Yellow Brick Road

Seriously, is it really January outside??  It feels like Spring!!!  We spent a majority of our morning outside.....have to take advantage of this nice weather while we can.  And I had the perfect project to do outside.  If you're from Kansas, then you probably knew that Sunday was Kansas' Birthday.  Well, we celebrated today and will continue on Thursday.  I thought it would be fun to talk about the Wizard of Oz during our Kansas unit.  So, today we made our own yellow brick road.  I wasn't sure if all the kids had seen the The Wizard of Oz, so we watched some scenes on You Tube......this one included. 

We made our own yellow brick road......last year, my wonderful hubby dug up our brick patio to extend our deck.....he asked if I had any use for the brick.....and that gave me an idea to make a yellow brick road with the kids.  He didn't save them all, but he did save me a small pile behind our shed. 

So, we brought them to the front this morning and started painting them yellow.  I would have loved to have painted more, but this worked for what we were trying to accomplish today. 

 

We sang, "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" while they walked along the bricks.

 

 

This was a good way for them to work on some balance....gotta work on those gross motor skills!!!  But, they also had a blast doing it!!!  I think we'll leave them outside this week while it's nice, but be prepared parents, they want to take a brick home!

Tracy

Hibernation Day, Part 2

Along with hibernating, we made these fun coffee bears.  I cut out a bear shape from construction paper and let the kids paint it brown, then they sprinkled with coffee and attached some wiggly eyes.

One of the kids thought the bears needed a mouth, so she added glue where the mouth should be! 

 

I thought I would share what I made for the kids' lunch too.  I cut out tortillas to look like snowflakes to go along with our snow theme.  Aren't they fun?!!  I think the kids ate more of these than they usually do.....apparently when things are cut in different shapes, they taste better!

These would be fun to sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on and bake for a snack too.

 

Tracy

Hibernation Day, Part 1

To end our theme on winter and hibernation, we hibernated today!  All the kids came in their jammies and brought their teddy bear to snuggle in the "cave" with.  They had such a good time!!! 

Pretending to sleep!

I made these cupcakes for them......the cake represents the cave, inside I put a teddy graham and then the white frosting is the snow.

Then I let them add some marshmallows on top.

Finding the teddy bear!  They had fun searching for their "bear in the cave!"

These boys were at school, but had to put their pjs on when they got here......they wanted to hibernate too!  Don't they look cute in their matching pjs!?!!

And Maddox joined them too!!!

They all had so much fun.....have more to share tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Tracy

Snow Scene

This morning I had 2 different ideas for art, so I let the kids pick......either another bear project or a snow scene.....they picked the snow scene....they love to paint!  I let them have free rein.....I gave them each a piece of blue construction paper and lots of white stuff......paint, glue, cotton balls, felt, flour to shake like it's snow, salt, yarn, and beads.  Needless to say, they had so much fun with this and spent so much time on their snow scene that we didn't get much else done this morning......oh well, there's always Thursday!!!   

 

Well, since we didn't get much else done today.....we will continue more snow and hibernation activities on Thursday and celebrate Kansas' Birthday next week.

Tracy

Bear in Cave

Along with winter, I always like to talk about Hibernation as well.  Yesterday, we made these very simple and cute caves. 

Materials:

Paper plate (cut in half and then cut the middle out)

Brown paper (bear)

Wiggly eyes

Crayon or marker

Cotton balls

Glue

First, glue cotton balls on the paper plate.....the paper plate is the cave and the cotton balls are the snow.

Next, decorate the brown paper (this is to represent part of the bear inside the cave)....we colored him brown (apparently he wasn't brown enough), glued on wiggly eyes, and gave him a mouth and a nose.

Then, glue the bear behind the cave and you are finished!

Next week, we will be hibernating in our caves and also doing some Kansas activities.....January 29 is Kansas' Birthday!

 

Tracy