FIAR – A New Coat for Anna

I have been putting off… er, taking a “vacation” from… homeschooling.  Since I expected Adeline to make her appearance mid-February (or earlier!), I didn’t bother planning anything after the first week.  Since she arrived, however, I’ve felt the need to start up again and be consistent with something.  I haven’t really wanted to, mind you – I could sit all day and stare at her tiny features! – but the longer I wait the harder it will be.  This week we’re doing Robert Frost’s Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, an easy little poem to get us back into the swing of things, but we ended February with A New Coat for Anna.

credit: Amazon

Geography/History/Social Studies
The story takes place post-WWII .  We looked through some children’s books about the war and did a few simple activities, like looking up Germany (and other countries) on the globe, making a little booklet with soldiers and types of military transportation, matching up allied and enemy countries.  I tried not to make it too technical for the kiddos but explained why – in the beginning of the story – the shops were empty and the economy was poor.

Since we capitalized on Germany, the kiddos colored the German flag, a traditional dress coloring page and a paper doll worksheet.  Gwen goes goo-goo ga-ga over the paper dolls, taking a while to color them with colorful patterns,  and I’ve been laminating them for her.

Language Arts
Since Anna’s mother doesn’t have any money, she barters for materials for a new coat – sheeps’ wool, getting it spun into yarn, having it woven into fabric, then having it tailored into a coat.  We talked about bartering/trading and read a bunch of go-along books.  Since it takes a whole year for the process, we discussed having patience; easier said than done!

We did a little activity to see if Gwen could remember the story from the day before, deciding which items Anna’s mother bartered at different stages.  She guessed ‘em all!

Fine Arts
I often have glorious plans for learning the elements from a story – like creating a sewing basket or learning how to finger knit – but thankfully there are times when I know my limits.  Still I was able to find some fun, simple activities for the week.

I found a neat idea for construction paper weaving, and while Gwen got a little impatient with it, she seemed to get excited once she saw it coming together.  She used the finished piece as a placemat for a while, until it got too dirty. :)

We all got in on the act for yarn block prints.  I have a whole bunch of scrap wood blocks Phil cut for me; we randomly wrapped them in yarn, painted the yarn then stamped it onto construction paper.  Gwen noted that my pattern looked like horses.  This was so much fun!  We ended up using a couple finished pieces as colorful wrapping paper.

The kiddos also enjoyed making their own coats by gluing red yarn to a picture.

Math
I bought some beets for the science part of the week and decided to make a beet bundt cake, since Anna and her mother celebrate over the holidays with a bundt cake.  The kiddos helped me each step of the way, measuring and mixing.  They got excited when they saw the bright pink of the beet puree!

Science
I was really excited about our experiment with yarn dyeing, but since we didn’t use  wool yarn the color washed right out.  Oh well – the process was fun and the kiddos enjoyed it!  We used the beet peels and stems, which turned the water a rich burgundy and elicited oohs and aahs from Gwen and Josiah.

We read some stories on sheep and harvesting their wool and the kiddos made their own little sheep craft.

Extras
We had a little Valentine’s craft party with some nearby friends to end the week – what fun!  We gave away our suncatchers and made peanut butter pretzels as Valentine gifts.

On Valentine’s Day I gave the kiddos their gifts, dropped them off at Meme and Pepe’s then spent the day with my honey.  We had dinner at Our Place – Arturo Joe’s.  I kept pointing out that Valentine’s Day would make a nice birthday for Adeline, but she didn’t make her appearance till the following week.

Go-Along Books
World War II
America in World War II
World War II for Kids
The Carrot Seed
Arthur Loses His Patience
When Will It Be Spring?
The Great Tulip Trade
Fleas!
Market Day
Noodle’s Knitting
The Weaver
Weaving the Rainbow
Extra Yarn
Charlie Needs a Cloak
Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep: a yarn about wool
Hooray for Sheep Farming!
Red Berry Wool
Berry Smudges and Leaf Prints: finding and making colors from nature

Resources
Education.com’s German Traditional Clothing Coloring Page Worksheet
Education.com’s German Paper Doll Worksheet
Whip Up’s yarn printing
construction paper weaving inspiration
The Healthy Foodie’s  Truly Healthy Beet Chocolate Bundt Cake
Pioneer Thinking’s making  natural dyes from plants
Homeschool Share (they have since removed their FIAR resources)

*See my FIAR Pinterest board for more ideas & inspiration.

Gwen’s Doll Carrier

I was so excited about how Josiah’s doll carrier turned out and curious about how my changes to the pattern would come together that I sewed up Gwen’s carrier yesterday.

I gave her a choice between two fabrics and she chose this floral bird fabric, a favorite of mine from JoAnn’s that  I get whenever it’s on sale or I have a coupon.  In fact, I used the same fabric for my first zippered pouch.  The other fabric she didn’t choose is another favorite of mine; I used it on her crayon roll and tooth pillow, among other things.

I had debated using a contrasting fabric for both the pocket and the straps, but in the end I used the same brown and white polka dot.  I think it goes nicely with the overall color scheme, especially since it matches the birds.

This time around I traced the pattern onto the back of my main fabric and cut around outside the lines.  Next, sewed the pocket on front of the main fabric  piece.  Then I stacked all three body pieces (interfacing, linen muslin for the reverse lining and patterned fabric), sewing right along the pattern line, leaving an opening in the bottom to attach the straps and an opening in the top for turning.  After making the straps I sewed those into the bottom, closing that hole.  Turned the whole thing right side out, ironed it flat, then topstitched.  I liked this method much better but still had some puckering with which to contend (I’m seriously considering squaring off some of those curves if I make it again!).  Also, since I sewed on top of the pattern line, rather than inside a seam allowance, the carrier itself ended up a bit bigger – which is just fine with me.  Oh… and not only do the pearl snaps look pretty, they work better than the velcro, and after making Gwen close her eyes so I could try Josiah’s carrier on her, decided they should be placed on the same side of the straps as the buttons.

I can’t wait to give these to the kiddos!  I decided to box them up with my old Popples and give them either on Valentine’s Day or Baby Sister’s birthday, whichever comes first.

Countdown to Valentine’s Day and a Doll Carrier

A while back I was trying to think of something I could make for the kids as new sibling gifts for when the baby is born.  They love pretend play things, things that mimic Mommy and Daddy, and when I saw this doll carrier from Little Things to Sew I fell in love.  I can totally picture Gwen putting one of her dolls or stuffed animals in a carrier, just like Mommy with the new baby.  I’m hoping it will help them feel included even when they won’t be able to do everything with their new sister.

I’ve had the sewing book checked out from the library for a while now and have renewed it once already; everything else took priority!  I read the instructions for putting the pattern together, and while it seemed simple enough, there were a bunch of little steps and I kept putting it off (and I had yet to brave the buttonhole).  Well, seeing as I can’t sleep these days, I decided to stay up and see how it came together.  I started with Josiah’s first – he probably won’t be as excited about it as Gwendolyn and I already knew what fabric I wanted to use, so his was the guinea pig version.

Whaddya’ think?  I used linen muslin for the front and a cute blue barnyard fabric for the lining and pocket.  The straps are a piece I’ve had laying around for a while; not sure what it is but it’s similar in feel to the muslin.  I have two big canisters of buttons that used to belong to my grandmothers and I picked through those and found four orangey ones to use on the straps.  The directions say to try it on your child to figure out velcro placement further down the straps, but I want this to be a surprise, so I looked around at what other people did and put a couple pieces at different increments; I can always add more later.  I just happened to have a tan velcro that matches the straps nicely.  I’m very pleased with how it came out but already have some ideas for how to simplify the process when making the next one.

Some tips: The pocket lining pattern piece from the book doesn’t make any sense; when I first used it to make the pocket it didn’t really go along with the directions and made for a tiny pocket.  Instead, I cut out two pieces of the same size using the main fabric pattern piece – much better!  Oh, and I used denim for the lining for a bit of extra boyishness.

I’m not horrible at sewing around corners, but since I’m nowhere near professional there’s some puckering here and there.  Ironing does help, but next time I’m going to trace the pattern onto the fabric and sew along the tracing lines, leaving enough room for sewing on the straps and turning the carrier right-side out.

I didn’t like the suggestion for basting stitches near the top; it makes the end product look messier and next time I’ll just leave the opening without the guideline stitching.  Making it less curved might make for easier edgestitching, too.

I did in fact get to use my buttonhole foot, and while it was easy enough, it seems like the needle skipped some stitches… and then it broke in the middle of it all!  Is there a neat way to cut out the actual buttonhole?  It seems messy and I’m afraid the stitches will eventually come out.  In any case, it’s good enough!  For Gwen’s I may just use pearl snaps in place of the velcro and/or buttons – like in this version of the same carrier - though the buttons definitely add charm.

There seemed to be some debate as to whether the velcro gets placed on the button-side of the straps or the reverse.  Looking at the picture in the book I can’t really tell, and some people said it goes on the same side as the buttons… but it seemed to hang more naturally doing the opposite.  Guess I’ll see when I put it on him!  One down, one to go…

*      *      *

I can’t believe it’s February already!  Since this is my due date month I’m telling myself “any day now.”  Josiah was born at 37 weeks and this weekend I’ll be at the same point.  So I wanted to have Valentine’s Day squared away just in case! I filled the kiddos mini mailboxes with jellybeans, clearance “ornaments” filled with scented bubble bath and name bracelets that I whipped up for them when I had the plastic beads out.  The kiddos will be at their grandmother’s for Valentine’s Day, but I already have the morning planned out with a paper heart trail leading the kiddos to the table where they can open their mailboxes and adopt my two Pretty Bit Popples, which I’ll have sitting on the table.  We’ve started doing the countdown to Valentine’s Day with Bible verses and acts of love for each day.

I’m always on the lookout for meaningful yet not-too-expensive gifts for Phil and went with one of The Dating Diva’s ideas: 14 Days of Love.  I’m not too crazy about how many of their ideas involve candy or dollar store crap, but I went with the idea and made it my own.  I rolled up each of the little sentiments, tied them with embroidery thread and put them in a little jar.  Each morning he has to find the one with the correct number (#1 for February 1st, #2 for February 2nd and so forth) then find the corresponding gift bag.  I just used all the bags I could find that had pink, red, purple or something similar, warning him that none of the Victoria’s Secret bags contain any actual Victoria’s Secret merchandise. *grin*

*For more ideas see my Valentine’s Day Pinterest board.

Hearts on the Horizon

I know we just came through the holiday season, but there’s always another one just around the corner. You can’t escape it at the stores and for someone who likes to plan ahead, I might as well start thinking about it.  Especially since baby girl is due in February and I want to make sure I’ve got all my ducks in a row.

I used to hate Valentine’s Day.  In fact, I used to wear black in protest.  Now that I have a husband and children, occasions like these are just another excuse to show them how special they are to me.  Okay… and eat [dark] chocolate.

Last year I started the heart paper trail tradition and will be doing it again this year.  I saved all the paper hearts I cut out and will scatter them across the floor from the kiddos’ bedroom doors to the kitchen table, where I’ll have some sort of treats laid out.

credit: wordplayhouse.com

This year I stumbled upon make and take’s Counting Down to Valentine’s with 14 Acts of Love.  Not only is it simple, pretty and something fun to involve the kiddos, I love that it capitalizes on doing nice things for others.

credit: makeandtakes.com

Since I’m always looking for non-candy treat alternatives, I’ll most likely make heart-shaped fruit “lollipops” or kabobs to go along with breakfast again; those were a big hit last year.  Sometimes the healthiest foods are treat enough for the kiddos.

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credit: parents.com

If I do break down and make treats, I’ve got a few things in mind…

Strawberry Mousse

credit: clairejustineoxox.blogspot.com

Valentine Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

credit: mommyskitchen.net

Chocolate Cherry Bark

credit: confessionsofacookbookqueen.com

Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper Cupcakes

credit: confessionsofacookbookqueen.com

There’s an endless array of ideas for crafts and gifts the kiddos can make.  I’m trying to narrow down the options!  Last year we did handprint hearts, which came out really well, and this year I’m thinking something with fingerprints?

Thumbprint Valentines

credit: brownpaper–packages.com

Thumbprint Valentine Day Bookmarks

credit: sweetandlovelycrafts.blogspot.com

Although there is this lovely handprint heart…

credit: libertyoriginal.blogspot.com

For crafts with the kiddos…

Gwen would love these tiny matchbox heart babies.

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Tissue Paper Hearts, almost like stained glass!

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And since I’m half Danish, I would love to teach the kids how to make Danish hearts (apparently, you can make baskets out of ‘em too – great idea for Easter!).

credit: radmegan.blogspot.com

I have mini mailboxes that I decorated for Phil and the kiddos and I’m always trying to figure out what to put inside other than conversation hearts (which I never really liked, truth be told).

DIY Valentine Surprise Balls

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Felt Valentines

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Matchbook Photo Valentine

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Although it’s nice to think of heart-related items to make and give for Valentine’s, I may just stick with sibling gifts that I’m contemplating for the kiddos when the new baby arrives.  I got Little Things to Sew from the library and plan on making doll carriers for each of them; how precious would that be?

credit: Ressica Jachel on flickr.com

*See my Valentine’s Day Pinterest board for more ideas & inspiration.

Preschool: U is for Unicorn

Unicorns and mermaids and fairy tales – oh my!  I knew we would have fun with this theme, but almost decided to switch it with the following week - V is for Valentine - since I figured it might be more fun during the actual week of Valentine’s Day.  But I had already printed out some worksheets and made my library run for the week.  And who says you can’t have hearts two weeks in a row? 

Bible
We read about Zaccheus, sang the song about the wee man in the tree, and Gwen got a kick out of trying to find him in the lift-the-flap coloring page. 

Our Bible verse went along nicely with Valentine’s Day (and our shape for the week) - Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Theme
It was somewhat of a challenge, attempting to narrow down a fairy tale theme.  In the end, I approached it by discussing what makes a fairy tale using this cute “what is a fairy tale?” printable.  Then we listed some of our favorites; Gwen says hers is “Beauty and the Beast” because she likes the magic flower and glittery dress.  *chuckle*  Usually “The Little Mermaid” is at the top of her list because she and Ariel both have red hair; or “Cinderella,” because it’s her aunt’s favorite.    

We both had fun with the Fill-Them-In Fairy Tale to create our own story, though it was interesting trying to ask Gwen to give me a verb or an adjective.  Talk about learning your parts of speech!  I wanted to fill all the words in before we read the story so I just gave her hints to direct her towards an appropriate word.  I now present our fairy tale in its entirety (Gwen’s words are in purple):

Once upon a time, there weas a lovely princess named lollipop.  She lived in a castle with her pet tiger, Scooter.  One day while she was walking Scooter, a pink dragon appeared!  The princess and Scooter were so scared – when the dragon opened his mouth, they though they would be consumed in flames!  However, no flames came out, only a gush of breath that smelled like carrots!  The foul-smelling breath madethem play dress up, but the dragon, who was named Cinderella, was so sweet, he and the princess and Scooter soon became fast friends.

While playing fairies in the woods one day, the happy trio came upon a prince, who was under a spell.  He had been frozen in a bowl of fruit for many years.  The fearsome threesome tried everything to break the spell.  First, they created a potion out of the eye of a bumblebee, some salsa, and cheerios – which they held under the prince’s bum, while chanting.  Nothing happened.  So, the three of them drove to the castle, grabbed “The Book of Reverse Singing Spells,” and together started playing the song, “Free the Frozen Prince.”  Still nothing.  All of a sudden, the dragon sneezed, and his windy breath, which smelled like squash went all over the prince!  Poof!  The prince was magically released from the spell and started to dance.  The happy princess, Scooter, the dragon, and the nice prince became a fabulous foursome and lived happily ever after!

I hastily threw together a hodge podge of shiny fairy tale-y stuff since the kids like exploring the sensory bins I put together.  In the mix was a bunch of irridescent Easter grass, a small purple playsilk, wooden blocks (to build a castle, of course), and a variety of mythical creatures (including  a mermaid and unicorn).  Some other unicorns and ponies came to visit.

 

I almost always leave the sensory bins out for the entire week and it’s fun to watch the kiddos go back to them again and again when the mood strikes.

For breakfast one morning the kiddos were delighted to be served fairy bread.  I lightly toasted some whole grain bread, spread it with whipped butter, sprinkled on some cinnamon, and lastly some rainbow sprinkles and edible glitter.  I figured it was glorified cinnamon sugar toast!       

Some fairies visited one evening and surprised them with fairy wands to take to their Meme’s for a play day; good thing, because Mommy was tired from staying up to visit with the fairies. *sigh*  Gwen said the wands are really pretzels.  I… er, the fairies… dipped multigrain pretzel sticks in melted dark chocolate and decorated them with sprinkles.  Let them harden on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper in the fridge and you’re good to go.

Besides reading all sorts of fairy tales from our book basket and watching a few movies, Gwen dressed up and enacted her own imaginary stories and played with her magnetic dress-up princess.  She already has a mermaid paper doll, and I printed out a Belle paper doll on cardstock - which she discovered right away and immediately began to play with.  We also played a round of Tinker Bell’s Pardon My Pixie Dust Game, which is actually kinda fun!  It’s especially fun watching Gwen get excited when she wins a game piece. 

 

I didn’t find very many educational printables with a fairy tale theme, but I did break out some of the princess-themed printables from our K is for King week on royalty.  And tracing is always more fun if it’s a picture of a castle.

 

Letter
We did all sorts of unicorn-themed activities – like a coloring page and maze.

 

We also did a few umbrella-themed things.  One of Gwen’s Kumon tracing pages was in the shape of an umbrella and her letter hunt was about an umbrella.

 

A couple times during the week we read stories under an umbrella just for fun – it’s amazing what simple things will delight the kiddos – and they decorated umbrella cutouts with paper raindrops.

  

The cutouts were a last-minute idea and if I had planned it more carefully I would have done something more rigid since the kiddos were disappointed they couldn’t hold them up like real umbrellas.  This hanging umbrella craft seems cute, or you could use paper plates.  

Number
As the numbers have gotten higher – we’re in the twenties now – I’ve given up focusing on a specific number unless I can find a story or resource directly related.  Instead, we do number-related activities, like dot-to-dot pages or counting things throughout the day.  I’m a big believer in learning through practical, every day things – like counting the produce we pick at the store or turning an episode of playing with blocks into how many we can find of each color. 

We used some valentine activities courtesy of Homeschool Creation’s Valentine’s Day Printable Pack and Over the Big Moon’s Valentine’s Day Pre-K Pack, including clip cards and a color-by-number.

 

I also broke out the Cupcake Count file folder game – one of the first ones I made!  Gwen’s a pro at it now. *sniff sniff* 

Shape
The heart shape was well reinforced throughout the week!  Our Valentine’s Day morning began with the kiddos walking paper heart trails and ended with heart handprints.  I reserved all the valentine printables for the 14th, including a tracer page, word tracing page (you can see we’re working on compound words!), word matching, letter clip cards and a cutting practice page.

 

 

I got out a shape-matching puzzle and Gwen matched all the pieces; I was shocked when she got “hexagon” right away!  She won’t remember rectangle but she’ll remember hexagon. *shakes head* 

Along with the Cupcake Count game Gwen did the Patterns of Love Matching Game that I made around the same time.

Rhyme
I found a cute little rhyme for the week called Queen of Hearts.  It’s been fun sprinkling in some unfamiliar rhymes with the more traditional ones.

Bulletin Board
So… I know I took a picture but I think Josiah may have erased it from my camera.  He’s taken to turning my camera on and snapping away; who knows what other buttons he pushes.  Makes me wonder what other pictures he erased.

Book Basket
*Gwen’s favorites

Theme/Vocab
The Usborne Book of Fairy Tales*
Rumpelstiltskin
Jan Brett’s Beauty and the Beast
Flutterby
Glitterby Baby*
Whisper the Winged Unicorn*
Claire and the Unicorn happy ever after
Unicorn Dreams
The Midnight Unicorn*
The Ugly Duckling
Thumbelina
The Princess and the Three Knights*
The Secret Life of Princesses*
Princess Hyacinth  – the Surprising Tale of a Girl who Floated*
The Classic Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

Letter
Miss Hunnicut’s Hat*
My “u” book
Duck in the Truck
The Wonderful Thing About Hiccups
A Porcupine Named Fluffy
Lunch Bunnies*
The Fairies’ Alphabet Book

Holiday
Valentine’s Day

DVDs
Up
My Little Pony: Twinkle Wish Adventure
Nico the Unicorn

Linking Up…