Another art filled week

Posted on March 29, 2014 by ofamily

Both the kids are definitely going through a bit of an art phase at the moment.  Blue is drawing a lot, mostly trying to draw people while Pink is doing lots of cutting/ sticking trying to make different things.  I am not always sure what she is making, but she is having a blast and she is getting much better with her scissors and glue so I am trying to not interrupt her when she gets into this mode.

We have also done lots of painting and both kids have been having lots of fun mixing their own colours.  Pinks new favourite colour  to use is peach (which she mixes herself). She used this a lot with her Dot marker pages (see my post on Dot Markers)

The dinosaur stamps where used again, I never realized the kids would use these so much, so thanks to our friend who gave them to the kids.

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We have also done a few pictures where I cut out some shapes and the kids get to create their own pictures with the shapes, they have done houses, people and gardens but I just love this rocket.

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I also cut out different size flowers and then Pink had some fun sticking them from largest to smallest. this picture really turned out well the photo does not do it justice.

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Pink also managed to finish the 2 mosaic cards that she has been making for her cousins in South Africa.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASo now it think of some new art projects for the kids for next week as I am sure this new art phase is here to stay for a while

 

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Dot Marker Fun

Posted on March 26, 2014 by ofamily

I never knew about the wonders of Dot Markers until we started homeschooling around 18 months ago and I started stalking some of the other blogs.  When I first saw some Dot Marker pages on a website I thought “hmm not sure” but eventually I gave in and we tried these stunning Fall pages from the 3 Dinosaurs website and my kids loved them.

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We have used Dot markers to complete the pages but we have also used many many other methods of doing them.

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We have finger painted the dots, Pink has hyper-sensitive touch and so is not always happy to get her hands dirty but with these she is more than happy to do the finger painting as it is just a few dots and so does not overwhelm her.

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We have used many different round stickers.

We have glued pompoms / tissue paper / shredded paper / cotton wool.

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And we have also used our stamps.

My kids enjoy these pages so much that I know keep a stack of Dot marker pages printed out and stored with our other homeschooling worksheets for us to do.

Our absolute all time favourite of all the dot marker pages that we have ever seen are these Spring pages  (go to the bottom of the page).  We like these as the Spring trees really give the kids lots of options on how to do them and are really just a good starting point for their imagination.  3 Dinosaurs also have Winter / Halloween / Pond dot marker packs.  You can also find some number and sight word dot marker pages on the wonderful 3 Dinosaur website.

The Dot markers that we have used are these, which we bought from Amazon. Do a Dot marker.  I have a friend who bought some cheaper bingo markers but they where not as nice as these ones.

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Kids “learning” books that we love

Posted on March 25, 2014 by ofamily

I love books and I have two little book worms. We love reading together and my kids love taking their books to “read” to their toys. I am lucky my kids love reading non-fiction/ learning books as much as story books. I want to state I do not work for Usborne in any form my kids and I are just fans of their books.

Usborne Thousands things to spot is one of our favourites.  It is much cheaper to buy the big thousands things to spot then the individual books.  These books are great as they teach the kids so many things without them even realising that they are learning.  They have to learn to search for the items, they practice their counting and they improve their general knowledge not to mention their vocab.  My kids have been through the insect section / under the sea section / towns section / farm section and then there is still all the fantasy sections (pirates / fairies / monsters).

We also adore the Usborne Beginners books, we have over 20 of these books. the most popular are definately the animal ones – penguins / elephants /bears / eggs and chicks and I could go on and on.  So far we have not bought one of these which we do not love and end up reading over and over again.

Usborne Beginners great for young readers

Usborne look inside science is one of those books which we borrowed at the library and after renewing it for as long as we could we ended up buying it.  It is a great book for key stage 1 science, it covers different materials, introduction to plants, our bodies, the solar system.  Both my kids love to just page through the book by themselves and they will often go and fetch it when we are reading our stories.

We also love the Usborne sticker books, we have done a number of these.  Pink loves all the Dolly sticker books but the one that was a really big hit was the Around the World : Sticker Dolly Dressing  this was great for starting conversations about different places, different people and even some different traditions.  Blue has also done the Usborne Farm and the Digger sticker books and he loved these.

I am also a huge fan of many of the Julia Donaldson books.  I have found these are a great starting point for some learning topics and I love the rhymes.  Both my kids love her books.  In our house the most popular are :  the Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, Monkey Puzzle, Stick Man, Superworm, The snail and the whale, Tiddler and Sharing a Shell.  If you have never read one of these do yourself and your kids a favor and get one from your local library, we will not be disappointed.

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Making Jam Biscuits

Posted on March 24, 2014 by ofamily

One of our favourite biscuits to bake and to eat are these jam biscuits. These are great biscuits to make as they are not too complex, the kids get their hands dirty and they taste great.

I normally try to get the kids to use their hands to press the mixture down into the tin, this is a great sensory activity, they spread the jam and they then crumble the top part with their fingers (another sensory activity).  And finally once they are baked they get to cut them into squares and finally eat them.

1. 150 ml butter and 200 ml brown sugar – cream together for around 3 minutes

2. Add 1 egg and 5ml vanilla essence and beat for 1 minute.

3.Add 500ml flour (2 cups)  and 5 ml baking powder, to the mixture

4. Add 250ml oats (1 cup), 5ml cinnamon and pinch of salt, mix well

5. Press around half the mixture into a greased pan

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6. Spread the 150ml apricot spread and get the kids to sprinkle the rest of the mixture on top

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7. Bake for around 30 mins and 180, let it cool, cut into squares and enjoy.

We have also made these biscuits with Strawberry jam

Jam biscuits

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Take a Break do some ART !!

Posted on March 22, 2014 by ofamily

It just seems to be that time of the year when all the homeschooling kids seem to need a break, my kids included so we have had an art filled week instead.

We have been drawing anything the kids where inspired to do, flowers and monsters seem to be current favs.

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Having fun with our paint, stamping, finger painting and painting some butterfly cut-outs

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We decorated out trees, sorry I did not manage to get a photo of the finished product as Pink gave it away as a present as soon as she had finished it

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We made some sheep with our paper plates and some shredded paper

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And we have been making lots of felt pictures

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I have found our felt pictures are a great discussion starter.  We love making nonsense pictures (ie a tree inside a house) and then everyone gets involved talking about what looks out of place.

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