Classics- Rock Painting

Rock painting is fun and easy and a classic Montessori based activity. My niece and I went searching for rocks. Didn't find many big ones but that's ok! We still had fun painting the small ones. (I painted a lot myself!) "Indy" didn't have much interest in it at first, much to my surprise. (I fear he is much less interested in a lot of stuff I present. Maybe it should be more challenging? Also, since Big Brother is home all the time now he wants to hang with the Big Boys and not me. :( Oh, well. I keep on trying anyways. ) Eventually he painted a few when I told him we should paint some gold to use as treasure in the Moon Sand etc. We used some sparkly paint like the gold and they came out really cool looking. My niece LOVED painting the rocks and made sure she had plenty to take home.

Weekly Unplugged Project- Petal

I have a secret plan to try to use up ALL the craft sticks in the house. Of course we will never really run out but it's nice to have a goal. :) There just seems like there is a neverending supply. Here is one such project using craft sticks. And incorporating the Weekly Unplugged Theme of Petals.

This was a collaborative project. He colored the "stems" (craft sticks!) green one day and then lost interest. So my niece cut and glued on the petals with me the next day. Then after they dried...

I had them play this game with the flowers they had made. They started off with one flower and had to run down the yard and stick it in the ground by the other flowers then run back grab another flower and do the same thing. They each had 3 flowers to stick in the ground. It was easier because the ground was still damp from all the rain. Next time I would have them run down to a pot with dirt in it and stick the flowers in. Would have been much easier! You live you learn.

Weekly Unplugged Project- Magic

For this weeks Unplugged Project I pulled the only two "magic tricks" I know out of my hat. :) I have remembered these since I was a kid. We did the "I bet I can walk through this piece of paper" trick and the "Bet I can put pins/needles/thumbtacks into this balloon without popping it" trick. You love my terminology I know.

Cut along the lines and then cut only the middle apart and walk through!



Scotch tape was the secret in this magic trick.

Muffin Tin Monday - Theme: Children's Literature

Our Muffin Tin was based on the book Growing Vegetable Soup (Books for Young Readers). We used craft sticks to labels our vegetables like they did in the book for their garden.

Inside the book:

Last Minute Mothers Day Present

I had a lot of ideas running around in my head for his present to make his mom for Mothers Day. I decided to use up the Plaster of Paris that has been sitting in their closet for 4 years. So, we made Plaster of Paris collage heart. We used glitter, scrabble tiles, glass rocks etc. He helped make one for me too. :)

Weekly Unplugged Project- Powder

Does flour and baking soda count as powder? I sure hope so. So today for the Weekly Unplugged Project we used his favorite product FLOUR and made stress balls. We made some with flour and some with baking soda. We didn't have any cornstarch. :) Or a real funnel and my homemade one was a total FAIL. While we had balloons out to tried to make bean bags like Flip Flops and Applesauce. So not as cute as hers! Plus my computer died in the middle of reading the directions fully.

Pretty boring.

I admit it. I have been slacking lately on the exciting project front. Between neighborhood garage sales and weird "working" hours and birthdays we have been basically just hanging out. The most exciting things lately have been 50 cent sand art (garage sale find!), giant Cars puzzle (birthday present!) and discussing Titanic! Oh! I also bought him a canvas bag he could decorate so he could hold some of our many library books. Yes, he drew the Titanic and an Iceberg on it.

He turned 5 years old a week or so ago. 5! I have been watching him since he was a little over 6 months old or so. It's crazy. He starts kindergarten next school year. :(

Next week I am going to start some hardcore project making and exciting activity having because once summer comes and Big Brother is home all the time it will be harder to get him to concentrate on me. :)

Random Pictures: