Sunday, October 26, 2014

The One With October Lesson Plans: Week Four


It's our final week in October!!! It has flown by so fast!

This week is review week, but I also added an activity per day in case you're looking for something fun to do! One of the themes for October was baking, so I have 2 kid-friendly baking activities (dump and stir!)

During review week, see if your child has mastered these subjects:
-Identifying the color orange
-Identifying the letters D, E, and F
-Identifying an oval
-Identifying the number 1 (and basic counting skills)
You can repeat any lessons that your child really liked, or go back and do any lessons you didn't do!

Note of honesty: Even I, Liz, don't do every single lesson on this blog. I just don't. I have every intention to, but life happens and things come up! If you do every lesson on here, kudos to you! Can you mentor me?
Here is our opportunity to play catch up.



This week's activities:

2 ingredient pumpkin muffins:
Directions: All you need is a can of pumpkin (15oz) and a box of spice cake mix! I've heard are only 80 calories and 1 Weight Watchers point or something, but don't quote me on that. Kids love to help stir and dump things in!

Stir together 1 box spice cake mix (just the powder in box, no other cake ingredients) and one can of pumpkin puree. That's it!
(Optional: I also added a 1tsp of pumpkin pie seasoning and about 3tbs of water. I know I only said 2 ingredients, but these kick it up a notch!) Fill cupcake wrappers until 3/4 full and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until set. Ta-da!



Orange Sensory Bin:
Directions: Dye some noodles orange** and add some orange items into a tray/tub for your kids to play with! Discuss the color orange. Add some items that don't belong (blue, purple, etc) and see if they can scoop and find all of the things that shouldn't be there! My kids love using spoons, measuring cups, dixie cups, and other kitchen items to stir and dump! *When using small items such as noodles, be sure to watch small children because of choking hazards.*


**To dye noodles: dump plain, uncooked noodles into a large gallon zipper bag. Add in a tablespoon or two of rubbing alcohol. (I've also heard that hand sanitizer works if you're in a bind, but I haven't tested that theory!) Add in a few squirts of orange (or red mixed with yellow) food coloring, zip up the bag, and shake! I would definitely have the dying be an adult-only activity since food coloring is not very forgiving. Continue shaking and add more food coloring/alcohol as needed. Once the noodles are at the desired color, lay a paper towel on a cookie sheet and spread out the noodles to dry. It dries much faster outside if you are able to do so. Enjoy!


Pumpkin Rice-Krispie Treats

Directions: Recipe here! I want to give them all the credit! Click this link.


 This is all of the stuff you need!
 I shaped mine into a pumpkin and used a pretzel stick as a stump! Yum!



Pumpkin Guts Exploring
It's about as American as apple pie! Please make sure that you carve some pumpkins this month, and make sure to play with the guts! :)


Love you guys! I'm getting November plans ready soon! Have fun reviewing, baking, and exploring this week.



Friday, October 24, 2014

The One with the Shopping Cart Conundrums

I'm about to have a mini rant. I usually hate ranting, but some things just need to be said. So here goes...
I NEED these giant carts. I do. They are designed for people WITH MORE THAN ONE CHILD. If you have one kid in here, you're putting people like me in a pickle.

Can I get an amen?

Let me take you on the journey of having twins 
(or two little ones) in public. 

Phase 1: No Shopping Cart Conundrum
This was my first giant twin stroller. It was 58 inches long. Almost 5 feet. As tiny babies that couldn't sit up, shopping carts weren't even an option for me at all.


Soon I learned to rig a small basket with hooks onto the front of my giant stroller. Therefore, I could get a few things, but not a basket full of items. I had to do all my grocery shopping at night by myself, when my hubby was home and the kids were asleep. Or, I would push my 5 foot stroller and pull a giant basket behind me. Then I really felt like a Duggar.


Phase 2: The Double Leg Hole Conundrum
At this point, my girls could sit up on their own, but nobody could walk. If I wanted to buy a cart full of things, they had to share a leg hole, ghetto-style.  Can you see how happy they are? False.
 They thought it was so fun to not have a seatbelt (because one won't fit around them both!). They probably also thought it was super awesome to dive out of the cart every 5 seconds as I desperately tried to catch them get my things and leave. If I tried to have one kid buckled on top with one kid in the basket, everything in the basket would be utterly annihilated.


(Even Charlotte knew how to squash her poor babies into a cart!)

Phase 3: The Double Cart Hallelujah!
Then my Target got these special double carts. Both of my kids could be buckled in! No more death-trap on wheels! Plus, I could actually still have room for a cart full of groceries. The heavens rejoiced. Finally, I can shop during day and not be a nocturnal mole-person. I don't have to make a giant spectacle of myself with my bags and hooks and gear.  Once Target got these carts, and I immediately started doing all of my grocery shopping there.  Smart move, Target! I have seen a few of these carts at Walmart, and I know they have these at Costco and Sams. I would say that there are maybe 5-8 per store. 


So speaking for all moms of more than one young child...
IF YOU HAVE ONE KID IN A DOUBLE CART, 
I might just cry. I need it. 

In fact, I have loaded up all the babies and diapers and bottles and wipes and everything into the car, lugged them all into the store, and found that there were no carts for me. I had to turn around and go home. Or ask customer service to try to round one up. Or I've just cried right there in the entrance. 
When you have little kids like this, and life is so completely stressful, not having a cart could be the final straw that leaves you in tears and ruins your day. Sincerely. 

I can't tell you how many times I've seen people with their one large, elementary-aged, able-bodied child sitting in a double cart.  Or their one 12 year old cheerleader daughter watching a movie on an iPad lounging across a double cart. (I wish I'd had a taser that day.) 

The other day there were no more double carts and my kids were like this:
(It's like playing real-life Tetris, but instead of playing with L-shaped blocks, it's human beings.) 

I ran into a lady with the last double shopping cart, and guess how many kids were inside?!?!? ONE. 
One kid. She looked at me and chuckled nervously, "Ha, it looks like we should trade carts!" 
So I loudly, ridiculously fake laughed (like people on the movies do!) and kept walking. Otherwise I would have cried/slashed her tires/cried while slashing her tires. 

So please, please, for the love, if you have one child, please don't use a double cart.
_______________________________
There is always an except to this rule. 
Once I was giving someone the stink eye because they took the last double cart and they had one, large kid inside. After a few moments of watching them, I realized that this child surely had Autism. I immediately felt guilty for judging that mom. I realized that the double carts were a great option for her and her child. She let him roam a little bit, and then she asked him to come back and sit at the cart. I was actually really proud of her for being so resourceful and finding a solution to that fit her family's shopping needs. I'm sure it was freeing for her to be able to shop without worrying about him as much. I was glad that she took my cart. :)
________________________________

So all in all, if you have just one able-bodied kid, please leave the double carts for those of us who need them most. I know they are super cool and giant, and sometimes they even have cool steering wheels to lure you in, but it could really make someone's day much easier if you'd leave them be. If you're guilty of taking a double cart with one kid, don't feel terrible! It just something to be aware of from now on. :)




Thoughts? Have you ever been in a pickle like this at the store? 















Monday, October 20, 2014

The One With October Lesson Plans, Week 3

Hi! Here's week 3! 

F Dot Art *
Directions: print file. Allow child to decorate the uppercase and lowercase F. (You can use circle stickers, dot stampers, play dough pieces, or pom poms) Read Dr. Seuss's ABC book, and discuss which letter is "Big F" and which one is "Little f" Hang paper on fridge for the week to reference. 
Oval Corn Painting
Directions: On a piece of manilla paper, draw a large, long oval. Using a q-tip as a brush, ask your child to paint yellow corn kernels on the oval. Add some green leaves with construction paper and voila! An amazing piece of corn!


Pumpkin Science: Float or Sink Pumpkins
Directions: Use a bathtub with a large pumpkin (or bowl, rubbermaid tub, etc with a small pumpkin) and investigate to see if it floats or sinks. Ask your child to make their prediction. Spoiler alert: even huge pumpkins float!  You can even let them get into the tub and splash around! My kids love random baths during the day. (If you're a toddler, somehow the bathtub transforms into an awesome pool when you're in your swimsuit!) 
Other pumpkin exploring ideas:
-Put a big pumpkin on the bathroom scale and guess the weight! 
-Do pumpkins roll? 
-How does a pumpkin sound when you drum on it? 
-Give them a sponge and let them scrub the pumpkins! (For real, kids like this stuff.)
 Have fun splashing and scooping and playing with pumpkins of all sizes! 

F is for Fish-Goldfish Sorting*
Directions: print file. Lay out the goldfish sorting mat. See if your child can identify the colors of the circles. Allow them to sort their goldfish snack on the mat. Emphasize orange (the color of the month!) and the letter F for Fish (letter of the week!) You can also count and compare the goldfish groups. "How many orange fish are there? Which color has the most? Which color has the least?" 

Candy Corn Footprint
Directions: cute alert! Paint your kiddo's feet like a candy corn! (Heel portion white, mid-foot orange, toes yellow) It's just plain cute and grandparents will love it. 


D, E, F Sorting Mat*
Directions: print file. Cut apart the letter pieces on page 2. Mix up the pieces, and allow your child to sort the pieces (D, E, F) onto the sorting mat (page 1). 


Leaf Raking Game
Directions: gather real or fake fall leaves. Use masking or painter's tape to section-off a small area on your kitchen floor. Allow your children to "rake" or sweep the leaves into the designated area! :) They will love it! Have fun discussing fall and how leaves fall off of frees. 


Even my baby had fun! She had no idea what she was doing...but she was entertained! 

F Letter Recognition*
Directions: print file. Allow children to find the letters Ff on the sheet. (use bingo stampers, crayons, stickers, etc).


Candy Corn Counting Mats*
Directions: print file. Gather real candy corn and ask your child to place the correct amount of candy on the counting mat. On page 2, you can learn about simple patterns. "Patterns repeat themselves. This pattern is up,down, up, down" etc


Here are the files for the week. Love ya!
F Dot Art

Thursday, October 9, 2014

The One With October Lesson Plans Week 2

Hi! Week 2 of October here! E week!

If you're looking for the October calendar, it's here!
(Keep scrolling ahead a few posts to see the supply list for the month.)



E Dot Art *
Directions: print file. Allow child to decorate the uppercase and lowercase E. (You can use circle stickers, dot stampers, play dough pieces, or pom poms) Read Dr. Seuss's ABC book, and discuss which letter is "Big E" and which one is "Little e" Hang paper on fridge for the week to reference. 

Oval Felt Pumpkins
Directions: cut a sheet of orange felt into the shape of a pumpkin. Cut out small varying shapes out of the black pieces. (oval, square, triangle, circle, heart, crescents, rectangles, etc). Allow children to decorate (no glue) the pumpkin with the different black felt shapes as eyes, noses, etc. Since felt sticks to felt, the child can un-decorate and redecorate as much as they want! 
Note: If you're feeling very ambitious, you can get a large piece of orange felt by the yard from a fabric store (such as Joann's) to make a HUGE pumpkin! 
This is a giant yard of felt! A smaller version is simple too! One orange sheet of felt is about 25 cents!

Pumpkin Stamping
Directions: Cut a mini pumpkin in half. Discover the seeds inside and discuss the parts of the pumpkin (seeds, stem, etc). Squirt some orange (or red mixed with yellow!) paint onto a paper plate.  Invite your child to use the pumpkin half as a stamp on a separate piece of paper. 
***Note: please reserve some seeds (at least 10) for another activity on Friday. Set the seeds aside and allow them to dry.***


Ee Elephant Snack*---Teaching prepositions
Directions: print file. Lay out snack mat. Find all the elephants in your animal crackers. Discuss that elephant starts with the letter E. Ask your child to place the elephant in different locations in relationship to the circus tent. 
Example: "Let's play a listening game. Can you put the elephant next to the tent? Can you put the elephant on top of the tent? How silly! Can you put the elephant under the tent? Wow!"
Other phrases to teach and ask the child to demonstrate:
above, below, beneath, inside of, outside of, in front of, etc. Try not to use gestures in order to see if the child can locate where the animal is supposed to go independently.  If they are struggling, point where the elephant goes in order to teach the vocabulary term.  (This may seem like a super basic skill, but it is taught in kindergarten!)
(Ack! My bag of animal crackers didn't have any elephants! Let's just pretend those are elephants, ok?)

Orange Coloring Page*
Directions: print file.  Color the crayon orange (using crayon, marker, paint, etc) Older children can trace and discuss the letters in the word "orange". Hang paper on the fridge for future reference. Search for orange things throughout the day! :)
Sorting Mat*
Directions: print file. Cut along the dotted lines to cut apart the colored elephants on page 2. Mix up the elephant pieces. Invite the child to sort the colored elephants onto the corresponding color of elephant from page 1. Discuss the colors and that elephant begins with the letter E. For older children, you can hide the elephants around the house for them to find and race around to sort! :)
Leaf Rubbings:
Directions: Find leaves outside (or use fake leaves from a craft store!). Allow the child to feel the texture of the leaves and explore them.  Then, place the leaves under a piece of paper and rub over the paper with a crayon. Ta-da! Talk about and describe different shapes and colors of leaves. Discuss that leaves fall from trees and that the season is fall. (Here in Texas, we still have green leaves! But I can pretend it's fall, right?)

Ee Letter Recognition*
Directions: print file. Allow children to find the letters Ee on the sheet. (use bingo stampers, crayons, stickers, etc).

Pumpkin Seed Counting*
Directions: print file. Use the reserved pumpkin seeds (from Tuesday's lesson) for today's activity. If they want, the child can color the pumpkins. Glue down the corresponding amount of seeds onto each pumpkin. "This says 'two seeds'. Let's count out two seeds and glue them down onto the pumpkin." 

Sunday, October 5, 2014

The One With October Plans: Week One

I'm ready for a week full of fun! Here goes...

All printable pages are at the end of this post.

____________________________________

October Calendar here.
Letters: D, E, F
Color: orange
Shape: oval
Number: 1
Theme: pumpkins, fall, baking
____________________________________


D Dot Art *
Directions: print file. Allow child to decorate the uppercase and lowercase A. (You can use circle stickers, dot stampers, play dough pieces, or pom poms) Read Dr. Seuss's ABC book, and discuss which letter is "Big D" and which one is "Little d" Hang paper on fridge for the week to reference. 

Oval Coloring Page*
Directions: print file. Discuss and describe the shape of a circle. Allow child to decorate the oval (markers, crayons, dot stampers, paint, or gluing down little pieces of torn paper). Preferably decorate with the color orange in order to introduce the color of the month.  Older children can trace and discuss the letters in the word "oval" Hang paper on the fridge for the month to reference. Try to find ovals throughout the day!


Homemade Pumpkin Play Dough (2 ingredients!!!!)
I love that this is "safe-to-taste" for younger kids, and no cooking is needed! 
Directions: Mix one (15-ounce) can of pumpkin with 3.5 cups flour. Mix and knead them together until you get a nice dough consistency, about 2-4 minutes.  If it is too dry, add a few drops of water.  If it is too sticky/wet,  add a little more flour. If you want to add some pumpkin pie spice for extra smelly fun, feel free to! 

D Snack: D is for daisy
Directions: Slice banana into circular slices in order to make the shape of petals. Add peanut butter to dip as the center of the flower (or alternative for those with allergies) and enjoy! Discuss that daisy starts with the letter D!  (I might do this tonight for myself with Nutella, can I get an amen?)
                              Wow! That looks just like a Daisy, right? I mean, it's just uncanny. Ha.
D Outline art*
Directions: print file. See if your child can remember the name of the letter. Invite child to decorate the "D" orange.  (markers, crayons, dot stampers, paint, torn paper) For older children, you can ask them to find pictures in magazines that start with D and glue them down. Or, they can find the letter D in magazines and glue them down onto the "D" silhouette.  (It might end up looking like a ransom letter, ha!) 

Orange Color Mixing:
Directions: mix red and yellow paint together in order to create orange paint. For younger kiddos, allow them to mix the paint together inside a sealed gallon zipper bag. It is super fun for them to mush the paint around! Make sure that it is sealed well! (I taped mine closed, and made sure there wasn't a lot of air inside so that it wouldn't pop!)
For older kids, they can use a popsicle stick to stir the paint together in a cup. Continue to next activity. 

Paint a Pumpkin Plate:
Directions: Once you have mixed the paint to an orange color, you can use it to paint a pumpkin! Cut a paper plate into an oval (shape of the month!) and allow the child to paint it orange. If you want to add a stump with brown paper, go wild! 

D letter recognition*
Directions: print file. Allow children to find the letters Dd on the sheet. (use bingo stampers, crayons, stickers, etc).

Bead Counting*
Directions: print file. Cut apart rectangle cards and punch hole where the small circle is. Tie string (yarn, shoelace, pipe cleaner) through the hole at the end of the card. Work with the child to count the pumpkins on the card and add the corresponding amount of beads onto the string.  For younger kiddos: use cheerios, large chunky beads, or large penne pasta. For older kiddos, you can use smaller pony beads, etc. Discuss that this month we are learning about the number one. (Which sorry, one is kind of a lame number, but we had to include all of the numbers!) :)
(Examples of different strings and beads to use!)

Here are the printables! 









Wednesday, October 1, 2014

The One With October Plans: Getting Started

Hi there!
I have a list ready of things that you will need for our October plans. October is a tricky month planning-wise, so I decided to begin the plans on Monday in order for the rest of the calendar year to have nice, neat 4 week months. Hooray! It all lines up great now! 
This month is full of lots of hands-on learning about fall. It's full of leaf rubbings, pumpkin science, baking, and games. I feel like it has a good mix of fall activities that we all intend to do, but never remember to actually do. 

The learning goals of this month are:
Letters: D, E, and F
Number: 1
Color: Orange
Shape: Oval
Themes: pumpkins, fall, and baking

The October plans are HERE!!

In addition to our normal supplies, the supplies you will specifically need for the month of October are:

Week 1:
-All printables I've created
-1 can pumpkin
-3.5 cups flour
-bananas
-beads for stringing (for younger kiddos: large chunky lacing beads, penne pasta, etc. Bigger kiddos: pony beads, ditalini pasta, smaller foam beads) 
-string/yarn for stringing the beads

Week 2:
a few sheets of orange and black felt (25 cents each at craft stores)
-a bag of mini pumpkins
-circus animals
-fall leaves (real or fake!)

Week 3:
-q-tips (cotton swabs)
-mini pumpkins (from last week)
-multi-colored goldfish crackers
-fall leaves (real or fake, from last week)
-candy corn

Week 4:
-spice cake mix
-1 can pumpkin
-dry, uncooked noodles for sensory bin (wagon wheel pasta would be fun!)
-orange food coloring (or red and yellow mixed to make orange)
-large pumpkin for carving and playing with guts!
-rice krispie treat cereal
-marshmallows
-butter
-optional: tootsie rolls

Have fun! I'm so excited for all the hands on play this month! I can't wait to see photos of your little ones! Remember to follow me on Facebook as well: Twinsane in the Membrane for photos, sharing, and other ideas!