Paper Plate Birds

Today we were going to make paper plate fish (and we did manage to make one, but we will save that post for tomorrow) and instead made birds instead. Before we finished the kids' birds we went outside to play while the weather was still nice. Tomorrow we will assemble them and I'll update this post with pictures, however I did finish mine so that I could post pictures. The kids like to do these kinds of crafts in intervals. We colour little by little over a few days until it is fully covered in marker. They don't have the patience to do it all at once.

All you need is a couple paper plates, markers, glue and scissors.


For this part I don't guide them at all. I let them colour freely. Their birds will be unique.


Munchkin gets so excited about markers.. But we have to keep a close eye on him because he likes to taste them...


Munchkin is in the "swirling" art stage.


Bean is too, although she does try to branch out. Markers don't spread like paint, so it isn't the same.


My bird, after being coloured. Munchkin chose the colours for me. I just did something basic.


Folded up and standing. The best part: these plates are super sturdy and are SO adorable when they rock! We definitely need to make penguins next!


I cut a beak and tail out of another plate.


And coloured them. 


Then I glued the pieces together. Once the glue was set I added googly eyes.



Bean did not need any help folding her birds in half.


Since she loved the "monster" eyes that we used for the fish, we decided to use them again for the birds.


Bean's birds are very expressive.. I think this one is upset.


And this one looks like an angry bird.


Maybe they don't get along. :(


But they are still so cute!!

I'm going to cut up some brown paper bags and make materials for a nest. :) I think next week we will focus on birds and do more bird crafts.

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The Pout Pout Fish

The Pout Pout Fish.. can I just say, this book is so cute! My kids love it, especially Bean. We went to Kohl's on Tuesday to pick up some big boy underwear for Mr. Munchkin (not quite ready, but we want to be prepared for when he is, in the meantime we keep prepping him). I saw the books at the end of the register and just had to check them out. I love the Kohl's Cares books, they are always so cute! Profit go to charity and the books are only $5, what's not to love? Whenever we shop at Kohl's, I always check to see what books they have for the month.
We also picked up The Pout Pout Fish in the Big Big Dark, but Bean definitely prefers the first one. She loves the parts where the pout pout fish goes "blob bloooob blooooob". :) She likes to say those parts. 
Today we painted and coloured with markers on paper plates. We were aiming to make fish, but ended up making birds instead! Tomorrow we will make fish and I will write a post on them. :)

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Fun in the Sun (and a Colour Scavenger Hunt)

Monday was Memorial Day. Bean helped me make cookies, although we ended up forgetting to bring them :(. She loves stirring and adding the ingredients. I scooped most of the dry ingredients and explained different measurements and let her add them. Munchkin sat at the table with us and I gave him a bowl of buttons and some scoops to use as well.


We spent the day with family and had a very nice BBQ. The kids enjoyed playing at the park, especially because the weather was so nice and it had been quite miserable in these parts the past week. We walked to the park and the kids enjoyed a ride in their wagon. Once we got there they ran off and started playing. This was such a nice park and I wish we lived closer to it!


This is the way Munchkin goes down the slide. every. time. He makes me so nervous, but he loves sliding down head first.


Bean enjoyed spending some time with her uncle B.


Bean liked the big slide but was more cautious than her brother. :)



So much fun!


Afterwards we went back to Grammy's and enjoyed a nice meal. Bean apparently really likes Oreo ice cream cake :)


And Munchkin was a little sweetie and helped clean up :) 


~~~

Yesterday was nice as well and we spent the day playing outside again. We took the opportunity to explore the yard and I pointed out different kinds of plants and what they were. We also did a colour scavenger hunt using flowers and explored different natural textures (dirt, rocks, moss, grass, flowers, bark, etc.). It was really nice to get outside and enjoy the fresh air.

 Collecting pine cones.

 Munchkin went everywhere with the foam ball :)


They practiced throwing. Bean has a wicked arm and can throw pine cones ten feet in the air. She nearly got some over the fence, that would have been a surprise for the neighbor's dog. :)


Saying Hi to Ollie, the dog next door.


We tried counting the wood on the fence but we didn't get further than seven because I had mentioned that the fence was made out of wood, so Bean ran off to go collect wood.


We played Hide-and-Seek, otherwise known as Chase-Munchkin-and-Watch-Him-Attempt-to-Hide :)


He stopped to "grate" the pine cone and really liked the sound it made, so he tried grating it against bricks, trees and the fence as well. They all make really nice sounds.



Then they checked out the garden area. The soil was just turned and was loose enough that the ground was soft and bumpy. They liked that their feet sunk into the soil as they walked in it.



They pretended to plant stuff in the soil, digging holes and dropping soil in and then stamping the hole closed again. I didn't want them to actually bury anything since seeds would be going in soon, but they still had fun.



Bean really liked these plants. She kept giving them kisses. She also kissed a tree, the fence and a couple rocks. She said she was being nice :)


It was trash day, so every time one of the big blue garbage trucks drove by, she would get excited and point them out. She loves vehicles.


Then we started our colour scavenger hunt. We were inspired by this strawberry. Munchkin kept running back to it, so I asked them if they could find some more colours.


Yellow and orange flowers.


They look blue, but they were actually purple flowers.


Pink and red flowers. 


Green grass and moss.


Taking a break on her rock seat.


Pink poppies.


They found lots of yellow buttercups and dandelions, and other wild flowers as well.

It was exciting to do a colour scavenger hunt outside, because they had the whole yard to search through. When we got home we made this colour guide. We grouped gray and white together. Bean helped me trace the circles and I let her decide where to draw them. We read off each of the colours and then matched pom poms to them. Next time we will bring this outside and match leaves and flowers and wood to the colours.


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Crackin' Eggs

At the end of winter I started saving egg shells to use for planting seeds, but we didn't get to do that this year. Because, well, the kids found my stash and got crackin'. :) Turns out, they really enjoy playing with egg shells. (Just as a note, these shells were thoroughly washed and boiled to avoid any contamination, which I would recommend especially if young ones are playing with them.) So now after every big breakfast we save the egg shells for this activity. I normally set it up when I'm cooking a big dinner and can't keep my eyes on them if they are playing in the living room.. So I set them up at the table with some egg shells and they are completely focused on crushing them into smithereens.
We love our Black and Decker play tools. We got three different sets for the kids for Easter and they use them almost every day. The hammer iis the favourite tool. The big hammer is the most fought-over toy that they own. And they don't fight too often, but it's normally over who gets to use the big hammer. When they first played with the egg shells they used their hands and feet. Munchkin still prefers to use his hands, but Bean loves to use the hammer to smash them.

Munchkin trying to figure out how to crack open the shells using the back of the hammer.


This activity makes Bean so happy. She loves smashing them!



And stabbing them with the screwdriver.


Munchkin got the hang of the hammer..


And of course littered the shells all over the floor..


There are a few activities we want to try in the future using egg shells. I know you can grind them down and add them to paint to add a nice grainy texture. And it would be cool to paint them and roll them around on paper and crush them and see how the paint spreads out. We don't waste the shells though. Once they are done playing with the shells we clean them up and take them outside to add to our compost heap. Food for worms!

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