Pumpkin Sun Catcher Craft

After I wrote about these cool Halloween sun catchers in my Top 20 Halloween Messy Play & Craft Ideas post, The boys & I were inspired to make some pumpkin decorations ready for Halloween & Joseph's (5th) Birthday party. 

We had used up all our black card however I found a large piece of orange ( just smaller than a3). So while Joseph was at school Daniel (3) & I got busy getting everything ready. I set Daniel the task of cutting up some orange, red & yellow tissue paper, he is always more than happy to practise his scissor skills! While he was doing that I cut the orange card out in to a pumpkin shape then cut it again 2-3 cm inside. Out of the one piece of card I managed to get 4 pumpkin shapes & 2 smaller solid pumpkin shapes. I then used an off cut of some green card to cut out some stalks. Next came the difficult bit of sticking each pumpkin shape on to some sticky back plastic (aka, book covering or contact paper). Once done I re-applied the backing ready for later.

Once Joseph was home from school the boys had lots of fun decorating their pumpkins. It was a great way of sticking without any mess & they loved it. Once they had finished I applied some more sticky back plastic on the other side to seal in the tissue paper. You could also add a face to your pumpkin before sealing it.

These can be used anywhere but look amazing with light shining through on a window. We've put them up on our lounge window for now, as our neighbours would think I was crazy for putting up Halloween decorations so early! Nearer to the date they will go up on the Kitchen window & then after we will use them as decorations for Joseph's birthday.

At the weekend we used the 2  solid pumpkins & the remaining tissue squares to make these mini pumpkins. To save too much mess I squeezed the glue directly on the card & let the boys spread it around with a glue stick. Apparently Joseph thinks pumpkins have to look angry & that involves a frown! Daniel copied but his (on top) just looks sad...

x Jo x

For more Halloween fun check out my:

Top 20 Halloween Messy Play & Craft Ideas
Top 20 Halloween Party Food Ideas
Halloween Pintrest Board

C is for....

Car, Cat, Coin, Chocolate, Cheese, Carrots, Caterpillar Clown & lots more! We started off out letter C activity's with some painting using cars, which was a big hit with the boys.

We also had a letter C lunch of car shaped sandwiches, cucumber, carrot sticks, cheese cubes, crisps (chips) & cranberries. When using cookie cutters to make sandwiches I make sure that any left overs are eaten either by the boys or myself, so as not to waste any. Both boys ate all their lunch & had some extra sandwich.

That same day we also had a letter C snack of cheerios, cranberries & chocolate coins. While they were eating I used the opportunity to point out that everything began with C & since they have been able to name several foods that begin with C when asked.

 We used some more of Erica's work sheets this week a Caterpillar do-a-dot sheet & Circus Cutting practise. With the cutting sheets the boys trace over the lines first to help with writing skills then use their scissors to try and cut along the dotted lines. Daniel was so excited when he made a triangle.

We also tried something new with our worksheets this week - play dough. Daniel was making balls using our Play-Doh Candy Cyclone, when I realised that they were the perfect size for the do-a-dot sheets. So he pressed one ball on to each dot. He really enjoyed this and it was a great way to add some extra interest to the work sheets. Next time we do this I will put the sheet inside a plastic wallet (or laminate) so It can be used again.

We had to have our car play mat, garage & dress up out. We also read so letter C books this week which included the boys favourite The Very Hungry Catterpillar

                            

A is for ....

We have finally started our focus on letters I'm aiming to focus on each letter for a week or two (depending on what else we have on) & to do all 26 by the time Joseph starts school in September!

We kicked things off with the letter A - 

A is for APPLE, ant, axe, & alien!

 We Started off with some pre-school work sheets from Erica at Confessions of a homeschooler as the boys loved her Christmas worksheets that we did. The boys first raced over the dotted lines, then used their safety scissors to try & cut along the lines, Joseph (4) enjoys putting the paper back together like a puzzle once he has cut along the lines.

 

We then did the upper & lowercase do-a-dot sheets also from Erica's pre-school curriculum.

Next the boys worked on these apple colouring & tracing pages. In one of the pictures Joseph is holding his pen in a fist, this is how he naturally colours, he will only hold a pen the correct way if I place it there for him & struggles to control it. If anyone has any tips to help him with this please feel free to comment or e-mail me. We really enjoyed doing these work sheets & are looking forward to the letter B, I have lots more ideas pinned on Pintrest, so will be able to vary each week.

Take a look at our apple printing (pictured above) which tied in nicely with this weeks theme.

 x Jo x

Christmas Work Sheets

I know its a bit late however I really wanted to share these fab worksheets that I found over on one of my favourite blogs Confessions of a Homeschooler. Erica has some great ideas and an amazing printable pre-school curriculum which we will be doing bits & pieces from in the new year.

I admire people who choose to home school their children, as I know that I would lack the patience among many other skills that would be required. I'm also not sure that my boys would take to it very well, especially Joseph (4) as he tends to work better with his teachers than he does at home. So even though both boys attend both Nursery & Pre-School once I decided that it would benefit both boys to have some structured activity's when at home, geared towards learning.

As Josephs concentration has improved a bit recently I decided to re-try him on some work books that we got from some pre-school magazines. He really likes the stickers & engages with the well known characters. I do struggle with encouraging him to try the writing (tracing over the dotted lines etc) & often get "Mummy do it".

In the new year we are going to start with a letter of the week/fortnight using the Confessions of a Homeschooler printables, As a start I  printed off some sheets from Erica's Christmas Packs for the boys to use in the lead up to Christmas.

 

We started off with her Do-A-Dot pages, Erica uses Do-A-Dot markers which can be bought from Amazon US & also Amazon UK, however they work out pricey over here. So you can also use bingo markers or we used our ELC Easy Painters.

Once again Daniel (2.5) took to this activity better than Joseph, being more calm & precise, where as Joseph started off colouring with his & when asked to do one dot at a time started wildly stamping & drowning the page! 

Next we had our first go at cutting practise. Joseph has used scissors at home before but not often as Daniel would want to join in & he was previously to young. He does however use them lots at pre-school & his art work often is embellished with cuts or cut in half. With Daniel joining him at pre-school in the new year, I figured now was time to trust him with some scissors!

Daniels hands are quite small (as are his feet) for his age & he struggled to open the scissors but he had lots of fun, just needed help from me. 

I picked up our safety scissors in the Disney Store sale a couple of years ago for 10p each, and they have a cute Winnie The Pooh cap.

Cutting is obviously Josephs forte, as he managed the curve with out to much trouble & even went back over to neaten it up. He also managed the zig zag well but struggled more with the last line.

 

Both boys enjoyed Erica's work sheets & I look forward to doing more with them in the new year.

x Jo x