May Fourth- Star Wars Day!

I was obsessed with Star Wars as a kid!! Ok, maybe I am today but not as much. I can still quote all 6 movies practically verbatim, but the original 3 will always be my favorites! They are even my favorite movies too! :)

Today is May 4th or May the fourth be with you! ;) Harry wore his Star Wars shirt, hung out with his Star Wars stuffed animals, and we did a few activities. He will soon be able to appreciate the movies too. :)


Here's what we did:

**Note: I typed Google searched for this stuff. I typed in Star Wars printables for preschoolers, and this is how I found the activities. I changed them up a bit and did it my way too. Here is the original link: http://homeschoolcreations.com/StarWarspreschoolpack.html

Picture matching:

I cut out Star Wars pictures, laid them down face up, and we took turns matching the pictures. We made it a little easier than memory match. ;) This is an excellent activity for cognitive skills, memory, and problem solving.



Read-a-long and word matching:

We read a short story about Star Wars together. I cut out the words, and we had to find the same ones in the story. Harry did require help from me. This is an excellent early literacy activity. This can help teach kids new words, what words look like, etc...



Coloring:

We colored Star Wars pictures.


Lightsaber tracing:

This activity is excellent practice for beginner writers, and it is great fine motor practice too. You must trace the dotted lines or lightsaber lines as we called them. ;)

Chocolate Black Bean Cookies

Sounds weird, yet tastes awesome! These cookies not only taste great but are healthy too! Who knew you could have sweets that were healthy?! They are very easy to make, and they are also vegan! :)

Here's what you need:
1 Can of black beans (drain first)
3 Tablespoons of soy milk
2 Tablespoons of sunflower butter
4 Tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons of ground flaxseed
2 Tablespoons of coconut oil
1 Teaspoon of baking powder
1 Teaspoon of cinnamon
1/3 Cup of brown sugar
1/3 Cup of semisweet chocolate chips

What to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees, and grease a cookie sheet.

2. Using a blender, blend together the black beans, soy milk, and sunflower butter until smooth.

3. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients which include cocoa powder, flaxseed, baking powder, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients to make the dough.



5. In a separate bowl, microwave the coconut oil and chocolate chips in 30 second intervals until melted. Stir in between each interval. Once melted, pour into the cookie dough and stir.

6. Using a spoon, scoop out cookie balls and place on the cookie sheet.
Note: This should make about 12-16 cookies.

7. Bake for 15-22 minutes. Cool and enjoy!! :)




Harry approves!!!! :)

Farm Crafts!

Ok, here is the shortened version of my last post. The other shows all the things we did for farm week.. This strictly shows the crafts. You can view my blog for all the details.

Here are the crafts:

1. Sticker farm


2. Farm sticker collage


3. Painting with farm animal feet


4. Pig


5. Lamb


6. Duck


7. Handprint and footprint corn


8. Life cycle of a chicken

Down on the Farm

We love to read, and we love farms animals! Harry even had a farm themed first birthday party!! Soooo cool!!! To go along with the books we read, I planned some activities, lessons, crafts, and fun food!

Here's what we did:

Food:

1. Harry ate with one of his leftover farm plates from his birthday!


2. Farm themed breakfast made with Fruity Pebbles cereal, bread, yogurt, bananas, and cheese.


3. We made the scrambled egg shaped chicken again. We also ate this a few weeks ago. It is made with eggs, cheese, carrots, and a chocolate chip.


4. Farm themed mac and cheese for dinner!!



Crafts:

1. Sticker farm



2. Sticker collage using farm animal stickers. Harry loves stickers!!!


3. We love to paint, so I am always looking for new ways to paint. We painted with farm animals. It's simple. Just dip their feet in the paint, and stamp tour paper.



4. We made a pig using construction paper and eyes.



5. We made a lamb using construction paper, cotton balls, and eyes.



6. Ducks!! These are made from paper plates, construction paper, feathers, and eyes.



7. Since I love hand and footprint crafts so much, we made another one! :) Since some farm animals eat corn, we made corn using handprints and a footprint.


8. We did this a few weeks ago, but this is also a fun craft! It's the life cycle of a chicken.. You can find the original post on my blog too.


Sensory:

Sensory play is crucial for development! I made rainbow rice (see my original blog post) a month or so ago, and we use a lot! We made a sensory farm, and we also added containers of beans and rice for the animals to eat. ;)





Books:

Here are the books we read this week!


Activities:

1. Farm animal sound puzzles.


2. Farm animal matching puzzle

May Day

Happy May!! Warmer weather is coming!!! Well, I hope it is, but this is Michigan! *sigh* Today is May Day, which isn't very widespread in the USA. Kids can still make May Day baskets though and get some extra goodies! :) That is exactly what we did today! Harry got an extra little treat! :)

Here's a little history about it from www.ehow.com:

May Day, an annual holiday taking place on May 1, has its roots in pagan fertility rites and festivals. But it has evolved quite a bit since those ancient, initial celebrations. Today, the holiday is still celebrated in a few Western countries with festival activities that can be traced back to old European May Day celebrations.

Read more: http://www.ehow.com/about_6472109_history-may-day.html#ixzz30TCuSi9L

Here's the modern day way of celebrating it from www.ehow.com:

Today, May Day is still celebrated in parts of America and England. According to the Holiday Spot website, "The Puritans frowned on May Day, so the day has never been celebrated with as much enthusiasm in the United States as in Great Britain." But some public parks in America still display Maypoles around which children dance. Also, some churches, especially Catholic churches, still choose a young girl to be crowned the May Queen as part of a May Day celebration honoring the Virgin Mary. And some people leave flowers on the doorsteps or doorknobs of others on May 1. All these customs can be traced back to old European May Day traditions.

Read more: http://www.ehow.com/about_6472109_history-may-day.html#ixzz30TDcf5Wj

Here's a little bit about the May Day baskets which is also from www.ehow.com:

May baskets are a tradition of May Day, an ancient Roman and Druid holiday celebrated on the first of May. To welcome in the month of May, children fill baskets with flowers and candy. They then give these baskets away by setting them on a porch or tying them to a doorknob, ringing the bell and running away so the gift is anonymous.

Read more: http://www.ehow.com/info_7934203_kids-may-day-basket-ideas.html#ixzz30TEeF9HD

Anyways, we made May Day baskets this morning, and I put some lollipops and a new pack of crayons in it as Harry's gift. :)

Here is how we made our baskets:

1. First, cut one paper plate in half.


2. Cut out half of the middle of another paper plate.


3. Staple the halves together making a basket.


4. Decorate your basket! We used paint and stickers. :)


5. For the flowers... I made them out of Harry's handprints and we glued stems on them.

6. I put the flowers and goodies inside. :) Harry loved his basket this morning!!

Earth Day

We kept Earth Day simple this year, but we did two fun things!

First, we made a handprint world using blue construction paper and green paint.


Next, we cleaned up the local park/playground. Now typically I pick up pieces of trash here and there while we are at the park, but for Earth Day we walked around and cleaned up the entire park! :)