All About Fall

I have been counting down the weeks until the official beginning of Fall. It has taken everything within me to not skip ahead and go crazy with pumpkins and apples. But now is the time. For us who live in Florida, we need to trick ourselves into believing that seasons actually happen.

I tried to plan out the next month's worth of lessons so that I could buy whatever I need before it all sells out. I'll add the individual pages for the weeks and hopefully create a master list in case you too want to get all the supplies at once.

Welcome Fall
Books: Let it Fall - Maryann Cocca-Lefler. I love this book. I bought it last year through Liam's school and we read it all the time. Also Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell, is a really cute story with great illustrations.

Music: Fall Into Fall. This is the best song I could find that talked about all the different things that happen in fall. I plan on learning how to play this on the ukulele, but we'll see how that goes.
Activity: Decorate your home with your kids. There are plenty of ideas on pinterest or you could just go to your local craft store and get inspired by what they have.
Art: Make Fall Wreath

Food: Hot Apple Cider and Pumpkin French Toast. I've had my eye on this french toast recipe by the Minimalist Baker for a while so maybe this is the year I actually make it. Seems like it would be perfect for a Saturday morning.

Halloween

Peter Pan & Wendy - Halloween 2014

Halloween can be really fun without all the spooky, scary, monster, and ghost stuff. I didn't grow up celebrating Halloween but I love the costumes, treats, and the celebration of fall. Now that I have kids, I love celebrating with them and keeping it lighthearted.

Film: Curious George Halloween Boo Fest. This is available on Netflix and I think we watched it five times last year. There are also plenty of Halloween episodes of your kids favorite shows playing this week on TV or on Netflix and Hulu. Our kids still love the Disney Junior Halloween episodes of Little Einsteins, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Sofia the first, Doc Mc Stuffins, and Elena of Avalor. I grew up watching Hocus Pocus, but now that I'm a parent, it doesn't seem that kid friendly so I haven't let my kids watch it. But who knows, maybe this is the year.

Activity: Trick-or-Treating of course!! Enjoy your time as a family, stay up past bedtime, and indulge in way too much candy.

Art: For me, this week will be spent putting the final touches on Halloween costumes. You can get your kids to help out if you trust them.

Music: I found this Youtube video of fun Halloween songs for little kids. It's like 13 songs and 30 minutes of music in one video or you can search and find the individual songs.

Food: Mummy Dogs. These are great to make for Halloween night before Trick-or-Treating or maybe for a playdate lunch. I think I have made them the last two years.  These Candy Corn Parfaits are easy and a fairly healthy snack.

Holy Week for Kids

Easter is coming up this Sunday and I would love for my kids to know that it means more than a bunny and lots of delicious candy (that I will steal). Growing up, I only celebrated Easter Sunday so I am still to this whole "Holy Week" deal. I love the tradition of it all and want my kids to appreciate and understand the purpose of Easter. Last year our church had special services for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday (in addition to the Easter Sunday services) however, being a mother of two small kids, I didn't have the energy to trek them across Miami, so we had our own special services at home. If you find yourself home with kids, here are some things you can do. And please share any of your special family traditions if you have them.

Maundy Thursday

Supplies:
- Jesus Storybook Bible
- water basin and pitcher
- towels
- crackers or bread
- grape juice
- chalice or cups

This can be done after dinner as you are getting ready for bed. Together, read "The Servant King" pg 286. Once you reach the bottom of page 288, pause, and take turns washing each others feet. This will inevitably end up in a huge mess. Continue reading and as you get to the part where Jesus breaks the bread and pours the wine, do the same with your bread and juice. When you are finished you can ask your kids questions like "Why did Jesus wash the disciples feet?", "What is a servant?", "What do the bread and juice remind us of?"

Take a break to clean up, brush teeth, and change into pajamas if you haven't done so already. Then you can continue on with the last story, "A Dark Night in the Garden" pg 294. This story might stir up a lot of discussion for your kids. You can ask them "Why did Jesus go to the Garden?", "What happened in the Garden?", "Did Jesus do anything wrong?", "Why did the people want to kill Jesus?" Your children might not like ending the night with this story, but it's supposed to be unsettling. Pray with them and remind them that God is good and this is part of his plan to fix all that is broken in the world.


Good Friday

Supplies:
- 4 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups salt
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon oil
- paint
- pipe cleaners
- small cloth
- sticks for cross
- rock

The kids really enjoyed doing this last year. We didn't have enough flour or salt at the time and had to halve the recipe, so our hill was pretty small. I found the instructions on this blog. It takes about 4-5 hours to bake and then you have to paint it, so plan for enough time.

You can read the story, "The Sun Stops Shining" pg 302, when you are finished with your Easter hill. With the pipe cleaner people you made, reenact the story. Place Jesus on the cross, take him down and wrap him in a cloth, place him in the tomb, put the rock in the opening and place guards around it. Don't forget to ask questions, to see if your kids are understanding what is happening. "Was this a good day or a bad day?" or "Why did Jesus have to die?" You will want to place your Easter Hill in a place where it will not be disturbed but where the kids can still see it.

Easter Sunday

Supplies
- plastic eggs (6 per kid)
- items for eggs: bread crumb, cross, rock, strip of cloth, candy

Before your kids wake, remove the Jesus figure from the Easter hill. Fold the cloth, roll the rock to the side and put an angel on top. Begin the day by reading "God's Wonderful Surprise" pg 310. I didn't add any questions to this part because I felt that the story was sufficient enough. When you finish reading the story, have the kids check on their Easter hill if they haven't noticed it already.

Move on to their easter baskets. I found a pack of a dozen eggs for $1 at Target and labeled two sets from 1-6. The night before place the items in the corresponding eggs. 1- bread, 2 - cross, 3 - cloth, 4 - rock, 5 - empty, 6 - candy. Whenever you decide to open them (before or after church), do so WITH your kids and talk about what the items represent. Happy Home Fairy made this cute little guide with corresponding verses that you can print or pin.

Pumpkins

Last year we got super busy with our move, Halloween and Birthdays so we ended up merging the Pumpkin and Halloween lessons. Hopefully this year we can do everything. There are a lot of things on Pinterest about pumpkins and you might find other activities, recipes, and books that suit your family better. Please share what your family enjoys.

Books: Five Little Pumpkins (a bunch of different people have written their own versions), Pumpkins - Jacqueline Farmer, The Pumpkin Book - Gail Gibbons

Film: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. This is technically a Halloween movie, but it has pumpkin in the title so just go with it.

Activity/Art Pumpkin patch and pumpkin carving. I'm sure if you live somewhere cooler than Florida, going to a pumpkin patch is more of an event.

Music: Five Little Pumpkins. My son learned this at school last year and taught it to us. I searched all over YouTube to find the version that he was singing.

Food: Pumpkin Rice Krispie treats are ridiculously easy and always a win. They could be a good gift for the kid's friends wrapped in some cellophane. Roasted Pumpkin Seeds I have yet to find a recipe that works for me but I plan on trying this one. I will let you know how it goes.

Leaves

Books: Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf - Lois Ehlert; Why do Leaves Change Color? - Betsy Maestro
Music: Leaves are Falling and for the adults Autumn Leaves
Activity: Collect Leaves. That is if you live somewhere where the leaves change, otherwise just look at a book.
Art: Watercolor leaves. This lesson says to use liquid watercolor in droppers. I've done a similar project with coffee filters and washable markers and then you spray the filter with water to get the colors to spread. Markers seem less of a hazard than liquid watercolors. But she has a template already made so we'll go with that for now. Maybe I will make my own later.
Food: Maple Leaf cookies from Trader Joe's or if you are feeling really ambitious and have lots of time on your hands you can try these Martha Stewart ones Homemade

Apples

There really are endless amounts of things you can learn, create, and eat that involve apples. I had to limit myself here so I didn't go overboard.   


 Books: Apples - Gail Gibbons; Johnny Appleseed - Steven Kellogg; How do Apples Grow? - Betsy Maestro. I don't have any of these books and had to reserve them at the library so you might need to do that as well.
Music: A.P.P.L.E. and Applesauce
Activity: Identify Parts of an Apple 
I found this easy diagram online to use.
Art: Tissue Paper Apple 
This is super easy. All you need to do is print this apple shape out on cardstock and then glue red, green, or yellow scraps of tissue paper.
Food: Homemade Applesauce. You might have your own recipe or like to tweak it a bit like I do. But you can never go wrong with Martha.
Film: Apple Dumpling Gang

Primary Colors

I'm very excited about this week and hope that I get around to finishing all the projects.

Books: Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh
Songs: Primary Colors - OK Go I saw this on Sesame Street and thought it was so great.
Activity: Mixing Colors. All you need is plastic cups and food coloring. We have done this before but I found a color wheel online that you can print out and they can color in as they learn. (courtesy of Art Factory)
Art: Mondrian inspired. I have been very excited to do this art project with the kids for a while. I created a little sheet that you can print out to get started. You can choose to either have the kids color the page using the primary colors or cut out squares and rectangles out of construction paper and allow them to glue wherever they would like. Try not to fill every square and to leave some white spaces.
Food: I figured we could do something easy and make jello.

Numbers

Book: Ten Black Dots - Donald Crews
Activity: Number sorting with beads. You need 10 paper or styrofoam bowls, and large beads
Art: Imagination play with black dots. Cut out 10 black circles and let them create something with them (like a scene from the book).
Food: Domino Snack. I'm thinking a graham cracker covered with marshmallow fluff and chocolate chips for dots. You could do a healthier version with nut butter and raisins.
Music: 10 Little Numbers. I grew up singing a non-PC version of this song. 1, 2, 3, 4 by the Plain White T's. This is just a fun song to sing.

Learning about Rain

I was going to do a number theme this week since last week we learned about letters, but the wet Miami summers changed my plans. What better way to learn about rain than when its raining outside. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with me. Here is my plan for this week and we'll see what happens.

Music: Singing in the Rain. My kids are obsessed with this clip. We also sang "If all the Raindrops Were Lemon drops and Gumdrops"
Film: Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood - A Stormy Night (available on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime).
Activity: Rain science experiment. Like this one from Pinterest Requires water, shaving cream, and food coloring
Book: Rain! - Linda Ashman; Come On, Rain! - Karen Hesse
Art: Watercolors and rain. The rain didn't cooperate with us so we will have to go back and finish this. You have the kids paint with watercolors and then put the paper out in the rain to see what the rain will do.

Letters - Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

My son started PreK-4 last week and they began a lesson on Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Since we were hearing about it non-stop, I decided to make it our theme this week. Now everyone in our family knows the song and the kids have to read the book at least twice a day. Needless to say, I will be very excited when we move on from this one.

Book: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
Music: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom song. This will be forever stuck in your head
Art: Make a Coconut Tree. We used construction paper but feel free to use whatever supplies you have. Pinterest is full of ideas.
Activity: Uppercase and Lowercase Letter Matching. I made a simple sheet that you can print on cardstock and cut out. You can find that here.
Food: Coconut Smoothies. Cococnut Milk, Pineapple, Banana, and Honey.

Creative Learning Intro

After a long hiatus, I've been encouraged by friends to blog again. And of course the day I decide to do this, my daughter has a crazy night of crying and tantrums that has left me with about 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep (with some cat naps). So, if what I'm writing doesn't make sense, just go with it.

I was in the process of putting together a music and art class for toddlers starting this fall, but the logistics of that got complicated and I realized that I was putting a lot of thought and energy into that while neglecting my family. I decided to put that project on hold and actually use my organizational and creative skills to be intentional with my children. What has resulted is a curriculum of weekly themes using music, art, books, activities, food, and movies. I'm trying to make it easy and not too structured because, let's face it, sometimes you have terrible nights and all you need to do is lay on the couch. It might turn out to be like three days a week where you have a planned activity. Here is a list of themes we will cover and I will add links to their separate pages as we complete them.

1. Letters - Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
2. Rain
3. Numbers
4. Shapes
5. Colors
6. Fall
7. Apples
8. Leaves
 9. Jazz
10. Pumpkins
11. Halloween
12. Tree
13. Harvest
14. Corn
15. Thanksgiving