Childhood’s learning is made up of moments. It isn’t steady. It’s a pulse.–Eudora Welty (One Writer’s Beginnings)
mossy_stone
Joining Owlet in:
A Trip to the Beach
4
Category Archives: Learning
Little Critters::stART
Just Me And My Puppy by Mercer Mayer
Several of the books we read this week had a reoccurring theme: puppies. Just Me And My Puppy by Mercer Mayer starts with Little Critter trading his mitt for a friend’s puppy (don’t get any ideas boys). Little Critter gets to keep the puppy as long as he takes care of it and so ensues his attempts to train his puppy. Of course the results aren’t quite what he was going for.
Using pipe cleaners and the instructions from Twisted Critters we twisted up a puppy and a mouse (because of the mouse Mercer Mayer often includes in the illustrations). The boys love them. The only downside is that the pipe cleaners don’t hold up well to a lot of handling (especially the handling by a 2 yr old).
Meet Snuff:
Ezra's Loopy Puppy
And Squeak:
Noah's Mouse
This post is part of stART
mossy_stone
Yes
Yes: To experiments involving lots of containers, water, dyes and pouring from one cup to another.
Yes:To mixing all the playdough colors together at once. And creating awesome skulls!
Yes: To getting the ink out and making chicken feather pens.
These worked really well with some india ink!
Yes: To singing a sea shanty and sharing the fun.
”Take chances, make mistakes,get messy.” (Ms.Frizzle)
Yes
mossy_stone
Bear Caves::stART
After seeing Almost Unschooling’s bear caves I knew my boys would love to make their own after reading Going On A Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen.
picture ffom openlibrary.org
They did! Going On A Bear Hunt is a modern classic. And art involving 3-D caves, glue and googly eyes is awesome! Noah and Ezra have also picked up the phrase ” What a beautiful day!”. So we’re hearing that a lot around here whenever the sun comes out. Love!
Here are two of Noah”s. They’re monster bears because Halloween isn’t just a day – it’s a season.
mossy_stone
Spiders, bats, ghosts and witches!
My boys had a lot of fun with Halloween. One post just didn’t do it justice. 
So here are a few more things we did:
- Spooky houses have to have spiders and webs.
and ghosts too.
The ghost is a piece of cheesecloth stiffened and dried then hung with string.
Space Ghoooost!
While Noah carved his pumpkin, Ezra picked out this squash and struggling_along drew on Space Ghost for him. A huge hit!
Potato Stamp Skulls
We made some potato stamps. This is the skull one. These worked out well. The paint is just water colors. The down side is that the potato ages quickly and then you have to make a new one. You can add a day or two of use if you store it in the fridge.
Of course we had to read some Halloween theme books. I’ll just share a few favorites.
Do you dare?
A classic Berenstain Bears.
Witches having fun.
A Woggle of Witches as well as A Halloween Happening (also by Adrienne Adams) keeps Halloween and witches playful and friendly.
All about bats
A Read and Learn book with lots of facts about bats. (Thanks Kerri) This lead us to some youtube videos about bats, owls and even spider hunting. I learned a few things too.
mossy_stone
Our other Halloween posts:
Joining Owlet in:
Snow
I’m posting today over on Plastic Pumpkin Farm.
About what? Here’s a hint:
Looks like we checked it out right on cue! Snow by Manya Stojic is an enjoyable read. The painted illustrations are bright and colorful with just enough detail to linger over. The prose flows and introduces kids to how animals adapt to winter. If you have little ones this a fun winter read.
mossy_stone
Making Halloween
This year the boys are really into Halloween.
It all started about a month ago, thanks to the store displays, and they’ve been preparing ever since. Every rendering of a skeleton, witch, pumpkin, spider, bat, ghost etc must be put to use. All crafts, movies, books and play revolves around being spooky and scary and HALLOWEEN!
So we’re jumping in and enjoying Halloween to it’s full potential.
Learning about skeletons, bones, joints and muscles.
- I move at all my joints.
Brains too…Why carve just pumpkins?!
- Very rough watermelon model of a brain.
It’s also a great time to learn about bats, owls, mice and spiders habitats and habits.
Of course we need a few around the house to give everyone a scare.
- Creepy Crawly Critters
Bake some cookies and count them.
Witch fingers and pumpkins
The recipe we used is this one. Rolling out the fingers was not working well so we switched to pipette and pumpkin cut outs which worked well and bat ones which came out too puffy.
Of course we carved a pumpkin and have a few other Halloween surprises to share too but that will have to be another post.
What do you do for Halloween?
mossy_stone
what starts with m? math? or was that muffins?
Can numbers be any more fun than when baking? Or more rewarding?!
I don’t think so either. And it makes for a delicious breakfast.
The hardest part, really, was standing back and letting the kids do it.
Whee! Flour Everywhere!
Quality Control
Pour It
Stir It!
Bake It! This is where I come in.
Fresh Out of the Oven (Photo by Noah)
They came out great! Clean up with 3 people was a snap. They even wanted to wash the dishes but I had cabbage soaking. Next time.
From what I’ve overheard next time sounds like pumpkin. But pumpkin what? Pie? Muffins? Cheesecake? Soup? Oh the possibilities.
mossy_stone
Joining Owelet in:
Butter-and-Eggs
Butter-and-Eggs, also known as Yellow Toadflax, is a common “weed”; often found along the side of the road. The cheery flower, similar to that of snapdragons, are a rich yellow accented with an orange spot.
- Yellow Toadflax also known as Butter-and-Eggs (Photo by Phil Lucas )
Our.Wasted.Youth.Crew. and I have been taking nature walks collecting plants and leaves for closer study and identification. We often have a little fun exploring common names and speculating on how it came to be. The first time Noah (our first born) saw an Orange Hawkweed in bloom he said “look! a paintbrush!”. Lo and behold a common name for the Orange Hawkweed is Orange Paintbrush!
- Orange Hawkweed or Orange Paintbrush (Photo from flicker)
The name butter-and-eggs struck me because while it should be obvious that the yellow is the butter and orange the yolk I bet a lot of kids would ask “why is it orange?”. These days butter is white and yolks are yellow.
One of Our Free Range Eggs. I wanted to show a side by side comparison but I don't have any store ones to show you right now.
Free-ranged birds are not only healthier than factory farmed supermarket producers but also also produce healthier eggs. Testing done by Mother Earth News has shown that eggs from pastured birds contain 1/3 the cholesterol, 1/4 saturated fat, almost 3xs the vitamin E, 2xs the omega-3s, 4-6xs the vitamin D and7xs the beta-carotene as the USDA’s standard data does. The higher level of carotenoids are what give the yolks their deep orange color.
Support your local farmer and buy free ranged eggs- it’s better for everyone. (Or try your hand and raise a few chickens yourself- you’ll be glad you did).
Linking to: Real Food Wednesday @ Kelly the Kitchen Cop and Simple Lives Thursday @ GNOWFGLINS and Fight Back Friday
