Flower Nomenclature Cards (free printable)

I recently made some 3-part flower nomenclature cards for M.  These are very simple, and label only the stem, petals and parts on the inside of a bloom.  I’ve made two cards with the petals highlighted; one is labeled “petals”, and the other is labeled “corolla”, in case you want to be scientific. :)  Personally, we use “petals”.  You can find other sets online that label the leaves and sepals (the little green cup that encases the petals, then cups the bloom”), and other parts too.

But these are free.  Heh. ;)

M just loves 3-part cards – what is it about them?  I really don’t know, but they definitely appeal to him, and he enjoys working with a new set as soon as I have them done.

You can download this set by clicking on the image below: 

Please remember these are for your personal use (classroom or homeschool) only.  You are welcome to link to this post, but please do not offer this printable on your website.

Enjoy!! :)

Have a beautiful day! :)

Math Progress

I wanted to do so many fun things with math this year – measuring, weighing, learning about volume… but we’ve been pretty much focused on counting as well as simple addition and subtraction.  (M does have a tape measure and loves to “measure” things in his own way, haha – but we haven’t done anything along those lines together in some time.)

He’s interested in counting as much as he can, and he is always trying to think of the “highest number possible”. ;)  Infinity is a bit beyond his grasp at this point, I think. ;)  So, following his interest, we’ve been counting.  And counting.  And counting some more. ;)  There is plenty of time to worry about all that other stuff!

He loves this hundreds chart I made for him: As you can see, it begins with 0 and ends with 99.  It just made more sense to both of us to have each row of numbers begin with 10, 20, 30, etc.  M loves to count these out, just moving his finger along.  When he gets to the end, he flips it over and  yells:

This is laminated, and we’ve played around with it a bit, finding certain numbers and coloring them in with a dry erase marker, to make designs:

There are many printable hundreds charts that you can find online; if you want to use ours, it’s available here (this one uses red for odd numbers and blue for even numbers).

I found this fantastic dot-to-dot book on Amazon:

Each picture goes to 100, and M LOVES these.  The pages are printed on high quality paper (not newsprint!), and perforated.  This is, without doubt, the best dot-to-dot book I’ve seen – if your child is ready to count, or learn to count, to 100.  We do several each week.  M would do several each day, if I’d let him!  It has been a great way to practice number order and number recognition!

 

And we’ve been playing lots of games – M’s new favorite is War:This has been good for practicing number value and “more or less”; and it’s just good fun. :)  We also play a lot of UNO, mancala, Chutes and Ladders, and Slap Jack. :)

Oh how I love being able to stay at home with my sweet boy, taking things slow and just having fun together!  It is such a privilege and a blessing to watch him learn and grow!!

Have a beautiful day! :)

Craft Time - Streamers are Fun!

M came across a roll of crepe paper in my art/craft stash and was fascinated with it.  He made these fun streamers all on his own.  Well, I did have to help a bit with the taping, but the idea was completely his.


You need a roll of crepe paper, craft sticks, and some tape.  Cut 3 (or however many you want) long strips of the crepe paper, hold the ends of them on a craft stick and wrap masking tape around the whole thing until they are secure.  Finished!  Go play!

He made one of these for each member of the family and, I have to admit, they are pretty fun to play with! :)

Here is just how fun…













These are perfect for a breezy spring day!

They would be fun to twirl to music, wouldn’t they?

Have a beautiful, super-fun day! :)

Art Time – Self Portrait Collage

M’s crazy eyes.  In real life, they normally
look in the same direction. ;)

I loved this post over at Red Ted Art’s Blog about creating self-portraits.  I knew we’d have to try this, and was intrigued to see how M’s self-portrayal would change when he really examined himself in a mirror.

We decided to do a collage, but I’d like to re-visit this idea using paint or pencils.

There aren’t a lot of pictures to share because I was very involved in this art project, reminding M to look at his face, see how each feature looked, and helping him think of how to present that in his collage.

Here’s what we started with:A variety of colored paper, pencil, scissors, glue, mirror.

M wanted to do the eyes first, and reminded me that we needed black and white paper too, which I thought was very observant.  So off I went to get the black and white paper.

M has hazel eyes, and chose green for his collage eyes.  We talked a bit about the “iris” and the “pupil” a bit as he cut.  I have to say I did draw some of the smaller shapes for M to cut out, per his request.  He used a hole punch for the pupils.

He loves the hole puncher, and used it to make teeth too. It was taking too much work on my part to convince him that his teeth aren’t little white circles. :)

I also thought it was interesting that he saw his hair as light brown.  We get remarks about his blonde hair all the time, but I think being inside so much during the winter did cause it to darken a tiny bit.  He finally decided to use brown and then cut tiny yellow hairs to add to it (like highlights, hee hee).

The finished self-portrait:He was really tickled with himself when he added what he called a “snowman nose” to his face.  Goofy kid.

Not half as adorable as the real thing, but he was pretty proud of it!

I’m linking this up to Kids Get Crafty!

Have a beautiful day! :)
 

The Weather has been Beautiful

And we are finally enjoying spring in Minnesota!

 

 

 This is Mr. Mallard (Drake if you are on a first name basis).  He and the Missus nest in or near our yard every year.  We haven’t seen her yet, so she must already be nesting.  Last year this couple left an egg in M’s sandbox! :) 

 

And M has been hard at work trying to master jump-roping. :)

I hope you are all having a wonderful spring!

Have a beautiful day! :)

Craft Time – Egg Carton Flower Garden

Say it fast – it sort of rhymes. :)

We still have this little art project, from almost a year ago, in our breezeway (the play dough is hard, but still holds!):It is one of my favorite things.  M noticed it a few days ago and wanted to make another one.

However, our lovely weather turned cold and rainy for about a week, and so we decided to put a twist on the activity and make our own flower garden.

Supplies:Old play dough (especially some that has been mixed together to form that lovely gray-brown), an egg carton, 12 craft sticks, 12 coffee filters, dot markers, a stapler, and… green paper, scissors, and pipecleaners all came in handy too.

Make large balls with the play dough and push them into the egg carton wells: 
Use your green dot marker (or whatever you wish) to paint some flower stems (craft sticks): 
At this point, M asked about leaves, so I got out the green paper and cut some leaves while he finished up the stems: 
Use the dot markers to decorate all 12 of your coffee filters: 
Staple the leaves to the stems: 
Assemble the flowers:We were going to staple the coffee filters to the stems, but they just flopped over, so we tried wrapping them on with pipecleaners, which worked much better.  Fold the coffee filter in quarters, then twist the bottom point a bit, and attach that part to the top of the stem.

Stick the stems in the play dough-filled egg carton, and fluff out all your coffee filters: 

Aren’t they sweet, all lined up in a row?

These were just what we needed on a gray and gloomy morning!

An egg carton, cut into smaller sections (say a square of 4 sections), would make a super-cute May basket to give away, wouldn’t it?  I wish we’d thought of this sooner, but it is still May!

I’m linking this up to Kids Get Crafty!

and

Have a beautiful day! :)