Fun With Food!

When a child plays with food or helps with dinner, it is more likely that they will eat it. If you have a picky eater on you hands which most of use do. It's always great when you can find a way to get your child to eat veggies.

You can learn lots of things with food.

Learning colors with food: What color is the strawberry? What color is the bananas? What color is the Apple??

Learning shapes with food: What shape is the blueberry? What shape is the box of noodles? What shape is the watermelon when you cute it like this?

Learning senses with food: What does it smell like? What does it look like? What does it feel like? What does it taste like? What does it sound like? (if there is a sound)

Books and food.
Here's a list of great food books and activities you can do with preschoolers!

-Blueberries for sal by Robert McCloskey Activities: Discuss blueberries (color, shape, senses) and eat them for a snack. Have your child help you make blueberry pie.

-Bananas by Jacqueline Farmer Activities: Discuss Bananas. Make bananas splits, or bananas bread. Cut bananas into circles and count the circles.

-How do apples grow by Betsy Maestro Activities: Discuss apples. Go to an apple orchard, Make apple juice or cedar, bob for apples, Cut up apples and have them as a snack, Make apple pie, apple crisp, Apple strudel, plant an apple tree. Cut the apples in half and play with paint and stamp the apples onto paper.

-The little mouse, the red ripe strawberry, and the Big hungry bear by Don wood. Activities: Discuss strawberries, Make strawberry pie, strawberry jello, Strawberry pancakes, Strawberry Jam, Strawberry short cakes, Plant strawberries or go strawberry picking. Talk about how unique it is that the seeds are so small and on the outside of the strawberry

-The Giant Carrot by Jane Peck Activities: Discuss carrots. Make carrot cake. Feed rabbits with carrots. Cut carrots into circles and count them. Add carrots to soup or hot dishes.

-Green as a bean by Karla Kuskin Activities: Discuss green beans. Make green beans for dinner, let them help you mix up green bean casserole. Go green bean picking or buy them at a farmers market fresh so they can see the difference.

-The Enormous Potato by Aubrey Davis. Activities: Discuss Potato, and the skin. Make mash potatoes, potato chips, fries, baked potatoes! Discuss the difference between a regular potato and a sweet potato. Cut a potato in half and show them that the inside is white while the out side is brown. Cut the potatoes into little squares and thread them onto string necklaces. And let dry. After a few days the potatoes harden and shrink. And turn into beads.

-Pete's a pizza by william steig Activities: Make a pizza together by hand. Discuss all the ingredients. Count the ingredients as you place them on the pizza!

After a while it easy to come up with different activities to do with food while learning at the same time. And preschoolers love to help out and experiment with new things.


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Felt boards are cool, Felt boards are fun...

I remember growing up as a child at a public school. One of my favorite things during story time was when my teacher would drag out this HUGE felt board. She would grab all the little felt pieces and tell a story with it. She would also teach letters, numbers, shapes, emotions, learning to read, and a bunch of other things. So, I saw one in my eNasco catalog and I was like oh my gosh, I need to get one for homeschooling! The one I wanted which was one of the cheaper ones cost.....$47.95 By itself with no pieces. Now, I know now a days things are more expensive then they used to be. For example I went to the store today and got a cookbook, a sheet for my daughters twin bed, tape, a school workbook, ink for my printer, and two birthday cards. I ended up spending a whopping $120.00. But, that's besides the point. I used to spend money freely. But, now with this economy the way it is. I think twice before I splurge. If you don't have to buy it just don't. Plus I need to save for retirement and colleges. I think more before I buy things. This goes through my head...Is it a need or a want? Do I have to have it right now or can it wait? Can I find it some place cheaper? So when it came to buying that felt board my answers were.....It's more of a want then a need but, it would be nice to have. I don't need it right now, but I would want it soon. Could I find it some place cheaper, probably.

And probably was right. So I googled...how to make a felt board. All of this crazy stuff came up. Cutting out cardboard, sawing wood. Yada Yada Yada. Well the one thing I knew about felt was felt sticks to felt. So I went to Michaels! I am sure you could go to any craft store. And I bought a black 18 inch by 12 inch piece of stiff felt. It cost a whole dollar. :) Then I bought a bag of 36, 9 inch by 12 inch pieces of different colored felt. That cost $6.00 or you can buy individual pieces of felt for 29 cents a piece. It was cheaper to buy the 36 pack of felt then them individually! Then I take the black stiff felt and tape it a wall in the playroom/classroom. And TaDah felt board. With pieces for a whole 7 dollars. I saved $40.95. Now that all is left to do is cut out the felt pieces and Enjoy!




Felt pieces and story time. You can buy Felt pieces at a lot of school stores. I am sure some craft stores might even have them. eNasco has a bunch of different ones you can order. They have community helpers felt piece set for $16.95, They have if you give a mouse a cookie story set for $12.95, They have a color set for $16.95, They have an uppercase letter set for $8.95 ect.... Actually my library has felt piece sets with books that you can check out. Boy do I love the library. But, they are very easy and inexpensive to make:

The first story I made was The princess and the pea. First I cut out 20 matresses in different colors just like the story says. (good for counting too) And 1 pea. Then I found a picture of a queen, a picture of a prince, a picture of a princess and a picture of a gray cloud with a lighting bolt. (you could also draw them if you would like) I also typed up Princess and the pea and printed it off. I cut the pictures out. Then I took clear packing tape. (You can also use laminate, or clear contact paper. I find that clear packing tape works just as well as laminate or clear contact paper, but is a whole lot cheaper. And if your just doing little pieces it doesn't really matter) So, I laminated the pictures with the tape. Then I cut the pictures out again. Then I took my glue gun (which I bought at walmart for $2.00 and glues sticks for $1.50) And glued each cut out piece to the felt. Then I cut it out one more time. And TaDah it's ready for story time. Kids love putting the pieces on the felt board as you read the story to them.

FYI: I do love eNasco even though sometimes they can be a little expensive. But they have everything of anything when it comes to school supplies. There website is www.enasco.com Order the type of catalog you want from them. I personally think there catalogs are better and easier to find and look at then there website is.

Happy Storytelling!

Books to read during spring!

• The whispering Rabbit by Margaret Wise Brown
• The Clumsy Click beetle by Eric Carle


• God made spring by Thomas Nelson
• The quiet cricket by Eric Carle


• All falling down by Gene Zion


• Baby Lamb By Beth Spainjian


• Spring is here By Pamela Jane and Melissa Sweet


• Bambi Friends of the forest by Walt Disney


• Come out muskrats by Jim Arnosky


• The Golden egg by Margaret Wise Brown
• The very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle


• Cliffords Spring Clean-up by Norman Bridwell


• It's spring By Linda Glaser


• Golly Gump Swallowed a fly by Joanna Cole


• The Grouchy Lady bug By Eric Carle


• Home for a bunny by Margaret Wise Brown


• Caterpillar spring, Butterfly summer by Susan Hood


• Hurry Hurrry by Mary Manz Simon
• Jelly Beans for sale by Bruce McMillan
• The lamb and the butterfly by Arnold Sundgaard
• Hurray For spring by Patricia Hubbell
• Little Cloud by Eric Carle
• The little lamb by Judy Dunn
• Max and Maggie in Spring by Janet Craig
• Welcome spring by Jill Ackerman
• Spring goes Squish by Marty Kelley
• Mr Mead and his garden by John Vernon Lord
• Five spring fairies by Joan Holub
• The Parable lily By Liz Curtis Higgs
• Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
• Really Spring by Gene Zion
• How can you tell it's spring by Linda Masterson
• The very lonely firefly by Eric Carle
• Mouse's first spring By Lauren Thompson
• Runaway bunny By Margaret Wise Brown
• The story of miss moppet By Beatrix Potter
• Wait til the moon is full by Margaret Wise Brown
• The tale of peter Rabbit By Beatrix Potter
• Spring: Poems, Songs, Prayers By Wendy Mass and Linda Clearwater
• The tiny seed By Eric Carle
• The Busy Spider By Eric Carle
• The Whispering Rabbit By Margaret Wise Brown
• The Velveteen Rabbit By Margery Williams
• Robins: Songbirds of Spring Mia Posada
• Countdown to spring By Janet Schulman
• Everything spring by Jill Esbaum
• Hello Spring by G Studios
• What color is spring by Sean Zipf

Buy them used in good condition!

Used bookstore LEARN TO LOVE 'EM! If you need a certain book for your curriculum that your library doesn't have! Lets face it the library doesn't have all the books we need. And certain books brand new can be pretty expensive. A great way to save money is buying books used in good condition. If you have a used bookstore in your area you can check for your book there, or thrift stores/thrift sales. Twice a year my local library has a used book sale. People donate books to the library, and then the library sells the books. The money it makes from the books goes back into the library. I am all for helping the library out, by buying a few used cheap books from them. You can also look online at Ebay or Amazon. There was a book in my curriculum that they actually did have at the library. And I checked out. It was the 20th century children's book Treasury. My daughter and I loved it. I thought that it would be a great book to add to our collection. I went to boarders book store and they had it there for $40.00 I am sorry but even if the book was a must...I couldn't spend $40.00 on a children's book. (note to self if you buy a book new don't buy them from the book stores like boarders or Barnes and noble. Unless they are having a sale. Because they are the most expensive places to buy book. Look online for the best deals. Walmart and Target usually will be the cheapest locally if you don't want to order online.) So then I went to www.Sonlight.com to see how much it was through them. And it was $30.00 not to bad but, I figured I could find it cheaper. So I looked on Amazon and found it for $25.00 and then I found it in a used in great condition for $6.30! Amazing. I am very happy with the purchased and saved $33.70 if I bought it the first place I found it.

Happy home schooling and Used book finding, and money saving.

Make the Dollarstore your best friend!

I am not kidding! I used to be one of those people that wouldn't go into to dollar stores. All they had was junk. And really my house didn't need any more junk. Then one day I walked into the dollar tree with a friend. It's the type of dollar store where everything is actually a dollar. And I was amazed at the stuff they had. (at this point I hadn't decided yet if I was going to home school) They had a whole section of party supplies. They are all cute too nothing you would think came from a dollar store. They even had theme party supplies. Like princess, Hawaiian, Sesame Street, ect... Stuff that you would go into a party store and buy for 8 dollars they had for a dollar. Let me tell you the last few Birthdays I saved a bunch of money buying most of my decorations there. Then they have a section of toys too. Which is pretty much junk! But, good for goodie bags and stuff when your having a party. Then they have a cleaning section, a candle section, a decoration section, a dishes section, a book and coloring book section and so on. They even have a school supply section. After I decided to home school, I am proud to say I shop there regularly. It saves you a bunch of money, they even have name brand stuff too. Last time I went I bought, A thing of water color paint, Paint brushes, 200 med flash cards, Googley Eyes (for crafts), A dry Erase clock. (it has a clock with the big hand and the little hand that moves and a dry erase part so you can write out the time. Manuscript Tablet for learning to write, 40 sheets of construction paper, two 1 inch binders, Sheet protectors for the binders, Magnifying glass set of three, 2 pairs of kid scissors. And it cost me a grand total of $12.00 If i went to walmart it would probably cost me about $35.00 And at a craft store about $47.00. And I know this because before I started shopping at the dollar tree, Walmart and Michaels were my go to stores. Until I couldn't believe how much money I was spending. The dollar tree I go to also has flash cards of shapes, words, or colors. Usually with a cartoon character on them like Mickey Mouse or Pooh. I have bought those before and my daughter is very good at knowing all of her colors and shapes. They also have school work books for math and writing. Those also have Disney characters on them. And I have looked inside of them and they look pretty good. I haven't bought any of those yet though because my daughter is only 3 and we haven't gone over writing yet. They also have tons and tons of coloring books. Cool ones like whinnie the pooh, sesame street, my little pony, spider man, the hulk, Disney Cars, Disney princesses, Precious moments, Even bible ones. It's nice going there and only spending $1.00 on a huge Disney princess coloring book verses at walmart spending $3.00 And nothing is wrong with any of this stuff and it's all brand new. They also have dollar sections in some places like Target, and Michaels. They are fun to check out and when your at those stores, And sometimes you find something you want or need. But, don't go to these stores just for the dollar section. It's not that great! But, if your already there it's worth looking through.

Happy Homeschooling and dollar shopping!

Curriculum and your library

Find a great curriculum. By a company or one of your own. My daughter and I so far really like sonlights p 3/4 curriculum! We started using it shortly after she turned 3. I recommend saving your money and finding all the books at the library. It's kind of hard work...and can be a pain looking for all of your books. If the book you need is already been checked out you have to wait for it. Also always making sure they are all back on time so you don't end up with a fine. If you still need the book you have to worry about renewing it. But trust me, it saves saves saves you a lot of money. And it isn't as hard as you think it will be or what people tell you it is. Yes it might be easy to buy all the books and have them all at your house, you don't have to go anywhere, You don't have to wait for a book to be returned if you need it, and you don't have to search through all those books to find the one. I have been going to the library every other day so, it's not really a problem for me. I like my library it's fun. Plus they have actives for kids. Like story time, game night, family fun night and so on. It's all free and it's a good way to have my daughter interact with other children her age. If I need a book I will put on hold a few weeks before I plan on needing it. So if it's being checked out, As soon as it's returned i will get it. The books they don't have you can put in a request for them to buy it. I have learned the library is one of the most wonderful places in the world. Think all the money you save on buying curriculum after curriculum, you could spend on a vacation, or field trips. Or fun things like arts and crafts! (which your going to buy any way) Plus while your there you can get fun cd's for music class. Or you can get movies for the books you are reading. Or a casual movie to enjoy with the family. They also have books on tape, which is fun for little ones. And spices up the reading a little bit. I also just recently found out they have kits you can check out. At my library they have a music kit that is for grades preschool-3rd grade. It comes with 14 books, 7 videos, 4 cds, 4 cassette tapes, 4 sticks and two bells. They also have story theme kits, that comes with a bunch of books with the same theme, Movies that relate to theme and books, Puppets, Musical cds, and toys. You can also get books that aren't on the curriculum, just to read for fun. It's always good to have a few extra books handy, for cuddling on the couch. Plus anything that interested your child. It's nice to go to the library and have your child just pick out the books they want. It makes them excited about reading. The possibilities are endless.

Happy Homeschooling and Enjoying the wonderful gift the library!!