Happy New Year 2010!

Wow! Christmas time seems like it takes forever to arrive and then "Bam" it's gone! It happens so fast and ends so quickly, to me anyway! Now we are on the threshold of a New Year! Another Wow! 2010, can you believe it!?

So much has gone on this last year in Our lives and the Nations lives. Good and Bad, but mostly I'd like to think Good. I like the little diddy or song that says "You can't have a Rainbow, without a little rain!" I personally would like "less" rain this year, but "more" rainbows! ;) God is funny that way, because you can't have those wonderful moments of beautiful rainbows unless you have a little rain first. I guess we really do appreciate them far more that way. He always does know what's best! ;)

May God bless each of Us in this New Year with Rainbow Blessings, Excellent Health, Butterflies in Your Tummy Love, Safety for Our Families and Country, and Extreme Abundance!

                       

                                    

            Thank You For Blessing My Life With Your Friendship!

                                                

                                            Ms. Laura

                            Make Everyday A Child's Play Day!

I SPY Christmas Ornaments

I LOVE "I Spy" books! They are written by Jean Marzollo and we have had almost all of them! But sadly as my kids grew, I passed the books on to their younger family members. I still Love them, though! I guess I'll  never grow up...is that bad? I don't think so!

                                                            

I like just looking at all the wonderful goodies that Jean uses in her books. I always wondered how the "I Spy" books where made, did you too? Where in the world does she find all of those neat things? Where does she keep them when she isn't using them for her books? Questions I pondered!


Well, in all actuality the wonderful photographs are created by Walter Wick and then Jean writes the riddles that go with them! What a wonderful collaboration!

On Jean's site her fans came up with a great Christmas gift idea! Ms.Pamela Squires and Ms.Ranee Lyman Valentine made "I Spy Ornaments!" They are truly fabulous! She has even made up a little poem to go with the gift! (see below)


Using empty craft ornament balls she filled one half way with sparkling Polypellets, which she found at Walmart in the craft section. I would think you could also use artificial snow if you couldn't find the pellets. Then she put in her "I Spy" items, glued the halves together, added a beautiful Christmas ribbon and the poem.
  

© Ranee Lyman Valentine and Pamela Squires 2009

Here is the poem :
"I spy 2 snowflakes, a star from the night, A golden ring, and a Christmas light; A holly leaf, a snowman, a little white dove, 2 bells, a present, and a heart full of love."


For more information on this neat-o Christmas craft click here !

UPDATED LINKS 12/10:

This Little Project

I Spy Ornament Activity Book

Craft Goodies I Spy

I Spy Flash Game

I Spy / Scholastic Printables and Activities

Scholastic I Spy Games

Printable From 19th Century Children's Book

First School / I Spy Shapes and Game

Highlights Kids / Hidden Pictures

                                                  

                         Merry Christmas Blessings to You and Your Family!

                                                                      

               Ms. Laura

                                                                 

                      

                                                              

My Candy Wreaths Are Ready!

  

I love making these because they are so pretty, but also because they are so quick! A fellow teacher taught me how to do this years ago, during nap-time! Since then, I've made them almost every year. They are great for every occasion, but I just Love them at Christmas time!

You can use wire coat hangers as the base, but I can never get my circle to look like a circle! So I buy my rings from the craft store. They come in all sizes, from ever so tiny to super big. I get the 6 in ones for my smaller wreaths and the 10 or 9 inch ones for my larger ones. Do not get anything bigger, unless you just want a "Super" big wreath and you have lots of candy!;)

I am not very good at giving written directions, yet...so I've found a link that tells you everything you'll need to know here . I hope you have as much fun as I do making these! Everyone loves getting them too, so you will be a big hit..as always I'm sure! :)

Let me know if you like this idea, by leaving a comment! 

                                                            

 Have Very Merry Christmas!

    Ms. Laura

                                       

On the 9th Day...

On the 9th Day of Christmas....
OK, I know it's not the 9th day of Christmas, but it is 9 days until Christmas! ;) This lovely blogger from s*e*i Lifestyle : Paper Beyond Scrapbooking had the most interesting idea....something I could actually do in no time at all! It's a "Paper" Stocking! Read all the details here : On the 9th Day...

Merry Christmas!

Ms. Laura

Evan-Moor Educational Publishers at eNotes: Documents tagged with early childhood

If you don't know it yet, I am a "Freebie" lover! I know that everyone enjoys something that is Free, am I right? Yes indeed! Well, while I was searching for something great to share with you guys, I came upon this neat little site....eNotes. They have lots of Free goodies, mostly samples, but really good ones! ;) So, let me know if you find something that you love too!

Evan-Moor Educational Publishers at eNotes: Documents tagged with early childhood


Ms. Laura

Surprise Ball Christmas Ornaments

A wonderful blogger , "Alpha Mom" has posted the neatest ornament and I just had to share it! I myself have always wanted to make these cuties for my kiddo's but never did! :( My guess is, mine would never have turned out as fabulous as hers though!

This would have been perfect for my Sisters kids when they were little. She has 6 boys and it was hard trying to come of with ideas every year that wouldn't break me!

                   http://www.alphamom.com/holiday/2009/12/surprise_ball_christmas_orname.php

So, pop over there and check this out along with all the other wonderful ideas she has to share! When you do, leave a comment and tell her that "We" sent you! 

                                                                      Merry Christmas!
                                                                        Ms. Laura

A FREE Printable Storybook Link

I was visiting a site that Teach Preschool told me about when...What did my wandering eyes see...A FREE Storybook that you can print out! Oh yeah! I'm ALL about the FREE, don't ya know! You can even include a child's name, Boy or Girl! Super Cool!

http://www.25daysofholidayfun.com/

Merry Christmas!

Ms. Laura

Making a Garland from Cranberries and Popcorn

My parents didn't have a lot of money when I was little, but my Mom always made the holidays fun for us kids! One of my favorite Christmas memories was making cranberry and popcorn garlands for the tree.

First, Mom would buy fresh cranberries from our local grocery store and then we would cook lots of popcorn, right from the stove and in a big pot! Not from a bag tossed in the microwave! Come on now, how many times do kids make popcorn the old fashion way these days! This in itself will be a memorable event!



To string the Cranberries and Popcorn you will also need a large needle and some dental floss or fishing line. Watch out with those needles with the kiddo's though...I do remember pricking my fingers ...a lot! We used plain old sewing thread when were where kids too, but I think the latter will work better. It won't break as easily and won't twist up as much either.

And then, away you go, stringing the berries and the popcorn! My sister and I would sit for hours (could have been shorter...you know...being a kid and all, lol) just making this garland. What a great memory!

 

 

Remember to Make Everyday, A Child's Play Kinda Day!

Merry Christmas!!

Ms. Laura

The Princess and The Frog

Need a good movie to watch with you kids this holiday? December 11, 2009 , "The Princess and The Frog" rated G, will come out in theaters. It "looks" like it will be some good clean fun! Something movie markers NEED to make more of! Don't you agree?

The movie is set in New Orleans! Yeah! This is my neck of the woods. Being from Louisiana is starting to be a rather positive "thang" lately! Lots of producers are beginning to see what a great and diverse area we truly are!

The story is based on "The Frog Prince" but with a twist! Ya know anything that is set in Louisiana has to have that! Am I right? The film, "The Princess and the Frog," is about an African-American young lady named Tiana who meets a frog prince trying to become human again. Their chance encounter and a kiss lead them into the lively Louisiana bayous. Here is a little clip...too funny! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvUJka2jkSA&feature=player_embedded

                                                          Have a "Hoppy" Holiday!!
                                                                  Ms. Laura

It's Christmas Time!!

Ho-Ho-Ho! It's that time of year again, Christmas! I love this season, don't you? I found a little happy to get us started on this whirlwind holiday! Turn up your speakers! :)

Oh What a Merry Christmas Day(Mickey's Christmas Carol)




                                                                           Merry Christmas!
                                                                                 Laura

Great Ideas From a Wonderful Gal!

Cathie Filian has been a favorite of mine since I found her on HGTV, hosting the show"Creative Juice!" My cable carrier or the HGTV peeps don't have many craft shows, that I find anyway, mostly House Decorating stuff! OK, but not what I want to see! Cathie does say her show comes on in the mornings, but I'm usually off at work! Go figure!

She has some wonderful ideas that I wanted to share with ya'll and I know you are going love her too! 
Here are a few to get your juices going! Yum,Yum and Fun, Fun!

http://tiny.cc/hvhHX

Orange and Clove Candle Holders

                                                             http://tiny.cc/roGW8

Thanksgiving Tips and Tricks

http://tiny.cc/3mOh2

Enjoy!

                                                                             Laura

Happy Thanksgiving Holidays Everybody!!

Can you believe it! Thanksgiving holidays are here and the kids are out of school for a whole week! What to do, What to do? How will I keep them entertained and busy? My kiddo's are 13 and 15 and they say they are too old for "My" idea of fun! HA! I love making goodies and decorating for the holidays! My kids...not so much!

We used to have loads of fun when they where younger or at least I thought we were! I wanted to make memories for them and hopefully when they have their own kid's they will remember what fun we did have! Right now they are "Teenagers!" UGH! Just when I thought we could do more, because they are older and we can "go" places, do more things and make more things...they become the "T" word! Oh, what a twisted turn of fate! Just kidding! I'm gonna "make" them have fun if it kills us all! :)

Make Today A Child's Play Day!

Laura

Domino Day

Saturday, November 14, 2009 was Domino Day! So, here are some interesting links on the history of Domino Day and some fun links to make your own!

I saw this on ABC News and found it on YouTube! It is taken in the Netherlands and set a new world record  using over 4 million dominoes! Wow!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X8uW2ezFKY

Domino Day 2009

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domino_Day


The 2009 event is entitled 'The World in Domino - The Show with the Flow'. It was the 11th edition of the show; it showed different aspects of the world with the display moving from continent to continent. The design uses 4.8 million dominoes. 4,345,028 dominoes were needed to be toppled in order to break the standing world record. Even though part of the final section of the piece did not fall, and three builder's challenges failed, the amount of dominoes toppled was 4,491,863 and the record was broken.

How to Play Dominoes:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/dominoes/rules.shtml

Printable Domino Games:
Here you will find lots of different types of dominoes to print out for free. Themes include shapes, math, letters,
shapes and much more
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/dominoes/

Make Your Very Own Customized Domino's from dltk.com. Use these for a Thanksgiving Day theme:
http://www.dltk-cards.com/dominos/index.htm

First-School:
Domino math printable activities and worksheet to learn to count, to write numerals, and basic addition equations to number 12. These are suitable for preschool, kindergarten, and first grade.
http://www.first-school.ws/theme/printables/dominoes-math.htm

Billy Bear 4 Kids has a set of free Bear Printable Domino's:
http://www.billybear4kids.com/worksheets/start-animals.html

Lucy Learns has lots of excellent printable Domino Games. They also have a Domino Generator so you can upload your Own images! Now that sounds like fun! Image having a Domino's game with the whole family on it for Thanksgiving Day! I'm going to try this one!
http://www.lucylearns.com/domino-printables.html

Printable Kids Trivia Games Information. This one is my favorite, because it has lots and lots of wonderful links to Free printable games! Awesome!:
http://www.printable-calorie-quiz-weblink.co.cc/free-printable-dominoes-games/#

Have Fun and Make Today  a Child's Play Day!

Happy 40th Birthday Sesame Street!

Can you believe that Sesame Street is 40 years old! I remember watching that show as a kid, then later as a young adult with my class of  Pre-k, and then with my own kids! I loved Grover, Big Bird and Ernie! My favorite song was "Rubber Duckie" and my favorite clip was The "Hh" with the horse who couldn't talk ..."with all this hair in is mouth!" 

Elmo was my son's favorite! The theme for his 1st birthday was "Elmo!" I couldn't find anything with Elmo on it for the party, of course, so I ended up making all the stuff myself! But the next year, Elmo was everywhere! My luck!

"Loga" got his first Elmo that day and he carried that little guy everywhere! Elmo taught him how to sing the alphabet and they became forever friends! Ahhh, memories!

I spotted by the Official Sesame Street site and guess what? If you order one of the 40th Birthday items , you get a FREE t-shirt with the Google Sesame Street Logo on it! I got mine!!

Sesame Street Store:
http://store.sesamestreet.org/Dept.aspx?cp=21415_21453

Is That Cool or What!?

Here are some great links for Sesame Street Ideas! Enjoy!

Sesame Street
* http://www.sesamestreet.org/games/art%20printables

dltk Crafts
* http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/cartoons/sesamestreet.html

Coloring Pages For Kids
* http://coloringpagesforkids.info/sesame-street-coloring-

PBS Kids
* http://pbskids.org/sesame/


Here are some Old fun Clips of the Early years of Sesame Street from IMDb : The Internet Movie Database!

Ernie has to set Rubber Duckie down to play
*http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi3513122841/

Ernie sings to his rubber duck in the bath.
*http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi660602905/

Twelve ladybugs have a picnic.
* http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi1786511385/

Please fill free to share this Blog with your friends!
Thanks!
Laura


Make Everyday Child's Play Day!

Parenting | Book Reviews | Obvious Letters

Parenting | Book Reviews | Obvious Letters

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Parenting | Ages

Another great read from Familycorner.com! 

Reading to Very Young Children

Sure, reading is critical to a child's success and development and we know experts advise us to start reading to babies as early as six months. But no one said it would be easy! In this article, find some tips to help offset the frustration factor of reading to a baby. Click on the link below to read the rest of this article!

http://www.familycorner.com/parenting/ages/young_readers.shtml
 
 

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Fall

Fall & Autumn Crafts for Kids | Plastic Cup Crow

I found this cutie craft on Familycorner.com along with some other great Fall ideas! It's a Cup! Now how easy is that! Love it!

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Last Minute Halloween Printables!

Well, it's almost here...Halloween! Yikes! Do you have enough candy? Is your costume ready? Are your kids costumes ready? Do you have your treat bags ready for the kids? Here is a good idea , make  your kids "loot" bag out of an old pillow case! Just let the kiddo's decorate it and "Bam!" or "Boo!" you've got a huge bag to carry all that yummy candy in! Plus it won't break !

Here are a few last minute Printables I've found for you! You could use them in your classroom or just have some on hand when the Grand-kids stop by! Print all of them and you could make a little gift book for your youngkins!

Halloween Jack - o' - Lantern Coloring Page:
http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/halloween-jack-o-lantern-coloring-page/

Halloween Sign of Spider Webs Coloring Page:
http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/halloween-sign-of-spider-webs-coloring-page/
 
Halloween Bats Coloring Page:
http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/halloween-bats-coloring-page/
 
Treat Kids to Fun Coloring Page:
http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/treat-kids-to-fun-coloring-page/
 
Halloween Message Game Coloring Page:
http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/halloween-message-game-coloring-page/
 
Stand Up Witch Coloring Page:
http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/stand-up-witch-coloring-page/
 
Have "Spook"-tacular Halloween! ;)
 

Scholastic Marketing

Hi Y'all!

Yes, if you didn't already know, I am a southerner! I just received this advertisement from Scholastic and No, I am not a paid spokesmen for the product. But, I have used Similasan before and by Joe, it Works! Finally an over-the-counter medicine for Ear-aches! Some of you may not know about it, so that is why I've posted it.

My daughter gets ear infections every time she gets a cold! We all hoped she would grow out of this, but she hasn't yet. She just turned "13" and guess what... she had a to go to the Doctors ON her birthday! Bless her heart! Making the big "13" , becoming a real teenager and being sick was not exactly what she had in mind! It was not her idea of a very good birthday present!

Turns out she had a Sinus infection, which also turned into an Ear infection! Thank heavens for the medication and the Similasan. It really helped with the pain and for that I was extremely happy! So was she....Bless Her Heart! :)

Monster's Everywhere!

I am so excited about my favorite book, "Where The Wild Things Are", being turned into a movie! I have loved that book , since I started teaching Pre-K at the young age of 18! Oh yeah, that was a long time ago! ;)

I even used the book for a class project, during my short college days. The class was Voice and Diction, the project was to show the use of inflection in speaking. We had to choose an article or something and read it out loud, using what we had learned. What a prefect book for that! The book was a hit and I got an A! :)

It was the scariest thing I had ever done, at the time! Standing up in front of a classroom full of people, was not something I was very good at! I had to put in ALL that inflection and emotion to get the grade! I felt like a big goof-ball! But we get older and life throws us other scary things...like kids and husbands!

So in honor of the Movie, "Where The Wild Things Are" here are some great links for totally awesome craft ideas and lesson plans!

United Teaching Discoveries

http://discoveries.unitedteaching.com/2009/08/where-wild-things-are-crafts-and.html

Fantasy Jr.

http://www.fantasyjr.com/where-the-wild-things-are-lesson-plans-and-movie-news/

Craftster.org

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.phpaction=tags;sa=showtopics;tag=where_the_wild_things_are

Preschool Education

http://www.preschooleducation.com/amonster.shtml

Small Step

http://www.smallstep.gov/kids/html/printable_rumpus.html

Making Learning Fun

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/WhereTheWildThingsArePrintables.htm

Make Everyday A "Child's Play" Kinda Day!

Laura

Halloween Fun Ideas

I received this update from my ALL time favorite magazines, Family Fun today! One of my "Parents" (Mom of a child I taught) gave me a subscription to them years ago and I've been a faithful follower ever since!

This week one of their videos is how to make Spooky Decorations! The first one is "Witch Crash!" It is so easy and quick! I'm going to give it a try myself...pictures soon to follow! If you do it as well, send me a photo and I'll post it on the blog! ;)


So sorry, I removed the video because it changed from the Witch Crash to something else! Too Sad! :(


If you have friends you think would be interested in this blog, please feel free to pass it on!



Laura

Today Is The Day!

Yes, It truly is! My first post on the blog! How cool is that! It has been a while since I signed up to join the many excellent bloggers out there and yes I am scared! Fears of "What will I say?," "What will I do?" I have followed great bloggers, but never tried my own hand at it! My goal is to give parents, teachers or anyone with young people in their lives helpful ideas and fabulous links to make "Learning Child's Play!" Please come along with me on this journey in the Blogging world!