Rain Cloud Mobile

Little Mister loves to watch me cutting things out with scissors! I thought it was about time to let him try. We bought some safety scissors and then let him go to town! Our raindrops for this mobile would baffle even the most experienced scientists! No matter, he was very proud of it! I hung it in the living room window and he kept going back to it all day and saying "I made it"!

Materials- Cotton balls, glue, card stock, scissors, yarn, blue construction paper

Procedure-
1. Draw a cloud shape on the card stack and cut it out (this is the only part I did)!
2. Glue strings of yarn near the bottom of the cloud to hang down. Then, make a loop with a piece of yarn and glue it near the top of the cloud to hang it with.
3. Dab glue all over cloud and cover with cotton balls.
4. Cut raindrop shapes from the blue construction paper.
5. Glue two drops together with the yarn in the middle. Repeat until you have made a rainstorm hanging from your cloud.
6. Allow to dry thoroughly before hanging!

Cottonball Stationary

Every Monday, Little Mister and I sit down and write a letter to a friend or relative! Do you remember that? Actually putting a pen to paper! What a novel idea! Anyway, we decided to make our own stationary so our letters would be even more special! Beware, it may come to a box near you!

Materials- Cotton balls, acrylic paints, card stock or blank cards, rubber cement

It was very simple. Little Mister dabbed a cotton ball in some paint and then onto the paper, switching colors along the way. We had some old stationary that was blank inside. I just trimmed the painted paper to match the front of the card and glued it on with Rubber Cement.

PomPom Worms

Ok.... who hasn't done this one! My Momma still has one that I made during VBS in the late 70's! Yeah, I'm that old (only in body... not in spirit!!)

Materials- Pompom's, glue, google eyes, clothes pins, magnetic strip

Another very simple idea. Glue the pompom's on the clothes pin. Add the magnetic strip to the other side. Add google eyes and you are done! Quick and easy for a busy day!

Can Painting

Felt like doing something messy today! And we sure did pick a good one! It was lots of fun and Little Mister got his hands dirty! (and arms and face and clothes and table and mommy and .........)

Materials-  Empty can, acrylic paints in several colors, card stock

We dripped paint onto the card stock and rolled the can through it and all over the paper! Simple and beautiful!

Frozen Boats - Color Mix

We have been working on colors for quite some time. He had them down! He knew all his colors! Then, suddenly, everything became blue! Red was blue, green was blue ... they were all blue! That made me blue! Since, Little Mister had recently developed a love for water, I thought I would combine this new interest with a renewed discovery of colors! This turned out to be a fun color mixing experiment!

Objective- Notices differences in colors (MS Early Learning Guidelines for Infants and Toddlers: Scientific Development 3.3.3)

Materials- Ice trays, water, food coloring, large fish tank or bowl

Procedure-
1. Add several drops of food coloring to water in ice trays or small cups. Use colors that will mix and make a secondary color, like red and blue or yellow and blue. (You actually have to use a lot of coloring.)
2. Cover tray with aluminum foil and poke popsicle sticks or bamboo sticks into each slot.
3. Place in freezer until frozen.
4. Fill your bowl with water.
5. Once your ice boasts are frozen. Glue triangle shapes onto the sticks to make boats!
6. Add the different colored boats to the water and watch what happens as they melt!

Red + Blue = Purple (Mommy's favorite color)!!

Red and Blue water in the freezer

Blue frozen boat

Blue and red boats

Purple water

Alphabet Tree

Little Mister really enjoyed this because I gave him permission to slap something with the infamous Fly Swatter! A great privilege indeed for a 2 year old!

Objective- Recognizes that symbols have meanings (MS Early Learning Guidelines for Infants and Toddlers 1.3.3)
Materials- Foam bath letters, fishing wire, fly swatter, a tree with low branches
Procedures-
1. Choose foam letters that correspond with the child’s first name.
2. Thread the fishing line on a thick needle.
3. Push the needle through a foam letter and tie with a knot. Repeat with each letter until all letters have a line attached.
4. Hang the letters from different branches of the tree. Make sure they are low enough to be reached by your child.
5. Call out the name of a letter and ask your child to hit it with the fly swatter. Give support and correction as needed!
6. When these letters are mastered, replace with new letters.

Alternate learning technique-
Use different colored foam letters. Instead of calling out the letters, call out the colors.

U-Pick-It Farm

The time has come . . . No I am not quoting a Midnight Oil song! (And yes, I am a child of the 80's and proud to admit it!) What I'm talking about is getting to pick our own fresh fruits and veggies! We are headed to a U-Pick-It farm today! Excited for Little Mister to discover that tomatoes, corn and beans don't originate from a grocery store or a can!

Loved playing in a large wagon full of corn

Strawberries or in Rylee-ese, birdies!

Holding hands with his favorite red head!