The New Art Cart

 This little car {I’ve been told it is a car} is one of the first things M created with his Art Cart supplies.

Have I ever shown you M’s little “desk”, as he calls it, in our entryway closet?  Here’s a shot:It is a simple shoe shelf.  This is where the coloring books, crayons, stickers, and such things live.  There’s even a mini-garbage can, which he seriously loves (you can see the top of it in the lower right corner).
He can often be found here, happily cutting out catalog pictures for collages.  (By the way, those Christmas toy catalogs are entertaining year-round; what kid doesn’t want to look at toys?!)  

The closet doors close, and any mess is hidden.  It’s really perfect.  M loves it, and sometimes closes himself up in there with a flashlight.  Such an adventurer. ;)

I’ve realized recently that M has become familiar with just about every kind of art supply I have to offer him.  Of course there are still new ideas and new techniques to explore, but most of these will be planned out and done together. 

He’s just gotten bored with the same old stuff in his Art Box week after week, and has taken to asking for things he knows are stored away. 

The Art Box is old news, apparently.

And I’m tired of fishing things out for him that he wants, that were just put away!
A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across a garage sale and found an old 3-drawer plastic storage unit.  The drawers are about 12"deep x 9"wide x 8"high. 

So we cleaned it up and then we raided the craft room.  To be honest, he wanted more than would neatly fit into the drawers, yet at the same time seemed a little overwhelmed with all he was given. 

So into what is quickly becoming the “Art Closet” went the little Art Cart, right next to his little desk.
Here’s a shot of his new art area, all labeled, because I like to do nerdy things like that. :)

In the Art Cart…
Top drawer:It’s hard to see everything – there are cardboard ribbon spools, cardboard tubes, stamps, a storage container of beads, feathers, sequins, googley eyes, dyed macaroni, and some more bits and pieces for gluing along with pipecleaners in a small bucket.

Middle drawer:Watercolor paints, acrylic paints, gel pens, porcupine balls (to use with paint), dot painters, roll painters, glitter glue, craft sticks

Bottom drawer:Papers – construction paper is on the bottom, fun foam, crepe paper, tissue paper, coffee filters, and a long roll of white paper.

There is a black bin on top of the cart that M uses to transport messy things to the kitchen table.
Inside the other containers (sorry no photos)…

The tote: scissors, mini coloring books, markers, tape, stapler, glue sticks, glue bottles

The collage box: magazines and a box to hold the cut-out pictures (he loves to just fill it up with clippings, then collage with them at a later date).

The pencil box: pencils, colored pencils, erasers, pencil sharpener


Need some new art for your walls?  We have plenty to spare. ;)

Linking up to

Have a beautiful day! :)

Learning by Heart – Spring Fever

“The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom”
– Henry Ward Beecher

 

~M is 4.5 years old~

LITERACY

We continue to play our little word sound games, as detailed in this post, and M is progressing well through the first set of Bob Books.  He is not crazy about the story line in these, heh.  But really, any first reader is going to have plots like Mat had a cat.  The cat sat on the mat.  The End.  :)  I am happy that his desire to read stems from the joy of a story, and his comprehension of a complex plot continually amazes me.  Yet, we have to start somewhere – he can’t begin with Mark Twain or Charles Dickens, haha.  I am slightly concerned that his interest in reading on his own is waning as we go through such simple stories… any ideas?

MATH

Math got a post of its own this week. :) You can read the review of what we’ve been doing (mostly) in math, here.

SCIENCE

We’ve been enjoying the outdoors and learning about plants, flowers, trees, and birds over the past few weeks.  We’ve used a lot of our 3-part cards (click on the images if you are interested in downloading any of these sets)…

Bird identification:We have new little bird friends in our backyard this year – a sweet bluebird family in one of our birdhouses, and some yellow-rumped warblers.  We normally only see the warblers for about a week as they migrate through, but this spring at least one has stuck around, and is welcome to stay as long as he wants. :)  Most of our bird-learning has been done spur-of-the-moment style, and we race to our favorite bird identification book a lot:

We are also reading The Bird Book for Children, by Thornton Burgess.If you can get your hands on this book, it’s well worth reading.  There’s a lot of information packed into this little book about birds: what they look like (beautiful illustrations), what they eat, where they nest, how many eggs, etc.  And it’s all written in story form to appeal to the young child.  M loves all of Thornton Burgess’ books; each one really is exceptional. (A side note – Burgess was a naturalist as well as a great story teller.  Each of his books is packed with information about animals and nature, and M doesn’t even know he’s learning because the story is just so good.  I am tempted to make lap books to go with each story for next year, since M is already talking about reading all of these again.  We’ll see…)

Flower identification:

Parts of a flower:

Parts of a tree:

Parts of a leaf:

And M has been tending little pots of marigolds and forget-me-nots (kits found in the Target dollar spot):

 forget-me-nots, just beginning to sprout

forget-me-nots, beginning to grow!

 marigolds, just beginning to sprout

 marigolds, beginning to grow!

He will have his own little garden outside this year, and already has big plans (bigger than the plot will be, to be honest) for vegetables and flowers.

Two books about plants that we’ve enjoyed reading are:

PRACTICAL LIFE

Making seasonal arrangements is one of M’s very favorite activities.  I set out a dish, some florist’s foam, and a few seasonal items on picks or wires, and he is happy for a good 30 minutes.  Here is his spring arrangement – flowers, foam, and bowl were all from Dollar Tree; the birds were from some Christmas decorations:   

And M has been mowing the lawn:Hahaha – just kidding. ;)  He is steering the lawn mower in the above picture, but the blade is up for safety, and no actual mowing is going on.   And Daddy is keeping him very safe (note the ear muffs to protect his hearing; I think they are so cute!).

ART AND MUSIC

Painting outside is always fun.  M and I had a blast painting on an old roller shade out in the grass:

trying out some splatter painting

And painting a new birdhouse:

All finished:

 

M made this bright and cheerful flower garden in an egg carton:

And we’ve been enjoying some new spring-themed songs.  Our favorites are Robin in the Rain, and this one:

The Rain

With a drip, drip, drip,
and a drop, drop, drop,
See the rain on the pane,
Will it stop, stop, stop?

With a wink, wink, wink,
And a blink, blink, blink,
Will we ever see the rain,
Do you think, think, think?

And M has been watching, and loving, this:

I’m linking this post up to Preschool Corner and Weekly Wrap-Up; be sure to check them out!

Have a beautiful day! :)