April Ideas

I try to do other things with Hailey, besides the crafts that I take pictures of to share here.  So, I thought I’d give a brief summary of the non-craft activities we have done or that I plan to do with Hailey this month.

• I created cards with pictures of adult and baby animals on them.  Then we matched up the babies with their mommies.
• We are going to plant some grass seed and take pictures as it grows.  (It’s still been a little bit chilly here, but hopefully we can start this in the next couple of weeks.)
• Play matching and sorting games with these umbrellas.
• I have a Randy the Raindrop story that I am going to use on a flannel board (that I still need to make).  I’ll take pictures of it when I actually do it.
• Make dice with farm animals on them.  Then sing “Old MacDonald” and roll the die to see which animal we will use for that verse.



• Raindrop writing- practice the letters in Hailey’s name using these raindrops.  The reason the raindrops are white is that is the color I am focusing on this month.

 That’s all for now.  I’ll be back to share more ideas as I come up with them. 

Tags: activities for april, farm animal activities, free toddler activities, matching, sorting, srping activities

It’s A Recipe!

So, when I started this blog I said I was going to post some recipes.  And I’m sure all of my faithful readers have been waiting for me to post a recipe or two.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I haven’t even told anyone about this blog yet, so I’m pretty sure I don’t have any readers at all.  hee hee.  Anyways, in case I do one day have some readers, I thought I should keep my word and post a recipe or two.

The recipe that I’m sharing is Rich’s favorite meal that I make.  I make it almost every Sunday.  I start it in the morning when I get up and then that afternoon after church we always have a nice big Sunday dinner.  It literally takes me less than five minutes to get it started.

Beef Pot Roast

(1) 2 to 2 1/2 pound boneless beef chuck pot roast
3/4 cup water or tomato juice (I use water)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons instant beef bouillon granules
Small onion chopped
Seasoning Salt to taste
Garlic Salt to taste
1 teaspoon Parsley

Place pot roast into your slow cooker.
Mix Worcestershire sauce and beef bouillon granules into water, pour over pot roast.
Add chopped onion.
Sprinkle pot roast with seasoning salt and garlic salt to taste.
Sprinkle with Parsley.

Cover and cook on high-heat setting for 5-6 hours or on low-heat setting for 10-12 hours.

Sometimes I also add baby carrots (put in slow cooker first and then put pot roast on top of the carrots).

Then we have mashed potatoes, rolls, and salad. Rich always makes gravy using the juices from the pot roast too. 

Yummy!!

Tags: Beef Pot Roast, slow cooker recipe

Let's Go Fly A Kite

Today we worked on making a kite that will be the right size for Hailey to be able to use.

What you need to make the kite:

• construction paper
• crepe-paper streamers
• yarn
• stapler and tape
• glue
• scissors
• hole puncher
• markers, crayons, stickers, stamps

Directions:

• Have child decorate a piece of construction paper using markers, crayons, stickers, stamps, etc.
• Glue or tape the crepe-paper streamer to the side of the paper that has not been decorated.
• Roll paper into a tube shape and staple it in place.  I then put tape on it to add extra reinforcement as well as to protect Hailey from getting cut on the staples.
• Punch four evenly spaced holes on the tube, on the opposite side of the streamers.
• Thread two eight-inch lengths of yarn through the holes so that they crisscross and then tie them in place.
• Then tie one end of an 18-inch piece of yarn around the center of the crisscross (I did not use an 18-inch piece of yarn, I used a much shorter piece)

Adding some stickers to her paper.

Coloring her paper

“Look mom, I colored my hand too!”

The kite when all finished.

When we have a day with some nice weather we’ll take it outside to try it out.  I’ll be sure to post some pictures of it.

Tags: free toddler activity, kite

The Letter A

For the first two weeks of April I am focusing on the letter A with Hailey as we work towards recognizing letters.  Since being able to recognize letters is essential to being able to read, I think it’s important to start early with teaching letters. 

The possibilities are endless for teaching letters.  A few of the activities I’ll be doing with her include:

• Coloring a letter “A” paper
• Letter “A” games on Leapfrog toys
• While reading books point on the letter “A”
• Use Starfall Internet game
• Letter hunt
• Make the letter A using various toys- blocks, Legos, Playdough, etc.

Tags: free toddler activity, teaching the letter a