More Valentine Fun

I love Valentine's Day! I think I had more fun than the kids did this week. One day when they were napping I made these cupcakes. They enjoyed the surprise when they woke up.

The boys also made this paper flower one day. They colored it and I cut it out and helped them glue the pieces on.The pieces weren't straight at all, but I love them that way. I don't really like their artwork to look too perfect. I want them to have fun and for their work to display what they can do. Of course I help with cutting and things like that, but I try to always let them do as much as they can by themselves.



Then today I just let the boys go wild and make Valentine's. I got out paper, stickers, paint, and markers. Jax made 2 and Sawyer made 4 and would have made more if I would have let him.

Veggies and Valentines

I decided to skip a couple of letters and do letter V this week, since Valentine's Day is this Saturday. I introduced letter V on Monday. It was probably a good idea anyway, because V and U are really the only letters Sawyer gets mixed up sometimes. He knows the V sound, but sometimes he confuses the V with a U or and A. I put paper vegetables all over the living room and told the boys to pick the veggies. They put them in baskets and then we sorted them.

The boys had so much fun making Valentine's this week. I cut out hearts and had them glue red tissue paper to it.

They also made paper hugs. I found the idea here.

They painted the hearts and I cut them out. I helped Sawyer and Jax glue the faces and arms on. Sawyer said he wanted to give his hug to Jax.

Letter S

This week we talked about the letter S. Our theme for the week was snow. We didn't really get started until Wednesday. Both boys decorated the letter S with snowballs (cotton). They also had a snowball fight with cotton balls. We did this twice this week, because they enjoyed it so much. Sawyer also made a snowman with hectagons.
Thursday Sawyer painted with a mixture of shaving cream and white glue. This was a great sensory activity. I told him to paint with the snow however he wanted. When it was dry it smelled like shaving cream and felt soft like snow. Jax played with shaving cream while he did this and when Sawyer was finished he joined in. This kept them busy for about half an hour.
Sawyer's bible verse was "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not be in want." We read several stories about David this week. On Friday I had Sawyer paint a shepherd's staff. I let him paint a paper bag and then I cut it out. I wrote his verse on a piece of paper and glued the staff to it.

I let Jax play with water and sponges while we did this. He had a blast. Again, Sawyer joined him and they had a great time.

Letter Q

Last week we talked about the letter q. Let's face it, there are not too many q words, so we focused on queen and quilt. The first day I let sawyer color the letter q and decorate it with glitter glue. I drew a little face and he put a crown on it to make it look like a queen.

The next day I read the boys a Bible story about Queen Esther. Then they made a paper bag puppet queen. I told them it was queen Esther. I let them both paint different parts of the queen. I cut out the hair and body parts and Sawyer helped me glue them on.
I used the Queen Esther puppet for circle time the next day.
One day we sat on a quilt and read a book about a quilt.
Then the boys helped me glue the hexagons together to form a quilt like pattern. Sawyer said it wasn't a quilt, it was a flower.

We also played the quiet game and talked about questions.

Letter R

I decided to skip the letter q this week, since we are supposed to be out of town next week for a few days. I don't have a whole lot of q ideas, so I thought I would do that letter on a short week and do R this week. Monday I let the boys paint the letter R with red paint. Then they added rice. It was a bit of a mess, but that is to be expected when working with a one year old and a two year old. I also introduced our new bible verse, Ecclesiastes 12:1.
On Tuesday I read the boys a book about a rainbow and they glued scrap paper on this rainbow I drew. I told Jax the color names, but he just likes to say yellow over and over. Anytime I asked him what color something was he said yellow or blue and we didn't even use blue. He is saying more and more words everyday. Even though the lessons are usually directed at teaching Sawyer, I try to incorporate Jaxon as much as possible and I can tell he is learning a lot.
Here is the finished product. I added an R for rainbow.
The rest of the week I have focused on rhymes, because the boys love nursery rhymes. Sawyer acts them out all the time. His favorites are Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, and Little Miss Muffett. Jaxon's favorites are Pat-a-cake and Humpty Dumpty or Dumpy Dumpy as he calls it. We have been reading lots of rhymes and playing rhyming games this week.

Sawyer colored these Jack and Jill finger puppets and I cut them out. He played with them while acting out the rhyme. Today we played with these Humpty Dumpty stacking cards. Then we played with word flash cards. I helped Sawyer pick out words that rhyme. He thought we should say them loud then soft, so that's what we did. We also tried to teach Jax some new words. Sawyer has been sick since Wednesday, so we may not go on our trip after all.

Penguins and Picnics

We have been talking about things that start with the letter P this week. Tuesday we read a book about a penguin and her chicks. I had planned to let the boys make fingerprint penguins. After I read the book I was inspired to use my prints for the mommy penguin and the boys' for the chicks.
I did my prints first. Then, I held Jax and painted his fingers and helped him place them on the paper. Next, I held Sawyer and did the same thing with him. When we were finished, I painted the feet and beaks with orange paint. I thought it turned out pretty cute. While the boys were waiting for their turn, they played with the potato head family Sawyer got for Christmas.

Wednesday we read another book about penguins. Then I let Sawyer match these color bows to the penguins with the corresponding color words. First we talked about the colors and I had him match them. Then I let him glue them on.
I found the pattern here.
I could have laminated the cards and bows to use over again, but I decided to glue them to paper instead. Our printer was low on ink, so the penguins are bluish gray instead of black.
Today we read books about going on a picnic. Then we sang this little song.
and played a game with our plastic food and picnic basket.
I let the boys play with plastic food while I got our real picnic ready. I served a snack of grapes, goldfish, and lemonade out of the picnic basket. They had a blast. Who knew eating on the floor could be so much fun?

Then, I let the boys decorate this picnic basket with stickers and glue pictures of food on it. I am not an artist at all, but the boys didn't seem to mind. They worked so well together and had a fun time.

Scripture Memory and Poof Painting

I got Sawyer "The Memory Bible" for Christmas this year. I decided to incorporate scripture memory into our daily lessons. Sawyer calls it his Bible study book. I really like this book because it has a verse, story, and song to go along with every letter. This works perfectly for us, since I teach the boys a letter each week. The book came with 2 cds with Kirk Cameron narrating the story. Then there is a song about each verse to help us remember the verse. I will be learning along with Sawyer. Our verse this week is "For I know the Plans I have for you declares the Lord." Jeremiah 29:11.

I introduced the letter P this week. We played with puppets and puzzles during circle time. Then I let the boys paint with bath poof balls. They painted with pink and purple paint. I can not seem to upload the picture right now. They just dipped the poof into the paint and then ran it over their paper. They also sponge painted.

Jax really wants to be involved in everything we do. This makes me happy, but it is also hard sometimes. I want him to learn too, but I constantly have to redirect him to stop eating crayons, paint, etc. He wants to do everything his big brother does. He is keeping me on my toes!