Picking Pumpkins

Last week we had an opportunity to go and pick pumpkins and gourds. Each year, we revisit a local church which acquires pumpkins from an Indian reservation in Arizona. The proceeds go to a good cause so for us it is worth the expense.The boys and I were excited to see a variety of pumpkins in different colors ranging from white, grayish black and the standard orange. This was the first time we

Week in Review: All about Fall (week 8)

October 18th to 23 This week went into full gear with a tree nature study, a unit on Autumn (Fall), a trip to pick pumpkins. The boys enjoyed a fun week and so did I and we haven’t even painted our pumpkins yet (we decided to paint ours next week during our Pumpkin unit study.
This week we read several books on Fall. Some books we revisited from last Fall because they were the boys’ favorites

Fall Craft: Soft Sculpture Pumpkin

This month we are doing a unit study on Fall and Pumpkins and each year we love to make recycled crafts as decorations for the Fall and this year is no exception. Decades ago when I was in my 20s, it was popular to wear hosiery. Believe it or not I still had some stored away. Why? I guess I thought either the style would come back or I could use it for something crafty. Fortunately for my boys

Our Paper Autumn Wreath and how you can make your own

This is a wreath we made and I thought I'd share with you how we made it. We are known for recycling odds and ends for craft projects. To make this wreath we used:construction paper in colors of yellow, red, orange, brown and greencrayonsmarkersToilet paper rollsand a wire coat hangerHere is the link where we got the idea to make ours: Autumn Wreath Craft. The difference between ours and the one

Book Sharing Monday: Autumn Leaves by Ken Robbins

Autumn Leaves by Ken Robbins is a picture book that provides children an introduction to tree and leaf identification. The author shows the leaves of popular North American deciduous trees in the United States. The author provides life-sized reproductions of leaves, shown clearly against a white background which makes it easy to recognize their distinctive characteristics. Each leaf shown is

Pumpkin Patch Fun

We went to a pumpkin patch earlier this past week. The weather was perfect for it! Everyone had fun looking for their perfect pumpkin!My youngest "Turtle" did not waste anytime showing us his perfect pumpkins! He loves picking mini pumpkins! He could have stayed all afternoon at the pumpkin patch if we had let him. He kept loading the wheel barrow and filling it with pumpkins not realizing that

Kids Explore Nature (Tree Hugging Tots): Pumpkins

This week's Kids Explore Nature (Tree Hugging Tots) is on Pumpkins. That works for us since we are doing a unit study on pumpkins this week! Here are the books we are reading for our Pumpkin theme this week. What fun!We went to a pumpkin patch sometime ago when the weather was perfect. We found there a large wonderful assortment of pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn, and squash.Group Preparation:

Week in Review for October 19 - 23 (Fall wk 2)

WEEK 9 in reviewThis week we took a step away from most of our work books and spent much time observing nature outdoors. We entered our second week in our Nature Study and it has been rewarding for all.

We learned about tree identification, squirrels and their homes, why leaves change color, how people live in South Africa and grow pumpkins plus we had plenty of fun with Open Ended Art and other

Autumn Leaf Watercolors

Sometime ago we did Crayon Resist Art with watercolors when we covered our StArt project for Brown Bear in September. This time we made some beautiful Autumn leaves on legal size copy paper.
Do make this first I got a legal size paper which I had drawn different leaves in Sharpie marker. The I used another paper to place over it and trace the leaves with white crayon. The trick is to press hard

Our Fall Leaf Experiment

We are doing a two week unit study on Fall. We conducted a Fall Leaf Experiment this week. We have done this experiment three years ago and I though we'd do it again this year.The books we read:I am a leaf by Jean MarzolloWhy do Leaves change Color? by Betsy MaestroBackground InformationTrees use sunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide into sugar. This is called photosynthesis. Trees respond

Week in Review for October 12-16 (Fall wk 1)

WEEK 8 in review
This week we began our two week study on Fall. I wanted to devote enough material for this topic and I felt that one week was not enough.

During our week we began a nature study with a nature walk, learned about leaves, read plenty of books on Fall, enjoyed making fall crafts and started our weekly Nature Study.

My son "Turtle" is age 3 and my son "Godzilla Boy" is age 9.

What my child is reading - October 12 to 18, 2009

Who does not love the Autumn season? Cooler temperatures and Fall fun. This week we did a unit study on Fall and read plenty of books!This week we are reading...Here are some of the boys' favorite picks this week Mouse's First Fall by Lauren Thompson and illustrated by Buket Erdogan.This book is the seventh book in the series of Mouse’s First books by Lauren Thompson. Each book in this series

StArt: Mouse's First Fall

This is our four week participating in StArt at a Mommy's Adventures. If you are beginning to wonder what StArt is.... well by Michelle's definition it is A Story + Art = A Great stART!This week we read Mouse's First Fall by Lauren Thompson; illustrated by Buket Erdogan. This book is the seventh book in the series of Mouse’s First books by Lauren Thompson. Each book in this series uses a time of

Open Ended Art: Black and Orange

This weeks Open Ended Art theme is black and orange. For open ended art we used Black construction paper and orange tissue paper.The boys received a black sheet of construction paper on contact paper with cutouts and placed pieces of tissue all over it. Here are the results below. Pictured above my youngest son's Open Ended Art project with Black and Orange. Picture above my oldest son's Open