We have been having a crazy mix of rain and sun (and hail!) – just the perfect weather for rainbow-hunting!  With rainbows on our mind, I gave the girls this simple rainbow poem coloring sheet:

Natalie decided to make her poem about rainbow-colored fruit, and Delaney was using Lois Ehlert’s Planting a Rainbow for rainbow flower inspiration.

Here are the finished products – I love them!

I’m sure you and your kids could draw this yourself (and probably better than mine!), but if you want something ready-made, you can print my rainbow poem coloring sheet.

Speaking of rainbows, have you seen the awesome rainbow birthday party at Pink and Green Mama?  There are two posts full of rainbow goodness:  Decor & Snacks and Craftivities.  Good stuff!

You might also be interested in last year’s post about rainbow activities – I guess it’s becoming an annual tradition!

Happy Playing!

My girls have been looking ahead on their calendars to find the next holiday – guess it’s time to pull out some St. Patrick’s Day activities!

In the deep, dark archives of my teaching days I found this fun fill-in-the-blank book that you can make with your child, along with a happy little leprechaun to walk through the story.

1. Download and print the book. Cut the stack of pages in half (don’t cut the last page with the leprechauns!), put the top set of pages on top of the bottom set, and staple together.
2. Illustrate each page and choose words to fill in the blanks.
3. Color your leprechaun, cut out, and attach to a straw or popsicle stick.
4. Take your leprechaun through the story on his special walk!

(The book design is mine, but I’m not sure where I got that cute little leprechaun graphic – it was just a copy in my teacher stuff!)

Happy Playing!

My girls are actually at an age where they can be really helpful at the grocery store, but I have not forgotten the days of needing ample entertainment to make it through the store!  When I Spy is getting old, maybe one of these games will be a welcome addition on your next shopping trip.

Grocery Store Bingo is fun for little ones.  I like to put our bingo board in a sheet protector and bring along a dry-erase marker for marking off the things we see.  Make a board with your child’s favorite foods, or print ours for a ready-to-go activity.

Grocery Store Scavenger Hunt takes a little bit of advanced prep, but it’s lots of fun!  Choose 10 or so items from your shopping list and write a clue for each one.  Make the clues appropriate for your child’s age – these can be read-aloud by you or an older sibling at the store, or provide great reading practice for a new reader.  Attach the clue sheet to a clipboard, grab a pencil, and your child is ready to not only solve clues, but help you shop as well.  My girls love doing this, and I am always happy I took an extra five-minutes to set it up.  Here are a few clues we’ve used as examples:

• It’s a leaf we can eat and it starts with S.  We need a whole bag of it.  Choose organic if you can. (spinach)
• It’s made from milk, but it is not a liquid.  You can slice it, grate it, or melt it. (cheese)
• It is full of calcium for strong bones.  You can drink it morning, noon, or night. (milk)
• Each of these comes in two pieces, a top and a bottom.  We like to put things in the middle for a yummy lunch or dinner. (hamburger buns)

One more tip – write your clues in the general order of how you go through the store to make it easy on yourself!

How do you keep your kids busy and happy in the grocery store?

Happy Playing!

One of the girls’ favorite math activities this week was counting the house.  I gave them a list of various things around our home – windows, tables, chairs, bathtubs, etc. – and they had to go around the house counting and recording the numbers.  They loved it!  Somehow anything involving a clipboard is super-cool to them…

If you’d like to try this with your child, here’s our list to download and print.  Have fun!

Enjoy your weekend!

Delaney is still quite enamored with the Spinny Speller – I think she is still amazed that she can sound-out words!  (Read my first post about Spinny Spellers here.)

She wanted to write down all the words she was sounding out, so I made her this simple recording sheet.  I put it inside a sheet protector so we can use it over and over again.

If you would like to print one to go with your Spinny Speller, here you go!

Spinny Speller Words PDF

Enjoy the long weekend!

Here’s another one of our Summer Fun Bags – a letter and card-writing kit.

My girls love sending (and receiving!) mail, but we often forget about this activity. Hopefully this little kit will remind us! I simply gathered up odds and ends of cards, stickers, envelopes, etc. from around the house. I also included a couple index cards with helpful letter-writing words, and names of friends and family for reference. Only thing we’ll need to buy are some cute stamps!

I also created some simple summer, outdoorsy stationery and postcards using some clip art from Microsoft Word. I thought the girls would enjoy coloring and mailing these.

Outdoor Stationery:

Outdoor Postcards:

If you would like to print your own outdoor stationery and postcards, here are links to the pdf files. The postcards have separate front and back files – just print the front, then flip the paper over and run it through again to print the back (landscape orientation). I used white card stock for printing.

Outdoor Stationery PDF

Outdoor Postcards (Front) PDF

Outdoor Postcards (Back) PDF

Happy writing!

Okay, here it is!  I’ve put together all the recipes, resources, tips, and tricks that all you generous people shared with me.  I added in a few more book and internet resources, too.  I already printed my copy and I’m ready to get cooking!

Feel free to share the love and pass this along to your friends.  More veggies for all!

Happy (and Healthy) Eating!

I realize that it’s not technically Autumn yet.  It is still quite hot and summery around here.  But I am wishing for fall, so why not start with some fun Autumn Bingo!