Smores....

We ended our week of camping (we will probably continue it next week also because the kids LOVE it!) with a fire and roasting marshmallows to make Smores. We got out there while it was sunny and by the time we were done we were getting rained on! As soon as we got inside the clouds opened up, thunder and lightening cracked, and the hail came down. Whew, we just missed it. The kids had a great time around the fire.Korina makes marshmallows for me and her......

teacher project vs kid project

What is this? Yup, it's a spider. We made it with our hands today. So tomorrow we will add eyes and maybe some 'web', and it will be cute, and you will love it.
So here is the problem. For the little guys I have to paint their hands to get it just right. Then I have to place their hands down on the paper just so, to get the 'spider' look. Then I have to take them over -right away- after I place their hands down, and wash them so they don't paint everything else black because I have to paint someone elses hands because they are waiting. That is alot of I's, isn't it? Sure the project is cute, but your child did not really make it. I did. :)So I let the older kids paint their own hands, but what happens if they do it.....wrong? Which is something that I stive very hard NOT to do, is make the kids feel bad about doing Art wrong. But I have to tell them exactly where to put their hands....and sometimes....They do it wrong. I don't tell them though...and we move on to the next piece of paper. I say, "let's do another one Lexi!"I started getting pretty frustrated at myself, and the things I was trying hard NOT to say, but ended up having to say, like....wait, hold on, in a minute, no, not there, stop!!!!! Because they all wanted to do it at once.
So, I put out a big piece of paper and let them do it themselves. Ahhhhh, much better! Quinn and Sam painted themselves for about 20+ minutes and I just sat and listened and watched and it was so peaceful and so much less chaotic. They learned much more by doing this than by me doing it for them.
That is why we don't bring home very much 'cutsie' art work. :) ....it's because I love your kids so much and love when they are doing it, not me.

Ooohhh, this is cool. I have plexi glass pieces that we paint on, shaving cream on, window crayon on, but today we used window pens. Have you seen those? Cool dude......I printed out some spider pictures and taped them under the plexi glass and set them out with the pens. Me likey!

Spiders and random pix.....

We are all over in the sand box and these two are giggling away over on the deck. I look over and this is what I see. Too cute!

These guys are working hard on the 'bathtub' bubble solution. They are using sand, playchips, rocks, and whatever else they can find laying on the ground.

Here is the bathtub. Right now just Lexi is in it, but they all take turns and all 3 were in at one time.

I put a hay bail in front of the bunnies. Now they can easily stand up high and feed the bunnies pieces of hay. Quinn loves to do this and at one point he looked at me, "hey annie, they are sharing!" Indeed they were.

We will add more webbing but here is a shot looking from the entrance doors.

Boys.....

I put out cooked spaghetti noodles and added plastic spiders.....They LOVED this!!These gloves are the best! I got them at Target....make sure to get enough for everyone.

Yup...6 pairs of skelly gloves!...well I got enough for the boys anyway. :)Spider discovery bottle. I added rice and many different kinds of plastic spiders. We are also in the process of making real ones with real spiders. I will show those after they have made webs.Anna loves the feel of the 'key chain rope'. It's for the magnet board.This is the magnet board....The easle has yellow, purple, white, and black. I put a hole in the middle to see what they would do with it. More spaghetti stuff......I added spiders to the beans......Potato prints......Dancin' girls.....Okay, this is super cute....Quinn is showing Alondra how to golf. He is explaining to her where to put the ball, how to hold the club, and how to whack it! I love him!Jackson is using his keen counting skills to make sure everyone gets the same amount of shells on their plates. Hot tray! If you don't have one of these I highly recommend it. The kids love it when I put this out. They will burn themselves, but thats how they learn and the burns are not bad enough to leave any damage. They can draw pictures and make prints, or watch as the crayon slowly melts and leaves a big puddle of colored wax. You can always tell when it is on because it fills the room with that distinctive melted crayon smell! This is one of mine and the childrens favorite activities. Oh...they also love to peal off the melted wax from their fingers....remember doing that with candle wax?

drummin'

Here is the video...for some reason only the picture posted before....

Drums...

Quinn and Kelly Drumming away!

bubbles.....

I put the bubbles out today....

I found these gloves at target....I knew the boys would love them!!

around the room....

The kids are really loving these tubes! I will have to put some out in the water bin.

Here is a shot from the back of the 'messy' room.....

Bryan loves the busses!.....People in...people out....Bryans best buddy Dylan came to join the fun.....Lexi washed this ball for about 30 minutes......It can get pretty slippery!