Summer of Blazing Imagination #9 - Snowcones

I know this really isn't imaginative at all, but it is something fun we've done this Summer. There have been tons of snow machines for sale this year ...or at least I noticed them more this year. We got ours for free, thanks to Grandma who had this one stored away from the older grand kids. I will say I bet the new ones are way easier to use & faster, but this one will definitely give you a work out...for a tiny cup of ice! Who's to complain though, it's free, easy and a simple treat of a hot summer day.



Summer of Blazing Imagination #8 - Sock creations

Today's activity started with a box full of odds and ends of crafting supplies, plus some old socks.

This was completely open ended and full of creativity, plus it really doesn't matter what you have around as long as you have an old sock.

B decided there should be a scary monster.

While Mommy went with a crazy duck.

What kind of unique sock creations can you come up with?



Summer of Blazing Imagination #3 - Tell me a story

I've had this activity for a while, mostly because I plan to use it later as a good starting point for when B starts to write/journal and tell stories. However, in some reorganizing B found the box and wanted to know why all these pictures were in there? *Light bulb, why save it - use it now!* So, that's exactly what we did.

First you start with a box or storage container. I found my at the craft store, on sale of course. Some day it will get painted and look super cute, but for now it's just a box.

Then go through magazines, sale ads, newspapers & cut out pictures that are open ended. Then place the pictures in the box & have the child(ren) pick one and make up a story about that picture. For younger kids you can dictate their stories, for older ones have them write the story themselves, as a bonus have them read it to the family at dinner or on a family night. What's great about this activity is how many times you can repeat it & get different results, plus you'll have a great keepsake of their writings and how imaginative they are.

This is what B picked as his first story (I have no idea why the picture flipped that way)

His begins...Once Upon a Time there was a musical school bus, but people didn't know it's name. Then it grew bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger tires and people couldn't get on it and they had to get away....

What kind of stories will your child(ren) tell?

Summer of Blazing Imagination #7 - Grass painting

What says Summer more than the smell of fresh cut grass. This week we did a little textural artwork with some fresh cut grass (thanks to Daddy).

Before we got started we gathered a bucket full of grass clippings, paint, brushes and paper.

First we painted, using different hues of the same color. B requested greens, because they're his favorite color (at least right now).

While the paint was still wet we sprinkled the grass clippings on top of the paint. Then left it to dry in the sun. Only some of the grass will stick, unless you use a ton of paint; so be prepared to shake off quiet a bit once it's dry.



Summer of Blazing Imagination #6 - Nature Construction

This Blazing Imagination activity was not truly planned, it was simply playing outside when one idea became built on another idea. It began with B's construction trucks, who this morning needed to do some work outside. There were a lot of limbs that had fallen out of the tree from the recent rain.

B began to use his trucks to gather stick after stick, placing them in specific piles. From there he decided he needed some platforms (small pieces of lumber we have outside). Once he'd finished this job, he needed a job site for them to work at and to take all this lumber to. So we added our sand/water table top on the ground. B then re purposed the platforms into ramps so the machines could make it to the job site. At this point he decided that the job was to build a log cabin.

He tried and tried to stack these tiny sticks into a square shape, which turned out to be very difficult.

 Even for Mommy, this was not easy but we were finally able to make a log cabin.

I loved watching how B's imagination grew with the simplest of nature. I had often though of buying those nice, expensive natural tree building blocks like these below, but now that I've seen the free version delight B for more than an hour; these will be off our list. Now I'm wondering what he might come up with for rocks, leaves or anything else we find in our backyard.



Summer of Blazing Imagination # 5 - vehicle art run

Did I mention how much I love simple, and inexpensive projects to keep kids busy? Well I do (so if you have some feel free to share)...and here's another great example.

Step one - find a (medium sized) truck, car or some kind of rolling vehicle.

Step two - tape a washable marker to it so that the tip rest on the ground.

Step three - lay out large sheets of paper (if you have little ones, you may want to tape the paper to the floor so it is stationary).

Step four - drive the vehicles all over the paper.

This is what happens - simple, beautiful art!

The dots are from the markers sitting still in one spot and bleeding through. I thought about moving them a little higher on the trucks, but I kind of liked the different effect it was giving.

The picture doesn't actually do this piece justice, it is really beautiful...I think I may have to frame it and use it in our new classroom!

Summer of Blazing Imagination #4 - Glow in the dark water

So this is actually from July...I'm just really, really behind on post...

Today's Summer of Blazing Imagination activity is super easy! Last year I picked up several packages of glow in the dark sticks/rings from the dollar store, planning to use them on the 4th of July when we went to see fireworks. Well due to the weather conditions, fireworks were banned & after using them for a fun glow in the dark bath last summer; I completely forgot about the glow sticks.

Well I found them again & timing is perfect for this 4th of July, however since I have plenty I decided to update the glowing bath activity from last year. We did do this in the evening, but who says bathtime has to be in the evening? This would be great fun in the middle of the day...which is actually when I wish I would have done it because B had a ton of energy after this. 

Here's all you need. Paper & crayons optional.

To change it up this time I added carnival balls (similar to ping pong)

& made the sticks into rings or hoops. The object is to see how many of each color ball you can get in a ring.

*The rings sink on an angle and move with the waves of the water, so it can be difficult to get the balls into the hoops.

To add a little learning to the game, we kept score by charting. After bathtime, we looked at the chart, counted and determined which had more/less points.

Simple.Easy.Learning!



Where did my post go?

So this summer I vowed to go low keyed, no running around from this activity to the next, just simple easy going laziness and fun. I'm proud to say, I have worked very hard at being lazy (in a good way). Life had gotten to hectic & B is only 3...not a trend I want to continue. So instead of focusing on getting out the door to a class, field trip or errand...we just relax and go with the day. Let me just say, WOW, what a difference it has made! There is a complete calm throughout the house. Plus, I have always thought I picked up on all the new things B learned or something creative he did or how funny he is; but these past few weeks I've noticed more things about him that I think I either took for granted or just overlooked before. For instance, he's been trying on his own to sound out words...and even gets them right occasionally. He can remember words to songs, nursery rhymes and memory verses better than Mommy or Daddy. He's even going to play quietly in his room, without a reminder that it's 'quiet time'...because we don't nap anymore :(   All the wonderful things I would have missed out on, if I hadn't taken the time to slow down and just 'be' with this little blessing...

Now back to my post topic...with all this relaxing going on; I've dropped several items off my 'I have to get this or that done before I go to sleep list'. Unfortunately this blog was one of them, I just didn't feel the need to update it every day or even every week. We have been doing fun, relaxing and, crazy summer activities. We've been learning in more of an unschooled manner, we've cuddled, read, played games, traveled, visited the grandparents (alot), played in the water, built countless buildings and construction sites, and yes we even watch movies/TV because I refuse to deprive my child of technology (he is his father's son, so by the time he's 5 he'll know more than me)! Don't get me wrong we do all these things on a normal basis, but lately it's just seemed more relaxing.

I will try to post a few of our summer activities (especially how we've kept cool in this heat) and hope to pick back up once we start school back up in a few weeks. Until then, I hope everyone has had a fabulous summer and has been able to relax at least a little.



Summer of Blazing Imagination #2 - Shaving cream construction

Another day of searing heat in Texas, today we did Shaving Cream Construction for our Summer of Blazing Imagination...

This activity is SO simple...take shaving cream, spray it on a table or other surface add cars, trucks or any vehicles you have & let the imagination begin. B is a ENORMOUS construction fan, so ours became a snowed in construction site. What better way to cool down on a hot day than to play in *snow*!

The trucks working together to pile the *snow* ...I loved how they even made tracks like they would have in real snow.

If you know B or any of our family really, we're not big on being messy. It actually took some coaxing to get him to be okay with his hands being dirty. So these pictures are GREAT, because he is truely having fun at being messy. I'll admit it, I even had to bit my tongue a couple of times when he started to get really crazy with the mess...it was starting to take Mommy out of her comfort zone; but look at the joy on his face...everything washes out, doesn't it?

 We even added in some learning by writing letters & drawing shapes.

This was truely worth the $1.00 for the shaving cream. B spent almost an hour at the construction site & probably would have stayed longer if we didn't have other things to do. He even cleaned it up himself ! After all that hard work in the snow his machines needed a good wash down in the sprayer (aka sink).

Oh and in case you're wondering how he handled being messy...B had shaving cream everywhere, the last picture doesn't show how much worse it got. It made it's way up his sleeves, covered his arms, his shirt, the floor and the bench he was sitting on. I think he handled it pretty well ;) 

Summer of Blazing Imagination #1 - car wash

Welcome to the first official post of

Summer of Blazing Imagination.... In Texas our Summer is hot sweltering and long, it seems to start around the end of April or early May and end around September or maybe even October. Although, I don't recall it being this way as a child; but as an adult (and now one with a child trapped inside a house for the better part of the day, due to heat advisories) it's a different story. Don't get me wrong, I *LOVE* the warm weather, it's the days of 105+ that I could truely live without.

So the "being trapped inside" got me to thinking that I needed to come up with something for us to do this Summer; especially since we're not dueing any unit studies. That's when it hit me, it's summer...let's do some fun, crazy, maybe out of our comfort zone kind of activities & share them with you, because I know I'm not the only one stuck inside with a kid trying to keep them busy.

Now onto our imagination activity...

Recycled Car Wash

What you need:

A box - whatever you have (we used a soda pack)

chennile sticks

crete papper

yarn

tape

I cut crete paper a little longer than the height of the box, then cut into sections about half way through and taped it to the roof of the car wash. Then the same with the yarn. For the chennile sticks, I used a pen & marker to get the twisted effect, then taped them on. You could paint your box or wrap it if you want to get fancy...but we had fun with ours just the way it was.

B loved this...he used it on his fleet of construction vehicles and then he built it into his train yard...all of his vehicles are clean as a whistle.

Even the kitty decided it looked like fun!

Family Fun Night

If you're on Pintrest, I'm sure you've seen one of these...however I got my idea off a Chick-a-fil bag.

Unlike many, I have not join the ranks of Pintrest. I know, I know...it's fun and there are great ideas out there. Trust me I've wanted to join, but first I had problems signing in (when it was just starting out), then there's the 'I lost two plus hours of my life looking on Pintrest' comments that almost everyone seems to make. Frankly I don't have one hour much less two to get lost perussing misc. sites. So for now, I'm Pintrest free. I do however have a great Microsoft tool called OneNote (thanks to my DH), that is very similar where I can organize and link all the topics or sites I find I want to go back to. It's so great for homeschooling!

I digress, back to the real reason I'm posting...Our Family Fun Night bucket...

I had a leftover Gerber puffs tin that I just recovered with a design I created on some computer programs I have. Then I laminated it, taped it and added the pins. Voila...instant family fun!

 

Here's a few ideas, we came up with.

B was SO excited, he picked our first FFN to be Music Night, which was a blast. We pulled out ALL of B's instruments, the keyboard & DH guitar. WOW you should have heard the sounds coming from our house!! There was even some dancing and singing.

 

 

So what are you waiting for? Make your own FFN bucket & let the memories begin!

Father's Day Delima

Are you tired of buy the same things for Father's Day...ties, tools, or whatever they are into? Is Dad predicting what he's going to get before you've even bought it? Well we aren't quiet at that point, but I couldn't bring myself to buy another shirt or tie, so this year I got a little creative. DH has said that he wants to teach science (yeah!); he looks at the boxed science kits at the store and can't wait until B is old enough. Which got me to thinking, there are so many fun experiements that can be done with most of the things we have in the house. Plus what a great father/son experience. So an idea was born...

Meet our 3L Laboratory box...

Here are some of the goodies inside...

magnets

magnets

eye dropper

funnels

compass

rubber bands

twizzers

test tubes

petre dishes

batteries

baking soda

corn starch

tornado tube

 Of course I couldn't fit everything for all the experiments, but it's a good start.

I even included two science experiments books that we had.

I can't wait to see these two creating science memories together!

To Infinity and Beyond

Way back in April we learned about Outer Space, & I'm just now getting around to posting about it...yep life has been BUSY!

I love how simple or complex you can go with this unit, and how many times you can repeat it and always add something to make it new. We went really simple this time around & I wasn't sure B was connecting with any of it. I even had half a mind to ditch the whole thing with his disinterest and the list of my ever growing activities, chores and other crazy life things. However, I stuck it out, mostly because it was to fun of a unit to give up on...and I'm glad I did.

A month after this unit, while on a trip B kept talking about the Earth while we were in a restaurant. Honestly I had no clue what brought it up or why he was going on about it. It wasn't until he pointed at a picture across the room with an abstract Earth on it that his sudden re interest made any sense. He got it, he was listening and taking it in...sometimes you need those... Yes! moments. So don't give up Mommies, they REALLY are listening!

Now here are a few highlights from our Space unit...

 When I saw these cute little pie tins at the dollar store I knew they were meant for our space unit. They're so versatile, but we used them to count the stars.

2 Teaching Mommies has awesome downloads for FREE, here's one of the many ones we used planet letter matching.

Creating constellations with shapes and star stickers.

 A few of our fun space puzzles...B is really into puzzles 

 There were so many cute and creative art projects for this unit, but I had to pick just three due to our lack of time. The first one was a must, once I saw how easy it was...

 These little jars are all over the web, called time-out jars or glitter jars but I love how ChasingCheerios blog labeled them ...Starry Night Jars. They look just like a night filled with sparkling stars.

To make the jar, we filled it with warm water, added blue glitter and blue glitter glue. The glue creates a swirling effect when you shake the jar (we found that shaking didn't work, more of a gentle swirling or twisting), and we added a little extra clear school glue. No measuring, just guessed.

Don't be alarmed if you try it and it first just lumps together in the bottom of your jar, it takes a few swirls to get the right consistency.

*We used a mini plastic water bottle & glued the lid on.

How cute is this rocket? Not to mention a unusual keepsake. We simply painted B's foot (he chose the colors), then added some triangles for the top and wings for the rocket. He colored the fire blasting off below and added a few star stickers.

Coffee filter Earth...there are so many projects you can create with coffee filters, I found this one on 2 Teaching Mommies. Here's what you need... coffee filter, blue & green washable markers, spray bottle with water, black permanent marker & paper towels.

First find an print of the Earth, outline it with permanent marker & then color in the ocean and land. (you don't have to color it all in) Lay the Earth on several paper towels & spritz the Earth. The colors will soon fade, creating a swirling effect.

B wanted to make other planets too.

Here's our Earth...if you hang it on a window, it has a stain glass effect to it.

Okay, so what do you get when you combine some of the most random items together into a game...comet catch. This all started because B wanted to catch stars. Well we didn't have stars we could throw or launch, but that's when the idea of comets came along. To make the comets I took some of our $1 Target spot foam cylinders, added a dot sticker with a number and then made a launcher out of two pieces of Tinkertoy & a toy hammer (ghetto I know, but he had a blast with it!).

 Once we got it all set up, we put a 'comet' on the launcher and blasted it into space. On the other side of the room we had a large tote were we tried to make the comet hit. We also tried holding the tote to catch it & an even smaller insect net (that didn't work). To add in a bit more learning, before he could launch one he had to tell me the number on the comet. I think we spend 15 or 20 minutes catching comets. Sometimes, it doesn't take a lot of planning to make something educational or fun.

A few of our books on Space.

On the Farm

So a long, long, long time ago we spent a few weeks learning about farms.  Here's what we did...

Mother & child animal match up

Our farm nomenclature cards.

Playing with our felt board farm.

Farm patterning, clip cards & upper & lower case matching from 2teachingmommies.

 

I found this cute idea from another blog (sorry I don't remember which one).

 

As you can see B had so much fun with the lego puzzle, especially making mixed up animals.

A simple color and number match activity.

D is for Ducks, we did a few farm do-a-dot pages from making learning fun.

We added farm puzzles to our shelves.

 

A small selection of farm books

To expand on our lesson we went to visit a real farm & even got to bring our Grandma along.

B actually took this photo of the farm ;)

Picking strawberries - Yum!

Feeding the horses

and checking out the goats.