Muffin Tin Matching: Letter Bb

I love finding things around my house to incorporate learning activities with. It's almost like a treasure hunt for me! I did get this idea, using the muffin tin, from another blog I read. Except this mom would call it Muffin Tin Munchies, and I think she would serve snacks in the muffin tins. Instead of snacks, how about some more letter Bb review? I wanted to touch on capital and lowercase. Here's the materials I used.

I traced six lowercase, "b's" and six uppercase "B's" on a muffin wrapper. Then colored them in different colors (not gonna lie, this was confusing for an 18 month old. Duh. Sometimes I forget she's not the five year old that I teach). I did have to use a small piece of tape to tape down the muffin wrappers. They wanted to come out.



I then traced the same amount of lower and uppercase "Bb's" onto construction paper to match the ones in the muffin tins, so she could match them. The matching was very much mommy-directed. I think this would've been a little easier if the "Bb's" were all one color. Then we could focus on just matching the uppercase to uppercase and lowercase to lowercase. The colors were a little overstimulating to a year and a half year old, I think.

So, after matching them once or twice, we chunked the wrappers and just practiced manipulating each letter in each tin. We talked about it being uppercase and lowercase. This was much more fun! AB did this for half an hour!



Like I said, I sometimes forget I'm not the mother of a five year old. I feel like I'm a five year old mom, most of the day!! Just like teaching, not all lessons go as planned. Luckily, we came up with a modified version and really enjoyed it. This activity would have been great for a two and a half or three year old I think! I'm glad this muffin tin got some use, it hasn't been used for it's original purpose in a long time! :0)

Cross-curricular: Math: Muffin tins would be great to use for math activities. What an awesome way to pattern. Each row of the tin could be a different pattern. Also, what about sorting? Give your kids their favorite cereal such as fruit loops for sorting the different colors or Alpha-Bits cereal for sorting each of the letters (you'd need two muffin tins for this) or, instead of muffin tins you can use ice cube trays. Use the muffin tins for number identification. Also, you can put a certain number of objects in each tin, and the child can match the number with the correct amount. How about a good game of memory or concentration using the muffin tins? Since the muffin tins are metal, you could incorporate magnetic activities. Kids of all ages love using magnets! ELA: You could draw or print out pictures with matching rhymes. Students could match the rhymes using the muffin tin. Introducing letters, a few at a time and matching them. Same with using pictures for beginning and ending sounds.

Valentine's Day Deliveries

This year I wanted to start a new tradition; handmade Valentine cards and goodies, and delivering them on V Day. It was super fun, but I'll be glad when AB is older and can add her own sweet little twist to them. This year they were Mommy designed and Mommy created. It was still fun.

I love, love, love personalized Valentine's. Don't get me wrong, the store bought ones are cute - but there's nothing like heart doilies and a bunch of red, pink, purple and white on a card! I found this package of a bunch of die cut hearts, flowers, stars, tags and circles at hobby lobby. It was only $5.00 for a whole bunch of decorative die cuts! I hadn't ever used anything like this before, but for this craft, it was an excellent purchase! Here is what the package looked like. It was filled with different shapes!

I removed all of them from the package and sorted them by shape (that's the Kindergarten teacher in me). It was so much easier to use after they were sorted.

Surprisingly enough, the best purchase I made was for a DOLLAR! I found this 8 pack of plain color and metallic paper in the dollar bins at Target. This is what I used for the cards.

Some of the finished products.

I knew I wanted AB to be able to give her friends a treat to go with the cards, but I didn't want to do the same 'ol box of chocolates, and wanted to keep it reasonable. So, I bought this awesome silicone heart-shaped cupcake/cookie/brownie pan at Hobby Lobby! So, we made brownies for our friends.

To decorate it, I cut out little heart-shaped Annabelles. Lol!

At Hobby Lobby, I also bought toothpicks with hearts on the end. One side said, "Love, Annabelle." The other side was...

Her face! Haha. Cracks me up! We stuck the toothpicks in the middle of the brownies!

I wrapped the brownies in cellophane and tied it up with ribbon. I found sacks to match the toothpick hearts at Hobby Lobby, too. By the way, have I mentioned I heart Hobby Lobby?

I thought this was so cute, I got this idea from Martha Stewart.com. To seal the bag, decorate a heart and glue it to a clothespin. The clothespin keeps the bag closed.

The goody bags all fixed up and ready to be delivered. AB and I had fun running around and delivering them!

If there's one thing I want to instill in Annabelle, it's the reason for every day, every occasion and every holiday - our loving Father. Especially on a day that is about love...let's give credit to the one who has the greatest and most unconditional love of all. We had to include His word on our cards. I hope it sticks with her always:

"We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him." 1 John 4:16

Happy Valentine's Day to all our friends and family!

Valentine Sneak Preview

Pink, Red, and White, Alert!

So excited about all of this fun V-day stuff! AB and I will be working on our Valentine's for her friends and delivering them on Monday! Don't think I'm not getting some creative ideas from good old Martha. I found this website and I've been planning out my Valentine's ideas from here!

I Don't Mean to Brag...

...but I have to! It's "The Brag Bag!" So, while I was at Hobby Lobby the other day shopping for Valentines, I found myself on an aisle I've never noticed before! I know I've had to have visited that aisle a time or two, but didn't pay much attention to the merchandise! There were all kinds of different color, size and patterned bags. I've been wracking my brain to come up with a new reward for my students for their good manners. I've started a reward system called, "Manners Matter!" This is where they get a little slip of paper acknowledging an act of good manners. The slips go into a basket where I draw their names at the end of the week. I've been trying to come up with a reward other than a prize out of the goody box. I got it! What about a "Brag Bag?" It's sort of like show and tell, but they can only choose one item to bring from home that fits in the bag, and only one or two students per week will get to take "The Brag Bag" home. So excited!

Ok, so here's how I made it. Super easy! Instead of your typical iron on letters, I found an alternative. It took a little bit more time, but so much cuter!

I found this iron-on art leopard paper. It is only one sheet, but there's plenty of room to create your own letters on the page. That's what I did! Here's what it looks like

I found a really big, thick font I liked on a Word document. I think I chose the "Rockwell" font. I printed out the letters, cut them out and then traced them on the back of the leopard sheet.

It took a while, but I cut out all the traced letters.

This was the bag I chose for my "brag bag." I loved the black with leopard combination. Heck! I wanted to go hot pink and leopard, but I had to realize that boys would want to take this home, too. I had to keep it somewhat neutral!

I ironed on the letters, paper-side up. The instructions are on the package, but you hold the iron over the letters for 15-20 seconds, then let cool 1-2 minutes.

After they've cooled, peel back the paper gently.

Tah-dah! How cute is that?? It's so easy, too! I love the option of this leopard paper because whenever I buy iron on letter letters that come in a package, it's frustrating because I know I may need two or three of a certain letter. This usually means purchasing another package for only one letter - so frustrating. Even though this was a bit more time consuming, it's so much more personalized and I had plenty of room to trace as many letters as I needed. I was able to choose what font I wanted and the size!

Modifications: Now that I know all of those fun bags are there and they had different prints for the iron on paper, I could go crazy making bags. How about for the little artists out there? Wouldn't this be cute to create a craft or activity bag for your little one to take with them on long car rides? That aisle also had fun flowers, poofs, iron-on appliques, etc. Imagine the possibilities when decorating one. Keep in mind, this is going to be going home with a student every week. This "brag bag" will be doing lots of traveling! I didn't want to put anything on it that would easily fall off and I'd have to replace, but you could add jewels, embroidery, ribbons, etc...

Let's Learn About Colors - The Yummy Way!

*So, as some of you know. I've been missing my battery charger since Christmas. I'm about to the point of buying a new one. So I'm having to resort to using my phone camera - which isn't bad, but that's why some of the pictures are blurry and a little unclear. One of these days, hopefully soon, I'll get back to my camera!

No credit for me with this fun baking/learning experience! I completely stole the idea from my sweet friend, Chrys! I had actually seen this on her blog a few years back when she did this with her boys. She sent me a recipe via her blog the other day, and I came across this fun way to learn about colors and bake some yummy cookies at the same time.

This is a great activity for the older ones if you're teaching them about coloring mixing and the primary colors. I, of course, didn't go into that with an 18 month old. Actually, here's something I've learned about living with an 18 month old...if you're going to make cookies with them, don't tell them until you're actually ready to do it!!!! Right before I put AB down for a nap, I told her when she wakes up, we're going to make cookies. Oh, dear. She cried for a good ten minutes, "Cookies! Cookies!" I've learned my lesson...

I actually do recommend this for the older kiddos (2 and up). AB did a great job, but she's too little to take it all in with the colors, and of course we had some self-control issues with the eating of the cookies...and the dough.

Here's the recipe (thanks Chrys for letting me share!):

1 cup butter

1cup sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups sifted flour

1/4 tsp salt

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in egg yolks and vanilla. Sift together flour and salt. Gradually add to cream mixture. Chill dough for ease in handling. Shape balls into one inch diameter. Place on cookie sheet and with finger, make a deep impression in the center. Bake 15-18 minutes and cool 7-10. Then add icing to center of cookie.

Icing:

2 cups powdered sugar

2 T butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

2 T hot water

Food coloring

In small mixing bowl combine sugar, butter and vanilla. Gradually add water and beat until  smooth and mixture holds shape slightly.

After I put AB down, I made the dough and I let it chill for an hour and a half to two hours, until AB woke up. It was perfect when I pulled it out of the fridge. I let AB try rolling a ball of dough herself. When I looked away for two seconds, she had taken a big bite out of the dough. Yes, I did call my mom in a bit of a panic because this was the first time (my first child!) had eaten raw cookie dough. She said she'd be fine! This was right before the big bite of the cookie dough was taken! I mean come on, look at that smile. How did I not know she was plotting that?

While the first batch was in the oven, I made the icing. Tip: the first time I made the icing, I mixed it with my hand-held beater. Even after the hot water was added, the icing formed clumps and never smoothed out. I then made another batch using my kitchen-aid mixer (a lot slower) and it worked perfectly.

Then I put the icing into six different bowls for the different colors. As I mixed each color into the icing, AB and I talked about the color. However, I wish you could see the pictures of when Chrys did hers. Her colors were much softer than mine. I'm still laughing at how I mixed red and blue...and got black instead of purple.

The pouring of the icing with all of those colors was tricky with an 18 month old. We managed though. After I mixed the colors most of the way, I let AB mix them the rest of the way.

Then we poured them the icing onto the cookie, in the middle where the thumbprint impression was made. So fun!

Best part of all - they're so good! We made almost 30, and they're almost all gone. That was two days ago! I think AB agrees.

For the older chefs: This is a great activity (any recipe is) for following directions and measurement. Also, the color mixing is a good way to learn about the colors. I think 18 months is as young as I would go with making these because of the messy icing and food coloring, but the older kids would be such a good help and love putting the ingredients together and mixing the colors. It's still fun for me to see the colors develop (except for purple!) when mixing the food coloring in the icing!

Introducing Treasure Tubes: Letter Bb

As we've been cooped up in the house over the last four days, I've been dying to teach something to AB or make a craft or do SOMETHING! However, seeing as that driving conditions are a bit hazardous right now, I'm very limited on materials to use! I had to dig in my "craft" drawer and other places in the house. I looked in the pantry, closets, drawers, etc... to hopefully find something that would be engaging and fun to do with Annabelle. That's when I came up with this whole treasure tube business. Want to know what all it is?



Yup, a Pringles can. That's it! I'm not sure if this is an 18 month old thing or not, but I know that my daughter's most FAVORITE past time is finding containers and collecting things around the house. She spends hours, literally, walking around and putting objects in the containers and taking them out again. That's the main reason, this nearly empty Pringles can stood out to me in the pantry.

For this activity you'll need these basic materials:

* Pringles can

* Construction paper (or any kind of long paper on hand) to cover the can

* Crayons, markers or colored pencils

* Tape

* Stickers and/or anything else to decorate your treasure tube



The idea behind this for me, is to introduce letters, numbers and colors. I know that I buy Pringles every now and then, I don't always have them on hand. The great thing is, you can reuse the can over and over by not taping the paper directly to the tube. Or, if you are a Pringles addict and have a couple of cans lying around your house every week or two, you can make it more permanent. You could have one for every letter of the alphabet...then comes the dilemma of where to store them. It's up to you. In this case, I'm not making it so permanent. Like I said, my materials are very limited. I didn't have any construction paper at home, so I used pink wrapping paper.

I actually wouldn't recommend using wrapping paper unless you used permanent markers to write on it. I don't know about you, but I'm not handing my 18 month old a Sharpie! We started out the first time using regular markers, but by the time we wrapped the paper around the can, the markers smeared because of the slick surface. So, I had to result to using a Sharpie and I gave AB colored pencils for her to "decorate." Stickers would be a great thing, too, to decorate with. Below are some of the materials I had on hand, and some you'll need.

Make sure after you wrap your paper around the tube, you mark where the paper wraps around and meets. 



This way, when you go to decorate your paper and it's spread out on the table, you know not to decorate past either one of the marks and your decorating and writing will be visible.

Today we are focusing on the letter "Bb" for this Treasure Tube. Why not the letter, "Aa?" Well, that's because I first introduced the letter "A" to AB when she was about 10 months old, so that child has the letter "A" down! In fact, she has it down so well, that every other letter in the world is the letter, "A." So, it's time to move on to a new letter. So, make sure to specify the letter, number, color, concept, etc...that you are focusing on, on the front of the tube.

After the paper is decorated, wrap it around the tube. I taped the paper to the paper, not the can so I can reuse this one again.

Prior knowledge: Before going on our "Bb" treasure hunt, I printed a "Bb" coloring/tracing page off a site that I refer to quite often for early childhood activities, http://www.first-school.ws/INDEX.HTM. I let AB color it, and we talked about the what the letter was and the sound it made. I did some hand-over-hand practice as we rainbow wrote the letters.

After AB was finished with her part, I colored the "Bb" pictures at the bottom of the page, for an extension activity for another day.

I cut out the pictures and hung her art work on the fridge for us to go over and recognize over a period of time (topped off with a "B" magnet, of course!).

Along with the "Bb" coloring/tracing sheet, you can print off two pages to put together a mini book and glue the pictures on each page. I prepared the book and pictures, and put them in a plastic baggie for another day.

Let the treasure hunting for the letter, "Bb," begin! (Important side note: One thing I've learned from being a Kinder teacher, most kids come in only knowing their uppercase letters, and being able to identify and write in only capital - so, when introducing a new letter, introduce both the capital and lowercase).

All different "B's" were scattered all over the floor for AB to find and pick up. I printed some off on a word document in different fonts (both capital and lowercase), and we had some magnetic and foam letters around the house, also. I used all of them. I would walk with her, and as she spotted them I'd have her identify.

Time to dump out our treasure, and look at all the "B's" we found!! I also told her the sound it makes, and so as we put the "B's" back in the tube, we'd say the sound it made.

After all the "Bb" hunting, AB was still busy taking all the "B's" out and putting them back in her Treasure Tube! To top off this B-eautiful day, what a better movie to watch than  Beauty and the Beast! My Aunt got it for Annabelle for Christmas this year, and well, to be honest I really busted it out for me! I showed AB, and we pointed out the "B's" on the cover, but she wasn't too interested in the movie. Only the singing parts. Nah. She still prefers her Cailou, Sesame Street, and anything on Sprout. That's ok, Mommy enjoyed it!

 Modifications:

* Cross-curricular: you can use Treasure Tubes for any subject and introducing any new topic or for a review. Science - decorate the outside of the treasure tube to look outdoors-ish, and use it for your child to go on a nature walk. Let them explore and find whatever nature presents, or give them a certain object/treasure to hunt for. Math - for older kiddos, you could do this not just with introducing a new number, but even multiples or fact families of a certain number. ELA - introduce any new letter or even rhyming, beginning sounds, ending sounds, vowels, etc. You could print out pictures of rhymes, and have your child find the pairs, put them in their treasure tube, and then when they go to dump out their treasure, have them match the rhymes. Art - have your older child decorate and create the design of the cover for their Treasure Tube. Let their creative juices run free!

Want to make it a little more challenging for your child? Scatter all the different letters/numbers around your house. On the floors, on the walls (be careful, there!), and any place visible for your child. If you're focusing on just one letter, your child will have to identify and locate the letter/number amongst the others.

Have fun!

Welcome!

Ok, so as most of you are probably feeling the same way with all of this ice and school being closed...cabin fever has set in. However, this isn't a complaint - it's a praise! After all, how often do we get the opportunity to be "stuck" at home? How often can we just sit here and do nothing? I don't know about you, but it's rare for me. I've loved to have an excuse to not have to go run errands or run up to work to finish planning. I know it can be quite draining to have to look at the same four walls in the rooms of your home; but I don't know about you, but I have big plans for those four walls, now! Ideas have been flowing, and as I've sat here with AB for the last few days...my teaching itch has set in. I'm missing my kiddos, but I'm taking that teaching urge out on my sweet girl! We've been learning letters, numbers, and colors around here, hence the creation of this blog. Live, laugh, love and LEARN! That's what it should be about - because if it's not fun, who wants to learn it? Especially when you're 18 months to five years old. So, every time I get that teaching itch and it's an "involved" one, I plan on posting it on here.

This blog is different from my personal blog. Due to privacy concerns, the blog that I have dedicated to AB and documenting her life will still continue to be private. This blog is to post only ideas that have to do with teaching the littlest learners. My plan is to keep my "personal" blog separate from this one. I'd appreciate that if you do comment on my site, to help me with this and leave our last name, location, etc...anonymous, as well.

On another note, I love getting feedback and I love ideas and I love learning from others. I'm not claiming to be this amazing, crafty mom. Heck no! I steal and or tweak most of my ideas, so feel free to steal and or tweak mine! However, if I "steal" from you, I promise to site the source and give you credit! If you have a cute idea let me know, I'd love to feature it. Over the last few days, I've been jotting down ideas and getting excited about posting them! Stay tuned as tomorrow is yet another day off school - that makes four days in a row! Crazy!

Thanks for stopping in!

Jen