book nook: little blue and little yellow

Our first week of school was full of all things blue and yellow to go along with the book Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni. Here are five fun things we did in the classroom that you can do at home.

1. Color Mixing: Grab three small glass container such as juice glasses or baby food jars. Fill each a third of the way full with water. Leave one jar clear with just water, in the other two add liquid food color or liquid watercolor so that you have two jars each filled with their own primary color. Add a pipette or eyedropper and let your little scientist get to mixing. Have a towel nearby as some kiddo prefer to pour.

2. Circle printing: Gather an assortment of cylinders and/or tubes  (we used empty bean cans and paper towel tubes) for your kiddo to print with. Fill a tray, plate or cookie sheet with blue and yellow paint. Set out a large sheet of paper and let yer kiddo print away. The more they print the more the paint mixes and soon they will have three colors to print with.

3. Play Dough Mixing: Whip up your own play dough in blue and yellow (or other combo of primary colors). Set out rolling pins, cookie cutters, and citrus juicers (The Dollar Tree is where we found ours) and let the magic happen. Chances are your kiddos will squish away until their blue and yellow play dough turns green. We did this a lot in class often retelling the story as we played (And they hugged and they hugged until they turned green). Click here for the scrumdilly-do! recipe.

4. Pom pom sorting: Pick up a pack or two of pompoms from your local craft store or dollar store. We used a collection of poms pulled from a variety pack and from a single color pack purchased at Michael's (we purchased one blue and one yellow). Find two small bowls or baskets similar in size. Use the bottom of each bowl as a template to cut out a small circle of colored paper to place inside. We used blue and yellow but you can use any colors you like. The paper we used was from a scrapbook pack we have.

5. Circle sorter puzzle: This one is something you need to buy. I found ours on Zulily but you can find them online as well.

Not pictured is shaving cream color mixing, painting on a sphere, paper plate painting, curler stacking, pipecleaner and bead bracelets, blue and yellow collages, and blottos.

Popcorn day the sequel....

I must have used a LOT of glue....once yer kidlets' creations are dry, punch a hole near the top of the lid, thread some string, ribbon or yarn through it and hang it up. Pretty!

RAK week & Valentine's countdown

 With this nifty project you can RAK someone AND send them some Valentine's Day cheer! Introducing Shortbread Necklaces! If you are pressed for time, store bought sugar dough will work also, maybe even better but the shortbread is a bit tastier!

The cool thing about making shortbread is that anyone can do it. Write out the recipe on large flash cards and you've got yourself a fun math lesson for yer kidlets! Another nifty thing is that since there is no egg in the dough, your wee ones can sneak all the dough they want and not get sick...well...relatively speaking. Shortbread can be VERY flakey so the more you handle the dough and the thinner you roll it out, the less crumbly it will get. My basic shortbread recipe is as follows:

*2 sticks of butter, softenned almost melted

*1 3/4 cups of powdered sugar

*2 cups flour

*1 tsp pure vanilla extract

*additional seasonings like cinnamon, ginger, black pepper to taste...go to town!

Mix the butter and sugar first, add the vanilla and spices next then the flour. Kidlets can do the first part with a wooden spoon and mix in the flour with CLEAN hands. It is like play dough, they will LOVE it! Once the dough is mixed, loosely wrap it in a floured dishtowel or wax paper and stick it in the fridge for about 10 minutes to firm up. Roll it out on a floured surface and let the fun begin!

Roll out the dough so that it is less than a 1/2 inch thick. Cut out your heart shapes using different sized cutters:

Add your sprinkles and whatnot...you can even have yer kidlets "paint" the dough with food color if ya like and then "punch a hole in the center of the cookie using a straw.

Arrange them on a cookie sheet and bake in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes. The thinner your cookies the quicker they bake so keep an eye on them:

Remove from the oven, allow to cool. If the holes have closed up a bit you can widen them using a chopstick. Be gentle. the warm shortbread is pretty delicate. Once the cookies have cooled, thread 2 or 3 onto a skinny ribbon, red & white twine or a licorice whip. Wrap 'em up in a trusty chinese take-out container that has been decorated by yer wee ones and deliver pronto! You may want to make extra's for yourself..these cookies are YUMMY!

Stay tuned all week for more lurvely crafts for you and yer wee ones!

Make a Time Capsule!

If you are an oatmeal family, chances are you often find yourself with an empty container or two. You have used those containers for storage, drums, buildings, and perhaps science projects, but have you made a time capsule yet? January is the perfect month for Time Capsule making. You and yer kidlets can accumulate some great good stuff from the previous year to tuck away and bury until next year. You can make it a family tradition! Here's a nifty how to guide with pictures and everything!



To start, you will need to gather your supplies:
*Empty oatmeal container
*glue, gluestick, and/or tape
*markers, crayons & paint
*nifty printed papers, giftwrap, constructionpaper or magazine pages
*ribbon & other collage items for that extra bit of pizazz



Remove the paper label from your oatmeal container and have your kidlets decorate the outside. If using regular sized paper, you will need two sheets to cover. Have the kids decorate the paper first before wrapping the container. Allow their creations to dry and make sure they know there may be overlap if using two sheets.



Now, while waiting for the niftiness to dry, gather your materials to tuck away inside. My container contains some of the following:

*nifty handmade postcards from friends
*a favorite xmas gift
*a favorite robot toy
*something I made
*a valentine I cherish
*a wee notebook full of swap notes I wrote to myself

The ideas are only limited to size. Include photographs, report cards, artwork, letters, stories, softies...you get the picture. Get old fashionned and make an audio tape of your kids talking aobut their favorite bits of the year or make a mix cd full of your favorite tunes from the year.See? Too many ideas!



Once your time Capsule is dry and ready, tuck all the goodies inside, add the date somewhere and seal. I used packing tape.



Now, where oh where are you going to "bury" it? YOu can tuck it away in a closet or the attic. If you choose to actually bury it, make sure you wrap it up in a plastic bag and have the kids create a map to the treasure!

Another spin on the Time Capsule for older kids would be to have them write themselves a letter about the year. Gather some smallish flat items like a favorite cd, artwork and photographs and put them into an envelope with their name on the front. Seal and hold onto it for 5 or more years. When they reach 16 or 18 or 21 mail them their time capsules for their birthdays. It is a gift more fun and precious than you can ever know!