Busy: An Update

Well friends, it's been awhile...

But if you had this little guy to distract you, you may not be blogging much either!  

I have a friend who exercises everyday.  She has 8 children.  I asked her what her secret is.  She told me it's her "one thing."  She said it's the one thing that she does everyday.  It's at the top of her list.  She may not shower, she may not cook dinner, but she makes time for her "one thing."  Now, I'm sure she had other things at the top of her list too, like her family.  But I've been thinking about that.

There are only so many "one things" you can have; only so many minutes to wiggle them into.

And ever since Baby M made his appearance, he has been my "one thing" that took the place of writing and sharing here as much as I used to.  It's ok.  It's the "season"we are in.  He's been my hardest baby.  And that's ok.  He's my "little project" right now.

The other "one thing" that has been swallowing up my extra minutes is that we are moving.  Across the country.  It takes an bucketload of time to have your house on the market, look for another house, research the new area, etc.

It's hard to look around at all the "little projects" I made just for our home that won't be apart of our future.  But it's also exciting to think about the future projects in the works.  

Sometime I need to take the time to go back and share the photos of fun "little projects" we have been up to over the last little while.  Here's a sample for today, along with a hope that I can fill in the details soon...

We made Violet Jelly: from violets growing in our own front yard!

It's so pretty!

I've been teaching an Irish Step Dance class for Kay and Ellie and friends.  It has been a blast!

I would love to share more about teaching a 3-year-old music.  I start my children on the violin and piano at age three (at the latest).  Ellie recently graduated from her macaroni box to her real violin!

Outdoors with kids: My little Jay has all kinds of secrets for having fun and learning in the outdoors.  He's always teaching me about the amazing creations we've been given.  Sometime I'll share our favorite field guides and apps that help us explore and learn in the outdoors.

And how to catch and hold butterflies!

Traveling cross country with four little ones: we're doing it twice this summer!

I just got home from a house hunting trip.  Baby M went along and I learned that I will never fly with a baby again without my baby backpack!  I have a baby Ergo carrier and it made life so much easier!  Can you tell Baby M has 2 older sisters?

We put our first offer on "our" house today.  Crossing our fingers and lots of prayers!

Things are going to be busy around here with lots of "little moving projects."  I'll try to pop in now and then.  Thanks for hanging in here with me :)

In the meantime, there's lots of fun little projects in the archive, like:
Top 10 Tips for your Beach Trip
I've been making baby food again
My Favorite Granola that I make every week
A Favorite Treat: Blueberry Lemonade
Watermelon Stamping
How to write a message with the Sun
and more!

Butterfly Learning Fun

Originally shared at abcand123learning.com

We are enjoying a lot of butterfly fun at our house right now.  We rescued a monarch from the middle of the road this past week and have been watching a friend raise some monarchs from egg to chrysalis.  Today I want to share some ideas that go along with that beautiful transformation from caterpillar to butterfly that will get you MOVING and enjoying MUSIC too!

 

My kids and I have been hanging out at our local butterfly exhibit.  We can't get enough of them...

It's a miracle every time!

This movie shows the transformation of of a butterfly from an egg to a monarch butterfly.  It's perfect to watch before learning and singing the songs below.

  

 This movie is a song about the life cycle of a butterfly, with pictures.  It's short and easy for young kids to sing.  (Note: usually the "house"a butterfly makes is referred to as a chrysalis and the one a moth makes is a cocoon.) 

 

We made some fun Butterfly Finger Puppets to fly around the room.

 

By using pieces from a glove they are easy to make and slip on little fingers.

  

For directions to make yours, go here.

Here is another song about the butterfly life cycle-no pictures, but the kids would love coloring this one to go with it.  Just cut out each piece and glue to it a popsicle stick and hold it up for each part of the song.

  

I love this way of acting out the life cycle.  You just need a blanket, some butterfly wings, and some "leaves to eat".  This is a wonderful way to incorporate movement into learning.

  

 A Snack Craft! is a fun way to do some hands-on learning.  This gummy worm is the caterpillar and then the kids turn him into a butterfly.  For peanut allergies, substitute marshmallow cream for the peanut butter spread. Directions here.

 

How do you learn about butterflies and the world around you?
I love to hear your ideas!

Butterfly Finger Puppets

To celebrate {little} Ellie turning 2 years old we went to our favorite local butterfly exhibit!  (More about our birthday {projects} coming!)

Our local exhibit is our favorite because they let the kids interact with the butterflies and have them climb on their fingers.  In fact, our favorite entomologist was there and showed us their newest shipment of chrysalids they were getting ready to pin up to the butterflies could come out.  It was heaven for my bug boy, Jay!

We wanted to take all the fun of the butterflies climbing on our fingers home so we made our own {little} butterfly finger puppets!  

{This little project} was so easy and fun!  I had some butterfly fabric and we cut the butterflies out.

Then we cut the ends off of some knit gloves and hot glued the butterflies to them.

You could loop any kind of stretchy fabric around to go around your fingers.

The wings flap when they move them up and down.

Fun, huh!

Jay wanted a monarch butterfly, which is a little intense to recreate with felt, but here is our attempt:

We attached it the same way:

You can make your own butterfly garden!

One of our other favorite {little projects} is ordering caterpillars and watching them change into butterflies!  The kits are on sale at Amazon right now:

I will tell you that when the kit comes in the mail it will include a mail-in voucher for five butterfly larvae and special food. ($3.00 fee for processing). 


And I LOVE the Cat in the Hat Learning Library books.  They are non-fiction, but in rhyme and very accessible for young people to enjoy.  We have this one about butterflies!





And thebutterflysite.com is a fun place to learn more.  We've had some other butterfly {projects} in the archives you might like too.

P.S. Don't forget to enter the Shabby Apple giveaway--it closes this weekend!

The Great Outdoors: seedlings, studies, ideas

I don't know what your great outdoors is looking like, but ours is pretty rainy and cold.

Other than filling our bird feeders and checking out the "ponds" that are forming in our yard (and splashing in them!) we've been inside.   

So we've been checking on the baby eagles in their nest in IOWA!  If you haven't seen this, check it out!  And show the kids in your life!  It's a live stream of a family of eagles! LINK HERE

And if you want to see the movie of the eaglets hatching, check this link.

We did get one warm day this week and we spent the whole day outside!  

{This Little Project} is our garden that we're planting now and that we'll transfer into our real garden in a month, when it's finally warm enough!

It takes longer with the kiddos helping but they are now TOTALLY INVESTED in this work and I'm certain that they will want to EAT the things THEY PLANTED.  (At least it worked last year!)

Kay was checking out what was in the soil with her magnifying glass.

So far we have herbs as well as fruits and veggies started.  Learning about seeds and plants is a great educational experience for them every year-I love it!

To learn more about roots and how plants look we also planted some seeds in some plastic bags.  We are watering them with a medicine dropper here.  It's easy to see how much water they are getting that way.

I'll update {This Little Project} later.  Right now these little bags are taped to the window right next to our Nature Shelf.  We'll watch them sprout and grow roots through the clear bag.

Jay caught a fly and wanted a closer look.

Jay definitely has the green thumb in our family.  

He's been checking every plant in our yard for progress.  I think he is so ready for spring to really get here!  

Here he is showing me that one daffodil is bloomed and the other is still a bud.

We're starting a nature study journal with this printable from Handbook of Nature Study.

If you want to infuse nature study into your life, you'll love that website.

We have come across some fun tools that we use to study nature.  This post is long enough already, so I'll share those with you this coming week.  

But, I do want to share my favorite read about the value of being in nature for children.  It's a must-read for every parent and has totally changed how I value our time outside!

Joining in here too.  Stop by for fun gardening ideas!

and here, where you can learn more about why being outdoors is so great!

Nature Shelf: More Montessori

I've been wanting to have a Nature Shelf in our home for a long time. But I couldn't find the perfect thing for {This Little Project} that would hold the little collections that come home in their pockets.

Then I happened upon this shelf at the re-store just as winter began.

I knew it would be perfect for {This Little Project}!

My goals in having a nature shelf:

1. I was hoping that having this shelf in our home would encourage our kids to WANT to spend time outside.
2. I was hoping they would look more closely at their environment.
3. And I hoped that seeing a beautiful piece of God's creation everyday INSIDE our home would help them be more appreciative and careful of the world they live in.

Since we started our nature shelf in the winter, I was worried that we would have trouble finding many things to put on it:

There were some leaves we dried in the fall and some pine needles, pine branches and "acorn hats" but the ground was quickly getting covered by the snow!

Then we went

"walking in a winter wonderland"

and found some treasures! Check out those wild turkey tracks!

So after nature walk when we visited Elspeth:

And finding neat things to collect there in warmer weather

And unearthing some surprises from the ice, our nature shelf is looking quite busy for this time of year.

And I LOVE it when Little Miss Kay goes in and rearranges it all so she can touch everything!

Happily, the shelf has really helped to make all of those goals I had a reality!

In short, a nature shelf is a great addition to our home! It's been a fun {Little Project} for our family. Ours sits in a windowsill right now. It's at the perfect height to be seen, touched, and enjoyed by children :)

Leaf People for Little People

We spent the day yesterday and today raking leaves...we have a ton more to go still! Can you find Jay in this photo? All these leaves led to a little leaf activity fun!

First we collected and then sorted the leaves by size.

The kids chose one bigger leaf and 4 smaller leaves. These make the head, hands, and feet.

We also picked up small sticks from branches on the ground to use for the body and limbs.

Some glue and paper turned these into leaf people! Here is Jay:

And here is Kay:
It's funny how much personality came out in the leaves and sticks they chose. Kay dances everywhere and she HAD to have a pink leaf for her "head."

I think we may finish up with a family portrait of leave people for fun :) Enjoy This Little Leaf People Project!

Messages from the Sun

You know those little magnetic letters that end up all over the place?  Well, here is a fun summertime project you can do with them outside that teaches about words and sunshine:

Materials: construction paper, magnetic letters, sunshine, paperweight if it is windy.

To get a message from the sun:

1. Let your child choose words s/he likes and get the letters for them.Some children like words because they can spell them; like sun or frog.Others like words because they are meaningful to them; like doll or grandma.2. Let the child help you form the words on the construction paper in a sunny place.3.  You may want to use a paperweight.  Our main struggle was the wind with this project.4. wait....wait...wait...don't touch it for a couple of hours.5.  Then go out and see what message the sun left!
 When you take off the letters the paper has faded everywhere that the letters were not sitting.
Here's how one of ours turned out (don't be scared away by the bad photo ;)
{This Little Project} was a fun way to explore letters, words, and the sunshine.  Enjoy!