This would be an easy & fun patriotic art project for preschool and Kindergarten children. You will need a fork, red, white and blue paint and construction paper to make these Fireworks!
How cute and yummy is this Fourth of July toast for breakfast? Give it a try and find out! Patriotic Flag Toast!
For a fun and healthy Fourth of July snack, make fruit kabobs into the shape of the American Flag. Patriotic Fruit Kabobs!
I recently found out about this really cool program in Michigan. You can use your library card as a pass for some great free activities. Print a pass that is good for 7 days ands gets you free access to many state parks, campgrounds, museums, etc. I don't know if other states are doing this too but what a neat idea! Check out the link and if you live in Michigan, type in your zip code to see what is available. Michigan Activity Pass.
Here in Michigan, we are entering our final week of summer. I've had a super fun and busy summer with my family. We've enjoyed lots of adventures including camping, an amusement park (first time my kids rode roller coasters!), a trip to Wisconsin and lots of sightseeing in northern Michigan and Michigan's upper Peninsula. We've enjoyed beaches and the beauty of three of the great lakes this summer. Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake Superior. As always, I'm sad for our summer fun to end but I also look forward to fall fun. Next week it is back to school time! One of my favorite books to read to little ones is "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn. Such a sweet book! My girls used to really enjoy this one. Another cute book to read before the first day of preschool is "Maisy Goes to Preschool" by Lucy Cousin's. "Miss Bindergarten Get's Ready for Kindergarten" by Joseph Slate is another fun book. Best wishes to all of the moms, teachers and children for a wonderful new school year! It seems like yesterday when I was trying to hold back tears (not very successfully) and sending my twins off to Kindergarten. Let me know if you have any favorite back to school books. Enjoy!
While shopping at a farmers market over the weekend, I noticed a poster at one of the tables that said "Breakfast on the Farm". I talked to the farmer about it and she offered me free tickets to the event. As it turns out, the breakfast on the farm event is a Michigan State University Extension. Families get a tour of the farm, learn about milking cows, get to pet a calf, see the farm equipment, take wagon ride, learn where food comes from, eat ice cream and also eat a farm fresh breakfast. I'm really excited to take my kids to this event. It should be a really fun learning experience for our whole family. Breakfast on the Farm is hosted at various farms in Michigan. If you live too far to take advantage of one of these great events, you could do a search or ask around at farmers markets in your area to see if something similar is offered near you. I love finding new, fun, educational activities for my family. Breakfast on the Farm.
My kids and I have been busy in the kitchen today. I let them create some fun designs in our cupcakes before baking. They had so much fun with this and the cupcake batter turned out really cute. I almost hate to decorate them and cover up their creativity. I'm sure they will have fun with the frosting part too though.
My sister's birthday is on July 4th and every year we have a family get together for a combined holiday / birthday celebration. My girls and I are making cupcakes. I was thinking of doing either red, white and blue cupcakes or a flag cake. I did some searching and found the best of both worlds, a cupcake flag cake! So easy and cute! Cupcake Flag Cake.
Another cute and easy idea that would be fun for little kitchen helpers is Red, White and Blue Strawberries. Instead of using white chocolate, you could substitute yogurt instead. Of course, the yogurt would not harden and you would need to keep it cold.
When I was growing up, my grandma used to make a fun flag cake each Fourth of July. It was so easy and cute. She made a white cake, frosted it with whipped cream and then used blueberries and strawberries to make it look like the USA flag. I was always so impressed with that cake as a child :) It looked a lot like this flag cake.
My kids and I went sweet cherry picking a couple of days ago and we are also making sweet cherry muffins today. We'll eat them for breakfast Fourth of July morning. I'm going to try this cherry muffin recipe. We're not going to add blueberries this time but I was just thinking you could make them more festive by adding blueberries too.
For those of you celebrating America's birthday, have a fun and safe Independence Day!
My daughter has some food allergies so it's always wonderful when we find good frozen treat alternatives for her. I'm going to give this super easy recipe a try. We have SunButter in the pantry and frozen bananas in the freezer. We're going to a birthday party today and since she can't have cake or ice cream, I think I might bring some along. A two ingredient "ice-cream" made with SunButter and frozen bananas. Doesn't get much easier. Enjoy! SunButter ice-cream
What fun activities have you been doing this summer? It seems like my kids and I have been gone nearly everyday for the past few weeks. We've been trying to pack in play dates with friends we don't get to see often during the school year. We've done several picnics at parks, beach days & pool days. We've also been having fun getting good use out of our zoo and museum memberships. Have I told you lately how much I love memberships?!! They save me a lot of money. We went ice skating a couple weeks ago. That was something different and really fun for my kids. On hot days (we've had a LOT of really HOT days!) when we are at home, we bought a slip and slide that is great fun. My kids also love to get a pile of paintbrushes and buckets of water and invite friends over to "paint" the house, deck, patio, rocks, etc. I fill the kid pool up with water and let them go to town painting whatever their hearts desire. Fun stuff. It's great that kids are as happy as can be with simple summer pleasures such as a $15.00 pool, a $10.00 slip and slide and a pack of balloons from the dollar store. Add a few friends in the mix and it's a grand day! Some things we are still looking forward to doing: Blueberry picking, a vacation to a cottage on lake and a mommy/daughters trip to Shipshewana, Indiana. I need to get busy planning our girls trip! I would love to hear about some of your summer activities and adventures.
With the hot summer weather many families are enjoying spending time in pools and at lakes. Please take a couple of minutes to read this article. Drowning doesn't look like drowning.
I recently brought home a bunch of juicy red strawberries from the strawberry farm. We've been eating them everyday. I've been making jam, freezing strawberries, making smoothies, Popsicles, etc. I was looking for a strawberry muffin recipe and somehow I stumbled upon a really cool recipe for red, white and blue chocolate dipped strawberries. They are so cute and look yummy too. I think I'm going to give these a try for the Fourth of July. I know my girls would love to help me make them and they would for sure help eat them! Red, White and Blue Strawberries. Enjoy!
Our family has been hit hard with sadness over the past 9 months. First my dad passed away in August, 2010, five months later in January our wonderful dog Cazzie passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly. Last month, we had to say goodbye to our sweet little dog Ally. She was an American Eskimo like Cazzie. She was our older of the two. We enjoyed 15 wonderful years with her. I never expected to lose both of my beautiful dogs only 4 months apart from each other. Our home is not the same without our furry babies to enjoy it with us. Between all of the grief we've faced in less than a years time, our move (I still haven't unpacked everything yet) and everyday life, I have pretty much been neglecting this blog. To be quite honest, some days, the grief seems like more than I can handle. I manage though. My kids insist that I put on a happy face and keep them busy. Kids are great about not letting you wallow in sadness.
We are now in the full swing of summer. We've had park days, play dates, a trip to the zoo, a parade, cook-outs, a visit to the strawberry farm, a baseball game, mini golf, outdoor picnics, a trip to the library (to get a pile of books and sign up for the summer reading club), several bike rides and lots of water play. We are currently getting a little break from the heat. The past couple days it's been gloomy & raining so I've been busy making strawberry jam, freezing strawberries and making some strawberry treats. Like I said, kids are great about not letting you sit around and be sad. They keep me busy and I am very thankful for that! I hope everyone else is having a great summer so far. I'm hoping and praying for a fun summer for my family and a break from sad stuff happening for a long while!
I can hardly believe that August is already here! June and July flew by in a blink! I've been busy this summer working on home improvement projects, putting our house up for sale, going on vacation and having fun with my kids. I thought that I would share some of the fun things we've been doing so that if you are looking for a bit of inspiration, maybe this will get the wheels turning.
At home: Getting the kids involved with projects around the house. Weeding the garden, watering the plants, making jam, washing the car, painting the shed (they loved this), helping with sorting and organizing toys and "weeding" out the stuff they didn't want/need. We didn't have time for a garage sale so instead we made a couple of trips to the consignment store and then donated the rest. We've also been staying cool with the kiddie pool, sprinkler and water table (my kids like to dip paint brushes in the water table and "paint" the house, fence, etc). Summer has also been a great time for the kids to enjoy playing with messy stuff outside (such as moon sand and goop). We've also been keeping busy with lots of reading. My girls are both reading independently now and they love to read everyday. We're doing the summer reading club through the library again this year.
Unplugged! I've been wanting to take a week here and there and do "unplugged weeks" No TV, no Internet, no electronic games, etc. Just good old fashioned summer fun. Our biggest stretch this summer was on our vacation. We spent 9 days at a cottage on a lake. It was great to just enjoy playing in the sand, swimming, fishing, walks in the woods, playing games, campfires, etc. No TV, computer or any other electronic games. It was a nice break. I'm planning to do something similar again at home. We often go 2 or 3 days in a row but it's a fun challenge to go for a week or two without the use of the TV or computer.
Outings: We've enjoyed strawberry picking, cherry picking, picnics at parks (we've been looking for new parks to visit this year which has been fun) , zoo days (we bought a membership), farmers markets, splash pads (water playgrounds at parks), visits to the library, play dates and cousin sleepovers.
I would love to hear what you have been up to this summer. Please share your fun ideas too!
My girls have been reading books on their own for several months now. Listening to my children read brings me so much joy. During my teaching years and also as a mom I purchased a bunch of the "I Can Read" books. You can choose the level that is right for your child. A few years ago a friend gave me a complete set of Magic Castle Reader books. Her son outgrew them and she knew that we would enjoy them. They are fun and easy for young readers and my girls are currently enjoying reading them on their own. Unfortunately, I noticed that these books are now out of print but I did check and you can find them from Amazon.com or eBay. You may even be able to find them at your local library. Some other fun books that my girls have been enjoying are the Fancy Nancy books and my huge collection of Dr. Seuss books.
We've been joining the library reading club every summer since my kids were three years old. This year it will be even more fun as they do a combination of reading their books to me, to each other and reading quietly. Of course, I still read to them too. I'm sure we'll be doing that for many years to come. I don't think we ever outgrow the enjoyment of sitting back and listening to another person read aloud from a good book. Check your local library to see if they offer a summer reading club. The reading club is great for pre-readers too. It helps keep you & your kids motivated and accountable for reading books all summer long. Summer reading clubs usually begin sometime in June, once most schools are out for the summer.
It's been a wonderful and busy summer here. Some of our highlights were camping, visiting the beach, parks and picnics, blueberry and cherry picking and vacationing at a cottage on a lake (both of my kids caught their first fish!). I hope that all of you enjoyed your summer too. It always goes by too fast. I can feel a chill in the evening air and some of the leaves on the trees are already starting to change colors. It's the time of year when children start going back to school. When I was a kid, one of my favorite first week of school assignments was to write and/or draw a picture of my favorite summer vacation memories. I would encourage you this week to talk with your children about their favorite summer memories and then have them draw pictures. After they have completed their pictures let them give you a picture description as you write a small caption on each page. This will make a treasured book to look back on during the year.
I hope everyone has a wonderful new school year!
Spring is in full swing where I live and before we know it, summer will be here. If you are interested in some easy and fun ideas, arts and crafts and other projects to keep your kids busy this spring and summer, check out my Lesson Plans Plus website for fun preschool lesson plans. The lessons are a great way to stimulate and keep kids busy. Thinking ahead...whether you are planning to home school for preschool next fall or just looking to supplement an existing program, my lesson plans would be a good and inexpensive resource for you. You are welcome to download one free lesson plan at any time to give you a taste of what I offer. Check out Lesson Plans Plus.
If you are in need of some fun field trip ideas (and who isn't during a long, cold winter), check out our newly updated Field Trip page on LessonPlansPlus.com. We have compiled a list of our favorite field trips for young children as well as links to some other great resources. Now go get rid of that cabin fever...Enjoy!
I've always loved the Fourth of July. Getting my kids involved in Patriotic decorating and activities is so much fun. I thought that I would share some of our red, white and blue crafts and activities with you.
American Flag: This is so easy. If you have little kids who are not good with scissors yet you will need to do some preparation while older kids can do their own cutting. Provide a piece of white construction paper to work on. Next provide strips (older kids can cut their own) of red construction paper (these are the red stripes on the flag). Let your children glue the red strips onto the white paper (leaving enough space between the red strips so that the white appears to be stripes too). After gluing the strips onto the paper glue a blue rectangle in the corner. Use white chalk to draw stars on the blue paper. Instead of chalk, you could also use foil star stickers if you happen to have any on hand.
Fireworks Art: Provide black construction paper, red, white and blue tempera paint, glitter and sponges. I like to use the round puffy dish washing type sponges but they can be hard to find so you could simply cut a rectangular sponge into a circle and them cut a few jagged edges to make it look more like a firework burst. Let the children dip the sponges into red, white and blue paint and then sprinkle glitter onto their firework.
Patriotic Shakers: Attach a few pieces of red, white and/or blue crepe paper to a paper plate (these will be streamers). Fold the paper plate in half and staple all but a small opening. Fill with dry beans and then finish stapling. I like to put clear tape across the staples so they don't poke little fingers. Let your children decorate the shakers with red and blue crayons or paint. You could also provide star cut-outs or stickers if you wish.
Flag Cake: Simply bake your favorite cake (I just use a cake mix for this cake) in a rectangle pan. After the cake has cooled, cover it with whipped topping instead of frosting. Use fresh strawberries for the stripes and fresh blueberries in the corner for the star area.
Shaving Cream Fun: Provide 3 large cookie sheets. Spray shaving cream on each cookie sheet. Leave one white but add red food coloring to one and blue to the other. Let your child play in the shaving cream. This is very messy but good clean fun. I like to put the kids in their bathing suits and do this outside so that I can just spray everything (and everyone) down with the hose when finished. If you have children who like to put everything in their mouths, you could use the spray whipped topping instead.
Red, White and Blue Bubbles: Fill 3 separate containers with bubble mixture. Leave one plain but add red food coloring to one pan and blue to another. Check out my website to make your own bubbles.
USA Map Floor Puzzle: Cover a USA map in clear contact paper. Cut the map into several pieces according to your child's ability to make a big floor puzzle.
I have been enjoying making Popsicles with my kids this summer. Homemade Popsicles are fun to make and even better to eat.
One of our favorites is what we call Smoothie Pops. We place two bananas (the kids slice them first), a small hand full of fresh strawberries and about 1/4 cup of vanilla yogurt into the blender. After everything is well blended I pour the mixture into Popsicle molds and then freeze them until we are ready for our cool and tasty treats.
I bought my Popsicle molds at Target. Mine make 4 Popsicles and the cost for the molds was $3.99. I like them because they keep the Popsicles from dripping. If you don't have Popsicle molds you could also use small paper cups and Popsicle sticks.
We also enjoy making Banana Pops. We slice a small banana in half or a large banana into thirds. We insert a Popsicle stick into the banana length wise and then cover the banana in chocolate pudding (you can make chocolate pudding or to make it even easier, give each of your children a store bought chocolate pudding cup). I lined a rectangular plastic container with wax paper and we lined the wax paper with the banana pops. We also put colored sugar and sprinkles on the chocolate covered bananas. You could leave them as is or add chopped nuts if you like. I put the cover on the container and placed it in the freezer for several hours.
I remember making all sorts of Popsicles when I was a kid. My sister and I filled ice cube trays with our favorite concoctions. We used toothpicks for the sticks. We also filled the little paper Dixie cups and used Popsicle sticks. One of my favorite Popsicles was simply pouring lemonade into my mold and freezing it. I also used to enjoy making chocolate pudding Popsicles. Many of our Popsicles were simply frozen juice. As simple as it is, we also enjoyed eating plain ice cubes on a stick. You might be surprised how much your children enjoy plain ice. You can even add some food coloring to make it more fun.
Another of my favorite childhood treats was something that my mom made for us. She broke a graham cracker in half and then put whipping cream (Like Cool Whip) on top of the graham cracker. Next she put sprinkles or chocolate chips on the whipping cream, topped it with the other graham cracker halve and then froze them.
Weekly Challenge: Make a Homemade Popsicle or another summertime treat with your children this week. Let me know what you enjoyed.
I'm always looking for new recipes to try with my children. If you have a favorite homemade treat that is great for a hot summer day, please share it with me. You can leave a comment or email me at kim@lessonplansplus.com.
I hope that you are having a wonderful start to summer. We've been spending a lot of time outside as we always do in the summer. I like to take activities that we normally do inside and bring them outside. It's fun to think of the backyard as an extension of our house and living in Michigan, summertime is the best time of the year to do that.
I want to get everyone to "think outside the box" and do a few things differently for a fun change. I will share a few things that I like to do with my kids.
Have art and craft time outside. Bring an easel outside along with paper, washable paint and paintbrushes. If you don't have an easel, attach a large piece of paper to a fence or even a tree.
Make chalk drawings on paper outside. Fill a small bucket with water so the children can make both dry chalk and wet chalk drawings. When they are finished, they can color the pavement with the wet and dry chalk.
Find a shady spot (maybe under a tree) and have story time outside.
Bring some lunch fixings outside and let your children prepare their own lunch outside and then eat on a blanket or at a picnic table.
Fill a child size pool with soapy water, give your children some sponges and let them wash several of their toys outside. When the toys are clean you can rinse off the soap residue with the hose and then let the toys dry in the sun. When I was teaching preschool outside the home, I even brought all of our classroom chairs outside and let the children scrub them clean. It was a lot of fun.
Have a outdoor pupppet show.
Weekly Challenge: Choose one of the activities that I listed or come up with an idea of your own and do it differently than you normally would. If the weather outside does not cooperate with your plans you could think outside the box and even do a typical outdoor activity indoors. My kids loved having indoor picnics in the winter. I would love to hear about your ideas.
My children have always enjoyed looking at books and listening to stories. Even as babies, books were one of their favorite things. I want to encourage you to read with your child everyday. I know it's easy for parents to get discouraged in attempts to read to busy toddlers as they are constantly on the go but they are learning and taking in information even as they are standing and playing. They may not appear to be listening but they are actually hearing more than you may realize.
Preschoolers are a lot of fun to read with because they are beginning to appreciate characters in a story as well as the plot. Choose a wide variety of books including picture books as well as more complex stories that are appropriate for your child's developmental level. Reading books everyday is a great way to introduce your children to words that you may not use on a regular basis. When you read to your preschooler, announce the title of the book as well as the author and illustrator. As you read, trace over the words with your finger. Take the time to involve your child in the story by asking questions such as, "what do you think will happen next..." With a familiar story, let your child help tell the story. My children love it when I read part of a sentence then stop to let them finish the sentence.
Another way to build literacy is by pointing out printed words when you are on outings. Point out the words on traffic signs, in the grocery store, at the doctors office, etc. You can even label things around the house to help your child associate words with objects. Show your children that reading is fun and reading is also an important part of daily life. Help your child get excited about reading.
The preschool and Kindergarten years are a great time to begin introducing early reader chapter books. As I mentioned in a previous post, I've found rest time to be a good time to read chapter books aloud. The nice thing about reading chapter books is that they are enjoyable for me and my children. The kids look forward to finding out what will happen next and their imaginations are active.
Many librarys offer summer reading clubs and they often include pre-readers in the fun. Our local library offers a reading club for children birth - 5th grade. The children are given calendar style reading logs with stickers. Children earn stickers by listening to stories, singing songs, etc. The library reading club is another great way to build early literacy. My preschoolers will be participating in our library summer reading club this year.
Weekly Challenge: Start a reading club with your child. You can join your library reading club or do something on your own. It addition to reading aloud to your child some other options are checking out books on tape from the library, singing songs and doing finger plays with your child or even helping your child make a book of her own. Read to your child for a least a few minutes everyday.
I was recently reading the Simply a Mom blog that my friend Hope created and she posted about a cool site called Storynory where you can listen to free audio stories. I thought others might be interested in using the Storynory site as another literacy tool.
Have fun reading with your children this summer!
