Confessions of a Garbage Picker

So, I must confess. I'm a garbage picker. I don't do it often.

Honest, I don't.

But sometimes I see something and I think, "Surely they are not throwing that away?!?!?" Then, I have to stop. I have to rescue the discarded treasure from the landfill.

This happened recently. One problem... It was one of my neighbors. I saw an easel propped up against their garbage can. Normally, if one is picking through someone else's garbage, you can hop in your car and drive away and remain anonymous. When it's a neighbor, it's not so easy. Until now, I have resisted garbage picking in my own neighbor hood. I don't want to be the neighborhood garbage picker. But this easel was screaming my name. I saw it out my front window and resisted at first. But I kept peaking out to see if it was still there. I waited until most of the neighbors had gone to work and then I ran out there and snuck it home. It was covered in paint and pretty grimy but hey, it's mine now. A little elbow grease and a hose later and I am so happy that I rescued this easel. Could you resist? Take a look at it...

It has a dry erase side and a chalk side with a clip at the top for holding paper.

It has removable trays with compartments that hold all the art supplies in place.

The only thing that is missing is the brace on one side. I'm going to see if I can get a replacement for it online but the one remaining brace holds it just fine...

The beauty of it is that it folds up easily for quick storage. Both sides can be raised or lowered to adjust the height for shorter or taller children. The other great thing about it is that it's lightweight and I can move it outside with ease for a quick wash down with the hose without ruining it.

The kids love it. They were my helpers bringing it home. At first my daughter was shocked by how messy it was. Then, after we got it cleaned up, she couldn't believe that someone would throw it out. I thought my hubby would wonder why we needed it since we do already have an easel in our home. His response was perfect, though. He said, "You could use this one downstairs while you're homeschooling the kids." Love that man.

One last thing, the trays were filled with old art supplies - mainly wet chalk - that needed to be thrown away. But to my surprise, there were some profession paint brushes in there. They took a lot more elbow grease to salvage but I got them clean and they're for me. Yippee! And it was all for FREE! I'm glad I learned to overcome my fear of the neighbors thinking I'm a crazy garbage picker!

They've Flown the Coop

Remember the nest and eggs that we've been watching? Well, they hatched!

We have had so much fun observing, journaling, and reading about Robins!

The babies could be best observed through the space between the floorboards of our deck. The above picture was a common sight at our house. My bird-loving girl sure did enjoy our visitors. Whenever she would peek down on them, they would do this...

They seemed to think that she was their Momma and were looking for food from her. She LOVED this and did indeed want to feed them. But, look Momma, they want me to feed them! (No, I didn't let her.) She learned that if she found a place a safe distance away from the nest to observe, she could watch them get fed by both of their parents. Did you know both Robin parents return to the nest to feed the babies?!?!? We did not know this but we actually were able to observed both parents at the nest at the same time. That was cool.

Well, as you can see in the pictures, there were three baby Robins. Now, however, there are none. The babies have left the nest. While my little ones are sad that their feathered friends are gone, it sure was an exciting adventure. And, in a unique blessing of well-timed nature, on the day that the birds left the nest, a caterpillar that we had collected from our backyard made a chrysalis in the jar that we were observing it in. One nature observation ending and another one just beginning!

We learned so much about Robins. Here is a link to a great site with tons of information on the American Robin. Enjoy!

Our Springtime Visitor

There has been a lot of activity under our deck recently. We've seen a Robin flying in and out making numerous trips a day with a variety of natural items clutched in her beak. My daughter has been fascinated by this and has eagerly anticipated the baby birds that will be born here.

Her nest is in the perfect spot for a curious 4-year-old to observe. It is several feet away from our outdoor toy box that we use daily this time of year. Yet, this mama bird was wise enough to put the nest just beyond the reach of those curious hands.

Several times a day, we sneak over (not too close, of course) and check on her and listen for the sounds of the babies chirping. I couldn't ask for a better observation and prediction activity for my bird-lovin' little girl!

Inspired by Art: Van Gogh

I just have to share my favorite homeschool activity that we have done so far. This was such a great activity and my 4 year old LOVED it! I am so happy with how it went... we are definately going to continue this activity with other artists.

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine (who is a homeschooling mama) called me from an estate sale. There was a set of 16 Time-Life Library of Arts artist books. She knew I would be interested. The price was $40. That's $2.50 a book. Not a bad price but not a steal either (in my opinion). Another problem - I only had a $20 bill and a few singles on me. We were in the car and the sale was in the direction we were headed. My hubby and I had a few minutes to discuss whether or not it was worth the investment. We hemmed and hawed and finally he suggested seeing if they would take $20 for the set. One problem - I hate to dicker. No sooner had I let those words out of my mouth and the phone rang again. Same friend is on the other end and she says, "Because it's raining, they want to shut the sale down. They'll take $20 for the set." I said, "SOLD!" We drove there immedietly and picked up our set of books! I love it when a friend does the shopping AND the dickering for me!!!

For our first lesson using the books, we studied Vincent Van Gogh. She loved looking at the pictures of him when he was a boy and then again as a man. The picture below is of Van Gogh when he was a year older than I. When I told her that, she said, "He looks much older than you! he looks like a grandpa!"

She loved hearing about what his interests were and discussing with me how she was like Van Gogh and how she was different.

Here are a few of the similarities and differences that she noted:

Same:

• Blue eyes
• Liked collecting beetles
• Liked looking for bird's nests
• Was good at inventing games
• Loved to read
• Loved to paint
• Had a flower garden

Different:

• Boy
• Red hair
• Freckles
• Had younger brothers and sisters
• Painted naked people (this she found very funny)

Finally, we took one of his paintings that already hung on the wall of her playroom and we looked at all the details in it. The piece is called Field With Cypresses - Champ Aux Cypres. We hypothesized why type of medium she thought he might have used. Her responses were much like this, "I don't think he used markers because the colors aren't bright enough." Without much prodding, she came to the conclusion that he used paints. We looked for the brush strokes throughout the painting and guessed at how he might have created the different parts of the piece. Then she collected what she would need to reproduce a similar painting and set to work to create her own Field of Cypresses. She diligently worked on this until she had her completed work. The pink and purple flowers: She said that a yellow field just isn't as pretty! I love that she was willing to make the picture her own by adding those colorful flowers.

This was such a great activity for my little artist. We will definately be doing more activities like this!

Children's Book Week

This week is Children's Book Week. I thought it would be a good time to post a link that I found a while back...

100 Books Every Child Should Hear Before Starting School.

I found the list really interesting. There are a lot of really great titles on the list. My favorite from the list is Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney. Both of my children have LOVED this story. We read it over and over and over again! There are many others that I haven't read and I look forward to reading real soon! This list is coming with me on our next trip to the library. With one of my kiddos starting Kindergarten this year, this is a perfect list for our summer reading.

Rice Fun

We're waiting for the weather to cooperate so that the kids can consistently play in their new sand and water table. Until then, I was inspired to try an idea I've wanted to try for a long time. I dyed rice!

I followed this recipe . It was super easy and it turned out great.

I spread out a sheet on the kitchen floor, put the rice in a container, and let the kids at it. I gave them mini shovels and plastic Easter eggs to use for scooping, pouring and making music shakers.

I think they could play in this stuff for hours!!! They played with it very well together. They scooped and poured together without fighting. They loved the feel of it running through their fingers. If fact, I love this sensation too. It's a great sensory activity.

I'm definitely going to need a bigger container. I've got 25 pound of rice just waiting to be played in!!! Next fall, the sand and water table is going to emptied of sand and brought inside to our playroom. This is going to be part of our winter sensory play.

I just had to share this last picture. Being that it's rice, it just had to be tasted. Thankfully, it's all edible! I don't think he'll be trying that again anytime soon!!!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss: Day 3

We read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss and did a few activities. Of course, our snack had to be goldfish crackers and the kids loved that!

We played a magnetic fishing game that we already had. My little guy loves this game. The pole has a magnet at the end and each of the fish have magnets on them. It's easy for his little hands to manipulate successfully.

This isn't one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books but I like the use of numbers and colors through out the book. We counted fish as we caught them on our pole and identified their color. Then, we spread out our play parachute and matched the fish to the colors. My daughter thought this was too easy but she had fun helping her brother place the fish in the correct place.

He called every color pink or white. This would make his big sister laugh and he was proud of how funny he was. Then, we ditched the fish and I would call a color and the kids would have to run and stand on that color. Both kids loved this!

Finally, we took our stuffed fish from The Cat in the Hat and used the parachute to launch him up into the air. We counted how many times we could toss him up and catch him without letting him drop onto the floor.

As I said before, this isn't one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books. It seems like he took a bunch of ideas for different books and combined them into one. The story doesn't' flow from the start of the book to the end. Despite my dislike for the books, we had fun learning our numbers and colors.

Those Sneaky Little Leprechans

Ok. OK. I know St. Patrick's Day was over a week ago. I know I'm slow to post but I wanted to record what the Leprechauns did at our house on St. Patrick's Day.

First off, this note greeted my children as they came to the table for breakfast...

Then, they were off to search for the "Leprechaun gold" that was hidden throughout the house. The other side of the Leprechaun's note had a circle that corresponded with each coin that was hidden. When all the circles were filled, they had found all of the gold...

Then we sat down for breakfast and as my daughter brought the milk from the refrigerator, I curiously looked at the milk jug in her hand and asked her what was up with the milk. She glanced down at the milk jug in her hand and ran to the table, quickly set it down and then anxiously backed away as if it were poison...

The Leprechauns had turned our milk GREEN! After her initial shock, she was willing to test the milk and happily declared, "It tastes NORMAL!"

When we were finished with breakfast, she ran to the refrigerator and pantry and looked through everything to see if they had turned anything else green. They had not but it did give mom an idea.

Later, when she returned to the fridge to help me retrieve yogurt and blueberries for our snack, she discovered that the Leprechauns had returned...

And, they returned again for dinner...

Her four year old mind is just reeling as she is trying to figure this all out.

How did they get in here?

Why didn't we hear them?

How many are there?

How did they know what we were going to eat?

Oi! I had so much fun with this!

Who would have thought that this silly little activity would have much of an impact but the little guy has been pointing to things all week and saying, "GREEN."

I have no idea why I chose a goblet to dye the eggs in but it sure did look pretty.

Leprechan's Gold Addition Game

Here's another quick game we've been playing this week in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

Take two small containers. Place shamrock cards in one and gold coins in the other. (The shamrock cards have green stickers on the back.)

Take out two shamrocks and flip them over. Count the dots and take out the corresponding number of coins for each dot. Add the two numbers together.

2+3=5

This game is quick to set up is a good independent activity.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss: Day 2

The view from out the window today, was this...

...a gas truck and an excavator digging a hole in two of our neighbors' front yards. This led to lots of questions about the what and why of what was going on outside our window. So, rather than answering the questions, we pulled out Oh, the Thinks You Can Think by Dr. Seuss.

This is a book about the silly things that you can think up. Here's our favorite picture from the book...

We decided that we want a floating balloon swimming pool like Kitty O'Sullivan Krause in our backyard too.

After reading the book, I encouraged my daughter to use her imagination to come up with silly things that the men outside our window might be doing. I thought that this would be a fun activity for her. She generally loves using her imagination. Not today. She had to know what they were really doing before she could be silly. After I explained what I really thought they were doing, (Honestly, I wasn't sure.) she was able to imagine silly ideas about them. She thought that they were digging a swimming pool and that the excavator was a giant hungry animal who was eating the dirt. Ah, her imagination is working... I was a bit worried.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss: Day 1

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, we're celebrating him and his books every day this week. Today, we read The Sneeches and Other Stories.

This book contains four stories...

• The Sneeches
• The Zax
• Too Many Daves
• What Was I Scared Of?

We read all of them except for Too Many Daves. It's not one that I particularly like and I thought my 4 year old would get lost in the story of why a mom would name all 23 of her sons Dave. I can imagine the questions!!!

The Sneeches is a story that address issues like trying to fit in and appreciating differences in others. We had fantastic conversations about similarities and differences in people. The story has two sets of characters those with stars on their bellies and those without.

We went to the craft store with Grandma and bought supplies to make a craft inspired by the story. My daughter picked buttons, ribbon, and a wooden star. She made the star above with her grandma since the little guy fell asleep and needed Mommy with him. Now whenever we look at it, we're reminded that everyone is different and that's what makes us special.

She really enjoyed The Zax. This is a story about two stubborn individuals who wouldn't budge. Here is the picture we liked most from the story...

The two Zax were so stubborn that a whole roadway was built around them and they still wouldn't budge. This story illustrates stubbornness very well. It's a silly story with a lesson behind it. When asked what the Zax should have done instead, she thought they should have stepped aside and then drawn a picture to make each other feel better. Here's the picture that she drew to give the Zax...

Butterflies, sunshine and a rainbow... yep, those would brighten my day if I were a stubborn Zax!

The final story we read was What Was I Scared Of? This book is a silly story about a character who is afraid of a pair of pants and in the end, he learns that the pants are afraid of him too. We talked about fear and what she's afraid of. We talked about silly fears. We talked about ways to overcome her fears.

It's amazing how a silly book about Sneeches and Zax and scaredy pants can lead to such important conversations.

A Thrifty Find

On a recent trip to the thrift store, I made a great find. I found these...

Seven books from the series of Scholastic First Discovery Books. I already own three of these and my kids, particularly the 4 year old, love them. The illustrations are beautiful. The information is in depth without being confusing for the younger learner. The best feature of the books in this series are the transparent pages. Each see-through page reveals an interesting change to the pictures in the book.

Here are the titles of the books I just bought:

• Atlas of Plants
• Boats
• Butterflies
• Dinosaurs
• Endangered Animals
• The Universe
• Whales

While these books definitely aren't brand new, I would label them as "gently used." You can tell that they've been read but there is no damage to the books whatsoever. What a find! Each of the pages is laminated, so I can run a Lysol wipe over each page to clean them right up without damaging the books.

The price for one of these books is $11.95. That would cost over $80 for all seven. They were bundled together to be sold as a lot for 2 bucks!!! Seriously, 2 bucks total!!! I'm thrilled!

Eric Carle Inspired Art

We love Eric Carle at our house! Today my daughter made a picture inspired by his work. She sat down at her desk and initiated this project all on her own! She was having trouble cutting out the shapes as she wanted them so she asked me to cut out a heart and a flower. (At this point, I still had no idea what she was creating.) She decided that the flower looked more like a cloud. (I agree.) She cut out her own mountain. She colored all three pieces and glued them on the paper. She then drew two people. She says that this picture is of "Mommy and me climbing a mountain on a cloudy day because we love each other."

Eric Carle, mountain climbing, and loving her mommy all in one picture...be still my heart!!!

Save Those Valentine's Candy Boxes!

If your valentine gave you a box of chocolates, don't throw out the box!!! Last year, I ended up with a collection of boxes (not from my valentine!). I used them to make two games.

One is a counting game with heart clips and dice.

Roll the dice and clip the number of clips that corresponds with the number on the dice.

My daughter has loved this game and has even been doing basic addition by adding the clips from one side with the clips from the other.

The second game is one that my husband made. I saw this idea somewhere and he thought he could make it. It's a wooden puzzle heart.

The pieces fit inside the heart box for storage.

Sorry the pictures are turned again. I can't figure out why blogger sometimes turns them!