Button Practice

Hannah and I were cuddling during rest time and she decided she want to play with the two buttons on my shirt.  She could do it but it was a bit awkward for both of us.  I looked around the room to see what I come up with so she could continue buttoning.  I took my pillow and slipped one of Andrew T-shirts onto it and then took one of his button up shirts and put it on the pillow too.  At that point Hannah piped in and thought our pillow man needed pants.  I couldn't agree more. Then I propped our pillow daddy against the chair and Hannah happily buttoned away.  The pillow provided a good amount of resistance and keeps the shirt firm.

Stay tuned for a special treat I have planned for tomorrow.  I give you a little teaser; I interviewed Hannah.  But you have to check back tomorrow to see what the interview is all about.

H is Home, Hot, and Happy

As we worked are way through our H activities today, we had extra fun because Daddy joined us.  I had everything ready for Hannah after her nap on the kitchen table. She came downstairs and a few minutes later meandered into the kitchen.  Not long after, Andrew called me into the kitchen too.  Hannah very patiently sat at the kitchen table waiting for me to come in so she could start her activities. 

Hot and Cold

This is a fun activity. Each cup had some water in it, ranging from ice cold to hot (not scalding) and everything in between.  We dipped our fingers in to see which cups were warmer and colder.  She did very well and really enjoyed dipping her fingers in and feeling water temperature different from cup to cup.

The cup on the left has the very hot water and the cup on the right has ice water. 

She needed to hold it herself.

If the cup was deemed cold enough, she drank it.

The "undrinkable" water with poured back and forth between cups.

Next, we did a simple house craft.

I love that there is a window on the chimney.

 Next, we sorted happy and sad faces into the appropriate basket.  I chose this activity after seeing it on The Princess and the Tot and because Hannah has a fascination for looking at other people expressions in pictures.

 I labeled two baskets with either happy or sad and then cut our pictures from magazines for her to sort.

Her facial expressions mimicked whatever she saw in the pictures.

Happy

She had a harder time with sad pictures, (mostly from the range of sad expressions).  The Happy pictures were easy.

Sad

 Afterwards, we had lots of time to go down to the creek and play.

Playing with sticks (no eyes were injured).

Stay tuned for surprise activity for the letter H.  It is almost ready.

G- is for Green Salad and Goats

Today (as is most Mondays) was spent doing errands.  We were home in time for lunch and then nap time.  We managed to squeeze in two fun activities this afternoon.  First, we matched colored pom poms to the corresponding goat.  I didn't have a gray pom pom so I colored a white one gray with a marker.

This printable is from Tot School Printables.

She was into the activity at first.

But she quickly lost interest.

Ethan played with his gears and cogs toy.

The second activity was a huge favorite for both Hannah and Ethan.  I took the streamers headed for the garbage can and put them in a huge bowl.  I thought it looked like salad.  I hid some green objects in the "salad".  I put in some green felt food, Lego, and some bear counters.

Looks yummy.

She searched gingerly at first.

The she went wild.

Even Ethan grabbed a hold and started pulling.

Funny boy.

They played with the streamers for a good 40 minutes.  Even found a box for added fun.

Walking through the grass.

Bumps, Lumps, and Grapes

Today was one those days that FELT so long.  It probably had to do with being up so early. This morning Andrew and I took Ethan to Children's Hospital to see an ophthalmologist.  He has a lump beside his eye and he needed it looked at.  Our appointment was originally scheduled for January but we were on the cancellation list (yeah).
According to the Doctor it is a:

Periorbital dermoid cyst

Dermoid cysts can appear in young children, often near the lateral aspect of the eyebrow (right part of the right eyebrow or left part of the left eyebrow). They often have a rubbery feel. These are sometimes watched and sometimes excised. An inflammatory reaction can occur if the dermoid cyst is disrupted.

She wants it removed, so we see a surgeon in November, unless it gets noticeable bigger, then we go sooner.

Right eye shows it well.

After nap time (which Ethan did not participate in), Hannah and I did a few activities together. First, we sponge painted some grapes (for our g activities).  I drew some leaves and stems on a piece of card stock, cut some sponges into circles, and got out our purple paint. (I saw this activity here on A Little Learning for Two.)

The setup.

Hannah's face when she saw the paint.

She liked sucking up the paint with the sponge.

Making grapes.

Mommy's grapes.

Hannah and her finished grapes, I think she may have eaten some because her chin is purple.

Next, we played with a sponge and some water. (I saw this idea on The Wonder Years).  The idea is to transfer water from one dish to the other.

The set up.

She let the sponge suck up water from the first bowl.

Then she squeezed the water into the second.

Finally, she poured the water on the tray and practiced cleaning it up.

I have had this idea for a while.  Each week I will ask Hannah to draw me a picture and then narrate what she draws so I can write it down.  It will be fun to see the progression of her drawing skills.  She has just recently started describing what she draws so I know I could start.

Who does not LOVE school supplies.  

Her first drawing.  She drew a flake and a circle.  I'm not sure what she meant by a flake but I wrote it down anyway.


Now on to the weekend.

Farm Animal Matching

I set up a fun and cute activity for Hannah to do when she woke up from her nap today (although we didn't actually get to it until just before bed).  I saw this originally on Chasing Cheerios and saved the idea for when we got to the letter F.  Its an easy activity; match the animal to its picture ( the animal cards are from Montessori for Everyone).  Hannah liked it so much that she asked to do it again instead of moving on to something else (unless we are painting).  

This was waiting for Hannah on the kitchen table.

Happy girl.

Matching the horse.

Found it!

I liked that the horse and the cow pictures looked very different from the cow and horse toys.  This made the activity more difficult and she really had to think for a moment.

F-Feel and Find Game

Note: I found this idea in the June/July edition of the Mailbox.  

Take a shoe box and cut a hole in the side wide enough for your child to stick their arm through.  My box was ugly so I wrapped it with blue paper.  Find some objects that match.  I choose two bouncy balls, two stacking cups, two mega blocks, two pieces of felt, two sea shells, and to stuffed tomatoes.     Place one set inside the shoe box and one set on a tray (or like me on a plastic plate).

Explain to your child that there are matching toys inside the box and with their fingers only they need to find the match.

Hannah loved sticking her hand and feeling the objects.

While looking for the ball she needed to reach all the way in.

While this was a fairly simple game to put together, Hannah had more fun finding an object and matching it afterwards,  I don't know that she really understood that I wanted her to use her fingers to find  a specific item.  Nevertheless, she had a lot of fun "finding" things.  I'm sure we will be playing this again soon.