A Tree Block Tea Party

I found A setting up the felt finger puppet ladies and girls to have a tree block tea party.  And I have some ideas for teacups!

Leaf Identification

We LOVE our leaf identification booklets we made from printouts off of the Nature’s Detectives website.

We used these ones, cut them out, laminated the, punched holes, and then put a keyring through it.  And there you have an awesome little leaf identification booklet to take with you everywhere!  I keep ours in our ‘going out’ backpack so it’s always there if we need it.

We also have one for seed identification, you can use this one and do the same as with the leaf booklet.

Today A found some elderberries herself by picking off a leaf from the tree, matching it to the booklet, and then telling me what she found!  More blackberry and elderberry crumble coming!

Blackberry Hunting!

It’s so satisfying when you peek through the bushes and see a bunch of plump, ripe, blackberries! 

And a dainty little ladybug hiding in the leaves.

Isn’t it so much fun getting free food from nature?  I love it!

Matching Word Cards to Animals

We play simple games like this to help our 2 year old with reading.  She loves these games, and they last only a couple minutes, so she never gets bored or feels like it’s ‘learning’!

We usually have a pile of animals or something, and the word cards.  I’ll tell her what one says and show it to her, and ask her to match the animal to it.  After we’ve done that, if she still wants to do more, I spread out the word cards and get her to match them, helping her if she doesn’t remember what they say.  It’s mostly just to get her to look at the cards and be told what they say, in a fun way!  The trick is to stop before the child is bored, so they always want to do it and don’t associate it with boredom.

Dinos in the Grass

Just some photos of the kids playing in the grass with some wooden friends I made!

Steggie and T- Rex meet the butterfly.

Caterpillar finds a ladybug hiding in the grass.

Catching a wooden butterfly and bee in the net.

Etsy Shops I Love

Here are some Etsy shops I just totally love, and like to spend time just looking at the beautiful things they make!

German Dolls

I have loved the dolls made by Ulla Seckler at GermanDolls for a couple years now.  Sometimes when we’re bored, my daughter and I sit and just look at all the dolls in her shop!  I especially love the pocket dolls!

She also does larger dolls:

Another favorite shop of mine is Alkelda Dolls .  Ok, so I like dolls!
Check out this totally cute little baby sleeping in its bed!

And how beautiful are these little houses by Willodel

They have loads more beautiful little houses, and how about this little gnome home?

Beautiful stuff!  What do you like best?

Paper Houses

I cut out 2 of the same of a shape of a house, cut a door and window that open in one of them, and then glued them together.

The girls had great fun drawing inside the windows and doors and coloring their houses!

Family Day Out – London!

The obligatory phone box photo

Fun with magnets at the Science Museum

And I just had to get my photo taken with this London plane tree in Hyde Park.  I love trees.

It was a great day, we walked miles and miles, and by the end, I thought my legs were going to fall off!  But it was so hot I didn’t want to take the Underground!  It’s so nice being above ground, and you can see everything along the way!

Make Your Own Flower Identification Book

This is great for writing practice, math, and learning about flowers at the same time!  Staple together some paper, and have your child write a title on the front.

Then on each page, make a space for the name of the flower, the date, the height of the flower (bring a tape measure with you outside), and where it was found.  Have your child draw a picture of the flower below the info.

                       

On a yummy food note, I edited my recipe for my Sugar Free Granola Bars by doubling the amounts because you get a more normal amount that way.  AND today I did a little variation on it, only using part of the mixture as a test.  I put peanut butter in it and oh my goodness it’s awesome!  Next time, I’ll do the whole recipe with peanut butter added, and figure out what the measurements should be.  I can post it on here when I have it perfected.

Hammering Nails

I found the one nail in our toolbox, a small hammer, and a piece of a log.  I then taught my girls how to hammer a nail!  They really enjoyed it.  I need to buy more nails, ones with bigger heads so it’s easier to hit.