The week was crazy. It was one of those week's where not much went as planned, there were injuries, illness, plenty of doctor's visits, lots of phone calls, and busy days. Thankfully, the week ended without too much commotion and the weekend is bringing plenty of resting for all.
Here is a look at what the kid's enjoyed throughout the week:
I bought these from Michael's ($1.25 per package) and let the kids choose which one they wanted to paint. I had the kids use white, pink, red, and purple Crayola washable paints instead.
The kid's books are complete! I found a package of 8 blank books in the Target dollar section a couple of months ago. It took two weeks for the kids to complete (I had them color one page a day so they wouldn't lose interest in the project). Once they were completed, the kids got to show their book to the other kids and told me all about what they had drawn on each page. It's amazing what these scribbles can mean to the children.
Perfect hand-eye coordination activity for toddlers/preschoolers. I had to show the kids how to pinch the clothes pin (that was actually the most difficult part of the activity), but they caught on very quickly.
I was very impressed with how easily the 2 year old group of kids did this. The kids were super proud of themselves when they successfully completed transferring the fuzzies from one cup to the other. This is the second hand-eye coordination activity I've done with the kids that I've noticed them really concentrating on and getting excited about successfully completing. I will definitely be doing more hand-eye activities with my group of kids.
Doesn't everyone have a basketball hoop hanging in the middle of their living room window??? The kids lined up behind the blue line and got three shots each. An hour of pure enjoyment, excitement, and cheering for each other.
Snow painting
Unfortunately, Max got hurt during the cardboard box play. He spent the remainder of the week taking it easy and going to the eye doctor for his corneal abrasion. First major eye injury out of the way! A BIG thank you and shout out to my mother and father in law who came to stay with my other two minis and two daycare children so I could take Max to his ophthalmologist. They also came to our rescue Friday, transporting Elizabeth to and from the pediatrician's office (making things much easier on hubby). It's week's like this where I truly think about how much our support system helps us out when life gets rough. Truly beyond grateful for what we have!
With Max out of commission because of his eye injury, Harrison took over feeding the cats.....they didn't know what to do!
Harrison and Elizabeth's favorite part of the mornings: watching the Keurig make our cups of coffee.
Fashion disaster in this picture: skinny jeans (Old Navy), tunic top (Kohl's), fleece hat (ON), pull up (Huggies), and her new favorite jellies (ON).
Heart shaped pizza for lunch.
Cuddles with my baby girl. Wednesday night was rough: Miss E didn't go to bed until 9:30 pm and woke up at midnight....for the day on Thursday. I was one tired mama Thursday! Luckily, those nights are few and far between.
A morning snack of green beans (always a favorite around here).
I created a new game to play with the kids using two simple things: foam hearts and a Sharpie.
Eight kids playing the game means eight hearts. One side had numbers, the other side had different things for the kids to do, act out, and sing! I tried to come up with things the kids would enjoy and things that would help relieve some pent up energy!
I put them in a container and had each kid draw a card. I then had the kids put their cards up in the card, with the number side facing outward. We went in numerical order, having the kids pick out the correct number (a bit of number learning while we're at it!).
Harrison being a dinosaur. The kids LOVED this game and begged to play it a second time
Using a favorite art supply (Dot markers) to decorate hearts.
I bravely broke out the bottle of glue and let the kids practice squeezing glue dots on and then placing fuzzies on. All of the kids did a great job and I was even more pleased that not one child attempted to put the glue in their mouth...big win on that one!
This is the paint drying counter--notice all of the dried paint on the counter top from the day's painting activities. Since we only use Crayola washable paint, it washes right off. So, what are we doing with white painted egg shell cartons????
Why, making snowmen of course!
These are another of the kid's favorite art supplies that we don't use regularly.
The box says not for children under 3, but my 20 month old uses them without issue as do the two year olds that I have. They typically just require a bit more explaining when it comes to the painting over it part.
Paint brush markers. The kids love these as well, although a few of the kids had trouble remembering to paint with the markers instead of using them like regular markers. They haven't had issues in the past with these markers, but I probably won't be breaking these back out for a while since the coloring did not go too smoothly!
I made homemade no cook play dough for the kids (I didn't get the texture quite right but I had some overly anxious kids who were ready to play). They enjoyed making sea creature forms with the dough.
These are a few of the kid's favorite Valentine's books we've been reading the last several weeks. Max was inspired by "Pete the Cat Valentine's Day is Cool" and made Valentine's for all of the office staff at his elementary school. The teacher let him go during class to hand them out to people. I was really proud of him and really happy that his teacher/school enforces what we teach him at home.
I can't say I'd want to re-live this week again--I was more than happy to see it end and welcomed the weekend with open arms. Next week start off with our daycare Valentine's party, games, ball pit fun, crafts, more hand-eye coordination activities, and the kids will be helping me in the kitchen dip strawberries so they can have chocolate covered strawberries as a snack!
