Family Night - Weeds in our life

For Family Home Evening, we talked about Weeds in our life.

Weeds of contention, Weeds of behaviors.

We talked about how our family is a garden, and we need to get the weeds out of our life.

We talked about how weeds can suffocate plants, and our lives.

So, we went out to the front yard, and took care of the weeds.

We bought the kids gloves and spades and rakes.

Insert evil laugh (below)

Then we went to a nursery to buy some new flowers and trees.

I'm a sucker for succulents.

Then we came home and planted.

The kids were filthy, happy, and totally got the message. I love when everything just comes together like that.

PS - When did my kids get so huge?

SBBK - Boredom Buster 1

Summer Boredom Buster Kids - Fun!

My kids enjoy playing with the weirdest things.

I found these cups in the clearance party section at Walmart. I spent a quarter for each package.

At school, in Gym, my son learned about cup stacking.

So, that is what we did today!

Everyone enjoyed playing with them.

I mean LOVED it!

This is fun for all ages, and they have asked several times to play with the cups since I pulled them out the first time!

Try it!

SBBK - Writing 1

Summer Boredom Buster Kids - Writing!

I have to confess that I have my kids writing every single day. (including the weekend)

I want their handwriting/penmanship to be stellar, so I push it every single day.

Reading is the same way. They must read 20-30 minutes a day.

Okay, rant over.

Something I am using for my kids is Handwriting Without Tears.

They do this workbook probably 3x a week.

 Different levels, different activities, all quiet. They have to do 4 pages (of their choice) during quiet time/naptime.

My 3 year old and 2 year old enjoy coloring on the walls.

Literally!

We have a chalkboard and whiteboard system on our walls down stairs.

The reward for taking a nap without a fight (somedays) is writing.

My kids nap until they turn 5.

It is what works for them AND me.

I love seeing improvements in my children's handwriting over the summer.

I know everything is going to technology and cursive is a thing of the past, but not for my kiddos.

My son started cursive in May and is really enjoying it. I think I am the only person who still uses cursive, who is under the age of 35. Haha.

SBBK - Cooking 3

Summer Boredom Buster Kids - COOKING!

My 3 year old and I had a cooking date. We decided to make a sweet treat. This one was particularly easy!

And so good!

Cinnamon Chip Scones!  From FeedingBig.com.

Here is the recipe!

Ingredients

1. 3 cups flour
2. 2 1/2 tsp. Clabber Girl baking powder
3. 1/2 tsp baking soda
4. 1/3 cup sugar
5. pinch of McCormick Allspice
6. 1 stick butter, cut into small pieces
7. 3/4 cup Hershey cinnamon chips
8. 1/2 - 3/4 cup milk
9. 1 egg, for egg wash
10. Cinnamon Sugar to sprinkle

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Mix dry ingredients into a large bowl. Work in the cut butter until the mixture resembles cornmeal.
3. Add the chips and toss.
4. Add milk slowly until the dough comes together.
5. Remove from bowl and shape into a square that is 1 inch thick. Cut into triangles. Place each triangle on a cookie sheet that is lined with parchment paper.
6. Beat egg in small bowl and brush a small amount on each scone.
7. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
8. Bake for 15 minutes.
9. Let cool.

By Cynthia L.

Try It! Let your kids help!

SBBK - Games 3

Summer Boredom Buster Kids - Games!

This is Sports and Games!

My kids loved this!

Game Originally Seen HERE

Our kids really enjoyed this afternoon activity and it rained that night, so the chalk was gone in the morning.

SBBK - Math 4

Summer Boredom Buster Kids - Math!

M&M Math (school agers)

I gave the older 3 a cup of M&Ms.

I drew a graph and had them sort the candy by color.

 Then they wrote their findings. 1st grader:

Kinder: (she needed some assistance in what I was looking for)

Then we added them up.

My 3rd grader also did this and then I had him do some more complex problems orally.

For example. All of the red totals minus the blue totals for all 3 kids.

Or, All of the yellow totals multiplied by 4.

You get the idea.

We did this sort of quizzing for 20 minutes.

Once we were done with all of the math I had him explain one problem to the girls.

The sum of the brown candies multiplied by 2 would be ... and why.

They enjoyed him teaching it to them, and he liked that he knew more than them.

Haha.

SBBK - Math 3

Summer Boredom Buster Kids - Math!

M&M Math! (Toddlers)

I drew circles in M&M colors.

I wrote a number in each circle and my 3 year old had to put the right color and number in each circle.

Seen below:

My 2.5 year old just got circles and had to put the M&M in the right colored circle. Then we counted them.

Seen Below:

They both loved this.

They ate and counted over and over. I had happy toddlers at snack time. :D

This was very simple and you could do it with skittles, or jujubees, or any colored candy!

Summer 2014

I made some Labels for the Activities we are going to do with the kids this summer. You can download them HERE.  Most of the fonts are from an old Creative Lettering book, written by: Becky Higgins.  I used her fonts because my kids could color them, AND they are so adorable!

After I printed them out, we colored them, cut them, and laminated them.

Right now they are in a box, waiting for MONDAY, and the activities that awaits my kids.

In the past, I have been over scheduled (I know, I know) and it was too much on them and me, and it became unfun/hard. I had a husband in school full time, and work full time, and a preemie on therapy, that it was too hard to do my regimented, timed, activities.

For instance from 9-10 Art Time. Well, if we had sick kids and it didn't happen that day I would feel "behind" in our day. That would stress me out, and then it became a mad dash to squeeze everything in for the day. So this year, with 3 kids going to Full Time School in the Fall, and 2 toddlers...I decided to revamp my summer program with my babes.

Instead of over-schooling them in the summer, I have devised simple-quick, educational activities to keep them engaged through out the summer, while still letting them be kids. Because lets face it, that is just what they are...KIDS!

I am calling this Summer: SBBK
Summer Boredom Busters for Kids

 We talked about what we are going to do over the summer.
I decided that the labels we worked on together, will be hidden each day, so they can figure out what we are doing, and get excited about it! We will do one activity in the morning, and one in the afternoon.

What?

EXAMPLE: I will hide the Geography sign somewhere in the house.
Once they find it, that will let them know what we are working on for that day.

They will get dressed, eat breakfast, and then clean their rooms, clean their teeth and faces, etc. 
before we do activity #1.
This helps me get my stuff together while they are busily getting ready for the day.

Since I hid the label the night before, I can decide on what we are going to do, and pre-prep it for the following day ahead of time. (no scrambling around for me!)

Once the kids are ready, I will have that item ready on the kitchen table, or art table, and wait for everyone to be ready. I will explain the rules, and the how to's there and then let them have at it.

After that activity, we will discuss (if needed), then clean up, and then they have free time or whatever we need to do for that day (ex. grocery shopping, or laundry, most likely laundry)

After lunch and naps/quiet time, we will regroup at the table and do activity #2 (same label)
We will discuss, have afternoon snack and then free time or what ever we need to finish for that day.
(ex. pick up toy room, make dinner, do dishes, most likely dish mountain)

This is how I am planning that our summers will go.
I will post what we do for each topic to give you some ideas, and if you have some of your own, PLEASE SHARE!!!

I hope to hear from ya'll soon!

Name Recognition #9

My intention was to work on lowercase letters, but this bunch of cuties preferred to copy the letters.

So, that is what we did.

I found these:

We put them in a BIG pile and then I passed them out. They lined them up on my sheets and wrote the letter under. After they wrote the letter, they got to eat the gummi letter!

This was another fun and quiet activity. We will do it again because gummi letters are awesome!