Egg-stra fun Easter activities

This week has been super busy with a wedding and family stuff but we did manage to squeeze a few activities.The egg experiment with the vinegar turned out fun.I have seen thus all over the blogging world.I don't know who came up with the idea.I found it here

We dyed some eggs.My son kept saying we are going to kill some eggs.

Have you ever done egg wars if not you should.In this game you try to crack some ones egg by tapping it but not break yours.I found this idea @http://www.toddlerapproved.com

So much fun!What are you doing to celebrate Easter?

Take back your Turf Thursday

It has been a real busy week.Life still revolves around little Mister.Some days I can barely open my eyes.I was falling asleep while I was reading to my kids!!!Another time my hubby was so tired that when I asked for the baby he handed me the blanket instead.What are some funny things you have done because of sleep deprivation?

I did manage to stay on top of my laundry.I also finished the hallway top to bottom.I dusted pictured in my room and organized and dusted my dresser.I didn't do anything fancy but I put my jewelry in a hanging organizer so I can see what I have now.Pictures to come......

In addition I made a chore chart with empty picture frames.I can write on it with dry erase markers.I heard from somewhere but I don't know that to know how many chores to assign you take the child's age and multiply it by 2.So a 2 year old would have one,for example.This is in addition to picking up his toys.Each of my kids are expected to keep their rooms picked up and my oldest 2 can put their laundry in the washer by themselves.How do you assign chores at your house?

I hope you know that I love writing these posts.I hope to inspire and help wherever I can.As a busy Mom to another I hope for you all to realize what you accomplish and give yourself a reward for your hard work.You can paint your nails or a bowl of ice cream.I hope you are all making progress on your Spring cleaning and taking back your Turf one day at a time.

Review and egg-stra fun

You can never have too many egg hunts.I put letter K,L and M in an egg.When they opened the eggs they would say the letter and the sound it makes.

We took those same plastic eggs and tried to make them crack open when they fell but they didn't.Then we took a real egg.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall........
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall........
He was investigated and smashed some more with plastic eggs.

I set up an art station with crepe paper,tissue paper,pom poms,glue crayons and imagination.Ready go!

I set up a sensory bin with rice,Easter grass,egg carton,plastic eggs and Spring cupcake toppers.My toddler kept saying over and over "this is so fun"

 

 

Tomorrow is more Humpty Dumpty activities and we check on our experiment.We put an egg in a container with a lid and covered it with vinegar.Who has tried this?Hopefully it will be warmer to have some color fun tomorrow!

Meditation Monday

I have been doing a lot of looking at myself lately.It has been challenging to say the least with 4 kids,1 of which is a new born.I have had to let a lot of house stuff go although I try.I started thinking back the last year or so when I had severe depression and how I barely functioned.There are many days or even several times a day where I sit there overwhelmed and cry.Then I blog about what the kids did and I realize that I am doing something.
We have been doing activities about Humpty Dumpty this last week and this week.He fell and they couldn't put him back together again.Well I have been put back together when I didn't think it was possible! It is not a matter of when you fall because I think we have all had hard times where we didn't think we could do it.Maybe some of us havn't but will.But again it isn't a matter of when you fall,its how you pick up the pieces and put yourself back together again!It can be piece by piece;day by day.You could use glue or your friends and family.The point is you get up and abandon all thoughts of hopelessness.Where are you on your journey?

You can be happy but you must look inward for your strengths and be kind to yourself in the process.Write thise thoughts down and turn it into a positive.For example, my thought today was that I got nothing done but my kids had fun with school and my daughter made me a I love you card.Love those! Make today,right now the best part of your day.Take a deep breath and treat yourself to something.The deep breath is very important!


Breathe,relax and be calm

Rainbow obstacle course-review of colors

Today there is a deeper meaning to our play.We talked about light.The source we depend on for light is the sun.Without light their wouldn't be color.So today we are doing a color obstacle course.
We honored the sun as ancient yogis by doing sun salutations.We used our sun we made and a mountain that looked like an M.I made it from brown construction paper.M for mountain.Yellow means spirituality,Spring,happiness,energy, wisdom,emergency,hazard and cowardice.It is a happy color and can reduce depression.Sometimes we see a red sun.People have different reactions to red.It can mean passion,energy,love,war and anger.Just looking at it can stimulate brain activity.

Then the kids ran on river rocks.Blue means spirituality,calmness,void,cleanliness,fresh air,sadness,cold,trust and intelligence.
I made them so when they stepped on them they would make noise.I filled a plastic bag with newspaper and put different colors on top.

Then we stopped and made a tree pose.This pose is a grounded pose to help us center ourselves.The trees grow up like they are trying to reach the sky.Green is strongly associated with nature.It means growth,cleanliness,health,peace,harmony,relaxation,security,envy,jealousy,illness,and immaturity.

They had to try to jump up and catch the rain.The kids looked up and above them were blue streamers representing rain and clouds.Sometimes in life there is time of darkness where we might have to look more deeply inside to find the light.

The kids helped me fill these bottles as we mixed colors for red,orange,yellow,green,blue and purple.Orange means creative,good health,social,excitement,warm and loud.
We made a bowling game to represent thunder.They practiced their manners by taking turns nicely.

Then they crawled to a rainbow created by draping a sheet over chairs and multi-colored lights.Purple means spirituality,faith,magic,ceremony,subconscious,creativity,imagination,calming,bravery,death,cruelty,wealth,self involvement,instability and luxury.

 
We ended by looking in the mirror.I asked them what they saw.They said "me". I replied that each of us are unique and special.We all have light within us.Let your light shine bright!

Even the baby enjoyed all the color.We are still doing tummy time and our Nursery rhyme,Humpty Dumpty.We will do more nursery rhyme activities next week.

For snack time I gave Lex yogurt and Rowen crackers and they had to share with each other.

Next week will be a review of letters K,L and M,colors,Humpty Dumpty,Tea Party to practice manners and some Easter fun! We still need to do our manners game too.Its coming soon as you can imagine this obstacle course took a while. Phew I am exhausted just thinking about it!

You can find where I found the meanings of different colors @http://www.color-wheel-artist.com/color-meanings.html

Take back your Turf Thursday

I feel really good about all I have accomplished.All my help has gone home but my sister really helped me pair down on the things in my closet.First in my linen closet I moved all cleaning supplies to the bigger closet in my laundry room.Next I took everything out to see what I had.As usual too much stuff for a space.I decided I wanted to cover my shelf with paper.We cleaned the shelves and washed the back of the closet.I wiped down the door frame and door with vinegar.It does a really good job.
Here is the before picture

They look so pretty huh?

We put things back and there was still too much stuff.I decided to move it to the kids bathroom.We put up shelves and got baskets for kids bath stuff and towels.
Now it looks like this.

Here is the before of the wall of the bathroom.

Here is the linen closet before again.
 
Here is the after.

A little trick someone told me for sheets is to put them in the pillow case so it looks nice and neat and it all stays together.

The next thing I did was scrub the shower top to bottom.I used hot vinegar and dish soap for the tough stuff and it came right out! I just poured the soap along the edges and then sprayed the vinegar.I am going to continue to clean top to bottom.First I will do the walls and door frames,curtains,blinds,windows,shelves.Dusting will also be included in it like frames,glass figures.That way all the stuff falls onto things you haven't cleaned yet.We will see how I do this weekend and next week.

Color purple and the hungry caterpillar

Let's see how many ways we can get the purple things out of the jar.You can reach in with your hands.Also,you can dump it out.Using a spoon is hard.Many utensils had no room to move like a spatula or wooden spoon.Great problem solving activity and good for fine motor skills.

Read The very hungry caterpillar by Eric Carle.I found a great lesson plan from http://omazingkidsllc.com

We talked about how caterpillars start as an egg.Picture bellow is them as an egg(childs pose)

They pretended to be caterpillars crawling on leaves and eating until they get nice and fat.(happy baby pose to represent the caterpillar.)

They wrapped up in a cocoon.
 
The baby even got to join in on Mom's lap.You put your arms around them like a cocoon and slowly lift up and hold babies hands out like they have wings and flap them gently.
They became butterflies!

They did a fun movement found also @ http://omazingkidsllc.comWe made Suns out of yellow construction paper.Hold them high in the sky.

We took a break and had a snack.Look at the orange what does it feel like? Then they put it in their laps and imagined it growing and being picked and brought to the store.Can we eat it like this? No! They peeled their oranges.They are hungry little caterpillars.

Close eyes take a bite.How does it feel in your mouth?They liked how they took a bite and the juice squirted out.

They colored in their color book and we talked about what fruit or vegetables were certain color.

Music and movement: Move like a merry go round

Follow the Mother duck.

Introduce Humpty Dumpty

We are going to play a game for table manners.Wait for my post to see this fun game and use it with your family...........

How did you welcome spring?

color blue activities and letter M

Here is our table of blue.I also included play mail for the letter m.They found the blue grass right away.It went everywhere.It was a salad in a hat.It was a wig and it wad just fun to throw.These trays are so good for fine motor activities.Next they played with the mail and they made a mail box out of a card board box.

 
 

We traced the letter M and talked about words that start with M.They came up with Mom,moo,mouth,mountain,more.I talked about Manners.

I wrote on construction paper  "thank you" and "please".I told them I was going to teach them magic and had them pull the paper out.These are magic words. Abracadabra!

We played a game where we passed a ball.Someone would ask for the ball and the receiver would say thank you.Then we reversed it.

Music and movement-danced with streamers


How will the baby react?It is great at this age to hang things over their head.

As I fed the baby we read lots of books I mean lots!
A great one ti review shapes is The okay book.Written by Todd Parr
 
We talked about shapes and colors because it is such a colorful book.
 
Happy Easter Mouse by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond.It is a book I just bought for Easter.It is also a great review of colors.