Honoring military veterans, the holiday Veterans Day falls on November 11th.  This is the anniversary date of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War 1.  In the 1950′s the name of the holiday Armistice Day was officially changed to Veterans Day to honor all veterans.

Each Veterans Day check your local area for celebrations, parades and activities.

Here are a few things and activities to do with your family at home:

IDEAS:

READ STORIES (Appropriate for age)

My favorite book is The Wall by Eve bunting. Most of her books are my favorite!

• Activity Idea:  In the story they make a rubbing of the name on the wall, you could place objects like a quarter under paper and rub with the side of a crayon to make your own  rubbing.

Books about Flag

• Design flags
• Write words/phrases on flag as below that have to do with story read or Veterans Day

Here is the plain flag that was bought from the store. The child could draw or paint the flag and then write on it when it is dry.

The words were written on the flag with a fine point sharpie permanent marker.  The words below were written by an eight year old boy who studied the civil war in his second grade class and also had just read the Star Spangled Banner.  That may explain some of his words he chose to write on the flag!

WRITE LETTERS

• Design notes and letters to send to troops or veterans.
• Younger children draw pictures and have the adult write a short message and note the child’s name and age.  If the child would like a certain message, put quotes around the message along with child’s name.

If you do not know anyone to send letters to, we  have found troops to send to through churches, local VA medical centers and check with local retirement center for veterans that would like to receive notes of thanks.

RESEARCH

Older children can research American war heroes such as George Washington. Have them write or present their findings. They could even act out the part for a meaningful experience they will not forget!  Give some creative free choice on how to present the material, children (and students) always amaze me how creative they can be when allowed the time.

In Our Own Backyard....A Mama Hummingbird

Birds are a fun and small creature that most of us can find in our neighborhood or backyard.  Enjoy a few of these simple activities with your little ones for just an afternoon or for a whole thematic week.

Homemade Bird Feeders

Coffee Can Bird Feeder:

Open both ends of the can with a can opener, then use a string to string through both ends of the can.  Tie both ends of the string to hang the feeder when complete. Take the plastic cover of the coffee can and cut it in half. Take each piece and place on each end of the can to hold all of the food in the feeder.  This can be done with any can that has a plastic cover on top.  Fill the feeder with bird seed and bird treats such as corn, apple pieces, cooked rice, berries and dry cereal. Hang the feeder in a place where you can observe the birds enjoying their new hangout!

Peanut Butter Pinecone:

This classic bird feeder is still tons of fun and was always a great one to do with a class or large group like scouts.  If you are with other children make sure no one has peanut allergies, i would choose another activity all together, or use lard or shortening in the place of peanut butter.  choose a pinecone, make a mix of peanut butter and a small amount of oats or cornmeal.  Then roll in bird seed.  With a piece of yarn tie it around the top portion of the pinecone to make a hanger for the bird feeder.

Fruity Treats:

Cut an orange in half.  Use a needle to get yarn through the orange to hang from a branch. This also attracts butterflies!

Other Activities

Bird Watch:

Now that you have made a bird treat, just hang out and observe. Children can sketch, take photographs or take notes in a journal of the experience.

If you have older children you may want to have a field guide to try and identify and learn about birds in your area. (For example: National Audubon Society Field Guide)

Binoculars:

Young children may want to make binoculars out of cardboard tubes to prepare for their bird watching experience.  Get two equal size cardboard tubes, toilet paper tubes or paper towel tubes cut to size. Lay them next to each other and tape together at each end.  choose a side to tie the string or yarn through and punch two holes. Tie a knot at both ends at the hole punch to make a strap to carry the binoculars.  Have the children decorate with markers, stickers or paint. Set off for your next adventure!

The French celebrate Poisson d’Avril.  To do something a little different in your home or classroom this year celebrate April Fish with your little ones.  In France, children will make paper fish and tape them on another child’s back without them knowing it.  When they find out, the prankster will say “Poisson d’Avril.”

As a family or class make and decorate paper fish and state the allowed times to try and put fish on others back.

This simple and fun activity will surely put a new twist on the day!

Why not tie this in with The Rainbow Fish if you have little ones to teach or at home.  What a fun day!

As I try to instill art and culture into our home, I find it is hard to find the time. So, I am  looking for simple and fun activities to do with my children before they grow up on me!  It can be challenging to squeeze in these art lessons now that both children are in school and the days zzzzoom on by. So, this year I am going to have an artist wall for about a month. On this wall we will add facts, quotes and pieces of art found online, in magazines or on postcards.  Although we have been to the art museum, I am hoping to visit this summer with fresh new artist eyes!

I will post on our experiences and include our art projects as we go.

TO PREPARE

First, get  a large binder. This will become the artist binder. As your family studies an artist you can put the information into this binder. If you have a bulletin or wall you can place into the binder after displaying for the week/month. Try to keep the facts and art work 8×10 size, so it will fit into the binder. They do have larger scrapbook sized books that would also be nice and then you could have larger sizes of artwork from the children.

Next, give each child an art journal. This can be a binder or notebook. I got my children a sketch book that has no lines.

*Tip: limited on wall space, use a science bulletin board that folds into thirds. You can display and easily put in the closet when company comes over.

Deciding your artist could come directly from the children or look into what artists you have at your closest art museum. As for me, I am starting with Gauguin because I just taught about him at my son’s school for art masterpiece and I already have a book. So, whatever your method, get started!

First session with your children or class:

Give them art journals and decorate front, include name.

Introduce artist name.

Ask what they know about artist? Make a list.

Ask what they want to know? Write responses.

Leave a blank paper labeled “What we Learned about ……”

*Write as group on large paper/poster board or dry erase board OR have each child write in their own art journal.

This could end first session or you could read book on artist or show some of the artwork and discuss what they think of the shown pieces.  All of this can be found at library or on-line.

Looking forward to sharing about our first session and artist, Gauguin.

February is National Chocolate Lover’s Month.   I looked on-line for all the official holidays.  If these are real, then I have been missing out on all these fine days this first part of my life.

Here is the list for February. Take your pick and celebrate!

February
African-American History Month
National Sweet Potato Month
National Boost-Your-Self-Esteem Month
National Canned Food Month
National Hot Breakfast Month
National Snack Food Month
Berry Fresh in the Sunshine State Month
National Dental Month
Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month
Chocolate Lover’s Month
Bake for Family Fun Month
Great American Pies Month
North Carolina Sweet Potato Month
National Grapefruit Month
National Cherry Month
National Bird Feeding Month
American Heart Month
American History Month
Creative Romance Month
Human Relations Month

Chocolate Covered Bananas

Chocolate Lover’s Celebration Shake

-taken from Hershey’s website

Ingredients

1/4 cup warm water

2 tablespoons HERSHEY’S Cocoa

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 cups chocolate or vanilla ice cream
Directions

1 Place water, cocoa and sugar in blender container. Cover; blend briefly on low speed. Add milk.

2 Cover; blend on high speed until thoroughly blended. Add ice cream. Cover; blend until smooth.

Serve immediately. About three 6-ounce servings.

Need a quick and simple activity for the children or classroom?  This no-cook recipe is simple and perfect for creative children. It can also be used as a learning tool and game.  Give each child a portion of the dough and have them make formations appropriate for their age.  For example, “make two spheres, form a line that is three inches long,” or “make a smiley face!”  I use this recipe as a last minute activity when we are going to be home inside or having a play date.

NO-COOK MODELING DOUGH

2 Cups flour

1 cup salt

water

tempera paint powder

Mix ingredients, adding water to make the dough pliable.  Not too much it will be too sticky.

The dough can air dry to harden or can be baked at 300 degrees for an hour.  The time may depend on the thickness of the creation.

A yummy in the tummy way to practice letters for the little ones!  Using your favorite pancake recipe, look at mine below, make the letter of the day or the child’s initials on the griddle.   Or, as a class focuses on the letter “P” have a pancake snack and serve up letter P pancakes. Yum!

In the younger grades it is fun to read “If You give A Pig A Pancake” and have pancake snacks that day, as well as other literature activities. If you are in a school, please check your policies. As when I taught, we brought the griddle in the class.

One way is to write a letter on the pan let it cook until you see bubbles. Then pour batter over letter to make a “normal” pancake.  The image is in the pancake. Have fun with this, you can make smiley faces etc.  Also, note that you will need to write the mirror image for letters like “L”  or they will be backwards!

Or, just write a large letter to be the pancake itself. A turkey baster works well, but I just used a spoon for mine.

The whole family agrees that this recipe is the best so far.   Hope you and your family or class have a yummy in the tummy pancake experience!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, stirred or sifted before measuring
• 2  teaspoons baking powder
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Preparation:

Sift together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and 1 1/2 cups of milk; add to flour mixture, stirring only until smooth. Blend in melted butter. If the batter seems too thick to pour, add a little more milk. Cook on a hot, greased griddle, using about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook until bubbly, a little dry around the edges, and lightly browned on the bottom; turn and brown the other side. Recipe for pancakes serves 4.

A creative way to journal and/or sketch for any age child is to go on a hunt in your own yard or neighborhood!  Bring a pad of paper, we keep a spiral notebook for each kiddo in the kitchen that is easy to grab . Get on your walking shoes and just observe and listen. Have each child choose one thing to draw or write about.  On this day we found a lizard (or something like that) in a bush right outside out front door. What a lucky day!

Organizing tip: You can tape or tie a string to the pencil and to the end of the notebook.

                          I keep two holders/cans on the counter, one for me and for the children.

                             This way my favorite pens or permanent markers will not get lost or used.

Here is our new little lizard friend!

As the children head off to school you may feel relief or sadness. Either way, make the first day a special and memorable time for them!  Start the tradition of a first day celebration.  Invite a few children over after school for a small get together and yummy snack.

Ideas:

Bake cookies: Prepare cookie dough ahead and have children cut out shapes, letters and numbers. Bake, frost and enjoy!

Homemade popsicles and swim or run in sprinklers:

Use popsicle molds or ice cube trays to freeze any juice or nectar. Make a creamy treat by adding ice cream. Use one cup juice (we like orange) and 1C vanilla ice cream, stirred together until runny but not liquid, and pour that into the mold to refreeze.  For a yogurt treat, blend plain yogurt and fruit (you can add powdered sugar to taste) and pour in molds to freeze.  There are many popsicle recipes, that include sugars and gelatin to make the popsicles not melt as fast, but we just keep the ingredients simple.

Design a scrapbook for the school year. Have everyone design a cover page and a first day page.  Take pictures at school to add later. Use pre-made scrapbooks or use a binder with page protectors to add to throughout the year.  This is a good place to keep school papers, pictures, and report cards.

Design a frame:  Make frames and decorate. Take a picture of child and friends to place in frame.

A mellow evening with just the family. Order pizza and eat a picnic style dinner outside, give each child  journal or new book to read that night as a family.

Designing and making snowflakes involves many important  concepts at all ages.  Beyond being fun, children experience shapes, motor skills, following directions, creativity, symmetry and spatial skills.  I was shocked at how many students in my fifth grade class volunteered to help  make snowflakes for a bulletin board, they loved it.  I thought that they would be “over” that!

With my younger children I demonstrate how to make a large snowflake and then they decorate it.  Then, they attempt their own allowing them to explore and discover the world of shapes and symmetry. Please note that the “snowflakes” are truly unique and may not look anything like a snowflake.

A FEW “FLAKEY” IDEAS:

3D Snowflake: For older children and adults, I found this site that teaches “How to Make a 3D Paper Snowflake.”

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-3D-Paper-Snowflake

Read A Biography:  Snowflake Bentley stated  “Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated., When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind.”   He photographed the first snow crystal and shared that no two snowflakes were the same.

Symmetry: Look for symmetry in nature starting with butterflies, bugs, leaves and bee-hives. For older children,  you may ask them if snowflakes are symmetrical in nature. (The answer is sometimes, the most common snowflakes are not symmetrical.)

The Life of a Snowflake:  This site is for older students to follow the life and growth of a snowflake. Fascinating!

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/primer/primer.htm