Littles Learning Link Up: January 23, 2018- Paper Plate Penguins

 Each month you will find:

• A seasonal round-up (usually toward the beginning of the month)
• Posts where I share what I have been up to with my 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.

What have we been up to?

The last time I shared what we were up to, we were learning about the 10 plagues that God brought upon the Egyptians prior to the exodus. What I found quite intriguing is that these plagues weren't random punishments. We learned that the Lord God was showing he was all powerful, focusing the plagues on things that were related to different Egyptian gods. 

We have moved on in our reading of Exodus and have made our way to Mr. Sinai. Moses was just given the Ten Commandments and we learned about the God providing the Israelites manna and quail. So, the children woke up one day to find "manna" all over the living room floor (on a sheet), and they had to gather their own omer of "manna" to eat for breakfast. They also ate it for lunch with quail. They quickly tired of it, though it hadn't even been a day. 

We have been continued reading books about Egypt.

We learned about Hatshepsut, the female pharaoh and have been reading this fun comic type book called Ancient Egypt: Tales of Gods and Pharaohs.

I also have this book about Passover, which we read the same day we read from the Bible about the Israelites leaving Egypt. I plan to pull it back out again when we observe the Passover in the spring.

We've also be reading about snow, to go with our science lessons on water and air (focusing on the second day of creation)

And finally, I pulled some fun penguin books out of the library so I could do some penguin crafts in the preschool co-op class. We've been reading them during our storytime at home too.

Speaking of co-op, let's move on to the craft we did in the co-op preschool class a couple of weeks ago. I came up with this cute, simple paper plate penguin, and then I read the book Pondus the Penguin, because I was looking for a book to read that day at co-op. I decided to add a red scarf to the penguin to make a Paper Plate Pondus the Penguin Craft. The craft is cute either way, so don't feel you have to read the book to do the craft, but I have to say, the book is adorable. It is about a real-life penguin named Pondus who lived in a zoo back in the 1960's (I believe). A photographer followed him around one day and captured some wonderful adventures which he turned into a cute story. 

Paper Plate Penguins

You will need:

Paper plates

Black construction paper for the wings

Orange construction paper for the beaks and feet

Large wiggle eyes

Metal paper fasteners (brads)

Red tissue paper for the scarfs cut into strips

Black paint (I use the bottles of acrylics)

White school glue

Paintbrush

Scissors

I cut the wings, feet, and beaks out ahead of time; however, older children could cut them out. To make the wings I put the black paper up next to the paper plate and traced around part of the edge, then brought it to a point and went up the other side a bit straighter, bringing it to a slight curve at the top. The beaks and feet were done free-hand.

The first step the children had to do was paint the outer rim of the plates black. I told them to stay on the bumpy parts.

After the paint dried, we glued the details on and attached the wings with the paper fasteners.

I use the white school glue as it secures things so much better. 

We attached the eyes on the top, in the black section, then added the beak right below them on the white. The feet were attached on the back of the bottom.

I poked holes on both sides of the paper plate and we pushed the paper fastener through the top of the wing and then through the hole. Some of the children were able to help with this step.

Then we laid the red strip of tissue paper on the table, and I put some glue in the center, long enough to attach it to the back of the plate. The children helped place the plate on the scarf and fold the ends down, crossing in the front of the penguin.

Here are our Paper Plate Pondus the Penguin Crafts.

Let's take a look at that review schedule real quick:

We have been using Bonjour! Let's Learn French. That will be a review that will post on The Old Schoolhouse Magazine's website. We have also started receiving our new review products for the 2018 Crew year. So far we have been chosen to review Bytes of Learning's UltraKey Online and Starfall's Home Membership. Those reviews will be posting in late February. 

Here are some things I would like to share with you:

Last week I shared a round up chock-full of penguin activities. 

Penguins Penguins All Around Round Up

Winter is here in full force, I thought you might like some ideas revolving around snow. We've been getting quite a bit around these parts. How about you?

Chock-Full of Fun Snowman Round Up

There is less than a month to be getting ready for Valentine's Day. I'm sure you've noticed the candy in the stores like we did. Here are some ideas for celebrating Valentine's Day with your children.

Valentine's Day Literature and Craft Round Up

The Tons-of-Fun Valentine's Day Round Up

Now onto:

Littles Learning Link Up Features

On my last Littles Learning Link Up post, there were 10 wonderful posts linked up. As there were no clicks, I will be picking two randomly selected posts to share.

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:

Kelli from 3 Boys and a Dog shared Indoor Climbing Toys for Toddlers.

And here is this week's most clicked on post.

Jeniffer from Thou Shall Not Whine shared 10 Simple Ways to Connect With Your Kids Right Now.

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.

No button currently, and there won't be one until I can figure it out seeing as Photobucket has changed things. Feel free to still share the picture in place of the button. Just link it to my Littles Learning Link Up permalink please.

I am sharing over at

An InLinkz Link-up