Do you remember Cootie Catchers from when you were a kid?  I loved them!  Here is a cootie catcher perfect for the learning to read kiddo in your life!  For our paper we used one of the sheets of Shaving Cream Painted works from yesterday.  I was inspired by Jimmie and her daughter Sprite (love their blog).  They created cootie catchers for learning history and math facts at Heart of the Matter Homeschoolers.   If they can make one for the Civil War, I bet I can make one about “Short …

A friend of mine, Chelsea, has been using Headsprout to help her daughter learn-to-read and gave me rave reviews. I just had to check it out myself. After contacting Headsprout, they gave me a trial. Headsprout is an all-online system. The have a map of activities and objectives for the kids to reach. The kids use the keyboard and mouse to manipulate the letters and form words. They also have a trove of coloring sheets, mini-books, and flashcards that you can print out corresponding …

Our oldest has learned her letters, the sounds that they make, and is starting to blend sounds. This is a really nifty phonics “tool” that we created to help her mix the sounds of letters. What you will need to make it: Wirebound Index Card Book, Scissors, Tape and a Marker. I divided our phonics flip chartinto three sections for three letter words, but I have also seen them split into four sections to help your early reader work on consonant blends.  After you cut the …

Have you accumulated candy that no one will eat (or you’d prefer that they not eat it)?  Jennifer has a great idea!  Use it for science experiments!
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We have a lot of Halloween candy we can’t eat. So we decided to do experiments with the candy we couldn’t eat because of the colorings in it.
Our first experiment was “Does it contain Acid?”. We took candy, put it in water, then we added baking soda. If the solution bubbles, its an acid. If it doesn’t, its not an …

We are learning about germs, and unfortunately germs are invisible. Since kids this age are so concrete, I wanted to give them a way to “see” the germs.
First we used hand lotion to give the glitter something to stick to. Then I sprinkled glitter on the kid’s lotioned hands.
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I had them do some of the things they would normally do on an average day. Like turning on a light, or scrathing their nose. They were able to see how the glitter rubbed off onto the lightswitch.
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C was in the …

If your kids are like mine they are obsessed with birds.  The cooling winds of fall bring lots of birds, mostly crows, through our yard.  Z loves watching the birds congregate on our fence.  Today we created pine cone bird feeders to feed the birds on their southern trip.
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Materials needed:

Pinecones
Ribbon (we used strips of fabric)
Peanut Butter
Wild Birdseed

First you lightly coat the pine cone with the peanut butter.  Next you roll the pinecone in the seeds till it is coated.  Intertwine your ribbon around the pines of the pinecone and hang …

Help young children begin to grasp the water cycle through play in this simple activity… no confusing jargon needed!

Have fun discussing the names and basic functions of parts of a plant while decorating this fun picture using various materials.
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Materials Needed (Improvise when necessary):

Straws
Colored paper
Pipe cleaner
Tissue paper
Scissors
White glue
Colored pencils/crayons/markers

Draw a basic picture of a plant including petals, stem, leaves and roots.  Using the various materials let your child decorate the picture while you help them name the parts and explain what they do.  We used bits of straw for the stem and roots because the plants use these parts to “suck up” nutrients and water.  We used small squares …

Vacuum cleaners, balloons, tissue paper, straw & a balloon powered car help preschoolers learn about suction and blowing.

Themes for the upcoming year, with a sample activity to give you an idea of what we’ll be doing – I hope to have 4-6 activities a week:

Air – vinegar & baking soda (gas) blowing up a balloon
Water -  drop a variety of items in water and see what happens, do they sink or float?
Earth – Go on a nature hike and identify non-living things, living things and signs of life
Plants – Make plant rubbings (leaves are great)
Bugs – Paint a symmetry butterfly picture.  Fold paper in half paint one …