Friday, October 31, 2014

The Cutest Turkeys!

Turkey Preschool Craft

We went for the nature walk and found a handsome turkey! The weather was the best for walks. We spent all the time we could find outside. Our awesome local parks welcomed us in the most gorgeous fall beauty.

For one of our walks, I took a pair of scissors. We found the prettiest grasses and cut them to make a bouquet. This activity turned out great: when My Firefly had to pick and choose, she had to pay more attention to the signs of fall and the beauty of nature. She also enjoyed gathering pine cones, acorns, and buckeyes. Thanks to the short attention span: I had just enough of these "treasures" to deal with.

Preschool Thanksgiving Craft

We made our turkey as a table centerpiece for Thanksgiving. The turkey's tail consists of 2 parts. Pictured below: I cut a circle out of the paper plate, then cut the circle into 2 halves. My Firefly used paper leaves and a glue stick to cover the first semicircle in a pretty pattern. We arranged our bouquet of grasses on the second semicircle, covered it with the leaves; and I stapled the two together.


The second part of the tail: I folded a printer paper as a fan. My Firefly painted the stripes in fall colors.

Then I stapled the two together again. The colored paper helps with showcasing the beauty of the fall leaves and grasses. My Firefly loves her turkey!


Turkey Craft for Kids

To attach the large bushy tale to a pine cone, I used a stapler again. Probably the hot glue gun would work - I found the stapler a quick and easy tool.

I stapled the middle part of a brown chenille stem to the back of the tale in 3 points. Then I just tightened the tail around the cone. 2 more chenille stems are used for legs. Eyes: pom-poms with the googly eyes. A piece of a red chenille stem folded in two goes around the turkey's beak.



Turkey Preschool Activities

I'd love to feature several activities I hand picked for us to do in November (see the collage below).



A fun turkey game for learning sight words from B-Inspired Mama. The beautiful colors of the turkey's tail should be engaging and fun while practicing sight words. I love this idea!

Fine motor skills turkey from Rubber Boots and Elf Shoes. The felt turkey has buttons for attaching the tail's feathers. This is a great fine motor skills activity... and we need some practice with the buttons.

Gratitude turkey - a chocolate bar wrapper from The Educators' Spin On It. This craft is easy, pretty, and creative, but the most important: My Firefly needs to learn about gratitude. The activity includes a free printable - awesome!

A turkey puzzle from Sunny Day Family. The handsome turkey promises hours of fun while learning about the bird of the season.

Invitation to play: COMPARE AND CONTRAST One of our favorite activities: assemble the birds while learning about same and different through play.

Happy Turkey Crafting!

You are very welcome to follow us here:

Monday, October 27, 2014

Space Preschool Activities

Solar System and Planets

We are starting on discovering the planet Earth and space in a fun, meaningful, and hands-on way.

Beyond our planet is a theme of the month for our favorite Poppins Book Nook. Please, take a look at what we were up to this month and visit other families having fun with travelling in space - very exciting! You can find our previous Poppins Book Nook activities here: http://www.mybrightfirefly.com/p/poppins-book-nook.html.

Our favorite book of the month is "Space Walk" by Salina Yoon (Lift-the-Flap Adventures).

“I'm your space guide.
Come travel with me!
There are lots of planets
for us to see.”

There is a planet per page with several simple facts found when opening that planet. The front cover was the real winner with our little ones: The oval cut out for the face in the astronaut's helmet can also fit kids' faces! Have you ever seen a book that can be used as a mask?



Explore the Universe in a box

We upcycled a huge box from a lawn mower that was waiting for its glory days in the basement. I cut one of the walls down. Our Universe consists of: the Earth (bottom), the Sun (orange wall), solar system (the middle wall), and the wall of constellations, falling starts, etc.


Pictured below: I stapled the top flaps of the box at an angle and secured them with the packing tape. Packing tape is also used for the Earth pages.


Here is an interesting effect of the direct sunlight onto the orange surface surrounded by black walls. We explored the reflection of the light a lot this month and talked about the importance of the sun light for the life on Earth.


I tried to make use of movable parts as much as I could. The planets and the sun are laminated and  attached to the wall by the Velcro dots. I made a system of "zip lines" with the regular needle and thread. Some falling starts (also known as yellow beads on the thread) were used for counting. The space ships and planes are hung on chenille stems and have just enough traction to slide down slower.

The planets are a part of a nice matching activity that can be found and printed out for free (as well as many other activities for different ages) from 3 Dinosaurs: Free Space Pack.


Our space rockets are made from clear plastic ornaments. I taped the rocket images onto the inside of the ornaments. Our Playmobil people can get in and out, and fit perfectly inside the spaceship.


Earth and Environmental Science: the beginnings!

The exploration of the Earth was My Firefly's favorite part: I didn't expect it to be that engaging - it's just the pictures. She found areas of interest for her toys and made up some stories of what each of them like to do in that area. It turned out great for play based exploration of the Earth divided by regions. I included pictures of summer and winter too - we still need to talk about it.


Emergency Space Mylar Blanket preschool play and fun!

Yes! We got our hands to the Space blanket! My Firefly had hours of imaginative play out of it. Pictured below: what is this thing? The mirrored surface of the blanket is awesome for sensory play, dressing up, showcasing the toys...


Our Preschool Science hour was a pure magic!

We explored the light reflection with the Mylar blanket and talked about the Sun as "a huge ball of fire". I placed the blanket into the direct sunlight on the floor. The picture below does not make any justice to the effect of light. It is a large family room with the vaulted ceiling; and the whole room got filled with light!

The best magical sensory play ever!


The goal of this activity was to explore the sun light and the reflection of the light. Our topics: the sun and the stars give light, the Moon appears shining, but it is a reflection of the sun light, all living things need sunlight to survive.

Beyond Our Planet

It's time for a Poppins Book Nook - a book club that goes live on the last Monday of each months.
You can find our previous Poppins Book Nook books and activities here:
http://www.mybrightfirefly.com/p/poppins-book-nook.html

The theme for this month is "Beyond Our Planet". This is a very exciting topic - it calls for all things space travelling. Visit the hosts of Poppins Book Nook to find out what the kids were up to, their wild adventures and discoveries.

The wonderful bloggers that participate in the Poppins Book Nook are:  Enchanted Homeschooling Mom ~ 3 Dinosaurs ~ To the Moon and Back ~ Planet Smarty Pants ~ Farm Fresh Adventures ~ Growing in God’s Grace ~ Chestnut Grove Academy ~ Learning and Growing the Piwi Way ~ The Usual Mayhem~ Preschool Powol Packets ~ Monsters Ed Homeschool Academy ~ Adventures in Mommydom ~Teach Beside Me ~ Life with Moore Babies ~ Kathy’s Cluttered Mind ~ Are We There Yet? ~ Our Crafts N Things ~Hopkins Homeschool ~ ABC Creative Learning ~ Joy Focused Learning ~ P is for Preschooler ~ My Bright Firefly ~A Mommy’s Adventures ~ Inspiring 2 New Hampshire Children ~ World for Learning ~ Ever After in the Woods ~Golden Grasses ~ A glimpse of our life ~ Journey to Excellence ~ Happy Little Homemaker ~ Little Homeschool Blessings ~ Raventhreads ~ Tots and Me ~ As We Walk Along The Road ~ Stir the Wonder ~ For This Season ~Where Imagination Grows ~ The Canadian Homeschooler ~ School Time Snippets ~ Peakle Pie ~ A Moment in our World ~ Every Bed of Roses ~ Finchnwren ~ At Home Where Life Happens ~ The Library Adventure ~ Embracing Destiny ~ Day by Day in our World ~ Our Homeschool Studio ~ A “Peace” of Mind ~ Thou Shall Not Whine ~ SAHM I am  ~ Simple Living Mama

Beyond Our Planet Bundle Giveaway!

Every month the Poppins Book Nook group will be offering readers
a chance to win a brand new storybook
that ties in with our theme for the month.
 
This month one lucky entrant will win a bundle of fun for the theme of Beyond Our Planet. 
This bundle will include a copy of the storybook The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons
and a Space& Astronauts Bucket Playset.


a Rafflecopter giveaway
Entrants must be 18 years or older and reside in a country that receives U.S. Postal mail. This giveaway is brought to you by the company Enchanted Homeschooling Mom who is owner and founder of the Poppins Book Nook. By entering this giveaway you are also acknowledging that you have read and agree to all of the Rafflecopter terms & conditions as well as Enchanted Homeschooling Mom's disclosures found here {http://enchantedhomeschoolingmom.org/disclosures/}.    

Follow Poppins Book Nook on Pinterest
Clip art by: Melon Headz

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

What's on Your Refrigerator Door

What Your Refrigerator Door Says about You

The content displayed on you refrigerator door reflects who you are as a family. How do I know? I had noticed that the look of our refrigerator changed many times over the past 3 years and thought of writing a post about it since My Firefly's third birthday is coming. So I typed into the Google search "What's on your refrigerator door" and got hundreds of funny results!


Many surveys, researches, articles are produced on this topic. What our refrigerator says about me? I would call it "organized chaos", lol, and a life full of surprises and changes. There used to be a couple of family pictures, several magnets from our recent travels, and an occasional note that would be destroyed by me ASAP because it didn't look neat.

When I got pregnant, our fridge got all squeaky clean and polished. No pictures or notes were allowed any longer. Then the baby was born, and baby pictures multiplied fast on our refrigerator door. When I would get less sleep deprived, the pictures would get taken down, the doors are clean and shiny again - a great sign that the baby is happy, healthy, and sleeping well. My Firefly's second year - the first cute scribbles and hand prints found their way to join the pictures. The third year - no pictures. We need the space for activities with magnets and for displaying her recent activity pages.

Happy coming third birthday to my little princess! 3 years old, once again, is a huge milestone!

Print Awareness for Preschoolers

I'd love to share pages displayed on our fridge this week. There is never enough time to do everything. My main goal: very quick and easy to set up!

Pictured below, My Firefly drew a pepperoni pizza and the moon and stars (sticker jewels). The activities are printed out for free from This Reading Mama and can be found here: Letter P and Letter M.


I printed these activities several weeks ago. We didn't do them because I thought they are too difficult for this girl; and she would not like them. When we finally found time to try them, My Firefly loved it and surprisingly managed everything very well!

Print awareness: kids need to see patterns in a written language: text, lines, sentences, words, left-to-right reading and writing. Each activity is a set of cards for words that can make a sentence. I arranged words into a sentence on a table first, read it, then mixed the words up again. My Firefly had to make the sentence again by picking a word by word from a pile. She did with some minor help. Then she used her favorite glue stick to glue sentences under pictures. While gluing, we read each sentence again.

Haunted House Do-a-Dot activity

The haunted house is a free printable from Gift of Curiosity.

Colors printable pages

We have to review our colors from time to time. That's why I was happy to find these free printables over at 3 Dinosaurs. There is one color review per page. The main point important to My Firefly is there are pictures of the objects that can be found of that color - a quick and engaging way to learn it! The printables can be found here: Free Color Coloring Pages. She traced the words with the marker first, then painted the pictures with the small brush.


Roll and Graph - our first ever graphing activity!

This activity made by This Reading Mama is to review several letters hands-on. It worked nicely for us. My Firefly rolled the die and stamped the corresponding letter in a column. I had to help her to find the proper column every time, but the review was done without her ever noticing she is working on her letters! The free printable can be found here: Reading the Alphabet: Letter A.


I made the die from an upcycled box using letters printed from the link above. It's quick to make and served its purpose just fine.


What's on your refrigerator door? ;)

 You are very welcome to follow us here:
This post is linked to Mama Reads Monday

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Blog Love - Liebster Award!

Liebster Award - Blog Love

This blog was nominated with a Liebster Award! "What's that?" you'd ask. Yes, I've learned a new word this week too. And it is a word of LOVE, so I really LOVE it!


Liebster, German, Beloved, Dearest, Sweetheart, Darling. The other forms are: lieb, lieber, am liebsten... And I LOVE the translation of this word into Italian; it just sounds so pretty: Carissimo.


I am in love with all the Mom bloggers
for your great info, advices, support, encouragement, everything!
Thank you for being you, and for helping me to survive being a mother! 

And now here is this awesome award that made my day.  I'm honored and delighted! Thank you, Brittany, for nominating me and the blog love! Brittany has a wonderful blog! Please, take a look if you can spare a minute! The Modern Mommy

The following apply when accepting this award:

     * Link back to the nominating blog
     * Nominate 5 - 11 newly developing blogs - THE RISING STARS!!!     
     * Answer 11 questions posted for you by your nominator
     * Share 11 random facts about yourself
     * Create 11 questions for your nominees to answer
     * Contact your nominees to congratulate them and let them know that you have nominated them
 

 Blogs I Am Nominating:

I'll update on this ASAP!!!

Art Curator for Kids.
Wonderful blog - please, check it out! Cindy was a museum educator and art teacher, and now she is a WAHM of two lovely daughters, Yoshi (5) & Zuzu (2). She is passionate about the power of ART in people's lives.

Small People Big Ideas
Would you like to visit an enchanted play dough garden? Would you enjoy meeting Sweet Scarecrow? You can do that and so much more over at Mackenzie's blog! She is a Montessori follower, and passionate about trying her best to raise smart, confident, happy kids in a way that's fun for all of her sweet V-bot (3) and T-bear (1).

Learning and Exploring through Play
Amy is a SAHM to a lovely Little N. She worked in Childcare and Education for several years. It is her passion to deliver high quality activities and experiences for children tailored to meet their individual needs. She have continued to do this with her own family too, and she is still learning lots.

Every Star Is Different
Renae is a happily married, full time stay-at-home mom, and a homeschool teacher to four special needs children. She has a bachelor's degree in music, speaks Spanish fluently, and into developing the Montessori Inspired Curriculum for almost 2 years now.  Her first two children, Dinomite, age 6, and Bulldozer, age 5, are biological children. The family's decision to adopt through the foster care system had changed their lives, as they became foster parents for four years, 2 1/2 of which Renae's husband was home full time, taking in over 20 children, more than half being infants.  Two of these infants are now their adopted daughters, Princess, age 4, and Sunshine, age 2.

Clare's Little Tots
Clare, a former sales executive, found her calling in teaching her tot Georgia and working as a Child-minder. She writes her blog about the things they get up to, the things they make, and the indoor and outdoor fun they have. Her blog is such a bright sunshine!


Here are Brittany's questions for me:
Why and how long ago did you start blogging?
This baby blog is 1 month old, yay! I'd be happy if one of my ideas help another Mom out there. And through her, some joy of playing and bonding to her kids and family!

What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why?
Creative. That's what I try to make my posts to be: creative and bringing joy of discovery :)

Is there something you learned later in your blog journey that you wished you knew before?
People get tired of biases and pretention of media; and enjoy the fresh honest views of bloggers more and more.

What is your favorite past time other than blogging?
I love new experiences and travelling, reading, music, playing with kids, and a glass of vine with a best friend.

How many hours per week do you dedicate to your blog?
My baby blog is like any baby: it asks for constant attention through the day. There are so much to do behind the scene: I create activities and take pictures, write drafts for new posts, edit and publish, read and answer comments on the blog posts and Facebook posts, check out what's new on Twitter several times a day.

What category of blog posts do you enjoy the most?
Kids' activities: hands-on exploration of the world by families with kids. Parenting blogs.

Where does your blog inspiration come from?
Our daily life and Mommy blogs.

What post have you written are you most proud of?
Oh, I don't have much. My favorite one is yet to come.

Kids really enjoyed creative Moon painting: http://www.mybrightfirefly.com/2014/10/m-is-for-moon-halloween-art.html  I love watching My Firefly exploration of the US Geography with the puzzle and activities: http://www.mybrightfirefly.com/2014/09/us-geography-preschool-activities-wild.html Our hand made Armadillo stays our favorite so far.

Is there any post that you have been planning to do, but kept postponing for a while now?
Yes, My Firefly's third birthday is coming. All the birthday preparations are not on the blog. And more important: Thanksgiving activities.

What is your favorite aspect of blogging?
Interaction with the most wonderful people - Mom Bloggers!

Which recipe, project or idea on my blog would you be most likely to try yourself?
Kids sticker chart with a free printable: positive, fun, and well thought through! http://themodernmommy.ca/sticker-chart/

 

11 Random Facts About Me

* I love cherry ice cream.
* I wanted to be a flight attendant as a child.
* I love to wear summer dresses, no high heels.
* My favorite season used to be spring. Now it is fall. Why did it have to change?
* I love Scarlett in the book, but not in the movie.
* My favorite book is The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
* Both times I was pregnant, all I wanted is to hide in the corner and knit baby cloths. Maybe because it helped me to concentrate on my thoughts and dream away.
* My beloved doggy, little red beauty, died 2 days before My Firefly's first birthday. I am missing her so much!
* I don't really like cooking sometimes. Would prefer to spend time somewhere else.
* I made a conscious decision to stay at home with this baby. And every day I think about it and feel guilty for ruining my career.
* Family, friends, and this blog's readers. Does anything else exist in the Universe worth mentioning?

11 Questions for My Nominees to Answer

  1.  What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why?
  2. What is the story behind your blog's name?
  3. What post have you written are you most proud of?
  4. What is your favorite aspect of blogging?
  5. What is your favorite way to treat yourself?
  6. What do you like the most about the area you live at?
  7. Your dream vacation: mountain hideaway or a beach house?
  8. What's your favorite book?  
  9. Hot chocolate or coffee?     
  10. Early bird or night owl?  
  11. Which project or idea on my blog would you be most likely to try yourself?

You are very welcome to follow us here:

Monday, October 13, 2014

A is for Alligator. Feelings.

Feelings and Emotions Preschool Activities

Faces of emotions for children, feelings list with faces, and reading a great book using these resources are our favorite activities for the letter of the week: A is for Alligator. After all, alligators, just like toddlers, can be very emotional and unable to effectively control their feelings... almost.

We want our kids to always be happy, healthy, and successful. Instead, they might have tantrums, argue, don't listen, fight for toys... My Firefly is at the end of her "terrible twos". It feels more like a beginning of terrible "I want that... I want that... No!"

There are many great resources on this topic. But it all comes to the basics: it is important for preschoolers to learn to recognize emotions before they are able to manage them effectively, I think.

"Angry is how I feel right now,
I shout with a mighty roar.
I mostly want to frown and growl
and stomp upon the floor." - Janan Cain
 

Emotional Development of Preschoolers

 Feelings Faces

 I made this excellent resource, "Feelings" Lap Book for My Firefly using free printables from 1+1+1=1 found here: http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.net/2009/08/feelings-tot-book/. I highly recommend it! It is easy and quick to make. You'd need an old folder and maybe a few envelopes. The book provides endless fun and laughter when "making faces" and exploring life situations using the funny faces.


Pictured above: a little book is part of a "Feelings" package. Pages are laminated. Additional benefit: the first letter of each word is nice and big. My Firefly loves to name these letters and trace them with dry-erase markers.

Amanda and Her Alligator

This wonderful book by Mo Willems is the best resource
to explore feelings for toddlers and preschoolers!

In fun and engaging way we followed this alligator's emotional journey using our book of faces. It is a long book, but the scenes and poor animal's feelings change very fast and keep kids' attention for a long time. There is only a sentence per spread filled with fun simple pictures.

The feelings are clear for the little ones. Amanda left - Alligator is sad. Amanda came back - he is happy. Amanda yelled "Boo!" - Alligator is surprised. And goofy, jealous, shy, joyful, excited, loving, angry, confused...

My Firefly loves her songs and dancing for the Alligator theme. She danced with "See you later, alligator" with Bill Haley. But what other phrases can be used to say "Good bye"? Here is
a cute "Good bye" song everybody loved: See you later, Alligator.

Some more books about feelings and emotions for preschoolers:

"The way I feel" by  Janan Cain. The board book version doesn't include all the emotions available in a hard cover book.
"The way I act" by Steve Metzger. This is a companion to the first book and explains the behaviors and some "big word" concepts.
"How Full Is Your Bucket? For Kids" by Tom Rath. How does it feel to fill and spill your bucket? Your friend's bucket? LOL
The Way I Feel Books by Cornelia Spelman: When I feel angry. When I feel jealous. When I feel sad. When I feel scared. When I feel good about myself.
"Happy Hippo, Angry Duck: A Book of Moods" by Sandra Boynton. This classic Sandra Boynton book has great rhymes, as usual.
"The Pigeon Has Feelings, Too!" by Mo Willems. Camilla likes the silly stories in the pigeon series. The board book is a shorter version then the hard cover. The bus drive tries to make the pigeon a happy face, but pigeon is not in a happy mood at a time, it goes through several feelings through the book.
"Duck & Goose, How Are You Feeling?" by Tad Hills. This is another series of books starring Duck and Goose. The simple pictures and story lines help Camilla's comprehension. Scared, happy, sad, selfish, patient, hopeful, frustrated - some of those need extra step to understand and accept ;)
"The Feelings Book" by Todd Parr. There are ways to express feelings, and some of them are very nice! Scared, brave, cranky, lonely, and silly - there are exciting activities for each mood :)

You can find our previous Creative ABCs here: http://www.mybrightfirefly.com/p/creative-abcs.html

You are very welcome to follow us here:

Saturday, October 11, 2014

C is for Cats. Paper Plate Cat. Dramatic Play.

How to Be a Cat

Halloween for Preschoolers: reading about witches and their black cats, decorating the house, playing cats. My Firefly is getting into the holiday season. It is so exciting to share her joy!

Only a Witch Can Fly

We've read this very special book by Alison McGhee. A young witch is discovering a magic of flying for the first time, unsuccessfully at first. I love how it teaches to follow your dreams and they'll come true one day. The story is a poem written in 13th century sestina which calls for the repetition of the key words. When read aloud, the medieval rhyming style and black and white illustrations will give you chills!

We have read aloud "Only a Witch Can Fly" at our homeschool preschool group. Kids and adults loved it. The little ones had to try flying on brooms... and had great laughs out of it. They can be so very cute!

Dramatic Play - Cats

Our almost 3 year olds are only starting dramatic play. Our goal is to give them every chance at it: dramatic play is the most important way of learning for preschoolers!

As was proved by our "Cats" activity. Kids learned about cats, picked up several new words with no effort; and the images they created in their little heads are a form of abstract thinking - cool!

Both kids and cats are very well known by Nikki McClure. Maybe that's why she managed to write an excellent 101 manual "How to Be a Cat", lol. There is one skill to master per spread: stretch, feast, pounce, clean, tumble, listen, explore... you name it. The kids immediately started practicing the skills - it's a great book for a play date!

Paper Plate Cats

The kids were offered paper plates and a bowl to trace circles to create cats. The goal was to foster creativity and decision making. So the cats all came out funny looking - perfect for Halloween! Cutting paper plates is great for developing scissor skills.

My Firefly finished a couple of cats pictured below. The body and the head is cut from the same plate, and the second plate was used for a tail. She colored one cat with paint, and the other one with crayons (black, orange, and purple).


We decorated our cats for the Fall. I punched out the holes for the Fall themed ribbon. The eyes and the nose are foam stickers: acorns, pumpkins, and fall leaves. The smile is painted with the red tempera paint.

Halloween - Fine Motor Skills

In the picture below, some things kept at our fireplace as decorations/ sensory play/ fine motor practice. Off topic - I might try to write another post on this.



You can find our previous Creative ABCs here: http://www.mybrightfirefly.com/p/creative-abcs.html

You are very welcome to follow us here:


Thursday, October 9, 2014

Beyond Our Planet. October Poppins Book Nook Introduction.

Space Preschool Theme

Beyond Our Planet is the theme of the month for the Poppins Book Nook, an awesome virtual book club that goes live the last Monday of each month. Please, check us back on October 27 to see how we travel in space and explore the stars hands-on with the littlest ones.


This theme is all about travelling and adventures - exciting! We started with "On the Moon" by Anna Milbourne. It's an easy read for preschoolers and very engaging. My Firefly enjoyed painting her moons last week. The activities can be found here: http://www.mybrightfirefly.com/2014/10/m-is-for-moon-halloween-art.html.

You can find our previous Poppins Book Nook books and activities here:
http://www.mybrightfirefly.com/p/poppins-book-nook.html

Moon Landing Activity for Toddlers

That's right: we landed on the Moon!


"This wonderful book retells our story vividly. I should know; I was there," wrote Buzz Alorin about this wonderful book we scored at the library (pictured above). "Moon Landing" by Richard Platt and David Hawcock is meant to be for age 8 and up, but the pop-up structures on every page is a success with the little ones... and adults alike. It was literally like My Firefly had never seen before.

She immediately wanted to try to land (maybe to check if it takes as much as pictured in the book) from a couch to the floor. The result of this "scientific experiment": sometimes it is wise to have a helmet and moon boots.

Space Walk


"Space Walk" by Salina Yoon has a planed per page in a "lift-the-flap adventures" format.

"Roaring Rockets" by Tony Mitton and Ant Parker is written as fun engaging rhymes:

Rockets have power.
They rise and roar.
This rocket's waiting,
Ready to soar.
 
"Rockets and Spaceships" by Karen Wallace is for "Beginning to read" readers. Sometimes I use these books to read aloud for My Firefly. They are not only easy for beginning readers, but also easy to understand for beginning preschoolers, LOL.

"First Big Book of Space" by Catherine D. Hughes. This book is a part of National Geographic Little Kids series. Wonderful illustrations kept My Firefly's attention long enough to hear some interesting facts and to get eager to know more. It's a fun book for kids of all ages!

I hope you enjoy following a group of these wonderful bloggers - hosts of the Poppins Book  Nook!

 Enchanted Homeschooling Mom ~ 3 Dinosaurs ~ To the Moon and Back ~ Planet Smarty Pants ~ Farm Fresh Adventures ~ Growing in God’s Grace ~ Chestnut Grove Academy ~ Learning and Growing the Piwi Way ~ The Usual Mayhem~ Preschool Powol Packets ~ Monsters Ed Homeschool Academy ~ Adventures in Mommydom ~Teach Beside Me ~ Life with Moore Babies ~ Kathy’s Cluttered Mind ~ Are We There Yet? ~ Our Crafts N Things ~Hopkins Homeschool ~ ABC Creative Learning ~ Joy Focused Learning ~ P is for Preschooler ~ My Bright Firefly ~A Mommy’s Adventures ~ Inspiring 2 New Hampshire Children ~ World for Learning ~ Ever After in the Woods ~Golden Grasses ~ A glimpse of our life ~ Journey to Excellence ~ Happy Little Homemaker ~ Little Homeschool Blessings ~ Raventhreads ~ Tots and Me ~ As We Walk Along The Road ~ Stir the Wonder ~ For This Season ~Where Imagination Grows ~ The Canadian Homeschooler ~ School Time Snippets ~ Peakle Pie ~ A Moment in our World ~ Every Bed of Roses ~ Finchnwren ~ At Home Where Life Happens ~ The Library Adventure ~ Embracing Destiny ~ Day by Day in our World ~ Our Homeschool Studio ~ A “Peace” of Mind ~ Thou Shall Not Whine ~ SAHM I am  ~ Simple Living Mama


As usual, every theme comes with the Free Poppins Book Nook Lapbook. Download your additions for October here: Poppins Book Nook Lapbook.


The lapbook pages include:
  • An interactive bookmark for the Beyond Our Planet theme.
  • This month's Passport pages.
  • Several lapbook elements centered around the Space.
  • Reading response writing prompt.
You can find our previous Poppins Book Nook posts here: http://www.mybrightfirefly.com/p/poppins-book-nook.html
This post is linked to: Tot School Gathering Place

You are very welcome to follow us here:

Thursday, October 2, 2014

M is for Moon. Halloween Art.

Painting the Moon Process Art

This week it is letter M. "On the Moon" by Anna Milbourne, our wonderful book of the week, helped us with travelling in space. The goal for our art project is to introduce our toddlers to the different media and painting tools. We used brushes of different sizes, a toothpick, a salt shaker... and fingers and hands.


On the Moon

"What do you think it would be like to go there?" The question is written under the illustration of a little girl watching the moon through her bedroom window. "Would you like to fly to the moon?" I asked. A very simple language and excellent pictures engaged the kids to explore and imagine meeting the astronauts, examining a rocket and the surface of the moon. Everybody loved a huge picture of a rocket flying from Earth to the Moon - a very simple and clear message: "There's nothing but stars and darkness all around".

Painting the surface of the Moon

Surprisingly, kids easily managed tracing a bowl on the yellow cardstock paper to make a circle for the Moon. We squeezed white school glue onto the Moon together (pictured below) and kids mixed the offered colors on the foam plate: white tempera paint as a base with a few drops of yellow, brown, and black.


With the medium sized brush, kids mixed different colors into the glue. Different parts of the moon can be painted in different shades. The key is to offer them the next activity BEFORE the colors are all mixed together to create a uniform gray.


The next step for us was to shake colored sand mixed with glitter over the moon with a salt shaker. We tried to mix the sand in just a little bit with the tooth pick.

After that, we worked with the glitter glue. Kids squeezed out a small amount of glue, and spread it around with the small brush in a circular movement - a great practice for drawing circles. Or they tried to lift it up to create a hill with small brush strokes.

By this point, there was a thick layer of paint, sand, and glue, which allowed them to create a 3D effect of the moon surface. None of our kids were bored with this activity because of changes in media and tools. They all asked for more paper, paint, but the favorite was glitter glue mixing.


The project didn't take much time to complete, but it did take 3 days. The Moon had to dry overnight.

We cut the Moon out and glued it to the black construction paper. The owl is a hand print that took some time to dry. One of the owl's wings is a finger print, the other one is finger painted. The ears are the finger prints.

After the owl is completely dry, I used a small brush to paint a tree branch: black over the Moon area, and white over the sky. Then, I painted eyes, a beak, talons, and stripes on ears and wings.


The last step: adding sticky jewels for stars.


Have a happy Halloween painting! If you find a minute, I'd love to see your masterpiece over on our Facebook page!

You can find our previous Creative ABCs here: http://www.mybrightfirefly.com/p/creative-abcs.html

You are very welcome to follow us here: