Together Tuesday: I'm a Perky Turkey

“I’m A Perky Turkey” (sung to “I’m a Little Tea Pot”)
I’m a perky turkey, yes in deed
Eating corn and grains and seed
I waddle when I walk
And I gobble when I talk
But when Thanksgiving comes, I run away!


from Earth*School, We're Thankful for Thanksgiving
Copyright 2004 - 2010, Earth*School

Together Tuesday: Turkeys!

Foot and hand print turkey
Here’s another twist on that traditional handprint turkey, one that will elicit lots more giggles! You will need a large sturdy paper, paints, a brush and your child’s hand and foot.
Paint the bottom of your child’s foot brown and his/her toes orange (this will take a while … be prepared for tons of giggling!) and stamp onto a paper (hold the paper lengthwise and stamp at the bottom) with the toes facing down. This is the turkey body (brown) and feet (orange). Now paint your child’s hand and stamp all around the body in a fan shape to create the feathers. Add as many feathers/colors as desired. We always make one turkey per family member each year. They make a cute gaggle of turkeys to display!

from Earth*School, We're Thankful for Thanksgiving
Copyright 2004 - 2010, Earth*School

Together Tuesday: Lemon Ice Dough

This sparkling lemon ice dough is sure to please any play dough enthusiast! It has diamond dust to make it sparkle like ice, as well as a pleasing lemon scent and color. A great way to spice up a hot summer afternoon!


Ingredients: 3 c flour 3 c water
1 ½ c salt 2 T oil
1 T cream of tarter 2 packets lemonade Kool Aid
Yellow food coloring for more color, if desired
Diamond dust (sparkly iridescent glitter)

Directions:
1. Mix the kool aid into the water.
2. Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan over medium-low to medium heat until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and becomes hard to stir.
3. Remove from heat and knead (let cool enough to touch) on a floured surface until the dough is a nice consistency.
4. Store in an airtight container.

(From Earth*School: Rainbow of Colors, all rights reserved. Copyright Earth*School/Bonnie Vontz 2004 - 2010)

Together Tuesday: Heigh Ho Blueberry-O!

Make your own Heigh ho Blueberry-O! game. My brother had the game Heigh Ho Cherry-O as a child, and he loved to play that game. You can make your own blueberry version with craft items you probably already have around your house.

To begin, roll a supply of 60+ blueberries from your favorite clay and let them dry. Fashion 4 small basket/cup shapes from the clay as well and let dry. Be sure to make them slightly larger than the size of a hole punched with a hole puncher. To make the board, you will need some markers or crayons, good sturdy cardstock and tape, a paper fastener, scrap cardstock, and a hole punch (you will want either a long handled hole punch or an “anywhere” hole punch, the kind you place and tap with a hammer). Cut a ¼ inch slit in each corner of the cardstock (from the top going into the center of the paper). After the board is complete, you will fold down the tabs you have just created (the sides of the paper) and tape them together at the corners, so that the board is raised up off the playing surface. In each corner of the board, draw and color a blueberry bush. Use your hole punch to punch 15 holes in each bush. In the center of the board, draw a circle and partition it into 5 pieces (like you were cutting a pie). Put the following, one in each section of the circle:
Picture of 1 blueberry
Picture of 2 blueberries
Picture of 3 blueberries
Picture of a basket of spilled blueberries
Picture of an animal of your choice with a blueberry in its mouth

Cut an arrow shape from the scrap cardstock and fasten it to the center of the circle with the paper fastener/brad.

To play, fill up the bushes with the blueberries. Each player sits by one bush and has one basket. Spin the spinner and pick the correct number of blueberries if you spin the picture of 1, 2 or 3 berries, put all your blueberries back in the bush if you spin the spilled basket, or put one berry back in the bush if you spin the picture of the animal carrying off a berry.


(From Earth*School: Summer Harvest Fun, all rights reserved. Copyright Earth*School/Bonnie Vontz 2004 - 2010)

Together Tuesday: May Flowers

It's May and all those April showers should be bringing some beautiful May flowers right about now! And with Mother's Day right around the corner, create some paper flowers with your little ones that will last forever!

You will need:

construction paper in bright colors and green
your child
a pencil
thin dowel rods or chopsticks
green paint
florists tape (or you can use regular tape)
scissors

Start off by having your child paint the chopsticks or dowel rods green for stems. Set aside to dry.
Next, trace your child's hand multiple times on brightly colored paper and cut out the hand shapes. Have your child arrange the hand shapes together to form a flower (bottoms of palms touching, fingers out for the petals). Once the stems are dry, use florists or regular tape to attach the flower to the stem. You can tape the petals together, then tape the stem to the underside of the flower, or you can tape the petals together, punch a hole and stick the stem through the hole and secure with tape.
Cut some leaf shapes from green paper and secure those to the sides of the stems.
Make lots and give a bouquet to grandma or to put in a vase for your dining room table!

Together Tuesday: Snowballs!

Last week, unexpected to me, we had a ton of snow dumped on us here in Connecticut – the kids are still making snowballs and sledding and desperately trying to make an igloo on our tiny deck. But you don't need snow to enjoy one of my favorite winter books, “Snowballs” by Lois Ehlert. After reading this story make your own multimedia snowmen using anything you can find around the house. Cut various sizes of circles out of white paper, and let your child choose 2 or 3 to glue onto a larger sheet of paper to make his/her snow person’s body. Then search your recycle bin, craft storage, kitchen, garage, etc. for wonderful found items that you can use to personalize your snow people.

Copyright Earth*School 2004-2010
Bonnie Elizabeth Vontz

Together Tuesday: Happy Chinese New Year!

Yes, I know it is not Tuesday. But this weekend, I surprised A with an impromptu trip to Newport, RI for Valentine's Day ... we had a wonderful (albeit, cold!) weekend, came home all happy and rested. Opened the front door ... to see the bunnies had escaped! Somehow they managed to knock the top off their cage, get out AND PUT THE TOP BACK ON. Or they are ninjas. I am not yet sure. Anyway, thinking my biggest problem was bunny poop, we scooped them up, put them back, vacuumed and went to bed. Little did I know that the next morning when I went to start turning things on I would have problems not remedied by running the vacuum. Why bunnies like to chew through electrical cords and cable, I have no idea. And only live ones at that. Nibble, nibble, nibble ... and I had no internet, no printer, no serger and no speakers! So, yes, I know it is Thursday, but let's just pretend it is Tuesday, ok?

Chinese New Year wall hanging
Gung Hay Fat Choy! Create a special Chinese New Year wall hanging to decorate your house during your celebration. Red is the color traditionally associated with Chinese New Year, so start off with either red paper or red fabric. The year 2006 is the year of the dog, so add a painting, drawing, magazine cut out or photograph of a dog if desired. If your child is able, copy some Chinese characters (link in language activity #1) onto the wall hanging, or write “Happy Chinese New Year”. Other symbols or items to include on your festive wall hanging are: quotes from Confucius, lanterns, swirls of exploding fireworks and dragons.

From Earth*School: Late Winter Holidays
Copyright 2004-2010, Bonnie E. Vontz

Together Tuesday: UnBirthday Day!

Tomorrow is my son's 6th birthday. In honor of his birthday, this Together Tuesday post features Day 25 from our Earth*School unit "One Day Fun Days", the UnBirthday Day!

Day 25 – Un-Birthday Day!
* Birthdays only come once a year and that waiting is hard – declare it Unbirthday Day and have a party just because! Send out invitations to a few friends in advance of the date to ensure having people to celebrate with … after all, chances are it will be their unbirthday as well.

* Make an Unbirthday cake – Prepare your favorite cake with your favorite frosting, but pout on one candle for each person in attendance. Sing Happy Unbirthday to You! And have everyone blow out the candles together.

* Spread the unbirthday love – Donate a new toy to a children’s shelter to give as a birthday gift for someone there. Clean out your closets and donate unused toys and outgrown clothing to a children’s shelter to brighten someone else’s unbirthday day.

* Pin the candle on the cake – Cut out a simple cake shape as well as a candle shape for each player. Blindfold each child, one at a time, spin him or her around once or twice, then let him/her try to pin the candle on the cake.

* Plaster of paris birthday cake – For this project you will need some birthday candles, plaster of paris, a plastic container (that can be cut with scissors if need be), cooking oil or spray, paint or food coloring and a disposable butter knife. Oil the inside of the plastic container. Mix up some plaster of paris and pour it into the container. This will be your cake. Let it set. When it is almost completely set, add the candles, pushing them in to make the candle holes. Remove the candles and let the cake finish hardening. Turn over and tap to unmold. You may need to cut away the plastic container with sharp scissors. Mix up another small amount of the plaster of paris mixture, this time using only half the water suggested. This will be your frosting. Color your frosting with paint or food coloring and apply to your cake with the butter knife (be careful not to get it into the candle holes or you will not be able to add those back on again. You may want to frost it with the candles already in place). Let dry completely before using for imaginative play.


Book List:
* Happy Birthday to You
by Dr. Seuss
* Some Birthday
by Patricia Polacco
* A Little House Birthday
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
* Froggy bakes a Cake
by Jonathan London

Together Tuesday - Mini Greenhouses

Can you feel it? The air is getting warmer - it was 50 degrees here in Connecticut yesterday! Have you noticed the days getting just a little longer? I am itching for spring - and hoping to have some sort of garden this year. My kids have been planting herb seeds for the past few days to grow on our windowsill.

If your little garden gnomes are like mine, they will be itching to start their gardens long before the weather is warm enough to start them outside. The solution? Mini make-shift greenhouses that take up no extra room in your house!

To make each mini greenhouse you will need soil, seeds, masking tape or packing tape, and a ziplock baggie. Fill the bottom of the baggie with soil (not too much or the greenhouse will be too heavy), plant a seed or 2, mist with a plant mister, tape the top portion of the baggie to a sunny window (be sure that the bag can still be opened and closed when you are taping the top, only tape the back of the bag to the window), and zip it closed. Beans are a great choice for this greenhouse, because they grow quickly and they will grow up and out of the bag very nicely. Your child will be able to watch as the seed sprouts, see the root system and the shoot and watch it grow quickly. You will be able to observe the water cycle as well … the wet soil causes condensation on the baggie which will “rain” down back onto the soil. If the soils starts to dry out, mist again with the plant mister. Once the plant starts bumping against the bag closure, unzip it and let the plant grow up and out of its greenhouse!

From Earth*School, Gnomes in the Garden
Copyright 2004-2010, Bonnie Elizabeth Vontz/Earth*School

Together Tuesday

It's a cloudy day here in CT today. We get lots and lots of rain in April, and this activity is always a lot of fun. We will be pulling out the paints and paper next time we have some rain drops :)

* Rain painting
Let those April showers do your painting for you! Drop small amounts of paint onto a large sheet of fingerpaint paper or freezer paper. Place the paper outside in a gentle rain and watch as the raindrops ht the paint, splattering it. Watch the water droplets pooling then dispersing, taking the colors with them. Bring your paper inside to dry. Don’t leave it out too long or all of the paint will be washed away!

Leprechaun Traps

Leprechaun Catching 101

1 - Set the scene. This year, the scene comes complete with a grass covered hill, a rope to climb up the hill and a nice little bush at the top. Picturesque, no?


2 - Set the trap. See, this unsuspecting-looking hillside is really a cardboard box with a hole cut into it. A leprechaun sized hole, no less. If you look directly into the hole, you can see that Holden has hidden some "gold" in there (no really, he actually parted company with some of his pennies for this). Absolutely irresistible for a leprechaun.


3 - Be clever. Check out the sign, it clearly states "No Leprocons". Clever. Those leprechauns will never be able to resist.


4 - Wait. That is, of course, the hardest part. Of course, it is a lot easier if you are asleep.



Aren't they peaceful when they sleep? Sigh.

Will they catch a leprechaun? Will those cunning leprechauns outsmart the Devious Duo? Tune in tomorrow to see what happens ...

*************************************************************************************

Wouldn't you know - the leprechauns visited us last night! Clever as the trap was, they did not fall in. Instead they left the following note:

Clever, clever little kids
Try to find where our gold is hid
To catch a leprechaun you set a trap
Thinking maybe we would leave you a map
There will be no map for you this year
But plant these magic seeds here
Wait a day and you never know
What will start to grow ...

As luck would have it, we had the perfect mini pots for the little seeds so they are now sitting in the window in the dining room. I am not sure the kids will make it til tomorrow to see what grows. Right now, the guesses are a gold tree (Holden's guess) and a miniature pony tree (Kenna's guess).

ETA ... I was just reminded that I never posted what the magic beans grew. Well, *someone* had a very forgetful day on St. Patrick's Day (forgot to take Kenna to gymnastics, forgot to move the car, forgot to go to the store ...). The beans ultimately grew little M&M flowers, which looked awfully adorable in the mini pots they were planted in :)