stART

The book we chose for stART this week  was Two Little Witches by Harriet Ziefert.

It’s a counting story about two little girls who meet while trick or treating. I’d been holding this book and art project for a couple of weeks knowing it would be best done right before Halloween. So after reading we all made our own trick or treat bags.

I had the kids go through their dressers and find an old t-shirt that either didn’t fit them anymore or was stained. I turned them inside out and ironed them flat so all the seams matched up.

Then the kids and I sewed the bottom of the t-shirt closed. Little hands on a little person’s sewing machine; this was my favorite part. 

Once that was done we turned them right side out again and cut off the sleeves. I drew a half circle for them around the collar that they followed with their scissors to make the opening of the bag large enough for big handfuls of candy.

Once our bags were made the really fun part began. We got out the fabric paint to make our trick or treat bags extra spooky. I put a sheet of paper inside the bag so the paint wouldn’t bleed through to the other side. Then we went at it.

Jael decided to put a black cat on hers and Ezra made what he says is a yeti. Mateos wasn’t sure what he wanted to do so I let him pick his colors and just go. Ezra told his brother that his design was “abstract, and very creative art.” It was quite a cute moment.

Now I just have to put them somewhere safe from little hands until they dry.

Until next time.......

~Kayte

stART

 A new activity I’ve incorporated into our school week is the story art project from A Mommy’s Adventures. Which, by the way, you should definitely check out because not only is the stART project really fun but she has lots of other activities that are really inspiring.

The book my kids chose this week was Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. My kids already enjoy this book but it had been a while since we’d last read it. They loved reading the story about the little mouse with the extra large name again. This story deals quite directly with the issue of teasing and even though homeschooling insulates them somewhat from those experiences, it is a fact of life for everyone.

So we all had a nice talk about names and identity. Big ideas for little ones but these concepts really do mean a lot to them. So in honor of our special-ness we created our own flowers inspired by our names. 

First I printed out a couple pictures of them.

They traced circles with a plastic cup around their faces.

Which they then cut out and used for the center of their flowers.

Magazine clippings and tissue paper became petals. I also asked them to assign unique characteristics to their individual flowers.

“The Jael Flower”

Has pretty pink petals and smells like pumpkin pie. The stem is made out of water and it blooms all year long.

“The Ezra Flower”

Has green and tan petals that smell like lemon. It is made out of diamonds and light and only blooms in summer time.

“The Mateos Flower”
 Has purple petals that grow everywhere and smell of fruit snacks.

 (Please ignore the grumpy face. It was close to nap time and this was the only picture he would let me get of him.)

 

We all had so much fun with this activity. I can’t wait to see what we come up with for next week.

Until next time.......