Wednesday, August 31, 2011

HAPPY Humpday: Message In a Bottle

A Weekly Wednesday Post
Highlighting a Bit of GOOD News going on in the World
(all pictures and stories include their original links)



I loved this recent story about about a 10 year old boy who wrote a message in a bottle (which included his email), tossed it into the ocean off the coast of Oregon (with little hope anyone would find it), and one year later a 9 year old girl in Hawaii found it!
The two now exchange emails regularly.

How cute is that! 



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Saturday, August 27, 2011

Acting Out Our Books While Reading

Lately, L and I have been reading his books and acting them out at the same time as best we can, using whatever toys, etc. that help to create the story in live action.

The first one we did was
CHICKA CHICKA BOOM BOOM

We used L's ABC letters and his homemade magnets to act out the story while I read the book.
L found the letters for me, which I had arranged in order on the side. 



"A told B and B told C...I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree!"




Our 2nd book we did was coincidentally
 another alphabet book which L LOVES


We used his firetruck and some foam ABC letters to act out the story while I read


Several letters have "speaking parts" in the story so he would have to find the letter that was speaking before we could act out that letters part.


This is so much fun to do and lots of letter recognition and reinforcement going on!
We'll be doing lots more books like this..with all kinds of different educational aspects.

But of course it would also be fun to act out stories such as
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
Goldie Locks and the Three Bears
The Three Little Pigs

(which I just realized all have 3 in them...)

Linking up with


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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

200 Followers...I'm Celebrating with a BIG Giveaway!

I want to say a huge thank you to my followers!
It is so awesome to be able to have this blog as a journal of my family's fun times, but also to be able to share it with all of you! I've received such kind words, inspiration and support from so many of you and I appreciate it so much!

I think this calls for a
GIVEAWAY!

I always knew I wanted to instill a passion for art in my children's lives but when my son L was old enough to start experimenting with art, besides coloring and finger painting I was unsure of what else we could do. Then I found MaryAnn Kohl's books (art ideas for children). A plethera of fantastic ideas was at my fingertips and since then our lives have been filled with such fun!
My very first MaryAnn Kohl book was

First Art
Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos

and I'd like to give it to one lucky winner!
Plus
50 DOLLAR GIFT CARD TO
HOBBY LOBBY!
(which you can use to shop online as well)


 The first few activities we did from the book
Awww L was so little!
(click the pics to be taken to post)


Clean Mush


Monoprints


Fly Swatter Painting



This book really opened my eyes to the wiiiiide range of art experiences that children can enjoy.
I'd like to give this book to one lucky winner but I also encourage any of you with young children to check out MaryAnn Kohls books for a neverending supply of art activity inspiration!


How to win giveway

You'll be entered once if you
Leave a comment on this post about an artsy activity you've done with your kids or would like to try.

You'll be entered twice if you
"Follow" my blog and leave a comment (as specified above)
(Afterall, this is a giveaway inspired by my awesome followers!)


To be entered 3 TIMES
1."Follow" my blog,
2. Choose an activity i've done with my son L (Something new for you) and try it with your kids. Then, blog about it and send me the link in the comments of this post. If you don't have a blog, you could email me a picture of the experience and then leave me a comment on this post telling me you've emailed me your entry.
playcreateexplore@gmail.com 
I'd can't wait to see all the fun you guys have!

Important!

To help me keep up with how many enteries i'll need to do for each of you, when you comment on this post for your entry, let me know if you are a follower as well.
You'll only be posting one comment for your entry based on the rules above.
Oh, and don't forget to give me an email address where I can get ahold of you if you win. I tried to cover everything but if your still unsure how to enter or how to comment, send me an email first :)! Thanks yall!


GIVEAWAY WILL END
9/24/2011
when I will have L draw a number (corresponding to your comment) from a bucket

Good luck!


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HAPPY Humpday: Yarn Bombing

A Weekly Wednesday Post
Highlighting a Bit of GOOD Going on in the World
(all pictures and stories include their original links)

So...i've just recently Learned about Yarn Bombing. Basically, it's legal textile street art...people stealthily sneaking out at night and covering "things" (seriously...anything) in beautiful works of knitted or crocheted art. This totally makes me smile because the artist are not defacing property, and it just seems like a whole lotta LOVE (in a modern day hippy love and peace kinda way) goes into these projects. Makes me wish I knew how to knit!



The yarn bombed trees are my favorite!























Yarn bombing has even made it here to Arkansas!!
In 2010 during ArtsFest in Conway, a student yarn bombed a downtown clock.




Hope you enjoyed the first of many
HAPPY HUMPDAYS!



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