Happy Green Groundhog Day!!!

Whats a Provider to do when she has taken 175 photos in one morning??  I can't put them all in the post, but I want to ;)  So, I chose the ones that most represented our day...

We celebrated our GREEN day by making some no-cook play dough.  I used a recipe I found on the internet (not sure where), but when I added the alum, it became like elastic, kinda like silly putty.  Maybe I didn't add it in the right order, who knows, after we kneaded it for a while, you couldn't even tell.

Tutu's always make art more fun!!!

Making sure it wasn't sticky was a little tricky ;)
We used a lot of flour to make sure it was a good consistency...

When the consistency was just right, we started added fun stuff to create all sorts of things...
When asked what he was making, Little Man said, "ARGH!!!"
A Dinosaur maybe??

Lil Bit loves anything ART related... this was no exception.
She spent most of her morning in her tutu at the art table... to cute!!!

This was real serious creating for Sprout...
She loved when we put sequins out and she took her time making sure they were just right.

After the kids began wandering off to other things, Lil Bit would walk around the table gathering all the sticks up and "using" them for her creation... I'm not sure what it was, but she sure knew exactly what she wanted to do :)

Picking up all the sticks became a coveted job... everyone wanted a chance to put them in the plastic bag
(I'm telling you, you don't have to spend a lot on toys, some wooden sticks and a container, your good to go!!)

It was a little hard to hear that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and we may be in for another 6 weeks of winter, but then the kids and I went outside and we found that we could probably deal with it if it stayed this nice for the next 6 weeks :)  It was 65 degrees out today... It was beautiful!!  We put on our mud boots and ventured outside to find some shadows, puddles, and fun!!!

"Ring Around the Rosie, Pocket Full of Posies...
Ashes, Ashes...
We All Stomp Our Feet, In the Puddle!!!"

Oh Yes, this was a favorite!!
I got a little dizzy after awhile, and man, I know I'm getting old because my back was KILLING me after  5 minutes of bending over and going in circle :)

Finding our shadows... just like Phil

"Look, here's mine!!"

She soooo didn't care ;)

Even the trees made shadows!!!

And nothing could top off our GREEN day better than...

Lil Bit's Gorgeous GREEN toes!!!
You just want to eat them up!!!

Orange is Everywhere!!

Orange is a great color!!  I didn't think we'd find so much of it everywhere.  Sprout even found a shirt that was Orange!!  Scamp found some awesome Halloween socks that had Orange on them, and Lil Bit had the cutest little Orange painted fingernails I'd ever seen!!!  Everyone found something to bring in and Show-n-Tell with.  Some of the items even started with Cc!!  A win-win for everyone!!!

Roo brought in this cute Microscope, that she shared with EVERYONE!!!

Look at those wee fingernails!!!  I love it!!!

Lil Bit also brought in this Learning Leap Frog...
you can't really see it, but he has an Orange outfit on :)

We mixed all our colored pasta together and played.
They filled and dumped all morning

Little Man was the King for the Day!!!

"Hey, I'm the Queen for the Day!!!

We had Orange flavored Cupcakes today, and you can't have cupcakes without reading If You Give A Cat A Cupcake by Laura Numeroff.  Thankfully we didn't have to act this one out :)

After snack we had the Orange Rice Table, Pasta Fun, and Necklace Making out for the kids to explore.  The necklace making was lots of fun, and didn't prove to be to hard for the little fingers that choose to have a go at it.

"Don't I look like a Princess??"

"I did it Shell!!"

"Oh Yeah, I got this!!"
(He would get the needle in, every time!! But then would let go with both hands instead of pushing it all the way through... to funny)

"What is that!!!"

There was no real messy art today, but being outside was better anyway.  Who know's how long this weather will last, we need to take advantage of every possible warm and dry moment!!!

Orange You Having Fun??

I have always said, "Having a Silly Provider makes everything more fun!" even when said provider comes up with a silly title to a post :)

So... we used our bright orange rice in the sensory table today.  I haven't seen this much action at the sensory table in a long time.  I don't know if it was the color that engaged the kids or the texture of the rice, sound of the rice on the different equipment or maybe just because they were excited it wasn't sand :) but whatever the reason.... they LOVED it!!!

I also introduced the letter Cc today in Circle Time!!  What better way to celebrate the letter Cc than making a Crown!!!  Tomorrow, after they have all dried, we will put them on for our Orange Finding Field Trip!!!  You can always find the color Orange with a Crown on your head!!!

"Cheese, now can I PLEASE get back to painting!!"

Scamp wasn't feeling 100% today, but she still gave painting a try

The jewels made her a little happier!!!

I made up this little activity this morning.
The kids loved Circling the C's with Orange crayon.
(I know, it doesn't make much sense... but we laughed)

Tape Resist Painting

Last night I was wandering around cyberspace looking for something special to end our BLUE week with.  I came across a wonderful blog, Make+Believe.  Megan Schiller is the author and she runs amazing art classes for young children.  If you live in or near Mill Valley, California and have young children, I would look her up and sign your child up for a class or two.  

Anyway, I came across her post, Tape Resist Painting, and knew this was it.  What a great way to end the week.  Not only getting messy, but we used the first letter in each persons name, so it was personal.  It was like magic.  We even got to use BLUE painters tape, regular blue paint and sparkly blue paint... the kids loved it!!!  Next time I would probably add a little blue sand to give it a little more texture, but I'm learning.

Starting off with the white paper made the letter really stand out...

Yet, when you added the blue paint it all blended together, you could forget all about that silly letter... 

and focus on the work at hand!!!

We started just with finger painting, but quickly added the tools we used earlier in the week, plus a few more.

It took Little Man a few minutes to get going, but he really got into it today.

I love this photo...
Sprout is making her race cars dance :)

Now they are "dancing" on her paper...
making special designs.  

Scamp enjoyed the tools a lot today.

Everything was like new to her...

She touched, swung around, pounded, pushed, smelled, and even tasted

When Scamp watched me take the tape off,
 she swung her head toward me, with raised brows...
It was like she was surprised by what was under all that paint.
Priceless!!!

Thank You Megan for the great idea!!!  We had so much fun!!!