Homeschool Theme of the Week: Spring!

True to spring style - we have been busy little bees in homeschool!  See some of our fun activities below...

A fun spring snack!
Snack Details:
Muffin Cup Flowers:  strawberries with a blackberry center.  Green apple stems and leaves.
Muffin Cup Cloud:  marshmallow cream for dipping fruit.
Garnishes:  peanut butter soil with organic cheddar bunnies.  Hershey hugs flower buds with green apple leaves and a carrot caterpillar (details on face drawn with food safe markers - see link below).

Welcome to our Learning Garden!  Consider making one yourself and enjoy celebrating all of the things your child has been learning this year (great for review of past or current concepts).  This could easily be adapted to make a larger family or class garden where each child is given a "plot" to share what they have been learning.

I made two seed packet envelopes and would place a "seed" in each with a description of what Miss A should be doing for a particular plant or flower written on the seed.  The packets also contained the petals and items she would need for the flower.  Then it was just a matter of following the directions on the seed (glue the seed to the base of the plant) and building one or two flowers for the day (we only made one or two per day)!  :)

We made our own flower print book as well, picking different household objects to experiment with for making flower prints on each page.  We used items such as a toy tractor (wheels), corrugated cardboard, etc.

It seemed a shame to put away old winter shoes and this was an extra pair given to us, soooooo I decided to repurpose them into something Miss A could use for dramatic play.  AND since we had just finished a St. Patrick's Day unit where we learned that leprechauns are shoemakers for fairies, we decided to to make our own fairy shoes.  See the tutorial here.

After we finished the shoes, my daughter completed a writing activity where she pretended to be a master leprechaun shoemaker telling a younger apprentice leprechaun how to make fairy shoes (using the story sequencing: First, Next, Last).

In our family, we have our egg hunt on the first day of spring.  So this week seemed the perfect time to follow that fun activity up with a pattern block book for spring which also focused on number order, number words, and position words!  :)  I made our own pattern block pieces from different craft papers and then we added some fun details (I think the pom pom bunny tail was one of my favorites).

And what did we use for the eggs in the story?  Why thumbprints, of course (which Miss A then drew designs on)!  :)  If you would like to make your own pre- or post egg hunt book, you can download the book here for only $1.50!

Hatch a story - really easy and fun!  Want to hatch your own stories?  Simply fill each egg with a word (you can also do this labeling certain colors as nouns, others as verbs, adjectives, etc.) and have your children pick one of each color.  They open the eggs and try to come up with (and write down) a story using all of the words. For really tiny children, just have them tell you a story or sentence using the words.  :)

Tell it to Mr. Long Ears.  We have a Mr. Long Ears in our house and fortunately for us, he just happens to love listening to stories!  We also just happen to have a bunch of books about spring right now.  :)

Miss A would read a book and try to re-tell it to Mr. Long Ears.  Do you have a creature in your house that looooves listening to stories?  If so, make sure you put it to good use!  :)

While in a craft store one day, my daughter found a sheet of craft paper covered with many different Easter egg prints.  I purchased the paper, cut some of the eggs out and made up some sorting and graphing activities to go along with the eggs.  :)

And of course, we read many books together...

Linking to:
www.mushkiloves.blogspot.com
www.diyhshp.blogspot.com
www.michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com
www.delicateconstruction.com
http:\\makingtheworldcuter.com
www.singingthreelittlebirds.blogspot.com
www.ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com
www.funkypolkadotgiraffe.blogspot.com
www.tipjunkie.com
www.abcand123learning.com
www.cleanandscentsible.blogspot.com
www.gingersnapcrafts.com
www.bearrabbitbear.com
www.enchantinghomeschoolingmom.blogspot.com
www.handsonaswegrow.com
www.momontimeout.com
www.houseofhepworths.com
www.whipperberry.com
www.toysinthedryer.com
www.kitchenfunwithmy3sons.blogspot.com
www.homeschoolcreations.net
www.livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com