Littles Learning Link Up: September 20, 2016 Craft Highlight- Bundled Cotton Swab Fall Trees

 Each month you will find:

• A seasonal round-up (toward the beginning of the month)
• A guest post featuring crafts, activities, tips, snack ideas or other early childhood topics. (toward the end of the month)
• Posts where I share what I have been up to with my preschoolers and/or early elementary children (including occasional highlight posts where I share how we used ideas that have been linked up here on Littles Learning Link Up).

Each week, I will host a link up, where you can share either what you have been up to recently, or old posts that may go with the theme.  Feel free to link up more than one post.

Each week I will continue to feature a couple of posts from those that have been linked up. 

I hope you will continue to share your wonderful posts, and I hope you will find something new to try with your child(ren).

It would be great for everyone to stop by and visit the other linked-up posts as well. Check them out, leave some comments, pin those that interest you. Let's make this a real party and socialize with each other.

I first mentioned doing a Littles Learning Link Up Highlight back in December. I had thought it could become a monthly thing. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. I did post one back in July as well, but my goal is definitely monthly (or more).

A highlight post isn't the same as a feature. With the highlighted post, we will actually be making the craft(s) or participating in the activity. You will get to see how much we enjoyed it, and I will be mentioning any tweaks that I add. Of course I will be linking back to the original post. 

Littles Learning Link Up September Highlight:

Last week I posted my Falling Leaves All Around Round Up post. There are over 100 ideas that focus on fall leaves. Some of the crafts/activities use real leaves, others use other materials to make leaves or to make fall trees. And then there are science experiments and printables for learning fun. One of the activities that caught my eye is called Bundled Q-Tip Autumn Tree shared by The Pinterested Parent. I knew I wanted to make this with the children to help decorate our house for fall. Here is how we made them, which was almost exactly the same with only a little tweaking.

Here is what you need to make the Bundled Cotton Swab Fall Trees:

We used:

Watercolor Paper

Acrylic paints in fall-leaf colors

Cotton Swabs

Small rubber bands

Styrofoam tray

Brown Kwik Stix

I used the brown Kwik Stix to paint a bare tree on the paper.

Kwik Stix are solid, tempera paint sticks. We reviewed these last year and we love them. The paint dries almost instantly (around 90 seconds or less).

I thought it would be fun to use the Kwik Stix on this project, but you can have your child paint a tree on with regular paint, or draw one on and color it in. The Kwik Stix were a way to get it done fast and end up with some neat texture.

I then demonstrated dipping the bundled cotton swabs into different colors of the paint and dabbing them onto the branches. I made sure to let the children know they should dab and not swipe as they would with a paint brush or they wouldn't get the dot effect.

I allowed the children to paint their own trees onto the paper. If you have younger children, you may need to do this step for them.

Getting ready to dab on the leaves.

Here are their finished trees:

Let's take a look at that review schedule:

I did want to quickly remind you what reviews are coming up here on Tots and Me...Growing Up Together. I posted the review for the CHSH Download Club, and Apologia's Exploring Creation With Astronomy a couple of weeks ago. The review for Armfield Academic Press went live last week. There is one more review slated to be posted in September, and that is for Heirloom Audio Production's newest release, The Cat of Bubastes. In October I will be sharing my reviews of several of Carole P. Roman's If you Were Me and Lived in. . . books, Everyday Education's Working It Out: Growing Spiritually With the Poetry of George Herbert, and Middlebury Interactive Languages.

A few somethings I would like to share with you:

As autumn is almost here, I wanted to make sure to remind you of some of the fun fall.

First, there was the Apple Fun Round Up.

And then there is the Pumpkin Fun Round Up.

And finally, don't miss last month's Guest Post: Teaching U.S. Geography Through Picture Books.

I am still lining up guest posts. If you would be interested writing a guest post for Littles Learning Link Up one of these months, please leave a comment or contact me via my contact info on my About Me page. I will need to have your email address so I can contact you. I am looking for posts that have to do with young children: crafts, activities, foods/snacks, tips, or other ideas. I am open to suggestions.

Now onto:

Littles Learning Link Up Features

On my last Littles Learning Link Up post, there were 17 wonderful posts linked up! 

I will be picking one randomly selected post to share, plus the top clicked-on posts.

Please don't forget to stop by other posts that are linked up. See what catches your eye, stop by, pin the post to a relevant board, and perhaps leave a comment to let the author of the blog know you have been by for a visit. I know I appreciate others commenting and letting me know they have read my posts, so I am sure others do too.

This week's Randomly Selected Post is:

Amanda from Sicily's Heart & Home shared Planning the Perfect Tot School Schedule.

Now for this week's top clicked-on post:

Eva from Kid Minds shared Pirate Science - 20 Ways to Play and Learn.

Join the Party!

I would love to have you join in this week! What sort of activities do you do with your young children? Do you have some favorite activities you would like to share? I invite you to link up below. I will be pinning posts on one of my relevant boards, and I would love to feature some of the activities each week from what is linked up.

Please know I may share a picture from your post and link back to it, along with sharing how we used your idea in our school time. By linking up you are giving me permission to use a picture from your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. Additionally, if you choose to try out any of the ideas with your child, please make sure you give credit where credit is due.

Linky will be open through Monday night, to give me time to check out all the posts and get the Features organized. Please take the time to visit some of the other wonderful posts linked up.

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An InLinkz Link-up