Hello, Sunshine!

Celebration chair cover for school:



My student of the week is called "Our Sunshine".

You are looking at nothing but felt, hot glue, and a little bit of Sharpie action.

Nice and simple.

{For the cover: No measuring, just eyeballed. Trim. Fold. Glue.}


{For the accent: I traced a bowl from the home center. Cut the rays. Cut out sunglasses and glued. Drew a nose, eyebrows, and a smile.}

I AM A ROBOT

It is just plain old fun to act like a robot. It entertains us, any way.

I made a bean bag toss game for my children that can also be used in my classroom. It can be used for motor skills, but the two holes make sorting activities totally doable. (Maybe the robot only likes to eat green things or pictures that start with the/r/ sound, everything else goes into the tool box).

Or...
CB: What do they eat?
M: They need some sort of energy source. Like a battery, or a generator, or solar panels.
D: Gasoline or steam.
CB: Some robots eat toast.

The Toss Box
I had planned to do a little tutorial, but someone's loving husband accidentally cleared my memory card. He felt bad.

So, I will just tell you about the box part: I cut the holes in a cool box that already had a handle. (I wanted it to be portable so I could tote it around easily, but I suppose that part is not truly necessary.)

I painted the entire box with acrylic paint. (It took several coats, primer might have been a better way to start.)

The entire box was then sprayed with a clear coat.

I cut out felt pieces and hot glued them to the box.

Sock Beanbags
I made the beanbags later so I have pictures of this part for you:

I learned this at an Early Childhood conference, but can't remember who the presenter was.

Start with a sock (I used baby socks, but you can use adult socks too)


Cut the top portion into 5 or 6 strips. You want these long enough that they are not too difficult to tie later.


Spread the strips and fill with beans


Tie a simple knot with strips across from each other.


Continue tying knots until all of the strips have been used at least once and the closure seems secure.


Make a whole bunch!


Have fun tossing!

You can prop the box up or lay it down depending on the level of difficulty you are after.


Linked up to Fireflies and Jellybeans, Somewhat Simple, Tatertots and Jello, Fingerprints on the Fridge, and Today's Creative Blog!

Wrangling Roly Polys

April 2010

Step 1:
Get distracted by 8 thousand roly polys on the way to the mailbox. Making what should have been an under 5 minute trip take closer to 20.

Step 2:
Decide to go back home and get bug catchers so we are not setting up permanent camp in front of neighbors we don't really know. For some reason the roly pollys are most plentiful across the street.

Step 3:
Remove the plethora of balls currently stored in both bug catchers.

Step 4:
Head back out and yell explanations about what we are doing to anyone who happens to walk by. (We have really got to work on stranger danger...)

CB to old man who just wants to go in his house and sit in his recliner, "We're looking for roly polys. They are coming back to our house just for a little while and then they will go back to nature."

BBD to the teeny boppers who rode by on their too-small-for-them-but-maybe-I-am getting-old-and-don't-realize-that-it-it-now-cool-to-ride-tiny bikes, "We're catching bugs! Catching bugs!"

Step 5:
Open your bug catchers, place them in the roly poly's path, and invite him to come on in.


Step 6:
Become annoyed and frustrated when this does not get the desired result.

Step 7:
Offer different enticing items for the roly polys to climb onto so that 1) Mom does not have too actually touch the slightly creepy crustaceans and 2) BBD does not squish them despite their armor because I think he could do it, I really do.

Turns out the leaves worked best. I was informed by CB, a self proclaimed scientist, that they do not like sticks because they make them choke.

Step 8:
Do not be fooled by imitations.

Step 9:
Collect nature items to make them feel more at home.

Note-this does make it difficult to see the roly polys.

Step 10:
Take a break.

If you are like CB this means asks for a snack. "Sometimes you ask for raisins and that gets you raisins and that makes you happy."

If you are more like BBD this means you become distracted by a very long stick.

This stick was very versatile. It was an umbrella, an airplane, and a helicopter. It was also good for just shaking around.

Step 11:
Take them inside because it is getting chilly outside and Mom has this great idea to observe them and draw pictures of them.

Step 12:
Ask questions and make observations and plans for them.

CB
"Do they like raisins?"
"Here is a warm blanket for them to sleep on." (Lays out a tissue for them.)
"Maybe they will come out if they smell some raisins."
"He's trying to close his shell."
"Do roly polys like to climb?"

BBD
"Come out."
"He's funny!"

Step 13:
Watch Mom draw a picture, but do not make one yourself.

BBD told me, "He likes his picture."

CB thought it would be more fun to color pictures of butterflies and BBD decided to liberate all of the roly poly bugs instead of just the one Mom got out to observe closer.

Step 14:
Release the roly polys back into the wild much sooner than originally planned because clearly BBD cannot be trusted to keep them contained. (Mom reflects that she should have seen that coming.)

Step 15:
Do a little research online about roly polys since our observation period was cut short. Mom shares with CB that they eat decomposing material and they need to be where it is wet because they breathe with things like a fish's gills.

CB mulls this new info over, "Should we give them some mud?"

And with that our roly poly wrangling is officially over.

At least for today.