Tots and Me... Growing Up Together

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Wordless Wednesday: October 26, 2011 (w/linky) Our Musical Girl

Tuesday Blog Hopping October 25, 2011

Happy Tuesday. If you would like to do some blog hopping today head on over to my "Blog Hops" page to see the Tuesday Blog Hops I have found.

If you are visiting from a blog hop, welcome! I am glad you are here. Take a look around. I'd love it if you would follow me via GFC and subscribe to my emails. I also have a Facebook page and a Twitter you can follow.

And on Friday night I invite you back to link up to my new Lovin' the Weekend blog hops (you can also link up giveaways).

Monday, October 24, 2011

Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up- October 25, 2011

Welcome to Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up with your hosts Aimee @ Classified: Mom & Karen @ Tots and Me & Alicia @ McCrenshaw's Newest Thoughts!

This link up will be posted Monday at 7 PM est. and run all week long! Make sure you stop in as often as you can to list your latest giveaways.

Here is how to use the Giveaway Link Up

1. Post your reviews and/or giveaways, as many as you have, be sure to add the end date (family friendly please)

2. Help spread the word about the giveaway link up by grabbing our button, Tweeting or posting on Facebook. (Not mandatory- but it helps get more exposure to your giveaways as well!)

3. Take a moment to enter any giveaway that strikes an interest to you!

If you would like to follow the three hostesses, we will gladly follow you back! Simply leave us a message to do so.

Thank you for linking up with Aimee @ Classified: Mom & Karen @ Tots and Me & Alicia @ McCrenshaw's Newest Thoughts!

Muffin Tin Monday: Rainforest

This week we are reading some rain forest books, so I made a rain forest muffin tin.

I got the idea for my trees from Michelle's post last year on Muffin Tin Mom. The theme last year was Trees, Leaves and Harvest. I really liked her trees, but couldn't quite do them the same way. I made the girls' trees by rolling up a piece of peanut butter bread and cutting it in half. Then I spread some more peanut butter on the top, so the spinach leaves would stick.

So, this is what we had

Couple of trees (because I couldn't just make one as there are lots of trees in the rain forest.)

Banana, because monkeys love bananas

Ranch for dipping

Grapes for coconuts (Tabitha said they should be coffee beans because coffee beans come from the rain forest, not sure where she learned that)

Broccoli trees or bushes

Monkey-I got the idea from Snackpicks. I didn't have the right crackers so I improvised. Cracker face with banana and raisin ears, banana and chocolate chip tips for the eyes, bread muzzle with chocolate chips and bread feet and tail.

Here is Hannah's

I was running out of time and patience for her monkey. It had taken a while to figure it out and they were hungry. Also, I don't give her spinach yet, not sure if she can chew it or if she'd like it. So, I gave her broccoli tree tops.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

School Time: Fall Fun

This week I decided we would have a Fall unit. The girls have been having such fun collecting leaves I knew we had to do something creative with them. I had seen a leaf wreath over at Praises of a Wife and Mommy. I wanted to do things a little differently though. I taped two pieces of construction paper together and traced a circle from a tray and a smaller circle from the roll of masking tape. Then we made leaf prints using the real leaves we collected along with yellow and orange paint.

This one is Hannah's. I wasn't going to take a picture while she was painting, and there is no way the girls were taking a photo with paint hands.

Then we glued on red leaves to finish them off.

We spent some time sorting and classifying the leaves we found using two of the books we read this week. Leaf Man has some beautiful realistic leaves throughout the book as well as on the back and front inside covers. Fall Leaves Fall! shared several leaves on a two page spread as the children shared their leaf finds. I was thankful for this book because it showed us that some of the leaves we found were from a sassafras tree, which was the only one we couldn't identify with the other book.

Then the girls made their own Leaf Man. I had them sit side by side so the paper would fit on the table. Then I had them pick each body part one at a time and form their Leaf Man.

We also had a Candy Corn day. One of my favorite candies. I did this with the girls two years ago. The biggest difference: this year they could cut and glue all by themselves.

I had Hannah color hers so she felt like she was actually doing something.

Then she got to glue. She LOVES gluing.

Amelia pretended to eat hers.

Then we played some candy corn games. I saw the idea of using a number line over at Homeschooling the Cameron Clan. We did things a little differently though. I started with a game where I made cards with the numbers 1-10 (I started with 2 sets then decided I needed 3). They took turns pulling a card and covering the number line with a piece of candy corn. The object of the game was to be the first one to completely cover the first row. If they pulled a duplicate number they just covered the number on the second number line.

All this time Hannah was gluing. Told you she liked to glue.

Then we played the game I found over at Homeschooling the Cameron Clan. I had the girls close their eyes and then I covered one number for Amelia, 2-3 numbers for Tabitha. They had to figure out which number was covered.

We did some more fall math. I printed out fall colored leaves and the girls cut theirs out. That took a while because there were 6 leaves for each color, and there were 4 colors. Then we made patterns with the leaves. I started, then the girls each took turns creating the pattern. After a few times we glued them onto the brown strip and used them as decorations.

Tabitha creating her pattern.

I just talked to Hannah about the different colors and let her glue.

These are the Fall books I read this week

Leaf Man (Ala Notable Children's Books. Younger Readers (Awards))

I will share a post about these books tomorrow (well, later today).

We also had kitchen time. We made Muddy Buddies. You can find all the fun pictures of the girls making this with mommy at my Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen post of the week. I will be sharing a weekly post with a linky for you to link up your fun of being in the kitchen with your children, what you have learned, what you have created, maybe some recipes.