Puppets & Stuffed Animals…Free, Washer Box…Free, Hours of Fun for a 5 year old…PRICELESS!

Our 5 year old Miss AJ has recently found the joy of puppets and performing for the family.  It started out with 2 puppets that Grandma and Grandpa gave to little Miss C. for her birthday (a pig and a chicken), and a kitchen chair as a stage.  She would gather us to the living room and oink and cheap at us for many, many LONG minutes.

Saturday, I decided she needed some guidance and a place to perform.  After a few calls to the local appliance stores, we found a washer box that was still in tact and free.

With a razor blade, some scrap fabric turned curtains and some paper flowers to add a girly touch, Miss AJ now had a new venue for her puppet shows.  She just kept screaming, “This is totally awesome!”  I was the best Mom ever all day long.

Now we are finding signs posted all over the house telling us that the show is “OPENE” (ya gotta love the kindergarten spelling!).  She now performs The 3 Little Bears, Little Red Riding Hood and Five Little Ducks went out to Play with Barbie dolls, stuffed animals, and a card table in front for added scenery made from building blocks.  With the cousins and her friends she spent several hours this weekend planning and practicing to perform for her adoring fans…Mom and Dad, & Grammie and Papa of course!

The girl loves the stage in any form she can get it!

Tooth Fairy Pillow Tutorial

We have been awaiting the loss of Miss AJ’s first tooth for a couple of weeks now.

I first saw this pillow on The Idea Room. I can’t take credit for its crafty cuteness! Nor could I resist making one for our house to enjoy…

Items needed:

• white fabric (about 20 inches, 45 inches wide)
• black embroidery floss
• white thread and sewing machine
• tooth pattern (I drew my own)
• pillow batting
• velcro or button (if you want the flap to close securely)
• red crayon

Here’s what I did…

1. Trace tooth pattern onto white fabric and cut out 2 “teeth”.
2. Cut out 1 pocket and 1 flap from remaining fabric.
3. Sew pocket and flap onto one of the “teeth”. Add velcro or button at this time.
4. On the other “tooth” embroider the face using the backstitch (for the mouth) and French knots (for the eyes) then lightly color some cheeks with the red crayon.
5. Put right sides of the 2 “teeth” together and sew together, leaving an opening about 1-2 inches wide so you can stuff the pillow. Turn inside out.
6. Stuff the pillow to the desired fluffiness. The kids loved doing this part. I used a long handled spoon to help get the stuffing down into the “roots” of the “teeth”.
7. Sew opening shut by hand.
8. Snuggle and wait for Tooth Fairy!

Getting Organized…

I love starting a new year with getting organized. There is nothing quite like opening a freshly organized drawer or cabinet and being able to find what you are looking for! This month we tackled the girls’ bedrooms and their dresser drawers. No more, “Mom! Where are my pants!” I even got little Miss C. (age 2) involved in the process.

First I printed some simple clip art pictures of the items contained in each drawer…colored and cut them out.

Next came the teaching moment. You have to teach them the organization system or you will be the one always organizing things! This way they know the drill and can be better helpers.

I hade little Miss C. open the drawers and tell me what she saw in them and then she had to match the picture to the items in the drawer.

Lastly, we taped the picture to the outside of the drawer. Now when we clean her room she can put her “jammies” in the “jammie drawer”! I love it!

I also helped my 5 year old get her drawers organized. We put signs in the bottom of her drawers so she can see what is supposed to go it each drawer.

Science Experiment

I am preparing to have pre-school at my house this week, and the letter I am teaching is the letter I. So we are going to do a science experiment with ice cubes.

Description: A fun science experiment to see what container makes ice cubes melt the fastest/slowest.

Items Needed: Several different containers (at least enough for each person inolved), an ice cube for each container, a stop watch, and eager and excited young scientists.

Target Age: Pre-school, and Kindergarten age (but it could be adapted for older children)

We placed one ice cube in each container and start the timer. Have each person choose which ice cube they think will melt the fastest. Then check on them periodically to see how they are doing. This is a very juvenile experiment with a lot of variables that could change the outcome, but for pre-school children, it is just right. Also, you can do different variations of this same experiment--how many minutes does it take for an ice cube to melt, use several of the same container to see whose ice cube melts first, etc.

As for time contraints, it really varies depending on the type of containers you use and the size of your ice cubes. For us, the ice cube in the glass mug melted first, and it took 47 minutes.

Our Very Own Art Gallery

I found this idea while attending a game night at the house of one of my husband's co-workers. All it is, is a ribbon strung from one side of a wall to the other with clothes pins placed on the ribbon. So, now when my budding artists finish one of their masterpieces, they can hang it up for all to see. (The trick is limiting the amount of paper hung on each clothes pin.)

Little Gardeners

'Tis the season for growing new things, and I helped my kids plant some seeds to watch grow indoors before we plant them out in the garden.

We planted bean seeds in plastic cups and placed them in plastic ziplock bags. They are currently sitting in our bathroom out of the sun, where they will stay until they sprout.

Once they have sprouted, we will take them out of the plastic bags and begin introducing them to the sun. Then once the weather is more consistently warm, we will begin introducing them to the outdoors during the day to harden them off. Then into the ground they'll go once it is safe to plant.

Post-Easter Fun

I don't know about the rest of you, but I always feel a big let-down after a fun holiday. This day-after-Easter is no exception. We had such a good time at our Easter egg hunts over the past couple of days; so, today, since my kids were a little restless (and high on Easter candy), we decided to have another Easter egg hunt. We still had all the eggs out from the real thing yesterday, so I had them to fill up a few eggs with small toys from the playroom then hide them for the other to find. They had a great time finding toys to hide, and you'd think it was Easter all over again when they discovered what was hidden in the eggs they found.