The Art Box - March 8, 2010

In the Art Box last week: aluminum foil and large window markers; muffin tin with stickers, pom poms, pipecleaners, foam stickers, some sparkly gel pens and some “spiky balls”; a variety of papers, watercolors, scissors, oil pastels, markers, glue.

We tried, once again, crayon resist watercolor painting… this time I had M use the white oil pastel crayon and the results were much easier to see than the last time we tried. I made some designs and he made some and then he painted over them with his watercolor paints. I discovered that giving him a paper towel to wipe his brush on after he dips it in the water helps keep the colors more vibrant for him, which makes them more fun of course.

I put some foam stickers on a cardboard tube for him (sorry this isn’t pictured in the box above… I must’ve snuck it in sometime during the week). (side one)(side two)

He rolled it in paint and then made this:

He worked on painting a passenger car for the train he’s (slowly) been putting together:

He colored on the foil with some giant window markers he received for Christmas:

And he made yet another Valentine (evidently he just can’t stop himself), this one’s for Grandpa: Note the “M” at the bottom. :) I love how he’s more into “writing” now instead of just drawing. You can also see some “spiky ball” prints on this. He used the spiky balls (I found them 6 for a dollar at Walmart in the party favors area) by dipping them in water then into his watercolor paints, then dabbing them around on the paper.

The hit of the week was using pipettes to drip liquid watercolors onto papertowels:There’s a snake in there, a caterpillar, a hamster at the bottom of the ocean, a duck, and a seahorse. :) Also, a mommy and daddy birdie holding a baby bird in their nest. :)

I made the liquid watercolors with regular tempera paints mixed with liquid starch. You could use water too, but the starch keeps the papertowels from becoming totally soaked, while still spreading out quite a bit.

Link up below to share your little masterpieces and some good ideas! Please remember to link back here in your posts. :)

Have a beautiful day! :)

Giveaway Winner

The winner of the “What’s in the Bible?” DVD certificates is # 22 – Shannon. :)  Congratulations, Shannon! 

I’ll be in touch with you shortly.

Have a beautiful day! :)

Books of the Week – March 6, 2010

Click on the button at the top to see some great book suggestions for children at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns!

The Ant and the Elephant, by Bill Peet:

This is by far our favorite this week, and I think will make it’s way into our top 20 favorites.  I can’t believe I haven’t seen or heard about this book before!  It’s a great story about being helpful and being thankful.  It would be great for a story sequencing activity too; there are a variety of animals that come along and end up needing help in various ways.  If only I had time to make up some story sequencing cards, sigh.  If you haven’t read this book, look for it – you won’t be disappointed!

The Roundabout Train, by Betty Ren Wright:
This is a cute book about a big diesel train that thinks he’s bigger, faster, and better than the other older trains.  He is taught a lesson about being friendly in a fun way.  M has been a bit boastful himself lately, so this was a good way to help him see how unpleasant that kind of behavior can be for others.
Have a beautiful day! :)

Interview with a 3 year old

What is your name?  Matthew.  I don’t want to say anything.  Don’t write!

When is your birthday?  August.

How old are you?  3 years old.

Who is your mama?  Mommy.

What does your mama do?  Um, I can’t remember.  (really?  because I could make a list a mile long.)

Who is your daddy? Daddy. 

What does Daddy do?  Go to work.

What is your favorite color?  Blue.

What is your favorite song?  Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

What do you want to do when you are a grown up?  Ride an airplane.

Where do you want to live when you grow up?  Ummm, I probably…. I might… uhhhh.  I just, I just want to live in Minnesota.  I want to live RIGHT HERE! (shaky voice and trembling lip – yikes!) 

What is your favorite food?  Mac ‘n’ cheese. 

What is your least favorite food?  I don’t know because most food… I like all of it.  (really?  because you usually only eat 5 things that we rotate and you never try anything new.  hmph.)

What is your favorite animal?  Uhhh, pretty much all the animals are my best, so I don’t know.

What do mama and daddy do when you go to bed?  Sleep.

Who does our family love the most?  Me!

Where do we go to church?  Big church and little church (apparently big church is where we go on Sundays, little church is where I take him Monday mornings for a mom’s prayer group – it’s a room in the big church.

Why do we go to church?  To pray to God.

What is your favorite movie?  Grinch.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor?  strawberry.  (To my knowledge, he’s never had strawberry ice cream.)

Where do you like to eat?  McDonald’s

Who is your favorite person?  You!  Awww, really?  It really is!

Who is your best friend?  Oren.

What is your favorite book?  Corduroy.

What is your favorite thing to do?  Paint.

What’s in the Bible? Giveaway…

Don’t forget the giveaway ends tomorrow at midnight!  Go here to leave a comment and enter!

Easy Dinners for Hard Days ;)

I’m positive you know what I’m talking about here. Some days… well, dinner just isn’t going to happen. At least not dinner in any sort of healthy form.

Unexpected things happen, crisis occur, you’re sick, your child’s sick, etc., etc., etc.

I think we all have “go to” meals that are simple and quick and that we almost always have on hand. I’ve been thinking about ours lately and thought it might be fun to share them in a post.

Just so you know, these are quick meals that are not necessarily something you want to feed your family every day; the main thing about these meals is they are simple, simple, simple. And tasty too! I also try to keep a bag of prepared salad in our fridge so we can get in something green along with our quick meal. I’ve been using at least one of these every week lately.

1. We always have a couple of frozen pizzas in the freezer, this is staple in our house.

2. Chicken and rice wraps: Make a box of Uncle Ben’s Whole Grain and Wild Rice. When it’s done, mix it up in a bowl with canned chicken breast (yes, canned, it won’t kill you), ranch dressing and some chopped walnuts. Roll it up in flour tortillas, yum yum yum.

3. Maid Rights – My mother-in-law calls these sloppy joes, but to me a sloppy joe is tomato based. Brown a pound of hamburger meat with a splash of Worcestershire sauce. When it’s done, add in a can of Campbell’s Chicken Gumbo soup (no water added), a blob of ketchup and a blob of mustard (gross, right?). Mix it all up and serve it on buns or regular bread. Also very yummy.

4. Sloppy Joes, there are a lot of fast recipes out there for these. The one I have uses tomato soup as the base.

5. Pancakes, Bacon, and eggs. If you want really simple, use a package of pancake mix. We always have the ingredients for this on hand (maybe not the bacon), and scrambled eggs are super easy!

6. Chicken or Turkey A La King. Use leftover chicken or turkey (or canned, or poach a couple of breasts in water beforehand, then shred). Mix your shredded chicken or turkey with a can of mushroom soup, a little milk, some black pepper, and a dash of seasoned salt. Toast a bunch of bread. Serve the chicken / turkey mixture on top of the toast and eat with a fork.

7. This one we jokingly call a heart attack waiting to happen… velveeta cheese, canned chili, a can of Rotel (chopped tomatoes and chili peppers), a can of water, browned hamburger meat (if you have time), a little chopped onion, cayenne pepper… eat with corn chips and sour cream. This one is good for a really hard day. ;)

8. Premade pesto, egg noodles, and leftover chicken all mixed together.

9. Frozen fish sticks and french fries. :)

I would LOVE to add some more quick and easy meal ideas to our list. If you have any, please leave them in the comments below, or blog about them and leave the link!

Have a beautiful day! :)

What’s in the Bible Blog Tour – Review and Giveaway!!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.

I recently received the first two episodes of this new series from Tyndale Publishers. The series, which is called “What’s in the Bible?” was created by Phil Vischer who also created the wildly popular Veggie Tales series.

The episodes are fast moving and have fun, quirky characters that will draw children in. Phil himself is in each episode too, answering various questions that arise about the Bible.

It’s a bit like a lesson on the Bible itself – how we got it, who determined which books would be in it, etc. And then a story from the Bible itself; The first episode’s Bible story is the creation of the world, the fall, and Noah’s Ark. The Bible story in the second episode is about Moses and the Exodus of God’s people from Egypt.

There are some parts of the stories that I felt were inappropriate for someone my son’s age (3 1/2). This isn’t because anything was done improperly by the writing team, but simply because some of the scenes of the Bible (such as Joseph being sold, Abraham about to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, etc) are something a 3 year old can not comprehend without being terrified. Also, the “lesson” about the Bible at the beginning of each episode is a bit over a preschooler’s head, in my opinion.

I think children 5 years and older would love these dvds, and I highly recommend them for that age.
Thank you to Tyndale for providing me with this review copy free of charge.

See more about this fun new series at the What’s in the Bible? website. There is a trailer here. And some coloring pages here

Here’s the great part… Tyndale has sent me two certificates for free dvds to give away to my readers!! Because there is one certificate for the first episode, and one certificate for the second episode, I’m giving them both to one winner! :) Only US and Canadian entries, please (sorry!).

To enter, leave a comment below – this is the mandatory first entry.

For extra entries…

Subscribe to Tired, Need Sleep or Follow and let me know in another comment.

Post about this giveaway on your blog and leave another comment letting me know.

Good luck, everyone! The contest will end at midnight this Friday, March 5th, and I will post the winner on Saturday! Make sure you leave me a way to get in touch; I will pick a new winner if I do not hear from the first winner within 48 hours.

Have a beautiful day! :)

Homemade Ball (or bean bag) Toss Game

 If you look closely you can see the ball in midair close to the box.

We are getting so very, very tired of winter here.   I let M go out whenever I am reasonably sure he won’t freeze, but it just isn’t enough.  He needs some gross motor fun inside, and I admit I’m not the best when it comes  to this kind of thing.  I’ve said this before… I’m a sit-in-one-place-and-do-something-quiet kind of girl, and I have a lot to learn about nurturing and appreciating M’s wild side. 

So, I made an attempt last Thursday, and was successful. :)  I found an old box, traced the top of a large cottage cheese container onto it, and cut out the circle.  Then I pushed the cottage cheese container into it and set the whole thing up on our loveseat.

I found these cute soft balls (similar to a bean bag, but with some sort of stuffing inside; they are very lightweight) at Dollar Tree.   Apparently they are supposed to look like Easter eggs. 

I put a piece of masking tape on the floor and we took turns standing at it and seeing if we could toss the balls into the container.  I thought M was doing great, but he was frustrated that whenever he managed to get a ball into the container it rolled right back out.  So we set up the laundry basket on the loveseat and did it that way.  Ha!  He enjoyed this a lot and was thrilled that it was ok to throw something in the house. :)

So, just go get your laundry basket and a ball and have fun!  If you want to make the same thing I made, make sure to cut your hole a tiny bit smaller than the outer rim of your container so the container won’t slide all the way through.

Have a beautiful day! :)

The Art Box – Mar. 1, 2010

This was our art box for the past two weeks with an occasional sneaking in of something extra.  We started off with a muffin tin filled with collage items (I got this wonderful idea from A Mom Learning More Everyday in this post) – pom poms, tissue paper scraps, foam stickers, googley eyes, and a tiny amount of left over red glitter.  Also, in the box, various papers, a styrofoam tray, tempera paint, watercolor paints, craft sticks, stencils, glue, and oil pastels.

M started off with, what else, the stencils.  Sigh.  Stencils do not seem open-ended-artsy to me for a 3 year old, although neither does a paint with water book, and goodness knows I’ve let him do plenty of those in return for a half hour of peace.  M really loves stencils and lately it’s the first thing he goes for or asks for if there aren’t any in the box.  Several of you brilliant mommies out there reminded me that he is probably so interested in them because he wants to master the technique and he’s learning how it all works.  Thank you for that; it never occurred to me, and now I see it in a completely different light and I’m ok with stenciled trucks and animals papering our walls.  For now.

Here is the art work M has produced in the past couple of weeks, (minus an awesome textured painting that daddy stole and took to work before I was able to take a picture of it)…

 

A late valentine especially for me. :)  Apparently once red glitter is used for making valentines it isn’t possible to think of anything else to make with it.

 

This is M’s take on crayon resist painting.  Draw a line all around your paper then carefully paint right over it.  He said he was making mazes. :)

 

He was really interested in the craft sticks this time and I actually had to get more for him.  He started off by deciding to make a square, and then when he saw that two together make a longer line, he decided to make a rectangle (you can’t imagine how proud I was at this moment).  Then he decorated it:

Then he painted some and made a house:

 

Here’s a rainbow made with watercolors.  There is a stream in there too and some little animals. :)

 

We bought a giant coloring book with simple farm animal pictures in it.  To our great surprise there was a page of giant stickers in the front of the book.  So we taped up a giant piece of paper (2’ x 3’!) and he made a farm animal sticker collage:

        

Link up your kids’ fun art projects below…

and have a beautiful day! :)

Tot School – Feb. 28, 2010

We took it very easy with school this past week.  I just brought out some random things that were easy for me to put together for M.  He is very into elaborate pretend play now and I’m trying to give him plenty of time for that.  If he’s involved in something like that during the only time I have free for a little school, well then no school.  I’m totally ok with that, although I have to work hard not to compare myself with other mommies out there.

So, in no particular order this week, here’s what we did (no action shots)…

A corkboard and push pins to outline the little pictures with.  I had several of these left over from the last time this activity was out.  He really enjoys this one!

 

Our newest puzzle from our toy lending libary:

 

Pegboard game with shapes, also from the toy library:

 

A new puzzle from mama (I’ve got scads of these stashed around the house; he just loves a new puzzle challenge).

 

The good old Lite Brite, which is always fun.  He likes to pull the shades in his room, close the door and get it as dark as possible when he plays with this:

 

Our foam puzzles – numbers and ABCs.  He still likes to hammer these guys in with his little wooden hammer!

 

The first thing he goes for every week is his letter cutting/collage page.  He did S this week:

 

The sand tray and his soft pipecleaner letters. 

 

And, he checks his little sprouts every single morning.  It’s looking like we are going to have lots of shamrocks and forget-me-nots.  We’ve been counting them and he’s so good about taking care of them.  I really need to thin them out, but they are like his babies, so I’m not sure exactly how to go about doing that. :)

 

I know we’ve done a lot more than this, but if I don’t take a picture of it I just can’t remember anything.   Actually, that’s true about a lot of things, not just tot school! :)

Go here to see other tot-schooling mamas.

Have a beautiful day! )

Books of the Week – Feb. 27, 2010

We recently went to a church festival and one of the activities was a book fair. We found so many great books, most of them written in the 30’s, 40’s, and 60’s. I felt like I won the jackpot! :) I just love the look of older books!

My Box and String, by Betty Woods was written in 1963. This is such a cute book, written in rhyme, about a boy who makes a *thing* with a box and some string and then doesn’t want anyone else to play with it. Yet, he isn’t sure what to do with it himself. Finally, with the help of a little girl’s wise words, he realizes the fun was in creating his box and string. This is a great little book about the fun a child can have with simple, everyday objects. And it is a great book about using one’s imagination too, since several animals, as well as a boy and girl, come up with all kinds of creative uses for the box and string creation. We all love this book!

Another great find was Everyday Animals, by Gertrude E. Allen. This book was written in 1961 and is a non-fiction chapter book. It has wonderful black and white illustrations and each chapter talks about a different animal… rabbits, chipmunks, mice, skunks, porcupines, and gray squirrels… animals a child knows and probably has seen. The text is great and the author did a great job of writing about things that small children will truly find interesting. For instance, this part from the rabbit section:

“When Mother Rabbit is expecting babies she finds a spot under some tree roots or bushes or in tall grass. She digs a hole and lines it with grass and bits of fur. She makes a blanket from grass and fur and tucks it over the babies when she leaves the nest.”

Or from the chipmunk chapter:

“Chipmunks look odd when they swim. They hold their tails straight up in the air!”

Ok, obviously I love this book and so does M despite it’s length. We’ve been reading one chapter at a time, and he has really enjoyed learning all the little things about these animals.
Click on the button at the top of the page to see more reviews on great kids’ books!
Have a beautiful day! :)