Tag Archives: preschoolers

Fall Craft Keepsake

I’ll be honest and admit that I am not a crafter. I want to be! I yearn to sew and knit and crochet. I want to be one of those moms who has a closet of craft supplies (which she knows how to use) at the ready. The mom who can make something beautiful out of a snippet of construction paper and a sprinkling of glitter. But I’m not.

I’m the mom with one small drawer of crayons, glue, and construction paper. Craft days are saved for “when we have time”…and we usually don’t. I don’t own a glue gun. And, until recently, mod podge was an intimidating foreign substance.

It’s not that I don’t like crafts, I love them. They excite me! However, crafts simply overwhelm me. Projects seem more complicated in my mind than they are in reality. However, I’ve learned a very special lesson that is helping me overcome my craft aversion.

Crafts are not about the project, the mess, the detail or even the outcome. Crafts are about making memories with your children.

When I look at it like that, crafts suddenly seem much more important. That’s why I’m making a conscious effort to add more crafting to our life. I want to make memories! So, for my first project, I decided to make an autumn keepsake with my son, not just another “craft”.

I love this keepsake craft for four very specific reasons. 1) It has variety! The different materials give it more depth. 2) It can be broken down into several smaller projects. We had 4 different days of crafting. 3) You can make this keepsake no matter what climate you live in, using whatever items you have outside. 4) It easily adapts to different seasons by changing the outdoor items you collect and paint colors.

Supplies:

Leaves or other outdoor items (autumn grasses, pine cone bits, pebbles, etc)
Waxed paper
Books for pressing
Metallic permanent markers (silver, gold and/or bronze)
2 sheets white cardstock paper
Foaming shaving cream
Scissors
Acrylic paint (autumn colors, red, orange, gold, green, brown)
Toothpicks
Rubber/silicone spatula
Mod podge
Paintbrush or sponge
Frame (your choice of size)

Step 1: We started with a “leaf walk”. The kids had a blast walking our property and collecting leaves of all different shapes, sizes and colors. If you live in a hotter climate, or your leaves have already dropped, collect pebbles, wide-leafed grasses, etc. You can even use brown, dried leaves if they’re not too brittle. Don’t forget to collect a few green leaves for contrast.

Step 2: Press the leaves between the pages of the books, lined with waxed paper.

Step 3: When the leaves are sufficiently pressed, carefully color them with the metallic markers. Get creative with designs. The colors really pop! When you’re happy with your leaves, set them aside.

Step 4: Using scissors, cut leaf shapes out of the cardstock. You can do maple, oak, or freestyle it! This is about memories, not perfection, right?

Step 5: On a piece of waxed paper or in a rectangular dish, spray a layer of shaving cream and smooth it out. Next, add drops of the acrylic paint all over. Then, using the toothpick, swirl the paint until it has the design and pattern you like.

Step 6: Press the cardstock leaves face down into the shaving cream/paint mixture. Let is sit for just a moment, then carefully lift out the leaves and lay them paint side up on a piece of waxed paper.

Step 7: Allow the leaves to sit for a minute or two. Then, using your spatula, scrape off the excess paint and shaving cream. Allow your leaves to dry well.

Step 8: Once everything is sufficiently dry, arrange your varying leaves on another piece of cardstock in any design you wish. Then, use the mod podge to glue the leaves securely. Apply a very thin layer with a paintbrush or sponge. Also, be sure to coat the tops of your leaves with mod podge as well. It will enhance the colors and give them a bit of luster! Dry well.

All that’s left to do now is frame your masterpiece. Ours is hanging (on proud display) in our living room. My son likes to gaze at it every so often and comment on the fun we had making it. And that’s what crafts are all about. The happy memories!

Are you a crafter? How often do you incorporate crafts into your home?

Indoor Nature Study on Apples

11 Replies

I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I don’t like to be outside. I love to be indoors where there’s no critters that attack you and leave you covered in itchy red bumps. I don’t like to be outside, but God gave me to boys that LOVE the outdoors. This year I committed to doing more nature studies and nature walks with my guys. The calendar may see that it’s Fall but where I live it’s still Summer. It can be too hot to be outside so I’ve started doing some nature studies with my boys indoors.

When I think of fall I think of the leaves changing and pumpkins and apples. I thought it would be fun to do a quick nature study with my boys about apples. They are one of our favorite fruits so it was fun to learn about how they grow. I started off with a short story called “How the Apple Blossom Came Back” from Outdoor Secrets. I also asked both my boys for a narration and then we headed to the table for some hands on fun!

Our short story explained to us that you can find a blossom on the inside of an apple. I never realized this because I typically cut our apples the other way. My boys were very excited to see the blossom in the center of the apple once it was sliced. The trick is to cut the apple from side to side and not top to bottom.

I had one more activity for my boys before I was going to let them eat their apples: apple stamping. This is the first year that we have been keeping nature journals and I love them. My plan was to have them stamp the apples on a page so that we could still see the blossom in the center. It didn’t work out that well but they still had a lot of fun. Also both my boys wrote short poems that I copied at the bottom of their pages.

While my boys enjoyed apples for a snack we read some books about apples and apple trees. I wish that we had an apple orchard to visit, but we grow citrus where we live. We spend some time reading books about apples, orchards and farms. I even threw in some fun picture books and stories about Johnny Appleseed. I found some pictures of apple orchards and blossoms online and we had fun looking at the beautiful pictures. Here are some of the books that we enjoyed:

How Do Apples Grow by Betsy Maestro
Johnny Appleseed by Reeve Lindbergh
Apples, Apples, Apples by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
Life on an Apple Orchard by Judy Wolfman
A Tree is a Plant by Clyde Robert Bulla

We have actually gone on ~~a few~~ one nature walk so far this school year. But we have done several indoor nature studies. My boys found a frog by our front door and we spent some time looking up different frog species. We were able to identify our little friend and my oldest son even drew pictures of the life cycle of the frog.

What about you? Do you get outside and explore God’s creation with your children? Do you have a favorite indoor study that you’ve done? I’d love some more ideas.

Just for Fun (And Learning)

14 Replies

Life is never as easy as Pinterest makes it look, is it?

I saw this post today and thought: “Oh! I’ll make that! Easy-peasy.” Well, like most things, it took some determination and some conversation and some adjusting … wait … that’s what ALL good things require!

So, if you’re looking for something fun that you can do with your kids (notice I did not say healthy, I said fun) then give this a try. We did it a few times before finally figuring out what made it look cool.

Turns out, there really is a “science” to it!

Have fun!

STEP ONE: Pour fruit juice over ice. Sorry, but it has to be the sugary kind. That pesky “good for you” stuff won’t work for this treat. The sugar weighs more. So it needs to be sugary to stay on the bottom of the cup.

STEP 2: Use a spoon to diffuse the blue drink (we found, after three tries, that a mixture of Gatorade, water and one drop of blue food coloring for show worked best) to carefully add the second layer to your drink.

STEP THREE: Same thing—carefully pour the diet whatever (we used Sprite Zero) on the top. Go slow!

STEP FOUR: Enjoy! You did it! Be sure to talk to your kids about “why” this works 🙂

Happy Independence Day! God Bless America!

Have Fun With Your Kids,

Homeschooling Preschoolers {or not}

18 Replies

Best idea I EVER heard for homeschooling preschoolers:

DON’T.

Play with them. Take them on walks. Read to them. Bake cookies.

These precious young years fly by.

“People” say we’ve got to start school at the age of three. But I’ve got to say: I think we miss out on some of the best years of childhood when we start formal education too soon.Of course now that our oldest two are grown, I have the gift of perspective. If I could go back, I would have played more and stressed less over “school” for my littlest ones. Even Kindergarten and First/Second grades require very little “book” work.

Study what crawls out from under the stones on your garden walkway. Talk about the mysteries of the heavens. Smell the flowers in your neighborhood. Nurture curiosity. Above all, nurture their spirit. ♥

It’s A Beautiful Way to Live

7 Replies

–This is from a blog post I wrote at my old blog, “Confessions of a Homeschool Mom” back in 2006. I thought many of you would enjoy it. Our daughter, Summer is now 9. She doesn’t suck cookie dough off her toes anymore. I’m glad I caught a picture of it.–

“Spencer Jay!”

“Yes, Mama?”

“STOP JUMPING ON THE COUCH!”

“I’m not, mama! The couch is bouncing under me!”

And so it goes.

Yesterday I walked into the kitchen just in time to see my newly-turned-three-year-old enjoying the cookie
dough that she had just stepped in… she was licking it off of her toes! Don’t call the sanitation patrol. I’ve got it covered. Believe me, it won’t help.

Fifteen years ago, I would have freaked out but I just handed her a washcloth (after the picture, or course) … and moved to the next crisis.

At least life is never boring, right? What happened? Oh yeah. That. I remember now! And we rather ENJOY it!

It’s not that I’m complaining because I wish my life were different, because I really don’t!

It’s just that sometimes a girl needs to vent. Ya know? Take this post for example. I started writing it three hours ago. Since I sat down to type a “quick” entry, I’ve changed a poopy diaper (remember she’s just now eating cereal so it’s not the picnic it used to be!) , nursed the baby, wiped a teary-eyed face, handed out peanuts to the neighborhood (at least it felt that way) , located the Bob the Builder Bandaids, checked the pot roast, corrected an essay and
answered the phone at least five times.

Sunday afternoon is supposed to be my “time” to goof around while my kids play quietly… reading every volume of their Little House books and
inventing new theories for determining the speed of madagascar beetles.

Right???

And now I can’t remember what I wanted to say when I sat down to say it three hours ago.

And—it’s a beautiful way to live.

The Importance of Discipline

4 Replies

Your child depends on your loving correction!

Several years ago, a friend of mine pulled me aside and pointed out a character flaw in one of my children. Apparently this child was not only being disrespectful to another adult, but rude as well. It hurt to hear this from my friend. It stung. I was mad—and a little embarrassed too. But you know what? She was right. I needed to address the problem, and not allow my child to hide behind me.

That meant apologizing to the adult and asking for forgiveness. It’s amazing the peace that follows conflict when it is addressed and corrected.

Are you disciplining your children? A loving mother will lovingly discipline her children. As parents we must remember that much of the responsibility our children’s behavior rests with us.

There are consequences to refusing to address character issues in the lives of our children. Ask the Lord to give you a discerning heart so that you can see what the real issue is and then follow-through with your child. He’ll thank you later.

Heidi St. John

Speaking the Truth in Love