Dream Jar

My five year old has pretty awful dreams. All night he will be calling out, thrashing, kicking, and hitting. Luckily, sleep walking hasn't came into the equation yet! I always feel so bad for him. As a parent it is one of those helpless situations.

All though I have read many books to help "A" with bedtime fears none of worked as well as The Dream Jar by Lindan Lee Johnson. An older sister helps her fearful little sister by making her a "magic" dream jar. That way if the little sister has a nightmare she can wake up, pick a dream from the jar, and change the nightmare to fit her new and better dream.

Next "A" and I got busy brainstorming so happy memories or thoughts that he may want to use to change is bad dreams into good ones. We wrote slips that include riding roller-coaster rides, Mom's kisses (my favorite), playing with Daddy, magic wands, etc. and then rolled them up like in the book. I got a baby snack jar and "A" decorated it with some happy stickers. I added some fun confetti to the jar for a sprinkle of magic. "A" loves his jar and every night he picks a slip to help him have good dreams. It has been working-so far! At least the feeling of helplessnes has ceased.

One of his worst dreams is of dinosaurs out to get him. This way he changes the scary dino into a sweet pet.

2nd major dream is normally vampires (not sure how he even knows about them). This way the teeth are gone and they can be friends. This was his ideas

And of course every boy should dream they have their own car to drive away in.

Snow Madness

Here is the Pacific Northwest even the mention of snow gets us giddy. Over the long weekend we did some snow learning/craft activities to summon the snow. Wishful thinking I suppose. However our snow dreams paid off because we are enjoying our first (and probably only snow day of the year) We even got up and played before the sunrise, just in case it melts!

Snow Crafts:

Noodle Snowflakes "A" made

I attempted to make Borax Crystals. They would start to form but then stop. I must not have got the ratios right or water hot enough. Sort of a bummer! I will have to try it again one day!

"A" drew a picture of a snowman and made labels. Here he tried to write snow.

"A" put the snowman on ski's. Here you see his label sce for ski. Nice sounding out the phenomes!

Snow Reading:

Gibbon's writes a ton of terrific Non-Fiction nature books for younger children that are in picture book format. There are some great facts in these books. This one discuss how snow is made and more!

Terrific book about a farmer who was the first man to take microscopic photographs and discover no two snowflakes are alike. Excellent picture book biography suitable for any age.

Some of Snowflake Bentley's photographs of snow crystals.

One of "A's" favorite snow books. The pics are so sweet and soft they will melt your heart.

What do snowmen do when people go to bed at night. Read Snowmen at Night to find out.

Snow Day Fun:

"B" enjoying the snow (for about 10 mins)

The boys in the snow at dawn

My street. Already melting and sloshy. We called school for this-gotta love the Pacific NW

Me and "B"-did I mention I wasn't fully awake yet and it was before sunrise!

"A's" feeble attempts to make a snowman

"A" settled for a tabletop snowman. He is so proud. I think he looks terrifying, but I would never tell "A" that!

Ahhh....all warm with hot chocolate. That is more like it!

Paper Plate Wreaths

I had wanted to share a really simple craft for your preschooler. As I get older I am really starting to be fond of wreaths. I have my fancy one that hangs outside over the holidays, but why not make some that hang inside as well. Simply take a paper plate and cut out the middle. Decorate the rim, then punch a hole and add string. Viola! The ideas for decorating are endless. Here are two "A" has has made over the years...

What  are some other things you could decorate it with. Hmmm...we may have to make a button one since I love how much our turkey turned out at Thanksgiving.

Handprint Ornaments

So, I know everyone is making these ornaments this year, but I saw these hand-print snowman ornaments about two years ago and have always wanted to make them. This was the year! I had put it off because I couldn't figure out how to do it exactly. I was totally over-thinking it. All you have to do is paint the entire hand white. Then as you hold on to the top (where you put the hook) you have your child grasp the ornament below. Imagine the ornament is going to be thrown underhanded. That is it-too simple! Then later on add details (like the eyes, nose, scarf, hat, mouth, and buttons). I haven't quite mastered this part, but I hope family appreciates them anyway!

Bad Kitty Christmas

I don't know if you are familiar with the characters Bad Kitty and Poor Puppy but I love them. Nick Bruel is one of my favorite children book authors, and they are great concept books for little ones. If you want to read the books it is best to read Bad Kitty first, then Poor Puppy, and then the chapter books (HILARIOUS), and then lastly this one. That is the order of publication date. If you don't read the chapter books still read the three picture books in order so you can understand the relationship between Bad Kitty & Poor Puppy.

In the story, Bad Kitty runs away and an elderly woman finds him and brings him home. The old woman didn't have much but a small tree with pictures on it. The story has a very sweet message about the meaning of the holidays. This got me thinking about what memories are important to me. I had never though of making photo Christmas ornaments (past ones of the children, of course). I decided to turn our last year Christmas photo into an ornament. I just mod-podged the photo onto some glittery card stock. I added some clear glitter to the photo to blend it into the background, and then added a red ribbon. Now it hangs on my tree to remind me of family memories instead of just possessions!

Thankful Turkey Craft

This is certainly nothing new... I just wanted to make a turkey craft where my son wrote what he is thankful for on the wings. I found a printable of colored wings that say "I am thankful for..." at DLTK. I love that this website is free (which is becoming rarer now days). After we printed out the wings and Aiden got busy writing his blessings (house, food, to be alive, family, etc) I wrapped a toilet paper roll in brown card stock. Then I cut out a round head, comb, and waddle. Aiden made a face with a beak and then we glued the feathers to a half-circle to be taped to the back of the tiolet paper roll. Our thankful turkey is pretty cute sitting on a place of honor if I say so myself!

Handprint Bats

Sorry I haven't been blogging much this week. It has been crazy with parent/teacher conferences, working, and an audit for school. I am one busy girl. I have eight more assignments due before Thanksgiving and then I FINALLY get to student teach. I will try to balance my time, but I have to push through that last month.

Last week I had the privilege of subbing in my friends Learning Support classroom. I happen to be there on Wednesday Art day. No complaints from me!!! My friend had found a cute handprint bat project and I spent all day cutting 30 little hands out of construction paper. Not a bad day of work.

It was so cute I brought one home for "A" to do. It was so fascinating to see how all the kiddos chose to decorate their bats. Some did whimsical colors and yet some chose to make them realistic. When I told "A" that he said "I'm not a black sort of kid so I am going to use colors". Right he is-that boy loves himself some color. You can find the bat printable at DLTK. Just color, glue together, and make handprints out of construction paper for the wings. Cute-Cute!

Owl Lapbook

A few posts earlier, I had mentioned that "A" and I were going to do a mini learning unit on owls. I found a short but cute lapbook on Homeschool Share. I love this place for free printables when it comes to lapbooks and mini units. So after reading Owl Babies by Martin Waddle and All About Owls by Jim Arnosky we got down to working on the lapbook. This is probably the smallest lapbook we have done. I was sort of bummed that they didn't have a math component. In fact, unlike most lapbooks there isn't a lot of subject crossover. There was some good information to be learned though.

The best ways to share a lapbook is on video. So if you wish I included one...

 Not wanting to end any major learning unit without some art or craft I took advantage of the toilet paper rolls my sister-in-law has saved up for me. I found some sweet, colorful owls on Pinterest and they were just too easy to make. So now they join the owls we made from pinecones and feathers in our Learning About Forests unit.

The books we read: