What We Did This Week

Pinky is 5 years, Chaos is 34 months, Wild One is 14 months

I thought linking up to a few Homeschool/Tot carnivals and showcasing what I do all week with the kids (when I'm not working on my own crafts) would be fun. It's a great way to keep myself organized with all the cool things I see on other blogs and want to do with my kids.

The amazon links at the end of the post are NOT affiliate links. I just want to share some of the toys, books and crafts that we love. Plus I think the carousel action is pretty cool.

Where We Went:
In addition to our activities at home we were also out of the house quite a bit this week. Pinky had her normal preschool (and one day of Spanish enrichment). In addition, she attended her ballet and tap class, Princess class (she's in LOVE with this 4 week class!), and a Valentine's Day party at her school. Chaos enjoyed his last Toddler Gym Time class with Daddy, and all 3 kids visited a friends' house together for a playdate.

Math:
We didn't have many math centered activities this week (something I'm really trying to improve on), but Chaos and I did mix up a batch of jello. Cooking is a really fun way to get kids interested in math. He helped me measure, pour and stir. He's gotten pretty good at helping me find the right number on the measuring cup.

Science/Nature:
I don't know about you, but our house always seems to be home to ladybugs (okay, I'm told they're not REAL ladybugs, but if they're red with spots, they're ladybugs to me) in the colder months. The kids just adore them, especially when they crawl in their hands. They like to catch them and release them back outside. Chaos was so proud to be the "captor" on this morning.

For a fun science experiment we tried our hand at growing crystals with borax, water and food coloring. The kids were really intrigued. I got the idea from here at Our Crafts N Things.

I think they wanted instant results. (And yes, Chaos insisted on wearing a headband like his Sissy so he could "see better.")

Sensory:
Pinky and Chaos continued to love playing with the Rainbow Sensory Box. I have a feeling they are going to be very disappointed when I switch it out in about a week. How do you handle this? I had planned to change out the box every month, but if they are still interested with the contents, do you leave it?

Modern Parents Messy Kids had a great tutorial for shaving cream Valentines. I skipped the card part and just let the kids "paint" with the color bags. We nicknamed this activity "Squishy Color Bags." You can find the tutorial here at Modern Parents Messy Kids.

The bags before the kids blended the colors.

They quickly got to work "painting" and mixing using their hands and a q-tip.

Geography:
My husband printed out a large map our our town for the kids to explore. Pinky is especially interested in maps right now. They spent a good deal of time with Daddy locating our house, Pinky's school, their favorite playground, and Daddy's office building.

What We Read:
Pinky and I continued to read The Rainbow Fairies series together. This week we read Sunny: The Yellow Fairy and Fern: The Green Fairy.

Chaos really enjoys reading about animals so it was no surprise that he loved his new National Geographic Kids First Big Book of Animals. The pictures and facts in this book are really engaging. Pinky, Chaos, Daddy and myself were all really mesmerized by this book.

Wild One loves touch books so she really enjoyed her new Usborne Touchy Feely Faires book from Grandma and Pappy.

What We Played With:
There was a lot of imaginitive play going on this week. The favorite toy was Pinky's rainbow ribbon wand. It was a fishing pole, a magic wand, a hitching posts for horses, a magic "fix it" stick, and just plain fun for twirling.

Later in the week Chaos and I had a wonderful tea party together. He loved that the cups changed colors with cold/warm water.

Motor Skills:
Pinky practiced her handwriting by signing her name to over 20 Valentines for her preschool class! I had planned for her to do this over several nights so she wouldn't get frustrated, but she was a superstar and finished them all at once without a single complaint!

Wild One has really been interested in stacking blocks lately so I pulled out our Wedgits for her to play with. She loved stacking them (and had some help from Chaos). She even played a bit of peek a boo with them too!

Sight Words (for 2 weeks):
said, on, and, are, go, can, was, in

Pinky has been very interested in learning to read and learning site words, so I've been choosing a few words for her to learn. I'm trying to make it a bit more exciting than just standard memorization, so this week we played a variation of the Shape and Number Game.

I laid the flashcards on the ground and called out a word. She had to run to it as fast as she could. It was a fun way to practice her words and even burned off a bit of excess energy in the process!

Computer Time:
Pinky has been talking a lot lately about wanting to be a zookeeper when she grows up. So, what perfect timing that a friend told me about Switcheroo Zoo. It's a cute site that lets kids travel through the zoo and "switch up" the animals. Give the elephant a fish head and a cougar's tail or see what a pig would look like with bird legs and wings. Pinky was laughing hysterically while she played. The game also tells you facts about each of the animal parts you choose and you can name your animal and write a story about it. I think we'll be visiting this site a lot more.

Family Time Activity:
We had a family game night this week. We played Cranium Cariboo, Pretty Pretty Princess and Turtle Shells. The kids are always so excited on game night!

Mom's Favorite:
I love the sheepish look on Chaos's face when I caught him and Wild One emptying the bookshelf in her room. They just look so "busted!" (You'll see more of this bookshelf this week in my organization post!).

Linking up to: