Baby Spring Literacy Basket

This simple basket has Beck's items for spring. Song and fingerplay cards (details here) and corresponding manipulatives--ducks, rabbit and lamb. These were just rounded up from our toy collection. We can sing the song/recite the finger play and hold/manipulate the item!

Birds

We changed over to some "springy" work in the playroom. I have put out these little birds the past two years and Q wasn't too enamored with them, but this year she is having a blast with them! So it goes to show that repeat offerings of toys/work may show varying degrees of interest at different ages.

The birds are those little "mushroom birds" from Hobby Lobby. I actually think I got them at the dollar store. I love that they require gentleness when handling them....you know my soapbox about teaching children how to handle delicate items and allowing them practice with them......
The three bottlebrush birds are actually Christmas ornaments that were hanging on our branch in the playroom. The feathers were Q's own additon, she pulled them off a collage she had made at school because she wanted them with her birds.

The little birdhouse below came from the Walmart craft section a few years back. I sewed the little birds out of felt with a ribbon for little fingers to put in and out of the birdhouse. (The regular birds fit inside great but are a real bugger to get out....so only these "ribboned" birds are allowed to live in the birdhouse). She liked it as a toddler, but she still loves it now! I didn't think she'd like these birds since they don't look as real, but she does!

I also put out some simple bird cards I happened to have. They are notecards with a photo of a bird on the front and the name and a couple facts on the back. I can read them to her and also quiz her on the different bird types. Great science and literacy.

Cake

I love THIS tutorial to make cardboard/cardstock cake slices! I printed some off on cardstock and we had fun decorating them when a friend was over a couple weeks back. My Q is VERY into birthday parties, so she loves playing with her cake....and especially that the candles can come out! We fully intended to add a felt flame, but it just hasn't happened yet...
I eventually want to make enough of a set that there will be a whole cake's worth. Maybe add velcro on the sides like a Melissa and Doug cake. Great for dramatic play, and I love the simplicity of them!

Bakery Dramatic Play

Pretend play, dramatic play, imaginary play....all the same thing but I use the words interchangeably.

Anyhow we are really enjoying the works of Beatrix Potter right now, specifically The Tale of Peter Rabbit. One of the greatest benefits of reading aloud to Quinn is that she is exposed to concepts and vocabulary that are outside her regular experiences. Peter Rabbit has so many new concepts we are having fun exploring together! One of them was "baker." Old Mrs. Rabbit heads off to the baker's to buy a loaf of brown bread and 5 current rolls. Quinn isn't really familiar with the concept of a baker(y) because we buy our bread on the bread isle at HEB or I make it. So I talked with her about a baker and a bakery. I decided to extend it a little further and I pulled together a "bakery" tote. I raided several other play sets--the slicable sandwich bread is from a sandwich kit. Luckily all the pieces velcro-ed together, so she can cut them apart! The felt crossant is from a breakfast set, and the big loaf is one my sister got her with some other play foods at Hobby Lobby (or Michaels). I put these breads with a knife in a little tote and she loves to pretend she's going to the bakers. She also has some felt cupcakes she sometimes adds in, too.

I encourage you to extend concepts you are teaching to your children through dramatic play--often just pulling together some play props will encourage them to further explore the topic. And this is true for any age---from older infants to elementary students! It also encourages them to use new vocabulary in their play and assimilate these words and concepts into the framework of their minds.

I also encourage you to think outside the box with your children's toys. Just because items came together in a set doesn't mean they have to stay that way, or be used for the purpose they came with. I am constantly trying to find ways for getting more use out of the toys we have by "shopping the toy cupboard" in our playroom and pulling together different items.

He's entered the world of "Thingy Baskets"

Beck can sit up now, so he's totally into his "Thingy Baskets!" We have one upstairs, one downstairs, and one in the playroom that can also travel outside when we work in the yard or hang laundry.

READ HERE for more details about thingy baskets.

Making Pretzels

Making pretzels is a traditional Lent activity. I'd actually never made pretzels before....only eaten them! :) The story behind pretzels is that they were originally made by a monk to be a good steward in using up all the bread dough, and the crossed shape is to represent arms crossed in prayer. There is lots of info out on the internet about this if you want more details.....

We made the pretzels this morning....a great rainy-day activity!

What you need:
1 package yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt
4 cups flour
1 egg, beaten
*we added some toppings of garlic powder, salt, parmesan cheese and dried dill*

To make:
-use water that is "baby bath water" warm
-mix yeast, water, sugar and salt and stir
-allow to sit while you sift the flower into a large bowl
-pour water mixture into flour mixture and knead for a while
-I had to add a couple more T. of water to get it the right consistency
-when all flour is incorporated, start taking handfuls of dough, roll into balls, and then roll into a long snake.
-the longer you work each dough ball in your hands the better pretzel it forms
-lay the dough down in the pretzel shape on a sprayed cookie sheet
-brush with egg and sprinkle with toppings

BAKE 425 for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.
(mine yielded 12 pretzels about the size of my fist)

They turned out yummy! Best eaten warm....Would also be good topped with shredded cheddar cheese, with cinnamon and sugar, with pieces of dried apple and cinnamon....you could get pretty creative with your toppings!

While the pretzels cooked we talked a little bit about prayer. We read the story of Jesus praying in the Garden before he was arrested and talked about how he was down on his face before God praying. Q has mentioned several times lately that you "HAVE" to close your eyes and fold your hands to pray, so we talked about how we can pray to God anytime, anywhere. We CAN use formal postures when we pray, but God hears our hearts, so prayers can be offered anytime.

This activity is one I highly recommend! It's an easy, fun cooking experience, includes fine motor skills of kneading, rolling, and forming the dough, makes a tactile and concrete connection to Biblical concepts, and is yummy, too!!

Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent

My faith community doesn't really acknowledge or celebrate Lent. A good friend of mine gave me a book of Lenten reflections for each of the 40 days that peaked my interest and got me researching the topic. At the same time I am nearing the end of a study of the book of Philippians. This past week we focused intently on Paul's admonitions for the Philippian church to to live disciplined lives focused on Heaven. So the whole idea of Lent:

Traditionally Lent is a season of sober, realistic reflection on our own lives and our need for a Savior. It is a time for turning away from anything that has kept us from God and for turning or returning to him. It is a time to pray that God renew our love for him and our dependence on him.

and

Lent is about the gospel. It is a time to narrow the focus of the Church to the work of Christ, in particular His life and death, a season to turn from sin and trust in His atoning work....It is a time for fasting and self-denial, though not for denial itself. It is a period to empty ourselves of lesser things so that we might be filled with the greater things of the gospel.

fits perfectly (and very biblically) into my goal of disciplining myself (and my children!) to follow Christ.

So this morning I went to my very first Ash Wednesday service. Early, outside, a small crowd of people gathered around a cross. We sang "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" and had a time of prayer and the speaker talked about the history of putting ashes on heads throughout the old testament as a sign of repentance and sorrow. Then we heard about the great love Jesus has for us and that we are called to crucify the parts of ourselves that are not of Him. What a simple, yet deep way to begin my morning and this season.

Ash Wednesday:
Its name comes from the ancient practice of placing ashes on worshippers’ heads or foreheads as a sign of humility before God, a symbol of mourning and sorrow at the death that sin brings into the world. It not only prefigures the mourning at the death of Jesus, but also places the worshipper in a position to realize the consequences of sin.

Of course I was so excited to share this concept with Quinn in a way appropriate with her. She immediately wanted to know what was on my head. :) So we had our own Ash Wednesday at home today.

We started out by cutting off some dried palm branches. This was a great science lesson--we talked about how they turn brown and crunchy when they die, and green branches are still wet so they don't burn well.

Then we put them in the chiminea and lit them, after a short talk about fire safety and when/who uses fire.

While they burned down, we read in her children's Bible (The Jesus Storybook Bible, actually, which I highly recommend owning). We read the story of Jonah (I totally took this idea from the mornings' service I'd attended) and talked about how the people of Ninevah were sorry for their sin and wore sackcloth and put ashes on their head and told God they would change their ways. We talked about how ashes are a visible way people used to show they were sorry and ready to make better choices. (In language appropriate for a 3 year old).

She was very solemn and interested in the ashes and the story of Jonah. We'd read it tons of time before, but I hadn't gone into the way the people of Ninevah showed their repentance and sorrow over their sin, so this was new to her. Then we talked briefly about how we are sad that our sin made Jesus go to the cross and hurts him still every time we sin.


Of course there were some "totally 3 year old" interludes where she said random things like, "can we make soup out of mud after this?" "How about if I am good I don't need a nap today? (nice try....but no) and I know quite a bit of what I said went over her head. But I am confident she picked up some of the ideas and they will begin building a framework for her to add to over time as she is able to process the very abstract concepts of sin and forgiveness and even Jesus, this man we've never seen but talk about and who lives in some place we've never seen called Heaven (which she asked me if we could tear away the sky and climb up there....too much Jack and the Beanstalk!).

Then we dug out some of the ashes and a couple sticks with ashes on them. I touched it and showed her how it had turned black (I was beginning to notice her interest waning at this point or else I'd have talked briefly about the chemical changes that the palm branches had made....isn't God amazing when you think of all of these aspects of creation????!!) She was a little freaked about the ashes and didn't want to touch them, so I put some on my head and we talked about why we make a cross out of the ashes. And then we made mud soup! And now she's napping!

So we are doing this whole Lent thing. I want to take advantage of every opportunity to draw myself and my little family closer to our Savior. I want to oust everything that's not of him, which I know is a lifetime journey--Paul says even he had not yet reached perfection, but continued to press on......(Phil 3) I feel like we are somewhat stumbling through it since it's so foreign and new, but I am praying for the Spirit to guide our steps and I am thankful for the opportunity we have to experience this spiritual discipline afresh--it hasn't become familiar and routine to us!

I'll try to post about our journey regularly......