Some random Kids Art Ideas

Posted on April 27, 2014 by ofamily

We have not been doing as much art as we usually do, not sure why, could be because Pink has been colouring in a lot lately (she is not normally big on colouring in pictures) but here is a quick summary of what we have been doing.  If you are looking for some great free colouring in pages try these at 1+1+1=1 Spring colouring pages

We have been using our Magic maize to make some pictures.  We bought ours at ELC here in the UK.  We have used it with the templates that you can buy at ELC or on Amazon.  We have also just made our own pictures (Pink loves making flowers) with the maize and lastly we used some of our favourite Dot marker pages from 3 Dinosaurs as well to make spring blossom trees.

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As I often tend to do I left some of the dot marker pages out and both Pink and Blue ended up using the pages with their tissue paper – this was 100% the kids idea so I have just left them to do what they wanted.  Blue used the tissue paper to make some grass and sky for his tree while pink half coloured hers in and half used tissue paper. The picture below is Blue’s attempt – I thought it was very good for a 3 year old (yes biased I know)

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Dot marker pages from 3 Dinosaurs

The kids have also been doing more of their sand art – well that was until I spilled all the left over sand all over our lounge floor – big mess !!!  But if you have never done sand art before I highly recommend it, the kids love it, just be careful with the left over sand and make sure you store it in containers with secure lids.

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And lastly we have been using our watercolour pencils to do some drawing / painting / big mess with a 3 year old.  Blue tends to add way tooooo much water but Pink really seems to enjoy hers (apple tree below).  If you do try this with the kids I recommend giving them proper watercolour paper as it does help soak up the water and reduce the mess factor.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThink we are going to try some collages this week.

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Calender cards – May and June

Posted on April 26, 2014 by ofamily

I love the flower calender cards which 3 Dinosaurs have done for May and June (picture below – aren’t they stunning ?).

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I printed them off last night and was busy laminating and cutting them and getting really excited as Pink has loved their flower pack so much when I thought it might be nice to try and do some cards for Pink in Afrikaans.  I have done the days of the week and the Month names – Mei and Junie.  My idea is to use the English calender cards from 3 Dinosaurs in the morning as a start to the day.  Eg Pink gets to choose the cards for the day and date and put them on the board and then once she has done this I will ask her what it would be in Afrikaans and get her to put the Afrikaans day and Month under the English.  Not sure how this will work but this is the idea.

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So if anyone else would like the Afrikaans cards for the Day of the week and Months they are on the 4 share account here – Afrikaans calender cards – Mei Junie. 

 

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Wonderful books on South African animals for kids

Posted on April 23, 2014 by ofamily

I often search Amazon for kids books and save the ones that I find to my wish list to think about if I should buy them or not. But when I saw this book I bought it immediately and I am so glad that I did.  The book is called South African animals by Lindiwe Mabuza and Alan Baker.  It is stunning.  It has simple text introducing you to a number of animals found in South Africa going from a to z.  The illustrations are stunning. Here is an example

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt includes the typical African animals that you would expect like lions and elephants but it also includes some more unusual birds like the Yellow-Billed Hornbill and Ibis.   I am probably a bit biased having grown up in South Africa and wanting my kids to know about the country and its animals but I do think that even if you are not from South Africa this would be a great book to teach young kids about African animals.

Both my kids are enjoying reading this book and Blue has been enjoying searching his animal tub for the animals as we read the book.

We have a number of other great kids books on Africa.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWe have already used Going on a Lion Hunt for some fun learning as well as Handa’s Surprise and Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain but my personal favourite kids book on Africa is The Brave Little penguin by Andrea Florens and Claire Norden.  This story is about a little penguin who hatches on top of Table mountain and his journey to find his family.  Along the way he meets a number of animals including a dassie, baboons, zebras and some seals.  It is a wonderful story on so many levels.

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Word Dominoes

Posted on April 22, 2014 by ofamily

Pink loves playing dominoes and we have started playing word dominoes as well.  The first time we did word dominoes I just wrote them out on some paper but with a 3 year old you loves to join in these did not last.  Since Pink has been asking to play word dominoes again and since it is such a fun way to practice reading I thought I would try and make some more durable ones for her.

The first set we did used some of the harder words from the first 100 high frequency words. The words I used are : very, your, called, house, could, asked, little, down.  Word dominoes download here.

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Pink enjoyed these so much that I have now done some with some the words that I think are easy to get confused.  These include the, that, with, when, they, then, there, what.  We have not used these ones yet as Pink is still loving the first set but I thought I would include the download in case someone would like to give this set a try.

Word Dominoes with the.

If anyone has a set of words that they think would be good to use the Word Dominoes for please let me know.  Playing Word dominoes is proving to be a big winner in our house so I will be making some more sets and would love some ideas.

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My 3 year olds conversation with a snail

Posted on April 21, 2014 by ofamily

One of the things I love most about homeschooling is how much my kids have taught me.

Yesterday was a great example.  In the middle of all the chocolate Easter eggs and playing with their dad my little 3 year old discovered a snail on the window of our kitchen door.  For the next hour he was totally engrossed.  He watched the snail, had a lovely conversation with the snail (warned the snail about the possible dangers in our courtyard) and called big sister over to come and say hello to the snail.  And I got to witness all of it.

Before we started our homeschooling adventure I am not sure if I would have taken the time to enjoy this with him.  But I did.  I sat with him and we shared a lovely moment.  It is moments like this that I cherish the most, so even thought at times I get stressed and worried I am thankful that I am getting to share this wonderful adventure with my kids.  I am very lucky that we blindly stumbled into this wonderful challenge of educating our kids and sharing with them all the new and wonderful things that they discover.

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