Junk Drawer Learning

If there is one thing I love doing the most, it's making art from items that would normally be thrown away, something else I love to do, is to make learning manipulatives! A few simple ingredients that we had around the house and 1 hour of Criminal Minds and I had a Color Spelling Game!

This game is perfect for a literacy center for kids to work on quietly alone or in a group. All you need are:

1. Used File Folder
2. Water Bottle Caps
3. Circle Labels (But you can use a sharpie right on the labels if you want!)
4. Dark Marker
5. Crayons

Once you have gathered all your items, just make up the alphabet on labels or righto on the caps and then add in the extra letters you will need for colors that double letters in their spelling. My game is for color spelling, but once you have the caps made, you can just make multiple file folder games using the same caps! Use your folder as your game mat and add on whatever you need to do and then draw circles or lines, so they know how many letters are in each word!

The caps can be used with the game or alone as an alphabet game or even for use with some spelling list words, to spell names and numbers as well!

Use cardstock or cut down an old file folder to make self checking cards with the correct spelling and the same picture that you used on the game mat. These cards can be used alone or with the game mat.

Pop everything loose into a baggie and staple it to the back of the file folder, now it all stores neatly and together.

Enjoy every minute my friends!

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Upcycle & Play!

If there is one thing we love to do in this house, it is recycle and upcycle! As you can see from almost all of my posts, I enjoy giving everything multiple purposes. This way items are constantly seeing new life and not the trash heap. 

One of our favorite things to do is Cardboard Building! Whenever we get a delivery of something in a large box, the box is always the hot item. First it gets massive amounts of play AS IS, but then it begins to take on a world of it's own when it's starting to get a bit too warped.

Cutting slits into the cardboard makes them stackable now! They use the slits to interlock the pieces and build away!

The best part about cardboad building? When playtime is over, it stores flat! When it gets too torn up, it gets recycled and when it's time for more fun, the cardboard is always FREE!!

Something else we used A LOT around here? Baby Toy Links!! I use them everywhere to hold stuff up. Here they are on our school cart, holding bags of library books and stuff we need for an upcoming project. In my daughters room they hold her purses on a rod, in my room they hold scarves...on and on it goes! 

YES I DO!!! Enjoy every minute my friends!!

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It's Too Hot To Blog...

I am grateful for this weather but it's HOT HOT HOT. I am loving getting to spend all this time with the kids but we have to get creative to stay cool!

A snack cart is an absolute must, to keep the kids hydrated and everyone snacking healthy!

Planting in the cool soil keep us feeling good but also gives us an excuse to splash with the hose a bit!

A water bottle, hammer and screwdriver make the BEST watering can for little hands! Just poke holes in the cap using the screwdriver and hammer!

Some screen stretched in between scrap wood and screwed into our porch makes the BEST place to clean out goodies while found on our outdoor adventures.

A little bit of soapy water is the best way to stay cool, with a bike and scooter wash!

Add in a bucket of clean water for rinsing and it's become a magnet for hot children!

Time to get ready for beach weather too! This net bag is recycled from oranges that I bought and all I did was save recyclables for castle building and some shovels we got from going on a school tour. Now I have an all-recycled beach bag for each child that allows the sand to fall out of it and if something gets broken, no big deal throwing it away!

Enjoy every minute and take chances everyone! 

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Water Play!

 

 My daughter was working a car wash for her school and of course it gets all kids wanting to play in the water, rather than wash cars! I knew just the activity for them once we got home, off to the water table we went!  I filled some squeeze bottles with water (Hobby Lobby .71!) and put a couple drops of food coloring into each and it became a mixing station! Colors were made, soup was created and an all around good time was had! I was sure to put them in play clothes and as far as the water table we used, it was one that we picked up at a rummage sale for 2.00! So needless to say, it's the perfect base for getting creative and colorful!! It's amazing how an ordinary and fun water table becomes an absolute blast for more hours than before.

After packing up all the water toys last year, I knew that this year I wanted to go with something different and fun for the table. I decided to fill it with 'toys' that are ordinarily found in our rubbish bins or in the kitchen! I picked up measuring cups, eye droppers, measuring spoons, scoops and funnels, pitchers etc. all at tag sales and thrift shops! We bought a pack of sponges at the dollar store and cut 1 of them up into strips for them to use too! Jars and yogurt cups and soap bottles rounded it off and now they want to be out there non stop! The best part, is that it really encourages imaginative play with a little math snuck in! Today I heard:
Gabriel: Autumn, let's make some soup!
Autumn: YEAH! WE need 1 cup of soup
Gabriel: No 1/2 a cup, so we need to get rid of 1/2
Roman: I mix it mix it!
Autumn: Gabriel add 1 small spoonful of purple water (MOM! What is 1 small spoonful called)
Mom: 1 Teaspoon

And on and on it went! So much fun!

What do you do with your water table?