While I'm away Bags

So about a week ago, I took a little trip to North Carolina to visit my family.  My sweet grandmother is getting older, and I needed to start making time with her a priority.  However, we just couldn't take the time off or pay for 3 plane tickets...so I went alone.  Awful, right?  My sweet hubby and the whole fam damily pitched in to take care of Cameron while I was out of town, thank goodness for them.  

I missed them *so* bad.  I really have only spent 1 night apart from him in... 2 years 4 months:)  This little trip lasted only 4 days, which were my scheduled days off of work.  I was hoping to do something extra special for them so they would know how much I loved and missed them.  Pinterest had a couple of great ideas, and I ended up going with Treat Bags.

*Um, yeah I know the 123 is actually a 12E but remember my husband's 30th Bday party?  I used every #3 foam sticker in a 5 mile radius;)

So, I made a themed bag full of goodies for each day that I was away.  Each bag had toys, books, puzzles, arts and crafts... they were really fun to put together.  I tried to make the outsides cute with little die cuts and stickers and things.  My hopes were for the hubbs and Cam to open them sometime in the evening and then spend some quality time together.  

Here is everything that went into the Fireman Bag:  dollar store vests for dress up, a Lego kit for Dad to build, a book and a Thomas toy.

 This one I called ABCs and 123s cuz I couldn't think of anything else!  Its got some books, flashcards, a dollar store number puzzle, and a Montessori counting activity. 

 Halloween Bag:  I bought some styrofoam rounds from Michaels and painted them to look like pumpkins.  Then the dollar store had these great face pieces that you can just stick into the outside of the pumpkin...They were great!  Then some Halloween coloring pages and markers.  

 This one was just called the Fun Bag cuz it was just a bunch of randomness.  Magnets, Legos, play food, balancing game, and a Melissa ad Doug shape puzzle.  What's sad is that almost all of these things were just stashed away in the closet.  I'm a total hoarder.  

 I was so proud of myself with those bags thus far; they were fun and had some educational stuff too!  But what's the fun of goodie bags without goodies?:)  So I threw in a treat and a Diet Coke for my hubby...he's even more addicted than myself!!

 I felt like the Halloween Bag was a little light, so I made up some activity books with printables from TwoTeachingMommies.  They have such cute stuff for pre-writing practice, shadow matching, counting manipulatives... I love that site!!  Um, yeah I may have gotten into Cameron's pile of Autumn stickers from Target... sometimes mommies want to play too!  Sorry the following pictures are so bad, maybe Santa will bring me a nice camera this year:)  

Wow, sorry this post is getting to be a long one! Below are some pics the hubbs sent me of Cameron playing with the goodies.  You know I love those action shots:)

And, last but not least, Cam made a special little card for me to take to his Granma Ji-Ji in Carolina.  How cute is that!?!  She loved it.  I couldn't stop giggling over the random stickers he chose:) 

Halloween Decorations 2012

This post is just some random pictures of the decorations I got up this year.  Autumn is my favorite!  Cameron has really enjoyed finding all the new stuff...'Look at all this Halloween!  What's this Halloween doing?'

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 Figured I would throw in a pic of his magnet board that's in the living room.  It is so big and intrusive that we can categorize it under decor, right?  Just kidding, it doesn't bother me at all but my poor hubby is still not loving it:)  I put a pin-the-nose-on the pumpkin game up and glued magnets to the backs of the noses.  Oh I also glued them to sturdy cardstock so Cam can't shred them.  He is great about counting the noses, and can tell me which is 1 and 3... the other numbers are hit and miss.  Then on the bottom are some felt stickers from Michaels that I magnetized.  

Halloween 2012, Montessori Style

*Sigh*  Oh I so love Halloween:)  I have been looking forward to setting up Cam's little classroom area with this theme for a while!  Remember how I moved my craft desk out of the guest bedroom and set up more Montessori shelves a few months ago?  That was seriously the best decision ever!  Little Man absolutely loves his new space, and I love it too cuz it's organized and functional.  Of course with anything, there is still some minor decorating/tweaking that I would like to do...Anyways, enjoy the pics:)

I only put together one bookshelf of Halloween manuipulatives, mainly because I spent so much freakin' time on his Farm and Insect themes, I couldn't bring myself to dismantle them:)  So, I moved out the traditional Montessori stuff that was residing there and tried to make the new activities very practical-life-ish:)

So speaking of traditional Montessori, how bout some tonging work?  I found the pumpkin ice cube tray at the $ store and had the tongs already.  The plastic acorns/beads were from Target, I think.  I tried to make there be even numbers of the different colors to have some 1:1 correspondence.

Here's another work straight out of the manual:)  Cameron loved the flower arranging I set up for him last time, so I just replaced the carnations with autumn-y flowers.  Again, I just used the same parmesan cheese shaker from the dollar store for a little added difficulty.

This one is Cameron's favorite, I think!  Again, this was a great $ store find.  It's just a little flashlight with interchangeable lenses so you can cast shadows.  Cameron has so enjoyed this one...He takes it out of the classroom all the time so I am constantly finding all those pieces all over the house!  "Where's my fwash-wight, Mama?  And my Jack-o-wantern?"

...and here is a shot of the flashlight in use:)  "Spooky spiders, Mamma!"

This is just a silly little Candy Corn game from Target's Dollar Spot.  I thought he might like the colorful pegs, and it qualifies as fine motor:)

There's our good old lightbox.  That has gotten so much use over the past year!  I found some gel window clings that were pumpkins and fall leaves at the grocery store for like, $2.  He has actually spent quite a lot of time on this and keeps coming back to it.  That makes me happy:)  Except now he likes to shred them and stick the little pieces all over...

Are two tonging works too many tonging works?  I don't think so!!  I shamelessly stole this idea from Counting Coconuts (shout out!)  It is tonging spiders onto their web from the witches cauldron (guacamole bowl).  Don't laugh at my spider web.  Glitter is my friend:)

Stamping!  My little kiddo loves stamps.  These are just Halloween-y ones from the dollar store.  I keep using this particular plate for stamping works just cuz it is divided just right:)

Yaay for spooning works!  Cameron really enjoys these and he's getting really good at them.  I like this spoon, it keeps making appearances:)  The medium is just 3 packages of Halloween erasers from Target $ Spot.  He likes to tell me all about the ghost, the pumpkin and the 'spooky kitty'  

 Another good find from Target is this little Bingo game.  I almost didn't get it cuz I thought it might be too advanced.  He plays it with me for about a minute before he gets bored :)  So, it came with little bingo cards and cute little spider counters.  However, they were flimsy, thin cardboard and I knew I had to make them more Cameron proof...

...and so I put all those water bottle caps I've been hoarding saving to good use!  I just glued  them on top and they have worked like a charm.  Cameron has been all about counting for a few months now, so he has been counting the 'baby spiders' for me:)

 Here's a shot of his magnet board all dolled up for Halloween...and Farm and Insects:)  I guess since I still had those activities out I had to keep relatable stuff on the board.  More window clings from Target and -it's hard to see- a glow in the dark skeleton from the $ store.  At the bottom, there is a package of these awesome bright glowsticks that you can put on the ends of your fingers.  Cameron loved those!  He surprised Daddy when he came home after work with his 'creepy fingers!'

More tonging works.  The medium is a package of, um I think it was actually called Creepy Critters from the $ store:)  This one has actually been challenging for him because they are all different shapes and sizes.  And of course, I can't make it too easy for him so I used the more difficult tongs.

 Oh he *loves* this one!!  These are skeletons from the aforementioned Creepy Critters pack that I just hooked a paperclip through.  I taped a piece of orange ribbon over one of the shelf cubbies, and he hangs them up.  It's a good work for him because he has to be soft or the ribbon breaks.  He got a great pincher grasp but he lacks patience.  He only seems to be able to do those super intricate fine motor works for a minute or two before he just has to start jumping or running or something!  I am really pleased with this one, and 6 skeletons is just enough to work on.  

 Heres a shot of the Autumn sensory bin I put together for him.  He hates it.  Seriously, he wont even touch it :(  He asked me about a few of the items and has not looked back since!  But really, I guess with all the fun Halloween stuff, who would want to play with gourds and leaf stickers? :)  Oh, and there's another shot of those gel window clings I was talking about earlier.   

And here is another shot of the sensory bin.

Halloween Treat Bags

So you know how much I love to make little crafty things for Cameron's school?  And you know how much I love Halloween?  Then of course, I had to put together fun little goodie bags!  I was shopping at the Dollar Store to grab some October themed manipulatives, and just could not believe how much fun stuff there was!  Everything from bubbles, stickers, erasers, toys, clappers and even faces to decorate your pumpkin with!  I am actually kind of proud of myself that I was able to avoid putting any candy in there.  I'm sure his school teachers were happy about that too!  Enjoy the pictures