How to Mail a Hug

My poor sweet little grandma in NC is having a rough time.  I wanted to cheer her up, so I poked around Pinterest for a little inspiration, and came up with this.  Mailing her a hug!  I can't remember which site I originally found it on, but basically you just lay your kiddo on a long piece of paper with arms outstretched, and trace them.  Then decorate, mail, and Presto!  Grandma's day is brightened:)

Sorry, these photos are awful...

Cameron colored them and put stickers on himself:)  He really got a kick out of this activity, and then demanded that it was Daddy's turn to 'draw Cameron.'  So Dad laid him down long-ways and traced Cam's whole body.  I *cannot* believe how skinny he looks!  Promise I feed him...!!!  Anyway, I taped it up to the door in his little classroom and he has commented on it every day since:)  I love how he wanted to pile up all the stickers in one spot.

Hammer Time

Hehe, I couldn't help it:)

So my sweet hubby was crossing some things off his honey-do list by hanging some pictures up for me the other day.  Of course, little man saw Dad using his hammer and then it was *impossible* to keep him from beating on the walls, too!  "I use my hammer like Daddy!"

I gave Cam his little wooden hammer and re-directed him to his tool bench, but no, he wanted to pound on the walls.  Like Daddy.  So, in a stroke of genius,  I grabbed a scrap 4x4 out of the back yard (ya, we're ghetto like that) and hammered some nails into it.  Ta Dah!  Now Cameron has his very own 'wall' with nails in it to beat on!  He loves it so much:)  He pretends he is building a castle or fixing the roof:)

After a few minutes of some really cute Father and Son time, Cameron decided he needed to go get some more tools.  He grabbed his little tool box, and (safety first!) his hard hat and 'gwasses.'  

Since that was so fun, Cameron went on to get his construction worker vest out of the Dress Ups bin:)

Cameron was insistant that Mom or Dad wear the hard had for safety:)  So I grabbed his other hard hat (with the head lamp) that we got from the Natural History Museum.  He had so much fun with it!  But it's a little big so he can't lean his head forward or back, lol

Look at his right foot.  I call that his 'concentration toes' :)  Also, look at those curls!!  Little man just got out of the bath when we took these pics.  I know he needs a trim, but I love those curls so much!!

Montessori Corner: Autumn Theme

Remember a looooong time ago when I very first was interested in Montessori method and put up Cam's first shelves in the living room?  That area has, over time, become cluttered and stagnant.  Cam really doesn't even play with the toys that are there.  And, of course, it's in my freakin' living room so it is time for a re-do!!  Behold cameron's new Autumn themed Montessori Corner.  Complete with tray works.  And basket works and clipboard works...:)

 This one is hard to see, sorry, but it is a Play Doh activity with Thanksgiving-ish cookie cutters and orange dough

 $4 on clearance at Michaels!  We will be making felt leaf wreaths

 My only Thanksgiving book.  How sad!  So I threw in the Snowy Day and some leftover activity binders I made for Cam when I was out of state.  In the back is a Thanksgiving placemat for kids, with games and crayon.  

 Some fine motor works:  small clothespins and a beaded bracelet 

 This one is kind of a secret for now:)  Remember how we are hosting Thanksgiving this year?  I wanted to give something homemade to our guests/family.  My first idea was to paint cute little turkeys from the Wood Connection and set them at each place, but I got so distracted I only ended up leaving with two!!  So, I figured maybe Cameron can make place cards with stickers and stamps on foam sheets.  Should be cute!!

 A re-appearing counting work:)  Cameron still loves this one, and is so excited to show it to us when he completes it.  So, I traded out the brightly colored pom poms for earth tones

 Cutting Practice.  We colored these print outs together, many thanks to makinglearningfun.com.  He is actually probably ready to graduate from the toddler scissors, but I want him to be able to enjoy the activity and not feel pressured or frustrated.

 Shape Matching.  Printed these, colored them, and laminated them.  

 Toilet paper roll Pilgrims and Indians!  A certain someone still needs to finish coloring them before we cut 'em out and glue 'em on:)

 Here's another shot of the magnet board that lives in the living room.  The die cuts are from the Dollar store, I magnetized them:)  There is also a leaf/shadow matching activity at the bottom.  It is also making another appearance from previous units.  But Cam likes it and is really good at it!

Alphabet Unit

As I mentioned in a previous post, I set up new works for Cam in his classroom that focused on Chika Chika and the Alphabet.  Below are pictures of his Alphabet bookcases and activities.  

Once I started putting together the tray works, I realized that most everything from this shelf and the Chika Chika shelves were worksheets.  I really try to have tons of hands-on stuff for Cam, he gets really bored with the one dimensional stuff.  After scouring Pinterest and rummaging through my craft stores, this is what we came up with:)

These are great little two piece puzzles that are a letter and corresponding object.  Cam liked these OK; I just had to make sure and have a flat surface for him to work on.  Poor guy would get so frustrated trying to put the puzzles together on a rug:)

ABCs go with 123s, right?  I originally wanted this shelf to be dedicated to both, but I was only able to squeeze in a few counting works.  We have had this puzzle for a loooong time. Just to make it a little more difficult, I grabbed his Thomas the Train counting cards to match to the numbers.

Cameron has REALLY enjoyed these Alphabet nesting blocks!  That is as close I can financially get to the Montessori pink tower, lol.  They are made by Melissa and Doug, so they are really sturdy.  Cam likes to stack up and jump through them:)

This is kind of a silly little work, but I thought it might be a good hands-on number recognition activity.  We have had those letter magnets for a while, and most are missing.  That is why the orange board doesn't have a full alphabet:)  The letters are die cuts from the Dollar Store.  

Another letter puzzle!  He actually really liked this one, and sang his ABCs over and over while he played with it:)  Under the letter piece is a picture of a corresponding object (under N is a nest) so it's good sounding practice, too.

Got this little foam puzzle from the Dollar Store a while back, and he plays with it every day.   

Awesome interactive toy from the MIL!  It talks, plays music, teaches letters and their sounds... Cam loves it!

Another Dollar Store ABC puzzle.  So far, not too much interest in this one. 

Our Alphabet books:)  The Animal Alphabet one is really cool, and of course he loves the Thomas letter cards

Here's a quick shot of the binder I put together for him.  The printables came from Confessions of a Homeschooler, and are just numbers 1-10.  ABC stickers, a Dri Erase marker, and a Thomas coloring book make it lots of fun!!

The last time I set out sand for an activity, I SWORE I would never do it again.  Green play sand allllll through the carpet, tracked through the house, even in my dryer lint trap!  But Cam has done really well keeping the sand where it goes.  The purpose of this is to trace letters or numbers in the sand.  I got a super cute little ABC flipbook to go with it for a reference.  

November 2012 Montessori Shelves

I had decided to change out Cameron's shelves in his classroom, but by the time I got the Chika Chika Boom Boom bookcase and the Alphabet bookcase set up, I was kinda over setting up tray works:(  The other shelves I usually save for traditional Montessori.  Hate to admit it, but these aren't my best efforts...

Patternig activity curtesy of Melissa and Doug

Tonging with spiky balls

This work is leftover from his farm unit.  I wasn't going to put it out, but he found it in the pile of stuff I was putting away and liked it so much he carried it around with him for a while:)  It's pretty basic Montessori; categorizing plant or animal. 

My little man *hates* to brush his teeth and fights me on it every day!  I've tried making it a fun game, getting him the expensive Cars toothpaste, getting a Spinbrush... no luck.  So, here is a tooth brushing work:)  This giant dino head unscrews on the bottom and holds a whole mess of dinos and trees.  We got it at the Thanksgiving point Dinosaur Museum.  I put a big rock in the bottom to steady it so he doesn't know it over. 

Look familiar?  It's leftover from his Halloween works.  I traded out the medium for fall leaves.  

Kiddo still loves stamping.  Here are letter stamps from HL

The button snake re-appears!  He is much better at this work since the first time I introduced it.

Can't have a Montessori shelf without a pouring activity:)

Spooning plastic acorns; these are also left over from the Halloween unit.

Just for fun:)  Can't have all work and no play!!

**********Update!!

I made a few changes :)  First, I finally put up the Alphabet Train poster pieces that have been sitting in my closet for months.  Cameron loves them!!  'Wow Mamma, look!  ABCs and a firetruck!'  

Remember how I was saying Cam really didn't like his Fall sensory bin?  I switched it out for a shorter bin, and he has actually seemed a little more interested.  The old one was narrow and tall; a silly design:)  Um, what else?  Oh, I found another coconut tree window gel.  He seriously cannot get enough of those!

 I decided that Cam's little magnet board looked kinda sparse, so I put together a counting activity.  I just took felt number stickers and stuck 'em to heavy card stock, then cut them down to a manageable size.  Then I took some Pom Poms and stuck small magnets on the back.  He has played with it a few times already!  "Mamma, what's that oh doing there?"