Greening Sam and Avery

theme week - ponds - getting started

We got all our books from the library. I just love when I go with a list and can actually get all the books that I wanted. So awesome.

The girls picked out Box Turtle at Long Pond by William George and Lindsay George and In the Small, Small Pond by Denise Fleming for our first pond books to read.

Box Turtle at Long Pond

This one is not so much a book about ponds as it is a book about the box turtle. The story talks about a day in the life of a box turtle. Some of the things that the turtle does are pretty interesting and can lead to great questions and conversations with your little ones. The story is cute and scientifically accurate.

In the Small, Small Pond

We have read this one before so to hear more about it you can go here.

 

Along with our reading today we made our first trip to a pond. I am taking a real pond (small kid's pool filled with pond water and lots of pond critters) to Sam's school tomorrow so I wanted to head to our local pond to make sure that there were lots of critters there for me to catch. The girls and some friends helped me catch lots of great critters in the pond. This wasn't a long critter catching trip because I just wanted to make sure that there were things there for me to catch tomorrow morning. But the kids loved checking out the critters and seeing what we caught each time we put the net in the water.

 

Finally, we started our big pond craft project. I asked Sam what she thought the first thing was that we needed in order to create a pond. She said we needed water.

We added some green grass around the edge and then called it quits for today. We will continue to add to this pond with all kinds of different materials and types of art!

Come back tomorrow to see what else is new. And don't forget to scroll down and check out the Pond Posts link up. There are already several great posts up there!

cling wrap is not a substitute for contact paper (kids craft with flowers)

Well, I found this awesome craft project and knew we had to try it out. Our neighbors rose bush has been dropping beautiful pink petals that we have been using in our mud kitchen but we have been wanting to craft with them as well. 

However, our grocery store did not have contact paper and I don't keep that on hand. I thought I would try out cling wrap (saran wrap) to see if that would work. It does but there is a lot more steps and issues that make the project way more challenging!

Anyway, we used pressed leaves, fresh petals, pressed flowers, glue, rubber cemet, paper plates and cling wrap. 

I cut a big hole out of the paper plate and then glued one layer of cling wrap to the back. Then Sam and Avery placed leaves and flowers in the middle. They weren't sticking very well (or at all!) so we started adding a small dab of rubber cemet to each leaf or flower. Then we placed another layer of cling wrap on top, gluing it to the plate. 

I cut off all the extra cling wrap, punch a hole in the plate and then hung them up!

Avery lost interest right away. The cling wrap got caught on her fingers and the leaves and petals were tough for her to pick up. Sam finished one and then lost interest. But I left the supplies out and right before lunch she came back and wanted to make a few more. The cling wrap just added too many other steps to the process, steps that Sam really couldn't help with. At age 4 she likes to do as much of the craft as she can and this one was tricky for her.

If you head over to For the Children their process is much easier and more child friendly than the way we did this project!  

 

 

watercolors to capture the flowers

Nana's backyard is filled with flowers. 

As described by a four year old there are yellow spikey ones, 

purple ones with five parts,

orange ones that just look like lots of circles, 

and pink hanging down ones. 

So to try and capture all the beautiful flowers in the backyard we got out our watercolors today. And painted out on the deck. 

These are super simple sets, they actually came with coloring books (like Dora and Tinkerbell) but then we save the paints long after the book as all been used up. 

Even though we walked around looking at the flowers, talking about their shapes and colors, Sam did not really translate that onto the page. She wanted to use blue paint, so suddenly there were blue flowers in Nana's backyard! 

Oh well, we had great conversations about the flowers anyway. And painting is always fun. 

Even I got into it!

I have no artistic skills but Sam just loves to see me paint with her. And I always find it very soothing. 

A great way to spend some quality time while Avery was still napping. 

 

earth day celebrations - blog hop

Let's get this celebration started!!  Earth Day is just 12 days away and I want to pack in as much play, learning, crafting and celebrating the Earth as I can! 

We got started today with a craft project with our friends. It was a super simple project today and just filled a few minutes of our outdoor play time and then a few minutes inside while the moms made dinner but there is a ton of variations, expansions, etc. that could be done with this basic idea. 

The kids started with some bare trees drawn on a piece of paper. I asked the kids what was missing and then we headed out to collect some items they could use to create the branches, flowers, seeds and leaves that the trees needed. 

For the two 2 year olds I did the gluing for them. 

And then they just added whatever materials they wanted. 

For the three 4 year olds I let them do all the work themselves. 

They turned out pretty cute and if the kids were not excited to move onto other playing and activities they probably would have spent a lot more time on this. 

You could take this idea and create any kind of natural image or animal and then have your child decorate it with natural items they found. Outside time collecting small items from nature and then using them for a craft project that your child can keep are great ways to celebrate Earth day! It gets your kids close to nature, noticing small fun items and the creating something to help them remember their time outside. Do this activity with a group of friends and it can become a real party! 

Ready to share some of your ideas for how to celebrate Earth Day? I am super excited to hear what you all will be up to with your little ones this month. If you are in need of ideas you can check out my first earth day celebrations post or head over to my co-host's blog, Mommy Labs. 

On to the Blog Hop!

Be sure to link up posts that relate to Earth Day! We want to hear about your crafts, books, outdoor play or learning, service projects or anything else that you have cooked up to help your kids connect to the Earth on April 22nd. 

If you grab the button or share the link for the blog hop I will help spread the word about your post via Facebook, Twitter and/or Pinterest! 

 

 

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helping the birds get ready for spring

 The girls and I decided that with spring coming so fast in WI the birds would need to be making new nests to hold their eggs and might need some help. And we want to make sure that they have plenty of places for good homes. So we are helping them out by making a few bird houses for them! 

We started out with an orange juice jug and a quaker oats container. 

After they were thoroughly covered in paint and dried we decorated them with stickers!

I put modge-podge over the stickers and paint to "seal" it from the weather. Not sure this is the best kind of seal for this project but it works pretty well. 

 Once they were all dried we pushed a wood cooking squirer through the bird houses and then filled the bottom of the houses with grasses and other soft natural materials for the birds to use. 

Then Sam picked out where she wanted to hang her house!

Avery was not ready to hang her's up yet so it still sits on my kitchen counter. I will wait a few more days to let her decide where she wants to hang it. 

But now we wait to see if the birds will find the house and use it to lay some eggs. 

How are you getting ready for spring? Are you helping the animals in your yard get ready for spring?

 

let the gardening begin

We are preparing for gardening season! WOOHOO!! That makes me happy just to say that. 

I cannot wait to be digging in the soil, planting seeds and then many months from now helping Sam fill her bucket full of produce and yummy fresh stuff for us to eat. I just love being in the garden with my girls. 

But for now we do some indoor activities to get us ready. 

First we are reading a book we just found at the library. Super silly, but who knew there were so many vegetables!

I put some serious enthusiasm in my voice when I read this book, like I am doing a cheer at a football game, and the girls think it is hilarious. Plus, we have been able to look at all the pictures of things we could grow and talk about what we have room for and which ones we really want to try to grow this year. If you are feeling the need to discover some new veggies in your meals using this book to introduce them to your kids might be a good idea. 

Then Sam got busy making her own garden! Gotta love the Jung Seed catalog (any plant or seed catalog would work). I let her pick out which plants she wanted to put in her garden and where she wanted to put them. Great cutting and glueing work for her. 

And the final product! 

She really loves carrots. 

Are you starting to think about gardening yet? How do you get your kids involved?

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The Nitty Gritty!

This is the second year we have done this project. Last year she picked the food she wanted based only on color and this year she was much more focused on what foods she actually likes to eat. I love seeing the change and growth in her.

This is a project that can easy grow and change with the age of your child. With much older kids you can have them actually look at seed packets to determine how much growing space certain things need. Then they can do the math problems to really figure out the best way to use your garden area to grow the most food. And letting kids have a say in the food you grow is always an awesome idea! Or if you have the space give them a section that they can plan out entirely and then take care of throughout the whole season!

Happy gardening! 

 

color to show your support for kids getting outside

If you are a fan of my Facebook page you may have seen me promoting the WI Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights. You may also see that I have a button on my sidebar showing that I'm A Supporter! (Feel free to grab that button to show you are a supporter too!)

There is a press conference coming up on January 5th that will bring parents, teachers, non-formal educators and students in contact with their legislatures to show just how passionate we are about getting the Outdoor Bill of Rights passed.

One thing that we are encouraging children to do is create a piece of artwork to bring with them to the press conference to give to their legislature. The art should show what they love to do outdoors and/or explain what they love about the outdoors. For the children that are too young to create their own picture I have created some coloring pictures that go along with the Bill of Rights.

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1liqQ1XLsw0UvmmUmCEWWOi4eTw6m6xqFCJXop-y3LaY/edit 

Feel free to download, print, share with others and use these pages in anyway that you would like. AND even if you can't come to the press conference but would like your child to get a chance to have their voice heard feel free to email me (or comment) and I will send you my mailing address so you can send the pictures to me!

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The Nitty Gritty!

We would love to have as many people at the press conference as we can. Showing all the legislatures just how important we all think this is is critical to a vote taking place on this sometime soon.

For all the updates and information about the WI Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights sign on to support at EE in WI.  

homemade christmas wrapping paper

We have done this activity before but it worked out so well last year that we are doing it again!

And here is Sam to explain exactly what we did today.

 

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The Nitty Gritty!

Here is our post from last year on making wrapping paper.

Wanted to share a few other Holiday ideas -

gift of an activity for classmates or friends

recycled paper christmas ornaments

 

 

cookies for the birds

 

A few days ago the girls and I got a chance to have a playdate with some friends and make bird cookies.

The kids got to get their hands messy mixing up the "dough" and then got to cut out fun shaped cookies to hang up for the birds.

We have ours hanging up in our backyard by the bird feeders. They would look great hanging as ornaments in a tree but our trees are pretty far away from the windows so the girls can't see the birds as well that far away.

We bake lots of cookies at this house for the holidays so it was a lot of fun to learn how to make cookies for the birds as well!

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The Nitty Gritty!

Have to share the amazing business that Kate, Ben, Asher and River have just outside the Madison area. It is a community supported kitchen that delivers to your doorstep local, seasonal and healthy meals! They just recently set up shop in Mazomanie, WI and are growing super fast. Check out 608!

Now, if you would like to make some bird cookies of your own to give to the feathered friends in your life for Christmas here is the recipe!

1 Cup whole wheat flour

1 Cup oats

1/2 butter/crisco/lard

1/2 tsp baking powder

Mix dry ingredients together. Add butter, mix to make it crumbly.

Add two whole eggs, crush shells and all.

Add a cup of bird seed.

optional: cup of dried or fresh berries

Shape using cookie cutters. Poke hole for string.

Bake at 350 until hard.

I think when doing it again, I would give kids dough to press into the cookie cutters, and make sure to make them thick.

This recipe is Kate's so thanks should go to her! I hope she doesn't mind that I am sharing it!!! 

sister homemade christmas gift

You let your child collect shells for nine days while you are on vacation.

Then you come home with several bags of teeny-tiny seashells. What do you do with them?

Today, Sam and I decided to turn the seashells into a picture frame that Sam will give to Avery for Christmas.

Simple wood picture frame, hot glue and small seashells.

Sam was hesitant about using the hot glue gun so she asked me to do the glueing and she would place the shells.

When she decided we had put enough shells on the frame she held it up and said "Avery is going to love this". Priceless!

Sam helped me pick out a picture to print to put in the frame of the two of them on the boat in Cabo. She is so excited to wrap it up and then give it to Avery on Christmas morning.

I love the idea of having the girls make presents for each other.

Are your kiddos getting crafty this year? 

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The Nitty Gritty!

This was a great way to use the shells that Sam was so proud of and had such fun collecting. I was a little nervous that she wouldn't want to give them up to make something that would be for her sister but so far she is only excited about the idea. She hasn't mentioned once being sad or angry about giving the shells away.

What do you do with your kiddos collections? Do they form serious attachments to them that are hard to sever?