby blankets for Alijah  and RileyAnn. I haven't sewn in years since the big girls-Jess and Aimee were littles. But everything cycles and I am once again trying to be frugal and thrifty. My mom made cloth diapers for Jess and Aimee so I will be trying my have on this project for Alijah. I can't wait to be crafty again.

o is for owl

I got his idea from "no time for flash cards's" blog but my computer locks up because of all the bells and whistles found there... so I am not including a link.(and I have high speed internet too lol)
But here are our owl crafts we made..

Tippy-toe's owl

Pitty-pat's

Cam's

I think this is Em's (who was visiting us) and made one too.

Birds

It's spring the Robins are back! Today we made the cute little paper plate bird I found at mymontessorijourney.com but added colored feathers from the dollar store. They turned out really cute and Cam just had to make one also.

Tot Activities

I have been trying to come up with ideas to keep little man busy at his high chair while Pitty-Pat and Tippy-Toe are working on their school projects. Here's my list so far:

*wonder-under" self liner--He likes the texture and watching the big kids sew with theirs. I cut a 4x4 inch square and will add more fabrics as I find some for a fabric sort. Little man is very tactile and may grow up to be a textile manufacturer-He could tell different kinds of fleece at 2 weeks of age it was amazing to me! He had one fleece blanket he liked and could tell it by feel.

*sorting cereal--I gave hime a lunchables tray with four irregular shaped areas for sorting breakfast cereals. Since he puts everything in his mouth yet beads, poms, or marbles didn't seem like a good idea.

*Bottle cap bank--I saved several milk caps, pop caps(caution these are small and child could choke-Pitty-pat likes to chew these at 6 years so all must be supervised!) and a clear plastic jar with a hole cut in the top like a piggy bank. Little man can sort by color and size, or count as he drops them in the jar.

*Tong sort--I have a large plastic tong and the same large caps to sort and move on his tray. He can't pick them up yet but likes trying.

*Felt ABC's--I cut out some large letters from felt. I plan to make an ABC's book with them later.

*Felt shapes--I cut some basic shapes out of felt in different colors.

From chasing cherios i got these ideas:
The best is to use cloth pencil cases instead of ziploc bags. I like the idea of organizing them on a key ring.

*I made the mini felt board out of a cereal box and piece of felt. I used the shape and alphabet pieces I cut out earlier. The big ones like this too.



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Trip to craft store

I was on call last night so I went to the craft store to find some new ideas. At Michaels I found some wooden shapes to use with our Geometry and fractions--An ovid. a ball, a large cube and small cubes that stack to replicate the same size large cube.
*I also bought pipe cleaners and pony beads and made several patterns for them to copy. A wooden mosaic form for a 1.29 makes the perfect tray for this activity. The edges keep the beads from rolling too far.
*I found Zebra print felt to make the letter Z to finish my felt alphabets I am cutting out for little man.
*I also bought some spring themed funfusion beed kits for a dollar.
*More balsam airplanes for our airplane theme Aaron is doing with them.
*But my best find was a dessert animal set. These will work with the felt map of the continets I plan to make on a fleece blanket. I loved this idea the minuet I saw it somewhere and plan to copy it. I will link to it when I find it again.

At the dollar store I found some wonder-under and colored yarn. I made a pipe cleaner needle and cut a placemat size piece of wonder-under for a begining sewing lesson. The yarn is easier to pull through this than it is plastic canvas. We bend our blunt needles trying to work with the plastic canvas. Today is a rainy day great for practicing fine motor skills indoors.

Geoboards

The kids are making their own geoboards. I went to probuilders for the boards and nails $12.59 to make three geoboards. We even had some pine board left over. I printed the 10x10 geoboard dot paper template from the Eclectic Homeschool website. Then I made shape cards from the worksheets found at abcteach. I will pick up colored rubber bands or hair ties on my next dollar store run. I glued the dot template to the board and set the kids loose with a hammer outside on the porch. I found detailed instructions on how to make a geoboard at http://www.kidscanmakeit.com/AC0003.htm The original idea to search on geoboards came from lapazfarm.homeschooljournal.net thanks to everyone mentioned for all the ideas.

Rainbow rice

Today we made rainbow colored rice for our I SPY JARS. I will look for small items to make an alphabet theme jar.
Rainbow Rice Recipe
Rice in a small ziploc baggie about 2 cups. (One bag for each color.)
4-5 pumps hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol 4 Tblsp.
4-5 drops food coloring
Close bag and mix. open bag and let dry.

Right now they are drinking up a gatorade so we can recycle the clear bottle. i found this neat idea at Pink and Green Mamma's blog.

Long Day

Attended MIHA state meeting today. Boring! 9am-330pm long too.I am going to coach a jr team this year. Aaron went with me, that's devotion!!!!
Kids colored Adam and Eve pictures to go with our creation unit study. Then they made valentines cards. Just simple construction paper and crayons.

vase for valentines gifts

I found an idea for a valentine gift . We made tissue and glass bottle vases by glueing the tissue to the glass bottles. I cleaned the bottles. I cut up three colors of tissue into little squares and put into baggies. We covered the bottle with elmers glue and applied the tissues to them. I will try to post the photos I took with my phone.

Crash

The big three got in a truck tree slide on the way to school.Everyone is safe but truck is totaled. Homeschool was a wash out for the day. But I had saw and idea to make sensory stress balls. So far we have filled balloon with flour, sugar, salt,rice, popcorn,and a sheet of bubble wrap. You take and blow up balloons and let the air out. Then I put one balloon inside of another and used a funnel to fill with different sensory items. The teen have loved these. Maybe they'll let the little kids have a turn soon.

T.H.I.N.K Bracelets

I got an idea from Homeschooling-ideas.com We are trying think bracelets. THINK stands for Thoughfulness,Helpful,Intelligent,Necessary,and Kind. Think before you speak. They may be too young but we'll try it. We strung alphabet beads on a black narrow ribbon so far they have lasted but Jon can get out of his. The project cost $2.00 for the beads from the dime store and I already had the ribbon in my artsy box from another project.