The Very Hungry Caterpillar {Tot School}

A couple of weeks ago, Piper attended a summer camp at a local church.

That meant that for 5 mornings in a row I was down to 2 kids!

Considering that the babe naps for much of the morning, it ended up being quite the break everyday!

It's too strange not having all my kiddies with me every day but I took advantage of the alone time with Taitum and planned a whole week of activities surrounding The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Here is what we did!

First, she created the leaf with the egg on it by do-a-dotting a leaf green and adding a marshmallow as the egg.

I put this little counting activity on the fridge for her.

Each leaf had a number and she had to put the correct number of eggs (pom pom magnets) on each one.

Another day she made the classic egg carton caterpillar by painting the egg carton strip and adding anntenae and eyes.

She then helped me prepare a game to go along with her caterpillar by cutting out the pictures of food I had printed.

For the game, she would find and count the right food that the caterpillar ate as I came to it in the story.

It was pretty simple but she loved it especially since I added eating noises as she fed the caterpillar!

(Find the food printable here!)

Next, we went to work on a chrysalis.

I thought Tait would love paper mache since she adores sensory play but she ended up being totally grossed out by the feel of the water and flour mixture and I ended up doing the grand majority of it!

Piper helped her paint it after it had dried.

It's hanging on the wall in the kitchen right now and I plan to fill it with butterfly treats to surprise them some day soon! 

Likely after my next trip to Bulk Barn!

We added a little adventure to our learning by travelling out to a local fruit stand.

Taitum was in charge of finding the fruit that the very hungry caterpillar ate and counting out the right number of each.

She was thrilled to get to push the cart around and do her very own grocery shopping!

She couldn't wait to show Piper when she got home and both girls become very hungry caterpillars and gobbled it all up!

Piper joined us in our butterfly project.

The plan was to do a crayon resist painting.

Tait opted out of the crayon part and simply painted her butterfly while Piper did the crayon resist.

So there you have it!

The life cycle of a butterfly on our kitchen wall!

Now we are keeping our eyes open for butterflies and caterpillars when we're playing outside.

We did find some eggs on a leaf a few days ago!

We also watched this video which I found simply amazing!

The whole metamorphosis of a butterfly is so amazing!

I even learned some new things from the facts included in the video!

This week made me really miss our school time.

We really do have so much fun together!

I'm trying my best to chill out and enjoy these warm summer days but truth be told - I'm quite anxious for school to begin again!

Ha!

I never thought I'd say such a thing!

But I've been working hard on the coming years lesson plans and getting so excited for what is in store for me and my little gals this year!

Corduroy {BFIAR}

The past week started out with the most beautiful day!

We weren't about to waste it so I packed the girls up and headed to a lake near our home!

We decided to bring along our baby salamanders and release them.

I was afraid keeping them much longer would be their demise!

We found the perfect spot to say good bye and returned the nymphs back to the wild!

We continued on to the beach.

The morning there was pure bliss.

I totally should have brought their bathing suits but figured the water would be too cold.

Silly Mama!

I should have known!

By the end they were soaked, covered in sand and grinning from ear to ear!

 

 

The rest of the week was spent 'rowing' Corduroy by Don Freeman.

In the book, Corduroy the bear is purchased by a little girl who loves him despite his imperfection - a missing button.

She kindly sews one back on for him.

The girls delighted in the opportunity to get their hands on some buttons this week, too!

They adore looking through them and discovering pretty and unique ones!

They sorted them by color and counted them.

 

 

And tried their hand at 'sewing' with them!

I assembled these sewing hoops for them using embroidery hoops and onion bag netting.

Then they used yarn and plastic needles to sew buttons onto their hoop!

 

Another day, I set up a toy store just like the one Corduroy was in!

I lined up their stuffed animals, added price tags to them, set up a cash and pulled out our box of plastic (Canadian!) money!

At first, I was the cashier so they could see how to play the part of customer and cashier.

I even made them do something (like dance for me) to earn money once they ran out of cash!

Once they saw how 'toy store' was played, they took over and shopped and sold for much of the morning!

In Corduroy, Lisa, the little girl, is able to return to the store and purchase the bear with money she had saved in her piggy bank.

This lead a disscussion about money - how we earn it and what we should do with it.

This resulted in a craft in which the girls began making 3 banks each - spend, save and share.

We haven't quite completed them yet since we spent a lot of time discussing the 3 banks.

Spend is for money that you can use anytime.

(Such as at yard sales or candy shop.)

Save is for keeping money in until you have enough to purchase something specific.

(They are going to pick something specific and take a picture of it to add to this bank as a goal to save for.)

Share is for giving in the offering at church and to others in need.

( I used our sponser child as an example for them.)

Next, they assembled chore charts.

They recieve ten cents for each chore they do each day.

Their chores don't include things they are expected to do any way like put their dirty clothes in the laundry or clear their dishes from the table.

No, these chores are fun and exciting!

Like vacuuming or washing dishes!

My girls are pumped to not only get to do these awesome jobs but to get paid for them, too!

I'm not much of a chart mom so this system may not last long but it was the only way that I could think of for them to consistently earn money.

I think it is really important that they learn money sense from a young age and this is a fun way to begin!

For the rest of the morning, Piper was running around the house doing stuff and after each chore she would run to me with her hand out and excitedly yell, "MONEY!"

I gently explained that she wouldn't get the money until the end of the day.

Instead, she moves the corresponding chore sticker to her chart to show that she completed it!

Piper continued on with her nature journal this week entering forget-me-nots and crab apple blossoms.

She is quite diligent with this and enjoys finding the right crayon to match the flower's color.

I am learning a lot, too, since I am completely clueless about flower names.

Seriously - I had to Google what those pretty blue wild flowers were!

They week ended with a trip to Daddy's work!

He had taken our praying mantis eggs there and called to say they had hatched during the night!

I am so grateful it happened at his work becuase they escaped their little cage!

Thankfully, he had them in an aquarium in his classroom so they didn't get far!

We visited him at school to check out the new little hatchlings and I was pleasantly surprised -

I actually like these insects!

Normally, I won't go near any insects (on purpose) but for some reason praying manti don't gross me out at all!

I even held one willingly!

They're {almost} cute!

They girls wouldn't touch them but really enjoyed watcing them!

Once our garden is planted next week, we plan on releasing them as an organic form of pesticide!

Phew!

And I wondered why I didn't find any time to blog this past week!

These posts always remind me of how much we actually do!

But are we ever having fun!

Salamanders, Food Chains and Flowers

This week we took a break from our scheduled learning.

Instead we dabbled in various things that came our way.

Although I certainly don't think I could school my kids like this all the time ( I need a schedule and a plan! ), I quite enjoy every so often takng a week and filling it with learning about things they are curious about or taking advantage of opportunities that everyday life provides.

This week was filled with lots of talk about salamanders since our eggs hatched, food chains and flowers!

First, of all, we read this book: The Salamander Room by Ann Mazer.

It's about a little boy who finds a salamander and his ideas about building a habitat for it in his room.

It lead to many good discussions about caring for our own salamanders!

We learned that salamanders are carnivorous.

Piper was none too happy about this!

She is not pleased with the idea of animals eating other animals especially if the eaten creature is an ant.

That girl of mine LOVES ants!

So when we found some tiny ants to feed to our baby salamanders a lot of discussion ensued about food chains and the necessity of them.

We watched "The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten"....

 

And then came up with our own food chain involving the ants and salamander nymphs.

Initially, I drew the pictures as Piper came up with answers of what eats what.

(For the record, I doubt ants live on a diet of bread, nor do bears commonly eat cats but it's what she came up with and since it is possible, we went with it!)

Next, I asked Pipe to draw her own food chain.

She drew an ant.

Then she drew herself.

"This is an ant and this is me. I love ants!"

Sigh.

I'm not so sure that lesson was overly successful!

But she did draw a pretty great picture and so I congratulated her on that and we moved on!

:)

Taitum learned blue this week.

Therefore, our science experiment involved turning white carnations blue!

(Remember our tea party centerpiece?)

This provided a good chance to talk about how flowers 'drink' water and how it is necessary for them to grow.

 

As another color blue activity we bought some water beads.

The girls had such a grea time with this and Taitum especially enjoyed it, asking to play with them several times a day!

If you've never tried these with your kids, you should!

You can find them in the flower section at Walmart.

(Also, they are non toxic.)

You simply fill a container with water and pour the tiny beads in.

The girls played with them for a while at this stage and could already see them increasing in size!

Piper enjoyed trying to grab as many as she could and then counting to see how many were in her hand.

By the next day, they were quite a bit larger!

I gave the girls some tools to use for pouring and scooping and they went to town!

By the end of it there was quite the puddle on my kitchen floor but it was well worth it for all the fun they had!

Near the end of the week the sun had decided to join us so we did some 'school time' outdoors.

The girls are always excited for school but when I announce that it's going to happen outside, they are over the moon!

We started our nature journals this week, too.

This is something I've been wanting to start with them for a while now but never got around to.

I think it will be part of our summer school plan.

(Which isn't as mean as it sounds! Haha! I'll explain more later!)

Here are pictures of the girls drawing pictures of the violets they found on one of our walks.

With Piper, I also write the name of the flower under her picture and then she copies it.

With Taitum, I am mainly focusing on her being able to identify what color the flower is and find the corresponding crayon!

That was our week!

Next week we are planning on 'rowing' Corduroy!

First Pet(s)

Do you remember your first pet?

And just how excited you were about it?

There is something special about being given the responsibility of looking after a creature and having it live in your house!

My girls love animals and pretty much every other creature you can think of (except for maybe giant snails...hehehe...).

So when I informed them they were going to get their very own pet pets this last Saturday, they were ecstatic.



Especially Pipey who probably has more maternal instincts than I do!

So what woud their very first pets be?

Praying mantids!

I know.

Not exactly conventional.

Nonetheless, the girls were over the moon!

They have yet to hatch and have taken up residence in our bathroom awaiting their birth day.

Oh the anticipation.

The things I do in the name of education.

I can't even watch the youtube video of them hatching without wanting to throw up.

True story.

But they are exceptionally cool.

(And I hear they eat spiders so they can't be all bad, right?)

We've already had some issues though.

I'm preparing Piper beforehand by warning her that they will likely eat each other when they hatch.

It's how they're made, what they do.

But this girl cries when I kill the ants that invade my kitchen every spring.

She's sweetly sensitive about these things.

She's quite adamant about the fact that brothers and sisters should not each other.

Even if they are carnivorous insects.

Sigh.

This could end in disaster.

At least Tait, I'm sure, will find it absolutely rivetting!

Well, I'm off to see if a plethora of bugs have hatched in my bathroom yet!

But a word to the wise -

if your kid is as sensitive as my Piper, don't show them the praying mantis and goldfish video...

The Sun Came For A Visit!

This week we had 2 whole days of sunshine!! Which for us meant dropping everything and heading outside for some much needed fresh air! So although in many ways we set aside our bug themed activities in pursuit of outdoor adventures, the fact of the matter is when you're outside there is always a lesson on bugs to be had!

Our first lesson was intentional. It was one we had postponed from our rainy ant week. We set out flour, salt and honey on the driveway. Piper then predicted that they would like the honey the most. It took a little while before any ants happened by but Piper was very patient and spent quite a while waiting for them to come!

In the end her prediction proved true! And she was so excited to see them chowing down on the honey!

She also found a spider stuck to some tape - a perfect opportunity to get to check it out up close!

The girls found a junebug crawling around and followed it until it found a hiding place!

Taitum was rather intrigued by some ant hills we found. It was so cute to listen to Piper explain what they were to her!

Before this rainy month began, I had planned a bunch of outdoor activities. Because of the gloomy weather we haven't been able to do much of what I'd planned. So I was pleased to have a chance to try one of the activities I'd planned: Ball painting!

First, we'd put them in a container with paint, put on the lid and give it a good shake. Then we'd let the ball go on the paper! It was fun to see the different designs it made!

Taitum was more interested in finger painting!

Here's our masterpiece!

We also did some dandilion prints!

Piper spent loads of time blowing bubbles...

And Taitum had fun making bubbles with the bubble mower!

Inside, we spent some time  doing a bug graph from the Pretty Bug and Creatures Preschool Pack at 1+1+1=1. Piper would roll the dice...

Then fill in the graph according to which bug she rolled and kept doing so until we had a 'winner'! She LOVED this!

Piper also made a spider web by string painting after we read Aranea. She's done this one at Halloween before but enjoys string painting so didn't seem to mind doing a re-do of a craft! Tait gave it a try to but was too quickly frustrated with trying to control the string!

Although this was a week that drifted away from our original plan, it was fantastic nonetheless! Getting to roam around outside is always far better than any academic type activities I could plan! I'd even go so far as to say its likely more educational! I find even I am becoming a wee bit more comfortable with bugs (which is a HUGE step for me!) as we learn about them and what they are up to! I love getting to learn with my kids!

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